Reincarnated in the Magical Realm

Chapter 4

The church is not open to children on regular days, and only allows adults who have received baptism to bring their children on special occasions. In the empire, aside from the nobles who have their own fiefs and receive offerings, there are three other forces that support the survival rights of the landless common people.

These forces are the Adventurer's Guild, the Merchant Alliance, and the Church. The Adventurer's Guild is a coalition of various large and small adventurer guilds, where anyone of any profession can be enlisted after paying an entrance fee and receive a specially crafted exclusive identity card.

Once enlisted, individuals can take on missions from the guild's bulletin board. After completing a mission, the identity card records the accomplished tasks and converts them into corresponding points, essentially serving as a savings card that can be exchanged for currency at the guild's bank.

The Merchant Alliance, on the other hand, is an alliance of large trading companies. Most commoners choose to register with a nearby trading company and receive a license distributed by the Merchant Alliance. Joining the alliance has no special restrictions – pay a modest membership fee, provide a periodic protection fee to the trading company, and gain the right to participate in the alliance's mandatory business seminars. Additionally, the trading process receives protection from the alliance.

As a result, most adventurers also become members of a trading company. The Church, however, is the most unique and closely related to the nobility. It is equivalent to the civil servants of the empire.

Priests working in the church, regardless of their rank, enjoy stable income provided by the palace. However, becoming a priest requires extremely strict conditions: an utmost reverence for the royal authority and an extreme respect for the nobility are the primary requirements to become a priest.

The church worships the supreme creation god and the incarnation of the creation god, King Esco. Since the prerequisite for becoming a priest is to make a soul oath of eternal loyalty to the king, which involves the soul's dimension, it indeed deters many who are envious of a fixed income but unwilling to give up their freedom.

The church is the foundation of every city, serving to replace the respective lords in protecting the territory. On regular days, rotating priests are responsible for treating injuries and illnesses. There are also knight orders patrolling to maintain order in the town. The church opens its doors daily for random educational activities for all baptized individuals with registered church identities.

At the age of twelve, the church hosts a baptism, a mandatory procedure for every citizen of the empire. After baptism and registration, individuals can obtain the national identification document (equivalent to an ID card) issued by the empire. Only after receiving this document is a person officially recognized as an independent citizen of the Esco Empire.

Regarding the condition of being at least twelve years old to obtain the national identification, there are two exceptions. Firstly, children with special talents detected before the age of twelve can enjoy the right to obtain the national identification early. Secondly, noble children can obtain the national identification early with the family emblem.

Fiona took Angelina to the small city of Kreslang and confiscated the family emblem. She also concealed Angelina's identity, presenting her as a child born out of wedlock without a father. Angelina remembers Fiona's special instructions on her last day, emphasizing that she could only use her true surname – Odyssey – when she could retrieve everything stored in the magic stone. The magic stone, symbolizing identity and carrying the family emblem, would automatically return to its original state at that time.

Therefore, Angelina can only obtain her national identification through baptism after the age of twelve. She is still two years away from obtaining the national identification and achieving independence.

Today, the Kreslang church has organized a magical exhibition event due to the arrival of special guests. Such novel events are often the favorite entertainment of children. Aunt Maria specially closed her bakery for the day, accompanied by Jack and Angelina as guardians, to take them to the church to participate in the event.

On the way to the church, Jack continued to excitedly share his feelings with Angelina. The central theme of his discussion revolved around the beautiful girl he encountered on the street last night, who seemed like the incarnation of a deity.

In Jack's words, the girl had radiant golden hair that shone like the sun, and a delicate and pure face like an angel...

Angelina listened absentmindedly, not offering much agreement, which disappointed Jack. "Angelina, you seem strange today," he couldn't help questioning. "No, you're the one acting strange today!"

Although Angelina still felt like a somewhat precocious ten-year-old child from the bottom of her heart, she awkwardly realized that she now had memories of a sixteen-year-old.

Jack's abrupt conclusion that she looked "weird" somehow brought her turbulent and restless emotions back to calm. Angelina returned to her usual expression, playfully teasing Jack to make him take notice. Just the day before, he had been enthusiastically declaring that "Angelina is the embodiment of the goddess in Kress City"...

Aunt Maria watched their playful antics with a loving smile, and her gaze lingered on Angelina's smile for a few seconds, inadvertently patting her apron pocket.

Today was an important day.

