Chapter 20 Church

As Ray, and Vincent entered the church, Brandon led them down the hallway, as they approached the door, at the end of the hallway Brandon opened it and inside Sierra was sitting down reading papers, with another knight behind her.

“Mister Vincent, it’s an honor to meet you, I heard so much about you,” Sierra said while standing up, and extending her hand.

Vincent took it and shook it. “Good things I hope.” Vincent told her, with a fake smile on his face.

“Of course, with all the help you give to the village, we are indebted to you, I do hope we can still count on your support.” Sierra said.

“Of course, all of us are in this together, after all I can’t have some disgusting hybrids ruining this village I work so hard for.”

“Come now, I rather you didn’t call them disgusting, they are just misunderstood human beings after all.”

“Miss Sierra!” Brandon said.

“No need to shout, that is only my opinion, after all, I don’t know the reason the hybrids are doing this, I rather have all the facts before I pass my judgment on the hybrids.”

“You don’t hate hybrids?” Ray blurted out. Ray put his hand over his mouth, everyone in the room was staring right at him, the look Vincent gave him was the worst. “Uh sorry, I mean I never met a knight who didn’t hate hybrids.” Ray tried to defend himself.

“Sorry about that, let me introduce you, he is my nephew Sam. He has come to this village to learn my ways,” Vincent told Sierra.

“No worries,” Sierra walked towards Ray, and extended her hand towards him.

“It’s nice meeting you too Sam.”

Ray quickly shook her hand, he felt uneasy getting along with her. As Ray stood in front of her, he could tell the both of them were closed in age, Sierra went back to her chair.

“As I was saying, I don’t really hate hybrids, just the ones who cause harm to civilians, or destroy things for their own selfish reasons. But not every hybrid starts that way, in a way I want to help hybrids, but since I am still relatively new especially to the blessed knight I still have a long way to go before I can make any sort of changes.” Sierra said.

“If you don’t mind me asking, then why are you a knight?”

“Sam!” Vincent said.

“It’s fine, Mister Vincent, I am knight because I want to help people. I believe I was blessed because of my feelings towards them. After I prove myself to the church, I will be able to do more.” Sierra said.

“Oh.”

“Well that enough about me, Mister Vincent you came here, because you wanted to talk to me about something?”

“Ah yes, but can I ask it just be you, and Brandon, in the room. What I am about to say, I would rather not have anyone just hear it.”

“Oh, sure, Roger, do you mind showing Sam around? I don’t think he has taken a tour of the church before. Right?” Sierra said.

Ray nodded his head.

“Sam, be sure to behave yourself, don’t cause trouble to our hosts.” Vincent said.

“Yes, I understand.”

{I guess he meant not to do anything stupid, though I guess I really messed up for him to be reminding me, I am not looking forward to the lecture he is going to give me, when we get back home.}

Roger bowed his head, and led Ray out of the room, and into the hallway, after they finished walking a distance Roger started talking about the history of the church to Ray.

The church had only one floor, it had five main rooms, the knights quarters, the dining room, the study room, the priest room, and the altar room. Each of the rooms,besides the altar room, had a column built in the middle of it. As they went into each room, Ray made a mental note of each one as they passed them by.

“I heard it took a while to completely build the church, but it stands proud as a place I can proudly call home.” Roger said.

“But this isn’t really your home right?” Ray said.

“No, I am just stationed here by orders of the church. I actually come from the village of Aris, it’s quite far from here.”

“Oh I didn’t think you would be from a lower outskirt villager, how did you manage to become a knight?” Ray asked.

“Oh I got recruited, when Brandon was going around the lower outskirts villages. I managed to convince him to take me in.”

“Wow, you must have really impressed him.” Ray said.

“Yeah, he just saw something in me I guess, though I don’t know what.”

“I’m sure you will figure it out.”

Roger looked towards the ground as he was walking. “.... thank you.”

“Yeah, man, no worries.” Ray said.

“How about you, Sam, how long have you been in this village?”

“Almost a month and a half, I was just learning how he runs his business.” Ray said.

“I see, how do you like the village so far?” Roger asked.

“I like it, all the people are nice, plus with more knights the church has sent to this location, you guys can better protect the village.”

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“Right, even though they just arrived, Brandon is thinking up plans for the best way to spread the knights into the village.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how many knights did the church send?”

“Oh don’t worry, we have enough knights to make sure nothing bad happens to the villagers, to Mister Vincent, or you.”

“I see.”

“So what kind of business do you plan to start?” Roger said.

“Oh you know the same as him, have to expand the family business you know.”

“Family business huh.”

“Do you have family waiting for you?” Ray asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Just my mom, how about you?”

“Oh, it's just me...”

“I see.”

“So what is the next stop?” Ray said.

Soon they heard footsteps coming from the hallway, both of them turned to see what it was. They saw a single knight heading their way.

“Hey Roger, you got mail.”

