Chapitre 57: Mutant
"Woah! Woah! Woah!" A young boy with hair the color of golden wheat exclaimed after using his chin to push down the scarf that was blocking his mouth.
His chubby cheeks dyed red from the cold as he tugged on Fei's clothes.
"Look, Fei! Doesn't that just look so cooool?!" he exaggerated, his free hand pointing at the towering structure in front of them, never taking his eyes off from the structure.
Although the bodyguard nodded, it was unclear whether she actually heard the young boy. She had been swept away.
In truth, Fei had not expected the cathedral to be so breathtaking. The part of the journey that she had most awaited for was walking on the city streets and looking at the different people and their living conditions.
However, it seemed that from the very start, the gods hadn't wanted her to experience what she wanted to experience.
The three of them – Eyrie, Carlos, and Fei – had arrived at the top of the building next to the cathedral via helicopter. The building was practically empty when they arrived, with the only people there being some bodyguards and the trio from the Rochester mansion.
Upon arriving, the trio had been immediately escorted down an elevator to the ground floor, where they would exit the building.
And the cathedral was visible right upon exiting! Throughout the process, Fei could confirm that less than two minutes had passed. A rather boring trip, right?
During this time, Fei had shamefully done a poor job at being a bodyguard; the sheer beauty of the church utterly enchanted her. Without any awareness of her surroundings, she had – under Eyrie's lead – arrived at the entrance unimpeded.
This was a matter that, though, did not result in any unwanted consequences, troubled her for the rest of her career.
But indeed, as Carlos said, it is really cool. The Saint Rita's Cathedral is just like how they said it was in the history books, but even better.
Fei lifted her head to see the extent of the structure, allowing her ebony hair to cascade down her back. She breathed out. Her breath was a white mist that spiraled up into the sapphire sky.
It was a clear sky today, she observed, before turning her attention back to the cathedral.
There was an uncountable number of spires that topped the chapels of the church. They surrounded the main building that had a much longer spire and topped by an elaborate cross.
The polychrome façade – west front – was richly decorated with sculpture, marble, and stone tracery. A rose window framed by ornaments seemed to serve as the central feature of the front, accompanied by many smaller windows.
There were three main processional doors wherein crowds of people flooded in and out, each person having a universal expression of shock and adulation.
It was difficult to believe that such an architectural wonder was built so long ago; it has already been almost a thousand years since then.
The pair of bodyguard and young master were no different.
Eyrie chuckled as she saw this scene. Even she was the same.
This wasn't the first nor the second time that she came here, yet she was still in awe of the building's majesty. Her mother used to 'drag' the family here every Sunday for mass, so the eldest miss of the Rochesters was actually very familiar with the cathedral.
"If you guys keep staring, you might as well stare until the ceremony in the church ends," she joked.
Hearing that, Fei and Carlos immediately snapped their attention back and turned to look at her in anticipation.
"Pfft!" Eyrie burst out laughing. These two were like children! I mean, Carlos is a child, but… why is Fei acting like one too? Is Carlos' personality rubbing off on her? Well, I guess they do spend a lot of time together. I don't think that's healthy…
"Let's just go in first, okay?"
The two bobbed their heads and went in side by side.
How obedient! Eyrie thought to herself in amusement. But her smile quickly disappeared upon reminded of a particular matter. How nice would it be if her father was just as obedient… He was way too caught up in his own affairs to listen to his daughter's nagging.
-----------------------------------
Sorry for the distraction! To clarify, Eyrie is talking about the subject of her father's health.
-----------------------------------
The young lady sighed as she shook her head to rid herself of the negative emotions. Today is Christmas; she should be carefree and let go of her worldly worries, even if it's temporary!
She silently followed Fei and Carlos inside the building. As she walked, Eyrie tried to lift her emotions by thinking of those two' children.' The inside of the church was even more beautiful and elaborate in decorations than the outside. How will they react?
