Chapter 44: Eavesdropping

Wanting to investigate without triggering an abnormality that would cause the loop to restart early, Lu Mian could only consider starting from the edge of the problem and step by step deepening depending on the situation.

His preliminary idea was to find the parish priest's mistresses this afternoon, use eavesdropping, probing, and other methods to see what they knew. If there were no gains, or if there was a temporary lack of opportunity, then he would go to the church to see if he could run into the parish priest and chat with him face-to-face about the village's daily life.

Lu Mian's first target was Sibyl Berry. She was both the parish priest Guillaume Bénet's mistress and the shepherd Pierre Berry's sister, existing in close contact with both major abnormal figures, so she might know something.

—Lu Mian's friend, little Guillaume, that is, Guillaume Berry, and Pierre Berry were distant cousins, didn't even have the same hair color, and didn't live together.

Sibyl Berry was twenty-four years old this year and was already married. Her husband was named Jean Mori, a middle-aged man approaching forty.

He had been single for more than thirty years. The reason he was able to marry Sibyl Berry was because he had no requirements for a dowry.

And Sibyl Berry was willing to marry with very little property. Lu Mian suspected it was because she had already become the parish priest's mistress at that time and needed a husband to be the father of a potential illegitimate child, while the parish priest promised something in secret.

Although the atmosphere in Intis was open and the phenomenon of illegitimate children was very common, many husbands or wives knew about it and, while angry, were still willing to keep their spouse's illegitimate child at home. After all, this was equivalent to having an extra male or female servant who didn't cost money in the future, and they had no right to divide the property. But the clergy of the "Eternal Blazing Sun" Church were not allowed to marry and have children, so they often found a cheap father for their illegitimate children.

Lu Mian arrived at Jean Mori's house all the way. This was a low-lying house located on the edge of Cordu Village.

It was gray-white overall, with only one floor. Behind the kitchen was the bedroom, and the other side was connected to the basement, which held wooden barrels for storage and also served as a living room and dining room.

As for the washroom, there wasn't one; it was just a shed built behind the house.

Lu Mian didn't knock on the door to enter, but quietly came to the side of the house and squatted under the bedroom window.

At this time, someone was sitting inside. Lu Mian could hear his breathing and judge the corresponding height based on this.

Not long after, light footsteps went from the kitchen to the bedroom.

Without needing to calculate, Lu Mian, as a "Hunter," naturally had the approximate weight of the owner of the footsteps in his mind.

This should be a woman, very likely Sibyl Berry.

In Lu Mian's impression, Sibyl Berry's black hair was smooth and didn't like to be coiled up like other married women; she just simply draped it or tied it into a ponytail, giving people a feeling that she hadn't married yet and was still a young girl.

Her features weren't outstanding, but they were soft and round, very fleshy.

At this moment, Jean-Marie, who had been silent in the bedroom, spoke up. He said gloomily:

"The parish priest came this afternoon?"

His voice was like his person, quite dull—he belonged to the kind of person who chatted under the elm tree in the village square, replying only once after everyone else had said four or five sentences. Plus, his black hair was often lazy to comb, his brown eyes had no spirit, and his beard wasn't shaved very cleanly, making him look gloomy overall.

"He came." Sibyl Berry's voice still carried some of a young girl's clarity.

She was born like this.

Jean Mori was silent for a while and then asked:

"Did you do that kind of thing?"

"We did." Sibyl answered very frankly.

Jean Mori was silent again, and only said when Sibyl walked toward the kitchen again:

"For the priest, I have nothing to say, but you must be wary of other men, especially Pato Roussel."

Pato Roussel was Madena Bénet's husband, and his wife was also the parish priest's mistress.

Lu Mian, under the window outside, listened and clicked his tongue in wonder:

This relationship is really chaotic!

He looked at the parish priest's desire even higher. He had come to find Sibyl Berry this afternoon, and was going to have an affair with Madame Pualis tonight. He could be called a model worker in the field of affairs.

If only he could distribute more of his energy to church affairs, combined with his own scheming and wrist, he could have long ago raised his divine rank and become a Beyonder.

—Divine rank was the grade of the clergy of the "Eternal Blazing Sun" Church. The first grade was called the Doorkeeper, the second was the Lector, the third was the Cantor, the fourth was the Acolyte, also known as the Assistant Priest, the fifth was the Subdeacon, the sixth was the Deacon, also known as the Priest or Cleric, the seventh was the Bishop, also called the Presbyter or Priest in some places, the eighth was the Archbishop, and the ninth was the Cardinal. The Pope was not in the ranks of divine rank.

Among them, starting from the sixth grade, they were called high divine ranks. In Aurora's words, it meant there was a very large possibility of possessing supernatural abilities. The lowest third grade mainly did some church chores and ritual assistance, and had existed in name only for the last few hundred years, not being treated as real clergy. The fourth grade Acolyte was usually a student who had just graduated from the seminary, and the fifth grade Subdeacon could represent a real priest to preside over a church in a rural area.

