Her eyes swept over the intact windows and closed doors again, and her fingertips unconsciously stroked Xiao Mu's smooth body.
She paused and murmured her doubts:
"But if this church had never been attacked, why wasn't there a bishop stationed there? Even if the original bishop had passed away, the Church of Holy Light would have sent a new one... Maple Leaf Town is so wealthy..."
Xiao Mu twisted uneasily in Monica's arms, his pink eyes looking around vigilantly at this desolate land shrouded in "oblivion".
The night wind blew through the weeds, and the whimpering became louder.
The dim twilight completely sank behind the maple forest, and the deep blue-purple night began to cover this forgotten church courtyard.
Only the scattered lights in the distant Maple Leaf Town reminded them that they were not in absolute desolation.
Mark's hand gently pressed on the cold, heavy, and dusty oak door of the church.
The accumulated dust fell down.
He took a deep breath, and with a hint of discomfort, pushed hard.
“Crack!”
The teeth-grinding friction sound tore through the silence of the deserted courtyard, as if awakening a ghost that had been sleeping for many years.
A cold smell mixed with stale wood, damp stones and thick dust hit me in the face, carrying the unique smell of time.
The door opened.
The dim twilight barely squeezed through the crack in the door, illuminating the dust inside.
As expected, there was no scene of ruin or disrepair.
What he saw made Mark, who once managed a small church, feel dazed.
In the foyer, rows of long wooden chairs were neatly arranged, covered with thick gray dust cloth, like silent guards.
Although the ground was covered with dust, it was flat and clean, without any garbage, bird or animal droppings, or even scattered debris.
The pulpit stood intact in front, and the metal emblem symbolizing holy light above it was dim but still hung upright.
"Damn it..." Enzo gripped the hammer handle tightly, his small eyes filled with vigilance and confusion. "This is weird! Looks like the people in this church cleaned it up before leaving?"
Anna's emerald green pupils shrank slightly in the dim light. Although she felt that the church in front of her was weird, she didn't see anything wrong.
She just subconsciously put on the quiver at her waist.
Monica held Xiao Mu in her arms, and the identification magic circle in the depths of her wine-red eyes silently flowed, sweeping across every corner of the hallway.
[Natural aging], [Dust accumulation], [No signs of recent activity], [Structural stability], [No signs of damage]...
A series of information flashed through her mind, confirming that the scene before her was not an illusion.
"Let's go in and take a look." Mark's voice was low, and the trainee inquisitor badge on his chest was emitting a faint cold light in the shadows. Obviously, the badge of the Holy Knights did not indicate that there was any registered heresy here.
He stepped in first, his boots leaving clear footprints in the thick dust.
The team traveled together, exploring carefully.
Prayer rooms, confessionals, sacristies… without exception.
The furniture and objects were arranged meticulously, and almost all of them were covered with dust sheets, as if the owner was only away temporarily and would be back at any time.
The most shocking thing is the library.
This place is not covered with dust cloth.
Tall oak bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling, housing thousands of books in neat rows.
The leather-bound "Holy Light Canon", the thick "Lily Kingdom Local Chronicles", various theological treatises, and even basic herbal medicine and agricultural calendars...
They stand quietly on the bookshelf like sleeping soldiers, and the gold-stamped words on the spines are faintly visible under the dust.
There is no insect damage, no mildew, just covered by time.
The air was filled with the unique smell of old books, a mixture of wood and paper, so strong that it could not be dispelled.
"This..." Enzo knocked on a bookshelf with a small hammer, making a dull echo. "This wood doesn't seem like ordinary wood. There are so many books here! I haven't seen so many books even in the Graybeard Clan! Is the Church of Holy Light... so wealthy?"
"Tsk!" Anna, who was walking behind Enzo, couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Aside from the orcs, the dwarf clan is the race that least likes reading, okay? How dare you, shorty, compare your clan's collection of books with the Church of Holy Light?"
It’s not that Anna is racist. The elves and humans are the races that love creation and art the most in the Holy Dragon Continent.
It makes sense that they have more books than other races.
"Anna, don't compare a small church with the library in your Elven Capital. This church has so many books, probably because its original bishop was relatively wealthy..."
At least much richer than old Stuart.
Mark secretly complained in his heart that if little Mark's family had so many books, he wouldn't be so miserable just selling books.
Mark picked up a copy of the "Bishop's Code of Conduct for the Dragon Slaying City Diocese" and blew away the thick dust on the cover.
The yellowed pages are fragile but intact, and the ink is clear.
He turned to the title page and saw the date of the signature was forty-five years ago, and the person who was commissioned was Luo Ning Feng.
This is the Code that every clergyman who is appointed as a bishop of the church will receive when he is appointed by the local diocese. The date of signature is the date of appointment.
After obtaining this code, the ordained clergy will automatically acquire a new profession - bishop.
This is also a special profession that every church has.
It does not provide any bonus to combat power, but it can represent the church to spread faith to believers in a fixed area and collect religious taxes from local nobles and civilians.
In the Church of Holy Light, this profession can be passed down from generation to generation.
Of course, it can only be passed down to family members who believe in the Holy Light.
Little Mark had gone through so much trouble just to change the name of the person appointed to the "Bishop's Code of Fruit Wine City Diocese" to his own when he changed his job.
However, his job change always failed, and he couldn't even change to the most basic Holy Light Priest.
"Commanded for forty-five years, disappeared twenty-five years ago..."
Putting aside the memories of Stewart Church, Mark muttered to himself and carefully put the book back to its place, with the doubts in his heart growing heavier.
Why would such a wealthy and peaceful town completely forget and abandon an intact Holy Light Church?
At night, the team camped in a relatively clean corner of the prayer room.
The lit small fluorite lamps dispelled some of the darkness, but could not dispel the doubts that permeated the entire abandoned church and everyone's heart.
Mark and Monica sat under the lamp, whispering about their observations of the day.
Enzo was bored and used his square-peen hammer to scratch along the seams of the floor, while Anna held a longbow and listened vigilantly to the movements inside and outside the church.
Xiao Mu curled up beside Mark and fell asleep with his eyes closed.
"From the current perspective, all clues point to 'forgetting'."
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