Chapter 22: The Church of Purity

The Port district in Catrin, contrary to the Coln district, was exceptionally beautiful and screamed of riches but it should be expected of the second largest city in a country that lived out of maritime trade. Veron island itself had little to offer in terms of natural resources or arable land and even though the Republic also controlled other smaller islands they were hardly any better so focusing on trade was the only logical way to go in terms of development. It's worth mentioning that even though Verondia is one of the smallest nations in the Iris Confederation because of their focus on ships they currently possess the strongest navy among the members.

Verondians always considered themselves as the people of trade which ruled the surrounding waves. It might be because of this that besides believing in the Goddess of Light which was the mainstream religion in the Confederation they also prayed to the Goddess of Wealth and the God of Storms.

It was common for people to believe in and worship multiple Gods but it's unavoidable that when someone has the option to choose they often pick whoever they prefer. That makes available 'slots' for Gods quite limited since fighting over a few believers hardly made any sense. Wouldn't it be better to just make some sort of agreement with the others and manage a smaller area without any worry? Of course if you mentioned any of that on the street you would be deemed as a blasphemer since any form of 'humanisation' was gravely frowned upon which is one of the reasons why Gods are only referred to by their 'titles' not names which are in fact unknown to the public.

Another interesting fact about churches is that even though they are referred to as such the actual definition of a 'church' is a bit different from the traditional way of understanding the word. Any organisation that included worship of a deity in their main doctrine could be referred to as a church for example the Church of Light could be taken as the 'traditional' church but on the other hand the Church of Purity could be compared to an international inquisition where most of the members were fanatics that ensured 'purity' and the vagueness of that made them quite scary as they technically could find fault in everything although they mostly focused on getting rid of heretics, evil doers or corrupt beings such as demons.

The Church of Purity was quite special in a sense that they not only did not recognize borders but also cared little for status and nobility. They often cooperated with different governments and forces but rumours spread of them sometimes turning on their allies when they judged them to be 'impure' although the validity of those claims remain quite doubtful yet still they were the go to when cultists, blasphemers and other similarly problematic people popped up on one's turf. They were renowned for their efficiency as well as their lack of mercy…

***

On the deck of a ship that resembled a slightly modified dreadnought which belonged to the Republic.

A woman in her late twenties was standing and looking over the horizon where she saw the slowly setting sun as well as Catrin that seemed to await her arrival.

She looked exceptionally beautiful with her blond hair that was long enough to barely reach her feet and a long milky white robe that seemed to be made out of the best quality silk which added to her angelic look. Her eyes were sadly not visible as they were covered with white bandages that wrapped around her head and yet her expression could be seen as cold with a slight hint of sadness mixed in.

"We are yet to reach the city and I can already feel so much corruption reeking out of there. Can't we burn the whole place down, Sarah?"

Sarah's melancholic thinking was interrupted by her companion that approached her from behind.

"Because of sentences like these we have so many bad rumours spreading about us. Is it too much to ask for you to keep your thoughts to yourself, Julius?"

The man named Julius was bald, old and yet bulky. He similarly had bandages wrapped around his head blocking his eyesight but instead of wearing a robe he wore more of a traditional armour that appeared similar in design to that belonging to knights of teutonic order with slight difference in colouring as the members of the church preferred the colours of white and light blue.

"Hah! Like I care what those pesky sinners think!"

"Sigh…"

She did not seem amused but even her disappointed face resembled that of an angel which looked over mortals in pity.

"Just wake up Annabelle and tell her that together with her you will be in charge of inspecting the place of the explosion and then the countryside. I will take care of the city while you do so. I received a message that we only have a week for the search so we have to hurry"

The revelation made Julius quite unhappy.

"What!? Just a week… and why do I have to go to the countryside with Annabelle at that?"

"Are you seriously asking me that? What will happen if you actually burn down the whole city? How would I explain that to the Grandmaster? I can barely trust you with that and on the condition that I have someone constantly monitoring you"

"Tsk… What a saintess you are. Letting sinners of the hook"

"Are you done? Then do as instructed and please do not forget who is in charge of this operation"

Julius smirked and then bowed as a response. He quickly left Sarah alone and she returned to look over the horizon at Catrin which slowly appeared closer and closer. She had a weird feeling that visiting that city would change her life forever but had no idea whether it would be for the better or worse.