The situation in Cordu Village was the same, with a fifth-grade Subdeacon serving as the parish priest, a fourth-grade Acolyte serving as the deputy parish priest, and a few miscellaneous servants.

Guillaume Bénet only needed to be promoted by one grade to be a real priest.

"I know." Sibyl Berry responded simply to her husband's exhortation.

Jean Mori changed the subject:

"Your brother Pierre transferred back?"

"Yes, there is an important ritual later that needs his help." Sibyl explained casually.

Ritual? Lu Mian's eyelids jumped as he listened.

Jean Mori asked:

"Pentecost celebration?"

"No, God's ritual." Sibyl answered impatiently. "Don't ask too much; you'll know when the time comes."

Jean Mori let out an "Mm":

"Praise the Sun!"

Sibyl didn't respond and went into the kitchen.

Lu Mian instantly had a judgment:

Sibyl had a certain understanding of the secret dealings of the parish priest and the shepherd Pierre Berry, while her husband Jean Mori knew nothing about it!

The ritual she mentioned wasn't the "sacrifice" at Pentecost, and it was highly likely related to the twelfth night!

Lu Mian, who had gained a little, left the Mori house and hurried to the two-story building where Pato Roussel and Madena Bénet lived.

Unlike Sibyl, Madena Bénet married with her own share of property, and Pato Roussel also divided his due share from his original family, so they were able to build a house that was not bad and entrusted more than twenty sheep to the shepherds for herding.

Lu Mian didn't know when Madena became the parish priest's mistress. He only knew that in the past year, before hooking up with Madame Pualis, the parish priest loved to find Madena the most, perhaps the taboo of status brought some kind of flame.

At this time, Pato Roussel, who kept gentlemanly whiskers like the administrator, was pacing in the kitchen. He asked Madena, who was busy directing the maid:

"When will we invite the parish priest to be a guest again?"

He looked eager, hoping to cling to that person of real power in Cordu Village.

Madena looked at the illegitimate daughter of Pato's father, that is, the maid who was cooking, and said with a subtle tone:

"I don't know; it depends on his mood."

And his physical state, right? Lu Mian, eavesdropping in a hidden place outside, muttered silently.

"Didn't you often go to the church to pray recently? You can ask him by the way." Pato Roussel wouldn't give up.

Often go to the church? Lu Mian frowned.

Is the parish priest's gang planning secret things in the church?

Really don't give the "Eternal Blazing Sun" and Saint Siss any face...

After listening for a while, he walked from the Roussel house to the church on the edge of the village square, hoping to chat with the parish priest face-to-face.

But when he arrived at the church, the parish priest Guillaume Bénet was no longer here, and only the deputy parish priest Michel Galigou was standing in front of the altar.

This was an outsider, from Dariège, graduated from the Bigorre Seminary, and was sent by the bishop to Cordu Village last year to be Guillaume Bénet's deputy. He was usually squeezed out and was only responsible for registering funerals, marriages, and births.

In the last loop, when Lu Mian came to the church, he happened to meet the parish priest leaving, and the other party told him to come back to pray the next day, not giving Michel any chance to listen to the believers' prayers and confessions at all.

Michel was taller, not shorter than the previous Lu Mian (because he took the "Hunter" potion, Lu Mian felt he had grown another two or three centimeters, almost one meter eighty), and was a handsome young man with brown curly hair and a slightly green look.

Looking at Michel Galigou, who was wearing a white robe with gold thread, Lu Mian directly opened his arms:

"Praise the Sun!"

After finishing the ceremony, he stared at Michel, wanting to see what reaction this deputy parish priest would have when facing the etiquette of the "Eternal Blazing Sun" Church.

If there was any hesitation, Lu Mian could determine that he had been dragged into the water by the parish priest's gang.

Michel Galigou immediately returned the same posture:

"Praise the Sun!"

He didn't have any hesitation, and his brownish-yellow eyes were full of joy and expectation.

Judging from Madena Bénet's words, the parish priest's gang often discussed things here. As the deputy parish priest, Michel should have some awareness, right? Lu Mian didn't ask directly, looked left and right, and said:

"The parish priest isn't here?"

"He left for a while." Michel answered. "Three outsiders were looking for him a quarter of an hour ago and couldn't find him."

This deputy parish priest's eyes were enthusiastic, as if saying whether he wanted to do a confession by the way.

Considering that the parish priest might have circled around and hid back in the church, waiting for Madame Pualis to bring dinner, and was currently eavesdropping on his and Michel's conversation, Lu Mian sighed deliberately:

"Then forget it; I'll come back to pray tomorrow."

Michel's eyes lost their luster at once.

Lu Mian turned his body, left the church, and planned to wait until the night became deeper before sneaking to Michel's residence to see if he could ask for useful intelligence.

Seeing the sun about to fall behind the mountain, he returned home and said to Aurora, who had set the dinner plates:

"Did you discover anything?"

Aurora nodded lightly:

"Besides the abnormalities you mentioned, I also discovered that the deputy parish priest Michel Galigou has a problem."

"Ah?" Lu Mian didn't hide his astonishment.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 45 =====