Chapter 26: In the Name of the Deity

A team of fifteen Dragoons and twelve Copper Helmets fiercely rushed into the dormitory building, heading directly to Lin Qi’s single room. One Copper Helmet adjusted the yellow brass helmet on his head, shaped like half an olive. He knocked on the door with great authority.

“In the name of the Imperial Royal Family, please open your door!”

Less than a breath later, the brown door did not open. The Copper Helmet who knocked stepped back two paces. Two Dragoons grabbed a leaded battering ram. They shouted and smashed it heavily against the door. At the moment of impact, a faint red glow appeared around the two Dragoons. The leaded battering ram also flashed with a red gleam.

The oak door shattered into pieces. The fragments were violently swept into the room by the force. Seven or eight Dragoons drew their longswords and charged inside. One of them kicked a small square table in the middle of the room, smashing it to bits. On the small square table, there was a jar of water that had frozen solid, and a piece of Black Bread was placed nearby. The water jar shattered, and the Black Bread rolled onto the floor.

The single room was not large to begin with. Seven or eight tall, burly Dragoons squeezed in, making the whole room seem instantly packed.

A thin, gaunt Copper Helmet with a pale and gloomy face stepped into the room with an air of self-importance. He put on a show and called out, “Lin Qi, a student in Class 1, Year 3 of the Finance and Accounting Program at Fifth University, Borelly. Does he live here?”

Lin Qi, wearing a thin white garment and sitting upright at the writing desk, diligently writing with a brush, turned his head in surprise. He nodded calmly and said, “Yes, respected sir, I am Lin Qi. Didn’t your parents teach you to knock before entering someone’s room?”

The Copper Helmet raised his two sparse, almost invisible eyebrows. He sneered and said, “In the name of the Imperial Royal Family, you are under arrest. We have ample evidence linking you to last night’s assault case and arson case. If the charges are confirmed, you will serve twenty years in prison, you poor child!”

The Copper Helmet glared at Lin Qi, gritting his teeth. He slowly drew a steel Police Baton, pretending he was about to teach Lin Qi a lesson.

‘In the name of the Imperial Royal Family’?

Lin Qi stood up calmly. He carefully placed the rabbit-hair brush from The East on the brush rest. He turned around and looked directly at the Dragoons and Copper Helmets. He spoke word by word, “In the name of the Deity, please leave my room. Otherwise, everything you do will be a blasphemy against the Deity! If the charges are confirmed, you will face punishment from the Church Tribunal! You shall be sent to the Stake!”

‘In the name of the Deity’?

The previously arrogant Dragoons and Copper Helmets fell silent at once. The thin Copper Helmet’s Police Baton miraculously vanished. They looked at each other, then turned their gaze to the writing desk in front of Lin Qi— a strange-looking brush rest. It was an iron cross with a winged man bound to it by chains. The rabbit-hair brush rested on the man’s shoulder.

Beside the brush rest was a small cup of golden ink. The special ink shone brightly under the light. The ink itself seemed alive, slowly swirling. The glow it gave off was divine and full of spirit.

The Dragoons didn’t understand much about this, but the leading Copper Helmet gasped sharply.

‘Atonement Brush Rest’, ‘Cleansing Holy Water’— these were essential items for the Clergy of the Church when copying scriptures. Lin Qi was not using a quill pen, favored by the nobles of the Western Continent, but a rabbit-hair brush from The East. According to Church scriptures, rabbit-hair brushes were only used for copying prayers and scriptures to be burned for the Deity during the New Year’s prayer ceremony. This happened at the end of the year, as the old year passed and the new year arrived.

The strokes of a quill pen were thin and gave off a petty feel. Though convenient for writing, they couldn’t produce the grand, magnificent characters of an Eastern brush. Therefore, the Church Clergy took pride in mastering the use of the brush. Some lower-level Clergy who couldn’t master the brush would spend some money to hire someone to copy prayers for them.

Then, recalling the jar of water and the Black Bread on the small square table that was just kicked to pieces, all the Dragoons and Copper Helmets felt their hearts sink.

When copying prayers, to show respect to the Deity, one couldn’t eat meat or drink alcohol. Only water and Black Bread were allowed. Lin Qi had those two things on his table. Combined with the Atonement Brush Rest and Cleansing Holy Water props, anyone with a working brain would know what he was doing!

He was copying prayers and scriptures for a member of the Clergy, to be offered to the Deity!

“Damn it!” All the Dragoons and Copper Helmets frowned. When the ‘name of the Imperial Royal Family’ clashed with the ‘name of the Deity’, usually, unless something unexpected happened, the ‘name of the Imperial Royal Family’ would lose out.

“Oh, Deity, curse these Heretics who have blasphemed Your glory! They should be burned at the Stake! Their whole families should be burned at the Stake! Their left and right neighbors should be burned at the Stake! Even the old women who helped their mothers deliver them should all be sent to the Stake! Why do such sinners defile Your glory?”

While the Dragoons and Copper Helmets were nervously weighing the pros and cons in their minds, the plump Father Barin rushed up, panting heavily. He waved his arms and began to curse at the group of Dragoons and Copper Helmets. As the assistant priest of Fifth University, Father Barin was responsible for the religious guidance of all students at Fifth University. His position in the Borelly diocese was very special. Though an assistant priest had little real power within the Church, Father Barin was a genuine mid-ranking priest.

The status of a mid-ranking priest was enough to surpass that of a deputy director of the Garrison Office or a captain of Dragoons. Faced with the ‘furious’ roar of Father Barin, all the Dragoons and Copper Helmets lowered their heads. Their hearts were tied in knots. They had gotten themselves into huge trouble this time.

“In the name of the Deity!” Father Barin shouted, hopping up and down. “Anyone who disrupts the copying of my New Year’s prayer scriptures deserves death! All of you should be burned at the Stake! No, the Stake would be too good for you! A simple fire would burn you clean, with no time to cleanse your ugly Souls! You should be subjected to the boiling oil punishment! Let scalding oil splash all over your bodies! Then pour molten lead down your throats! Only after that should you be sent to the Stake to receive the Deity’s punishment!”

The faces of all the Dragoons and Copper Helmets turned deathly pale. They suddenly regretted that they had courted such trouble just to suck up to the family behind Black Horse Haus.

Damn it! The Church must not be provoked, but they had already angered an assistant priest!