Klein froze for a moment, then lowered his gaze.
Only then did he notice a child standing beside him, dressed in a linen robe with a silver cross hanging at the chest.
That child was the very one Klein had encountered at the market entrance earlier…
oh, right, there was only this one Catholic Church left in all of Macragge City now.
So Klein extended his hand toward the young girl.
“Fish sauce.” Klein said to her with a smile.
“Ah!” The young girl was startled at first, then realized Klein was asking for the free fish sauce being given away.
“Sure thing!
Please have a seat for a moment, I’ll go get it for you right away.”
With that, the young girl scurried to a shelf in the corner of the church, then dashed back just as quickly, handing Klein a glass vial roughly the size of his finger.
Klein pinched the tiny glass vial between two fingers, brought it close to his eye, and squinted before he could finally make out that it contained about half a tube of viscous, deep yellow liquid, dense as amber.
So little…
The young girl broke into a smile and said, “All our fish sauce here is fermented ourselves.
It tastes fresher than the imports from Talassar.
If you try it and think it’s good, you can come buy a few bottles.”
“We also have bread here, so you can try it right now.”
Klein shook the fish sauce in his hand, which was probably enough for about half a mouthful, and said with some hesitation, “So…
give it a shot?”
“Bread is two denarii a piece.” The young girl said with a smile.
“…Are you trying to rob me?” Klein couldn’t help but raise a hand and rub his temples.
“Robbery is illegal!” The young girl furrowed her brow and looked at Klein with an expression of slight exasperation, as if he had just asked a very stupid question.
So if it weren’t illegal, she really would just rob people outright…
Klein felt that this Catholic Church had a rather different vibe from what he had imagined.
“I’m here to see your bishop.” Klein said, stuffing the sesame-seed-sized bit of fish sauce into his pocket.
“Ah!” The young girl was taken aback for a second, then said, “So you’re an acquaintance of Bishop Agrippa!
My apologies!”
“Right, so if you could please…”
“I misspoke just now.
The bread is three denarii.” Saying this, the young girl once again extended her hand toward Klein.
“Er, I was referred by the elder Mr.
Lucretius.” Klein slapped his forehead helplessly and, nursing a slight headache, explained to the young girl once more.
The young girl suddenly understood.
“So you were referred by Grandpa Lucretius!”
“Yes, yes, so…” Klein nodded.
“Four denarii.” The young girl stretched her hand forward a little further.
Klein’s expression froze solid.
“Don’t be upset.
When Grandpa Lucretius himself comes, it’s always five denarii!” The young girl said with a perfectly straight face.
Half off for strangers, full price for regulars, huh…
In the end, Klein pulled out two denarii and pressed them into the young girl’s hand.
“I’m not close with Lucretius, and I don’t know your bishop.
I simply have business with him.” This story is hosted at novelping.com.
Once she had the money, the young girl swiftly grabbed a piece of bread from the shelf beside her, handed it to Klein, and then scurried toward the back of the church.
Klein took the bread the young girl had thrust at him and found a seat in the front row of the church.
He broke off a piece of the bread and popped it into his mouth.
He didn’t add any fish sauce.
Last night, that bottle of Talassar fish sauce had made him feel like he’d swallowed two Nurglings raw…
Hmm?
Klein let out a soft, comfortable hum.
The bread had walnuts and cranberries mixed into it.
The wheat fragrance, the mild bitterness of the walnuts, and the sweet-tartness of the dried cranberries intertwined, creating a surprisingly distinctive flavor.
As he ate, Klein began to admire the mosaic before him.
The Silver Dragon, the Golden Knight, the pure silver spear, the bright red banner, the steed blacker than night, the scorching sand…
Gradually, fragmented hallucinations appeared before Klein’s eyes.
Memories began surfacing in his mind.
He felt his perspective slowly merge with that of the Golden Knight.
He felt sand and gravel pelting his face.
He felt the light reflecting off the Silver Dragon’s mercury-like scales shining upon his face.
The fragrance of spices wafting across the North African land filled his nostrils.
The pure silver spear, engraved with runes by Erda’s own hand, was gripped in his grasp.
He saw all things rise into the sky in ways that defied physical laws.
He saw gravity reversed…
No, the dragon had redefined the concept of up and down, so that up became as down, and down became as up…
He saw the banner wrapped around the spear entangle the dragon’s neck.
He saw the dragon let out a piercing wail.
He saw Mars drawing closer and closer.
He heard the sharp, shrieking blast the dragon emitted as it was dragged beneath the surface of Mars.
He felt the dragon’s emotions.
It had once roamed the starry seas.
It had once slaughtered countless races.
It had once fed on stars.
Even Vaul, the Aeldari god of smithing, was nothing but a defeated opponent beneath its claws.
Even the Old Ones had fallen before it.
But now, it…
Fuck your mother, primitive knight!!!
Klein rubbed his brow a few times, pulling himself free from that fragmented memory.
Another one of the Emperor’s memories…
But this time was different from the last.
The Emperor’s memory had genuinely imparted knowledge and skills to him.
He had learned one of the Emperor’s myriad skills.
He had learned…
169 Love Quotes Every Roman Must Know! This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“Fuck your mother, primitive knight!” Klein couldn’t help but curse, mimicking the dragon.
The memory had brought Klein a headache.
The image the dragon presented completely exceeded the limits of human comprehension, leaving Klein dizzy and muddled.
He couldn’t help but lower his head and rub his temples.
His gaze drifted unconsciously to the base of the mosaic.
Carved into it was a list of names, seemingly the donor registry from when the church was built.
One name inexplicably drew Klein’s attention…
“Ollanius…
Ollanius…” Klein murmured the name, feeling an odd sense of familiarity.
Before Klein could carefully consider the origin of the name, footsteps sounded behind him.
Agrippa, the bishop of the Macragge Catholic Church, rubbed his eyes a few times.
Could it be that those hallucinations from the Temple of Illyrium were coming for him again?
He had just seen, sitting in the front row of the church, a Golden Knight, a Golden Knight exactly identical to the one in the mosaic…
Agrippa blinked several times and saw the Golden Knight vanish, leaving only an ordinary-looking Macragge man sitting there.
So it was a hallucination after all?
Agrippa pounded his head a few times.
That expedition to the far north had taken more than just a leg; it had also taken Agrippa’s soundness of mind.
Ever since destroying that Temple of Illyrium, he had often seen phantoms.
He saw winged angels.
He saw pale, ghostly figures in dark blue armor.
He saw lions of black armor pouring phosphorus fire down from the heavens to destroy Illyrium…
Only within this Catholic Church did his symptoms slightly ease.
“You’re Lucretius’s friend?” Agrippa walked over with his prosthetic limb and sat down beside Klein.
“Klein, student of Teacher Lucretius.” Klein inclined his head slightly in greeting to Agrippa.
“Agrippa.
Well, I suppose I’m the bishop of this church.” Agrippa shrugged.
“What can I do for you?
Want to convert?
That’ll be six denarii for the baptism fee.
Want to hear me tell the story of how our Lord got a virgin pregnant and gave birth to Himself?
Twelve denarii.”
Klein looked at Agrippa.
He suddenly felt he might find quite a bit of common ground with this bishop.
But for now, business came first.
“I wanted to ask about…” Klein briefly explained how he owed money to the Temple of Simonetta.
“…You’ve come to the wrong person.
There’s really nothing I can do about this.”
Agrippa waved his hand.
“I don’t get along well with the other temples.
I’ve managed to isolate myself from all of them.”
(Translated by yourtl.app)