"I'm here to take Maine away."

This was the first sentence Fang Zheng said after meeting the head priest.

No greetings, no self-introductions, he just came straight to the point and asked for the person.

"Excuse me, who are you?"

"Myne's friend."

"friend?"

The head priest was somewhat surprised by Fang Zheng's answer. Of course, he knew about Myne, but in his opinion, she was just a strange civilian girl, and it was not enough to alarm a knight. You know, knights are also considered nobles. Although the head priest had never heard of Fang Zheng's name, he knew from his aura that this man's background was obviously not simple.

However, the head priest obviously would not listen to the other party so easily.

"I'm very sorry, Your Excellency the Knight. Myne attacked the Temple Master, which is a very serious crime. Given the current situation, we cannot let her go easily..."

"hehe."

Hearing this, Fang Zheng laughed. Before coming here, he had consulted with the priestess and understood why the temple wanted to keep Myne. The so-called attack on the temple chief was just an excuse. In fact, the temple was attracted by Myne's powerful magic.

Believers like the priestess and Aisi, who belong to different gods, all have their own powers. For example, the priestess's magic comes from the Earth Mother Goddess, and Aisi's "gift" is a reward from Loki. But this temple is different. To put it bluntly, as an intermediary organization responsible for liaison, this nameless temple also has no gods to protect it. Therefore, the priests working here are more like magicians than priests.

The objects of this temple's search are also very different from those of other temples. They mainly search for orphans, and then select children with magical powers. Then, let them become priests.

However, the priests here are not used to serve the gods - after all, there are no gods to serve in this temple.

In fact, the priests here are used to serve the nobles.

After all, other temples are backed by big bosses, but this temple is backed by the country, so naturally it has to have good relations with high-ranking nobles.

There are two types of priests in the temple, one is blue-robed and the other is gray-robed. Most of the gray-robed priests are orphans and people without magic power. The blue-robed priests are mostly sent here from various noble families due to political struggles or other reasons. Therefore, in this temple, the blue-robed priests have a higher status than the gray-robed priests, and the gray-robed priests are very miserable.

Especially those female priests, they have no power to refuse, whether it is nobles or blue-robed priests who take a fancy to them, they can only hold the flowers.

After all, that's their job.

According to the priestess's speculation, the temple probably wanted to train Maine as a blue-robed priestess, and then give her to a noble as a concubine - after all, this kind of thing was not even a secret in the temple, it was just their normal "work process". Girls with magic powers were more likely to give birth to offspring with magic powers for the nobles, which was another reason why the temple valued Maine.

Unlike the so-called bright surface but dark inside stories in Qidian.com, people here are open about it. After all, the civilization level of this world is only at the level of the Middle Ages. The untouchables don't have human rights, let alone liberating women's rights. In the eyes of these people, these are not a big deal at all. It's just like going out to buy a twist. Is there any need to hide?

"So how can we get Maine to leave?"

"I can't decide this. You must discuss it with the temple master..."

"oh."

Hearing this, Fang Zheng said "Oh", then he reached out and took out the "Whispering Banner", then wrote a few words on it and closed it. Then Fang Zheng closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa as if he was resting.

"……?"

The head priest was somewhat surprised by Fang Zheng's inexplicable action, but just when he wanted to say something, the door was suddenly pushed open, and then a servant stumbled in.

"Chief Priest, this is terrible! The head of the temple is dead!"

"What?"

Hearing this, the chief priest was shocked. He didn't even have time to say anything. He just looked at Fang Zheng deeply, then rushed out of the meeting room and went to the room of the temple master.

When the head priest came back again, Fang Zheng, who was drinking his tea out of boredom, raised his cup.

"Now, can I take Maine away?"

"……certainly."

This time, the head priest didn't say anything else. He just nodded and raised his hand to beckon his attendant.

"Take him to find the girl named Maine."

"yes."

Hearing the High Priest's order, the attendant nodded, and at the same time he looked at the High Priest in confusion, and then took Fang Zheng out of the reception room. The High Priest stared at Fang Zheng's back with a gloomy face until the door of the reception room was closed.

The temple master is indeed dead.

