Chapter 35 Returning Home
The Church openly arrested a distinguished guest professor of the Tower of Great Masters inside the school grounds. The imperial ministers, imperial Marquis, the university’s high officials, and even an eccentric person like Great Master Ke Zha didn’t dare to speak a word in front of a Judge Priest. That level of authority and the intimidating aura of supreme religious prestige made an extremely deep impression on Lin Qi.
‘If I could become one of the Church’s upper cla.s.s, then I would have a lot of money, right?’
Almost instinctively, Lin Qi could estimate the amount of wealth acc.u.mulated by the Church’s authority. He wasn’t mistaken; the suits of armor worn by those Church Knights were all the expensive Three-layered Armor – the inner layer was a chain mail of pure steel, the middle layer was a flexible lock armor, and the outer layer was a firm and heavy plate armor. On the Three-layered Armor was inlaid a large number of magic spell formations using rare metals and gems, and it could effectively ward off both physical and magical attacks.
A suit of armor like this should be worth more than ten thousand gold coins, right? Compared to the the Dragon Cavalry’s pure steel plate armor which was worth ten gold coins a piece, each and every Church Knight was simply a living, golden man. It proved that they had gained so much money from selling redemption talismans and were indeed too rich.
Even that red-robed priest who was leading the group wore magic rings on all five fingers of his left hand. Every one of these instant, spell-casting magic rings was also worth more than ten thousand gold coins! Just a single hand of this red-robed priest could be compared with the right hand of Jiang Yong.
An extremely expensive and extremely valuable hand!
If these hired thugs of the Church running around everywhere arresting people were all so rich and powerful, then was it possible that the Church’s upper cla.s.s of Bishops, Holy Bishops and those big shots with the highest positions were eating pearls and drinking melted gold juice every day?
Up until Lin Qi boarded the s.h.i.+p to return home, he was still absent-mindedly pondering this question.
If someone ransacked the Church’s treasury, how much wealth there would be! If Lin Qi could plunder the Church’s treasury, perhaps his lifelong goal of living in a gold palace and dying in a golden tomb could immediately be achieved, right?.
“Too f.u.c.king rich!” Lin Qi smacked his lips, rubbing the corners of his mouth that nearly salivated.
Lin Qi stood on the deck in a daze. Enzo already mixed in with the sailors on the s.h.i.+p, generously sharing his mixture of betel palm and tobacco with them. At the same time, he joyfully accepted their rolled cigars of low-quality tobacco. He diligently helped the sailors in putting up the sail and sorted out the odd jobs on the deck.
As an outstanding swordsman, Enzo had ample physical strength to do these trivial matters.
After all, Enzo still didn’t have such a thick face like Lin Qi. He and Lin Qi both boarded this s.h.i.+p to Dunerk without paying any fees. Lin Qi could sit on the s.h.i.+p and enjoy the ride with a clear conscience, but Enzo felt that he had to at least help them with some ch.o.r.es.
“Such a wastrel!” Lin Qi resentfully glared at the busy Enzo. “You’re so busy expending too much strength. Later, you’ll eat even more. Don’t you know that we can only go through these two days on brown bread? d.a.m.n it, the last copper coin was already used to buy brown bread!”
Patting his purse that was clean as if washed with water, Lin Qi faintly sighed.
On the dock, Cripple was waving a white h
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andkerchief in their direction. He smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits, seemingly very happy that a trouble-seeking scoundrel like Lin Qi was finally returning home. As the s.h.i.+p was about to set sail, Cripple shouted in a loud voice, “Lin Qi, my dear little Lin Qi, say h.e.l.lo to your father for me. Tell him that Cripple has prepared a good, long-preserved wine here. If he has time, he may come to taste it.”
Lin Qi grinned and vigorously waved his hand back at Cripple.
Not far behind Cripple was precisely the Crippled Shop. Jiang Yong was standing on the balcony of a room on the highest floor of the inn, curiously looking their way. On the round and tall hat on his head, that black, poisonous snake emitted a faint gleam.
Observing Jiang Yong from the corner of his eyes, Lin Qi deeply inhaled. d.a.m.n it, a Heaven Knight. How could Lin Qi take action against him?
The s.h.i.+p faintly shook. Following the river current, it slowly sailed downstream, its prow loaded with thick and heavy angle irons.
The Seine River was the only river in the northern part of the continent that inexplicably didn’t freeze. Even during a freezing, cold winter, the river surface would at most have a layer of thin ice the thickness of a finger. In comparison, other rivers would be covered with a layer of several meters thick ice . It was for this reason that as long as normal s.h.i.+ps added some angle irons to the prow, they could easily part the thin layer of ice on the river surface as they sailed.
Accompanied by the ka-ka sound of ice shattering, the s.h.i.+p unhurriedly entered the main channel of the river, gradually accelerating and speeding along downstream. Along the Seine River from here towards the north, one could reach Dunerk in at most two days. That place was Lin Qi’s home, and it was the territory of his ancestors who grew and reproduced there for numerous years. According to Lin Qi’s family records, his family had been living in the Dunerk Prefecture since the long-ago Destruction Age.
His family was very well-known in the underworld of the West Continent. Known as the ‘Black Tiger’ Family, they were truly like a savage, ferocious beast perched high above the rest of the northern region of the continent. All businesses in the West Continent’s north region that couldn’t be exposed to light were either directly controlled by the Black Tiger Family or had to offer part of their profits to them. This family’s hidden influence was extensive. Even though they suffered heavy losses during the final stages of the Land Island War, their power nowadays was still no small matter.
Furthermore, although the Land Island War thinned the bloodline of the Black Tiger Family, it also allowed their financial resources and power to receive an enormous expansion. The family’s current situation was the weakest moment in their history, but at the same time, it was also the strongest moment in their history.
A journey without words. Snow acc.u.mulated along both banks of the Seine River. It was a vast expanse of whiteness as far as the eyes could see, without any varied scenery.
Only when pa.s.sing through a small town called Wright was Enzo was a little entranced – it was was precisely his hometown.
Lin Qi could only use their empty purse to console Enzo. On their way back, they could stop to take a look around his hometown when they had travel money. But for now, there was really nothing to be done. If they got off the s.h.i.+p now midway, then they wouldn’t have the money to get on another s.h.i.+p.
Drinking ice-cold, plain water and nibbling on brown bread, Lin Qi and Enzo endured the two days like two devout clergymen. Soon, a lighthouse close to 100 meters tall finally appeared ahead; they had arrived at Dunerk.
The sailors shouted excitedly. The s.h.i.+p unhurriedly approached the dock, and Lin Qi and Enzo arrived on the sh.o.r.e using a gangplank before gratefully waving their hands towards the owner of the s.h.i.+p.
Deeply inhaling the air that was mixed with a strong and fishy seawater smell, Lin Qi muttered to himself, “Right, I’m back! d.a.m.n it!”
Pulling Enzo who was still looking around at the dock’s busy scenery, Lin Qi skillfully slipped into the densely packed crowd.