NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6: School
In the morning, Father Darren is in his office doing his daily work as usual. He is preparing the training schedule for those who have awakened. As for the letter, he finished it yesterday and immediately sent it to the headquarters.
Toc..toc…toc
Someone is knocking on Father Darren's office door. He paused his work.
"Come in."
The door opened, and there were two men walked inside. They were wearing priest outfits similar to Father Darren.
"Oh, I didn't expect you guys were coming, Father Francis and Father Josh."
The guy with an old wrinkle on him and grey hair was Father Francis, and the other guy who has a much younger look than he seems to be around in his 30s was Father Josh. When they came in, they bowed to greet Father Darren.
"Sorry to intrude on this occasion. But we are here to request something from you."
"Request? I thought you guys were here to take Kaiden Smith."
"Ahh, Kaiden Smith, we heard about him when we were on our way here. It is a blessing for us to have another Oracle in our church. But no, we are here on something important that includes you, too."
Father Darren frowns his eyebrows. He has a bad feeling about this meeting.
"Father Josh, if you may," said Father Francis, instructing Father Josh to explain.
"Yes, sir. Father Darren, we're here to assign you a task related to a creature appearing in your area."
Father Darren's face was frozen for a second when he heard the word 'creature', and he replied, "By creature, you don't mean is…..?"
"It is exactly what you think. We have been getting reports that the creature had been kidnapping children whenever he went. Our latest report is that he seems to be appearing in your area. And worst of all, he had kidnapped a child from a powerful family."
He continued to retrieve a report from the briefcase he had brought with him and placed it on Father Darren's desk for him to review.
"This is the girl who has been kidnapped. Her name is Lorrie Read. Her family has a strong relationship with the government, so they request our help finding their daughter."
"Lorrie Read…. Wait, is she from The Read Family?"
"Yeah, you are correct."
"I heard of them. They seem to be a very wealthy family in our area."
"Great, since you heard of them, you should know how important this case is. I will let you handle this then."
"Wait a second! Do you want me to handle this on my own? You guys should know our church right now is lack of manpower."
Both priests were about to leave the room, but Father Darren stopped them. Father Francis turned back and looked at him and said, "Father Darren, you should know that we have problems that need to be resolved at the headquarters, and since this case happened recently in your area, you are managing it. You should be the one to take care of it."
"Don't pull this kind of trick on me! You guys must be aware our church lacks chaplains to handle this type of case."
"Isn't yesterday you guys just went through the awakening ritual," said Father Francis with a shameless smile on his face.
"They are just a kid, and they just awakened. They haven't even received any proper training yet!"
"If that was the case, I just thought of a perfect candidate in your church to execute this task."
"Who?"
"Michael Rivera."
"Michael!? Are you kidding me? He is, too, just awakened yesterday."
"That's true. But I heard he has been receiving proper training since he was a child, and the one who trained him was you, Father Darren."
"But…." Father Francis continues to add on before Fathe Darren can speak.
"It is a bit unfortunate for him to be unable to awaken The Oracle, but he must at least awaken The Knight, right?"
"Yes, you're right.."
"Then that's wonderful! He could immediately start work as a chaplain. With the training received from you, I believe he must reach the fifth-rank chaplain level."
Father Darren went speechless. He couldn't possibly find a reason to say no to both of them. Because they are people from the headquarters, their requests are absolute. Next, because this case happened in his area based on his responsibility, he should take care of it. If it weren't for the newly awakened priests, he would be the one to take care of it.
In the church ranking, the fifth-rank chaplain is considered the lowest, but they are still able to work on a mission. The lower the number, the higher the rank they are in the church. Right now, Father Darren is at third-rank, and the other two are at third-rank. But just because they are from the headquarters, they have higher power over Father Darren.
After countless of thinking, Father Darren made his decision.
"Fine, I understand. I will allow him to work on this task but on one condition."
"Alright, say your condition."
"He can only do an investigation on this case. After he found out the identity of the creature, I will be the one taking care of it."
Father Francis and Father Josh looked at each other for a second. They nodded to each other and replied, "That's reasonable. We will allow it."
Before they leave, give Father Darren some advice.
"By the way, Father Darren, we recommend you to enroll him to Lorrie's school. It might be easier to gather information. Lastly, we will take Kaiden Smith with us when we going to head back, so you don't need to worry about that."
Then they went on their way. Father Darren was finally able to rest for a bit after that meeting. He rubs his head.
"Ughh, I'm going get a headache from all of this."
A priest walked past Father Darren's office. Father Darren stopped him.
"You there. Can you help me call Michael Rivera to my office?"
"Yes, Father Darren."
***
In the church library.
Michael was flipping through books. He was trying to read information related to this world and his awakening. One of the books Michael found interesting is
Michael finds this book very interesting because when he reads it, it's like reading a fairy tale story. But a much more realistic and detailed kind of fairy tale.
The way this book describes these creatures sounds like they are actually real. But this world already had superpowers, so if these guys were actually real, I wouldn't even be surprised.
He continues to flip the page. He had already been drawn into the book and couldn't stop. Then, a voice attracts him back to reality.
"Michael. Father Darren called for you to his office." It was the priest that Father Darren ordered him to call for Michael.
???
Michael didn't know why Father Darren would call for him, but he guessed there was only one way to find out.
"Alright, I head on right now," Micahel said with an icy tone. He couldn't help it; it was like his speech was this body's muscle memory. And he finds how he speaks a bit embarrassing.
Dammit! This wasn't like me at all!
The priest finds it normal for Michael to speak to the others, and then he continues his way after sending Father Darren's message.
Within a minute, Michael reached Father Darren's office. He knocked on the door, "You called for me, Father?"
"Ah yes, please have a seat."
Michael then sits infront of him. They stare at each other for a second.
Soo….. What does this old man want me here for?
"Ahem, Michael, there's something I need you to do. I want you to enroll in a school."
"Oh ok…..WAIT WHAT!?"
I remembered the diary mentioning Michael already receiving all the education needed in this church. Being a priest doesn't require him to go to any typical school. So why suddenly did this old man suggest I go to school....