NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1
Chapter 1: I Don’t Accept Challenges When I’m Off Duty
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Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the St. Servant City of the Kingdom of Kate’s capital.
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One of the three main cathedrals of the Orthodox Church was on the outskirts of St. Servant City.
The Orthodox Church occupied a large area as the only True God Sect in the Kingdom of Kate.
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Towering buildings that stretched for miles were built on a wide Avenue of Triumph paved with white stone bricks. The straight white birch trees were trimmed to the point where they were extremely smooth. They stood on both sides of the Avenue of Triumph.
The iconic building of the main cathedral, the Holy Cathedral, stood tall at the end of the Avenue of Triumph.
In front of the Holy Cathedral stood two rows of warriors whose faces were covered with pure silver hollowed-out face armor. The warriors held Holy Silver Knight Swords that were the imitation of the Holy Sword of Light. They were the most loyal believers of the Orthodox Church. They were also the most cold-blooded and sharp weapons of the Orthodox Church to the outside world!
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The Orthodox Church, the Holy Knights!
Two figures were confronting each other in front of the Holy Knights!
The figure dressed in pure black broken armor held a thin sword in his hand, with a solemn and stern face. The sword was named ‘Hillecis’. Among the werewolves and vampires, it had another name.
The Bloody Blade!
And the owner of the sword was Vernal, the prelate of the Judicial Department of the Orthodox Church’s St. Servant Cathedral!
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“Cardinal Monn. May I know where you are going?” Vernal’s voice was cold, like a bone-chilling wind.
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The person Vernal called ‘Cardinal Monn’ was the man standing in front of him.
The man was dressed in a red robe and had a thorn garland made of mithril on his head. There was a scepter with a silver luster hanging on his waist and an exquisite pocket watch hanging on his chest.
Monn raised his head to look at the sky upon hearing Vernal’s question. Then, he raised his hand and picked up the pocket watch on his chest. He opened it and looked at the time on it.
The hour hand of the pocket watch was pointing at five o’clock.
It was seven minutes away from five o’clock.
“Prelate Vernal, I’m about to get off work. What can I do for you? Also, please pay attention to your tone and behavior. Your rank is only equivalent to that of an archbishop.”
“You have to bow when you meet a Cardinals,” said Monn calmly.
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“…” Vernal, who was about to continue questioning, was stunned.
Then, he placed his left hand on his chest unwillingly and bent down slightly with extreme reluctance, performing a less-than-standard ritual.
“Although it’s not very standard, I won’t blame you anymore.” Monn’s expression was calm as he waved his hand.
“Then, Prelate Vernal, you can continue. What is your purpose of visit?”
“Cardinal Monn, according to your subordinate’s report, you have never gone out to fight with vampires or werewolves in the past two years. As the prelate of the Judicial Department of the Orthodox Church, I think I have the right to question whether you have fulfilled your responsibilities as a Cardinals!”
“Oh?”
Monn replied indifferently. He looked up at Vernal curiously.
“So?”
“So…” as Vernal said, he suddenly opened his mouth and froze on the spot.
“Prelate Vernal, may I ask, what is the responsibility of a Cardinals?”
“It is… to maintain the safety of the civilians under the church, and to protect justice and faith…”
“Well, may I ask, in the past two years, has no one dealt with the vampire or werewolf riots in all the areas under St. Servant’s command?”
“Erm…”
“Also, Prelate Vernal, may I ask how do you judge that I did not protect justice and faith?”
Monn sneered, and said softly, “Is…it with your imagination?”
“You!”
Vernal was furious!
He was in charge of the Judicial Department and usually did the darkest and most unrecognized things in the entire Orthodox Church.
To put it simply, the Judicial Department was a sharp sword that was not afraid of dirty things in the back of the Orthodox Church!
They would not care about means as long as they could uphold justice and faith!
One could imagine Vernal’s firmness in faith and dedication to justice to be promoted as the prelate of such an organization that almost did not need any bottom line!
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Therefore, Vernal hated the clergies, who did not work properly and did not take their faith seriously enough the most other than the vampires and werewolves!
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Many clergies were secretly executed by Vernal because of that!
A few days ago, a few archbishops suddenly joined forces and secretly reported to Vernal.
They said that their superior, Cardinal Monn, was doing nothing every day. He left the cathedral at five o’clock every day as the second-highest ranking Cardinal Bishop in the St. Servant Cathedral!
The words of those archbishops at that time were:
“Monn the red has never gone out to fight werewolves and vampires in the past two years!”
“The time he prays every day is also different from ours. It was always after nine o’clock!”
“He leaves the church on time from one to five o’clock every day as a Cardinals!”
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“That’s right. I’ve stalked him before. He will return to a small villa in St. Servant City. There must be a poor woman that he kept privately!”
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The archbishops were filled with righteous indignation and had been oppressed for a long time. That made Vernal, who was extremely pious, furious on the spot!
He found that Monn had already left work when he angrily went to the church to look for him…
Vernal, who had nowhere to vent his anger, held his anger in the church for half a night. He finally could not help but run out and destroy the hiding places of two vampires in the middle of the night. Only then he felt a little better.
Vernal had been waiting in the Holy Church early in the morning. He wanted to see if Monn was like what those archbishops had said!
In the end, what he saw was that Monn arrived at the church at sharp nine o’clock in the morning and began his day’s work. He was serious when he worked, and did not look like he was skimming at all.
He directly transferred the task to his subordinates, the archbishops, and let them handle it when there was news of werewolves and vampires causing trouble near St. Servant.
One had to know that killing werewolves and vampires not only represented honor and meritorious service but also represented a heavy amount of money!
The bounty on those dark creatures was extremely high, whether it was within the kingdom or the Orthodox Church!
No one would let go of the opportunity to earn money under such circumstances as long as they had a certain level of strength.
And Monn handed it all over to his subordinates. Vernal did not know whether to say that he was as timid as a mice or that he had was considering for his subordinates…
Now, seeing that Monn had packed up and was ready to get off work!
Vernal finally couldn’t hold it in and ran out to stop him.
However, Vernal couldn’t come up with any evidence or reason to blame him when Monn questioned him.
Was it wrong to go to work punctually? Was it wrong to rationally assign the task of hunting werewolves and vampires to his subordinates?
Vernal finally gritted his teeth and shouted after holding it in for a long time.
“Bishop Monn, I want to challenge you! It is a battle between knights. You shouldn’t refuse if you still maintain your faith in the True God!”
As Vernal spoke, Monn picked up the pocket watch on his chest again and looked at the hour hand pointing at five. He thought for a moment and said.
“Prelate Vernal, logically speaking, I shouldn’t have rejected your challenge. I respect your faith in the True God.”
“But… now.”
“I’m already off work. Please come and find me after nine o’clock tomorrow if you want to fight.”
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“I’m on duty at nine o’clock.”
Monn smiled and paid the church ritual before walking away after glancing at Vernal’s dumbfounded face.
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