Along their journey, Erwin was constantly greeted by the sight of lush greenery, windmills, grinding mills, and ranches, but the scenery wasn't becoming wearisome to him at all. It seemed that the scenery on the northern continent was more grand and majestic, but the stiff and chilly wind here also taught him a lesson on the importance of hats. Having said that, in order to fully enjoy the scenery and climate, Erwin was willing to develop a slight headache from the cold and fierce wind.

Onean had already abandoned her flashy magic hat long ago, and she had buried her head into Erwin's chest to shield herself from the wind. In the face of the chilly wind, her face was made to look particularly pale, but even so, her golden eyes were still peeking out with interest at the surrounding scenery. An amused smile appeared on Erwin's face upon seeing this, and he said, "Why don't you put up a magic array? That way, you'll be able to keep out the wind while looking at the scenery."

"But I want to experience the wind of the north," Onean countered with a displeased pout.

"Then why are you burying your head into my chest?" Despite what Erwin was saying, he still opened up the collar of his robe a little wider in order to better shield Onean's head.

"You know, these two sets of clothes are a bit pricey, but they're quite warm. Looks like the tailor didn't cut any corners in the materials used, at least," Onean said as she laid her head against Erwin's chest while looking up at the sky.

"If I ever return to Belama again, I'm going to knock that old bastard's shop down," Erwin grumbled with a disgruntled expression, clearly very displeased by the exorbitant prices charged by the manager of the tailor shop.

Onean couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this. "You say that, but you didn't even hesitate when you were paying for the clothes."

"Don't tell me you weren't embarrassed at the time. I could tell you were worried that I wouldn't be able to afford the clothes," Erwin said as he took a glance at Onean.

"It was the first time I'd ever been in a situation like that," Onean said as she stuck out her tongue. "Also, it's your fault for being so proud. Couldn't you have at least tried to barter?"

"This is the first time I've ever heard you say the word 'barter'," Erwin whispered into Onean's ear with a hint of mockery in his voice.

Onean gave a cold harrumph in response, then turned her head to the side to ignore him.

"Mr. Lia, surely we've almost been traveling for half a day already. How far away are we from reaching Zans?" Erwin asked as he sat up straighter on the leather bench. "It's so cold that my brain's barely able to function anymore."

"My apologies, Mr. Erwin," Lia said as he turned around with an apologetic expression, then pointed toward the horizon in the northwest. "Take a look over there. That there is the city of Zans."

Erwin heaved a sigh of relief in response. "I'm glad to hear we're finally almost there. This open-air carriage is good for sightseeing, but it's really cold in here. I'll need to find somewhere warm to recover once we reach Zans."

Lia could only give a resigned smile in response, indicating that this was already the best mode of transport accessible to the church.

If an outsider were to witness these interactions between Lia and Erwin, they would undoubtedly come under the false impression that Erwin was the employer, while Lia was the one being hired. After all, Lia was always treating Erwin with a great deal of respect, and it would come as quite a surprise to anyone that he was actually the employer among the two.

Perhaps this was because Lia was someone who was truly devoted to the church and had already set aside his own ego. For someone like him, the benefit of the church was his top priority, while satisfying his own pride was far further down his list of priorities.

Not only did Lia not seem to be bothered by Erwin's rather haughty attitude, the young missionary by the name of Joe Webonard had also remained mostly silent this entire trip, and it was almost as if they were a pair of servants to Erwin and Onean.

As the city of Zans finally appeared in Erwin's field of view, he couldn't help but be a little transfixed as he stared at the city walls and watchtowers. So this is the first city we'll be visiting in the north.

From the outside, the city didn't look much different from all of the other cities that he had seen in the past.

Of course, Zans was only a moderate city, and it certainly couldn't compare with a city that was as grand and important as Sarus.

According to Lia, it had been many years since the Boll Dukedom had been last at war, and that did certainly appear to be the case. The soldiers guarding the city of Zans were extremely lax, and many of them were nodding off while leaning against their own spears, allowing carriages to enter and exit the city as they pleased without even performing any examinations.

Erwin couldn't help but wonder if these guards would even notice if a magic beast were to rush into the city right now. Perhaps they would only be alerted once they heard the screams of the people in the city.

Once the carriage entered the city, Lia drove it along the main road directly toward a branch of the Universal Church.

