The next morning, amid the sound of insects and birds, Nock opened his closed eyes and kissed the morning light.

"Well—another good day."

Nock got a carp out of his bed and landed on the floor, opened the old wardrobe, took out a white linen robe from it, put it on, and went downstairs to fetch water from the well in the backyard to freshen up.

As soon as Nock arrived in the backyard, a crisp greeting came from afar.

"Good morning, Brother Nock."

"Ah, good morning, Lillian. You're up so early again. ”

Nock yawned and replied listlessly to the little girl.

Lillian John, twelve, was the oldest child in the convent after Nock. At the age of five, he was picked up by Father John and became the second child of the monastery in addition to Nock.

She is the adopted daughter of Father John and the sister of Nock.

After the death of Father John, he took the initiative to take care of the other children and household chores, sharing a lot of pressure for Nock.

"Yes. I don't know why, I feel like I slept comfortably last night, and I feel very energetic when I wake up today. ”

Lillian responded to Nock's words as she helped him wash his face.

Nock, who was washing his face, heard this, and the movements in his hands paused slightly, and then he smiled casually: "That feeling is good." Don't work too yourself, with Brother Nock here, you will definitely be able to live a good life. ”

Although Nock said this, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart: it seems that last night's sleep spell did not have a bad effect on the little one.

Lillian smiled brightly, "Well, I believe Brother Nock. ”

Looking at Lillian, who was smiling brightly, Nock touched the other party's somewhat messy hair with his wet hand with pity, and said in an affirmative tone: "Well, in order to live up to Lilian's trust, after finishing the morning class, my brother will go to earn money, and we will have dinner in the evening." ”

"Yay! Then I'm going to wake up the little ones. There are a lot of clothes to be washed today, and I can get paid to buy more brown bread after washing them early. ”

"Well, go ahead."

Looking at Lilian as she jumped into the dormitory, the smile on Nok's face faded, and his fingers were clenched into fists at some point.

It's all about money!

In Nock's vague memory, the former monastery was not wealthy, but it never worried about food.

As a young man, he sat down at the table every day at the urging of Sister Merry, prayed with the other nuns and priests, and then enjoyed soft and delicious white bread and jam.

Occasionally, you can eat turkey and steak on Charismatic Day.

But those days changed a decade ago.

Many monks (a general term for trainee priests. They all left the convent one after another, leaving only him and Sister Merry.

Later, Sister Merry fell ill and Father John came.

On her deathbed, Sister Merry entrusted Nock and the convent to Father John.

Then, in the days when Nock and Father John lived together, there was no meat or jam to be seen, only white bread and water.

Later, when Lillian came, the white bread turned into black bread, but it was generous.

But with the convent more and more children after that.

The arrival of Collowell, Ashley, Hawkes, Hywell, and Avril made the brown bread break into two pieces.

Later, in the two months after Father John's death, it was not even three days before a piece of brown bread was seen on their table.

These are the children who secretly went to the street to beg without Nuoke.

In this way, the only black bread went into the stomach of Nock, who would only hide in the room and feel sorry for himself.

So much so that by the time he figured it out and walked out of the room, four of his six younger siblings had fallen ill, leaving Lillian and Collow's two older children to take care of the four who had fallen ill.

Even though Nock tried his best to cure the six later, the six little ones still had problems with hunger and were badly empty.

So much so that Lilian, a twelve-year-old, didn't look older than a ten-year-old.

Because of this, even if Nock kept hunting dark creatures to obtain materials to sell on the black market, the money in exchange for not enough money to buy medicine to make up for the deficit of several children.

Not to mention a good meal for the kids.

Therefore, even if Lillian's salary for washing clothes could not buy a pound of black bread, Nock did not interfere with them.

"Thank the Lord,

Give us delicious food,

Fill our hungry bellies.

Amen! ”

At the table, Nock and the children prayed before the meal and began to enjoy their hard-earned breakfast.

"Collowell, I'm going to be out in a moment, you have to take care of your younger siblings and don't trouble Lilian, you know?"

"No problem, Big Brother Nock. Colwell promised to complete the mission and not let outsiders bully us. ”

"Well, remember coming back as soon as you meet those guys who play wooden tricks. They don't dare to break in, so don't provoke them anymore. ”

"Oh, got it."

The main reason why Nock said these things at the dinner table was that the little guy Colover was so naughty that he dared to secretly play tricks on the followers of the Cult of Nature.

