LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 97 - 96: Return to the Sanctuary
Chapter 97: Chapter 96: Return to the Sanctuary
Putting aside his brief sentimentality for a moment, it took a further two days of searching before Fang Zheng, convinced that the Dark Marsh had no more issues left, could finally depart with Shi Dong and the others. Of course, the most crucial factor was still relying on Nymph’s search abilities, considering that Little Angel’s black technology from Synapsus was super first-class in this regard.
Riding on Pegasus, the group returned to the Sanctuary, exhausted. Unfortunately, the grand welcome ceremony that Shi Dong had anticipated did not occur. Only a few Clerics stationed within the Sanctuary came out to greet them. According to them, almost all the Sanctuary’s manpower had been deployed to the Order Fortress. Fortunately, because the news had arrived on time, the situation at the Order Fortress had stabilized, and there was no need to worry about it being breached anytime soon.
“Ah, the peaceful life…”
Sitting in a chair and looking out the window, Fang Zheng sighed deeply. They were now at the Sanctuary headquartered in the Northern Alliance, which, unlike the delicate and beautiful architectural style of Star Moon City, was marked by the rugged and wild characteristics of the north.
The more he learned about the Sanctuary, the more Fang Zheng realized this organization was unlike any religion he knew of. In his memory, religions always seemed to want to create their churches and followers as if they were products from the same mold. Moreover, they seemed to want their priests to have the same predilections… Indeed, from this perspective, Fang Zheng regarded the religions on Earth as assembly lines, mass-producing believers with the same thoughts, churches with the same design, uniforms with the same style, and priests with the same preferences…
And their doctrines were quite similar too.
However, the Sanctuary in this world wasn’t like that; it didn’t have the homogeneity that Fang Zheng expected. Quite the contrary, the architecture of the Northern Temple looked no different from the ordinary northern-style buildings in the area, just larger and more distinctive, with only a Sanctuary symbol to mark its difference. If judged by appearances alone, Fang Zheng could hardly see any familial resemblance to the Sanctuary in Star Moon City.
It must be said, the Sanctuary was good at adapting local customs.
But where there are people, there are ‘Jianghu’.
Looking at the scenery outside, Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes, reminiscing about what Shi Dong had said to him.
“You should know, Grand Knights have their own fiefs. Of course, domains like Knight’s Domain are things only Ambassador Knights have, and we Grand Knights can at most be granted a small town. But, to ‘commend’ your heroic sacrifice, the Bishopric couldn’t be too harsh, so they assigned Silver Flower Town as your Knight’s Domain. It’s a key transport hub, convenient and wealthy, you know? Technically, according to records, you were ‘fallen’ and had no descendants, so the town was ‘managed’ by the Bishopric, but now you’ve returned… Hehe, you get my point, right?”
Of course, he understood.
Having been a high-level leader in his previous life, Fang Zheng knew how awkward this was. It was like knowing a programmer couldn’t possibly develop a game engine that met the requirements, yet still assigning him the task and publicly announcing that if he succeeded, he would be made the CEO. And somehow, the programmer actually succeeded! How embarrassing for a leader like him!
But that was exactly right. It was normal for organizations to have internal power struggles. Total harmony… was terrifying!
Perhaps for ordinary employees, it would be best if a company was united and harmonious. But for a leader, it was far less interesting if there wasn’t any competition within the group. In fact, Fang Zheng had more than once created situations between the planning and character design teams, sometimes even dragging the programming team into the mix. It was better to spur competitiveness among them rather than forcing them to work relentlessly.
After all, if they were forced, whether the outcome was good or bad, their resentment would be directed at the company. With competition, however, they would focus only on their rivals and goals. Moreover, with rewards also came penalties, which was the right way to allocate resources.
Although this world had a higher level of martial prowess than Fang Zheng’s original world, interpersonal matters were mostly the same; hence, Fang Zheng was very aware that his current situation was not really that favorable. On one hand, the Bishopric had sealed him a particularly wealthy town as a show of their “magnanimity,” but everyone knew he had died and left no heirs, so for the Bishopric, this was just “shifting from one hand to the other.” It didn’t cost them anything, and yet it showcased the Bishopric’s “clear rewards and punishments.”
Of course, seeing Shi Dong’s smugness when discussing the matter, Fang Zheng knew that Shi Dong must have played a disreputable role, although Shi Dong always complained to him that “those old geezers never believed you were still alive”. Fang Zheng guessed that Shi Dong must have anticipated his return, thus deliberately leading to such an outcome. After all, as long as Fang Zheng returned, the reward from the Bishopric was still his!
