My job list is full of alien girls.

Chapter 28: Delicious food, so enjoyable to read!

"What just happened?"

Rhodes looked in confusion in the direction where the other person had disappeared, then looked at the magic power in his hand that had not completely dissipated.

He clenched his fist in the void, and a magical arrow was reconstituted.

This time the situation is normal and there has been no further impact.

"How did she interrupt our spell..." Alina's voice rang out. "Warlocks are such a hassle, especially these demon warlocks... They always manage to awaken some inexplicable spells."

"A warlock?" Rhodes stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Sounds impressive."

"They're just a bunch of guys with dark blood flowing through their veins, only capable of casting spells on instinct..." Alina snorted coldly, but didn't say anything more. "It's best to be cautious when you encounter her."

As a half-elf, Elina inherited the ideas of the noble elves to some extent, regarding orthodox arcane magic as a high art, and inevitably developed prejudice and hostility towards sorcerers, who were considered "amateur" spellcasters.

"Really?" Rhodes asked, puzzled as to why she had such a negative opinion of the sorcerer. "I think she's quite capable..."

"Running fast doesn't mean you can fight," Alina couldn't help but complain. "If demons weren't fast, with their pathetic appearance and personality, they would have been wiped out long ago. How could they be rampant all over the continent?"

"I don't think she's ugly, and her personality..."

Rhodes was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then he remembered Aphrodite's rude and provocative gesture before she ran away, and fell silent instantly.

"She even looked down on me before she left..." Rhodes's tone carried a faint sadness.

"You should be glad she only looks down on you..."

Upon hearing this, Alina couldn't help but mutter to herself.

Because most of the time, the people you're chatting with want to strangle you.

As Alina was filled with emotion, she couldn't help but think about the few days they had spent together, and her blood rushed to her head.

She shook her head and quickly banished those unpleasant memories.

Caring for your physical and mental health starts with staying away from Rhodes.

Unfortunately, she can't leave right now.

"What do we do now?" Alina asked. "That demon shouldn't dare to follow us anymore."

"I'm wondering if I should report her?" Rod pondered. "I have a feeling she's up to something bad."

"Do you want to report her to the Holy Light Church?" Alina paused for a moment, her tone suddenly becoming hesitant. "I... don't recommend you do that."

"Why?" Rod asked, puzzled. "Isn't reporting wanted criminals the right thing to do?"

"Although that demon woman is problematic, we're not clean either..." Alina said with some fear.

"I am a half-elf, and they already don't like me, let alone that you possess such a unique ability as fusion, which is absolutely unparalleled in the world..."

"Even if it's not an evil forbidden spell, if we're exposed to the Holy See, it could cause us even bigger trouble."

"Furthermore, given that the Holy See can't capture that demon sorcerer, do you know what they'll do to you, as the only person who had contact with her?"

Hearing Alina's serious tone, which didn't sound like she was joking, Rod, though not quite understanding, decided to follow her advice.

"Well, anyway, that girl didn't hurt us," Rhodes thought for a moment, "I can't find her, and reporting her doesn't seem to do any good."

"In short, it's best not to linger around the powerful forces like the Holy See if we don't have enough ability to protect ourselves," Alina whispered.

Rhodes hummed in agreement, but couldn't help looking toward the church not far away.

He didn't really care whether the Vatican could capture Aphrodite or not; he was just a little worried about his friend...

Rod withdrew his gaze and turned to walk towards the nearby grocery store.

After buying the necessities, he suddenly turned back into the alley, a fleeting glimmer of bluish-gold light passing by.

The next second, Rhodes, dressed in patched linen clothes, stood still, with a blonde girl wrapped in a large black robe next to him.

Alina pulled her hood up, covering her face completely.

"It's so suffocating to be wrapped up like a dumpling every time," she complained at first, then asked with some confusion, "Why do we have to separate in a place like this?"

"I have something to do later," Rod said, handing over the mountain goods he had received from the villagers to Alina. "You go home first."

"And what about you?" Alina was a little worried about him, afraid that he would be stubborn. "You're not going to...?"

"I'm just going to see a friend," Rod nodded. "It'll be fine."

Hearing this, Alina breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. It's better to avoid trouble. Let's just live our lives peacefully for now."

"Um."

Rhodes nodded and turned to walk towards the church.

……

……

The Holy Light Church's influence in Mist City was not significant, and the Holy Light Church where it was located was also small, lacking the magnificent and grand appearance that Rhodes had in his mind.

