Walton, sitting behind the knight, popped a bean into his mouth and exclaimed loudly, "Could it be that they're making the townspeople pay back taxes?"

Leslie took the steaming barley tea from Adelina and glanced at the short, stout man: "He only pricked you with a needle, why are you holding such a grudge?"

Walton glared at the boy and snorted through his nose.

In the side entrance of the church.

Today, Todd was unusually dressed in the full priestly robes issued by the church, occasionally adjusting his mitre and adjusting his vestments. He felt nervous and uneasy, and inexplicably recalled the scene from his previous life when he was teaching at a university and first went to a sponsor to seek research funding.

He slowly walked to the chapel, where Rachel and Karin, dressed in nuns' habit, stood quietly beneath the cross, waiting for him.

“Miss Rachel…”

The woman pinched the cross on her chest with her index finger and thumb and waved it at the priest.

Realizing his slip of the tongue, Todd quickly corrected himself: "Sisters Rachel, thank you for your help. Without your help in lending me my craftsmen, the wooden platform probably wouldn't have been completed so quickly..."

“Father, we are all servants of the Father. Helping you is helping me.” Rachel made the sign of the cross on her chest, interlacing her fingers with piety and holiness.

The woman glanced sideways at Karin, who was still not used to wearing a nun's habit. The girl seemed to wake up from a dream and said "oh," quickly made the sign of the cross, lowered her head, but looked at Todd with a smile in her eyes.

Seeing her playful expression, the latter's serious and tense expression gradually eased, and he also laughed.

Four chimes rang out over the town of Muxi.

"It's time."

Hearing the clamor of voices around him, Todd turned his body towards the church square, pushed hard with both hands, and the door opened with a bang.