"Then we won't disturb you two while you are dining..." The elder originally wanted to ask a few more questions, but now he had to stop. After all, it was too rude to disturb others while they were dining.
"After breakfast tomorrow, we will meet in front of this tavern, and then set off to Zantz City together." Before getting up, the elder readily ordered two hundred runis and put them on the table, leaving the deposit that Alvin asked for. After getting off, he led the young missionary out of the tavern.
If it were an ordinary wandering painter, no employer would be stupid enough to pay such a large deposit first. After all, no one can say whether this person will take the money and run away. Obviously, the elder took out the money so confidently because of their extraordinary looks, demeanor and status.
"Look, there's no end to the road." Alvin looked at the backs of the two people and said with a smile, looking proud of himself, "I just said, how could the two of us end up sleeping on the street."
"Don't tell me, someone really takes a fancy to what you drew." Onian said.
"You mean, you're the only one who knows how to appreciate it?" Alvin mocked.
Onian glanced at him and moved her knife and fork towards the plate of lamb legs in front of her.
To be honest, the mutton itself is good. This is also because Berama is close to the Traledi Mountains and has a high altitude. The goat meat here tastes not much different from the goats produced on the plateau.
It's just that the cooking method is a bit rough, and the flavors of onions, black pepper, and tomato juice haven't penetrated into the meat.
Eaters like Alvin and Onian will naturally know the weight of the chef in this restaurant as soon as they taste the meat in their mouths. After all, they have eaten too many good things in the past.
So Alvin couldn't help but miss Saliushi's elegant restaurant specializing in grilled lamb.
"Actually, no matter how good the cook is, he can't cook the taste of his hometown." Alvin lamented, "So as a person like me, I can't live without beautiful girls, because even if the food doesn't taste good, I can still enjoy it. Xiuse, please go and eat something, so that you won’t be so picky that you starve to death.”
Onian couldn't help laughing when she heard this, and put a piece of meat on her fork directly into Alvin's mouth, "Eat yours!"
But the cheap Tyrell red wine was still good, at least better than Alvin imagined.
After dinner, it was time to stay.
There are actually rooms for rent on the second floor of this pub, but because there are too many businessmen coming and going, there are only one or two empty rooms left.
When Alvin and Onian saw that the room was quite clean, they were too lazy to look for accommodation and decided to spend the night here.
In fact, the two of them have been alone in the same room more than once, in that charming carriage or on that ambiguous airboat, so it doesn't matter if they live in the same room. The key is that you don't have to spare any money with these Looneies in your hands.
Alvin, who was just lying on the sofa, did not expect that the sound insulation of this room was so poor. As soon as the night fell, he could clearly hear the "dong dong" sound of the bed board hitting the wall from the left and right walls. Of course, there was also the Moans came and went.
Alvin's whole body felt so hot that he couldn't sleep. So he would glance at the beautiful woman on the bed from time to time while turning over. However, he really couldn't beat Onian, so he had to give up the idea of using force.
Onian just pretended that she didn't know anything and looked at a volume of maps intently, pretending that she couldn't hear the noisy "noise" in her ears. The map shows the distribution of towns hundreds of miles north of Belama.
In fact, how could she not notice someone turning over and over irritably, but she knew what was going on in his mind, so she pretended not to see anything.
When Alvin peeked at her, she slowed down her blinking speed and looked at him with an interested smile.
Alvin turned away angrily and stopped looking at her. He knew he was like a bull on fire now, and whatever Onian did seemed like teasing to him.
"Since I don't plan to use force, it's better to 'out of sight, out of mind'." He thought silently in his heart, "If I just take a second look, I really don't need to sleep."
But even though Alvin thought so, he still didn't sleep well that night.
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So, the next morning, when the elders of the Universalist Church led an open-air carriage to pick up Alvin and the others, they were startled by the thick black circles under his eyes.
"Your Excellencies, you have been neglectful," the elder said apologetically, "We only have this kind of carriage."
In fact, apart from the religious utensils piled in the carriage, it was quite tidy, and the leather benches on the left and right sides were almost dust-free.
"It would be nice to have a car somewhere." Alvin said with a smile, "By the way, old man, I don't know what to call you yet. Yesterday you put those two piles of Looneies there and left. Aren’t you afraid that we’ll run away overnight?”
"Riya Donner." The elder introduced himself with a smile, "I have been looking at people all my life, how can I still be distracted? I don't believe that you are the kind of person who would be shameless just for a mere two hundred rupees. People who don’t even care.”
"Your Excellency, Alvin Ferrer, this is my wife." Alvin put his arm around Onian's waist and said with a smile.
Elder Riya bowed to the two of them.
