Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 298 - 10 Archbishop_1

Chapter 298: Chapter 10 Archbishop_1

Although The Church of the Earth Goddess has a large number of followers, ranking it as one of the largest amongst the theistic sects on the Yarran Continent, it is nevertheless impoverished due in part to the professional backgrounds of its followers.

Over seventy percent of the followers of the Church of the Earth Goddess are ordinary farmers, with twenty-five percent being travellers who are frequently on the move. Only less than five percent of the followers come from the middle and upper classes. This follower distribution poses a problem to a Church that has no independent sources of income other than from donations. It simply lacks the capacity to receive substantial offerings despite its considerable size. For these reasons, it remains trapped in poverty. Of course, this does not mean that all the clergy are going without food. Although the followers are somewhat destitute, their sheer number means that even if their individual contributions are small, the collective total is sufficient to cover the day-to-day expenses of the temple. It is only a minority of cases, like the City of Knowledge, where sometimes the clergy have to subsidize the temple’s daily expenditure due to insufficient income. Most of the temples, though unable to rival other churches in grandeur and luxury, can at least fund their everyday expenses.

The Goddess Temple in Diersalem City is one such example. Despite its large size and towering architecture, careful examination reveals its interesting issues. The front of the temple consists of a lengthy corridor laid with marble. Tiny cracks and indentations on the greenstone floor, marking the passage of time, are visible everywhere. Ten large stone columns stand on either side of the corridor, arranged symmetrically and exhibiting an imposing stature. But should any expert happen to examine them, they would find these columns were built at entirely different times, with some even spanning a gap of a hundred years. This indicates that it took a full hundred years for the Earth Goddess Temple of Diersalem to gradually gather the funds necessary to complete this columned passage.

Following the corridor, you walk onto a stairway with thirty-three steps and a width of ten meters. The steps are also made of stone. According to the customs of the Yarran Continent, the stone steps in front of the temple are usually made by splicing together two five-meter-long slabs of stone. However, the stone steps in front of the Goddess Temple often consist of four or five pieces riddled together; upon closer examination of the entire staircase, one can even find two steps made from mismatched stone types.

At the top of the stairs, you find the main entrance of the temple. The eight-meter-wide wooden door is sturdy and heavy, appearing as if it were new. Above the door sits the arch-shaped beam of the entrance, constructed from stone, the passage of time has turned its originally white stone material slightly black, exuding an antiquated air.

"At last, we see an acceptable structure," sighed Pannis. Technically not a structure though, as Pannis was referring to the statue of the Goddess standing at the center of the temple’s main hall. Wearing a crown woven from ears of wheat, supporting with her left hand a scepter that denotes divine power, and holding a hunk of soil in her right hand, she gazes upon the worshippers below with eyes full of kindness and mercy. This is the Earth Goddess incarnate. Thus far, this impeccable statue is the only thing that matches the status of a major sect.

"That’s because of the Goddess’s power. The divine power of the Goddess permeates each of her statues, making every one of them appear as new, regardless of how much time has passed." Lina walked to the foot of the statue and knelt down with her head bowed. She whispered a prayer, which was different from most people’s. Much like a child bragging to its mother, she narrated everything that had happened to her recently. While praying, Lina’s expression mixed joyous excitement and somber melancholy, it twisted and turned, responding to the story she was recounting, carrying genuine emotion. As she prayed, an invisible light flowed down from the top of the statue’s scepter, quietly washing away Lina’s weariness from the journey.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Lina apologised to Pannis with a smile after finishing her prayer. "Let’s go to the back. The archbishop should be in the room back there."

"Shouldn’t we say hello to them?" Pannis looked around. It was already evening, and not many worshippers remained in the spacious main hall, only seven or eight low-ranking priests and monks, tidying up the room that was messed up by the day’s visitors.

"No, it’s fine. Let’s go straight in." Lina shook her head in reply. "The back part isn’t a secret area. Everyone can enter freely. Let’s go now."

At the end of the main hall, there’s a large door leading to the back. Lina and Pannis walked shoulder-to-shoulder to the doorway. Just as they were about to push the door open, it was swung open from the inside. The person behind the door was also caught off guard at seeing Lina.

The woman standing behind the door was also a clergywoman, appearing to be in her thirties, dressed unusually in a black attire. Her hair was gathered in a bundle at the back. A pair of black-rimmed glasses sat on her face, and she held a prayer text in her arms. She paused for a moment before asking tentatively: "Lina?"

"Cynthia?" Lina let out a smile with slight discomfort. "It’s Sister Cynthia."

"It really is Lina." The woman called Cynthia excitedly embraced Lina. "If it weren’t for your unique silver hair, I would hardly dare to recognise you. Little Lina, I’ve missed you so much. Over a decade has gone by, why don’t you come and look for me?"

