Super Righteous Player
Chapter 123 - 121: The Duties of a Bishop_1

Chapter 123: Chapter 121: The Duties of a Bishop_1

"You’re asking me to become the bishop of Roth Fort?"

Annan, upon hearing this, widened his eyes in surprise, "The true bishop?"

Indeed, he had thought that Bishop Daryl might offer him some benefits.

But he had not expected that the bald, chubby man would directly give up his own position for him...

Soon, Annan realized something.

He slowed down his speech and asked softly, "And what about you?"

"I naturally will be returning to the Royal Capital, I am not originally from Beihai. The climate here is far too damp and cold for an old man like me."

Daryl shrugged his shoulders and took out a pocket watch to check the time. Then he looked up again, gazing urgently at Annan, "What do you say, my lord?"

"You only need to hold the title, you don’t actually have to change your faith—the Silver Baron does not demand such ceremonial matters, as long as it is beneficial for the church’s development. Moreover, the Silver Baron’s faith does not conflict with that of the Cold-Blooded Lady."

"Hmm..."

Annan pondered.

He thought for a moment, stretched lazily, got up, and put on his clothes and coat.

He pushed open the window of the room, and the chilling breeze poured in, instantly making the air in the bedroom clear enough to awaken the brain.

Annan squinted his eyes and took several deep breaths of the cold wind.

He turned around and looked again at Bishop Daryl, who was waiting for an answer.

His eyes no longer held any trace of sleepiness and had returned to being calm and indifferent.

Annan pointed to a stool next to the tea table in the bedroom, gesturing for Bishop Daryl to sit down.

"Please, take a seat... Bishop."

He said respectfully, then walked to the door, "I’ll go and make you a cup of tea."

At this moment, Annan did not choose a more intimate form of address; instead, he adopted a strictly business-like demeanor.

Afterward, Annan left his bedroom temporarily.

He walked along, pondering to himself.

Annan saw very clearly.

Most of the reasons behind the invitation were probably because he had received the holy light imprint from the Silver Baron.

—But within Bishop Daryl’s words, there was indeed a hint of probing.

His invitation was actually comprised of two parts.

One was "to hold a title in the church of the Silver Baron", and the other was "to take on the role of a regional bishop in Beihai."

The former might be acceptable.

But "Annan Winter" would not accept the latter as well.

He was the sole heir to the Duke of Winter, the future Duke.

He could not possibly hold such a high position in the church of a neighboring country—let alone an enemy nation.

This would definitely cause the people of Winter to doubt Annan’s decisions. It would become an excuse for others to attack Annan... and it could even become a motive for the political action of the clergymen on the side of the Duchy of Winter, the ones from his grandmother’s faction, to decide to leave the duke’s camp and in turn, start to weaken the duke’s authority.

Of course, there were benefits to be had.

The greatest benefit was that he would gain strong support from the Silver Baron and the protection of the entire church.

No one would dare to attack a bishop of a True God, let alone a regional bishop, a position even half a rank higher than a bishop.

After all, it’s different from the nobility.

If a nobleman is successfully assassinated, other nobles might put out a joint bounty and then turn around to kick the victim’s family while they’re down. After all, their interests greatly outweigh their responsibilities.

But the church is different.

All priests of the True Gods share the paramount common responsibility of purifying nightmares.

Any priest who dies outside of nightmares is a tremendous waste of resources.

Because not everyone has the talent to become a priest.

If someone kills a priest, it’s as if the other priests suddenly receive a notice for overtime: to complete the work of your colleague who has passed away, without which you can’t leave work.

Unquestionably, this will attract the hatred of all priests.

——We are already very busy. What chaos are you causing now?

Therefore, even if they don’t recognize each other or don’t worship the same True God, once a priest hears that someone in his jurisdiction has killed a priest of the True God, the bishop of that district will find a way to capture the murderer, to directly kill or transfer them to the district where the incident occurred.

The responsibilities of the bishop are even greater than those of the priests.

Their task is to regularly cleanse the nightmares of the silver rank and above within their jurisdictions, to prevent ordinary people and innocent Transcendents from accidentally entering nightmares.

In other words, they are dealing with very difficult cases.

Frostwater Harbor is an exception.

According to Salvatore, this nightmare had been attempted to be solved forty-five years ago but all attempts failed.

In the end, the bishop could only settle for the next best thing and seal the "key" away. That’s why it only required Louis, a common priest, to stand guard.

Being able to cleanse it would be a pleasant surprise; failing to cleanse it didn’t matter, as no one expected him to succeed.

After all, it was a Distorted Level nightmare.

At this level of nightmare, there is a high risk to life itself. One might either be eroded by the curse, turning into a monster neither human nor ghost, or be bound by extremely harsh Curse Binding and die wrapped in curses.

The bishop truly has a high-risk occupation.

He naturally receives people’s respect.

Annan learned from Salvatore that twelve years ago, a noble in the Noah Kingdom hired an assassin to murder a bishop — because his plan of hoarding goods was deliberately spoiled by the bishop, causing him to lose everything.

Eventually, the assassin was wanted nationwide and was captured within five days. Even the noble involved in the murder case was stripped of his territory, title, and exiled.

Even if the bishop truly had a bad character or committed unforgivable crimes, they were usually arrested after the trial and sent into Distorted Level or even higher level nightmares to continually cleanse the nightmares.

To completely drain their last bit of worth.

——And kill them before they turn into monsters.

Therefore, killing a healthy and sane bishop is a very serious crime.

It is a real act of "waste".

Because not all "keys" to nightmares are physical.

The key to Distorted Level nightmares and above are often some bizarre things.

For example, conditions as strange as "reciting the phrase ’skeleton lord’", or "using a dead fish weighing over seven pounds to open a door", or "saying twenty-three different names within one day".

The bishop’s duty is to solve such nightmares.

Because if the keys to entering nightmares are disclosed, ordinary people might try to become Transcendents, entering extremely difficult nightmares and dying miserably; or some might simply use these strange conditions to commit silent and deliberate murders.

Although the nightmares will disperse at sunrise.

Not all who enter a nightmare for the first time can last until sunrise...

And ordinary people, in nightmares, tend to be nearly devoid of conscious awareness. It’s like really being in a dream.

To them, this is just a more tangible "death" nightmare.

And if by any chance an ordinary person does become a Transcendent... they often lose control, are affected by counter curses, or die accidentally, becoming a new nightmare.

——In this way, the number of nightmares increases instead!

Therefore, controlling the number of nightmares and continuously reducing them is a very important and prolonged task.

As Salvatore said.

To step onto the path of transcendence, one must have the corresponding talents and determination.

Because of the cold weather and sparse population, Beihai Territory does not frequently experience nightmares, so the bishop is not considered busy.

Just Daryl, a district bishop, is enough to suppress all high-ranking nightmares within his jurisdiction, without the need for other bishops to assist.

On the contrary...

It means that if their bishop suddenly dies, the whole Beihai Territory might descend into chaos.

So, as long as Annan becomes the bishop of the Beihai Territory jurisdiction.

Whether it’s enemies from the Noah Kingdom or hostility from the Winter Duchy, it all stops there. The condition is, as long as Annan does not resign.

Then the conclusion is very clear.

If Annan accepts this condition, it would mean he has revealed he is not sent by the Winter Duchy.

——But is actually being hunted by the Winter Duchy.