As Xia De spoke, he took out the letter. Although it was written half an hour ago, he did not forget to dry all the ink and press out obvious creases on the paper to prevent it from being seen that the letter was too new.
Bishop Morpheus opened the letter with great surprise, glanced at it and asked in astonishment:
"Is it Rat Augustus? Old Augustus is still alive. We haven't been in touch for many years."
"Yes, when I was in Tobesk, I often asked Father Augustus for help. The priest has a very high reputation in our parish."
Xia De nodded, looked at the doctor, and then said embarrassedly:
"Come to think of it, we are actually curious about something."
He smiled:
"Reverend Augustus told us about you. He said that when he was young and on a business trip in the Randall Valley, he made a bet with you and lost 10 pence, which he has not returned to this day. Excuse me, can you tell us what you bet on at the time? I'm really curious, after all, what Reverend Augustus often says is to keep young people away from Rhodes cards."
"He's still the same as he was when he was young."
Bishop Murphys carefully folded the greeting letter from his long-lost friend and put it away, then sighed:
"That happened many years ago. If you hadn't mentioned it today, I would have almost forgotten it. Rat Augustus is a very peculiar person. To be honest, over the years, I have never met anyone as conservative, cautious, and pious as him."
The bishop gave a very high evaluation, then smiled and shook his head:
"As for the bet from that year, he actually still remembers it. Young people, you may have come here out of curiosity, but the answer is actually very boring. This is just a casual conversation between young people of the last era."
"So could you please waste some of your time to satisfy our idle curiosity?"
Doctor Schneider also asked, and the bishop nodded:
“It was also a winter-spring season, just like now, but of course not as cold as this year.
At that time, I was just an ordinary priest in this church. On the way back from delivering documents to the city children's welfare home with Augustus, who came to this city on business when he was young, we were looking at the scenery along the banks of the Ailon River. We speculated when spring would come that year. That is, when the first Randall flower of that year would bloom. "
Xia De and Dr. Schneider looked at each other again:
"So, what your bet is about is when the first Randall flower blooms that year?"
Shade asked, the answer was admittedly boring, but at least they had an answer.
"No, no, we are not fortune tellers from the Prophet's Association, nor are we weather researchers from the Academy of Higher Learning. How can we possibly guess such a question?"
The bishop smiled and shook his head, squinting his eyes slightly, as if his memory brought him back to his youth:
"The weather was really good that day. I remember Augustus and I were wearing church robes. I had spent a whole winter saving money to buy leather shoes on my feet, which are still in my closet. As a local, I talked to Augustus about how every year someone would rush to bring Randall flowers to the City Hall just for the bonus for donating the flowers, and Augustus mentioned that he had a pot of Randall flowers in his room. It was a sunny day and the way back was boring. Since we had a common topic, we started a boring bet..."
In fact, after hearing this, Dr. Shade and Dr. Schneider no longer felt bored.
"We began to wonder whether the first person who brought a blooming Randall flower to the city hall to claim the reward that spring would have tampered with the flower."
The old man winked at the two of them:
"In fact, there are many ways to make flowers bloom abnormally, but the tradition of Randall flowers has continued for so many years, and the city hall also has ways to check. Do you want to guess which side Augustus and I bet on?"
"Father Augustus must have thought that the first person who brought the flowers must have done something wrong."
The doctor answered without thinking:
"I have known Father Augustus for a long time, and I have discovered that he always likes to think of things in the worst possible way, and always assumes the worst of strangers. I have tried to use psychologists' methods to speculate on the reasons for this way of thinking, but I can only think that some past experiences have affected him."
Xia De nodded in agreement, and Bishop Morpheus also nodded slightly:
"He is still like this. Yes, doctor, you guessed it right. Augustus thought that the first person who brought flowers that year would definitely do something tricky, but I don't think so. Since it was just a casual chat, the bet was only 10 pence. Although the prices in that era were different from now, 10 pence is something we can all afford."
"There is a sequel to this story, right? We all know now that Father Augustus lost, but I think the follow-up situation is not just that Father Augustus underestimated the kindness of human nature."
