A visit
Outside an office at Backlund University, Neph squinted as she confirmed the name engraved on the metal nameplate: Horamick Hayden.
"They didn't even write down the job title—" she muttered to herself, raising her hand to knock on the door.
Immediately, a steady voice rang out from inside the door. "Please come in."
Neph put aside her jumbled thoughts and pushed open the door. Inside sat a kind-looking old man dressed in a white priest's robe and wearing a clergyman's cap. When he saw Neph, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, then he smiled knowingly and said, "I've finally met you, Your Excellency."
Neph paused, hesitantly stopping in her tracks. She placed her hand on the doorknob behind her and said earnestly, "The way you're saying that makes it sound like you're about to pull out a giant sword from behind and chop me down."
The old man chuckled, shook his head, pointed to the empty chair in front of the table, and replied, "I don't know why you have this idea, but I have to correct you on one thing."
"The methods of action you described seem more like the Church the God of Combat of Feysac —hmm, do you know anything about them?"
Neph's face twitched twice. She tried to suppress her laughter and shook her head, saying, "I haven't had any contact with them."
She released her grip, walked to the chair, and sat down. Archbishop Horamick looked at her and smiled, "They—well, they're a very straightforward and guileless bunch."
Naïve— Neph's lips twitched twice more. She really didn't want to talk about this topic anymore, because her mind was filled with all sorts of jokes. She quickly changed the subject. "I think you can guess that although I handed you the letter, you probably can't make the decisions about what I want to discuss."
"I understand," Archbishop Horamick nodded. "You wish to see the Pontiff?"
"No," Neph shook her head, "I don't think your Pontiff will leave Trier easily, even though Saint Hylarn Cathedral is your second Holy Cathedral."
Non- Church of Steam and Machinery believers and clergy usually don't add "Saint" before the name when referring to Saint Hylarn Cathedral, but Neph is always inexplicably polite; she will unceremoniously refer to the "God of Steam and Machinery" as Steam, yet she doesn't mind adding "Saint" before the name when mentioning the cathedral.
Archbishop Horamick nodded slightly, a look of understanding in his eyes. "You don't want to go to Trier?"
"Do you think it's appropriate for me to go?" Neph asked instead of answering.
"This—" Archbishop Horamick's gaze fell on her, his expression somewhat confused.
From the time she advances to Sequence 3, Neph can actually "dye" herself, that is, change her image in the eyes of others. From that point on, she can make herself look like a normal person instead of having pale skin.
At this moment, she looked no different from an ordinary person. Her skin tone was between that of the Northern Continent and the Southern Continent. It was neither the pale white of the Northern Continent nor the bronze skin tone more common in the Southern Continent. This was her skin tone before, a rosy jade white.
Archbishop Horamick's Oldest One surprise stemmed from the skin color, which differed from the description in the records. However, methods of altering appearance were not uncommon, and he quickly realized that this was probably Neph's appearance before she was affected by the aura of death.
This is a common occurrence among High Sequence Beyonder, so Archbishop Horamick was only surprised for a moment before not taking it to heart.
But when Neph asked, he recalled the description in the documents and asked hesitantly, "You are—"
Uh, you fear the existence of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun?
This is just a guess. Archbishop Horamick initially suspected that Neph belonged to the "Corpse Collector" Pathway, but his subsequent actions made him abandon this guess and instead suspect that Neph came from outside the 22 Pathway.
Unlike Edwina, as a senior Demigod of the Church of Steam and Machinery, the existence of Beyonder in the Southern Continent was not a secret to him, and he also had a basic understanding of the Middle-Low Sequence of the 22 Pathway, so this guess was not difficult for him.
In recent days, this suspicion has deepened. After all, the Church of Steam and Machinery and the Church of Evernight can be considered allies. Archbishop Horamick had also heard about the Church of Evernight's distribution of New Holy Bible. The snow in the Amanda Mountains and the Evernight Pope Dabomachie's public recognition of the "Winter Goddess" had also reached his ears.
