Chapter: The Saint's Portrait
In order to help Ivennie obtain magic resources, Cheng Yu became the nominal [Saint] of the Church of Light to fill the vacancy.
Zern took out a Medal of Light and gave it to Cheng Yu—a symbol of the Saint of Light's identity.
In the next few days, the headquarters of the Church of Light issued an announcement to the Church of Light branches in major cities across the country that the Church of Light had a new Saint.
At the same time, a portrait of the new Saint was attached so believers across the country could get to know the new Saint of Light.
That day, Cheng Yu and Mina were buying vegetables in Bailu Town and saw a large group of people gathered in front of the town's bulletin board.
Mina was curious about what those people were looking at. She pulled Cheng Yu to the bulletin board and squeezed into the crowd.
There was a full-body portrait posted on the bulletin board.
The woman in the portrait was slender, wearing a white veil, with snow-white skin—soft and beautiful, with long golden hair, exuding a holy glow all over her body, like a fairy descending to earth. Her appearance was somewhat similar to Cheng Yu.
The four words "Saint of Light" in the lower right corner.
"After so many years, our church finally has a Saint again! Long live the Saint!"
"The Saint of Light is so beautiful! I love the Saint of Light!"
"I want to be the most loyal knight of the Saint of Light and protect her forever!"
"The Saint of Light is so beautiful! She must join the Church of Light!"
In order to increase the popularity of the Church of Light and attract ordinary people to join, the top leaders of the Church deliberately painted the image of the Saint of Light very beautifully.
It was equivalent to creating a virtual idol based on Cheng Yu.
"Fuck! That bastard Zern did this to me?"
Cheng Yu had asked Zern yesterday if he, a man, might not be qualified for the position of Saint. Zern had said Saint was just a position and had nothing to do with gender.
Unexpectedly, the Church actually painted him as a woman for propaganda.
Too outrageous!
"I don't think this Saint of Light is that good."
The Church's approach was really crazy. Cheng Yu couldn't help but complain about the Saint of Light.
Hearing someone slander the Saint of Light, the believers of the Holy See of Light around them were immediately unhappy.
"Who are you? How can you slander the Saint of Light?"
"Who dares slander the Saint of Light? I, Jasbo, am the first to disagree and come out to challenge!"
"For the Saint, I, Elson, must challenge you today!"
The believers were excited.
How could a little nobody slander the Saint of Light who is so high above?
Cheng Yu picked up a stone from the ground and crushed it hard. The stone turned into powder.
As soon as he loosened his hand, the stone powder fell.
"Excuse me, who wants to challenge me?"
To crush a stone into powder with bare hands—a first-tier warrior doesn't have such power.
Everyone quickly changed the subject.
"Suddenly I remembered there's still meat stewing on my stove! I have to go back to check the fire!"
"The weather is really good today!"
"What should I eat for lunch today? I'm so worried!"
The people in front of the bulletin board dispersed one after another.
Cheng Yu took Mina home.
"Cheng Yu, I find you pretty when you look feminine," Mina smiled.
"Of course."
As the saying went, handsome men were all the same, while ugly men were ugly in all kinds of ways.
Generally, handsome men dressed as women weren't too ugly.
Moreover, the Holy See of Light wasn't completely drawn according to Cheng Yu's appearance—only a few facial features were similar to Cheng Yu.
The two returned to the manor.
A strange man was sitting in the manor.
"Who are you?" Cheng Yu asked the strange man.
"You're Mr. Cheng Yu, right? I'm an adventurer. Bishop Zern of Black Stone City entrusted me to bring these books to you."
The man opened the cloth bag on the stone table. It contained three thick magic books of plant magic.
"Why didn't Zern come himself?"
Cheng Yu wanted to beat Zern up now.
"Mr. Zern said he was too busy and had no time to come."
Zern had predicted Cheng Yu's behavior, so he entrusted the adventurer to deliver the books instead of coming in person.
"Okay."
Cheng Yu looked at the three magic books on the table—all plant magic.
"Second-tier magic: Poison Mist Flower"
"Fifth-tier magic: Simulation Transformation"
"Second-tier magic: Pea Shooter"
"Nothing else. I'll take my leave."
The man left Cheng Yu's manor.
Cheng Yu called out to Ivennie, who was practicing magic in the farmland. "Ivennie, come here!"
Ivennie walked out of the farmland and came to Cheng Yu. "What's the matter?"
"Take these three plant magic books and learn them."
Ivennie was surprised and delighted when she saw the three magic books on the table. "This... so many magic books... Thank you, Master Cheng Yu!"
"Don't thank me. We're family."
Though Cheng Yu and Ivennie hadn't yet married, they'd already lived together. Ivennie was considered half of Cheng Yu's wife.
"Yeah!"
The plant growth magic and vine magic Ivennie had learned before were both first-tier magic.
Now these three magic books—two second-tier magic and one fifth-tier magic—were more powerful than first-tier magic. She couldn't wait to pick up a magic book and read it.
Just then, a team of cavalry walked outside Cheng Yu's manor, led by a red-haired man.
The red-haired man jumped off his horse and walked into the manor with the cavalry.
Seeing Cheng Yu sitting at the stone table, he greeted him. "Cheng Yu, long time no see!"
"Captain Carl? What's the matter?"
Cheng Yu recognized the red-haired man as Carl, the captain of the cavalry team and the first person to bring buns into the Northern Fortress.
"I wonder if you can resume the supply of buns? Just like before."
Carl and the others wanted to eat the buns made by Cheng Yu again.
Cheng Yu felt making buns was more troublesome. He recommended to Carl, "I've developed another delicious food. Do you want to try it?"
"Okay! As long as it's made by you, it's delicious," Carl praised with a smile.
Cheng Yu walked into the kitchen and took out the sesame bread he'd made thirteen days ago.
Thirteen days later, the sesame bread's surface had light mold spots and slight signs of mold.
This showed Barron's preservatives couldn't be preserved forever. The shelf life of bread was about ten days.
Cheng Yu made a few more sesame breads in the kitchen and brought them out to Carl and the others.
"Try it."
Carl smiled when he smelled the fragrance in the air.
The bread in the army was all bread sticks. This was the first time he'd seen round bread with a yellow surface and some white sesame seeds sprinkled on it.
He picked up a piece of bread and took a bite.
Soft, fragrant, and sweet.
"It's fragrant and sweet with the fragrance of sesame! The most important thing is it's very soft—much better than hard bread stick!"
Carl fell in love with Cheng Yu's sesame bread after just one bite.
"Then I'll make this for you instead of buns," Cheng Yu said.
"Okay! How much is this kind of bread?" Carl asked.
"Fifty copper coins each."
Before, Cheng Yu had sold buns for fifty copper coins each—bread for fifty copper coins each.
"It's still so expensive."
Carl smiled bitterly. Ordinary bread sticks cost five copper coins each. Cheng Yu's sesame bread was ten times more expensive than ordinary bread sticks.