NoGift

Chapter 138: holy temple

ARGENT was on a black horse, riding on the street of the southern part of the city. There's a place in the city where people could rent horses to use as transportation. Since public vehicles were not allowed inside the city, horses was the next best thing as transportation. And because not all people here, especially the guests, wanted to walk from one area to another, renting horses became quite popular.

She stealthily threw a very small camera towards the nearest wall, the one surrounding the city. She made sure that no one noticed what she did. When she saw the camera attaching to the wall, she continued riding on with her horse. With this, she already had attached three small cameras on three different locations here in the southern area.

Those three cameras would now serve as a surveillance tool for her to monitor everything that's happening in this area. She planned to do the same at the northern, eastern, and western part of the city. Once she's done, she'd have the whole city under surveillance. That would not only be helpful to them now, but it could also give an advantage once they left the city. Because that could mean that from here on out, she would be able to monitor this city. The city where the Pope lived and served as the headquarters of the Temple of Gaia.

In Argent's estimation, she would be able to finish everything in another two or three days. It would be a challenge once she reached the northern area. Because aside from the fact that the area was teeming with priests and knights, it was also the place where the Pope's palace was. She didn't only need to look for the right place to put her cameras, she also needed to carefully put another device around the Holy Temple. It's important that she managed to do the latter. Since a big part of her plan depended on that.

It's noon now. She wondered if her sister and Clay were doing okay on their side.

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Aurum and Clay walked across the big plaza and towards the Holy Temple. According to many, this was the biggest church in the world. Seeing it in person, Aurum could only agree.

Before entering the church building, one could first see the huge, life-like statue of a woman. She had long, wavy hair that reached the ground. Wearing a loose long dress. Her whole body surrounded by carved leaves. Her eyes were closed and her hands were clasped together as if in deep prayer. No one could doubt that this beautiful statue was that of the goddess Gaia.

Behind it was a tall white building with a height that almost reached the wall surrounding the city. Its design was almost similar to a palace. The only difference was it only had a single building. Its windows were made up of stained glasses that just added character to its design.

The two walked inside and the first thing that Aurum noticed was the ceiling. It was painted with different images. A mural that told the story of how Gaia created everything in this world. There were dragons, elves, beastkins, and lastly, humans. The art was so life like that it almost felt like they would jumped out in any minute.

She suddenly remembered Ruby while looking at this mural. That girl would certainly be ecstatic once she saw this beautiful art. She took her sPhone and decided to take a photo of the mural. She would send it to Ruby later. After that, she returned her sPhone back to her space ring.

"How should we do this?" Clay asked.

Aurum looked around. There weren't many people inside. There were a few locals, as evidence of the green crystals tied on their arms, praying. Two or three altar boys cleaning around and a young priest that seemed to be supervising them. She smiled when she saw the young priest.

"Wait here. Let me handle it."

She didn't wait for Clay's answer and walked towards the direction where the young priest was standing. She acted like she just inadvertently walked there.

"What a beautiful church," she said.

The young priest turned to her. She also turned to the priest as if she just noticed his gaze. Then she smiled. This face might not be as beautiful as her original face, but she could still use it to her advantage. Because no matter what face she used, her smile would still be the same. A smile that could capture anyone's heart.

As expected, the young priest suddenly blushed.

"I'm sorry. Did I disturb you?" Aurum apologized. "I'm just too excited being here."

"There's no need to apologize," the priest said then he noticed the red crystal on her arm, indicating that she's a guest. "Is this your first time here?"

"Yes. My brother and I, he's the one over there," Aurum paused to point to where Clay was standing, then she continued, "have been wanting to attend the Festival of Creation for a long time now. It's only recently that we managed to get permission from our parents to go here. We arrived as early as we could so we can have the time to go around the city before the festival. Oh, I'm sorry for blabbering too much. Once I get excited, I just couldn't seem to stop talking."

"It's okay, my lady," the young priest said calling the pretty young miss in front of him with a respectful title. With her temperament and obvious wealth, she was undoubtedly a noble. "Have you been enjoying your stay so far?"

"Oh yes. It's been wonderful. Your city is beautiful. It's truly like a gift from Gaia."

The young priest's good will towards the young lady just increased exponentially when he heard that. "Thank you. We always strive to make Victoria City the best place for all the believers of our goddess Gaia."

"Then you have my thanks. Because of dedicated priests like you that guests like me and my brother can have a wonderful time here," Aurum said smiling sweetly at the priest.

The priest blushed again. "I-if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I'd be more than glad to give you an answer the best I could."

"Thank you." Aurum smiled again. "Come to think of it, I actually heard something while we're having lunch earlier. Some people were talking about an auction? Is there going to be an auction during the festival?"

The young priest hesitated to answer. The young lady was probably talking about the Midnight Auction - a special auction that's being held the eve before the Festival of Creation. But not all was allowed to go there. One needed a special invitation to at least be able to enter. He looked at the pretty young miss with her big innocent black eyes.

"It's a special auction held on the eve of the Festival of Creation," the priest still answered in the end.

"That seems interesting. Is it possible for me and my brother to attend that auction?" Aurum asked, she made sure that nothing could be seen in her eyes but great interest.

The young priest hesitated again. But looking at the young miss and her expectant gaze, he couldn't bear to refused her. "I- I could talk to Bishop Ernst and asked him if you and your brother could go. Y-You can meet me here again tomorrow and I'll tell you if he agreed or not."

"Really? You'll do that?" Aurum reached for the young priest's hand. "Thank you so much!"

The priest blushed ever fiercer. "I-it's nothing."

After a while, Aurum said her goodbye and walked back to where Clay was. She told him about the things she and the priest talked about.

Clay glanced back at the priest who was still staring longingly at Aurum then he took his gaze back and looked down at the girl walking beside him. It's not even half an hour and she already got that priest under her spell. Poor sap. Seeing Aurum in action, he had almost forgotten how good she was at acting the sweet and kind young lady.

"So we're going to go back here tomorrow? What if we didn't get a positive reply?" Clay asked.

"That's fine. We'll just go directly to that Bishop he talked about."

The both of them walked out of the Holy Temple.

"You know, seeing you work your magic on that guy was really kind of scary," Clay thought of saying. And also maybe a bit fascinating.

Aurum frowned at him. "It's not magic. It's just my charm."

Clay only raised his brow at her. "Where did you learn to act like that anyway?"

"Sometimes, people needed to act a certain way so the people around them could like them. Having a likable attitude and a perfect exterior is a surefire way to make that happen," Aurum vaguely answered. "That's infinitely better than being ostracized or being treated like a monster."

Clay stared at Aurum a second longer when he heard that answer. In those simple sentences, he suddenly understood that this seemingly perfect girl might not have had a perfect life. Maybe she even had a very painful experience that forced her to learn how to act like that in front of others.

"I'm not going to say that I understand. But I guess each one of us has their own way of surviving in this world." He patted Aurum's head. "You're definitely a strong one."

Aurum swatted his hand. "Don't touch my head!"

"Yes, yes. Though I must say that I'm glad you're not doing that kind of act in front of me."

"Why, afraid that you'll succumb to my 'magic'?"

"No. It's tiring, right? Acting in a way that's not truly you." Clay looked at her. "Since you don't have to be anything but you when you're with me, then having me around won't make you that tired. That's why I'm glad."

Aurum suddenly felt breathless, like something was squeezing inside her chest. She bit her lip and then scowled at Clay. It's all this guy's fault. "Who said it's tiring? Stop making assumptions. Hmph!"

Then she stomped away from him. Stupid Clay.