Ice Vapor Goddess

Chapter 12 Bonfire
Joseph's face instantly turned awkward. He hadn't expected the place to be so dirty and messy. He froze, unsure how to explain. He could even feel the bishop's breathing become heavy behind him.

“I…” He wanted to explain further, but Xilun’s right hand pressed down on his shoulder.

Powerful.

He watched as the bishop stepped forward, took off his brown woolen overcoat, leaving only a dark purple robe. His thin shoulders looked so frail, as if he were weak and vulnerable in the cold winter.

The church's spacious interior was freezing cold; although it had sheltered us from the wind and snow, we were still shivering from the cold.

Xilun sniffed and felt a chill coming from all directions, as if it were about to penetrate his bones, but most of the people around him were only wearing thin clothes.

The people in the church saw him the moment he entered, but when the young man took off his coat, revealing his bishop's robes, their eyes suddenly showed a look of dependence and surprise.

But just a moment later, their eyes turned ashamed, embarrassed, and fearful.

Because the church was already covered in excrement.

A farmer was trying to catch his geese and stop the unruly creatures from running around in front of the bishop, but his geese didn't seem to listen to him.

Mathilde and her group followed behind Siren, and the forty-odd villagers also rushed in, looking blankly at the chaotic church.

Siren looked around, then suddenly drew the hand axe from Aldridge's waist and chopped off the back of the church pew.

"Crack—" The piercing sound echoed between the arcades and the dome, and people stared at Siron in disbelief.

“B-Bishop?” Joseph’s voice trembled as he looked at him blankly.

Xilun roared, "What are you all standing there for? Can't you see how cold it is in here?! Take all the chairs down and start a fire!"

The command left those around him stunned for a moment before they finally understood.

“But…” Kyle held his sword, but didn’t know how to begin. Chopping down a church chair would be such a blasphemy.

Siron slammed his axe into the chair again: "The church is for people, not for people to create the church."

After he finished speaking, no one around him questioned him anymore—the bishop had already taken the first step, so what else could they say? Let's do it!
So they started to act in twos and threes. The villagers still didn't dare to cut down the chairs, but the companions who had come all the way with Xilun were not so disciplined and quickly dismantled two or three chairs.

Although Sam the carpenter couldn't stand up, he was an expert in the craft. He had Aldridge move a chair next to him, and with a few nails removed, he dismantled the chair.

An eerie silence fell over the church, broken only by the sounds of chairs being dismantled and the occasional crowing of roosters.

During this time, Siren quietly asked Joseph to find some paper and pen.

After dismantling the chairs, Siron divided them into six bonfires, which were arranged along the central axis of the church.

While they were building a bonfire, a boy suddenly stood up and said, "Your Excellency, Bishop!"

His parents grabbed him abruptly and covered his mouth, but Xiren had already heard them, so he went over and said, "What's wrong? Let him talk."

The farmer who had grabbed the boy had no choice but to let go.

With an encouraging look from Siren, the boy said nervously in a low voice, "Your Excellency, there's a lot of dung on the ground... Cow dung and horse dung are good for burning, but pig dung isn't so good..."

Xilun chuckled and patted his head: "Thank you, I understand."

He shouted, "Everyone, go collect cow dung and horse dung. If you don't know what animal it is, ask the farmers next to you."

After doing all this, he squatted down and looked at the boy gently: "You are very brave and smart. What do you want to be when you grow up?"

The boy stared blankly at Xilun. No one had ever asked him, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Farmers grow up to be farmers, nobles grow up to be nobles—hereditary succession, nothing more.

When Xilun asked him, he seemed confused, as if he couldn't understand the meaning of the words combined.

"What kind of person do you want to be in the future? What kind of job do you want to do?" Xilun repeated, asking in more detail.

The boy blushed. Images of horse manure, cow manure, rye, pigs, eggs, and autumn flooded his mind, but he couldn't come up with a single word: "job."

His parents watched nervously from the sidelines, wishing they could give their son a good whack on the head, while the people around them craned their necks in curiosity to watch.

Finally, as the boy was about to suffocate, he looked at Siren and said, "I...I want to be a priest."

Xilun laughed, and the people around him laughed too.

But they weren't laughing at the same thing.

Xiren reached behind his neck and removed a solid gold collar button.

That's a common accessory for Roman collars, responsible for securing the crossover points of the white Roman collar at the back.

“This is for you. I hope you can use it someday.” Xiren placed it in the boy’s hand and then made the sign of the cross on his forehead.

Silence fell over the crowd.

Then Joseph rushed in through the side door, carrying an ink bottle, a quill pen, and a stack of papers.

Xilun took it, then walked up to a farmer and asked, "What's your name?"

"Sir... my name is Nico..."

"from where?"

"The village of Sobek to the west..."

"Do you have any livestock with you? Show me."

"Yes, yes, there is a cow and two chickens, but one of the chickens is dead... It's here, sir."

Xilun wrote quickly on the paper and then said, “I understand. Go to the fire closest to the door, tie the cow to the post, and tie the chicken’s feet up and put it next to it.”

He quickly wrote on the paper: "Nico, a Sobek man, with short brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a gray shirt and black overcoat, black cloth boots, with a cow and two chickens, one dead. The cow is female, pale yellow, with a notch below her right ear, white hooves, and a straight back. The chicken is white and under the cow."

“But sir…” Nico couldn’t understand what Siren was writing, “What if my cow gets lost…”

“I’ve written it all down for you.” Xiren shook the paper in his hand. “I’m making sure I don’t mistake your property. My soldiers will guard the gates, and no one will run away with your things. I swear on God.”

“Well…” Nico was still a little uneasy, but since the bishop had assured him, he gritted his teeth, reluctantly loosened the cow rope, and walked to the campfire.

After making three notes, Siron handed the paper and pens to Mathilde, Aldridge, and Joseph: "Write it this way, is it alright?"

"Your Excellency is so thoughtful!" Joseph exclaimed first, slapping his forehead. "This will prevent a lot of disputes!"

Xilun ignored the old man's acting skills and looked at the other two.

Mathilde thought for a moment: "These cows all look quite similar... How do I record their characteristics?"

(End of this chapter)