Chapter 204: A Question and Answer Game
"You will see some people and understand some things. When everything is over, tell me your choice."
William rubbed his chin upon hearing this: "Are there only those two choices for the answer?"
"Correct."
"What are the consequences of different choices?"
Anto said: "The choice itself is not important; every choice could be the correct answer."
"What is important is that your choice will have an impact on those people and things."
"Once the final judgment is 'Incorrect', you will fail."
William narrowed his eyes: "What is the standard of judgment? Under what circumstances can it be considered correct?"
Anto said: "I cannot tell you this."
William asked: "Then are you the judge?"
Anto shook its head: "I am just the narrator of the rules and the witness of the game."
"In that case, how do I know if the judgment result is truly 'Correct'?"
William spread his hands.
"Even if we choose correctly, under the premise of an information gap, this result can also be tampered with."
Faya nodded secretly; Father William grasped the key point.
Anto said: "This is one of the reasons why I don't suggest you participate; you cannot know."
"I can only guarantee that the result is real and valid."
William chuckled softly: "Ha, a 'Guarantee' from an evil spirit?"
He specially emphasized the word "Guarantee."
Unexpectedly, Anto looked calm.
"In the Spirit Calling Game, I would indeed resort to deceit, but I cannot do that in this matter."
William put away his smile and spoke: "Please continue first."
Anto said: "You have a total of three chances to answer. If you are judged 'Incorrect' more than twice, you will fail completely."
"At that time, the 'Hand of the Apostle' will fall towards the Demon Pillar Abyss, and those souls will also be completely swallowed."
William rubbed his chin: "Then when judged as 'Successful', what advantage can I gain?"
He didn't ask about rewards directly.
When the evil spirit first indicated "Cannot say," William decided to ask questions cautiously.
After all, the act of "Narrating Rules" itself might have restrictions.
And there were three Q&As in total. If there was only a reward at the final juncture, William would undoubtedly miss the opportunity to obtain other information.
Anto gave William a meaningful look.
"Once judged correctly, you can gain a privilege in the next Q&A—the ability to watch the most important scene in the current event once."
William pondered secretly.
"Since it is the most important, it means this scene has some connection with the final choice."
But right now he didn't know what he would see, so he couldn't make a judgment temporarily.
"Among the people who participated in the game in the past, did anyone succeed?" William continued to ask.
"Hehe, you are indeed very cunning." Anto raised the corners of its mouth.
If it were a few minutes ago, William would definitely admit this "Slander (Praise)" generously.
But now he just remained silent.
Evil spirits love deceit the most. Currently, the authenticity of what the other party said remained to be considered.
Just in case there was some rule like "Nodding also counts as a response," William would fall into a very passive situation.
Seeing the human in front of it not answering, Anto smiled slightly: "Don't worry, there is no restriction on explaining the rules themselves."
Then it continued:
"In the past thousand years, a total of three people have participated in the Q&A game, but they all failed."
"Every failure led to the 'Hand of the Apostle' being defiled by evil."
"And with the strength of the connection between this item and the Demon God, there can only be one failure at most, otherwise, you would still have a margin for error."
The corner of William's mouth twitched upon hearing this.
So he became the final "Bag Holder"! (Note: Slang for someone left bearing the consequences)
"Maybe you don't believe it, but I sincerely advise you to give up."
Anto continued to speak.
"Once failed, this Church holy relic will completely fall. And although giving up cannot save those souls, if divine descent happens one day, maybe the evil rules on the porcelain hand can be erased."
Hesitation flashed in Faya's eyes; she was indeed persuaded.
But William remained unmoved.
The evil spirit's words seemed to be considering for them, but were just used to cover up its true purpose.
William had long perceived that the other party was extracting power through dead spirits.
Combined with the previous externalization of consciousness, this guy obviously mastered some way to escape.
If they really let the evil spirit grow freely, it might cause greater disasters in the future.
William continued to ask: "When will this game start?"
Anto narrowed its eyes but ultimately didn't say much more.
"It can start as soon as you are ready, but stopping at any time midway will be considered a failure."
Hearing this, William immediately pulled Faya aside: "What do you think?"
Faya bit her lip.
She remembered the Archbishop's instructions when she came; this holy relic was very important to the Church, so it must be recovered.