The other knight handed the mail to Roger, Roger checked the mail, and quickly put the mail inside his clothing.

“Not going to read it.” The knight said in a mocking voice.

“No, shut up.”

The other knight put his hand over Roger’s head, and started laughing, Roger looked down, his whole face was red.

“Just playing around with you Roger, we all know who sends you mail, by the way who is this, with you?”

The other knight looked at Ray.

“Oh, this is Sir Vincent's nephew Sam.”

“You mean the Vincent.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh wow, I’m Ron, your uncle is quite the bigshot in this town, you got any money I can borrow?”

“Uh, I… I” Ray stammered.

Ron started laughing again. “Just kidding, I’ll be heading off, got more mail to deliver, I'll see you Roger.”

“Yeah, I’ll see ya.”

Ray, and Roger, looked at the other knight until he turned the corner, Ray finally felt like he could relax.

“Was that?”

“A friend, he likes to joke around a lot, don’t let him bother you. Despite his joking attitude he is a fine knight.”

“Do all of you get along?”

“Sorry, what do you mean?” Roger asked

“Sorry, don’t mind me, where are we going next?”

“The dining room, let's grab a bite to eat.”

“Sounds great, lead the way.”

As Roger led the way towards the altar room, with Ray following quietly he couldn’t help but to think to himself of the interaction of the knights.

{Do all the knights get along like this, compared to the hybrids, they have it better… compared to the hybrids huh, how stupid am I?}

“We are here,” Roger said, as he opened the twin wooden doors. The dining room had three wooden tables, with a long single wooden chair, on each side. At the end of the room was another wooden table covered with food.

Ray remembered Vincent's words.

{I need to eat the most fancy food they have here. Who knows they might still believe the false rumor.}

The food on the table was nothing but meats, and vegetables. There were big glasses of water as well.

{I’ll put a good amount of it on my plate.}

Ray finished putting food on his plate, and waited for Roger to do the same, after Ray followed Roger to a nearby table, sitting on the opposite side of him. Roger offers Ray a glass of water.

“Thank you.” Ray said.

“Do you say a prayer before you eat?” Roger asked.

“Uh… Yes, but I do it silently you know, I rather not do it outloud,” Ray told him.

“That’s fine, I do too, let's start.”

As the both of them lowered their heads, and closed their eyes, their hands together in prayer, Ray started thinking about his targets.

{When I eventually fight Sierra will Roger interfere in the fight? Will he try to stop me? Am I going to have to kill him as well? Eda I wondered what you would do in my situation… No matter what I will survive, I will follow my orders, I will see you again.}

As Ray lifted his head, he saw Roger was already done praying, and was just staring at him, with a confused look on his face.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to take too long.” Ray said.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, let's dig in.”

Remembering what Vincent has told him, Ray ate his food, in big portions, just in case anyone else was watching him, besides Roger. After they were done eating, Roger led Ray to the kitchen sink where they put away their dishes, and headed back towards the hallway.

“So how long are you guys planning on staying in the village?” Ray asked.

“No idea, ever since that massacre, things have been a little chaotic, we have more villagers leaving the village and heading to the holy cities for more protection, and we have to deploy more knights to do more surveillance. Well these are her orders.” Roger said.

“Is Miss Sierra the new boss?” Ray asked.

“Yes, blessed knights are above us, the regular knights. After all they are the ones able to fight the mark hybrids. The church always gives the blessed one special treatment.”

“Hmmm, that doesn’t seem fair.” Ray said.

“It’s alright, mostly everyone understands the reason why. Our resources must go towards those who can effectively protect us. Even though I just met her, I believe she will protect this village with all her strength.” Roger said.

“Yeah, she does leave an impression.” Ray said.

“Alright, here we are, the last stop on our tour.”

Ray looked in front of him, it was wooden double doors.

“Which room is this?”

“The altar room.” Roger said proudly. As he opened the door, he went in.

The room has rows of chairs. The room had clerestory windows. At the end of the room was the podium, and the altar behind it. The mark of Sez can be seen.

“So this is the altar room, father Stevan should still be busy with the villagers, I’ll be right back. I have to go check on something real quick, you can sit wherever you want, I’ll be right back.” Roger said.

“Don’t worry, take your time.”

Ray waved at Roger before he closed the door behind him. Then it was just Ray by himself. Ray started walking around, feeling the wood on his fingers. Then he found himself in front of the altar. Staring right at the mark of Sez.

Ray grabbed his left hand, where his Master Senya turned him, and started massaging it. He felt a burning sensation on his hand.

{To think I wanted to be one of your knights, now here I am, an enemy instead. I won’t seek forgiveness for the harm I have done, or will do, I will stay on this path no matter what. I will follow her orders. I know I don’t care anymore about those who brought death to the village, I know Eda isn't like me either, she will never let it go…………Maybe I need to be like that too... I’ll take everything from those who will take anything from me, I will make them pay for it. I swear it.}