Chapter 18 - Guessing the Origin of the Church

Although I had been to Preston Cathedral once before, I didn't expect Cyra to also know its location. But after flying over St. Mary Street, she just hovered there, not knowing what to do next.

"I've only heard people who came to buy holy water mention that Preston Cathedral should be in the southern part of this city, but I don't know exactly where..." 

"Isn't it the largest group of buildings right below you!"

I sighed and pointed downwards, pulling her along to descend.

"The True Church here is the same as on Earth!" 

Although it was almost midnight now, and we could only vaguely see the outline of Preston Cathedral, Cyra couldn't help but exclaim when she saw the iconic spire tower.

"What are you standing idly at the entrance for? Let's go in quickly!"

Nicola and Selene landed behind us. As soon as Selene's feet touched the ground, she impatiently urged us.

With this, she had done a great deed - bringing three angels back to the church, one of whom had great potential.

"Tsk tsk, the baptismal font here is also very grand..."

Upon entering the front hall, the wall-mounted fountain with a statue also drew amazement from Cyra.

"Of course! This is where we in the True Church usually store our holy water. The magically constructed circulating fountain system is not only beautiful but also ensures the absolute highest quality of the holy water!"

Selene came over and enthusiastically explained, her attitude at least hundreds of times better than when she was with me.

When we entered the main hall and saw the familiar scenery and layout, Cyra became even more excited. She immediately unfurled her wings and flew to the crucifix, eagerly kneeling to pray and confess.

"This place is too weird, right? How is it so similar to churches on Earth..."

Since it was Nicola's first time here, she kept looking around, the corners of her mouth involuntarily twitching.

"You're asking me? I'm just as confused about this issue..." 

I gently shook my head. The last time I was here, I suspected there might be other crossers, but I never figured out who it was. I even suspected Bishop Rister of being a crosser for a time.

"Is the decor and layout of your main hall unique to just this city, or are all the churches across the continent like this?"

Nicola suddenly asked Selene, who was watching Cyra very happily.

"Huh? Of course, all the churches across the continent are like this! It's been this way for thousands of years!"

Although Selene felt the question was a bit strange, she still answered very respectfully.

"Does Lady Nicola have any doubts?"

"No, just a little curious about this crucifix..."

Nicola pointed at the "Jesus on the Cross" statue, hesitating over her words. Even this being the same made it hard for her to accept.

"The crucifix? This story should be widely spread across the continent..."

Thinking Nicola had developed an interest in these things, Selene enthusiastically explained it to us.

"It's said to depict how the Lord was betrayed by traitors back then, and later ambushed by monsters, eventually being captured and nailed to the cross. It's to always remind us of the Lord's love and gospel..."

No way? Hearing this, I immediately felt a sense of familiarity with the plot and couldn't help but exchange a surprised look with Nicola.

It was far too similar...

At this time, several True Church members in charge of guarding the church heard the commotion and walked into the main hall. Seeing Cyra kneeling in front of the crucifix with her wings spread out praying, they were so shocked their jaws dropped. 

Selene could only slowly explain the situation to them.

"What do you think?"

Taking this chance, Nicola moved closer and whispered to me.

"What can I think? Looking up, down, left, right, no matter how I look at it, I feel the founder of this True Church is very suspicious!"

I rolled my eyes at her, then nudged my mouth in the direction of the crucifix. 

"It's gotta be Cyra! The legendary Saint Cyra who shares her name is one of the founders of this world's True Church. There must be something going on!"

"You mean, could it be due to your manipulation of time, her future self returned to some point thousands of years ago and became the founder of the True Church?"

I wildly guessed, having considered this possibility ever since learning of Nicola's potential to control time.

"Hmm... but hearing you say it like this, won't I have to be extra careful about using time control abilities on her in the future? After all, I don't like the True Church!" 

Nicola couldn't help but frown at this. She didn't seem to look favourably on my guess.

"Besides, I don't think Cyra has the ability now to create a church with thousands of years of history. Both her experience and seniority are still shallow..."

She stared at the True Church members Selene was talking to, her eyes suddenly lighting up. Then she voiced her own opinion.

