Demon Bible

Chapter 127: Redemption Department

Walking along the trade route for a while, the silhouette of Tail Fin Town could be seen in the distance.

Brent's escort ended here; he needed to turn back and continue patrolling the vicinity of the trade route.

Isabella smiled and bid farewell to Brent, then lifted her gaze toward Tail Fin Town.

It was early summer now, and the setting sun carried a trace of scorching heat.

In the distance, white clouds rolled and continuously piled up, rapidly bringing forth a creeping gloom.

Isabella had only ridden her white horse for a dozen minutes before the gloom expanded rapidly, quickly transforming into a blanket of dark clouds.

From her vantage point, the entire city seemed to be smothered beneath those oppressive clouds.

Instinctively, Isabella stopped in her tracks.

A faint sense of foreboding rose from the depths of her heart, but it vanished as quickly as it came.

Isabella sorted out her feelings, then resolutely continued walking along the trade route, making her way into Tail Fin Town.Her first impression upon entering the town was the sheer liveliness of the place.

The streets were packed with people coming and going.

It was chaotic, yet it possessed its own inherent rhythm and order.

Fortunately, Isabella carried an extraordinary air about her and led a rare white horse.

The people around her did not dare to get too close.

"As expected of Tail Fin Town, known for its prosperity." In terms of commercial prosperity alone, even Sky Spring City was somewhat inferior to Tail Fin Town.

While observing the city once again, Isabella made her way toward the location of the church.

At the same time, she silently compared Tail Fin Town with other similar towns, as well as with the past versions of Tail Fin Town.

Perhaps due to its commercial prosperity, Tail Fin Town seemed to have fewer starving people than she expected.

The vitality of the people also far exceeded that of other towns; this kind of energetic mental outlook could usually only be seen over in Sky Spring City.

Isabella's perception constantly shifted, exploring the spirit and energy of the populace.

This was a habit she had developed. As her strength continued to improve, her ability to empathize with others had taken a significant step forward.

She could now scan emotions on a large scale, allowing her to roughly gauge whether people were "good" or "bad."

"Hmm?" Isabella suddenly paused in surprise. Amidst the crowd, she had sensed a few unusual individuals.

On the surface, these individuals looked no different from the surrounding commoners.

However, their emotions were incredibly concealed, as if their natural emotional fluctuations were unusually muted.

When Isabella focused her perception, she discovered that their emotions were not actually hidden; rather, their emotions shared a specific connection that served as a mental anchor.

It was like when a strong wind blew: unsupported weeds could only thrash wildly in the gale, while vines securely clinging to a sturdy tree trunk remained relatively stable.

'Is it some kind of cultivation method?' Isabella thought, yet she immediately sensed some glaring issues with that theory.

Because most of those individuals were an ordinary person.

Although Isabella did not want to view things this way, the reality was that this world was incredibly harsh when it came to an ordinary person acquiring power.

The Breathing Technique and Meditation Method were essentially the absolute foundation for cultivating any supernatural power.

Yet this type of knowledge was the most strictly guarded secret of all.

Ordinary commoners had to be phenomenally lucky just to obtain a flawed, basic cultivation method.

However, on this short walk alone, Isabella had already spotted about a dozen such individuals.

This was completely abnormal.

This phenomenon, which she tentatively identified as a cultivation method, had spread far too widely.

However, Isabella was a newcomer after all. Without knowing the inside story, she knew better than to act rashly.

Instead, she headed straight to the church to report in. She firmly believed that the Church would have collected enough intelligence regarding a matter like this.

If the Church knew nothing, it meant the problem was far deeper than it appeared, and it certainly was not something her reckless investigation could solve.

Isabella had grown increasingly mature over this recent period.

After promptly submitting her report, she met with the Bishop of Tail Fin Town—Rhine.

"Priest Isabella, I am delighted that you chose to take up your post in Tail Fin Town," Rhine said. His face wore that familiar expression—a look that seemed like a gentle smile, yet simultaneously felt devoid of any emotion at all.

"As a newcomer, I will offer you a few pieces of advice."

"Do your own job well, and do not meddle in matters that do not concern you."

"Avoid the South District, and avoid wandering out into the wild."

"There has never been true peace upon the Whaleback. Enjoying a fleeting moment of tranquility is already enough."

The first two sentences could be considered standard advice, but the last one seemed utterly baffling.

Isabella did not understand the underlying context, so she could only politely thank him for his guidance before leaving to check her work assignments.

A Priest's duties primarily revolved around the Confession Booth, providing daily counseling to the believers who entered.

There was also Redemption Work, which meant when believers suffered hardships (usually injuries or illnesses), the Priest would step in to provide healing and solutions.

Additionally, there was Investigation Work. Because Priests possessed keen perception, they could detect a wealth of information that remained imperceptible to an ordinary person.

Therefore, Priests also bore certain investigative responsibilities. If a vicious crime occurred, they were required to cooperate with the Holy Knight squads to conduct on-site investigations or track down criminals.

The ultimate goal of all these duties was to guide the faith of the people, ensuring the populace remained devout in their worship of the God of Precepts.

Isabella was officially assigned to the Redemption Department.

Generally, this meant she only needed to stay inside the church, with the occasional requirement to make "house calls."

Isabella originally thought she would dive right into a busy schedule, but she soon realized she had been naive.

The entire Redemption Department was vastly more "leisurely" than she could have ever imagined.

"There is no need to make such a fuss," a curly-haired male Priest beside her remarked. After taking a sip from a cup that held either tea or liquor, he chuckled and revealed the harsh truth of Tail Fin Town to the newcomer—the poor did not deserve redemption.

Isabella summarized it that way in her own mind, but the underlying meaning in the curly-haired Priest's words was exactly that.

The Redemption Department originally operated on a queuing system. When believers or commoners suffered physical ailments, they would come to the Church for help.

The Church was supposed to register them and assign queue numbers based on the urgency of their medical needs.

Subsequently, the Priests would cast Spells or Divine Arts in the assigned order to heal them.

Of course, that was merely the theoretical process. In reality, among the hundreds of thousands of residents in Tail Fin Town, who didn't occasionally suffer from minor ailments like headaches or fevers?

If absolutely everyone came to line up for treatment, the queue would be virtually endless, and no one would ever actually get their turn.

The Priests would never get a moment to rest and would inevitably suffer mental damage from excessive spellcasting.

Therefore, a strict cap was placed on the daily workload of the Priests in the Redemption Department.

That led to the second stage: the aggressive intervention of nobles and wealthy merchants.

It shifted from prioritizing the queue based on the severity of injuries, to a system where the actual illness became an irrelevant footnote.

Power, connections, favors, and money became the ultimate deciding factors.

From that point onward, the healing services of the Redemption Department were almost exclusively reserved for individuals like a noble or a wealthy merchant.

This further squeezed out what little space remained for an ordinary person.

For instance, a wealthy merchant could donate a massive sum of money or tokens to permanently secure a priority spot in the queue.

Even if they did not currently need treatment, they kept an iron grip on that slot. The impoverished citizens who genuinely needed life-saving care, utterly unable to afford the bribes, could only watch as the rich constantly cut the line, leaving them entirely devoid of redemption.

Thanks to these monopolizing behaviors by the wealthy elite, the actual workload of the Redemption Department had dwindled significantly.