It is also thanks to the neighbors around him, even if they no longer believe in the Lord of Light, they are still worried about the affection of Sister Merry and Father John, and cover for the little one.

Otherwise, the little one will fall into the hands of the cultists of the Nature God cult, and he will not die or be crippled.

Even if Nock had the ability to retaliate afterwards, it wouldn't help.

But Nock also knew that Collowell regarded himself as an idol, and when he heard the members of the Cult of Nature speak ill of him, he would naturally defend himself.

He couldn't blame the other party, so he could only tactfully remind him not to cause trouble.

Collowwell, 10 years old. It was the survivor who was rescued from the mission target by Nock on his first mission three years ago.

Therefore, Colwell even changed his surname to Ryan to get one step closer to his idol.

After breakfast, Nock returned to his bedroom, changed into a normal outfit, put on his cloak, and brought a bag containing monster materials, and was about to go out when nine-year-old Ashley ran in with a shabby bunny doll.

The soft and weak Asley held the rabbit in one hand and grabbed Nock's robe with the other: "Brother Nock, there is a guest from the church." ”

"Guests? Did he say what he wanted to do? ”

Nock bent down and picked up Ashley from the ground, weighing less than 40 pounds, which made Nock's heart tussle.

This is the third oldest child after Lillian and Collowell, but it is thinner than seven-year-old Hawks and five-year-old twin siblings Hywell and Avril.

Even five-year-old Avril is over 30 pounds!

The kid was too thin.

"I don't know. It was a very tall uncle, and although he wore a big cloak like his brother and hid his face in his beard, Ashley saw that the uncle was very unhappy. ”

Ashley, who was being held by Nock, whispered a report and told all the information she had observed.

After listening to this, Nock thought about it and decided to change his clothes, after all, his current dress was not suitable for receiving people.

Whether the visitor is a guest or not, it is not easy for him to dress like this to meet people.

"Ashley, you go tell Lillian to take the guests to the side hall, remember to serve tea, and I'll be there later."

Nock put Asley down and patted her little ass in command.

Ai Xian complained dissatisfiedly: "Brother Nock, Ai Xian is a lady, and a lady's ass can't be just taken by a man." ”

Nock was stunned, then laughed and said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my brother forgot that Ashley is a lady." My brother promised not next time. ”

Ashley nodded with satisfaction, "Then Ashley forgave you." But ......"

Looking at Ashley's hesitant expression, Nock asked curiously, "But what?" ”

Ai Sili gritted her teeth, bowed her head timidly and said, "But if my brother wants to shoot, Ai Sili can secretly let my brother shoot it, just once, no more." ”

After saying that, Ashley covered her face and ran away shyly.

Nock looked at the small figure and smiled bitterly.

He laughed self-deprecatingly, "Yes, I really have to thank you!" ”

Nock quickly changed into a priest's costume and strode towards the front yard with his Bible in hand.

Entering the side hall of the church, Nock saw at a glance the bearded man holding a teacup in a daze.

This is a middle-aged man, probably in his mid-thirties and forties.

There was no way, the man's brown beard covered his real age well, and the haggard and worried look on his face made him look a few years older.

Nock couldn't tell the exact age of the other party.

However, the other party is not here to find fault, which Nock determined at a glance.

On the contrary, the other party is really a "guest", but it is the kind of "guest" who asks for help.

"Good day, noble sir. I don't know how I can help you? ”

Nock smiled and broke the man's musings.

The man hurriedly put down the teacup that had been knocked over by fright and stood up.

It's just that when he saw Nock's young face, he was secretly taken aback.

However, he quickly hid this surprise in his heart and adjusted his state.

"It's rude, honorable priest. Although I have heard that you are the youngest priest in England, I still did not expect you to be so young and promising. ”

The man apologized as he held out his right hand to Nock.

Nock stretched out his right hand and shook it politely with the other party, and said with a smile: "You have won the prize." I'm Nock Lane, and you can call me Father Lane. If you don't greet well, don't be surprised. Have a seat! ”

"Oh, no, no. Thank you. ”

The two sat down politely face-to-face.

The man hurriedly opened his mouth to explain his intentions: "In Lower Ford Holmes, I came here this time, first, to confess to the Lord, and secondly, to ask the priest to give me guidance on the lost lamb." ”

Knowing this, Nock immediately stood up and extended an invitation to the other party.

"I see what Mr. Holmes means, please come with me, the confessional is here."