But she absolutely could not accept the risk of loss either.
William saw the inner conflict in the other party's eyes.
"This thing is indeed not that simple," he thought secretly.
If it were purely for "Superficial Work," even if it were truly lost, it could be replaced by a fake.
After all, the Church had done this kind of thing quite often.
But judging from the current situation, at least Faya and that Archbishop were not targeting William.
A moment later, the nun raised her beautiful face: "Father William, are you confident?"
She knew very well in her heart that to answer correctly, one had to figure out the basis for the judgment.
But the evil spirit's description was vague, making it hard to find clues.
William pondered for a moment and spoke: "Maybe."
He sorted out those rules provided by the evil spirit.
"Worth it or not, this sounds like a judgment on someone's behavior."
"And this evaluation will have an impact on certain people and certain things."
He rubbed his chin.
The former should have happened in the past, so the standard for determining "Correct" and "Incorrect" was very likely aimed at someone doing a certain thing.
And since there had already been three Q&As before, presumably both answers had been tried.
But they still failed, which means blindly affirming obviously wouldn't work.
This also explained to some extent—the judged person has certain objectivity.
If this were really the case, the possibility of "Tampering with the result" would be much smaller.
As for Anto, this dead spirit...
From the initial compromise to hinting multiple times later for William not to participate.
This guy obviously couldn't completely control the Hand of the Apostle.
It even had to yield to the rules for some reasons.
Then in the matter of the Q&A, the possibility of Anto making trouble from it would be much smaller.
William nodded secretly.
But these were just some guesses; the actual situation still had to wait until the Q&A to be known.
He had already decided to participate.
Firstly, whether the commission failed or not didn't restrict William much.
In many Church exorcism actions, failure was a very normal thing.
Secondly, he still had Joran behind him.
This was someone from the Vatican, the place closest to the Church's power center, much nobler than Jose.
In case the holy relic was destroyed, William also had room for maneuver.
Lastly, if he really couldn't survive in North America, he could always grab a boat, cross the ocean, and embark on the journey home!
William quickly weighed the pros and cons.
He stated his speculations about the Q&A.
Faya's eyes lit up; she didn't expect William to have an idea so quickly.
"It seems to make some sense." she thought to herself.
The two quickly reached an agreement.
So William came to Anto again.
"Let's start."
Anto narrowed its eyes: "Not reconsidering carefully?"
William shook his head: "But I have one last question."
"Speak."
William rubbed his chin: "Since neither of us wants the Hand of the Apostle to fall, can you..."
"No."
Unexpectedly, William was interrupted before he finished.
"Hehe, this is power coming directly from the rules."
Anto sneered.
"Once I help you cheat, my spirit body will dissolve immediately."
William shrugged: "Alright."
"Since you have decided, just stand here." Anto gestured to a certain place not far from the Hand of the Apostle.
"You don't need to do anything later; you will naturally see what you should see."
William nodded and placed some more holy artifacts around.
Anto just glanced at it and didn't stop him.
In the next moment.
It left Mia's body, entering the porcelain hand as a stream of mental energy.
Although William didn't make any other moves, his body maintained a distance to jump away at any time.
Fortunately, no accidents happened.
Just as he was curious, a halo of white light suddenly emerged on the surface of the porcelain hand.
In the next second, the scenery before William's eyes changed.
Galway County, Ireland, Summer.
A young girl wearing a gray cloth long dress ran on the tender green grass.
This place was some distance from the village, and few people usually came here, so it also became Maura O'Toole's secret garden.
Whenever she had time, she would secretly run here.
But today might be the last time.
Maura raised her head, letting the mild sunshine sprinkle on her face.
Insect chirps, flowers and grass, fresh air.
The affinity and freedom brought by nature could always relax Maura's mind.
She came to a cluster of flowers, picked many fresh and tender flowers, then sat on a section of dead wood on the spot, and soon wove a flower crown with vines.
Maura brought her nose close, smelling the natural scent of the flowers and grass.
This was a gift she wove for herself.
After today, Maura would hold her coming-of-age ceremony, and her mother and brother had already found a husband for her.
She heard he was a fisherman's son; every time he went out to sea, he could catch several big fish among a bunch of old fishermen.
Everyone praised his craftsmanship very much.
