The small coin emitted a warm, pale yellow light in the young man's hand, dispelling a bit of the tobacco smoke in the room.
"Look, Sir." Wood held up the coin, the light reflecting in his eyes: "This is nothing worth researching. It is just a conductor."
"We only want to know the other things he is hiding; that is the crux of the problem." Wood smiled, a smile that did not reach the bottom of his eyes.
"Being able to survive an event of this level, do you assume that boy is only involved in a few low-level magic tricks?" Simon's tone was somewhat unfriendly; he felt these two young men were too arrogant: "Young Master Wood, I know you want to use the handling of this event to accumulate points for promotion and embellish your profile, but this is not a level you can intervene in. That boy might be a believer of some evil god; he is very dangerous!"
"My father hopes I learn more things from reality." Wood kept the polite smile, but it carried an implied threat: "He hopes I participate in this matter, both myself and Hughes. You must understand his meaning."
Simon wanted to say something else to refute, but he paused, not opening his mouth further. It was not for any other reason; the person before him had a family background that could not be offended. The Vice Bishop of the Church of Light in Dune City, also bearing the surname Wood, was the father of this Young Master Wood before him, the person holding real power.
Rapid knocking on the door broke the tense silence in the room. Simon frowned; he was entertaining important guests, but for the knocking to be so urgent, clearly the staff outside knew the rules yet still did it, so it must not be a small matter.
He took a deep breath to stabilize his emotions and said: "Come in."
...
The Church of Light of Dune City was located on Fourth Avenue in the city center, where an inch of land was worth an inch of gold.
Fourth Avenue was the privileged area of the Churches. The cathedrals of the Goddess of Light, the Goddess of Wealth, the Goddess of Magic, and the Church of Steam were all built on this street, creating a complex of majestic religious architecture.
Among them, the most prominent architectural work, completely built of milky white marble, radiating a brilliant aura under the sun and filled with a holy, sacred breath, was the cathedral of the Goddess of Light.
The Church's foreign affairs office was located closer to the street level, humbler than the main hall, with a thick oak door that was not too eye-catching; next to it stood a small brass signpost, written with neat, rigid words: "Reception and Handling Office."
Alex tightly grasped the crumpled receipt that Judge Hughes and Judge Wood had left for him, took a deep breath, and pressed the electric bell at the door.
The machinery inside moved, emitting a piercing "ring ring" sound, breaking the silence of the afternoon.
Not long after, light footsteps could be heard from inside.
A young woman wearing an ash-gray sweater, with a white shirt collar revealed neatly, opened the door for Alex. She flashed an industrial smile: "Hello, this is the Church of Light, we can help..." Her words were not yet finished when her smile froze as her gaze stopped on Alex's face. Her expression immediately changed, revealing a look of surprise mixed with disdain: "Broken Neck?"
Alex's expression changed, his hand gripping the paper tighter. He knew the woman in front of him; she was June, a classmate who had grown up with him in the orphanage of the Church school. She was three years older than Alex, nineteen this year, with average looks but always arrogant and conceited.
Orphans adopted by the Church would participate in a grand Divine Selection when they turned fifteen. If they could pass the Divine Selection, they would have the qualifications to become extraordinary people, stepping into the world of power.
As for those who did not pass the Divine Selection, they could take the cultural exam; those with excellent results would be kept to do administrative work within the Church.
Orphans who did not pass the Divine Selection and whose grades were also not good would usually be pushed out into society to find jobs in the city on their own. Although they had all enjoyed the basic education of the Church school, knowing how to read and calculate, and finding a job to make a living was not too difficult, their social status was very low.
The worst were the type like Alex. He didn't even have the qualifications to participate in the Divine Selection because his constitution was too weak; as soon as his twelfth birthday passed, he was mercilessly kicked out of the Church.
If not for the kind old Pastor Arthur taking him in, he would have starved to death in some corner long ago.
And when he was in the Church, Alex's days were not good either. He was frequently bullied by older and stronger children, mocked with ugly nicknames.
The person in front of him was one of the ringleaders who used to bully him.
Alex did not expect her to be lucky enough to pass the exam and be kept to work for the Church.
"What are you doing here?" June frowned, crossing her arms over her chest, her tone full of dismissal: "This is a solemn place; you should not come here to dirty the floor."
Alex couldn't be bothered to pay attention to her bossy attitude. He coldly took the crumpled receipt that the Judge had left from his pocket, holding it up in front of her face.
"I came to receive the allowance." Alex replied briefly.
"Are you joking? Since when does the Church issue allowances to useless people like you?" June laughed sarcastically, completely disbelieving Alex's words. But when her eyes accidentally glanced over the paper, her smile extinguished upon seeing the difference in the material.
It was high-quality parchment with a radiant sun watermark embossed on it, an extremely expensive and rare type of paper, usually only used to write extremely important documents or secret orders. Even ordinary clerks like her did not have the qualifications to touch or handle documents using this type of paper.
June was astonished and hurriedly snatched the paper, bringing it close to her eyes to check carefully if it was a forgery. But in the bottom corner of the paper, the bright red wax seal and the flamboyant signature full of pride of James Wood were displayed so ostentatiously and clearly.
This was absolutely not a forgery!
No one in Dune dared to forge the signature of the Vice Bishop's son.