Chapter 523
Eivass’s Residence
After obtaining the Sin Thorns fruits, the Pure White Saintess left in a hurry, seemingly wanting to verify some of her hypotheses.
Cardinal Matilda, on the other hand, was preparing to head downstairs with Eivass to their residence.
Normally, this would be the Pure White Saintess’s job. Cardinal Matilda wouldn’t usually leave the Holy Order Department.
But since the Pure White Saintess had private matters to attend to, the blue-haired cardinal chose to look after Eivass for her.
Whether as a student, a guest, or a key figure capable of solving the Amber, they couldn’t just give him an address and cast him aside.
“Remember this place, Eivass,” Cardinal Matilda said as she brought Eivass onto the elevator platform. “There are twelve sets of these elevators on each floor. You can wait at the one closest to you. Each set has one going up and one going down – the gold ones only go up, and the black ones only go down. They stop for three minutes on each floor.”
“If there are too many people, just wait for the next one at the entrance. Although there’s a barrier for protection, it’s still very dangerous.”
Cardinal Matilda guided Eivass patiently, like teaching a child how to use an elevator for the first time.
Eivass nodded at her words.
Indeed, this thing looked dangerous.
Although the “elevator” had handrails, it wasn’t fully enclosed at all. It looked like a viewing balcony jutting out, which was quite terrifying.
The timing device here was also very visual.
This elevator was not physical at all, but a barrier. Its metal parts were actually a ring, and it looked more like a force field generator. The black disk-shaped force field even had vine-like spreading patterns of dark gold light, gradually filling up.
When it was full, with a flash of dark gold radiance, the disk detached from the ring and began to descend.
It descended quite rapidly.
After a brief delay, it felt like falling. The intense feeling of weightlessness made Lily a bit scared – or rather, she nervously gripped Eivass’s arm. Eivass, however, showed no reaction and even felt a sense of nostalgia.
Soon, they suddenly began to decelerate and then slowly came to a halt on the twelfth floor.
Some people were leaving from here, and some were entering from outside.
Lily finally let out a sigh of relief.
Eivass felt that her palms were already sweating.
He subconsciously glanced at Sherlock, only to find him surprisingly calm, just hugging his arms somewhat boredly.
“Your luggage has already been sent to your residence by the guards,” Cardinal Matilda said gently, like a mother’s earnest instruction. “Your residence is in the Fifth Ring, and your place of study is in the Ninth Ring. It’s not that we didn’t want to prepare a residence for you in the Ninth Ring… but from that level upwards, it’s mostly elves, and you might not be able to adapt to the elves’ pace of life and customs. And there might be some rather xenophobic elves.”
“From the Fifth Ring downwards, currency is usable normally. The Sixth and Seventh Rings are more primitive in environment; don’t go there unless necessary. There are no guards stationed there, and it might be somewhat dangerous.”
“If you want to buy anything, you can go to the First Ring, where the selection is the most complete. If you can’t carry your items, you can hire trolls to help you. They have great strength, and the hiring cost isn’t expensive.”
“The Fifth Ring is a research-oriented level and is much quieter compared to the lower levels. If you wish to live on a lower floor, you can tell me or the Pure White Saintess, and we can arrange for you to move to a lower level.”
“The living area in each Ring is quite large. If you want to travel around, you can find some protruding houses in the middle of each Ring. They are located near the elevators. Like the elevators, they are constantly rotating, allowing you to quickly reach a certain sub-area, and then search inwards or outwards to get closer.”
“Remember not to harm the giant trees; this is an absolute taboo. Therefore, the scale of battles here is strictly limited… If you have disputes with others, try to resolve them without damaging the ground.”
Upon saying this, Cardinal Matilda glanced at Eivass and then at Sherlock. “Try not to use fire-based abilities. This is not the outside world; the ground cannot withstand burning. If the ground is damaged, immediately find a nearby Elf Bishop to heal the ground, and do not escape – His Majesty the Pope is watching you.”
“Heal the ground?” Sherlock suddenly asked. “Is that also considered… ‘High-Tier Divine Art’?”
“That’s right,” Cardinal Matilda nodded. “‘Illumination’ is actually a healing technique that can only be used on living beings with lifespans, emotions, and intelligence. Therefore, illumination cannot help plants recover from injury, nor can it restore the remains left by Apostles.”
“Healing divine physiques is already considered High-Tier Divine Art, so it’s very troublesome.” She smiled at Eivass. “I have high hopes for you. Perhaps you can truly learn High-Tier Divine Art.”