Meanwhile, Erwin and Onean were looking out the sides of the carriage, inspecting the shops and houses on either side of the stone tile road. For some reason, the construction style of these buildings in this city wasn't very different from that of the building in the south. However, the accent of the locals was a lot more rugged, and they were also a lot louder and much more boisterous. Listening to their loud and jovial voices, everything seemed to be more free and uninhibited.

Thinking back over the scenery that they had witnessed during their journey from Belama to Zans, it really wasn't much different from traveling in the south. The only difference laid in the climate. Here in the north, the climate was drier, and the wind truly felt as if it were capable of penetrating through one's skull. As a result, one could easily develop a serious headache from prolonged exposure to the wind here, and chapped skin was also quite a prominent concern.

In contrast, the climate in the south was more humid, so at this time of year, it was both cold and wet, resulting in different problems from the ones that one would suffer in the northern climate.

As the carriage continued along, Onean's head of silver hair began to drift along with the wind. Her face was turned to the side as she watched the passing street scenery with an absentminded expression, completely oblivious to the fact that she was quickly becoming the center of attention once again. Many of the men standing on the streets couldn't help but stop and stare as the carriage passed them by, wondering where this stunning woman had come from.

Erwin thought back to what had happened in Belama, and he was seriously considering whether it would be a good idea to get Onean to wear a veil over her face.

It looks like traveling with a beauty isn't necessarily always a good thing, he thought to himself with a resigned expression.

...

Shortly thereafter, the carriage stopped in front of an archaic church.

In Erwin's memory, the majority of the popular religious buildings were constructed in the gothic style, and it was quite rare to see archaic churches like this one, with a dome ceiling and large supporting pillars.

Looking at the scale of this church, it seems like the Universal Church has some wealth up its sleeve, Erwin thought to himself as he raised his head to look up at the church.

Onean also raised her head to inspect the building, and she was quite surprised by the construction style of the church as well. It was clear that her impression of religious buildings was much the same as Erwin's.

"This is the Holy Jade Cathedral of our Universal Church," Lia introduced with a smile.

After Erwin and Onean exited the carriage, Lia pulled out two brand new copies of "Sermon of the Universal Lord" from the pile of random items in the carriage, then handed them over to Erwin and Onean.

"Let's go inside. Please follow me." Lia extended a slight bow and made an inviting hand gesture, then entered the cathedral through the main entrance.

Erwin and Onean followed along behind him. As for the young missionary, he briefly cleaned up the carriage before driving it in another direction.

Erwin didn't know the rules of the Universal Church. He didn't know when they normally held their services, and he didn't even know whether they held services at all. However, at this point in time, there weren't many people in the cathedral. Thus, the building was very peaceful and spacious, and even the faintest of whispers could be clearly heard.

What came as a surprise to Erwin was that Lia seemed to be quite an esteemed figure in the Universal Church. The missionaries standing at the entrance of the cathedral immediately extended respectful bows upon seeing him, and a pastor in the main hall of the cathedral, who was conversing with a couple, also immediately nodded to acknowledge Lia's arrival. It was clear that even though Lia was no longer working at the church, he was still quite a respected and influential figure. At the very least, in this parish of the Universal Church, he appeared to be someone with a great deal of authority.

However, Lia wasn't displaying any haughtiness or superiority at all, and he acknowledged everyone with friendly smiles.

After that, he began to tell Erwin about the religious murals on the glass panels, which were all related to certain stories surrounding their god, namely, the universal lord.

Erwin roughly read through a few pages of the sermon, and he discovered that the universal lord was the core of the Universal Church's faith, and this so-called sermon was actually a biography of this universal lord. The sermon summarized the life story of the universal lord, but of course, deities like this didn't actually exist in real life.

The reason why Erwin had jumped to this conclusion was because through his brief reading of the sermon, he saw a detail that was very perplexing to him, which was that this universal lord didn't have any gender. In other words, they were male at times, and female at other times. One of the chapters of the book detailed an occasion where the universal lord had passed by a place known as Camody, where they saw many instances of rape. Thus, they transformed into a beautiful prostitute with the aim of inspiring those men who had lost their way. In the end, they were able to succeed, and all of them men who had copulated with the universal lord went on to become renowned saints and philanthropists.

Erwin hadn't read this chapter in detail, but this story had been quite shocking to him. Prior to this, he had rarely ever read any religious scriptures, and these stories were downright incredulous to him.

