After saying goodbye to the two nuns, Todd took a walk in Muxi Town and suddenly found that there were many more strange people in the town than before.
These people were well-dressed, in sharp contrast to the busy residents around them. They pointed at the houses on both sides of the street, and stopped from time to time to ask passers-by on the street who the owner of the house was.
.
I called a resident on the road and wanted to ask what was going on.
Because Todd was wearing a laboratory coat, the residents did not recognize him at first. After a while, the latter looked at the face of the inquirer, his eyes widened, and he shouted in disbelief: "Sir, the Son of God"
!It’s the Holy Son!”
This voice immediately attracted the attention of everyone on the street. People gathered like a tide, and there was an endless stream of praises and prayers. When Todd saw that the situation was not good, he recited two prayers, made the sign of the cross, and hurriedly
Sneaked back.
At the door of the church, Huggins was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, circling back and forth.
Todd's appearance, in the eyes of the man, is like the arrival of the savior.
Huggins looked at the other party's clothes up and down, and said hurriedly: "Sir! Hurry! Go and change into your holy order!"
Seeing the man's panic, Todd touched the bridge of his nose in confusion and asked funnyly: "What are you doing in such a hurry? It can't be the Pope, right? Haha!"
Huggins' solemn expression made Todd, who realized something was wrong in the atmosphere, laugh a few times and stopped involuntarily.
The other person's next words scared Todd so much that he jumped up from the ground.
"The Holy Envoy of the Papal State will arrive soon."
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"Is there nothing wrong with my attire?" Todd, wearing full Holy Orders, stood at the entrance of the town, looking at the plains to the east and asking Huggins beside him.
A large group of people with good intentions had already gathered around the priest. The news that the Holy Envoy from the Papal State was coming had long been spread throughout the streets by well-informed people.
Huggins tensed up nervously, not paying attention to Todd's inquiry at all, and said nothing.
At the end of the plain in the distance, a team of knights holding the Holy Cross was winding up. Watching the team approaching the town, Todd lowered his head and looked at the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a figure coming to his side.
before.
A purple-red foot-length gown with a white knee-length blouse in the middle, a large purple-red shawl on the outside, and a cross hanging from a green striped rope on the chest.
Todd quickly straightened his posture and said piously: "Dear Holy Messenger, you have brought the infinite mercy of Heavenly Father. Please give us apostles..."
Ahem!
This extremely familiar voice made Todd raise his head. Seeing who it was, he asked in surprise: "Bishop Fabian, why is it you?!"
The bishop tilted his head to the side with an embarrassed expression, and Todd noticed that there was an inconspicuous young man wearing a black deacon's robe standing next to him.
This man was in his twenties, with fluffy, curly brown hair, a straight body, and his facial features were not unusual, but his smile made people feel warm.
Todd looked at the ordinary black deacon's uniform on the young man, looked at Bishop Fabian in disbelief, and asked stammering: "Is this... is this...?"
The bishop also looked a little helpless and confused. He just heard him say: "Brother Todd, let me introduce you. This is the Holy Envoy of the Papal State, Tristan Gresham Bennett."
Before Todd could say anything, the Holy Messenger took two steps forward, grabbed the priest's sleeve, and asked something that startled the former: "I heard that you have an alchemy laboratory?
"
Looking nervously at the other members of the Papal State envoys, Todd found that the papal knights and entourage had no abnormal expressions on their faces.
Not sure what the Holy Envoy's intention was, Todd, whose mind went blank due to nervousness, laughed dryly: "Your Majesty the Holy Envoy, it's almost noon now, why not have lunch first..."
Tristan turned back to the leading knight of the mission and said: "You go to dine with the priest's entourage first."
Seeing the other members of the mission following Huggins towards the town, the Holy Envoy looked at him expectantly. Todd sighed deeply and had no choice but to lead Tristan towards the experimental building.
go.
When the two of them passed by the church door, they happened to bump into Rachel and Karin.
Just when Karin was bouncing around and talking about interesting things to Todd, the latter discovered that Rachel and Tristan were looking at each other on the street with big eyes and small eyes.
The holy envoy from the Papal State looked at the large nun's robe that Rachel was wearing, and his face turned red. Finally, he let out a burst of laughter and couldn't help laughing.
The abbess of the nunnery glared at the young deacon in front of her, picked up the reluctant Karin, and strode away.
Looking at the nun walking away in confusion, Todd's mind was in confusion and he asked the young man: "Lord Holy Envoy, do you know this sister?"
Tristan wiped the corners of his eyes and nodded with a smile: "Ah, yes! That's right, it's just a chance meeting."
You're lying, you look like you are an acquaintance with that little fox!
With such slander, Todd opened the door to the laboratory.
Tristan's eyes lit up, and he walked into the "ocean" of experimental equipment and reagent bottles, carefully inspecting everything, and finally landed on Todd's microscope.
A layman watches the excitement, an expert watches the door.
