1032 Chapter 1032: RRR
"You can"t just do that and remove me from my faith!"
"That only means your faith is fragile, Madam."
"No, it"s not! You literally removed me from serving our Lord!"
"Your lord. Next!"
The woman at the back of the counter was not even looking at Angela as she talked to her. She just waved her hand several times, almost as if trying to shoo some sort of stray cat.
"Uh, Darkday! Retract your request right now! You have no idea how important this is to me!" Angela quickly rushed to chase Riley, who was already walking away from the registration area as if he did not just do something ridiculous.
"I am afraid I can not do that, Miss Angela," Riley shook his head, "The receptionist said that there is a 1-year period in between transfers."
"Wh—Why would you even make me join your religion in the first place, Darkday…?" Angela could really only drop her helmet on the ground; her legs, getting extremely weaker by the second, "I… I knew you were evil, but not to the point of playing with someone else"s faith!"
"...I think we may have a different set of priorities here if you think playing with someone else"s faith is more evil than torturing and killing helpless people," Karina squinted her eyes. But of course, she could not help but sigh and offer Angela a hand of comfort, seeing as she was already kneeling on the ground like a defeated cat, "But I do have to admit, Dad — that was foul. And…
…we"re kinda attracting attention here, you should lament your fate elsewhere, Crimson Paladin."
"No… I"m not going anywhere until they give me back faith!" Angela shook her head, "I will die here of starvation if needed!"
Angela"s screams and frustrations attracted the ma.s.ses even more, as even some of those who were in line left their queue to just listen in on whatever was happening. After all, those who are in a circle of faith are mostly gossipers, and so gossip and listen they did.
"Miss Angela," Riley let out a small but very deep sigh as he crouched down; even placing his hand on Angela"s pauldron, "You do not need to be in your religion to serve your lord — if you think your faith will be shaken just because you are outside of it, then that means your faith is not as strong as you believed it to be in the first place."
"That…" Angela slightly stuttered as she faced Riley; her sewn-shut eyes, fidgeting as if she was looking at Riley from head to toe, and she probably was, "My faith… is unwavering."
"If it is, then there is no point in crying or wallowing here, Miss Angela — you may belong to my religion, but the target of your faith remains the same and solid as it was before," Riley shook his head as he stood up, "You are part of me, yes — but I will also allow you to be part of something else. You are not my property, nor are you the property of your previous religion. You are free to practice whatever you want while still being a part of mine, my only ask…
…is that you will be true to yourself and accept whatever comes with it, be it consequence or reward."
"Darkday…" Angela whispered out. And after a few seconds, she nodded her head and stood up, "...You are right. This doesn"t change anything, my loyalty is still with the man on the cross."
"Good," Riley smiled as he turned around, "But do remember, Miss Angela — I was on the cross once too, remember?"
"When did that—"
"Excuse me!"
And before Riley and the others could actually leave, a woman suddenly blocked his path.
"Hm…?"
"What… what religion did you say you were a part of?" The woman nervously asked.
"The religion of Riley Ross," Riley just casually answered. And as soon as he did so, the woman smiled and rushed toward the front of the line.
"I… I want to join the religion of Riley Ross, please!"
"Wait, me too! I want to join it too!"
"What the…" Karina could not help but just blink a couple of times in disbelief as she saw people suddenly falling back in line and registering for her father"s abruptly made-up religion, "...Do these people even know what they are getting into? Wait, what are they getting into, Dad?"
"Whatever they want to," Riley just shrugged while glancing at the line, before just walking away and not even minding the people who were suddenly joining him.
"This is… ridiculous," Karina forced out a chuckle as he followed behind Riley, "Why would people even be joining when they have no idea what they"re getting into?"
"That"s faith, Karina," Angela, who had seemingly already recovered from her plight, walked beside Karina; her steps, more dignified than before, "And although I do hold hatred for your father even before, I would be lying if I said that he was not charismatic — he is. And he is probably the most charismatic person I have ever met, and for people looking to belong somewhere…
…he is the greatest poison."
"That"s what I find weird in this place," Karina once again started observing the people walking around in groups, "Honestly if anything, the religions here feel more like guilds."
"They are — the smaller ones, I mean," Angela let out a small scoff, "They even get into scuffles, these poor souls."
"You do know you are part of the smaller ones now, right?" Karina smirked.
"Not for long," Angela glanced back, only to see several people already following them from behind, "I have a feeling Riley Ross is about to create… something very, very bad."
"You said this city was already here when you were sent here?" Karina asked as she continued to observe the supposed Holy City, "But the buildings here are all different from each other."
"That is because when we arrived here, there was really only one building standing — that."
Karina then turned to look to where Angela was pointing, only to see the tower at what she could only a.s.sume to be the center-most part of the city. The tower was perhaps the tallest building there, and the most noticeable too, as compared to the other infrastructures which held all sorts of different colors and designs, the tower was just… a block. A tall black block — it could almost be considered the one alien amongst all the buildings in the city.
"...Ominous," Karina breathed out, "I didn"t know Aunt Paige had that kind of taste, a.s.suming she really did create this world."
"She doesn"t," Angela moved closer to Karina and whispered to her ear, "She doesn"t have that kind of taste. But do you know who does…?"
"Who…?"
"Your father," Angela said, her voice turning even quieter.
"...No, he doesn"t," Karina, however, only moved away from Angela as she looked at her with a slight confusion on her face, "I mean, I get why people would think that, but Dad actually likes pink."
"Huh…? Impossible."
"He does," Karina shrugged, "It"s Auntie"s favorite color, so it"s his favorite color too."
"Seriously…?"
Riley and the group then spent more than an hour just walking through the city, with Karina and Angela just talking to each other, not even minding the group of 5 people who joined Riley"s religion following them from behind. The group also did not seem to mind that they were doing nothing but just walking, however. But seeing as everyone seemed to just walk around this city, it was the normal thing to do.
"Oh, it"s your church."
And soon, Riley and the group pa.s.sed by Angela"s church, prompting Riley to stop as Karina pointed at it.
"It"s… large," Karina could not help but blink a couple of times as she realized that Angela"s church was larger than most of the buildings they had pa.s.sed by — no, it wasn"t just the building that was large, they even have their own large area which was fenced and gated,
"Do you want to stop by, Miss Angela?" Riley then asked as he approached Angela.
"Hm," Angela, of course, nodded without any hesitation as she walked to the guard stationed at the gate.
"Halt."
Before she could even step through the gate, however, he was stopped by the armored guard; blocking her path with their large halberds,
"You are not allowed within the premises."
"Not allowed? It"s me," Angela gestured to herself, "I literally serve under the Pope. What are you doing, Bran?"
"Not anymore," the guard, Bran, shook his head as he gestured to Angela to leave, "We have received information that you left, and so you may leave."
"What…? I just had to because I"m on a mission, I"m still loyal to—"
"No," Bran remained resolute in his stance, even stomping his halberd on the ground as he pointed Angela to leave, "People from other religions are not allowed here. Leave!"
"But—"
"Leave, or we will be forced to—what are you doing!?"
And before the guards could threaten to remove Angela from the premises…
…Riley Ross just casually opened the gate and entered inside.
"As I said, Miss Angela...
...You are free to practice anything you want, and I am here to make it happen."
Ramen
Romeru