“You have an excellent talent for divine spells. I believe you will shine in the Priest Assessment two weeks from now.”
Miles looked at Leon, his face filled with appreciation.
“Priest Assessment?” Leon’s face filled with bewilderment upon hearing this.
Priests had to take assessments?
Why wasn’t there anything like this in his memory?
Seeing Leon’s surprise, Miles finally realized. “Two weeks ago, the town was swallowed by the gray mist, and we lost communication with the Holy See and the Imperial Capital. It’s normal that you wouldn’t know about the Priest Assessment.”
Miles continued, “Two weeks ago, His Majesty and His Holiness the Pope jointly issued a decree. The content was roughly about implementing various reforms within the Sacred Light Church.”
“The priest reform is the first priority.”
“You may have heard that many priests within the Church are actually unqualified. His Majesty and His Holiness likely saw this as well...”
As Miles explained, Leon gradually began to understand.
Strictly speaking, although the original owner was the second son of the Douglas family—a top-tier noble family of the Empire—he had at least mastered the two divine spells of Light Prayer and Healing before his family pulled strings to make him a priest.
However, the way some other families in the Imperial Capital paved the way for their children was even more egregious.
Through their family influence, they would shove individuals into the Sacred Light Church as Apprentice Priests, or even Formal Priests, who couldn’t cast a single divine spell or even recite the tenets of the Sacred Light Church.
Previously, the original owner couldn’t understand it. If a great family like the Douglas family didn’t dare to do such things, how did those minor imperial families have the nerve?
But Leon understood. The shallower a family’s foundation, the more they were capable of treating others as less than human.
“My child, with your accomplishments in divine spells, passing the Priest Assessment will be no problem.”
Miles saw Leon’s dazed expression and, thinking he was worried, offered some comfort.
Leon thanked Miles for the reassurance and asked a few more questions regarding the Priest Assessment before walking out of the Solainem Sacred Light Cathedral.
“Sacred Light Church reforms, Priest Assessment, assessment rewards...”
Pondering these things, Leon arrived in front of a manor in the center of Solainem.
“Master Leon!” Old Hunter, the butler, came out of the manor to greet him.
“I’ve already hired people to clean the manor from top to bottom, and all the items have been settled.”
Leon nodded and stepped into the manor.
Old Hunter followed behind him and asked, “Additionally, Baron Sori and Lady Ariel heard you returned to Solainem and wish to invite you...”
“Refuse them,” Leon said.
“Understood.”
The manifestation of the Douglas family’s wealth and power lay in the fact that they could own an independent manor in the center of a city-state like Solainem.
It also meant that as soon as Leon returned to Solainem, various viscounts and noblewomen would invite him to banquets, birthday parties, reading salons, and other events.
At these parties, things got quite wild—ten times more scandalous than the Red Pavilion Ryan had invited him to. But as the saying goes, Leon was a Pure Love Warrior.
Old Hunter led Leon toward the living room. Inside, the stuttering girl from before was already waiting.
“Reporting to the cathedral took some time,” Leon said as he entered the room.
This stuttering girl had saved his and Old Hunter’s lives, and Leon was following through on his earlier promise by specially inviting her to the manor to thank her.
By now, the girl had washed up in the manor and changed into a noble lady’s dress that was kept on hand. Once her dirty face was cleaned, it became quite striking.
Only then did Leon notice that the girl’s eyes were emerald green, looking like a pair of brilliant emeralds.
“I-it’s fine,” the girl said, looking a bit restless in the magnificent living room.
Leon smiled slightly, told her not to be nervous, and asked, “What is your name?”
“Alicia.” When saying her name, the girl did not stutter.
“Hello, Alicia.”
Leon took a heavy purse from Old Hunter’s hand and placed it gently in front of Alicia. The gold coins inside clinked crisply with the movement.
“This is 100 gold coins, as a thank-you for saving our lives.”
In Solainem, the annual living expenses for an average family of five were only about five gold coins, which was equivalent to 500 silver coins or 50,000 copper coins.
For Alicia, this amount of money was enough for her to live a stable and decent life for ten or even twenty years.