However, before the Church of Evernight officially announced it to the outside world, this was still a secret among the Church's high-ranking members—a tacit understanding.
The relationship between the Church of Evernight and the Church of the Sun is not friendly. Although they are not mortal enemies, they have accumulated a lot of contradictions due to their respective alliances.
Add to that the theme of "winter," which is hardly warm to begin with, and Neph's skin, which was clearly affected by the aura of death, and Archbishop Horamick naturally suspected that this "Winter Goddess," recognized by the Church of Evernight, was unwilling to set foot on the land ruled by the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun.
Although the process was incorrect, he did guess correctly. He nodded and shook his head, telling him, "You should understand that I'm not afraid of the Church."
"Trier is too special. The Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun is located there, and it's also the capital of Intis. There are bound to be many level 0 Sealed Artifact and Angel there. I'm worried that if I step into it, I'll attract Divine Descent."
Archbishop Horamick agreed, "It's not impossible, but as you said, even if you were here, the Pontiff probably wouldn't come in person."
Neph had anticipated this. Ultimately, a key factor in bringing the Church of Steam and Machinery into the alliance was getting the Pope to stay at a different papacy. If the Pope had come directly before they reached an agreement, what would be the point of her negotiations? She could simply drag things out without negotiating until the War of the Gods began, forcing the Steam to consider the safety of their Pope!
Cultivating an Angel is no easy task. Although the Church of Steam and Machinery may have more people and property remaining in Trier, the God of Steam and Machinery is a neutral party. When it comes to taking sides, he just needs a suitable reason.
Therefore, Neph nodded and said with a relaxed smile, "I want to see your Angel, the kind that can directly contact the God."
The last sentence is somewhat redundant. Angel rarely lack a direct way to contact the God. Neph added this sentence in the hope that although this Angel is not the Pope, she is still highly regarded enough, and it would be best if she could contact the God directly without going through the Pope, so that she wouldn't have to wait for a telegram.
Then again, communication between Angel doesn't necessarily require telegrams, since their Honorific Name can be considered as telephone numbers.
A jumble of thoughts raced through Neph's mind. She regained her composure and heard Archbishop Horamick reply, "Saint Hylarn Cathedral does not have resident Angel, but recently, an Angel has indeed been staying in Backlund."
"Who?" Neph suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Your Highness Bornova Gustav," he said, "this prince is greatly favored by my My Lord; as far as I know, he was ordained by my My Lord to be a future Angel from birth—"
Neph raised her hand to stop him.
"Emperor Roselle's son—if I'm not mistaken, is that right?" she asked with a strange expression.
"You've heard of it?" Archbishop Horamick breathed a sigh of relief.
"Of course," Neph's expression became even stranger, "I—well, I'm an old acquaintance of Emperor Roselle, the kind of old acquaintance where I know him but he doesn't know me."
What kind of old acquaintance is this? According to you, almost everyone in the world must be an old acquaintance of Emperor Roselle!
Archbishop Horamick's smile visibly froze, and he remained silent for a few seconds before saying, "I see."
Would you like me to introduce you?
"Now?" Neph asked, feigning concern, "Wouldn't that be a bit sudden?"
"No, no," Archbishop Horamick chuckled, standing up. "Let's go to the church."
As she boarded the public carriage, Neph's expression held a sense of unfamiliarity. She closed her eyes, feeling the carriage's movement for a moment, then turned to Archbishop Horamick and earnestly said, "Actually, I have a question."
"What?" Archbishop Horamick asked.
"Don't you think you can run back faster than take a carriage?" Neph asked sincerely.
Archbishop Horamick was silent for a moment. Neph stared at him, and after a few breaths, Archbishop Horamick spoke with a smile, "I thought of someone at your level. You should have a better understanding of the defilement of Divinity than I do."
"I usually try to maintain ordinary human habits, which helps me resist the corruption of Divinity."
"I thought you thought it was unseemly to run back." Neph blinked.