"What do you think of the possibility that someone from this world unintentionally crossed over to Earth thousands of years ago, and brought their religious beliefs with them?"

"Uh, that's not impossible either..."

For her take on this, I suddenly couldn't find any holes in it! After all, the connection between this world and Earth wasn't one-way. Liana's soul somehow ending up on Earth was living proof! Unless...

Thinking of this, I looked at Nicola in puzzlement and asked:

"Speaking of which, do you just accept Elara's claim that you're the reincarnation of Liana's soul, even back when you were Reilly? I remember you once hypothesized that you didn't cross over at all..."

"You mean that terrifying hypothesis?"

Nicola seemed to remember it very clearly, but when it came to this topic, she looked somewhat confused.

I recalled that back in Edenmere, Nicola had proposed four hypotheses in total. Looking at it now, the first "Elara is lying" and the second "Michelle mistook the person"had been ruled out.

That left the third "Two souls coexisting in one body" and fourth "Liana's soul overtook Reilly's original memories" as possibilities that still had potential.

The so-called terrifying hypothesis was the fourth one! If that assumption held true, it would mean she wasn't the original Reilly at all, just someone else who had accidentally taken over Reilly's memories.

Even though Elara later insisted that everything about Nicola was caused by Liana's soul crossing over to Earth and then back here, it didn't completely eliminate the fourth hypothesis.

"I don't know either, but no matter how I think about it, Elara's explanation sounds much better, doesn't it? Besides, her theory has no plot holes. At least until everything comes to light, we simply can't distinguish between the two, right?"

Nicola said with a wry smile. She was thinking through her issues quite clearly. Just as she said, without critical evidence, all three options still had the potential to be the final answer. Only the third option I had always favoured was becoming less and less likely...

"The two Lady Angels must be very tired. Please come with me to the guest rooms!"

A church member came over. Selene had instructed her to lead us to our rooms to rest. 

"What about Cyra?"

Hearing this, I looked in the direction of the crucifix and saw she still hadn't finished her lengthy prayers, and could only helplessly shake my head.

"The Bishop will come in person later and discuss the holy water situation with Lady Cyra then."

The True Church member replied.

"Let her slowly pray here for now. She probably insisted on coming for that reason anyway."

Nicola surprisingly showed some consideration for Cyra's feelings. Being fellow victims of the landlord probably made her sympathize. 

"Yes, it would be even better if she could reflect more here!"

Thinking that this had happened just a few days after leaving Edenmere, I couldn't help but sigh again. And looking back at Cyra's previous actions - selling holy water, doing direct sales, chasing elf girls, chasing angel girls...

I suddenly felt that what happened to her today was probably karma, if there was such a thing as God.

As for how to deal with the holy water, leaving it to Cyra made me quite assured. Those two little foxes can slowly fight it out themselves, I'm actually looking forward to the outcome.

Since we were tired to begin with, after returning to the guest rooms we simply washed up briefly, then went to bed to sleep.

It was an uneventful night.

"Feliciana, wake up!"

The next morning at the crack of dawn, my room door was being knocked loudly by Cyra. As always, she was urging me to get up, giving me a feeling of being back in Edenmere.

"What are you in such a hurry for? What time did you sleep last night?"

I stretched lazily, looking at the fully bright sky outside the window. Left with no choice, I got up to open the door.

"I don't remember, probably very late? Because I was arguing skin with that bishop for a long time before finally reaching an agreement. Anyway, angels will naturally wake up at first light, sleeping less is no problem! So..."

Cyra barged in nonchalantly, seemingly having already forgotten about last night's unpleasantness. After the opening remarks, she suddenly gave me a mysterious smile, then took out a large stack of gold coins from her storage ring and put them on the table.

"Ta-dah! Of course, I came to split the money!"

"These are gold coins used all over the continent, each one is worth 10,000 silvers! Never seen them before right? It's my first time seeing them too..."

As she spoke, this fellow grabbed one of the gold coins and put it in her mouth to bite down. Her manner was simply like a newly rich person.

"Wow! It is soft! Rich, so rich!"

With so many gold coins, at least several dozen, that was...

"Several hundred thousand silvers? So rich, so rich!"