“N-no!” Alicia stood up in a panic when she heard the amount of 100 gold coins, waving her hands repeatedly.
“It’s... it’s too much!”
“It isn’t much.” Leon gave her no room to refuse, directly pressing the 100 gold coins into her hands.
“These 100 gold coins are the reward you deserve for saving members of the Douglas family. Please accept them. Otherwise, if the outside world learns that we aren’t even willing to give this much back to our savior, the family’s reputation will suffer.”
“I-I won’t tell anyone...” Alicia said softly.
“But we would feel uneasy, wouldn’t we, Butler Hunter?” Leon turned to the old butler.
Old Hunter immediately advised her sincerely, “Miss Alicia, this is the sentiment we wish to express to thank you for saving our lives. Please, do not decline.”
Under the gentle yet firm persuasion of the two, Alicia finally accepted the heavy bag of gold coins.
“Furthermore, I heard you have no relatives in Solainem?” Leon continued to ask.
According to Old Hunter’s investigation, Alicia had grown up in an orphanage. Because of her stutter, no one was ever willing to adopt her; children her age in town often bullied and isolated her for it, and she had been alone all these years.
“Yes...” Alicia lowered her head and answered softly.
Leon gave a gentle smile. “In that case, why don't you stay at my manor for now? You’ve just arrived in Solainem, so you probably aren’t in a hurry to find a place to live, right?”
Alicia said, “It would be a b-bother...”
“It’s no bother,” Leon said.
“As you can see, this manor is so large, yet usually only Old Hunter and I live here.”
“There are many empty rooms. Just pick a room you like and stay there.”
“With you here, it will add some life to our manor.”
Without waiting for Alicia to speak, Leon finalized the decision.
“Hunter, take Alicia for a walk around the manor and see which room she likes.”
“Yes, Master.”
With that, Old Hunter led Alicia out of the living room and began showing her around the estate.
“This is the manor’s winery...”
Old Hunter introduced the various areas to Alicia. Once he finished, he said:
“Please keep the gold coins the Master gave you safely, and do not let anyone know that you possess such a large sum.”
Alicia nodded heavily. “I-I und... erstand! I-I won’t let anyone l-look down on the Dougl... as family!”
“It isn’t just for the sake of the Douglas family’s face,” Old Hunter explained to her solemnly.
“One hundred gold coins might be nothing to our family, but for ordinary people, it is unimaginable wealth.”
“If the news that you hold such a fortune spreads, I’m afraid it will attract the greed of certain people.”
He paused for a moment, his tone turning even gentler. “And Master Leon’s invitation for you to stay in the manor was made precisely with this in mind.”
“This way, outsiders will think you are under the protection of the Douglas family. Those with ill intentions will naturally be wary and won’t dare to act on their wicked thoughts.”
Hearing Old Hunter say this, Alicia realized that Priest Leon had other considerations for keeping her in the manor.
After wandering around for a bit longer, Alicia suddenly remembered something and said hurriedly:
“R-reward! Saving life, reward!”
Old Hunter didn’t understand at first, but after listening carefully to Alicia’s explanation, he realized that Alicia also wanted to thank the Master for saving her life.
In the gray mist, the Master had lit up the Light Prayer, and it was the light of that spell that allowed Alicia to quickly find the guard unit and avoid being killed by those two gray mist monsters.
Old Hunter said, “You saved the Master and me, and the Master saved you. It’s even...”
“Not even!” Alicia was less of a stutterer at this moment. “Saving life, needs, reward. Priest Leon... said.”
Seeing her persistence, Old Hunter could only nod. “I understand. You can thank the Master personally at dinner. For now, the Master should be practicing divine spells in his room and should not be disturbed.”
“Divine spells?” Alicia blinked her emerald-like eyes and asked seriously, “Does P-priest Leon... like divine spells very much?”
Hearing her question, Old Hunter couldn’t help but show a bit of emotion.
“It isn’t just that he likes them; it’s a... responsibility.”
“After what the Master went through in the gray mist, he finally understood the meaning carried by his identity as a priest and the power possessed by divine spells. He... has truly grown up.”
The light in Alicia’s eyes flickered for a moment, as if she were committing something to memory.
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