This leads to the fact that, at certain moments, the distance between God and man does not feel so far.

Looking at the believers praying at the main entrance, Rod easily pushed open the back door of the church and entered the convalescent courtyard.

In the center of the courtyard stands a stone cross about half a person's height, with most of the paint peeled off, revealing the rough stone underneath.

Several hemp ropes were strung between the cross and the courtyard wall, covered with clean clothes and bedding, which made a "whooshing" sound when the wind blew.

People were coming and going in the courtyard; they were all adventurers who were obviously injured. There was a hunter with his arm wrapped in bandages, a farmer who was coughing so hard he couldn't straighten up, and an apprentice adventurer whose leg had been scratched by a monster.

Today is Wednesday.

Every Wednesday, Garen would secretly open the back door to provide free medical care to the poor who couldn't afford medical treatment and injured adventurers from the lower classes.

As soon as Rod entered, he saw the familiar middle-aged man, dressed in an old priest's robe, sitting at the table, bending down to bandage a little boy's knee wound.

He moved very gently, and softly comforted the crying child.

On the stone table next to them were several rough pottery bowls filled with a bluish-brown medicinal liquid.

Seeing this, Rhodes sighed and then hid in the shadows, calculating the time so as not to disturb the other party.

Only when the sun was high in the sky and the last adventurer with a cane left, thanking them profusely, did Garen straighten up and let out a long sigh of relief.

"call……"

He rubbed his sore shoulders and picked up a towel from the table to wipe his hands.

The towel, repeatedly scrubbed, was stained with indelible bloodstains. Under the stone table lay a dozen empty medicine bottles, and in the wooden basin beside it, used bandages were soaking in murky, dark red water.

Garen looked at the pile of empty medicine bottles, his brows furrowing involuntarily. Finally, he let out a deep sigh, seemingly lost in thought.

"well……"

"What's wrong?" Rod asked instinctively as soon as he walked in, having heard him sigh.

"Rhodes?" Garen looked up and saw him, paused for a moment, then smiled gently. "When did you get here? Why didn't you call me?"

"Just arrived," Rod replied succinctly, his gaze sweeping over the dark circles under his eyes. "You didn't get enough rest?"

Garen chuckled and shook his head.

"The monsters in the forest have been rampant lately, and there are many more injured people than usual," he said with some guilt, pointing to the empty medicine bottles. "This production capacity is simply not enough; no matter how many potions we make, we can't save everyone."

"Yesterday, a young man was bitten on the leg by a monster, and the infection is severe. Even if I give him medicine, I'm afraid it won't be enough..." Father Garen paused, then prayed devoutly, "We can only pray that the Holy Light will protect him and help him through this ordeal..."

"No one can save everyone. You've done what you could." Rhodes squatted down and skillfully collected the empty medicine bottles into the wooden box next to him.

"I wish I had that ability," Father Galen smiled wryly. "I've heard that the high priests of the main cathedral possess the divine power to bring the dead back to life..."

"I'm so envious," he sighed. "If only I could be as devout as them and be granted such abilities by the gods..."

"That way, more people could be saved," he said softly, looking at the statue above him. "At least those children who lost their lives at such a young age, and those wives waiting for their husbands to come home, wouldn't have to suffer so much."

"Hmm..." Upon hearing this, Rhodes looked up at him and thought for a moment, "Then I wish you can become that powerful."

He thought for a moment and then added, "Blessed by the gods."

Father Galen chuckled, clearly used to Rhodes's way of speaking, and didn't intend to argue with him: "Thank you."

That's not a power that can be granted with mere words of blessing; some powers... can only be earned through one's own efforts.

He quickly wiped away the remaining medicine stains on the stone table, moved the wooden basin containing the bandages to the corner, and called out to Rod beside him:

"It's too messy here, and the smell is too strong. Come on, let's go to my lounge and sit for a while."

The two walked through a narrow corridor. On the walls of the corridor hung several faded but spotless icons, and in the corner were several pots of well-maintained but somewhat wilted sunflowers.

squeak-

Garen walked ahead, opened the door, and invited Rhodes in.

His lounge was small and remained unchanged.

Several stacks of yellowed old scriptures were piled on the table, and a small wooden cross hung on the wall, but this time there were a few crooked children's drawings.

There was sunshine, small flowers, and a man dressed in a priest's robe holding medicine to treat people.