In this way, after getting married, she should be able to have fish soup frequently, right?
It rained for a long time in spring, and the food harvest this year was affected again.
These days, Maura often saw her mother and brother sighing in the house.
She soon stopped thinking about these.
After putting on the flower crown, she picked many more fresh flowers, planning to decorate the new house well after getting married.
Half an hour passed quickly.
Maura didn't dare to stay outside too long; she still had to complete today's "Bride Coursework" later!
In the village, every girl waiting to be married had to learn this course.
Hearing people from the monastery say, only girls who completed it excellently could receive the Lord's blessing after the wedding.
Maura trotted all the way and soon came to an old wooden house.
"Maura, where did you run off to again?"
Just entering the door, Maura heard her mother's voice.
"Sorry... I went to pick some flowers." As she spoke, she held up her dress, and many petals fell to the ground.
"These are all useless things; only by serving your husband well can your life be happy!"
The mother grabbed Maura's hand and walked into the house, petals soon falling all over the floor.
"Remember to sweep the floor later; your brother hates these things the most."
Inside the house, the mother handed things to Maura one by one.
The tender green flower crown was taken off, and a durable headscarf wrapped her beautiful black hair.
An apron was also put over the clean long dress, covered with dust and stains.
Immediately after, she took a wooden doll from her mother.
"Cooking well for your hardworking husband and giving birth to another child, this is the standard of a good wife."
"You must remember, otherwise our family will be laughed at by the whole village."
The brief freedom on the grass had disappeared, and Maura's heart was dragged to the ground once again.
"Yes, Mom."
She watched her cherished dress get dirty but didn't dare to complain.
Because this was not what a qualified wife should think about.
The wedding day was set for tomorrow.
Tonight was the last time Maura stayed in her mother's house.
She clutched the quilt, unable to fall asleep no matter what.
Maura looked at the cabinet; some petals were hidden in the drawer there.
After being discovered by her mother last time, she was not allowed to go out until before the wedding.
Fortunately, Maura had secretly accumulated some before. Although the petals were dry, they could still be used.
Thump... Thump.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the window outside the house.
Maura was startled but soon heard a young voice.
"Maura O'Toole?"
"Yes... Who are you?" Maura's voice trembled slightly.
"Antonios Bell."
Maura's eyes widened; this was her fiancé's name.
The two had long known of each other but had never met.
"Why are you here?" Maura whispered.
"I... wanted to come see you. Can I come in?"
Hearing this, Maura instinctively wanted to refuse.
But when she thought that the two would live together for the rest of their lives, it didn't seem impossible.
Moreover, Maura was also very curious about her future husband.
"You can come in." After she finished speaking, her heart thumped wildly. Her father died early; from childhood to adulthood, besides her brother, Maura rarely interacted with other men.
A slight flipping sound rang out.
Immediately after, a dark shadow jumped out in front of Maura's eyes.
"Did you... drink?" Maura tried hard to calm herself.
"Tomorrow is the wedding. When I was drinking with Ivo and the others, everyone wanted me to come and see what the bride looked like."
Maura had never heard the name Ivo, but she supposed he should be a good friend of her husband's.
"Turning on the light will be discovered by Mom; you... just look like this." Maura turned her head away.
Fortunately, it was very dark in the house; otherwise, her blushing appearance would definitely be seen.
But in the next second, an icy cold sensation came from her hand.
Antonios actually placed Maura's hand on his face.
"Feel what I look like."
Maura's heart was already beating fast; she was also very curious about her husband, so she gently placed her other hand on his face as well.
"The face is a bit round, the nose is very high; this shouldn't look ugly... Mmh, the beard is so prickly."
She imagined her husband's appearance in her mind.
Although this was completely different from what Maura imagined, fortunately, he was a normal person!
She had heard that the girl from the Lake family married a man with sores on his face.
Maura was just rejoicing in her heart when the face in front of her suddenly leaned close.
Immediately after, she felt a burst of softness on her lips.
"Mmph."
Not long after.
Maura wiped the tear stains from the corner of her eye: "Why did you do this?"
"You are going to become my wife anyway."
"But... we haven't held the wedding yet. An unmarried woman doing... this kind of thing will be considered a 'Fallen Element'."
Maura didn't dare to say the name of that thing.
"This way I won't be a good wife!"
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you