Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 954: Chapter 198: Sin (3)

Bucky was knocked unconscious on the ground in a rather peculiar position.

His hands were spread out, his face pressed against the ground, while his rear was sticking up. Whether he bit his tongue or not, the Queen of the Shadow Realm certainly didn’t care.

Scathach simply frowned as she looked at Miss Cosini.

When she first entered the room, at first glance she saw that Miss Cosini seemed to be controlled and had undone her clothes, while this so-called ‘Messenger of God’ approached her with a sinister smile.

The Queen of the Shadow Realm wasn’t exactly on the side of justice, but there are certain things she disdained to do — such as forcibly possessing a woman’s body through control.

Scathach raised a finger to Miss Cosini’s forehead, and with a gentle touch, Miss Cosini completely fell down. Scathach caught her and placed her on the nearby sofa.

She looked at Miss Cosini again and frowned once more — because the moment she broke the control over Miss Cosini, she felt a very holy power.

Holy… yet simultaneously using a seductive spell to control people and doing bad things with it.

“What’s going on…” The Queen of the Shadow Realm’s eyes filled with growing confusion — she suddenly walked over to Bucky and kicked him over with her leg.

Scathach stared at Bucky for a long moment, then crouched down and placed her palm over Bucky’s face — directly peeling off the mask covering Bucky’s face.

Scathach then pried open Bucky’s eyelids, stared into his eyeballs, and grabbed his wrist.

“What’s the matter with this guy… why is his body filled with such evil power?” Scathach pondered: “Is he about to mutate into a Devil… or is it the Devil’s descendant re-emerging in the present age?”

Shaking her head, Scathach decided not to delve further into contemplation — since Lucifer had sent her to investigate, tossing this ‘Messenger of God’ in front of Lucifer would probably make things clear.

…

Miss Cosini slowly opened her eyes and found herself lying on the sofa with a blanket covering her.

She looked around with some confusion, but couldn’t spot the ‘Messenger of God’. Miss Cosini frowned, remembering only that the other party seemed to have reached out a palm towards her, at that instant she felt as if she lost consciousness, “Could he be a master of hypnosis…”

Miss Cosini’s hand suddenly trembled slightly, and she began biting her fingers.

“Dad’s task… failed…”

…

“Suddenly just fainted?”

Mr. Saint Fran had the secretary call Miss Cosini over temporarily — at that moment, he was warmly connecting with the mayor.

“I’m sorry, Father.” Miss Cosini lowered her head: “This envoy is probably a master adept in hypnosis. I don’t know if he made me reveal anything after hypnotizing me.”

Mr. Saint Fran’s expression was very calm, but he didn’t look at Miss Cosini; he just stared out at the night, contemplating: “You’ve undergone resistance training against hypnosis, and if even you inadvertently fell for it… then I can roughly understand why this church has developed so rapidly.”

“Father means, is he relying on such powerful hypnosis methods?” Miss Cosini’s face grew grim.

Mr. Saint Fran said indifferently: “Hypnosis is just one of the methods. Generally speaking, the methods used by this church, wild in amassing wealth, include hypnosis, hallucinogenic drugs, various psychological hints, and fraud… hmm, looking at it like this, they’re merely using such tricks, not anything particularly special.”

“Particularly… special stuff?” Miss Cosini asked instinctively.

Only then did Mr. Saint Fran glance at Miss Cosini and slowly said: “When I was in prison, I met a master of the soft arts. He entered prison not because he committed a crime, but to cultivate… this world is vast, to the point it limits a mortal’s imagination.”

Miss Cosini pondered the meaning of Mr. Saint Fran’s words, but at that moment Mr. Saint Fran suddenly said: “Alright, let’s head to the banquet venue now.”

“But Father, the envoy is still…” Miss Cosini quickly said — the ‘Messenger of God’ had been missing since she woke up, but Mr. Besong was still at the banquet venue, though he probably wouldn’t take long to realize something’s wrong.

Mr. Besong was probably thinking that his ‘Emissary’ was passionately discussing life with someone at the moment.

“Ending the banquet temporarily like this, would be like telling others we have something going on.” Mr. Saint Fran said indifferently, then directly pushed the door open and exited, “Let’s go, the birthday banquet has just begun, the protagonist must not be absent.”

“Understood…” Miss Cosini sighed and quickly followed.

…

…

Life in the Great Church was still somewhat unsettling for Charlotte — even though she had been here for less than two days.

In one aspect, it’s because there were far more people in the Great Church than the monastery she grew up in, and the believers who came during the day seemed endless.

The priest here — who brought surgical funds for the old Nuns and provided her with learning opportunities — his name was Babalon.

Father Babalon was truly a kind person — at least, that’s how Charlotte felt at the moment.

At this time, Charlotte, who had completed the day’s courses, was cleaning the church with another trainee nun. This fellow trainee nun was about the same age as Charlotte, named Messiah, a relatively quiet girl.

“Messiah, can I leave the prayer room to you? I’ll take care of cleaning the floor.”

Having lived with the old Nuns in the monastery all the time, Charlotte actually completed all the cleaning work there by herself, so she thought she could do more and handed over the relatively easy task of cleaning the prayer room to the newly acquainted nun.

“No… it’s not necessary, leave the floor to me, I’m used to doing this.” Messiah shook her head: “My hands and feet are clumsy, I might easily break things inside.”

As soon as she said it, Messiah walked to Charlotte and took the broom from her hand, then hurriedly began working.

The prayer room was only so small, what could be broken… Charlotte suddenly smiled, it seemed Messiah shared the same thought as her, both wanting to accomplish the more tiring work and leave the easier tasks to others.

