He had to investigate without triggering anomalies that would cause the cycle to restart prematurely. Lumian could only consider starting from the edge of the problem and going deeper step by step depending on the situation.
His initial idea was to find the priest's mistresses this afternoon and use eavesdropping, asking questions and other methods to see if they knew anything. If there was no result or there was a lack of opportunity at the moment, then he would go to the church to see if he could run into the priest and talk to him face to face about the daily life in the village.
Lumian's first target was Sybil Berry, who was the mistress of the parish priest Guillaume Bennet and the sister of the shepherd Pierre Berry. She had close ties with both abnormal figures and might know something.
—Lumian’s friend Guillaume the Younger, also known as Guillaume Berry, is a distant cousin of Pierre Berry. They even have different hair colors and do not live together.
Sybil Berry is 24 years old and married. Her husband is Jean Maury, a middle-aged man in his late 40s.
He had been single for more than 30 years, and the reason he was able to marry Sybil Berry was because he had no requirements for a dowry.
As for Sybil Berry's willingness to marry with only a small fortune, Lumienne suspected that it was because she had become the priest's mistress and needed a husband to be the father of her possible illegitimate child, and the priest had secretly promised her something.
Although Intis has an open-minded society and illegitimate children are common, many husbands or wives are willing to keep their spouse's illegitimate children at home even though they are angry. After all, this means having an extra free male or female servant in the future, and they have no right to divide the property. However, the clergy of the "Eternal Sun" Church are not allowed to marry and have children, so they often find a cheap father for their illegitimate children.
Lumian made his way to Jean Maury's house, a low house on the edge of the village of Cordu.
It is grayish white in color and has only one floor. The bedroom is behind the kitchen, and the other side is connected to the basement, which is used for storage of wooden barrels and serves as a living room and dining room.
As for a washroom, there was none, just a shed at the back of the house.
Lumian entered without knocking, but quietly walked to the side of the house and crouched under the bedroom window.
At this moment, there was someone sitting inside. Lumian could hear his breathing and judge the corresponding height accordingly.
Soon, light footsteps came from the kitchen to the bedroom.
There was no need to calculate. As a "hunter", Lumian naturally had an approximate weight of the owner of the footsteps in his mind.
This must be a woman, most likely Sybil Berry.
In Lumian's impression, Sybil Berry had smooth black hair, and she didn't like to tie it up like other women. She simply let it down or tied it into a ponytail, giving people the feeling that she was still a girl and not married yet.
Her facial features are not outstanding, but they are soft, round and fleshy.
At this time, Jean Mori, who had been sitting in the bedroom in silence, spoke up. He said sullenly:
"Did the curé come this afternoon?"
His voice was as dull as he was - he was the kind of person who would chat under the elm tree in the village square and only reply to one sentence after every four or five sentences. He was often lazy about combing his black hair, his brown eyes were dull, and he didn't shave very cleanly, making him look gloomy overall.
"I've been here." Sybil Berry's voice still had a hint of the clarity of a young girl.
She was born that way.
Jean-Maury was silent for a while and then asked:
"Did you do that?"
"Yes," Sybil answered calmly.
Jean Maury remained silent again, and when Sybil went to the kitchen again, he said:
"I have nothing to say about the priest, but you have to be careful of other men, especially Pato Roussel."
Pato Roselle is Madina Bene's husband, and his wife is also the parish priest's mistress.
Lumian, who was standing outside the window, was shocked when he heard this:
This relationship is really confusing!
He took a higher view of the curé's desire. He had just come to see Sybil Berry in the afternoon and was going to date Mrs. Puaris in the evening. He was a model worker in the world of adultery.
If he could allocate more of his energy to church affairs, combined with his own scheming and skills, he would have been able to improve his divine quality and become an extraordinary person long ago.
—The clergy of the Church of the Eternal Sun are of the rank of priests. The first rank is called the porter, the second rank is the reciter, the third rank is the hymnist, the fourth rank is called the acolyte, also known as the altar boy, the fifth rank is the deputy acolyte, the sixth rank is the acolyte, also known as the pastor, priest or priest, the seventh rank is the bishop, also called priest or priest in some places, the eighth rank is the archbishop, the ninth rank is the cardinal, and the Pope is not among the clergy.
Among them, the sixth grade and above are called high-level clergy. In Aurore's words, they are very likely to possess extraordinary abilities. The lowest grade three mainly do church chores and assist in rituals. In the past few hundred years, they have existed in name only and are not regarded as real clergy. The fourth grade assistants are usually students who have just graduated from the seminary, and the fifth grade deacon can represent the real pastor to preside over a church in a rural area.
The situation was the same in the village of Cordu, where a fifth-rank deacon served as the parish priest, a fourth-rank acolyte served as the assistant parish priest, and there were several servants.
