"Where's Elder Stefan?"

"Your Excellency is in the reliquary, Elder John. ◎ Enlightenment. Cover. Book. Net.◎" The maid replied by bending down respectfully.

Elder John glanced at her, the maid was almost three times the age of the other young maidens who roamed the great dwelling—she was Harry, now Stephen, and Heyman's only surviving half-sister, and they were very close to Stephen when he was Harry, and she had tried to stuff Harry with a cookie when he was expelled—and it was because of this peculiarity that she was brought back from exile after Stephan's return.

Strong's reliquary, much smaller than the one that Sasha had been to in White Salt City, but the value of the items and materials in it was far beyond the reach of the latter.

For five centuries, the Strands and Jacobs searched for all sorts of holy things—they didn't care about money or time, they did whatever it took to do it—the crumbling fragments of the original cross, the thorns plucked from the crown of thorns, the specimens of the Savior's infant swaddling, the belt of Saint Paul, the strand of Saint Gergeria's hair...... And so on and so forth, they quickly filled one room, and then another...... To this day, the elders still had to take a short time out of the year to sort through and select the incomparably precious treasures - the questionable ones were discarded in the basement and of little value, most of them were collected by the Reliquary of White Salt City, and the best ones belonged to the Sage Jared.

Saint Jared's room was stuffed with these things, and there were even three fine sandalwood boxes on the small altar. There was gold, agarwood, and myrrh in it; It is said that when the Son was born in Bethlehem, several wise men went to worship the gifts carried by the Holy Child, and these three holy relics are still in Cologne Cathedral, but Saint Jared was convinced that what he had was the real thing.

Every night he would open the box and sniff the inside. to be able to sleep peacefully in the embrace of the virgin clouds.

The present saint, Jared, was once majestic, cold, and intelligent, and Elder John still remembers how fearful and fearful he was at a young age, oh, perhaps he was not alone, but as he and the successive "saints" have said, he, and they, were real, spokesmen appointed by the Lord's blessing and decree, the shadow of the heavenly light cast into the human world. Living saints. Palpable angels.

But he was still old after all. His feet finally hit the ground, as if some devil was dragging him to hell with all but Heyman. Almost all of the elders are looking forward to the emergence of a new "Jared".

Elder John can't say he didn't have that thought, after all, he was also a Strong James.

The thought was still spinning in Elder John's mind as he walked into the reliquary, and he almost forgot to bow to the reliquary.

Stefan sat on a simple bench with no table in the reliquary.

"Good afternoon, brother." Elder John said, "In accordance with the will of Saint Jared, I have come to tell you about a crime, and I ask you to listen carefully and give a just verdict."

"Good afternoon, brother." Stepan said, gesturing to the other end of the bench. "Sit down, and I'll hear every word you say."

Elder John was considered a man of few words, but he was able to make things clear and clear when necessary, and it was not complicated.

Remember the man who was borrowed by the ghouls for a night in the attic? Unfortunately, the family of three people, father and mother, were extremely devout believers, and even the Strong Jacobs were so impressed by their steadfastness and purity that their children were confirmed to attend next year's confirmation, which was a special honor, because even in the supervising sect, the children would not be able to perform confirmation until they were seven years old.

Hopkins left few traces, and if the boy knew how to keep his mouth shut, his parents wouldn't have noticed anything. It's a pity, he said, at the breakfast table. His mother wanted to hide it, but his father told everything in the confessional. The priests searched all the rooms and then imprisoned them.

How is it decided? It's simple for any Strong Jacob - generally exile, but because of the ghouls, they have lost so much that these three unlucky guys will probably be angry - in White Salt City, there are two cemeteries, one of which, to put it more clearly, is the abandoned salt well, which is specially designed for these sinners.

Stefan is here to contain and change White Salt and Strong Jacob, and if the order for the death penalty comes out of his mouth, it will make people in the know feel ridiculous. But he also can't show weakness, such as "imprisonment" or "exile", and the elders who have killed their sons, nephews, and brothers will be very unhappy about this - father, mother, and child are ordinary like pebbles on the street, and have nothing to do with the future development and interests of White Salt City, if there is any best target in the world today that can give them vent their anger and frustration, it is this small and pitiful family.

Stepan thought for a moment, took out a Bible from his pocket, a very ordinary black leather surface, with a gilded title, which an adult man could easily hold in his hand, looked around, stood up, and picked up a snow-white feather—a feather that was said to have been left as a token when an angel descended on Sodom to warn Rhodes to leave as soon as possible with his wife and children—and put it in the Bible as a bookmark.

"Give this Bible to the father," said Stephen, "and tell him that I cannot condemn him, for I too are guilty, and that the only one who can condemn him is the one who is not guilty and who is punished in our place."

