636 Otor, The Sun Cardinal
“Yes, Your Divinity!” Otor enthusiastically replied.
Lawrend shivered after seeing the contrast between Otor’s current personality from what he knew. He wanted to know what Humility did to him. Did she brainwash him or something?
And so, Lawrend followed Otor inside. A huge church with thousands and thousands of chairs everywhere. Lawrend did a rough estimate and at least a hundred thousand people can fit here.
“How many attend here every day?” Lawrend asked.
“Ten thousand. By next year, we expect there to be more religious believers. This church won’t be able to handle everyone, so Her Holiness had already planned for that,” Otor replied.
“Only ten thousand?” Lawrend asked in surprise.
Contrary to what one would expect, Lawrend expected more. There were a lot of people that saw him make those suns out of nothing. With Humility’s abilities, it was impossible there weren’t one hundred thousand believers already.
“Many volunteered to spread your faith to all the parts of the empire and beyond,” Otor answered.
“I-I seeā¦”
Lawrend almost choked on his words. He was but a mortal man. He was used to being asked to believe a god of some sort. It was hard to get used to being the god of other people.
“I’m jealous, but Her Holiness convinced me that I serve a great purpose by staying here and overlooking the church while she stays in the Imperial Castle,” Otor said with a frown.
“Can we fly to the end? This is taking too long,” Lawrend said.
They were walking at the pace of mortal humans. They wouldn’t reach the end for a long while.
“Just say it, Your Divinity. No need to ask for permission,” Otor replied and motioned for him to fly before him.
Lawrend nodded his head and took a step forward. That step propelled him above the ground by a few centimeters, and he arrived in front of the altar in the blink of an eye.
“This is where your Holy Teachings are taught each day. The church just finished recently, so we are only at the start of your Solar Path book,” Otor explained.
Lawrend stared at the perfect replica of himself that was made out of gold. There was an opening at the top of the dome of the church. The sun’s light hit it at a perfect angle, making it blinding to the eyes.
“Wait, Solar Path Book? Let me see that,” Lawrend said as he turned his head to him in surprise.
He had never heard about this book. Much less write it. He started to feel a headache on his forehead as he got annoyed at Humility. He wanted to ask her right now how far she went with this.
“Here.”
As if Otor was already expecting it, he passed a book to Lawrend. It was covered with gold foil, and when he opened it, it was like he was staring at the sun. Lawrend squinted his eyes in reflex.
The blinding light slowly disappeared. Lawrend immediately noticed the magical formation on the book. It was made to blind whoever opened the book.
“Amazing, right? We had the best Magic Formation master in the empire craft a formation specifically for the book. Each official print of the book from the church has that feature,” Otor explained.
Somehow, Lawrend could feel a sense of pride in his voice.
“…”
Lawrend didn’t want to ask more about it. He had already accepted that Humility and the others went all out with the founding of this church.
Lawrend flipped through the pages and started to read. He saw stories about his journey, his epiphany about magic, some of his teachings, and many more that he never even spoke about.
It was obvious to Lawrend that the author of this book didn’t want it to feel senseless, so they added more that wasn’t even from him. At least, they were all good teachings. It wasn’t teaching them to become evil.
But of course, there were a lot of warnings about suffering and punishment if they disobey the Sun God. Lawrend wouldn’t go so far for many of those, and he wanted to hit the author of this book on the head.
The book made him seem like a strict god that would punish every wrongdoing. He noted to himself that he would tell Humility to revise the book.
“How are the lower positions in the church selected?” Lawrend asked and closed the book.
It was the next important thing. Since this was his church, he might as well make sure it was run correctly. Otherwise, it would stain his name.
“They are selected according to Her Holiness’ suggestions. We find believers who had understood a part of your magic when you created the suns that day,” Otor replied.
“Oh?”
Lawrend’s interest was piqued. He wanted to know more about these people. They could be considered his students if they learned from him.
“A fact was understood by many. You used two different elements during that day. Lightning and Fire magic. It was amazing that the reaction of two elements could make something so powerful,” Otor replied with awe in his eyes.
“Haven’t you seen me use that type of magic before? Why do you look so surprised now?” Lawrend asked.
“I initially thought it was because of your bloodline, or you found a long-lost magic spell, but I learned otherwise from Her Holiness,” Otor answered with an embarrassed face.
Otor scratched his head before continuing, “After I found out that you made your spell from nothing, I was totally hooked. I spread the news to everyone I met, and this is why I’m a Cardinal here now.”
Lawrend looked at him weirdly. He wondered why Julianne didn’t become the same. She was the person most affected by his magic among the three of them.
“Are you not planning to return to your empire?” Lawrend asked.
“I’m planning to return to spread your faith. I believe it’s my duty after serving you for so long,” Otor answered proudly before half-kneeling in front of him.