"What are you doing here?" Morris stepped forward, looking at Tracy with a gloomy expression. What was his nephew planning now?
"Uncle, I've come to apologize to His Highness the Holy Son." Tracy managed to squeeze out these words, feeling as if his face was being roasted on a stove, making his stubbornness and persistence yesterday seem like a joke.
"Oh?" Maurice's expression softened slightly. He patted Tracy on the shoulder. "I hope His Highness can forgive your rudeness yesterday."
Phil Gray was playing with the cat in his arms. The cat had eaten too much yesterday, devouring two fish that the city lord had sent. It seemed to still be digesting, and was lazily yawning.
“Your Highness, I apologize. I was wrong yesterday, and I hope you can forgive me.” Tracy walked over with Morris by her side, bowing her head and speaking sincerely.
“I hope you will pay attention to your words and actions in the future. You represent not only yourself, but also the Church of Dawn. As the bishop’s nephew, you should set an example. The virtues of the sun are not impulsiveness, irritability, or arrogance, but humility, enthusiasm, and kindness,” Phil Gray said, accepting the man’s apology out of respect for Bishop Morris.
“…Yes, I will keep your teachings in mind.” Tracy said, enunciating each word clearly. Although Phil Gray couldn’t see his eyes, he could still sense his suppressed dissatisfaction. But it didn’t matter anymore. If he committed another offense later, even Bishop Morris probably wouldn’t be able to protect him.
After Tracy left, their carriage started moving and slowly traveled along the cobblestone path.
Only the upper and middle classes in the city knew about what happened at yesterday's banquet, but many people still stopped to watch the bishop and the city lord travel together.
Ordinary people looked curiously at the young people sitting in the back of the carriage, guessing their true identities.
“Your Highness, please allow me to apologize again for Tracy’s disrespect.” Morris sighed. “You may also be wondering why my nephew is only around twenty years old when I am already seventy.”
Phil Gray, however, didn't notice anything amiss. He asked curiously, "Is there something going on?"
“Tracy is not my biological nephew. His father was a good friend of mine many years ago, and also a pastor of the Church of Dawn. He was a promising young chosen one of God at the time, and his mother was also a chosen one of the Day Prophets. The couple were quite prestigious in the church, but unfortunately…”
Morris paused for a moment, then continued, “A family was attacked by evil spirits. The church sent us to deal with it, but those evil spirits were too powerful. The couple sacrificed their lives to destroy the evil spirits, leaving behind their child, Tracy, who was not even a year old.”
"You adopted him later?"
“No, I entrusted him to my sister in the countryside. My sister and brother-in-law have been married for over ten years without children, so she can take care of him. At the time, I had too many affairs at the church and was single, so I wasn’t suitable to take care of him.” Morris shook his head. “My sister spoiled him too much, which made him a bit domineering. He had been living in the countryside for a long time and only became a chosen one in the last few months, so I sent him to the church school. He must have taken the day off yesterday to attend a dinner party.”
“I see.” Phil Gray nodded. He had thought that the nobles and those favored by the gods these days couldn’t be so brainless.
However, Tracy's parents were both martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the Church of Dawn, so it is understandable that the bishop would take extra care of them.
While chatting, we arrived at the city center square, a large circular open space with a huge statue of the Prophet of the Day in the center.
The statue looks quite old, but it's cleaned by priests every day and there's not a speck of dust on it.
The sun, the great eye of the day prophet, was coated with gold dust, reflecting a brilliant light in the sunlight.
They stopped the car, got out and offered a brief prayer, then continued on their way.
The streets they passed were lined with shops, bustling with activity, but their main purpose today was to visit the ruins left by the god of life, so they did not linger in these shops.
"We've arrived. That's a relic left by the God of Life. Our Churches of Dawn and Life have always been on good terms, and we've protected this relic very well. Favored members of Life often come to visit it." Morris said, pointing to a fenced courtyard in front of him. His gaze was mainly on the blond man next to the Holy Son, who was a favorite of Life.
Phil Gray was somewhat surprised that the ruins were like this.
The fenced yard in front of me is no different from a small courtyard in the countryside. Wildflowers and weeds grow wildly, and small orange flowers bloom on the fence.
The enclosure consists of three wooden houses, which do look quite old, with some blackening and cracks.
“Every year we invite people from the Church of Life to come and maintain it, using divine power to keep the wooden house alive. But just as life eventually comes to an end, this place has been here for over a thousand years. In some time, it will also disappear completely,” Morris sighed.
"I sensed the presence of a god, though it was very faint." Eli closed his eyes, and a pale green light emanated from his body.
“Let’s go in and take a look,” Morris said, pushing open the door to the cabin.
The door panel could fall off at any time.
“It is said that when the god of life came to visit the human world, he stayed here for one night. Overnight, the wasteland was covered with flowers and grass, and all kinds of small animals flocked to it,” Eli said. “I had heard the legends about this place before.”
The cabin contained only a simple wooden bed, covered in moss.
"Wait, what's under the bed?" Phil Gray, looking around, spotted something under the bed. Was it junk?
Would someone leave their belongings in the "tourist area"?
Eli crouched down, and Bishop Morris looked over curiously as well.
"No, this is... a person?"
Eli said in disbelief.
What?
As they talked, something under the bed moved, and after a rustling sound, a person dressed as a homeless man crawled out.
His body was covered in wounds, his hair was disheveled, and his face was covered in mud, making it impossible to see his original appearance.
"Who are you? Why are you under the bed!" Maurice frowned. How could anyone sleep in these dilapidated ruins? They had clearly sent priests to check on things every day to prevent anyone from damaging them.
Moreover, the environment here is already extremely fragile and requires divine power to maintain, so those who come to visit dare not linger.
"I...I'm scared, zombies! There are zombies outside!" the homeless man shouted in a panic, trying to run away, but Steven grabbed him to prevent him from damaging the ruins.
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