Puppet

dong dong dong-

Fingers tapped against the wooden armrest, producing a rhythmic sound. This left Claude, who had just finished explaining what had happened, momentarily wondering what the Melissan boss was thinking.

After being taken to the Black Gold Society, Claude received excellent treatment, and his abdominal injury was almost completely healed. Melissan then called him over.

The stage curtains in front of them had closed, and no performance was taking place. Claude then recounted what had happened.

But after he finished speaking, all that remained in the air was the sound of tapping on the armrest.

dong dong dong-

After an unknown amount of time, when Claude was overcome by exhaustion from recovering from a serious illness and could no longer lift his eyelids, Melissan suddenly spoke:

"So, Smithson was killed while tracking Andrew?"

Claude snapped out of his daze and realized that Melissan had already gotten up. Melissa's piercing black eyes and furrowed brows made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

Meleson had somehow pulled out the dagger again and was carefully wiping it. Without stopping, he walked to Claude's side and began to circle around him.

"Yes, Smithson has been contracted to become his necromancer."

Seeing Melesen pull out a knife, Claude's heart finally died.

His tense body suddenly relaxed, and he opened his arms, revealing the small straw doll hanging from his waist:

"Merison, I know my fate. Please make your move."

"You've got some serious awareness, Claude." Meleson paused in front of Claude, his gloved hand gently brushing across Claude's chin, touching his skin.

"Don't worry, since you're facing this so openly, I'll end all of this soon."

"Thank you, old man..." Claude responded, but before he could finish speaking, his eyes suddenly widened and trembled slightly.

He looked down at his abdomen, where another gash had been opened, and Melison's dagger was inserted into it and pulled upwards.

Disembowelment.

Claude's eyes rolled back, and he fell straight down.

"I will carefully turn you into a puppet, just like..." Meleson looked at the girl standing in the shadows beside him, his eyes full of admiration: "Just like Lilith, flawless."

Lilith appears to be an ordinary young girl with a few freckles on her face, wearing a gorgeous, form-fitting gown that makes her look quite beautiful. However, the hem of her dress and the exposed skin on her wrists are made of wood and steel.

Hearing the praise from the Melison boss, she showed neither joy nor sorrow, her expression always seemingly indifferent. In fact, she didn't utter a single word from beginning to end, just like a puppet.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The next day.

Under the warm rising sun, Gar, who had just finished leading the believers in prayer, was now setting an example by distributing porridge.

The temperature has warmed up today, and more refugees have come to the Church of Light. After distributing porridge for a while, Garr got tired and went to rest on a chair. Female believers voluntarily picked up spoons and continued to distribute porridge.

When Eugenie saw that Gard had finally finished his work, she happily ran to Gard's side and stood beside him.

"May the light bless you, Bishop Gar!"

After several days of nourishing wheat porridge, the girl's originally sallow face gradually turned white, and the cold winter wind blowing on her face made her cheeks rosy.

Gar smiled gently and raised his hand to pat Eugenie's head: "Good morning, Eugenie."

"Yesterday I suddenly felt a sense of clarity, and I also felt that my strength had increased. The feeling was very strange, like lying in the snow looking at the sky... Ugh, I can't describe it." Eugenie tried to gesture to prove that she had indeed changed. She raised her palm, and holy light fell, covering the space where they were. For a moment, the wind stopped, and the air became a little warmer.

Gar understood; Eugenie had leveled up. He took out the manual and placed Eugenie's little hand on the pages of the manual.

Suddenly, the characters rearranged, and Garr could see Eugenie's data clearly.

Name: Eugenie

[Level: Lv12]

[Faith: God of Light]

[Occupation: Envoy of Light]

[Blessing: Divine Protection, Divine Purification]

When Garr saw her rank, he was somewhat surprised.

She has only been under contract for less than five days, yet she has already leveled up from Lv1 to Lv12?

So fast?

It took Andrew a full six months to go from Bronze to Silver! He even had to dig up graves in the middle of the night to make a contract with a necromancer...

Garr shook his head, then praised, "It seems Eugenie, you have a lot of talent!"

"Really?" Eugenie asked excitedly.

"But you can't become complacent because of temporary success. I hope you can continue to be diligent."

"Yes, I will, Bishop Garr." Eugenie nodded solemnly and ran off.

A short while later, she returned, this time with a little boy by her side. Gar recognized him; he was the child he had met when he first came to town, the one who had sat for a long time in front of his mother's body.

At that moment, the little boy was looking down, almost being dragged over, but he didn't say anything and silently accepted Eugenie's presence.

"Bishop Garr, this is Loris." After introducing him, Eugenie became hesitant. "Um, I'd like to ask you a favor. Could you perhaps inquire with the God of Light if he could bestow a blessing upon him?"

She immediately pleaded, "I will do my best to help the church earn the points needed for the blessing."

Yes, Garr recently issued a contribution system.

The church uses a points system. Based on daily contributions, each person will receive points, which can be used to redeem items, from small items like towels for washing to larger items like temporary accommodations. All these can be redeemed using points.

Divine blessings can also be redeemed using points.

Traditional divine blessings are open to everyone, but there's a very high chance of not receiving one. Gal's approach, however, is a direct purchase system: to become a member, one must either contribute to the church or pay a large sum to buy a spot.

Although this differs from traditional methods of divine blessing and makes it more difficult for ordinary people to receive blessings, the notion that blessings are guaranteed does indeed boost everyone's work enthusiasm.

After all, everyone longs to become a servant. Once you become a servant, you won't have to do this kind of hard labor all the time. You might even become a knight, gain merit, and become the lord of a land.

As the first girl to receive the blessing of the God of Light, Eugenie wouldn't think that exchanging for such divine blessing is easy just because she obtained it too easily, would she?

"Eugenie, as the first familiar, I can make this precedent for you, but I must remind you that you will bear half of the points needed to exchange for divine blessings. This means that for the next period of time... no, possibly almost a year, you will not be able to earn any reward for your labor. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Eugenie hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath, her eyes shining, and opened her mouth: "I do..."

I disagree.

Loris grabbed Eugenie's sleeve, and finally raised his head after remaining silent with his head down.

"Bishop Garr, I will work hard to earn contribution points. I don't want to rely on Eugenie's help."