"I'm leaving." The girl stood up. "I will never come here again. My past and my name are buried under the silver lilies. These flowers are cuter than people. I hope I can think like this in hell."
"Hell has no flowers," Uriel pointed out. "Only on the way to heaven. Sister Mary said that after we die, we will go to the goddess, whose courtyard is covered with petals. Why don't you go to Gaia's heaven?"
She seemed reluctant to mention heaven.
"I signed a contract," she said, "and this little tomb must be forgotten."
Uriel didn't understand: "But isn't this your child?"
"As long as I sign, I can write a letter to my parents. The dean plans to discuss with my father...about my return home." She spoke very vaguely later, and the topic somehow shifted to Uriel. "Have you always lived here?"
"Until I'm fourteen, yes."
"I am fourteen years old now." The girl said.
"Then it's time for you to go."
"I think so too. I don't want to stay here for a second. I miss my parents and sister. I miss the two rabbits I raised. They have white fur and patterned ears, as if they are covered with jewelry. They look like rings. I haven't seen them in more than a year." The girl pulled up a lily. She seems to prefer going home to heaven.
There was much in her words, but Uriel was thinking about the rabbit she was talking about. There are no live rabbits for viewing at the monastery. There are only three dogs here who are responsible for guarding the house and the courtyard, and they grin when they face anyone. There are also wild cats everywhere and their food - birds and mice. To the nuns, animals other than pigeons were not attractive animals.
Rabbit aside, the girl was happy to tell him absurd stories. "Do you know dryads? There will be dryads living in trees that live long. I heard that they don't wear clothes, moss grows on their heads, and their skin is as rough as tree bark. They are adults and children. Dryads will steal those who are alone. Human children, put them into tree holes. Then people will become as big as squirrels and can help big trees catch bugs."
Uriel had heard this story a long time ago, perhaps as long as the dryad's family had lived. She wanted to scare me. "That's false." He didn't believe it at all.
"The tree spirits are fake, are hell and heaven real?"
"I can prove that no one has moss growing on his head and no one lives in a tree trunk. Unless he's a squirrel."
"But you can't prove the existence of hell?"
"Why don't they exist?" Uriel asked.
"Of course it's because I haven't been there." The girl muttered. "I rarely go out. There is a lot of work to do at home, and even more work here." She suddenly sat down again. "Sometimes I help my mother wrap wool, and she also teaches me to knit scarves. Now I can knit. Towels, socks, and hats, I can make them all. I made them for my little Pod, who is small and skinny, and I made the sleeves of one of his coats a little too long. I thought he would grow older. So I didn’t bother to modify it.”
Uriel then learned that her child's name was Pod.
"He died of illness two weeks ago. I really hope he goes to a place without pain," the girl said. "It would be better to go to heaven. But then I won't see him after I die."
Uriel didn't wonder why she couldn't see Pod. In fact, he was still thinking about the rabbit. He didn't know if there was such a thing in the cemetery. Death and separation were just abstract and vague unfamiliar terms to him, and sometimes he even confused them.
"I can also knit scarves," he said. "Sister Mary taught me. She said she only taught me one person because the others were too stupid to learn new words."
Unexpectedly, the girl looked at him with admiration: "I can't write either. I originally wanted Pod to learn to write. I can teach him to speak myself, but there is no way to learn to read... Boys don't need to knit scarves. I He'd better be able to do everything he doesn't know how to do."
"Your request is excessive."
"Maybe it's because I became a mother. Your mother must have asked too much of you. She hopes that you will be more powerful and capable than her. We are all the same. Didn't she say so?"
"I haven't even seen her!" Who knows what she thinks? "But Sister Mary said so."
"That's right." The girl straightened her back, her movements a little stiff. She rubbed her calves. "Maybe your mother is here, do you want to look for it?"
Uriel thought she was talking in her sleep.
"Pod was buried in the yard after his death. Your mother must have been the same way. Since you have never seen her and have been living in the charity home, she must be under our feet. I can help you find her."
"We cannot disturb the heroic spirits." He warned solemnly, "This is an act of desecration of the dead."
"There is a difference between the dead and the deceased."
This sentence impressed him deeply. Uriel realized that he had never understood its true meaning.
"Maybe your mother is not far away, but you will never find her." The girl patted the dirt on her robe again, "She hid herself so that you can be closer to heaven after death. Of course. , you may have been sent here by Gaia. Even if your mother didn't sign the agreement, she wouldn't have come to you... But some sins in the world come from love, and some glory comes from hate. I finished signing my name I regret it. Really. I kid you not. I'm going home. I should have a new home, a family with Pod..."
