"This is the flesh of the Lord, which was given up for us. You should eat it."
In the quiet and solemn main hall of the church, the voice of the archbishop echoed.
Vera respectfully took the sacrament (unleavened bread) from the archbishop and put it in her mouth.
"This is the blood of the Lord, shed for us, drink it."
The archbishop handed Vera another glass of pure holy water.
Vera drank it down.
Standing among the crowd watching the ceremony, Colin suddenly had some new ideas about these two prayers that he was accustomed to.
Of course, he also heard these two prayers at his coming-of-age ceremony.
The story behind this is familiar to every citizen of the Glorious Empire.
Legend has it that thousands of years ago, human beings were far less powerful than they are now.
At that time, the human race was not only oppressed and enslaved by various alien races, but was even targeted by countless demons.
These demons are greedy for human souls, so they use various means to deceive, seduce, intimidate... to make human beings offer their souls.
The human race at that time was shrouded in darkness.
Until the appearance of the Lord of Radiance.
According to the records of the "Glory Canon", He sacrificed his body in order to save fallen human beings.
Flesh turned into communion, blood turned into holy water, falling from the sky.
Human beings who eat the Holy Communion and drink the holy water can get rid of the entanglement of demons and possess the divine power to fight against them.
So far, the human race has finally embarked on the road to rise.
In order to commemorate the sacrifice of the Lord of Radiance, there will be such a process of sharing holy water in the coming-of-age ceremony hosted by the church.
Seeing Vera gulp down the holy water, the greedy Colin licked his lips.
He thought of the bottle of pure holy water that had helped him advance, and secretly guessed—that couldn't really be the blood of the Lord of Radiance, could it
"Eat the Lord's flesh and drink the Lord's blood, from now on, the Lord of Radiance will be with you!"
"The Lord is with me!"
…
Vera's Bar Mitzvah continues.
Today's adoptive daughter of the Duke is wearing a classic and elegant white pear flower dress, with golden hair draped straight over her shoulders.
She didn't dress up today, she didn't have any extra jewelry on her body, she just put on light makeup.
But even so, it is still breathtakingly beautiful.
Plus, she's not wearing shoes.
The white jade feet just stepped on the cold marble floor, which is lovely and distressing.
The archbishop finally finished his prayers, and finally put a crown of thorns on Vera's head.
Colin watched all this and suddenly realized a problem.
Vera is a mage, but the coming-of-age ceremonies for noble children have always been presided over by pastors of the Radiance Church.
This seems to be a tacit agreement that Vera has converted to the Radiance Church!
Of course, the rite of passage does not explicitly require the recipient to be a church believer.
But the reason for this is that among the noble children of the Glorious Empire, there is no one who does not believe in the Lord of Glory.
Except for an outlier like Vera...
Oh no, Vera is no longer a different kind.
After the battle at the Running River, she had already told Colin herself that she had converted to the Lord of Radiance.
However, she also said that in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, it is not yet possible to make this matter public.
Therefore, as long as Vera doesn't take the initiative to admit it, the mages of Nayeville will probably have a step down. It can be explained that there is only such a form of coming-of-age ceremony for noble children.
If it is explained in this way, Vera's acceptance of the coming-of-age ceremony does not necessarily mean that she believes in the Lord of Radiance.
Unless Yeville wants to tear himself apart with the northern border now, those mages can only think so first.
After the archbishop put the crown of thorns on Vera, he bowed and stepped back.
Afterwards, Queen Midella stepped forward and handed a copy of the "Sacred Tome" to Vera.
Finally, the Duke of St. Hilde stepped forward and handed Vera a knight sword.
The crown of thorns symbolizes responsibility and dedication;
The glorious scriptures symbolize wisdom and faith;
The knight sword symbolizes courage and strength.
So far, this eighteen-year-old girl has finally completed her transformation and officially opened a new chapter in her life.
And witnessing all this, the first thought that popped into Colin's mind turned out to be—
After coming of age ceremony, you can get married...
The ceremony was actually over so far, and then came the long-awaited dinner that the nobles had been waiting for.
Naturally, the dinner will not be held in the nave of the church.
Led by the Duke of St. Hilde, the crowd left the church and came to the atrium of Lion's Roar Castle.
There, the butler has already prepared everything.
Food, wine, music, dance floor... In short, the real night is just beginning.
After the Duke of St. Hilde finished his opening remarks, the dinner officially began.
Just like the last banquet in Ice Rock City, many unmarried male nobles immediately focused on Vera, the focus of tonight's banquet.
Who can invite her to her first dance
Many people turned their attention to Ke Lin.
Last time, it was this humble son of the baron who successfully invited Vera, and he was the only one who succeeded!
But now, Colin has transformed into Viscount Angelet.
It seemed that Colin was more confident this time.
As a result, all the male nobles hesitated.
I want to see what Colin is doing first.
After all, he was the most promising man in the audience to dance with Vera.
Ke Lin still maintained that leisurely attitude, as if he didn't realize that a fierce competition had quietly started.
And just when the male nobles were hesitating, a troll noble suddenly stood up.
I saw Prince Okamoto came to Vera, first performed a standard human noble salute, and then said loudly:
"Beautiful Miss Vera, in order to celebrate your coming-of-age ceremony, I specially prepared a small gift for you, I hope you like it!"
After finishing speaking, Okamoto took a roll of parchment from the attendant behind him and slowly unfolded it.
It was a map.
Colin raised his eyebrows, thinking that this guy wouldn't want to play a trick that looks like nothing.
Then he shook his head again, denying his conjecture.
Even if the troll really wanted to send an assassin, they would not send Okamoto, but the Prince of the North who was said to have just been promoted to the Sanctuary would be more or less the same.
The map is fully expanded.
There is no dagger.
There are only three big red circles.
Okamoto pointed to the three red circles on the map and said to Vera: "Honorable Miss Vera, my gift is these three military castles!"
Colin took a few steps closer and saw the positions of the three military forts clearly.
They are all on the southern border of the troll kingdom!
what does this mean
Give your defenses to the enemy
Vera stared blankly at the map, also a little confused.
With her military literacy, I'm afraid she hasn't figured out what this means.
However, the Duke of St. Hilde said: "Prince Okamoto, you mean that these three military castles will be garrisoned by the northern army?"
"Yes!"
At this time, all the nobles present realized the value of this gift.
No, it's not expensive anymore.
It's simply a sign that the troll is bowing down to the northern border!
It's as if Little Japan sent the Yokota Base to the US military, licking his face and saying——
Dad, come on, come and put the dog on the leash!
The book is about to be on the shelves, I have to save some manuscripts to prepare for the release, so I will make two updates for the time being in the past few days, sorry
(end of this chapter)