"Okay, okay, let go, I can’t breathe." Lina suffered to break free from Cynthia’s embrace. She took a few deep breaths to recover before querying: "Sister Cynthia, what are you doing here?"

"Of course, I’m here. I’ve been here for seven years." Cynthia reached out and pinched Lina’s cheek, murmuring fondly, "Ah, little Lina’s face still feels so good to pinch."

Lina shook her head to escape Cynthia’s teasing hand. Noticing the clothes on Cynthia, she exclaimed with surprise, "Eh, Sister Cynthia, your clothes... Don’t tell me the Archbishop here is you?"

"Of course, haha, you didn’t expect it, did you? That it’s me," Cynthia said proudly, straightening her clothes. "Two years ago, the old Archbishop resigned due to health reasons. The appointment from the main temple surprisingly asked me to take over. I never saw it coming."

"Well, congratulations to you then, Sister Cynthia." Lina said formally, her face sporting a polite smile.

"It’s been over a decade." Cynthia’s sunny smile gradually faded, replaced by a hint of melancholy. "Are you still holding a grudge against me?" she asked.

"Huh?" Lina looked puzzled. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"After the incident with you and Betty all those years ago, you locked yourself in the library, and not long after, Betty exiled herself to the Ascetic Order. As someone you considered as a sister, I failed to fulfill my responsibility by extracting you from your seclusion. No wonder you might be upset with me." Cynthia spoke with a low, sorrowful tone. "I’m sorry. I should have been braver back then. Maybe things would have turned out differently if I had stormed in to find you."

"Sister Cynthia, what can I say to you." Lina, torn between laughter and tears, looked at Cynthia’s desolate eyes. "You, who always blame yourself for everything, hasn’t changed a bit even after becoming an Archbishop. I never blamed you. It was a punishment I inflicted upon myself. Even if you had barged in, I wouldn’t have left."

"Then I should have set the library on fire in advance." Cynthia made a remarkably irresponsible declaration. "If I had known setting fire could have forced you out, I would have done it sooner."

"Then you would be an arsonist, and most likely, I would have been burned to death." Lina covered her forehead, speaking with irritation. "Like I said, it was all my own choice. How can you not understand that?"

"Of course I don’t understand." Cynthia, her eyes blazing with anger, retorted, "Because I simply don’t believe you would do such a thing. That incident had too many suspicious points. I just don’t believe that you would..."

"I’ve said repeatedly that I did it." Lina suddenly spoke sternly, "I’ll say it one last time: I was the one who did it. Nobody wronged me. It’s what I wanted and what I did. Also, I don’t want to hear you bring up this matter in the future!"

"No matter what you say, I still won’t believe it." Cynthia stepped forward, pulled on Lina’s cheek and forced Lina’s delicate face into a comical smile. She yelled back in retaliation, "No matter how many thousands of times you say it, I still won’t believe it. My little Lina could never do such a thing because she simply isn’t brave enough. She’s just a timid fool, understand? I’ve watched you grow up; I know you better than you know yourself. To make me believe, you’ll have to show me personally, and no, even then I still wouldn’t believe you."

"You really are..." Lina began indignantly but choked up halfway, her eyes suddenly welling up with tears. "Can we please stop talking about this? Sister Cynthia, I’m not ready yet. Whether it’s facing you or the past, I’m just not ready. Can you give me some more time, please?"

"No." Cynthia stubbornly continued to pinch Lina’s face. "Who told you to be so cold to me just now? Is that how you treat your elders? This is my way of teaching you a lesson."

"Enough already." Lina pulled away from Cynthia’s grip, her fists clenched as she fumed, " You’re just a sister. You’re hardly an elder."

"If I say I am an elder, then I’m an elder. You also dared to clench your fists at me. Do you want to fight?" Cynthia charged back into the fray with Lina, "I am telling you now, I am an Archbishop, your superior. If you dare to hit me, you’re resisting orders."

"Bah, I am a sage." Lina also launched a counterattack. "Sages are not under your jurisdiction, I am going after you, the Archbishop."

"Ha, the child has grown up, daring to fight back." Cynthia laughed boisterously, "Then let me remind you of the horror of your big sister from years ago."

"Cough, cough." Pannis couldn’t take it anymore and gave a light cough. "As much as this is amusing, I must remind you that we have a stunned audience around us."

"Ah!" Cynthia let out a yelp and pulled Lina back behind the door, slamming it shut. Pannis helplessly rubbed his nearly-flattened nose, the corner of his mouth curling up into a slight smile. (To be continued. If you like this novel, you are welcome to vote for it on qidian.com. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users can read this on m.qidian.com.)