This is Angelina's second formal visit to the Kreslang church. On the day she moved into the small attic, Fiona had taken her into the church. However, she only entered the prayer hall with her mother and was led to a small room resembling a lounge. After her mother instructed her not to wander, she left with a priestly-looking clergyman.

Since then, in the five years of Angelina's life in Kreslang, Fiona has not taken her to participate in any special church activities. Consequently, Angelina hasn't had the opportunity to enter the church again, only hearing bits of information about the church from her friends during her upbringing and noting the appearance of the church's main entrance during numerous passings.

The Kreslang church is a large complex of buildings. The entrance to the church has at least two guard knights at all times, and on regular days, only a small side door beside the main entrance is open.

Today is a highly participatory event. Faced with a dense crowd, the church doors are unusually wide open, with about ten guard knights sequentially conducting identity checks and registrations for those entering the church.

After presenting her national identification, Aunt Maria, along with Jack and Angelina, is recorded as Maria's granddaughter and grandson. Angelina also receives a temporary ID card.

Entering the church, Jack decisively abandons Aunt Maria, the "entrance tool," and pulls Angelina towards the main hall of the church, aiming to secure a front-row position that might allow interaction with the magician.

Although Angelina wants to express her gratitude politely to Aunt Maria and repeats her thanks for accompanying her to the event, she is carried away by Jack's enthusiasm and her own concealed sense of competitiveness. Hastily expressing her gratitude to Aunt Maria again, she follows Jack's footsteps towards the main hall.

Aunt Maria doesn't mind being left behind. In Angelina's peripheral vision, she sees Maria talking to a priest who seems like an acquaintance.

This is Angelina's first time participating in a large-scale church event. The main hall is already gathering a crowd, mostly children under twelve who haven't obtained independent proof of identity. Angelina also spots a few familiar faces she had encountered during her unofficial lessons.

Jack, pulling her along, weaves through the crowd and eventually secures a front-row position.

The main hall of the church has been specially modified for today's event. Chairs have been cleared away, leaving a large open space. In the center of the hall stands a ten-meter diameter circular platform, surrounded by a visible light curtain.

Jack has already briefed Angelina on many aspects of today's event. The magic showcased in the church today is performed by the court magician serving the king.

Magicians can reach a maximum level of ten, and the court magician who recently passed the eighth-level assessment also holds the position of a faction director at the Esco Empire Academy. These titles truly befit Maria (the protagonist with a halo) as Angelina's magical mentor.

"...Angelina, it's strange. Maria usually ignores my requests to participate in church activities. When I mentioned that a court magician was coming today, she relented and even allowed me to bring you."

The waiting time is a bit long, and Jack starts discussing more than just today's event. "I heard court magicians have special skills in assessing people. Do you think Maria believes that my talent might be noticed by the court magician today? Hey, if that's the case, I can save the ten gold coin testing fee..."

Watching Jack's increasingly absurd imagination with silent amusement, Angelina refrains from interrupting his daydream.

Jack is the first friend Angelina made after moving to Chris Town with her mother. Their new home is located on one side of the bustling street in the town. The houses are tightly packed together, with Maria's bakery on the first floor and Maria's residence on the second. Maria is the grandmother of Jack and has been their sole support since Jack's parents passed away in an accident. Given Angelina's similar circumstances, coupled with Fiona's close relationship with Aunt Maria, Angelina quickly developed a close sibling-like bond with Jack.

Initially, Angelina didn't have a real sense of her noble status. After playing and frolicking with Jack for five years, the blurred memories of her life in the castle became less significant. However, living in the town for five years allowed Angelina to keenly experience the empire's differential treatment based on class.

For example, while Jack worries about the ten gold coins, equivalent to the annual expenditure of an ordinary civilian household, for the testing fee, even the children of the lowest-ranking nobles – the viscount's children – can enjoy free and dignified court testing opportunities from the age of five.

Another example is the treatment of names. Nobles consider their full names a source of honor, and even the lengthy names of viscount's children are not shortened when introducing themselves for the first time. In contrast, commoners have simple and clear names, often without surnames or inheriting their parents' names, as these unrecognized names are not considered anything special.

However, Jack's fantasies may have some basis. Magicians holding the title of court magician are the only exception allowed to have personal bonding stones, while all other bonding stones are controlled by the palace, along with the church and the Adventurer's Guild.

Today's court magician may indeed carry precious bonding stones.

Thinking about this, Angelina also feels a sense of anticipation. She still wishes for the opportunity to undergo another magical assessment.