Shade asked, because he saw a clue from the old bishop's expression. The old man nodded again, put his hands behind his back, and looked at the painting on the wall. Shade then noticed that the painting was newly hung, and the picture was a banquet by the river in the dense forest.
"Spring came quickly, and the newspapers also published a news that a poor woman who lived in a small village in the eastern part of the Randall River Valley and raised two children alone brought the first Randall flower of the year and won the prize from the city hall. I inquired through the church channels. Before her, no one had donated flowers that year. She was the first one, so I won."
Dr. Schneider raised his eyebrows:
"But in fact..."
The old bishop continued to look at the new painting on the wall with his hands behind his back:
"Augustus has always been a cautious person. I was very happy to win money from him. We did not mention paying the bet later. Augustus also quickly ended his trip to the Randall River Valley and returned to Tobesk City in Delarion.
Half a month later, the church arranged for people to preach in the countryside. I took the initiative to participate, and then found the "lucky" woman in the countryside. At that time, I also wanted to record this incident and show it to Augustus later, after all, I was still young... Now, the woman died twelve years ago. She was a very devout believer, and she admitted to me that she lied. "
"Is there something wrong with the flower she brought?"
Shad asked.
"Yes, she was just a country woman who couldn't really tell the difference between Randall flowers and similar flowers. She just went to the town hall with the hope of her family's survival. Coincidentally, there was another gentleman who also brought flowers at the time. He was the real owner of the prize money. But that gentleman persuaded the officials of the town hall to let the poor woman get the prize money and leave her name in the newspaper, which greatly improved her life. And since the town hall got the flowers that year, it would not mind this proposal."
Bishop Murphys took a deep breath, Dr. Schneider nodded slightly, and then suddenly he was startled:
"Although this is a bit of a coincidence, could it be that the person who brought the real Randall flower was Priest Augustus?"
The bishop nodded:
"Yes, that was something I only found out later. So, was it me who won or he who won? I couldn't figure it out when I was young, but I felt ashamed of my arrogance. As I got older, I felt that I lost. In fact, even if Augustus didn't send me a letter, in a few years when my body could no longer support this responsibility, I would send him a letter to talk about what happened back then."
The doctor showed an expression of emotion. Although this story was not exciting or thrilling, it was definitely interesting.
Shade smiled and shook his head. In his opinion, the priest Augustus must have cared about the bet, otherwise he would not have offered the flower. Moreover, the priest had already experienced the "Unknown Relic Out of Control Incident" at that time. Even if he did not become a ring wizard, he definitely had extraordinary abilities.
Shade didn't believe that it was such a coincidence that priest Augustus encountered the first Randall flower of that year. He was more inclined to believe that the priest took the initiative to use some kind of ability to predict the time and place of the flower's appearance in advance.
What happened many years ago taught the two young men not to be arrogant and to have compassion, and also saved a poor family. Thinking about this matter many years later, the "10-penny bet" is indeed not important.
The three of them were silent for a while, just thinking about the story. Until the old bishop said:
"Gentlemen, can I spare you ten minutes while I write a reply to Augustus? Please give it to him on your return trip."
"Of course, you don't have to invite us to wait in the office. This gentleman and I will wait outside the church. We can't keep chatting in the church."
Dr. Schneider nodded, and Shade looked at the new painting:
"By the way, is this painting about a religious story? I don't think I've heard of it. The nameplate says... A Banquet in the Jungle?"
The bishop raised his eyebrows:
“That’s another interesting story.”
The weather today was indeed quite good, and even if they waited outside, they could enjoy the scenery, so Bishop Murphys did not try to keep them. So Shade and the doctor went back outside and sat on the bench on the river bank opposite the church entrance. However, the old man who had just fed the pigeons and the man who had sorted the children's clothes had already left.
There is warmth in the wind. It is quite nice to sit here and watch people coming and going in front of the church even if you have nothing to do.
Now that they had temporarily left the church, Shade asked about some sensitive topics:
"Doctor, have you looked for them? Those who are related to the devil."