After all, others might not know his identity, but how could Shi Dong not? Hadn’t he already considered him a Holy Spirit Knight?
Now…
“This is really a headache…”
Fang Zheng pressed his hand against his forehead, currently awaiting the Bishopric’s summons. Although Shi Dong assured him that there would be no problems, Fang Zheng knew that matters were not as simple as Shi Dong thought. Humans are creatures that seek advantages and avoid harms. Although Archbishop Carl had also promised to speak well on his behalf, just depending on someone else’s friendship was not enough.
More importantly, Fang Zheng himself was also hesitant about the road ahead.
Because Fang Zheng didn’t particularly want to accept this award.
For Shi Dong, this award was a good thing, but Fang Zheng thought deeper. If he accepted the award, it would imply a deeper connection with the Sanctuary.
Of course, to put it bluntly, he was afraid the Sanctuary would send him to his death.
This wasn’t to suggest that the Sanctuary wanted to eliminate dissidents or intentionally send him to die. In fact, from the behavior of Mart and Shi Dong, Fang Zheng could see that their current positions were not only due to their strength, but also their devotion.
To phrase it rather quaintly—it was the devotion to sacrifice one’s life for the people’s happiness and the preservation of order!
Actually, it was only natural that if you wanted to join an organization and become part of its higher echelons, you had to follow the leadership of the organization, uphold its charter, and dedicate your own strength to the organization.
If Fang Zheng had grown up in this world since he was young and had received the local cultural education here, he might actually have had such thoughts.
Unfortunately, Fang Zheng was an outsider! He certainly did not possess the ideological awakening to die for this world, and maybe as time passed, he would gradually change his mind. But, that was definitely not now!
Moreover, most people in this world have blond hair and blue eyes, and they do not seem to have any nostalgia when fellow countrymen meet each other.
So, compared to Shi Dong, Fang Zheng actually did not particularly want to accept the position and identity of a Grand Knight—he really was indifferent to the idea of sacrificing his own life to save order.
However, if he refused, it would definitely leave a bad impression on Shi Dong and Mart, after all, their values and the worlds they live in were different. Of course, this was also a result of Fang Zheng’s own making. If he had not joined the Sanctuary initially to conceal his identity, it would not have ended up like this… Whose fault was it?
It was surely Shichen’s fault!
Quietly cursing the person whose whereabouts were unknown, Fang Zheng collected his thoughts once again. There were certainly ways, and if everything went smoothly, he could still achieve his goal. Right now he just did not know what the situation inside the Bishopric was like, but judging by his own experience, um…
“Knock knock.”
Just then, a knock on the door interrupted Fang Zheng’s thoughts. He looked up and glanced at the door.
“Please come in.”
“Click.”
The door opened, and a nun walked in. She bowed respectfully to Fang Zheng and then began to speak.
“Your Excellency Fang Zheng, the bishops are waiting for you.”
“Alright, I know, thank you.”
Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng stood up and nodded with a smile to the nun. Then, he glanced outside the window—Nymph was leaning against an evergreen tree in the courtyard, playing gleefully with a squirrel in her hand.
This was the expression a child of her age should have.
Thinking this, Fang Zheng turned his gaze back from the window and looked at the nun once more.
“Please lead the way.”
Perhaps because the frontlines were tense at the moment, only three members of the Bishopric appeared before Fang Zheng this time, one of whom was the Vampire Bishop Carl, whom he had met before. The other two were one plump round face and one skinny as a rail—since they didn’t plan on introducing themselves, Fang Zheng felt no remorse in nicknaming them on his own.
Fang Zheng walked into the hall and approached the trio, offering them a bow, which they acknowledged with a nod. Then the skinny rail picked up a document in front of him, glanced at it for a moment, and began to speak.
“You are the Apprentice Guardian Knight of Star Moon City, Fang Zheng?”
“Yes.”
Fang Zheng lifted his head and responded while looking at the three of them. Bishop Carl appeared calm, the skinny rail’s expression was somewhat stern, and only the plump round face seemed amiable, smiling merrily. However, Fang Zheng could keenly sense the hidden nuances beneath that smile.
From Fang Zheng’s experience, when someone smiled at you for no reason, they either needed something from you or were masking their real feelings.
Thinking of this, Fang Zheng smiled inwardly.
He already had an idea.