"Have you been watching people all your life? So, Elder Ilia, you used to be the priest in this church?" Alvin asked.
"Yes, I have been a godfather in the Universalist Church for most of my life. Now I am old and retired. Now, I will come out to guide these young people." Elder Riya said with a smile and glanced at the man beside him. "Freckled" missionary, "This is the youngest missionary in the church──Jio Wabner."
The young missionary lowered his head in embarrassment.
"The little guy is a little shy, so I sent him out to bid yesterday just to practice his courage." Elder Riya said.
"Yeah, if you are so stubborn, how can you go out to preach?" Alvin looked at Ji'ao scratching his head and couldn't help but feel a little funny, "But he was quite brave yesterday."
O'Nian naturally knew that there was something in Alvin's words, and said with a smile: "Stop bullying others, let's go."
Alvin laughed, "Okay, let's go."
"Sir Alvin, don't you have any luggage or anything?" Elder Riya asked in surprise.
"No." Alvin said with a wry smile, and then directly helped Onian get into the carriage.
After sitting down, the retired priest Ria became more and more entangled in the origins of these two young people.
Under the welcoming eyes of the people in Bellama, the pair of mysterious young people left the town in a Universal Church truck.
"How far is this Zantz City from Belama?" Alvin was bored and sat there looking through the map that Onian studied there last night.
Onian used magic to make herself a lightweight sun hat. The water patterns rotated along the body of the hat, and the brim of the hat also turned up in counterclockwise waves. It was so pleasant to see her half leaning on the back of the chair comfortably, turning around and looking sideways at the scenery in the fields, letting the refreshing wind blow freely on her cheeks.
"It takes about half a day's drive to go northwest." Elder Riya, who was sitting in the front seat of the car, turned around and said.
"This map is so strange. Why are there so many dividing lines? Is this a national border?" Alvin asked as he looked at the map carefully.
"My lords, I would like to ask, where are you... from? You shouldn't be from here, right?" Ria asked with a puzzled look on her face.
Alvin knew that what he just said would arouse Dria's doubts, which he expected, so he smiled and said: "Yes, the two of us are from the south. We are new to this north. I really don’t understand a lot of things about him.”
"Oh..." Liara said in a long voice, "Tell me, it turns out you two are from the south."
Then he introduced: "We are different from the south. There is only one big empire on the northern continent-Fuwei Empire, but there are dozens of principalities of various sizes under the empire. Your Excellency, you can see those complicated dividing lines on the map. It is the national border between each principality.”
"With so many principalities, wouldn't it mean that we have to fight every day?" Alvin joked.
"Yes, Lord Alvin still understands." Ria sighed, "There are so many grand dukes who refuse to obey anyone and often start wars if they disagree."
"Are there so many soldiers who can go to the front line?" Alvin asked, "I see that there are many principalities that are just as big as sesame seeds on the map. Can they recruit people to fight?"
"If you can't raise an army, then you can find mercenaries." Riya said. "Some principalities may not have a large territory, but they are quite wealthy."
"Let me take a look. The city of Zantz we are going to belongs to the Boer Principality. What is the situation of the Boer Principality?" Alvin asked.
"The grand duke of the Principality of Boer is the Marquis of Erou." Ria replied, "The Marquis is an old man and has long lost the courage to use swords and guns. Thanks to him, the Principality of Boer has fallen into disgrace. We haven’t had a war in several years.”
"Then... which principality does the church mainly develop in? Is it the Burr Principality?" Alvin was embarrassed to realize halfway through that he didn't even know the name of the other church.
"We are the universal church." Elder Liya reminded with a smile, "Our church actually has a certain number of teachers in every principality. Most cities in the north have churches and monasteries of our religion."
"What about the Holy World Sect and the Xindu Sect? Do they have more followers than you? Are they more powerful?" Alvin didn't have any scruples and asked such a cutting-edge question directly. After all, for a person like him who has no faith, these are all things that can be discussed.
Riya pondered for a while and then said: "Although the Holy World Church has declined in recent years, it is still the largest church and has the largest number of members. As for the Xindu Church, it is actually not much different from our church. Bar."
Alvin thought that when faced with such a problem, he would argue with himself and fool himself by saying something like "Number of people is not the key, piety is what is ultimately important", but he did not expect that Riya would admit the current situation generously. What Ria said was very different from what the old shopkeeper of the tailor shop described.
Alvin nodded, still very glad that Riya didn't say any high-sounding words to disgust himself and completely ruin the fun of the journey.
Perhaps as Ria said before, after all, he has been a priest for most of his life, so he naturally knows that telling the truth in front of people like Alvin is much wiser and more beneficial than telling lies.
