Who made him a paladin?

Chapter 6: A Survival Guide for the Illiterate in the Temple

"Another day of early rising and self-discipline!"

At ten o'clock in the morning, sunlight streamed through the dusty wooden lattice windows of the hotel, casting warm yellow patches of light on Xia Nan's sleepy face.

He stretched, his joints cracking, and he squinted his eyes in comfort.

Since the Vatican's dormitories were still being allocated, Xia Nan and Bruce pooled together 3 silver coins and found the cheapest hotel near the Vatican to stay temporarily.

According to the deacon, all newly recruited paladins must first register at the deacon's office and receive a mission scroll, similar to an attendance record, before they can go to the mission hall to collect their mission attendance.

If you go out without registering, money will be deducted when settling your subsidies and wages at the end of the month.

Most importantly, Xia Nan obeyed the arrangements only for the sake of his grand plan to make money in the future.

Having lived as an animal in his previous life, he knew all too well that those at the bottom could only get small gains, while those climbing up could get big gains.

Xia Nan snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at the floor.

Bruce was lying on a rough hemp sleeping mat used in the wild, his limbs outstretched, drool hanging from the corners of his mouth, and his tongue occasionally sticking out to lick his nose.

Anyone who didn't know better would think she was having a wet dream.

It was Bruce who made Xia Nan think of an even more serious problem.

Neither of them can read or write. What will they do if they have to do anything in the future?

That won't do. If a Royal Card contract is issued, wouldn't we lose several thousand gold coins?

I need to find an opportunity to teach myself to read and write.

However, before that, Xia Nan decided to deal with the thing he could not tolerate the most.

Bruce rubbed his half-closed eyes, stood up, and then casually took off his pants, sauntered to the corner of the room, and lifted his leg, seemingly preparing to mark a new territory.

"Get out there and deal with this!"

Xia Nan rushed forward with lightning speed and kicked Bruce directly in the waist.

"Awooo—!"

Bruce screamed and fell out of the window.

……

Inside the Lighthouse Church mission hall.

The interior of this stone building, which is attached to the side of the main church, consists of only four load-bearing columns made of bluestone and a row of neatly arranged stone counters near the wall.

The numbers from left to right are 1, 2, 3, etc., somewhat like the service windows you see in government offices, neat and orderly.

At counters 1 and 2, the paladins lined up in an orderly fashion, waiting to receive simple tasks.

There were only seven or eight people queuing at counter number 3.

In contrast, counter number 4 was deserted, even desolate.

The tasks handled here are all high-level missions, such as hunting down followers of evil gods, investigating ancient ruins, dealing with magic going out of control, or killing dangerous monsters.

Behind the counter sat a female registrar named Lily.

Her bright green eyes were anxiously scanning back and forth in front of her, and her hands, resting on her knees, were unconsciously twisting the hem of her white robe.

"God, why aren't they here yet...?"

There was an envelope next to Lily.

The seal was a black wax stamp with a lifelike griffin emblem branded on it, rather than the lighthouse symbol commonly seen in churches.

The deacon in charge of the handover had specifically instructed her this morning that a high-ranking paladin squad would be coming today to collect this high-risk bounty, and her job was to safely hand the envelope to them.

But as the sun was approaching noon, there was still no sign of the team, and instead, her own bladder was sending out "high-risk" signals.

Just then, a figure walked through the door against the light.

Xia Nan had just returned from the deacon's hall, carrying a palm-sized scroll and a quill pen.

According to the deacon, all paladins must record their glorious deeds of "promoting the eight virtues" on this scroll after completing their mission.

Isn't this just a KPI?

Xia Nan couldn't help but secretly complain.

Thinking back to the Mind Flayer who lent money at exorbitant interest rates last night, he even began to wonder if there were other transmigrators in this world.

Based on his principle of not turning down money, he planned to take on any random task to find cats and dogs, label it as "field work," and then go to the Elk Forest to help Karl retrieve the goods.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Xia Nan glanced across the hall and saw long, winding queues in front of each task window, but only one counter was nearly empty.

The butler mentioned that there was a counter specifically for apprentice paladins to receive simple tasks, and there weren't many people in line.

This should be it, right?

Xia Nan walked to the counter and tapped the table with her knuckles.

"Hello, I'm here to receive a mission."

Lily, who was on the verge of collapse, heard the voice, suddenly raised her head, and smiled at Xia Nan as if she had seen a savior.

In her memory, many members of the powerful squads were quite individualistic, for example, they didn't like wearing armbands.

However, Xia Nan found it troublesome and did not wear the armband.

Lily blinked, somewhat doubtful.

The man in front of me was a stranger.

But she soon remembered that a squad seemed to have parachuted in a powerful backup from another country.

Moreover, he was so thin, yet he had a sword that looked very heavy hanging from his waist.

Given that they dared to come to this window, they must be members of a high-level squad!

"My lord, you've finally arrived!"

Lily didn't ask the other party to show their identification; she simply pushed the envelope in front of Xia Nan in a flustered manner.

"I'm so sorry, please sign here!" She pointed to the blotting paper next to the envelope and handed over a quill pen, explaining hurriedly, "I... I have a very urgent private prayer that needs to be performed immediately, please excuse me!"

Before she could finish speaking, Lily lifted her skirt and ran away without looking back. Xia Nan was somewhat taken aback.

He immediately looked down at the envelope in front of him, and then at the blotting paper that needed to be signed.

The otherworldly script above looked just like a doctor's prescription, consisting entirely of convoluted symbols.

It's just a formality anyway.

So Xia Nan picked up a quill pen and wrote four letters that were most familiar to him in the blank space on the receipt—

fuck.

……

Xia Nan left the Holy See with the "newbie quest" in his hand.

The bright sunlight made him squint, and he saw Bruce ahead.

The kobold, carrying a bulging bag, squatted on the church steps like a toad poised to hunt, its tongue lolling out of its mouth as it panted and shook its body.

The frequency with which he turned his head made Xia Nan realize without even thinking that Bruce was looking for "prey" to spy on at night.

Xia Nan walked over and squatted down beside him, mimicking his actions, and shook his body.

"So, what do you think? Anything good to see?"

"Sigh, these are all too skinny. I still prefer the ones from the village with big butts."

"Let's take care of business first, and then we'll go to the tavern when we get back."

Xia Nan patted him on the shoulder and stood up.

The two walked side by side on the stone path leading to the city gate, Xia Nan opening the envelope in his hand as they walked.

Inside was a sheet of blotting paper with a map resembling a cave drawn on it. The small print above the blotting paper was incomprehensible.

But Xia Nan's attention was quickly drawn to several graphic markers on the map.

On the map, there's a spot that looks like a hall with a goblin's head drawn on it, which looks rather comical.

Not far from the goblin head, there is a room with a treasure chest painted on it and marked with a red "X".

Most importantly, at the very bottom of the scroll, there is the number "3" and some incomprehensible text.

Xia Nan pouted and nodded.

Could this goblin's head be the band of robbers Karl mentioned? And what about the red cross on the treasure chest—is that the location of the goods?

As for the "3", Carl's bounty is exactly 3 gold coins.

Xia Nan was overjoyed.

Although it differs from the simple mission I wanted to take on, this mission to clear out the goblin's lair seems pretty good.

Anyway, it aligns with my goals, and the rewards for the task are high.

The key is having an internal map, which makes things much simpler.

All that's left is to go into the forest and rely on Bruce's nose to find the cave's location.

I didn't expect the newbie benefits to be so good.