It was probably drawn by the child of one of the believers.

"Ah—it's already noon?"

The disheveled young man opened his eyes with difficulty to greet them as they entered.

Lucius's paladin armor lay askew on the chair beside him, his longsword leaning against the corner of the wall, showing none of the majesty expected of a papal knight.

Despite being a knight, he exudes none of the solemnity and composure expected of a knight. Instead, he seems like a carefree young nobleman, spending his days idly.

"Have you figured out your move yet?" Father Galen chuckled, looking at the black chess piece in his hand and the motionless chessboard. "You haven't figured it out after all morning, have you?"

"How could that be—" Lucius denied Garen's words with a measured tone. Always competitive, he naturally wouldn't admit defeat. "If I had to think about it all morning, wouldn't that be bullying you?"

After saying that, he waved to Rhodes beside him, "This game is so simple, I don't need to use my brain. Rhodes, you do it."

"Oh." Rhodes walked over and glanced at the chessboard.

It's a dead end. I really don't know how Lucius, such a chess master, got to this point.

"We started this game yesterday, but this guy just kept dragging it out and didn't finish it."

Garen, standing to the side, mercilessly exposed Lucius's secrets to Rhodes: "He's been stuck here since after breakfast this morning, and he didn't move until I went next door to do some work. If you hadn't come and helped him, he probably wouldn't have finished raining by tomorrow."

"Let's go this way," Rhodes said, pointing casually to the Black Knight and then to another square. "We can take his white car."

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, Lucius hurriedly moved his few remaining pieces on the board, capturing one. "You think you can win like that?"

"That way you won't lose too badly," Rod said bluntly.

"?"

Lucius stared in shock at Rhodes, whose expression remained unchanged, and then at Father Garen, who was smiling mysteriously beside him.

Before he could react, Garen had already smiled, picked up the white queen, and gently pushed her forward, securing the victory in one fell swoop.

"It's finally over," Garen exclaimed with a sense of relief, giving Rhodes a thumbs up. "You really know how to do things."

"Rhodes! You actually teamed up with Garen to screw me over!" He pointed at Rhodes, his hair standing on end in anger. "I knew you were being kind to me all of a sudden! Turns out you were in cahoots with him all along!"

“We didn’t conspire,” Rod shook his head. “I just told you you could eat his car.”

"Then why didn't you tell me I'd die after eating it?"

"You didn't ask," Rod said innocently.

Lucius was so choked up that he couldn't speak.

"A bet's a bet," Garen added fuel to the fire by reminding him.

"No, no, this round can't be considered a loss for me," Lucius said, naturally sticking to his guns after finding someone to blame. "It's all Rhodes' fault, the score should be his!"

"When will you ever have any self-awareness about your own abilities?" Garen said helplessly. "Even if Rhodes didn't say anything, you would have lost after two more moves at most."

"He managed to let you capture another piece before you lost, that's pretty good."

"It was a 50/50 chance between us in chess. If Rhodes hadn't been giving me those bad advice, I wouldn't have lost so badly!" Lucius shouted, his neck stiff.

"As expected, we shouldn't have let an amateur give the orders."

Upon hearing this, Garen smirked, deciding to lure him into revealing the painful truth:

"After knowing each other for so long, haven't you ever wondered why Rhodes only watches us play chess, but never plays himself?"

"Yes, why?" Lucius looked at Rhodes suspiciously.

He subconsciously thought that Rhodes either didn't know how to play or didn't have time, but that move just now, although a trap, also showed that this guy clearly understood the rules of chess.

"Yeah, Rhodes, why don't you play?" Lucius immediately leaned over, looking curious. "You seem to understand things pretty well, so why do you never actually try?"

Rhodes's eyes darted around, first glancing at Garen who was smiling silently beside him, before he finally asked in a muffled voice when Lucius called out to him:

"...You really want to know?"

"What's wrong with saying this?" Lucius persisted. "Are you particularly bad at chess and afraid of losing to us? It's okay, I won't laugh at you."

"Well... it's not that I want to, I just enjoy watching you guys play chess." Rhodes gave his answer ambiguously, "especially watching you play chess."

"Oh? So you were attracted by my unstoppable and stylish chess moves," Lucius suddenly became interested and decided to interview the other party about their impressions of watching the game:

"How do you feel watching me play chess?"

Rhodes gave a mischievous smile, and after a long pause, he said quietly:

"Great food, it's so satisfying to watch."