Furthermore, the more he listened to Lia giving verbal accounts of the universal lord's feats, the more absurd and ridiculous Erwin felt the stories to be. Among all of the religious promotions that he had heard, this deity was undoubtedly the most amusing one. They possessed unmatched divine power, yet they refused to use this power in front of humans. Even though they were often persecuted by the masses, who didn't understand their existence and purpose, they harbored no resentment or grudges, continuing to travel the world with the objective of spreading salvation to all living beings. What could've possibly happened to have made this almighty deity so generous and forgiving? Not only did they not hold any grudges, they almost seemed bound by duty to suffer for the sins of the masses.

Could it be that this deity has an innate tolerance for the idiocy of us mortals? Erwin thought to himself in an amused manner.

However, he didn't allow the mockery in his heart to show on his face. On the surface, he was still listening to Lia's stories with a very earnest and studious expression.

Onean was following along behind them, and she was also listening to Lia's stories. Looking at the serious expression on Erwin's face, she knew that he had to be thoroughly roasting this so-called universal lord in his heart, and she clasped a hand over her own mouth to hide her amused smile.

"So what exactly did you hire me to draw here?" Erwin asked after patiently listening to all of Lia's stories. "It looks like all of the walls and windows have already been filled with artworks."

Lia smiled as he pointed up at the giant dome ceiling at the center of the church, and only then did Erwin notice that the ceiling was still completely blank.

It looks like this church was built quite some time ago, so why is it that no one has been commissioned to paint over such an important area? Erwin thought to himself in befuddlement.

Lia seemed to have gleaned Erwin's thoughts, and he explained, "The ceiling has been left blank this entire time as we haven't found anyone suitable to paint on it. All of the painters that we hired were only capable of creating religion-themed artworks that were lacking in vibrance and creativity. As someone who has experienced all of the hardships in the human world, the image of the universal lord in our hearts shouldn't be so bland and soulless. Hence, the most important area of this cathedral has been left untouched as far as murals are concerned."

Erwin was surprised to hear that Lia had such high standards when it came to artistic pursuit, and he smiled as he jibed, "But aren't the artworks on the windows and the walls all bland religion-themed artworks that, in your words, lack vibrance and creativity?"

Lia wasn't bothered by Erwin's rather confrontational question, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "These are only here to create a religious atmosphere in the cathedral. After all, if such a large cathedral were to be entirely devoid of murals, it would appear rather eerie and sterile."

After that, he looked up at the blank ceiling overhead. "If you can paint a spectacular mural for the ceiling, we can commission you to replace all of the other soulless murals in the cathedral as well in the future."

Erwin was quite surprised to hear just how much sway and authority Lia had. Wasn't this type of decision something that could only be made by the archbishop of the parish? It seemed that not only did Lia possess considerable influence here, he also had a great deal of administrative power.

"So is there any specific chapter that you would like me to depict in my mural?" Erwin asked as he pointed at the copy of "Sermon of the Universal Lord" in his hand.

Lia shook his head in response. "That's entirely up to you, Mr. Erwin. I won't interfere with your creation. As long as you can convey the true form of the universal lord, I can accept any artwork."

Erwin nodded in response, but internally, he was lamenting his own misfortune. It sounded like he was being afforded complete creative freedom, but in exchange for this freedom, he would have to read through this entire book.

"What about the deadline? When do I need to have the mural completed?" Erwin asked.

"It must be done within half a month." Lia was finally beginning to look like an employer. "The 200 Loonies that I issued to you last night is the deposit for this job. If you can complete the mural within half a month and the archbishop is pleased with your work, then you'll receive an additional 500 Loonies for your work."

"So you're saying that if the archbishop is unhappy with my work, then I'll have worked for half a month for nothing?" Erwin asked. "Also, do I have to cover my own costs as well? This is a massive ceiling, so I'm sure it's going to require a lot of paint to cover."

"Rest assured, we wouldn't do that to you, Mr. Erwin. I'm very confident in your artistic skills, and I'm sure the archbishop will be pleased with your work," Lia consoled. "Of course, you have to keep an eye on the time as well and make sure that the mural is completed within half a month."

Erwin couldn't help but wonder where Lia's confidence was coming from. Furthermore, he had a feeling that as long as this retired pastor was pleased with his mural, then he would be able to receive the additional 500 Loonies regardless of the archbishop's opinion.

After finalizing some further finer details with Lia, Erwin and Onean left the church. They wanted to thoroughly explore this city before Erwin began his work.