CH-079

79 The food in their Sidan city wasn't that bad.

It's now nine-fifty.

The church bells will ring at ten o'clock.

The time left for them to prepare suddenly became tight and rushed.

Many bishop candidates, like Shu Li, originally thought that with major incidents like this happening repeatedly in the church, the exam time would naturally be postponed. But no one expected the temporary notice to say "proceed as normal."

This threw many people's rhythms into disarray.

Some still hadn't regained their composure from the chaos.
Others secretly began to feel a desire to withdraw in their hearts – believing this exam was inauspicious, and that continuing might bring disaster upon themselves.

For Father Leyton, this was especially true.

Outside the exam hall, he still had matters he was worried about.

He had originally wanted to submit an appeal for Father Jekai.

Now, being suddenly pulled into the exam, his heart was also left in suspense.

Various indecisive guesses and thoughts came flooding in.

If he had to focus entirely on the exam, with no one speaking up for Jekai in the meantime, would Jekai's guilt be hastily determined like this?

Should he just give up on the exam and fully assist in investigating the statue incident? Bishop Hugo had said to thoroughly investigate the matters in the entire diocese without delaying the exam. In this process, he could try to gain Bishop Hugo's trust.

As for the exam, anyway, he knew he was just making up the numbers...

However, just being selected for the bishop selection, this experience alone was enough to clear many obstacles on his future path to priesthood. His path, compared to others, was still quite smooth.

Giving up the exam now would mean giving up the expectations placed upon him by the diocese.

The most direct consequence would be having to face his father's wrath.

Just as he couldn't decide which path to take, the voice of Father Aris sounded beside him, "I mentioned Father Jekai's situation to Bishop Hugo."

Father Leyton looked at Father Aris in surprise, not expecting him to have taken the matter to heart properly.

Father Aris lowered his gaze and, in a voice only the two of them could hear, said, "Bishop Hugo said that due to today's events, which repeatedly relate to the statue." He paused, then explained the cause and effect clearly: "Whether it's the statue killing, injuring, or concealing gold, the investigation must proceed using the statue as a clue. Father Jekai's guilt must also be re-evaluated. If he is innocent, Bishop Hugo will not let him bear false accusations."

These words were calm and clear.

While resolving Father Leyton's concerns, they also carried a hint of comfort and heartening reassurance.

Father Leyton suddenly looked at Father Aris as if seeing this eloquent and thoughtful young man for the first time, examining him with surprise.

The priest's robe sat elegantly and naturally upon him, proper and upright.

No different from others, yet distinctly unique.

Initially, Leyton thought he was just a gentle and humble youth, but now he realized that seeing his calmness and composure revealed a rare gentleness and unhurried confidence, like a sword that doesn't show its edge.

Some might find a sharp sword intimidating, while others might believe it gives them a sense of security, knowing they will be protected.

Clearly, Father Aris was the latter.

As the bishop said, only those who can handle the situation calmly at a time like this are worthy of the bishop's office.

And only those who can withstand such complex circumstances, maintaining their composure for the next four hours of written examination, are worthy of becoming the mainstay of the diocese.

If he were Bishop Hugo, disregarding seniority and age, he would feel that if this young man became a bishop, he would surely bring a long-awaited fresh breeze to the entire stagnant church.

Father Leyton was overwhelmed with emotions for a moment, finally uttering a "thank you."

Father Aris responded: "You're welcome."

*

The written examination was set up in the attached hall of the Sidan Church's library.

Under the high windows, the cold daylight and snowlight shone down.

Welcoming the candidates from the eight dioceses here were not only a row of wooden desks but also two teams of fully armed Black Cavalry standing neatly and solemnly beside the desks.

They wore cloaks, hands on their sword hilts, standing as straight as nutcrackers, majestic and inviolable, bringing a tangible sense of oppression and chill.

What was most frightening was Duke Claude sitting directly ahead.

He sat alone by the fireplace at the end of the desk row.

Today, he wore neither riding clothes nor military dress uniform, just a dark winter private suit. When he lowered his head to read, his expression was focused and cold.

It was said an absolutely fair examiner had been arranged to proctor, but no one expected it to be the Duke, who despised the church the most.

The very first person to step into the attached hall, the moment they saw the Duke, subconsciously paused. The others followed, holding their breath one after another, as if sinking in the deep sea – only by holding their breath could they have a chance to survive.

Naturally, no one made a sound.

They didn't know whether to approach or retreat, but they instinctively felt that the slightest movement would draw the Duke's attention.

This made every step they took cautious and careful.

Usually, they could hold their heads high, always putting on an air of superiority within the church. But now, they realized they were like small animals, and the Duke was at the top of their food chain.

