Chapter 453 Contact
“Strange?”
Listening to Vania’s words, Antonio’s brows furrowed slightly, while Vania continued to speak in a low voice.
“Yes, Your Excellency Archbishop, you may not know this, but during those days when I was kidnapped, although I really did actively treat people on Summer Tree Island and was eager to preach the teachings of the Holy Mother to them, the results were not very good… Very few people there were willing to listen to me, and even though I constantly tried to make them understand the truth, my efforts were minimal.
“Your Excellency Archbishop, their official declaration of conversion was very sudden. They announced that they had been enlightened by me without me having any prior knowledge of it. They clearly resisted what I said before, yet suddenly they all started listening to me… This made me think that there might be something…”
With a tone of trepidation, Vania recounted to Antonio the “truth” she had witnessed on Summer Tree Island. Before Vania could finish telling him everything she knew, Antonio spoke with a serious expression.
“Sister Vania, you’re worrying too much…”
“Huh… I’m worrying too much?”
“Yes, you are. Sister Vania, don’t worry too much about the matters concerning Summer Tree Island, and don’t doubt yourself either. You saved the entire pilgrimage fleet and led over a hundred thousand marginalized people on Summer Tree Island to conversion. It was you who enlightened them, and there’s no doubt about that. No one can question this, not even you… Do you understand?”
With a profound tone and a stern expression, Antonio told Vania these words, his voice carrying a dangerous aura. Seeing Antonio like this, Vania swallowed hard and wanted to say something but held back. After a moment of hesitation, she finally spoke up.
“I understand, Your Excellency Archbishop. It was me who led Summer Tree to conversion… I won’t be confused anymore…”
“Hehe… Good, good… The Holy Mother above, I have seen your sincerity and kindness within, Sister Vania…”
With a mysterious smile, Antonio spoke to Vania, fully aware of the role this young nun played in the scheme on Summer Tree Island. In Antonio’s eyes, although Vania was important, she was completely unaware of the whole truth, making her somewhat naive. Antonio had no intention of revealing the “truth” to Vania. In his view, as someone deeply involved in the sea abyss cult’s conspiracy, it would be better for her to know as little as possible.
Antonio thought that after learning that all the credit for converting Summer Tree went to her, Vania did not become delusional from the sudden glory. Instead, she noticed the strange aspects and spoke out frankly, even if it might affect her achievements. This demonstrated her upright character, unswayed by fame and fortune. For such an upright and kind nun with clear self-awareness, Antonio felt a sense of relief.
‘No matter what the truth of Summer Tree is, Sister Vania is undoubtedly a servant of the Holy Mother in terms of character…’
Antonio mused to himself. Just as he was preparing to bid farewell and leave, Vania suddenly whispered again.
“Oh, by the way, Your Excellency Archbishop, I actually have a letter here from Elder Anman of Summer Tree. He secretly entrusted it to me when I left, asking me to personally deliver it to Archbishop Peji.”
“Mm, it’s written in their Summer Tree language, which I cannot read. The Elder Anman instructed me to personally hand it over. Initially, I was worried about how to meet you, but I didn’t expect you to pick us up directly in Adria…”
While speaking, Vania took out a rolled-up piece of coarse paper and handed it to Antonio. Antonio frowned upon seeing it, then immediately used his abilities to confirm the extraordinary marks on the paper. After confirming there was nothing amiss, Antonio picked up the rolled paper and began to unroll and read it.
As Vania had said, the paper was written entirely in Summer Tree script. However, since Antonio had dealt with Summer Tree quite a bit, he could recognize the script, so reading it wasn’t difficult. Soon, he finished reading the contents of the paper.
The content of the letter was simple: it mentioned that Summer Tree was attempting to establish a secret contact with the Church.
According to the letter, at this time, Summer Tree was trying to thoroughly cleanse and eliminate spies from the Sea Abyss Cult. During this process, Anman discovered that their original secret communication line with Peji Cleansing Church might have been exposed to the Sea Abyss Cult. Therefore, Anman expressed a desire to establish a new communication line to re-establish secret contact with the Cleansing Church.
In the letter, Anman claimed that due to concerns about the Sea Abyss Cult’s powerful infiltration capabilities, he did not trust ordinary church personnel, so he entrusted the most trusted nun, Vania, to deliver this letter.
The letter recorded an address and a string of codes. As long as one sent the code via telegram between noon and five in the afternoon every day to this address, it would establish contact with the new secret telegraph station set up by Summer Tree. Currently, there was a batch of information obtained from spies related to the Sea Abyss Cult that needed to be quickly conveyed through a secure channel to the Cleansing Church. Therefore, they hoped the Cleansing Church would also send the code as soon as possible. Since the old secret communication method had been exposed, they would not use it again for now.
‘To guard against the Sea Abyss Cult, Summer Tree is preparing to establish a new secret contact channel. This makes sense for a place newly infiltrated by the Sea Abyss Cult. However, the contact method seems a bit stringent: sending the code to a designated telegraph address only between noon and five in the afternoon… But I need to return to Peji early tomorrow morning, and there might not be a telegraph station along the way… Even if I want to send a telegram, there’s nowhere to do it…’
Antonio thought as he looked at the paper. According to Anman’s letter, there was some intelligence about the Sea Abyss Cult that needed to be delivered. Antonio naturally wanted to learn about this intelligence promptly, but if he followed his original plan and left early the next morning, there would be a long stretch of time without telegraph stations along the way, making it impossible to receive messages from there.
After reading the letter, Antonio did not make an immediate decision. Instead, he walked out of the venue and notified the accompanying personnel to send a message to the previous telegraph address of Summer Tree to inquire. Sure enough, there was no response. Thus, Antonio confirmed that what was written in the letter was true: Summer Tree was indeed trying to establish a new secret contact channel with them.
After confirming this, Antonio immediately made another decision: to temporarily postpone his departure plans until he could contact Summer Tree, obtain the intelligence about the Sea Abyss Cult, and then return. For Antonio, this meant just waiting a few more hours, and he was not one to wait impatiently.
Similarly, because this matter involved deep secrets, Antonio did not announce any changes to his itinerary at the banquet. Only a handful of people in Adria knew about his sudden change in plans.
…
In the dark Adria, while the old lord’s mansion was still hosting a banquet, in another waterside restaurant, Dorothy was sitting alone in a private cabin, writing on a small piece of paper in front of a table filled with delicacies.
Across from Dorothy sat a beautiful college student in white dress, with a slightly tanned skin and an impressive figure, flipping through a small booklet with a peculiar expression. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be the guidebook of the Pure Flow Church.
Nevines, who had also come to Adria, glanced at the simplified map in the guidebook and then looked out the window at the church museum illuminated by the dazzling lights in the distant square. Her unusual gaze grew deeper.
