After saying goodbye to the two nuns, Todd walks around the town of Twilight, and suddenly discovers that there are many strange people in the town compared to the past.

The well-dressed men were in stark contrast to the hurried, busy residents who pointed at the houses lining the streets, pausing from time to time to ask passers-by who the owners were.

I found a resident on the road and wanted to ask what was going on.

Because Todd was wearing lab coats, the residents didn't recognize him at first. After a moment, the latter looked at the inquirer's face, his eyes widened, and he shouted in disbelief: "Holy Son!

This voice immediately attracted the attention of everyone on the street, and people gathered like a tide, and the voices of praise and blessings were endless. Seeing that the situation was not good, Todd recited two prayers, drew a cross, and quickly slipped back.

At the entrance of the church, Huggins was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, circling back and forth in place.

Todd's appearance, in the man's eyes, was like the arrival of a Savior.

Huggins looked the other party's clothes up and down, and hurriedly said, "My lord, hurry, go and change into your holy rank!"

Seeing the man's panicked appearance, Todd touched the bridge of his nose in confusion and asked funny: "What are you doing in such a hurry? It can't be the Pope, right?"

Huggins' solemn expression made Todd, who found that the atmosphere was wrong, laugh a few times, and then involuntarily stopped.

The other party's next sentence frightened Todd into jumping up from the ground.

"The Holy Envoy of the Papal States is about to arrive. 』

——————————————

"Is there anything wrong with my attire?" asked Todd, dressed in full Holy Rank, standing at the entrance to the town, looking out over the plains to the east, as he looked to Huggins beside him.

Around the priest, a large group of people with good deeds had long gathered. The news of the arrival of the papal envoy has long been spread through the streets and alleys by well-informed people.

Huggins straightened nervously, not paying any attention to Todd's inquiry, and said nothing.

At the end of the plain in the distance, a procession of knights holding the Holy Cross snaked their way. Seeing the team approaching the town, Todd lowered his head and looked at the ground, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a figure coming in front of him.

A fuchsia foot-length caftan with a white knee-high blouse in the middle, a large fuchsia shawl on the outside, and a cross hanging from a green striped rope on the chest.

Todd hurriedly straightened his posture and said reverently: "Respected Holy Messenger, you have brought the infinite mercy of the Heavenly Father, please give us these apostles......"

Ahem!

The familiar-sounding voice made Todd look up. Seeing who it was, he asked in surprise, "Bishop Fabian, why are you?!"

The bishop tilted his head to the side with an embarrassed expression, and Todd noticed that there was an inconspicuous young man in a black deacon's robe standing beside him.

This man is in his twenties, with fluffy and curly brown hair, a straight body, and unsurprising facial features, but his smile makes people feel warm.

Todd looked at the young man's ordinary black deacon robe, looked at Bishop Fabian in disbelief, and stammered, "What ......is this?" Is that ......?"

The bishop also looked a little helpless and confused, but he said: "Friend Todd, let me introduce you, this is the Holy Envoy of the Papal States, Tristan Gresham Bennett. ”

Before Todd could say anything, the Holy Envoy took two steps forward, grabbed the priest's sleeve, and asked what he said startled the former: "I heard you have an alchemy laboratory?"

Nervously looking at the rest of the Papal State Emissary Corps, Todd noticed that the papal knights and retinue did not look unusual, and their faces were not strange.

Not knowing what the Holy Envoy's intentions were, Todd, whose brain was blank, laughed dryly: "Lord Holy Envoy, it's almost noon right now, why don't you have lunch first......

Tristan turned to the leading knight of the mission and said, "You go to the meal with the priest's entourage. ”

Seeing the rest of the mission follow Huggins towards the town, while the Holy Envoy looked at him with a look of hope, Todd sighed deeply and had no choice but to lead Tristan towards the experimental building.

As the two passed by the entrance of the church, they happened to meet Richer and Karin.

While Karin was bouncing up and talking to Todd about interesting things, the latter noticed that Richel and Tristan were staring at each other on the street.

The holy envoy from the Papal States, looking at the wide nun robe worn by Richel, his face was flushed, and he finally snorted and couldn't help laughing.

The abbot glared fiercely at the young deacon in front of him, grabbed the reluctant Karin, and strode away.

Looking at the nun in the distance in disbelief, Todd's mind was confused, and he asked the young man, "Lord Holy Envoy, do you know this sister?"

Tristan wiped the corners of his eyes and nodded with a smile: "Ah, yes! Yes, yes, it's just a few faces." ”

Lie to the ghost, look at your appearance, you are clearly an acquaintance with that little fox!

With such a belly, Todd opened the door to the laboratory.

Tristan's eyes lit up, and he stepped into the "ocean" of lab equipment and reagent bottles, carefully examining everything, and finally landed on Todd's microscope.

The layman looks at the bustle, and the insider looks at the doorway.