Soon,

Claude didn't even bother to look up; he was too lazy and disdainful to greet them face to face, let alone exchange pleasantries.

As for their fear or disgust, that was beyond his concern.
He sat lazily by the fireplace, his posture relaxed, like a nonchalant hunter. Yet, his cold, stern face showed no trace of this, only a sense of utter frigidity.

For a moment, only the fireplace crackled softly.

As the sound of footsteps gradually grew denser, Claude finally deigned to look up from his book. Just as he was about to speak, telling them to take their seats, the Duke saw Father Aris step forward first from the crowd, heading unhesitatingly to the farthest desk.

The others were startled at first, then, as if reminded of something, quickly lowered their heads and found seats, all choosing positions as far as possible from the "god of death."

Watching this scene, Duke Claude raised an eyebrow and swallowed the words he was about to say.

Clearly, nothing more needed to be said.

However, this young man, clearly recommended by Bishop Hugo and praised by Bishop Holm, increasingly seemed to the Duke to be unruly and difficult to cooperate with.

Among these dozen or so candidates, the one who satisfied the Duke the most was naturally the one most afraid of him and least able to resist. That way, the newly established Savoy Diocese could truly be controlled by him.

But it was very clear that this young man would be the main communicator for future cooperation in running the school.

Bishop Hugo had completely determined that Father Aris was certain to stand out in this selection. From summer until now, while busy with the school establishment, he had also repeatedly negotiated with the Duke and Lady Adela to send Carson's white statue to the Holy City of the Metropolis, in order to obtain the Pope's indulgence.

Everyone thought age and seniority were the thresholds for entering the bishop's office, but Bishop Hugo had already leveled those thresholds, ready to lead Father Aris by the hand into the hall of promotion.

Claude had even mentioned that if the exam were open and fair, there were many priests more excellent and devout than Father Aris.

But Bishop Hugo looked as unafraid as if genuine gold fears no fire.

When the papers were finally collected, Father Aris's paper was placed prominently on top.

At first glance, one could see his sharp and decisive handwriting, completely unlike his gentle and quiet exterior.

At the same time, amidst the dense writing, every stroke either quoted classics or presented precise arguments hitting the crux of the issue. From theological understanding to ecclesiastical regulations and ethics, and finally to profound insights into divine revelation, the content between the lines was comprehensive, logically clear, linguistically rigorous, profound in conception, and even capable of proposing constructive ideas.

Not to mention he answered using fluent and elegant Latin, while the other candidates used the common language, demonstrating what it meant to stand out.

After scanning for a few seconds, Claude stared in Father Aris's direction, his eyes showing obvious impatience and coldness.

Feeling Claude's gaze, the priests, even not knowing who he was looking at, tried hard to shrink their shoulders and reduce their presence.

Father Aris, however, looked up under that gaze, his expression calm.

*

At two o'clock sharp in the afternoon, the examiner collected all the papers on time.

During the exam, Shu Li had asked the Black Cavalry soldier beside him for a pot of hot water and drank some from time to time. He finished it all when the papers were collected. Compared to other test-takers who were racing against the clock, it seemed like he wasn't taking the same exam or sitting in the same hall.

This naturally drew the attention of many people around, who also became very curious about Shu Li's paper.

Because those around him knew he had basically finished writing a little after one o'clock. When he was swiftly writing, the sharp, piercing sound of him flipping through his paper repeatedly was particularly startling.

The fastest among them still had one and a half pages left unfinished.

However, their anxiety couldn't reach Shu Li's heart.

In Shu Li's view, this paper was just entry-level compared to those tricky questions encountered in civil service exams, except that it was indeed all essay questions.

The question setups seemed serious, but the answering strategy was clear – as long as the direction wasn't off, the answers weren't provocative, yet showed insight, Shu Li felt he wouldn't embarrass the Carson Diocese.

More importantly, he could guess the thoughts of the examiners or paper reviewers, which were often difficult to score on.

This benefited from the time Shu Li spent with Bishop Holm in the Savoy Pastoral District during the Harvest Festival.

Although the Bishop had a somewhat impulsive temper, when discussing doctrine with him, Shu Li found that as long as his answers showed his own thinking, rather than echoing common, formulaic responses, even if Bishop Holm didn't agree, he would try to understand his reasoning.

To some extent, it reflected Bishop Holm's tolerance and acceptance of the new generation of clergy.

At the same time, during their discussions, Holm was quite sensitive to and resistant towards the 'Inquisition' and 'Heresy Persecution', and also explicitly expressed disdain for the currently mainstreaming concept of 'Purgatory'.

