Because of the delay caused by exorcising the demon in the village, Lucian and Anna, who would normally reach Therasis City in half a day, only arrived in the late afternoon as the sun was about to set.
Therasis City, located near the western border of Holy Galarc Kingdom, is an important major city for trade with neighboring countries.
Tall city walls encircled the entire major city, with soldiers standing on the walls and at the city gates, as merchant caravans and travelers from afar entered the city through the gates.
Lucian and Anna mingled among the merchant caravans and crowds, entering the city.
Lucian had been to Therasis City several times and was familiar with the location of the cathedral.
He hoped that at this time, the staff hadn't yet finished work for the day..
Like Quain Town's Church, Therasis City's Cathedral was also a Gothic building, with towering spires, colorful stained glass, and exquisite mythological reliefs.
A statue of the Life Goddess, carved from white jade, stood quietly in the center of the square in front of the church.
Luckily, the cathedral was still open.
Lucian and Anna climbed the steps and entered the cathedral.
Familiar with the layout, Lucian walked directly to the right side of the cathedral and stopped in front of an office door.
This was the cathedral's finance office, responsible for handling church fund reimbursements.
The door was open, and a young woman was working inside.
Knock! Knock!
Lucian knocked on the door, stepped into the office, and greeted the young woman with yellow hair.
"Miss Elina, long time no see."
"Lucian? Long time no see."
Because Lucian had been there several times, Elina recognized him.
"I'm here to report expenses again."
Lucian, with a sunny smile, took out the purchase receipts and a completed reimbursement form from his system inventory.
"Over the past month, the total reimbursement amounts for churches in other towns ranged from a few gold coins to over ten gold coins, but your church in Quain Town has already reimbursed over two hundred gold coins, far exceeding the churches in other towns. Is this reasonable?"
Elina frowned and rested her chin on her hand, feeling that Quain Town's Church was simply making random reimbursements.
Lucian retorted, "I've followed all the church's procedures and regulations for reimbursement. It's legal and compliant, so how is it unreasonable?"
Elina didn't argue with him; she opened a cabinet nearby and took out his previous reimbursement form from it. "Look at your last reimbursement form. To repair the church's exterior wall, you purchased a batch of bricks. The bricks you bought were one silver coin per piece, while bricks on the market outside are two copper coins per piece, a fifty-fold difference."
"The bricks I purchased aren't ordinary bricks; they are bricks carved from natural jade by master carvers, full of artistic flair to make the church more beautiful."
In reality, Lucian had bought ordinary bricks and colluded with the brick merchant to have him issue inflated receipts, thereby embezzling public funds from the Church.
"Oh, whatever you say."
Elina was just a finance officer; anyway, the reimbursement forms had Lucian's and Father Wilbur's signatures, so if the higher-ups pursued responsibility, it wouldn't fall on her. "Let me see what you're reimbursing this time."
Lucian handed her the receipts for purchasing the beast slave, weapons, and equipment.
Elina flipped through the receipts, then glanced at Anna behind him, said nothing more, and started to process his procurement reimbursement.
Just as Lucian was waiting for the reimbursement, an old man with white hair walked in from outside, leaning on a staff. He had a face full of wrinkles, looked frail, wore a bishop's mitre inlaid with gems and a monocle in front of his left eye.
Upon seeing the old man, Lucian immediately recognized him as Lewis, the Bishop of Therasis City's Cathedral. He greeted him with a smile and a bow, "Good afternoon, Bishop."
"You are?"
The old man had never seen Lucian and scrutinized him.
"I am Lucian, an apprentice priest from Quain Town." Lucian introduced himself with a smile.
"So you are Lucian?"
Bishop Lewis looked at him in surprise.
"You've heard my name?"
Lucian was slightly surprised that the Bishop of Therasis City's Cathedral actually knew him, a mere apprentice priest.
"I heard that your Quain Town's reimbursement funds are unusually high. Was that your doing?"
Bishop Lewis had heard from Elina that Quain Town's Church had reimbursed over two hundred gold coins in the past three months, far exceeding other towns' churches.
Lucian spread his hands in feigned helplessness, "No choice, it really does require that much money."
"What are you here to reimburse this time?"
With Lucian appearing in the finance office, Bishop Lewis could guess without asking that he was definitely there to reimburse funds again.
Without waiting for Lucian to answer, Elina swiftly handed the reimbursement forms to Bishop Lewis.
Bishop Lewis adjusted his monocle and carefully read the reimbursement form, which explained the reason for purchasing the beast slave in a lengthy passage.
It could be condensed into one sentence: Quain Town's Church only had Lucian and Father Wilbur, a shortage of manpower, so they purchased an beast slave to do odd jobs.
"If your church is short-staffed, you could hire temporary workers. Temporary workers only cost three gold coins a year. Is it necessary to spend one hundred gold coins to purchase a beast slave?"
Bishop Lewis' cloudy, aged eyes looked at Lucian, full of doubt.
"Bishop, we need to think long-term. If we hire an ordinary human worker, at three gold coins a year, that's one hundred and fifty gold coins in fifty years, not cheaper than an beast slave. Furthermore, beast slaves are stronger than humans and can do more work, so doesn't it work out to be more cost-effective to buy a beast slave?" Lucian said with righteous indignation.
As the saying went, to deceive others, one had to first deceive oneself.
As long as one was sufficiently self-righteous, one could turn black into white.
Bishop Lewis was speechless; this reason was barely plausible. He then picked up another receipt for purchasing weapons and equipment to look at it.
"You bought a slave for odd jobs, why do you also need to buy weapons and equipment for the slave?"
"Beast slaves are powerful. Equipping her with weapons and equipment can assist in exorcism," Lucian explained. "Today, on the way to Therasis City, I helped the villagers of Nelm Village with an exorcism, and it was her assistance that allowed me to successfully kill the demon. Look, my clothes were even torn by the demon."
After speaking, he showed Bishop Lewis his damaged priest robes, which still had bloodstains on them.
Bishop Lewis was somewhat surprised, "You, an apprentice priest, dare to perform an exorcism alone?"
Apprentice priests had not received the Goddess's blessing; relying solely on Holy water could not kill demons, and they might even be killed by the demons in return, which was very dangerous.
Lucian clenched his fists, and the flame of faith seemed to flicker in his eyes. "Exorcism is the responsibility of every priest. My dream is to become a true priest and make our Holy Church great again."
"Excellent, excellent."
A brave, idealistic, and ambitious young man.
Bishop Lewis couldn't help but nod slightly, developing a bit of admiration for Lucian.
The Church of Life Goddess, supported by the Holy Galarc Kingdom royal family and various major families, was wealthy. A few hundred gold coins were trivial for the church, and Bishop Lewis did not intend to pursue Lucian's irregular reimbursements.
"I will send someone to Nelm Village to verify the situation. If you truly killed a demon, I will arrange for you to undergo the Goddess's trial. By passing the Goddess's trial, you can receive the Goddess's blessing and become an official priest."
"Thank you, Bishop."
Lucian was secretly delighted. Becoming an official priest would allow him to reimburse funds even more happily in the future.
"Also, the funds reimbursed today and previously will be overlooked, but in the future, we will thoroughly review your reimbursement forms, and all unreasonable reimbursement forms will be rejected."
Bishop Lewis immediately threw cold water on Lucian's hopes.
"...Alright."
Not being able to reimburse recklessly was equivalent to cutting off his financial source, Lucian's tone was tinged with disappointment.
After Elina processed the documents, she gave him one hundred gold coins and fifty silver coins.