If Guillaume Bennet is promoted to one more rank, he will become a real priest.
"I understand." Sybil Berry simply responded to her husband's advice.
Jean Maury changed the subject:
"Is your brother Pierre back from the transfer?"
"Yes, there is an important ceremony later that requires his help," Sybil explained casually.
A ceremony? Lumian's eyelids twitched.
Jean Maury asked:
"Lent celebrations?"
"No, it's a ritual of God," Sibyl replied impatiently. "Don't ask too much. You will know when the time comes."
Jean Mori hummed and said:
"Praise the sun!"
Sybil did not respond, but left the bedroom and went into the kitchen.
Lumian made a judgment instantly:
Sybil had some knowledge of the secret dealings between the parish priest and the shepherd Pierre Berry, but her husband Jean Maury was completely unaware!
The ritual she was talking about was not a “sacrifice” during Lent, but was probably related to Twelfth Night!
Having gained a little, Lumian left Mori's house and headed towards the two-story building where Pato Russell and Madina Bene lived.
Unlike Sybil, Madine Bene got married with her own share of property, and Pato Roussel also got his share from his original family, so they were able to build a fairly nice house and entrusted more than twenty sheep to shepherds for grazing.
Lumian didn't know when Madina became the priest's mistress. He only knew that in the past year, before he hooked up with Madame Puaris, the priest loved to look for Madina the most. Perhaps the taboo in their status brought about some kind of flame.
At this time, Pato Roussel, the school administrator with a gentleman's mustache, was pacing in the kitchen. He asked Madina, who was directing the maids,
"When will we invite the curé to come again?"
He looked eager, hoping to get close to the man with real power in Cordu Village.
Madina glanced at Pato's father's illegitimate daughter, who was also the servant who cooked, and said in a subtle tone:
"I don't know, it depends on his mood."
And his physical condition, right? Lumian muttered silently while eavesdropping from outside.
"Aren't you going to church to pray often recently? You can ask him by the way." Pato Russell refused to give up.
Go to church often? Lumian frowned.
Are the parish priest and his gang planning something secret in the church
This really doesn't give face to "Eternal Blazing Sun" and Saint Sith...
After listening for a while, he walked from Russell's house to the church on the edge of the village square, hoping to talk to the priest in person.
But when he arrived at the church, the parish priest Guillaume Bennet was no longer there. Only the assistant parish priest Michel Garrigu was standing in front of the altar.
This is a foreigner from Darriege, who graduated from the Bigorre Seminary. Last year, he was sent by the bishop to the village of Cordou to serve as Guillaume Bennet's deputy. He was usually marginalized and was only responsible for registering funerals, marriages and childbirths.
During the last cycle, Lumian went to the church and happened to meet the parish priest leaving. The priest asked him to pray the next day, not giving Michel any chance to listen to the believers' prayers and confessions.
Michelle is tall, not shorter than Lumian before (because of taking the "Hunter" potion, Lumian felt that he had grown two or three centimeters taller, almost 1.8 meters tall). He is a handsome young man with brown curly hair and a slightly immature look.
Looking at Michel Garrigu, who was wearing a white robe with gold thread, Lumian opened his arms.
"Praise the sun!"
After the ceremony, he stared at Michel, wanting to see how the deputy parish priest would react to the rituals of the Eternal Sun Church.
If there was any hesitation, Lumian would be able to conclude that he had been dragged into this by the parish priest's gang.
Michel Garrigu immediately responded with the same gesture:
"Praise the sun!"
He did not hesitate at all, his brown eyes were full of joy and anticipation.
Judging from what Madina Bene said, the parish priest and his group often discuss things here. As the deputy parish priest, Michel should have some awareness of this, right? Lumian did not ask directly, but glanced around and said:
"The curé is not here?"
"He's been gone for a while," Michelle answered. "Three strangers were looking for him a quarter of an hour ago but couldn't find him."
The assistant parish priest had an earnest look in his eyes, as if asking if he wanted to confess at the same time.
Considering that the parish priest might have gone back to the church after a detour, waiting for Mrs. Puaris to bring dinner, and was eavesdropping on his conversation with Michel, Lumian sighed deliberately:
"Forget it, I'll come back to pray tomorrow."
Michelle's eyes suddenly lost their luster.
Lumian turned around and left the church, planning to wait until night fell before quietly going to Michelle's residence to see if he could get any useful information.
Seeing that the sun was about to set behind the mountain, he returned home and said to Aurore, who had laid out the dinner plate:
"Did you find anything?"
Aurore nodded slightly:
"In addition to the anomalies you mentioned, I also discovered that there is something wrong with the deputy parish priest, Michel Garrigu."
"Huh?" Lumian didn't hide his surprise.