“It’s truly good here… the Great Church.” Charlotte’s mood suddenly brightened — for the past few days, she had felt suffocated.

After a while, Messiah said: “I’m off to take out the trash, Charlotte.”

“Thank you,” Charlotte smiled slightly, then hummed a tune from the hymn and began cleaning the prayer room.

Just then, the church doors suddenly swung open, and a man with a plump build walked in, looking dejected.

He sighed repeatedly as he looked at the crucifix at the front and then sat alone on the bench. Charlotte watched for a while, then directly walked over.

The church is a place where people can pour out their troubles… That’s what the old nuns always taught her to say.

“Sir, do you have any difficulties?” Charlotte gently asked at this moment.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate for Father Babalon to do this, but he was busy with other matters at the moment.

“Are you the new nun? I’ve never seen you before,” the plump man frowned and asked.

“Yes.” Charlotte sat down just beside this man, smiling, “But I’ve grown up in the monastery since I was little… If you have any questions, you can talk to me.”

The man suddenly smiled bitterly, “You look no older than my daughter, what kind of advice can you give me if I confide in you… I’ll just sit here for a while, let me be alone.”

Charlotte was evidently taught to be a warm-hearted person, and she quickly said, “Sir, perhaps my experience is not enough to give you any effective advice, but simply as a listener, I can help you relieve some of the inner gloom.”

The man seemed to hesitate for a moment, then nodded and sighed, “Okay, I think at this moment, I indeed need a listener.”

“How should I address you?” Charlotte asked with a smile.

“Cage, you can just call me Cage.” The man… Cage heaved a sigh, “You know, I was just released from detention, a sinner.”

Charlotte continued to smile: “Mr. Cage, our sins can be forgiven when we keep compassion and gratitude in our hearts. Since you’ve left that place and regained your freedom, it should be something to be thankful for.”

Cage smiled bitterly, “To be thankful? If after I got out, my wife ran off with another man, took my daughter, and even took my property… and I even lost my job, do you think I can still feel thankful?”

“This… This…” Charlotte’s face stiffened.

She had heard others’ confessions before, but mostly from the villagers—who usually had only small troubles, not like Mr. Cage with so many unfortunate events. With her experience, she truly didn’t know where to start comforting this Mr. Cage.

“You don’t need to comfort me, just like you said, simply being a listener is enough.” Mr. Cage looked at the crucifix ahead, recounting his experiences during this period.

Starting from work, then the process of escorting a prisoner, but ended up being taken hostage by the prisoner, had to help the prisoner escape, and later got caught by the police because of this. Although he was released eventually, he encountered more unfortunate events.

“Sometimes I wonder, even though I am a believer, whether It is watching over me.” Cage shook his head and smiled bitterly, “You know? Before coming here, I even thought about whether I should rob someone because I really have nothing, can’t even afford a meal.”

“You mustn’t do that!” Charlotte hurriedly grasped Mr. Cage’s hand, “Mr. Cage, you can’t give up on yourself because of this; you have already left the detention center, so would there be a need to go back in for robbery?”

“But I might starve… what are you doing?”

Charlotte hurriedly rummaged through her robe’s pocket and took out an old wallet, then some banknotes and coins, “Mr. Cage, I’m really sorry, because I don’t have a formal income, only this much, but I hope it can help you.”

“How old are you?” Cage looked at the money Charlotte handed over, his lips slightly trembling, his eyes seemed to become a bit moist, “I’ve asked my friends, my colleagues, even my boss, told them my experiences, but they were unwilling to help me, yet you, a stranger child, were willing to help me…”

Charlotte stood up, pressed her hand against Cage’s forehead, and whispered, “Lord, please save this lost lamb before me, let him not go astray. Lord, I plead with you here…”

As Cage listened, time seemed to stand still, suddenly, he started sobbing, crying his heart out.

Charlotte sat by his side, silently keeping him company, until after a while, Mr. Cage finally relaxed and sighed, “Young nun, thank you. I feel much better now… May I know your name?”

“Charlotte.”

“Miss Charlotte.” Cage smiled, “Thank you for listening to my ramblings today. Although the situation hasn’t changed much for me, I feel a lot better.”

“That’s already a change in the situation, Mr. Cage.” Charlotte smiled happily, “Nothing is more important than lifting your spirits.”

Cage took a deep breath, picked up the money Charlotte gave him… held it tightly in his hand, “Miss Charlotte, I do need this… but, but I will definitely pay you back, just let me get through this difficult time.”

“It’s okay, I hardly spend here.” Charlotte shook her head.

“Miss Charlotte, I believe you’ll become a very beloved nun in the future.” Cage seriously said, “I’m very happy to have met you… Can I come often to talk to you?”

“Of course!”

“I will pay it back, Miss Charlotte.”

Mr. Cage, with a slight sense of relief, and seemingly regaining hope for life, slowly walked out.

Charlotte stretched lazily, glanced at the crucifix in front of the church, and suddenly covered her mouth and chuckled… To become a beloved and outstanding nun or something…

Oh!

…

…

Scathach suddenly appeared in front of Lucifer, who was lazily lying on the sofa, apparently lost in thought.

Scathach casually threw Bucky to the ground.

“What is this?” Lucifer turned her gaze and looked at the fellow thrown before her.

“Isn’t this what you asked me to investigate.” The Queen of the Shadow Realm replied calmly: “If you want to know something, just ask, this guy is the mastermind behind the New Church.”

“Ha?” Lucifer instantly narrowed her eyes and kicked the figure on the ground, then crouched to see the other’s face clearly.

“It really is you… Bucky.” Lucifer’s voice suddenly became somber.

Because even though Bucky was right in front of her, she couldn’t sense the Contract she once had with Bucky…