Pastor's Tantra

"...Master Aiwass?"

Oswald was suddenly startled when he heard the familiar voice.

He suddenly turned around and saw Aiwass, who had appeared in the corner at some point and was slowly taking off his hood.

Aiwass's eyes were not the clear and transparent emerald green as usual, nor were they shining with a golden red as warm as the sun. Instead, a strange purple mist is steaming.

——There is no doubt that that is Aiwass.

Even though he was not wearing temple-style church clothes at this moment, but was only wearing loose casual clothes that were convenient for movement... Oswald, who had grown up watching Aiwass, would naturally not mistake him for the wrong person.

He was shocked: "You...shouldn't..."

The old butler, who was like a wild wolf, suddenly realized something and swallowed back the rest of the words.

"What 'should' be, Mr. Oswald?"

Aiwass chuckled and said: "Should it be in the military camp, should it be at the seaside, should it be in the ziggurat?"

His eyes bypassed Oswald and looked at his adoptive father, James Moriarty.

"——Is that what you think?"

Aiwass said word for word.

Old James doesn't seem to be in very good condition at this moment.

Not because of injury, illness, or lack of sleep... but because my temperament has lost that light and mysterious feeling.

He seemed to be in a bad mood, and the corners of his mouth sank slightly, losing the calmness that seemed to be a smile but not a smile. His temperament also became more composed and serious. It's like a cynical poker player who doesn't take your eyes seriously and suddenly sits up to play cards with you.

To put it bluntly, it was like a gray spider lurking deep in the web like a phantom, turning into a black and shiny unicorn. Without the hazy dream-like veil, the whole person became clearer.

——Or to put it more clearly, the monster that looks like a CG suddenly has a blood bar underneath.

"Mr. Oswald temporarily lost some of the power of his devotional path because he used it on others."

Old James responded calmly for him.

"Is that so, Mr. Oswald?"

Aiwass turned around and looked at Oswald calmly: "But if that's the case - why do you look ashamed?"

Oswald's already drooped head drooped even lower. He remained silent and looked increasingly pained.

Aiwass's words were not interrogation, but concern.

But to the old elf, Aiwass was more than just a child he had seen growing up. Aiwass once became the pope. Although he has now resigned, his light words are still like the stern rebuke of a pope wearing a holy crown and holding a holy staff.

The systems of professionals and inheritors are fundamentally different.

Once the heart corresponding to the path is lost, the power of the inheritor will be lost. It needs to be more idealistic. If a person believes in this path, his strength will grow stronger by leaps and bounds; and if a person originally believed in the path of dedication, but one day he suddenly doesn’t believe it at all, then all his paths of dedication will be lost. The power will also dissipate as a result.

The career system from Weizhe and Sand Time is more stable, but in fact it does not change the mechanism of obtaining power, but solidifies the transformation of people's hearts by the road in a more mechanical and thorough way - that is, After people reach the corresponding level of the path, they will continue to increase the influence of the corresponding path on the mind, so that "it is not easy to suddenly lose the heart corresponding to the path", and therefore will not lose power. The side effect is that it is easier to lose control and become a puppet of the road.

The Papal Guards certainly belong to the inheritor system.

Therefore, when a guard's strength suddenly weakens, it means that he may have deviated from the way of devotion and his mind has become impure - according to the rules of the church, Oswald should immediately be in the Holy Book Removed and dismissed from office. Before he can cultivate his power back, he is not allowed to carry out any external activities in the name of the church, nor can he leave the church's sphere of influence - that is, leave the city.

This is actually house arrest. It's just that the scope of activities is as big as a city, and you can also do some voluntary labor or community activities to try to regain some status.

This is actually a relatively mild approach. If you completely lose the power of dedication, you will be branded with a black mark and imprisoned.

This is very terrifying in the entire social system of the Theocracy. For a very face-saving elf, this is even more painful than the death penalty. This means publicly saying to everyone, "This person has strayed from the path of devotion. Don't believe anything he says in the future."

Oswald can still use advanced magic, which shows that he at least still retains the power to devote himself to the path; he can have a 50-50 fight with Director Cornelius, and at least he has not lost the power to balance the path. He still has Belongs to the fifth energy level.

Oswald must have known the Moonchild's weaknesses. Even if he didn't know, old James would definitely tell him.

Now he can't even use the fourth-level scorching ray... This means that the power of Oswald's path of devotion has declined to at least the third energy level, or even lower.

It had only been two months since I last saw Oswald from the Theocracy.

...What happened in the past two months?

Aiwass's question fell to the ground, but Oswald did not respond.

After perhaps a short or perhaps long silence, Old James slowly spoke: "Please go out for a moment, Mr. Oswald.

"Help us watch the wind, okay? Prevent anyone from approaching us."

"But you--"

Oswald looked up in astonishment and looked at the old man beside him.

Old James smiled calmly and handed the cane in his left hand to his right hand lightly: "This is a matter between Moriarty-it's not good for you to get involved."

He looked at Aiwass, as if asking and confirming: "Right, Aiwass?"

Aiwass could understand his adoptive father's words.

The duty of the guardian elf is to protect the "Moriarty" family from extinction. This is a contract made in the past. The special inheritance model of the Moriarty family has resulted in only one "Moriarty", and the rest are just nominal adopted sons and daughters.

Therefore, Oswald has always been with old James, always intending to protect this old man who has almost died.

--Of course, his decision is correct.

What old James meant by this was…

"This is a battle between Moriartys. Whoever wins will be the new Moriarty. Therefore, as a guardian elf, it is not appropriate for you to attack the old master or the new master."

In other words, what old James meant by this was: "You are here to kill me, right?"

"--You are right."

Evans nodded and smiled gently in response.

And upon hearing this, old James not only did not curse or rebuke, but also laughed silently.

Oswald looked at Aiwass, and then at old James. He suddenly shuddered-because these two people who obviously had no blood relationship had such a similar smile on their faces.

It was like looking in a mirror.

The old elf had a complicated expression.

He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, as if he wanted to wish for something, or to beg for something. But in the end, he said nothing.

He shook his body, as if something had been pulled out of this body. The old elf, who looked like a dead tree, murmured "yes" in a suddenly hoarse voice and turned away.

——Besides that, he really didn't know what he should say.