But he did not die from poisoning, nor was he assassinated. He just summoned a gray-robed priest to hold flowers, but because he did not take his age into consideration, he died instantly.

It was that simple. Everyone could testify that the temple master had summoned the gray-robed priestess before Fang Zheng arrived, and the gray-robed priestess herself knew that she had been in the temple since she was born and had never left the temple. It was impossible for her to have any contact with other people.

But... the head priest was certain that the temple master's death was related to this man.

He could even be sure that the other party had killed the temple master, otherwise he would not have behaved so strangely.

But how did this man do it?

What exactly did he do?

Why can't I find any clues?

The head priest thought for a moment, then shook his head and stopped thinking about it. In any case, the temple master was dead, and there was no evidence to prove that he was killed, so he could only treat it as an accident.

At this moment, Fang Zheng also followed the servant to the door of a room in a remote part of the temple, and then Fang Zheng pushed the door open.

"Hey, little girl, let's go."

"Mr. Fang Zheng!"

Seeing Fang Zheng appear, Mei Yin, who was sitting in the bedroom, jumped up happily.

"You seem to be doing well, with food and drink. What's wrong with staying here?"

"Of course not! Do you think I want to be here? I don't want to be a nobleman's mistress!"

Having said that, Maine seemed to have thought of something and shuddered.

"You know what? The day before yesterday I met a gray priest. She was only eight years old. Guess what her dream was?"

"What?"

"She said she wanted to be the lover of the temple master! I was shocked at the time!"

"Well... it's pretty scary."

Hearing this, Fang Zheng nodded. After all, the level of civilization here is low. As a reincarnated person from the modern era, Maine certainly cannot adapt to this environment. This is also normal. If a modern person were reincarnated into the Middle Ages, he would probably want to die.

"Okay, don't worry about it now. Come on, I'll take you home. By the way, I've already bought a house here. How are you going to convince your parents and sister to come over?"

"I haven't thought about this yet."

"Then think about it on the way."

Fang Zheng said a few more words, then led Mei Yin out of the room and walked out of the temple. Mei Yin followed behind Fang Zheng without saying a word, frowning and looking embarrassed.

Just as they were about to leave the temple, Maine suddenly made up her mind.

"Mr. Fang Zheng, I have a request... Please save those children."

"Which ones?"

"This... follow me!"

Having said that, Maine turned around and ran to the other side of the temple, while Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders and followed Maine slowly. Then they left the main building of the temple and came to a remote courtyard next to it.

"Where is this?"

"This seems to be... an orphanage."

"Orphanage...oh..."

Hearing Maine's answer, Fang Zheng nodded. It wasn't particularly strange that the temple also served as an orphanage. This situation was very normal in many worlds. But what made Fang Zheng curious was...

"What brings you here?"

"Well... I wanted to find a way to escape at first, so... I came here. I thought there would be a passage leading to the outside..."

"...You are really brave."

Looking at the girl in front of him, Fang Zheng shook his head helplessly.

Forget it, it’s the nature of a time traveler to not seek death.

“…It’s right here.”

However, after leading Fang Zheng to a corner, Maine stopped. She stared at the door in front of her with a complicated expression, even with a bit of fear, as if there was a den of hell behind it.

"here?"

Fang Zheng glanced at Maine, then walked forward, stretched out his hand and pushed the door open.

The first thing that came was an incomparable stench.

Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes, and the first thing he saw was rotten straw covered with feces and urine, and naked young children lying on the straw. These children looked just like the African refugee children Fang Zheng had seen on TV. They were all skinny, with big heads and small bodies, and looked as if they were not far from death.

Or so it is.

"What's going on?"

Fang Zheng silently closed the door and looked at Maine again. Maine's face was pale and her whole body was shaking.

"I, I don't know either... But that's what I saw when I opened the door, and then I passed out... Although the head priest sent me back to my room afterwards, I couldn't forget these children... I, I never thought that such a thing would happen... I couldn't even sleep well at night..."

For someone living in a peacetime, this scene might indeed be too exciting.

"I see."

Hearing this, Fang Zheng nodded.

"Anyway, let's go back first."

Then he spoke.