The girl gave Uriel a hug before leaving, and he noticed that her hands and feet were extremely cold. "Sometimes I wish I had extraordinary courage, just like the hero in the story." She whispered in his ear, "I wonder how much gold coins my courage is worth in the eyes of the dean?"
…
"In my opinion, she might be lucky," the messenger commented.
What about me? Uriel opened the book and flicked the pages. Am I lucky or unlucky? He didn't know what Otto would do with his future. However, spiritual vision is a gift given to him by the goddess. Maybe my destiny belongs to Gaia.
"I remember the last words she said." the apprentice said absently, "but I never carefully tasted the meaning. I thought that my mother might also be a believer in Gaia, so she was buried in the cemetery behind the monastery. "
But this is not the case. Those sleeping under the flowers are not souls going to heaven, but many poor women whose names and pasts have been buried, and their newborn babies waiting for wandering and separation. They were buried without hymns. The church takes them in, but also punishes them... and claims that this punishment is to cleanse the girls' souls of stains. As if this would put a disguise on the commission the monastery received from it.
"A commission?" the messenger asked.
"These children will be sent to good families who have no children, and each one has been baptized. It is too much to treat the monastery as just a selection of offspring. They must pay a price to prove that they will treat these children well." Uriel handed over the receipt Hand the slip to the instructor. "Not only that, in countries like Eastman that believe in Gaia, the Charity House also has the power to collect child support taxes from civilians. Obviously - although the goddess orders the priests to do good, they don't mind making some gold."
The messenger glanced at the note. "The project is very vague. This is the usual practice. This is the first time I have seen the Gaia Church involved in this kind of business."
He seemed to have seen other forms of human trafficking, and Uriel had no desire to know about them. "You know what? I've always thought of Sister Mary as my mother."
"She lied to you."
"She...she just didn't tell the truth."
"Okay. The church tricked you. But I don't think you hate them for it."
"Maybe I can."
"If your mother was killed by a nun, I'm sure you would. But you don't know where you come from." Joey pointed out, "You just think that the person who raised you should not be this kind of person. . But in the final analysis, what they are does not conflict with raising children. Priests and nuns are all human beings, and people naturally have good and bad qualities. Moreover, it is difficult to define whether this approach is good or bad. " It's really difficult for him. The words are so coherent.
Uriel replied in a low voice: "I just feel that everything around me is a lie."
"Do you think you are honest?" The messenger's words left him speechless.
"Sometimes, telling the truth can end badly," the apprentice muttered.
"Just mind yourself." Joey threw the receipt aside. "The Church of Gaia may not be the leader in the transaction. It is mostly the idea of a few members. Eastman and Blumnot have a lot in common... For example, there is no intervention from the Silent School.”
"The intervention of the Silent School?"
The messenger turned away, indicating that he was not willing to explain these things. He also did not wake up Sauron, the Ring. Uriel knew that he would not get any news at this moment.
"Thank you, Joey," he said finally.
Bai Zhizhi nodded. "You can talk about it together." He motioned to the apprentice to open the mailbox. "We are leaving Blumnot next. Your internship."
Leaving Blumnot. Uriel was startled. "when?"
"before tomorrow."
There was no way he couldn't stop thinking about it at this time. Uriel looked at his mentor suspiciously, and he found that he never seemed to recognize the other person's true face. "What about the fire trial?"
"Let Dean Rubin get his way," Joey replied. "His panic at the Destiny Rally was enough to entertain."
Obviously there is no one else for this "other". But how is this possible? Uriel would not think that Joey could be so magnanimous to his enemies. Had Ms. Aurora or Bishop Edgar been present, they would have agreed with me.
He decided to test it a bit: "Gunther is an unknown person who can use magic without being tested by fire. The process of me getting to know him and learning the truth was full of coincidences." At this time, he realized how important it was to tell the truth. difficulty. The truth is so brutal. "I saw the undead lord here. I think if I was just your apprentice, I'm afraid the ring would have warned me earlier than it is now. But... he didn't want to kill me at all." When the words ended, Uriel felt that he As if waiting for a trial.
Silence wandered in the secret room for a few minutes before being captured by a calm voice:
"Sovero potion can help ordinary people ignite fire." Joey answered.
