God-Chosen of the God of Thieves

As a priest, Leon was quite sensitive to the aura of deities and could detect even the slightest trace of one.

The strange ripple emanating from Alicia indeed belonged to another deity—the aura of the God of Artifice Rogues.

"Alicia, how did you learn this technique?"

Leon looked at the girl who had turned into a paper person. She looked back with a face full of confusion, not understanding why the two of them were reacting so strongly, so he asked her directly.

Alicia did not hide it—or rather, she had no intention of hiding it. She said:

"Dreaming... time... there was... a... smiling... old man... told me."

That was indeed Gerard Fletcher, the God of Artifice Rogues. There was no mistake.

The statues of the God of Thieves depicted him as a very kindly smiling old man.

Of course, "kindly" was only the description used by his followers.

To everyone else, that so-called kindly smile mostly meant he had his eyes on your wallet.

Although an artifice rogue was a transcendent system just like priests, bloodline warriors, and mages, the public's impression of them usually stopped at "thief" rather than "artifice."

The reason was that artifice rogues upheld the tradition of the God of Thieves, having a particular fondness for stealing—especially stealing through various profound and elusive means after first issuing a formal notice.

This undoubtedly caused the victim to lose both their property and their dignity.

Looking at Alicia, Leon suddenly felt that the world's stereotype of artifice rogues was a bit too rigid. An artifice rogue didn't necessarily have to be a mustached thief in a stealth suit sneaking into a vault on a dark and windy night.

They could also be a slightly dazed paper-person girl wearing a noble lady's dress.

"That gentleman is the God of Thieves. He must have chosen you as his God-Chosen," Leon said.

Alicia was a bit confused. "God-Chosen?"

Leon explained simply, "A God-Chosen is, as the name suggests, a person chosen by a god—an agent of that deity in the mortal world."

"After becoming a God-Chosen, you receive gifts from the deity and become much stronger. Just like you, being able to directly master a Silver-rank technique."

"Power and duty are two sides of the same coin. A God-Chosen's duty is to complete tasks assigned by the deity in the mortal world and spread their faith."

"Since that gentleman chose you as his God-Chosen, he must have assigned you something, right?"

Alicia nodded, then shook her head. "Yes... but woke up... forgot."

Leon: "..."

Fine. Regardless, the one who should be troubled wasn't him, but the God of Thieves.

Alicia didn't care much about her status as a God-Chosen. She chanted the incantation again, transforming herself from a two-dimensional paper person back into a three-dimensional human.

She then looked at Leon. "Leon... priest... you... so strong... are you... God-Chosen?"

Leon shook his head.

The God-Chosen of the Sacred Light Church were completely different from those of other sects.

Or rather, the Sacred Light Church itself was vastly different from other religions.

The deities of other sects were all mortals who had ascended through a godhood ritual.

Gerard Fletcher, the God of Artifice Rogues, was exactly like that. According to records, he was originally the greatest artifice rogue in the world—bar none.

Afterward, through a mysterious godhood ritual, he ascended from a human to the God of Artifice Rogues and developed a following in the world.

But the Sacred Light was not like that.

The God of Sacred Light had no physical form; its statue was merely a large orb, and its existence was incredibly ancient.

According to historical records, before humans even became the favorites of the continent of Ommissiah, the faith of the Sacred Light already existed in this world.

Furthermore, the God-Chosen of the Sacred Light Church were not personally selected by the deity like in other sects. Instead, the Pope would recommend devout and powerful priests as God-Chosen candidates.

The God of Sacred Light would then select its God-Chosen from among those candidates.

The Douglas family's archives recorded that during the reign of one particular Pope, not a single one of the God-Chosen candidates he recommended received the favor of the God of Sacred Light.

Shortly after that "Selection Ceremony" ended, that Pope was ousted by the college of cardinals on charges of "blaspheming the Sacred Light and seeking personal gain."

In any case, Leon was still just a lowly Apprentice Priest. Although he had been promoted to a Formal Priest for his performance in the gray mist, the official documents were still being processed and had not yet reached his hands.

While he would likely receive the Formal Priest documents in a day or two thanks to the Douglas family's influence, there was still a very long road to travel before he could become a God-Chosen of the Sacred Light.

...

After finishing dinner, Leon led Alicia out of the manor and walked toward the Solainem Sacred Light Cathedral in the city center.

"Priest Leon? Have you come to see Bishop Miles? I will go report at once," the guard at the cathedral entrance said, momentarily stunned before speaking respectfully.

His attitude was much more respectful than before.

Just a few hours ago, Bishop Miles had instructed the guards that if Priest Leon came to the cathedral to see him in the future, they were not to block him and should report his arrival immediately.

One had to understand that even Viscount Clyde, the city lord of Solainem, had to submit an invitation in advance if he wanted to meet Bishop Miles.

The fact that Bishop Miles was willing to grant Leon such a privilege showed just how much he valued him.

That was why the guards were many times more respectful toward Leon than they had been previously.

"No, don't trouble Bishop Miles. I'm here to find the two priests guarding the relic chamber today," Leon said, then led Alicia into the cathedral.

Arriving at the corridor in front of the relic chamber, the two Formal Priests were already waiting there.

With a calm expression, Leon handed the 《Hand of Divine Spells》 back to the two priests and said:

"It's like this. While Alicia was wandering outside, she found a divine spell book dropped on the street. She picked it up and brought it to the manor to give to me. Once I had it, I realized it was a divine spell book from the cathedral, so I immediately came to return it."

Hearing his words and seeing the book with the words "Hand of Divine Spells" written on it, the two priests guarding the relic chamber were both struck with bewilderment.

A younger priest rushed into the relic chamber with a look of shock, only to find that the 《Hand of Divine Spells》 on the divine spell bookshelf was indeed gone!

The older priest followed him into the relic chamber, but he didn't focus on the 《Hand of Divine Spells》. Instead, he continued to count the other items in the chamber.

Only after ensuring that the only thing "taken" was the 《Hand of Divine Spells》 did the older priest let out a long sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it was only a Divine Spell Book. If a Divine Spell Codex that had undergone Divine Grace Guidance or any other important item in the relic chamber had been lost, things would have been disastrous.

The older priest turned around and saw the younger priest rushing out of the relic chamber with an angry expression.

The older priest quickly stopped him.

"What do you think you're doing?" the older priest asked.

The younger priest said, "I'm going to catch those two who stole the sacred relic!"

The younger priest wasn't stupid. The 《Hand of Divine Spells》 had been perfectly fine in the relic chamber; how could it suddenly appear on the street?

It had definitely been stolen!

And the thieves... were very likely those two outside!

The older priest glanced at him and asked, "Do you have evidence?"

"Evidence? The 《Hand of Divine Spells》 is in their hands! What more evidence do we need?"

"Oh? How can you prove they didn't find it, but rather stole it?" the older priest asked again.

The younger priest's voice faltered. Just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by the older priest again.

"You don't need to worry about this. I'll handle it."

With that, the older priest walked out of the relic chamber and began to converse with Leon in an amiable manner.