Todd paid attention to his gaze, and immediately understood that this Holy Envoy was definitely a skilled master of alchemy. While the other party focused on the microscope, he secretly moved a wooden plank to block the passage to the back of the laboratory.

"This is also an alchemy instrument?" Tristan touched his chin with his right hand and supported his elbow with his left hand, looking curious.

Todd kicked the strip of cloth on the ground to cover the gap under the plank, and said, "My lord, it's called a microscope, and you can see very small things." ”

The man turned his head excitedly and asked in a loud voice, "How small?!"

Todd hurriedly moved his steps, changed positions, walked in front of the man, opened the wooden box of the microscope, took out two glass slides, dripped a drop of water, and put them on the observation platform.

Tristan watched the priest's movements, his gaze lingering on the glass slide for a moment.

After adjusting the eyepiece and objective, Todd motioned for the Holy Envoy to come and watch.

Seconds later, the man's scream made Todd squint and pluck out his ears.

Tristan pointed to the observation hole with a trembling hand and stammered, "What is this?"

Todd looked closer to the observation hole and said slowly, "The largest object that looks like the sole of a shoe is a paramecium, the green strip is an euglena, and the one that is connected together should be a cyanobacteria ......."

The man pushed him away, put his eyes back together, pulled over a stool beside him, and sat down without the slightest hint of emotion.

Todd scratched the back of his head, looked at the plank behind him again, and said cautiously, "Lord Holy Envoy......"

The man's head remained motionless, he waved his hand behind him, and said in a friendly tone, "Call me Tristan, Priest." ”

Todd continued: "Okay, Tristan. About lunch ......"

"If you're hungry, go eat first, and leave me alone. ”

Todd rolled his eyes and cursed in his heart: "Nonsense! How dare I leave you here alone, there are still a bunch of unsightly things here, if the church finds out, I can be burned at the stake!"

"Father, do you have a pen and paper?"

Hearing the other party's words, Todd hurriedly opened the locker under the table, and said busily: "Yes, yes, you wait." ”

After Tristan got the pen and paper, he looked at the observation hole of the microscope and wrote about the appearance of the drawing. Todd let out a long sigh, touched his stomach, and began rummaging through the lab for leftover pastries from last night......

————————————

"My lord, it's almost time for dinner, the mission is ......" Huggins stepped through the door of the lab, stunned by what he was seeing, forgetting what was next.

The envoy, dressed in a black deacon's robe, sat intently in front of the microscope with a pile of sketches on the table.

Our Lord Todd, sitting on a small bench, rubbing his stomach with one hand and his cheek raiser with the other, was full of depression written on his face.

Huggins looked at Todd, then at the Holy Envoy, and said hesitantly, "The Knight Chief of the Mission is looking for the Holy Envoy......

"Don't say it, no matter what you say, he won't listen. Todd stood up, beckoned to Huggins, walked over to Tristan, and gestured to the man's arm.

Huggins hesitated, but eventually set up Tristan with Todd, and walked out the door amid the protests of the other party.

The dinner was arranged in the side hall of the church, and due to the haste of preparation, it was all the usual food and drink.

Tristan, the Holy Envoy of the Papal States, spoke first with his praise to the Father, then with thanks from Bishop Fabian for his company, and finally with gratitude to the town of Twilight for his hospitality.

After listening to the other party's speech, Todd was a little stunned. For the Emissary never raised his primary concern—whether or not the Church would agree to the establishment of the Knights in Twilight.

This kind of thing Todd naturally doesn't want to ask directly, so he can only talk to Tristan between the banquets.

To his surprise, the Holy Envoy was obsessed with alchemy despite his young age. In social situations, he was as smooth as a loach, no matter how Todd prompted, the other party just pretended to be stupid, played Tai Chi, and never mentioned the matter of the Knights.

In the end, Todd also lost his temper completely, so he could only give up his intention to ask for the time being and talk about other topics.

"I thought that the Church saw alchemy as a beast of prey. Todd took a sip of red wine.

Tristan plucked the fruit from the plate with a fork and said with a smile: "Wouldn't it surprise you if I told you that in the Papal States, both bishops and nobles, many people studied alchemy?"

Todd's eyes widened: "But, alchemy isn't ......?"

"Yes, the Church once had an Encyclical of the Holy Ministry that defined alchemy as heresy, but that was 800 years ago. The charm of turning stones into gold and the "Philosopher's Stone" will be attracted to anyone. But then again, this kind of thing still can't be put on the table, and can only be done in secret. ”

Listening to the other party's words, Todd remembered the scene of his own trial for heresy, and stopped talking.

Tristan looked at his expression and smiled, "I heard about you before...... The Diocese of Silver Ring is still too remote, and many things will naturally change when they get here. Speaking of which, you and I still have some roots. The laboratory you found in the basement of the Monastery of San Cidlo......"

Todd jerked his head up and looked at the man, waiting for his next words.

“...... A master who once belonged to me. ”