The next morning, as promised, Lark greeted the priests staying at the mansion. The first priest was a tall, elderly man with balding hair. He was reading a book about the scriptures when Lark knocked on the door and entered the room. Next to him was a young, stubby male priest with numerous freckles on his cheeks.
"Please pardon me for not visiting you the moment I arrived, honorable priests of the Water God." Lark placed a hand on his chest and bowed his head. "Lark Marcus, Lord of Blackstone Town."
As lord of the territory, there was no real need for Lark to bow his head before mere priests. But Lark had heard that they'd been waiting for an audience for quite some time now, ever since he'd given the approval to have a temple built in the town. Showing this much respect was the least he could do for these men.
The elderly priest snapped the book closed and stood up. He looked at the stubby priest and wordlessly told him to return Lark's gesture. Together, the two priests returned Lark's greeting politely.
"Thank you for taking the time to meet us, Lord Lark," said the elderly priest. "I am Wallace Ramford, a priest of God Nereus. And this young man next to me is Dean Arte, a newly appointed priest of the temple."
Although the words and gestures of the elderly priest were polite, he looked at Lark with a hint of disgust. The stubby priest, on the other hand, was clearly terrified of Lark. He could hardly look the Lord of Blackstone Town in the eye.
"We're glad to finally meet the esteemed ruler of Blackstone Town," said Wallace. "We've been hearing a lot of… rumors regarding the lord lately."
"Rumors? I hope they're at least pleasant ones," Lark joshed. He chuckled. "I've prepared a small feast below. Let us discuss matters concerning the temple in the grand hall."
The two priests obliged Lark's request and followed him to the grand hall of the mansion. The elderly priest frowned upon seeing the various dishes prepared on the table.
"A lavish lifestyle," mumbled the elderly priest. "As I thought. He never changed, huh?"
Although Wallace said it in a low voice, Lark heard everything clearly.
He studied the elderly priest discreetly as he led them to their seats.
"Is the food not to Priest Wallace's liking?" said Lark the moment they sat down.
Priest Wallace furrowed his brow and shook his head. "No. That's not it. The prepared feast is satisfactory. How should I say this…" There were several seconds of pause. "It's too excessive. We could probably feed two or three families with this, don't you think?"
Lark replied carefully, "I agree, Priest Wallace, that there is enough food here to feed several families for the day, but I can assure you that none of it will go to waste. The servants are permitted to eat the leftovers."
Priest Wallace sighed and nodded lightly. "Is that so?" Although he wasn't entirely convinced, he finally started eating the food served on his plate.
While eating, Lark and Wallace started discussing the establishment of a temple in Blackstone Town. To Lark's surprise, it seemed that the Temple of the Water God planned on shouldering all expenses for the project. The only things they asked of the Lord of Blackstone Town were manpower and a piece of land in the center of the town—sold at the cheapest price possible.
Lark happily agreed to their demands and even offered to give away the land for free. Lark believed it was a small price to pay if he could gain the favor of the temple.
"You're giving it to the temple for free?" Wallace stared at Lark in bewilderment.
One needed a large amount of money to buy even a small piece of land in the center of a territory. Moreover, judging by the number of developments the priests had encountered during their stay here, it was apparent that this town would one day become a city—it was only a question of when.
Although there had been similar instances before, wherein nobles gave away their land to the temple for free, such cases were extremely rare.
Wallace hadn't expected someone with a notorious reputation to make such offer.
"The temple is vital for the growth of Blackstone Town," Lark said after sipping his wine. "As lord of this territory, I believe it necessary to support the temple in any way possible."
Normally, such words would have been nothing but empty talk. But the fact that this young man before him was giving away the land for free made Wallace reconsider his true intentions.
"I didn't know you're a devout believer of the Water God," said Wallace.
"I am not."
Priest Wallace raised his brows in surprise. "You're not? Then why—" "Like I said before, the temple is vital for the growth of Blackstone Town." Lark smiled. "Priest Wallace, do I need any more reason than that?"
Priest Wallace fell silent. The Lord of Blackstone Town was right.
