After unknowingly surviving a couple of tribulations one more deadly than the other, the next day finally came for Raphael to finally take the first step on the Path he chose for himself.

Still sticky by the thin half dried layer of night sweat, the children entered the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Marina from the back.

A small but big enough for children like them wooden door creaked open, exposing them to a scenery they never could have dreamed of, like the dusty thick darkened carpets, the religious paintings framed by thick woodworm ridden wood, or the big plates of time-consumed marble composing every surface of the small room they found themselves in.

Raphael of course though this was the bare minimum to be expected of the place of work and rest for the noble profession he has chosen for himself.

Fortunately he didn't have to wait for long before the nun that had interrogated him the day before came inside and took him away to fullfill her promise.

After passing through a short series of small rooms like the one at the entrance, they came upon an open courtyard with a beautiful fountain at the centre where many people could be seen coming and going or simply resting and chatting, but immediately entered the first room on the right side of the courtyard.

A robust old man with a surprising vigor to himself greeted them upon their entry, and just as the nun was about to excuse herself out with a slight bow, the man beckoned her to get get beside himself.

The scene almost looked like an audit, with the man seated behind his desk and a secretary standing next to him both staring at a young man seated on the other side of them.

The office room though was similar to the the entrance room if not a bit more clean and spacious, signaling the man didn't have that much power to him.

Once the nun came next to him, she stopped half a meter away, not invading his personal space, but he seemed to not appreciate it as he playfully smiled and reached for her waist to get her closer, but instead of gently moving her by the hips, he grabbed a good handful of her left ass cheek and forcefully brought he ass right next to his face.

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Upon completion of its task, the hand didn't leave the ass cheeks alone and continued groping them with force, so much force in fact that even if Raphael couldn't see the action going on by the hand because the woman's hips were covering the whole right side of the man, he could nonetheless notice the excessive movement of said hips.

The playful innocent smile of the old man didn't leave even after all this as he finally started speaking to Raphael.

"I didn't expect our little Cathedral would one day welcome a holy son."

Yes! Raphael finally got it spelled right in his face! As expected.

"But it's a pity, the Church doesn't need them anymore."

The man was strangely straightforward, but what he said was apparently common knowledge between all assessors of the selection.

In short, tens of thousands of years ago, when the Church was still in its budding phase, holy sons would be regarded as invaluable assets that could convert anyone they met to God's perfect world belief, but now that the Church was the undisputed overlord of the world, holy sons acquired a mere symbolic status, now even lower that the Families.

What the Church needed nowadays that they still conducted selections was still manipulators able to convince people, but of matters involving politics and money to complete their vision.

If a mere holy son wanted to become a core member of the Church they had to respec into other fields.

"Of course, sometimes a missionary like me is still needed. Can you believe that this proper nun right in front of you was once a lost lamb that betrayed the Church?!"

At this, the old man squeezed his hand even more than he did until now with a bit of a maniac tendency on his peaceful smile, eliciting a pained grunt from the until now stoic nun that fell forward and had to support herself by slamming her hands hard on the table in front of her.

The man seemed to have ignored basic decency all this time, but his expression seemed to suggest he firmly believed his actions were hidden by the woman's hips.

"That's exactly why I'm the one conducting your selection.

For a final test I want you to convert a non believer to our cause.

You have one week and all the means that you want."

Before ordering Raphael to go back, the old man left a final statement.

"Your holy heart has already been tested and has passed with full marks by dear Elizabeth here with us.

I believe in her because I believe in me, I hope you do understand."

Raphael couldn't be brought down by mere words, but to say he knew where to start from would be a lie.

As he exited the Cathedral from the same door he entered from he found a cute girls nervously waiting outside, but the even stranger thing was that as soon as she locked her eyes on him, her whole face lit up as she called for him.

"Raphael, it's me, Judas!"

Well, didn't she react a bit strangely when he said he could share God's gospel yesterday?!

It seemed God had destined his Path to be inevitable.