This kind of information was highlighted in Shu Li's mind like key vocabulary. When he got the paper, he quickly judged the answering strategy: short response essays should neither be radical nor pandering, to achieve steady progress.

He needed to demonstrate sufficient knowledge reserves while also showing unique insights and thinking, avoiding being too rigid.

So he wrote fluently, avoiding those sensitive questions, and unfolded his views using gentle yet profound discussions. He showed loyalty to doctrine while moderately criticizing human weakness, neither too cold nor too hot, just right.

Though it might not be the standard answer, Shu Li strived to be the smart person the examiners wanted to see.

After the exam, Shu Li immediately met up with Father Simeon.

At that time, when Father Simeon was in the exam hall, he was pulled by Shu Li, realizing they should find seats together, but the people around were quick, immediately taking the seats Simeon wanted.

Father Simeon's first sentence was, "More difficult than imagined."

He paused, frowning slightly, "The earlier part about interpreting scriptures was quite smooth, all familiar content. But in the latter half, involving ecclesiastical regulations and administrative management, especially 'How to deal with secular lords encroaching on church lands...' was much harder than expected."

Because where they were, the nobles indeed looked down on their barren lands. And he truly hadn't anticipated needing to handle such issues; his daily task was usually just attracting more believers.

Shu Li said, "That one is indeed difficult."

Hearing Shu Li say it was difficult, Father Leyton, who had come over to find Shu Li, felt much more relieved: he was indeed a relatively normal person.

Leyton had almost deified Shu Li.

He paused, then said, "This kind of issue is quite common in old-established dioceses. I've handled it two or three times myself, so writing about it was relatively easy. I think the question about 'Infiltration of Heretical Doctrines in Remote Dioceses' was more strenuous. I wrote about two pages, but compared to the questions I'm good at, my answer was rather insubstantial."

After saying this, Father Leyton couldn't help but shake his head.

Shu Li also added, "After all, our experience can't match our seniors', it's very normal."

The priests referred to as seniors, however, were not so at ease, because for them, ecclesiastical regulations could not fully address the issues of noble encroachment or heretical believers; everything depended on negotiation, compromise, or even tacit acceptance. Answers on paper were a form of compromised formalism. Therefore, wanting to rely entirely on ecclesiastical regulations to answer questions, their experience became a stumbling block. More hesitation, more scruples made it difficult for them to write smoothly in one go.

Moreover, some questions involved obscure scriptures they hadn't touched in many years, and they couldn't answer them readily either.

Thus, while the young engaged in paper debates with sharp writing and clear thinking, the older priests deliberated over worldly wisdom, resulting in slowness and indecision.

Consequently, there was little joy in the exam hall.

However, everyone was hungry, so the group moved to the church cafeteria.

It was a day of fasting, so they ate pea porridge and roasted salted cod.

As long as it wasn't four-legged animals or poultry, fish was permitted on fasting days. In the past, monks and nobles often got through difficult fast days by eating fish.
But the Carson Diocese was far from the sea, so they usually couldn't eat fish.

The pea porridge was cooked as mushy as mung bean paste, the shape of the peas indiscernible. The salted cod was also a bit burnt black.

Shu Li: "..."
If it was ladled into the bowl, he couldn't waste it.

Shu Li: "Raymond, have you eaten?"

Raymond: "I have."

Shu Li: "Is it good?"

Raymond: "It's edible."

Shu Li: "..."

Raymond's eyes soon showed a glimmer of anticipation. "If our Savoy Diocese is established, the guest hall will definitely be set up. Then, providing meals externally, besides receiving pilgrims, it might also attract many commoners and passersby to eat."

"If they taste our food, they definitely won't want to go back."
He smiled, his eyes already picturing people lining up endlessly. "Just thinking about everyone really liking the new diocese makes me so excited!"

Shu Li couldn't help but smile too, then suddenly remembered something. "Where did Naxi go?"

Because Naxi couldn't enter the exam hall, he had just sneaked to the door when Raymond grabbed him – his unceremoniously large hands holding him tight, like carrying a naughty cat.

"He's acting very strange today," Raymond took him to wander around the church. "He keeps clinging to Sister Rita, always circling around her feet, seems to really like her..."

Before he finished his sentence, Father Simeon, standing nearby, suddenly turned pale, turned his head abruptly, and let out a low, retching sound.

This startled Father Leyton, who was standing beside him. He quickly reached out to pat Simeon's back, looking flustered. "What's wrong?"

Father Simeon said, with difficulty and honesty, "It's so bad..."

Father Leyton: "..."
The food in their Sidan city was not that bad——!