Elder John took the Bible, bowed respectfully, and exited the reliquary.

He wanted to open the Bible and look at it, but ultimately decided to leave it as it was.

The owner of the house, who worked as a driller in a salt well, had white and rough skin, and the muscles of his arms, shoulders, and chest were very thick, and he walked like a rooster bred in a chicken farm, but when he saw Elder John in a black robe. The expression and movements are like that of a sick chick that has been discarded.

Elder John handed him the Bible and watched as he flipped to the bookmarked page.

He waited patiently for a while: "Do you need me to read it for you?"

"......No," the man said, showing a blank look that could even be called a faux pas: "...... Thank you...... I mean, thank you. I understand. He turned, went into the room, and took the Bible with him, but it didn't matter, this version of the Bible was the most widely circulated in White Salt City, and Elder John was certainly familiar with it, so familiar that he could tell what the first sentence of the page with the feather bookmark was when he looked it upside down.

—Leviticus 5:17: If anyone sins and does anything which the LORD has commanded him not to do, and he does not know it, but he has sinned, he will bear his iniquity.

"And then?"

"Then the man killed his wife and son, with a small-caliber shotgun, to his head, and didn't let them suffer too much - the region where White Salt City is located is one of the few regions that has not abolished the death penalty. I think his verdict will come down soon. ”

"Stefan has always been a wonderful guy." Anthony. Hopkins said.

The second half of the XXI century. The wave of criticism that swept across the Western Continent with their adorable children caused the popes and bishops of the time to 'plunge into great pain'...... However, compared to the criminal immunity that the clergy were thus forcibly deprived of. The former is really nothing. Will a criminal standing on the trial bench still be respected and trusted? Of course not, there are even Catholics who no longer attend the weekly Mass because they don't want their children to have too much contact with the priests...... This almost directly shook the foundations of the church. Since then, the Vatican has been particularly cautious about matters involving minors.

When Stefan was still a "priest", more than half a dozen cases of disappearances related to him were made of minors, most of them boys. The "priest" is very good, but if he only has this one weight, it is not enough to make the Holy See reach out, and there are still people in the Holy See who see the ability as bait cast by the devil, and many more people stand in neutrality, such as the Bishops' Conference headed by the Pope.

Then it has to do with his surname. Strong Jacob, the Supervising Sect they founded, is in some ways the representative of the Convinced—their followers are still willing to give everything they have and fight fearlessly for their unwavering faith, so that even if they are small in number, this sect can still exert considerable influence throughout the Western Continent—the Bishops noticed this early on, but only the person surnamed Strong James can stand at the top of the Supervising Sect.

"Elder Stefan will be a little busy for the next few moments, then."

"Very busy." Chegalle. Miraculously, Bissan said, he was thinner than before, and he was not overeating as often as he used to, but when he sat in his chair, the flesh still spilled between the armrests and the cushions, "Let the priests do their job!" He paused, "What are the boys doing now?"

"Beelzebub was in his room, and he was in the kitchen." Hopkins said.

Chegalle made a quick grimace: "I think we should do something, dear Hopkins, the sun is so good outside, and the boys ...... God, one in the room, one in the kitchen, they're not little girls. ”

The two fathers walked out the door one after the other, and the previous topic seemed to have been thrown out of the clouds, but we all know that both Bisandi and Hopkins have very good memories and small hearts.

Old Andreana stood in the kitchen, holding up a piece of fresh, plump lobster meat, which had been stuffed with food for the great migration of the lobster at the beginning of winter, and grew fat and strong, but in the end it was cheaper for the human mouth and stomach - the shrimp was soaked in cider with salt and red pepper for a few minutes, coated in thick cheese and breadcrumbs, fried in grapeseed oil, and finally poured with crushed leaves and tomato juice.

Sasha was busy on the sidelines, and as soon as the oven was turned on, the kitchen was immediately filled with a sweet and mellow aroma.

"What is this?" Old Andreana took a deep breath: "It smells like chocolate chip cookies, but it seems like there's something else."

"South-Central style chocolate chip biscuits," Sasha said, taking off his heavy kitchen gloves and changing the spatula to scoop the biscuits in the shape of various little monsters from the hot and smooth iron plate.

Old Andreana tasted a piece with a strange expression.

"Chili peppers in it?"

"Yes, super chili powder," Sasha happily fed himself a piece, "Very good, huh?"

ps:

Happy Chinese New Year, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm very sorry.,Some time ago, I was injured in an accident.,Although it's healed now.,But it's still a little rusty when coding words.,It's about a week to adjust.,After that, it's probably going to be able to change the text normally.。

The chapter here was not written before.,I'm done today.,Send it up for everyone to see.,Thank you.。

I wish you all good health, all the best, smooth work, and financial resources!

((One second to remember)