"I see. But Lord Lark, I was wondering… Why are you giving us the land next to the border of the Eastern District? I believe it would be better for the temple to be built at the heart of this territory."
"It's simple. The Eastern District will someday become the heart of Blackstone Town. It's inevitable since I plan on expanding the town further after clearing trees in the Endless Forest."
Priest Wallace nodded in understanding. "I see." He looked at Priest Dean, who'd been silent until now, then at Lark.
Priest Wallace wiped his lips with a napkin. "We hope that we can start building the temple once spring arrives. Until then, we'll be staying here in the mansion under your care."
"Please stay as long as you like," said Lark. "I've already told the servants to attend to your needs. Please make yourselves comfortable during your stay here."
Priest Wallace stared at Lark for a moment, as though observing him.
After everyone was done eating, the priests stood up and bade farewell to Lark. Priest Wallace still held the same gaze as when they first met, while Priest Dean still did his best to avoid Lark's eyes.
Lark did not understand why the stubby priest seemed so afraid of him.
He hadn't spoken even once during their discussions.
"Excuse me," said Lark the moment the priests were on their way out.
"Priest Dean. Is something the matter?"
Priest Dean finally looked at Lark in the eye, but immediately averted his gaze afterward. Seeing this, Priest Wallace clicked his tongue and sighed.
"I thought you wished to settle the discussions regarding the temple in a peaceful manner," said Priest Wallace. "That's why you were pretending not to know each other. And now you had to ask something so… distasteful."
The last few words were said hesitantly.
Lark shot him a quizzical gaze. He did not know what the priest was talking about.
Seeing the expression of Lark, Priest Wallace raised his voice in anger.
He snapped. "Stop pretending not to know, Lord Lark! This kid—this priest here! Are you going to continue to pretend that you do not know him?"
Priest Wallace's outburst was uncharacteristic of a priest. Furthermore, he no longer tried to hide the disgust in his eyes.
"I do not understand—" said Lark.
"You! How shameless!" Priest Wallace's eyes widened in rage. "Do you know how much suffering Priest Dean underwent because of you? You broke his limbs, crushed all of his fingers, and battered his face! If you truly did forget, then you're nothing but a demon incarnate! How can a person do all those things and forget all about it! Disgusting scum!"
Cruel words were thrown at him one after another, but Lark simply stood there in silence. He finally understood everything. Why Priest Wallace's gaze held a hint of disgust. Why Priest Dean did his best to avoid him.
Lark remembered the rumors about the previous owner of his body. He was certain that there was an incident where he almost killed a priest over some squabble. It was also the incident that finally made his father give up on him.
He'd never expected to meet that priest here, of all places. Moreover, he was the priest assigned to oversee the temple in his domain.
Although Priest Dean had fully recovered his health, the trauma of being beaten to near-death was definitely still there. The way Priest Dean's body trembled whenever Lark looked at him was a dead giveaway.
Lark realized that he was actually fortunate that Priest Wallace had been reasonable enough to converse with him despite everything that happened.
Although it was the previous owner of his body who did all those things, Lark had no intention of shirking responsibility. The sins of the previous owner were his sins now. He had no intention of running away from this reality.
Lark bowed his head low. "I apologize for not realizing Priest Dean's identity until now. I know that this might sound like empty words, but I am really sorry for what happened. If there's anything I can do to atone for my sins… anything."
Priest Wallace's face contorted for a moment. He looked conflicted.
Priest Dean, on the other hand, was staring at Lark with wide eyes, as though he'd never expected in his wildest dreams that the arrogant noble would lower his head and apologize.
"Words are cheap." Priest Wallace snorted. "If you are truly sincere, show us through your actions."
"Of course," said Lark, his head still bowed low.
"It seems that the Seer has taken a liking to you, Lord Lark," said Priest Wallace in disgust. "She even went as far as purposely sending Dean here. I don't know what's going through that mind of hers. That crafty woman. Sometimes I wonder why God Nereus favors her so much."
*** After the priests left, Lark immediately summoned the head mason and ordered him to help with the construction of the temple to the best of his abilities. Lark even went as far as allocating a hefty sum for the project, even though the temple had declared that they would shoulder all of the costs for the construction of the temple.