Indeed, the interior architecture was stunning. Upon reaching the beginning of the main body of the building, the nave, where worshippers congregate, Carlos had dropped his jaw onto the ground and forgot to pick it back up again.
Fei was better off, but her state was a little different. As soon as she walked in and saw the stained glass windows full of colorful pictures adapted of the stories from the bible, she had been mesmerized and began touching them in wonder, muttering something indistinct.
The nave was braced on by lower aisles, separated from the main space by a row of piers. The corridors facilitated the movement of people, even when the nave is full of worshippers like it was now.
Within the aisles was where many sculptures of the saints and messengers of God were placed, with many people that knelt down and silently prayed under their gaze.
Above the roof of the aisles were the clerestory windows – similarly made in stained glass as the rest of the church – which warm sunlight seeped through and lit the nave.
Dong. Dong. Dong.
Suddenly, the sound of church bells rang, making the air tremble from the vibrations.
All at once, the people who were observing the church's architecture or praying under the statues got up and flocked to the inner parts of the church. The movement was simultaneous, and even those who did not want to leave were swept along.
Fei was almost lost track of where her master was in the commotion. Thankfully, it seemed like Eyrie had kept track of both of their movements, and with a tug, she brought them with her to the inner nave, where an uncountable number of pews were organized row after row.
As an old priest in purple robes stepped onto the altar at the end of the nave and began chanting, the thick wispy smell of incense also rose.
The eldest miss led the two into a pew and motioned Carlos to rest his knees on the prayer kneeler and pray. Fei quickly followed pace.
But in the midst of the priest's prayers, Fei didn't understand what to pray for even as she clasped her hands together and knelt just like everyone else.
To distract herself, her eyes wandered over the church's interior decorations. It was an excellent time to observe them, seeing as everyone else was too busy praying quietly. It wasn't like before, when there were people everywhere and distracted her from focusing.
Even though the cathedral had rules in place for noise, it couldn't avoid the low chatter of people.
At this time, the sun had almost set, and the light spilling through the stained glass windows made the pictures drawn on them glow. The bright colors from the windows stained the objects in the church, making the white sculptures and dark brown pews tinted with a light layer of pigment.
Looking at the ceilings, Fei realized that she had not been observant enough when she first came in. She hadn't seen the exquisite stone sculpting that covered the entire roof in its stories from the bible!
As Fei looked further, directly above the transept, she saw the elaborate Rococo variations that surrounded the stained windows in the dome. This dome was the rounded top that was surrounded by spires that she saw outside!
While the mutant silently examined the pieces of art, the other worshippers continued to pray while listening to the priest's soft voice full of wisdom.
The man in his grave, weathered accent, spoke for so long that Fei almost lost track of time. How could these people maintain their focus for so long? She thought to herself in awe.
But in truth, many of the people that were kneeling were not focusing on their prayers like she thought they were.
They could be thinking a myriad of different things at any given moment, but no one will ever know under their disguise.
Time flowed on as the sun began to set, and the church started to darken. The pews were still evermore quiet, and the air was silent as all kinds of thoughts and prayers were made.
Fei closed her eyes.
---- Volume 1: 'Mutant' End -----
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
_VA_
_VA_ I did a lot of church architecture research for this chapter. *sweats.
Anyway, what did you think of the ending of the first volume? It's (at least from my memory) the longest chapter we've had so far.
Honestly, I was going to end it far later than now, around the 100th chapter point, but this seemed like a good point to end it, especially since there's a HUGE time skip ahead. *sweats.
I'm going to take a one week break to stock up on my stockpile of chapters, edit my first chapters, and hopefully, bring you better content the next time I upload.
Thank you for all of the readers that have followed me to this point; I really appreciate it.
(o゜▽゜)o cookie* cookie* cookie* cookie* cookie* here, 5 cookies per person! (sorry, webnovel doesn't allow cookie emoji inputs ;-; )
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone