**Chapter Fourteen: I Don’t Care About Your Past**
In less than a minute, the confusion on little Isabella’s face had completely dissipated.
“What just… happened?”
As if sensing discomfort from the skin at the corner of her mouth, she instinctively raised her hand and gently rubbed it with her fingertips.
“It’s nothing.”
“The ritual was a success.”
“That’s it for today’s lesson. The next tutoring session is to be determined.”
Sylvia said while stifling a laugh.
At the same time, she noticed that Lakdevo, squatting on her shoulder, seemed to want to say something.
Then, she poked the chubby crow with her finger.
“What is it?”
“Uh, just now, your consciousness and soul seemed to ascend into the Spiritual Realm.”
“Though it may be presumptuous, I still want to ask—what did you do?”
“I just sensed a spiritual omen. It seemed a new Apostle of the Domain of Death was born.”
“That was me.”
Sylvia answered calmly:
“I used the God of Death’s divinity to create a legitimate identity for myself.”
“This way, even when faced with the angel from the Church of Radiance who has already arrived in Savia, I won’t be exposed so easily.”
“Caw!”
At that moment, Lakdevo folded his wings and lowered his head, saying no more.
This was his way of expressing reverence to a great being.
To manipulate and utilize a divinity not one's own could only be done by suppressing it with one’s own divine rank.
That was something Apostles were absolutely incapable of.
“All right, let’s go back.”
With that, Sylvia turned to leave. Seeing this, Loruze closed the book in his hands and gave Isabella a slight smile.
“Goodbye, little Isabella.”
“Please give my regards to your father.”
“Oh, oh.”
“Goodbye, Your Grace. Goodbye, Uncle Loruze.”
Isabella hurriedly said her farewells, just in time to see Sylvia wave her hand.
Then, the black veil that had filled the room gradually dissipated, and the figures of the two people and one bird vanished.
The golden-haired girl sitting on the bed tiredly pressed her temples—
Everything that had happened tonight felt so strange and inexplicable.
Reality had called her out of sleep to listen to some obscure lesson in mysticism, and then she had lost consciousness for a while.
At this moment, she lay back down, feeling a bit lost, unaware that her complexion had grown a little rosier than before.
…
Ruls District, St. Ruls Cathedral.
The empty space was illuminated by pure white light. Having just stepped down from the carriage, Sylvia entered the underground "office" through this place.
At this moment, the puppet girl unexpectedly saw a silver-armored knight seated in the front row of the pews.
He was quietly praying to the statue within the altar.
Upon seeing this, Sylvia chuckled softly, then turned her gaze toward the altar—
There stood a humanoid statue.
However, the statue was completely covered by a cloak, making it impossible to see the details of its body or face.
Vague, eerie.
Mysterious, profound.
She lightened her steps and walked forward.
At the same time, the knight’s voice reached her ears:
“Great Faceless One, you are…”
“I earnestly beg you to grant your blessing, so that I—and my comrades—may safely complete each night patrol, and so that the residents of the City of Alova may pass every night in peace.”
As he prayed, a faint point of spiritual light drifted from his body, floating toward the statue on the altar.
Sylvia’s gaze followed the light as it moved, watching the dense cluster of light surrounding the statue—symbols of faith—without speaking.
At present, due to alignment issues, prayers were not directly transmitted to her but instead passed to the main body beyond the world’s boundary, only to be blocked by the world’s barrier.
At the same time, she could not directly receive faith.
It wasn’t just her—this was true for nearly all evil gods. They required a statue as an intermediary to collect the faith of their believers.
With a single thought, the glowing dots around the statue suddenly vanished.
At the same time, she sensed her divinity increase by a minuscule, almost negligible amount.
After completing this, her gaze returned to the knight.
The tall, middle-aged man seemed to notice something and turned his head to look.
The next second, he stood up in a hurry, struck his right fist to his left chest, and saluted Sylvia.
Seeing this, the gray-haired puppet girl smiled gently and nodded in return.
Then, with Loruze and Lakdevo in tow, she walked past him.
As they proceeded through the long but brightly lit underground corridor, Sylvia suddenly spoke:
“Why did you all choose to convert to the King of Loathing and Hatred?”
Hearing such words, Loruze remained silent for a few seconds before answering:
“Power, status, and strength.”
“Not just you. All of you.”
Sylvia interrupted him, causing the bishop of Radiance to fall silent once again.
The puppet girl did not press him, but instead opened the door to her "office" and walked inside.
A few seconds later, after she had settled into her solid wood chair, Loruze’s voice finally sounded again:
“The King of Loathing and Hatred promised us that he would establish a Kingdom of God on Earth in the City of Alova.”
“Kingdom of God on Earth?”
Sylvia repeated the phrase with interest.
“Yes.”
“In His depiction, the boundary between the two worlds would become entirely distinct. The night would become safe.”
“The dead would gain eternal life within the divine kingdom.”
“At the same time, all barriers between people would be erased…”
“Stop, stop!”
Sylvia cut him off without hesitation:
“Now repeat the honorable name of Hethorik.”
Loruze paused for a moment, then opened his mouth and said:
“The King of Loathing and Hatred.”
This was the standard single-phrase honorific used by evil gods. As for the multi-phrase honorifics akin to those used by the True Gods, only a rare few possessed them, and most of those belonged to outer gods.
Sylvia tapped the tabletop lightly with her fingertip and said:
“Do you think an evil god with such an honorific name would truly fulfill the promises you mentioned?”
“Even if they do, would it be fulfilled in the way you understand it?”
“Then, setting aside the collective perspective and speaking only of yourself—once you obtain status and power, what will you do with it?”
“All right. I don’t care about your exact past. I only know that you haven’t caused any undesirable consequences, and that’s enough.”
“It’s your every future action that concerns me.”
“You understand what you’re supposed to do now, don’t you?”
“I understand, Your Grace.”
“Good.”
Sylvia nodded in satisfaction as she tapped her fingers against the desk. At the same time, she casually reached out to the small bookshelf on her desk, pulled out a book, and flipped it open.
There, a line of honorific written in Koinsprache caught her eye:
“Creator of Eternal Radiance, Lofty Existence Beyond the World, Pure Light Above All.”
It referred to the true patron of this cathedral—the Lord of Radiance.
Staring at the text, Sylvia nodded thoughtfully.
It was time to begin preaching.