As they chatted, the elevator soon descended to the fifth floor.
Cardinal Matilda led Eivass to the “Perpetual Motion Ring,” and Eivass curiously asked, “When will I start studying?”
“No rush,” Cardinal Matilda said casually.
She said with a smile, “Play around more. Since you’re here, you can look around… Oh, right. You didn’t buy the ‘Traveler’s Handbook’ on the First Ring, did you? That seemed quite expensive.”
“I didn’t buy it,” Sherlock replied.
“It’s good that you didn’t,” Cardinal Matilda said. “From the First to the Fifth Ring, you can get a free Traveler’s Handbook in every inn and residence. However, they are all in Elven Language… You understand Elven Language, right?”
By the time she reached the end, she had switched to Elven Language. Before, Elven Language was only used when the Pure White Saintess and Janis spoke, and during Eivass’s ritual to accept the Archbishop’s identity. For all other conversations, to accommodate Eivass, everyone spoke in Avalon language.
“…In other words,” Sherlock’s lips curled into a mocking smile, “those goblins actually translated these freely provided items and sold them for money, right? Isn’t that considered fraud, Cardinal Matilda?”
“It’s not,” Cardinal Matilda shook her head. “Because there are indeed people who don’t understand Elven Language. Therefore, there are indeed people who need it – what we can guarantee is that you will definitely receive something if you pay. However, how much it should be sold for, we cannot and will not manage. Considering transportation costs, labor costs, losses, and other factors, pricing based solely on the intrinsic value of the item is unfair. And we have no intention of researching such rapidly changing things, so we’ll leave these to the market to regulate. If someone sells something at too high a price, there will definitely be someone selling a cheaper version.”
“What we can be responsible for is preventing violence and fraud. For example, monopolizing a certain product through violence, or not giving the item after receiving payment, or not giving payment after receiving the item – or playing word games, where the item given is not the same as the item sold.”
“So, when you go shopping, be sure to check the prices carefully. It’s impossible to get a refund after buying something if you feel it’s too expensive or you don’t need it.”
At this point, Cardinal Matilda smiled slightly. “Regarding this, Cardinal Loki has conducted research. He believes that fraud is necessary – it is precisely because of the existence of fraud that people’s conversations and actions have flexibility. This is a social lubricant, leaving room for everyone’s words and actions, and also making people willing to consider others’ words and deeds.”
“Indeed,” Eivass nodded. “If a society completely lacks fraud, it would only lower people’s thinking ability, but it would not be able to eradicate ‘unintentional misinformation,’ such as forgetfulness or misunderstanding.”
“Regarding misunderstandings between people, Cardinal Igor has an interesting perspective…”
Cardinal Matilda chatted as she led Eivass and the others to their residence.
It wasn’t a particularly large house, even smaller than the villa Princess Isabel had given Eivass.
From the outside, it looked like a two-story wooden house, with each floor being about eighty square meters. Naturally, there was no courtyard, swimming pool, or garden.
However, what puzzled Sherlock was that the door of the house had no keyhole or handle.
He tentatively reached out to push the door open, but as his hand approached, a vine-like handle suddenly grew out of the door.
This startled Sherlock, causing him to freeze his hand in mid-air for a moment.
Eivass directly grabbed the handle, turned it, and entered the house.
After all of them had entered, the door closed. From the inside, the door still appeared smooth and without a handle.
“The handle only appears when you guests and the cardinals approach the door,” Cardinal Matilda said with a smile. “This is also a security mechanism – although its significance is minimal, it’s generally absolutely safe within the Church country.”
“These are newly built rooms, and there were no previous occupants, so you don’t have to worry about anything left behind. Everything here is new. There are a total of four bedrooms, two on each floor. There is also a toilet, dining room, and study on each floor.”
Saying this, she led everyone to the outermost bedroom on the first floor and pulled open the door.
She proudly introduced, “These wooden cabinets are also a blessing from the giant trees. You can store leftover food in them, and you can also store clothes. When used as a wardrobe, it can automatically clean your clothes, as long as they aren’t too dirty; it can also serve as a food storage cabinet, preserving fresh fruits from wilting and meat from spoiling for about half a month to a month…”
Cardinal Matilda said this and casually pulled open one of the cabinets.
—The next moment, a fresh elf corpse fell out of the storage cabinet with a thud.
(End of Chapter)