Lark believed that the previous owner of his body deserved all the curses thrown at him by the priest. He smiled wryly as he realized that the original Lark was a far bigger bastard than he'd originally thought. No wonder the duke threw him to this faraway town, in the opposite direction of the Marcus Duchy.
After meeting with the head mason, Lark went to the underground chamber of the mansion.
He opened the large bag sitting in the corner of the room and took out the gold coins. The figure of the first Emperor of the Magic Empire was engraved on one side of the coin, and the image of a serpent eating its own tail—the ouroboros—was engraved on the other.
The ouroboros represented the dragon vein below, the origin of all mana in this world. Coupled with the image of the first Emperor, these gold coins basically represented the unending glory of the Magic Empire. A nation that would never crumble, even with the passage of time.
Lark found it ironic that the gold coins had been true to their meaning.
With the dragon vein gone, the Magic Empire collapsed.
The value of these gold coins was probably immeasurable in today's time. Collectors would go crazy if these gold coins were auctioned in the capital. After all, anything related to the Magic Empire should have been lost a thousand years ago.
Although Lark would have loved to auction these coins for a higher price, doing so would immediately give him away as the person responsible for the disappearance of the treasure in the Forbidden Region. The last thing he wanted was for Nickolai and his men to come and wreak havoc in his territory.
Although he was far stronger now, Lark wanted to prevent unnecessary disputes as much as possible.
He deemed that the best course of action right now was to melt these gold coins into a more 'inconspicuous' appearance. Melting a few hundred of these coins shouldn't pose a problem. There was literally a mountain of gold coins left inside the statue, after all.
After ordering the servants to get several crucibles from the masons, Lark immediately proceeded with the melting process. It was fairly easy, since all gold coins used in the Magic Empire were made of pure gold.
Nothing would be lost during the melting process when using such coins.
Lark used a gravity spell to lift the coins and used fire magic to heat them until melting point. The melted gold was then poured into molds.
Lark patiently repeated this process and eventually, he managed to create fifteen gold ingots. With them, it should be possible to finance more projects in Blackstone Town.
After molding and cooling the gold ingots, Lark went back to his office and summoned the butler.
"You called for me, Young Master?"
"Gaston, when is the next batch of merchants coming to Blackstone Town?"
"They should arrive tomorrow morning, Young Master. I heard that Mavas City had a food shortage recently. It seems that Big Mona decided to use that chance to trade commodities there."
"Tomorrow, huh? Perfect," said Lark. "Listen, I want you to send a message to Big Mona for me."
Lark handed Gaston a sealed envelope along with two gold ingots. The old butler stared at the bullions for a moment.
"This much money…" "Big Mona should know what to do with them after reading the letter.
Please make sure it reaches him."
"As you wish."
The content of the letter was simple. It was a recruitment notice for teachers and instructors in Lion and Mavas City. Since he had an astronomical amount of money stored away in the Endless Forest, Lark decided to use it to entice these people to work for Blackstone Town instead.
Although Melody was doing a great job managing the school, there was a limit on what she could manage alone.
The monthly salaries he offered in the letter were at least six times the normal rate. If he could accelerate the growth of Blackstone Town, and if he could drastically improve his subjects' level of education, then the money spent would be definitely worth it.
Two loud knocks were heard on the door and a servant whispered something to Gaston.
Gaston nodded, dismissed the servant, and said to Lark, "Young Master, it seems that the princess and your disciples have finally returned to Blackstone Town."
Hearing this, Lark smiled. The kids were finally back. It had been a while since he'd heard the brothers' boisterous laughter and the princess' occasional banter.
"They sure took their time." Lark grinned.
Lark stood up, donned his coat, and made his way toward the grand hall.
As he approached the princess and his disciples, he noticed the gloomy air surrounding them.
George was the first person to speak among them. "M-Master."
Lark realized that something was wrong. Even Anandra—who normally didn't show any emotion—was furrowing his brow. A hint of anger was visible in his eyes.
"What happened?" said Lark.
"C-Chryselle," said George. "She's no longer coming back to us."