Chapter 197 (1/2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The festive atmosphere filled the entire estate. Everyone was radiant with joy.

The merriment was resulting from the feudal lord’s having finally welcomed his son that day. He had been having trouble having a descendant to the throne, so now the previous worry regarding the inheritance of the manor, which had been troubling him so much, was finally resolved!

It was a great, joyous occasion, especially since having a noble without an heir meant that the manor would be revoked after the noble died. Not only would that mean the end of his family line, but it would also mean that his underings would lose their protection as well. This included even the people that worked and resided in the manor.

Should such a thing occur, a new noble owner would spend an enormous amount of money to acquire the manor. Most often, these new nobles were greedy and brutal, as they would want to show their power at the beginning, their targets naturally being the people that resided within the manor.

Thinking about that kind of situation, of which they were now able to joyuosly be saved from, gave people goosebumps.

Comparatively, the manor that they had now, although he wasn’t that reliable, at least their current noble wasn’t a bad person. The people knew him well enough to believe that the continued rule by this family would be the best thing.

When Sui Xiong came to the estate secretly, he saw this atmosphere of cheer and laughter. With his divine power, he could tell that the commoners were simple and transparent. After looking at them for a while, he nodded and was also happy.

“The manor owner seems like a good person. I am glad that I didn’t save the wrong person.”

After a while, he saw that the feudal lord was leading a bunch of people towards the newly built Void Mask statue for prayers. The baron was glowing with health, smiling widely.

In fact, he appeared to be a totally different person from the one who was previously so forlorn looking. He could see the light of belief and hope beaming strongly within the new father’s bright eyes. It seemed like he had already become Sui Xiong’s devoted believer.

Sui Xiong shook his head lightly. Once the ceremony ended, he took form before him secretly, saying, “You have a son now, and it is joyful news. Why bother with such a grand ceremony?!”

He then said, “The scale of your estate doesn’t seem that big, and it doesn’t look like it has much money. So, what’s the point of keeping up such appearances?”

The baron smiled but did not debate him. He only thanked him continuously.

Sui Xiong made a casual remark back, but in the end, he didn’t mind too much. He chatted a while, and couldn’t help but ask the man how he had provoked the Goddess of Family. After all, a commoner that provoked a God wasn’t a common sight. Normally, only experts at the level of Leon could piss a God off, at least to the point of their being punished!

But when he asked about this, he was caught in a ridiculously awkward position. Back then, the reason why the man pissed off the Goddess of Family, was due to an incident that had occured. In this incident, he had acted as a matchmaker, in order to bring a pair of youngsters together. The girl among the couple happened to be a Holy Daughter from the church of the Goddess of Family.

Most of the church practiced the system of the Holy Son. This meant that he was a talent who was specially nurtured, and was designated for God to possess when God descended. This kind of talent would be called the Holy Daughter, should it have been a girl.

Regardless of whether it be a Holy Son or Holy Daughter, they generally had strict requirements. The most important requirement of a Holy Daughter to the Goddess of Family was to be ascetic…

“You are extremely audacious! How dare you assist someone else to seduce the Holy Daughter of another’s church?! You weren’t beaten to death, and for that, you should consider yourself extremely lucky!”

After he found out what had happened, Sui Xiong couldn’t help but tease him.

“Such injustice, Your Majesty! I didn’t know at all then!” The baron bemoaned against the said injustice. “Until I sent them off to the boat, so that they could flee to a faraway place, and then opened the present that they had left for me, I didn’t realize that I would be in such big trouble!”

After he found out the truth, the man was so afraid, he didn’t even return to his hotel, but left his luggage and started to run away immediately. Luckily, he ran fast enough, so that the knights from the church of the Goddess of Family couldn’t catch up with him. Thus, he managed to escape.

However, although he managed to escape the chase of a commoner, he didn’t manage to escape the punishment of a God. The Goddess of Family cursed him, decreeing that he would die without an heir.

That had been fifteen or sixteen years ago. He was only seventeen to eighteen years old at the time. Now, he was already a middle-aged man in his thirties!

Sui Xiong heard this story, then nodded lightly. He asked, “Now that you have a child, what do you plan to do? I’m telling you, although I am able to resolve the curse for you, the rage of the Goddess of Family has yet to vanish. You need to mollify her still.”

“If I had a way to, don’t you think I would have by now?”

Sui Xiong thought about what the noble said, agreeing that it was indeed a difficult fix. As the saying appropriately puts it, “One can be a thief for 1,000 days, but how is it possible to defend against thieves for a 1,000 days?” Hence, even if Sui Xiong could defend him right now at the moment, how could he defend him for life?!

In the world, if one wanted the strength to protect oneself from a God’s anger, he would at least have to be a legendary expert like Leon. This unlucky man wasn’t even on par with a beginner adventurer of the lowest standard. He was merely a rookie.

He pondered the situation, then tried to send a message to the Goddess of Family, asking how he could calm the Goddess down, wondering how he could let the commoner, who was punished for a dozen years already, off the hook. The Goddess of Family replied very quickly. She expressed that, as long as the noble contributes a child to Her, becoming the Holy Son of Her church, she would let the whole incident go.