"That's part of the reason too." Archbishop Horamick's smile seemed to freeze.
Neph thought for a moment, then asked, "I've heard of a four-wheeled Steam. Why don't we ride in one?"
Seemingly relieved to finally hear a topic he was comfortable with, Archbishop Horamick asked, "Have you seen them with your own eyes?"
Neph shook her head.
Archbishop Horamick then laughed and said, "That explains it."
"They are very large and bulky, making it inconvenient for them to move around on the road. They are often blocked by passing pedestrians and carriages, and they are also prone to hitting people."
"Furthermore, they are quite noisy when running, and don't offer any particularly significant speed advantage."
He listed several drawbacks of Steam cars, and Neph couldn't help but exclaim, "It sounds like the person who made this invention must have lost a fortune!"
"That's not it," Archbishop Horamick shook his head. "People like us who have a great fondness for Steam products and have some spare money will still buy them, but we just rarely use them."
"But it certainly won't make as much money as Pedal Bicycle," Neph laughed.
"That's true," Bishop Horamick nodded in agreement. "Especially after the passage of various environmental protection regulations, these kinds of cars have become even less popular, while Pedal Bicycle have clearly become the new trend. I think in the future, many people, even if they don't use them, will definitely buy a few for their families."
Neph shrugged, said nothing more, and waited quietly for the carriage to stop, while recalling information about Bornova Gustav in her mind.
He was the youngest child of Emperor Roselle, a born Sequence 5, and the starting point of Emperor Roselle's falling out with the Church of Steam and Machinery —though it seemed more like a one-sided conflict.
Neph remembered that he must have been quite young when he became Demigod. Judging from the few descriptions he made, he had little humanity left, probably on par with Ouroboros.
From this point of view alone, Neph can understand why Emperor Roselle broke with the Church of Steam and Machinery.
The carriage stopped in front of Saint Hylarn Square. Archbishop Horamick stepped down from the carriage, and before he could turn around, he heard a not-so-quiet thud—someone had jumped off the carriage.
His expression remained unchanged; he simply Han Xiao and asked, "Have you ever been inside Saint Hylarn Cathedral?"
Neph shook her head honestly and replied, "I've been to this square, but I haven't been inside the church; I've only looked at it from the outside—by the way!"
She suddenly remembered her question from that day and asked curiously, "Have you considered making the church stand up?"
"Stand up?" Archbishop Horamick looked puzzled.
"Yes," Neph nodded vigorously, "Don't you think your church looks a lot like some kind of mechanical device? Hmm, I've always wondered, when you're attacked, does the church stand up and turn into a giant Robot, or a ship or something—"
"This—" Archbishop Horamick's face showed obvious astonishment, but after a moment, he pondered again, "This might be feasible—hmm, I can think about it carefully in my spare time, perhaps I can propose it to the Pontiff— "
Neph paused, suddenly realizing that she might have made a very bad suggestion.
"Well, you don't need to take my words too seriously—" she said rather tactfully.
"No," Archbishop Horamick shook his head, his expression serious. "The idea is interesting. This kind of mechanical structure that can temporarily Shapeshifting —well, even if it's not used for churches, perhaps it could be used for other things—I need to think about it carefully."
As he spoke, a hint of eager excitement flickered in his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure and resumed his usual gentle and kind demeanor. "Of course, before that, Your Excellency, please come with me, and I will take you to see His Highness Bornova."
Having failed to dissuade her, Neph had no choice but to follow. As they descended the stairs to the Underground, Neph asked another question, "Archbishop, I actually have one more question."
"What?" Archbishop Horamick turned to look at her.
"As far as I know, one of your male senior deacons is attracted to men, and the object of his affections is a high-ranking member of your Church— " Neph began quietly.
"----?" Archbishop Horamick stopped in his tracks.
"Is this common in your Church?" Neph asked with great curiosity.
"--I... I'm not so sure," Archbishop Horamick replied rather awkwardly, "As you know, the Church doesn't interfere in people's marital status."