Todd paid attention to his gaze and immediately understood that this Holy Envoy was definitely an expert in alchemy. While the other party was focusing on the microscope, he secretly moved a wooden board to cover the entrance to the experiment.
Passage to the back room.
"Is this also a tool for alchemy?" Tristan touched his chin with his right hand and held his elbow with his left hand, looking curious.
Todd kicked the cloth strip on the ground with his feet, covering the gap under the board, and said: "Sir, that is called a microscope, and you can see very small things."
The man turned his head excitedly and asked loudly: "It's very small? How small?!"
Todd quickly moved, changed his position, walked up to the man, opened the wooden box of the microscope, took out two glass slides, put a drop of water on them, and placed them on the observation table.
Tristan watched the priest's movements, and his eyes especially stayed on the glass slide for a long time.
After adjusting the eyepiece and objective lens, Todd motioned to the Holy Envoy to come over and watch.
A few seconds later, the man yelled, causing Todd to squint his eyes and pick his ears.
Tristan pointed to the observation hole with trembling hands and asked stammering: "What are these things?"
Todd looked closer at the observation hole and said slowly: "The largest object that looks like the sole of a shoe is a paramecium; the long green object is Euglena; the one connected together should be
Cyanobacteria..."
The man pushed him away, raised his eyes again, pulled a stool next to him, and sat down on it without any trace of emotion.
Todd scratched the back of his head, looked at the wooden board behind him, and said cautiously: "Lord Holy Envoy..."
The man's head remained motionless, he waved his hand behind him and said in a friendly tone: "Call me Tristan, Father."
Todd continued: "Okay, Tristan. About lunch..."
"If you are hungry, just go and eat first and don't worry about me."
Todd rolled his eyes and cursed in his mind: Nonsense! How dare I let you stay here alone? There are still a lot of shameful things here. If the church finds out, I can go to the stake directly!
"Father, do you have paper and pen?"
Hearing what the other party said, Todd quickly opened the locker under the table and said hurriedly: "There are some, please wait a moment."
After watching Tristan get the paper and pen, he looked at the observation hole of the microscope while writing and drawing. Todd sighed, touched his stomach, and began to rummage in the laboratory to find the leftovers from last night.
of bread…
————————————
"Sir, it's almost time for dinner. The people from the mission are..." Huggins stepped into the door of the laboratory and was so shocked by the scene in front of him that he forgot what to say.
The Holy Envoy, who was wearing a black deacon's robe, was sitting in front of the microscope attentively. There was a pile of sketches on the table.
Our Lord Todd was sitting on a small bench, rubbing his belly with one hand and holding his cheek with the other, with depression written all over his face.
Huggins looked at Todd, then at the Holy Envoy, and said hesitantly: "The Knight Commander of the mission is looking for the Holy Envoy..."
"Stop talking, no matter what you say, he won't listen." Todd stood up, waved to Huggins, walked to Tristan's side, and pointed at the man's arm.
Huggins hesitated for a while, but finally he and Todd confronted Tristan, and walked out the door amidst the other's protests.
The dinner was arranged in the side hall of the church. Due to the hasty preparation, it was just ordinary food and drinks.
Tristan, the Holy Envoy of the Papal State, spoke. He first paid tribute to Heavenly Father, then thanked Bishop Fabian for accompanying him, and finally expressed his gratitude to Muxi Town for its warm hospitality.
After listening to the other party's speech, Todd was a little dazed. Because the Holy Envoy never mentioned the issue he was most concerned about - whether the church agreed to establish a knighthood in Muxi Town.
Of course, Todd couldn't directly ask about this kind of thing, so he could only make insinuations while chatting with Tristan between the banquets.
What surprised him was that although the Holy Envoy was young and obsessed with alchemy, he was as smooth as a loach in social situations. No matter how Todd reminded him, the other party just pretended to be stupid and did Tai Chi without mentioning the knight.
Group matters.
In the end, Todd lost his temper completely and could only temporarily give up the plan of asking and chatted about other topics.
"I thought the church regarded alchemy as a scourge." Todd took a sip of red wine.
Tristan plucked the fruits on the plate with his fork and said with a smile: "Would you be surprised if I told you that in the Papal States, many people, whether bishops or nobles, are studying alchemy?"
Todd's eyes widened: "But, alchemy isn't...?"
"Yes, the Church once had an "Encyclical Encyclical" that defined alchemy as a heresy, but that was eight hundred years ago. The charm of turning stone into gold and the "Philosopher's Stone" will attract everyone.
.But having said that, this kind of thing still cannot be brought to the table and can only be carried out secretly."
After listening to the other party's words, Todd remembered the scene of his heresy trial and hesitated to speak.
Tristan looked at his expression and smiled: "I heard about what happened to you before... Yinhuan Parish is still too remote, and many things will naturally change when we get here. Speaking of which, you and I still have
Some origins. The laboratory you found under the San Sidro Monastery..."
Todd raised his head suddenly and looked at the man, waiting for his next words.