“Saint Ascian, I request a fund for decorating the temple in the New Year celebration.”
The bishop of the Lumovas capital’s Peace temple diocese had retired from his temple management to Raphael Ascian – the priest earning the Saint title from Her Majesty the Queen of Lumovas Empire. The bishop had no desire to mingle in the complicated society to earn the profuse wealth, for he aimed to be a true ascetic one that did not care about anything but peace and love for humankind.
However, the bishop of Peace temple lived with the idea that he could be frugal, not the Peace temple. Profuse ornaments for the Peace temple were a ‘must’!
Thankfully, Saint Raphael also agreed with this idea. He had offered all of his personal wealth – in the form of a black bank card to the bishop last year and told the bishop to freely use it.
The bishop in his tattered - but clean robe and on his humble bare feet then proceeded to order twelve diamond-dust gilded angel statues, gold gilded stairs, one hundred meters high-quality red carpets – the kind that was soft enough to make aristocratic clothes, fifty silver candle stands, one crystal chandelier for the main prayer hall, three huge fountains installed with magic water-monitoring system, and two wide flower gardens which were high-maintenance.
If not for the bank’s limiting money withdrawal, the bishop of the Peace temple would have ordered two more buildings to be built in the same day, then he could organize a charity school for poor people. Well, this goal seemed to come later in the bishop’s mind than the temple’s ornaments. The bank reported that that the money balance had already reached a negative number at that point.
When Saint Raphael had come back from his long trip and saw the result of the bishop’s hard work, he had cried. The Saint said he was touched by the stunning beautiful scene of the temple.
“I… sob … I used to believe that you are a frugal person. I thought …we usually only decorate the temple with fresh flowers?”
Raphael had said that, receiving his bank card back – now an emptied card.
Obviously, the Saint did not have a good pair of eyes for artistic values! The bishop thought.
“Of course we have to offer the best thing for the Goddess!” – The bishop said.
The Saint was so amazed by the red carpet that he eventually tripped and fell on the soft fabric, but he refused to stand up. Raphael said he was too tired from the trip, so he asked the bishop to let him rest alone for a moment.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The bishop thought Saint Raphael was a strange person. The lad clearly had a bed to sleep on, but he chose to rest on the carpet, on the cold ground.
“Being young is good. Young health allows you to sleep anywhere without feeling cold. But for me, *sigh -- ” – The bishop thought.
He eventually left to let the Saint rest.
Little that the bishop knew, Raphael’s knees had refused to stand up from the shock.
“I just want to be nouveau riche for once…”
Raphael muttered. His eyes were dripping with tears.
He truly regretted what he had done. He mistrusted the bishop to be a frugal person that saved the very last breadcrumbs for the next meal.
Raphael intended to build his reputation through offering his personal wealth, and his knowledge about the things that the rich people played with was too minuscule. He had never imagined such extravagant objects existed even in his wildest dream. This carpet... this carpet was too soft that he could make clothes out of it.
Raphael’s money was the prize for his achievement of the Saint title. It was the amount of money that did not come back like a stable income.
“I thought he only bought a lot of flowers at most.”
The Saint wiped his wet nose.
He remembered how cool he had been when he had thrown the black card to the bishop.
Raphael was now broke.
Truly broke.
“…”
When Raphael calmed down, he looked at the twelve diamond-dust gilded angel statues on the Peace temple’s roof.
He was a little bit vengeful.
…
Some days later, it was said that the bishop of Peace reported a missing angel statue.
It was said that the statue was last seen in a noble's house as the wedding gift for that noble's daughter...
(Author note: I attended a wedding party of my friend's OCs, using my OCs as attendees. I gave my friend's OC children the statue :D)
[https://discord.com/channels/@me/1032544864245661737/1104341944152379512][https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ba/ab/3d/baab3dd2ca82d3166bb3c658941b5fdb.jpg]
[https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f6/0a/8b/f60a8b75b802644f12cfd615f290c67d.jpg]
By the way, I changed the cover for this novel.
Before:
[https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7d/8f/e5/7d8fe5ef847b74b1ab46be278274f285.jpg]
After:
[https://i.pinimg.com/564x/be/56/1f/be561f2fa6e2c66a846ccccf0df30e25.jpg]
(All artworks are done by me.)