"No, that's not the case. I am sure that..."
In front of Peter's blurred vision was his teacher.
"......affim......"
that person--
"Surely be very happy, I have heard that Teacher Jesus has encouraged you not to give in, to cast the net again in the sea, to walk on the water, to look courageously at your own weakness, to follow Him on the way of the cross, to lay down your life for your brothers, and to shepherd His sheep, so be sure to be happy, because the world needs more real people than more than human people."
"You are an indisputable rock, and as reliable as a rock. Paul and I have always believed that we should all be like you."
Novia smiled and said this to Peter who was about to cry.
Seeing the smile of the silver-haired boy in front of him, Peter suddenly wanted to laugh, but tears would flow as soon as he laughed.
Once upon a time, Jesus said to him:
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Now that you mention it, I don’t want to give this gift away.
Peter's frustrated heart was cheered up again when the child reminded him of what his former teacher had said.
"Novia."
Peter's face suddenly became serious, which made people involuntarily calm down.
"Please say."
Look at Novia, Peter's confident self is reflected in his blue eyes like the sea.
The old man looked at his hands, and finally grabbed the ordinary key hanging on his chest. He held it tightly in his palm as if to confirm the existence of something.
"I have made up my mind now. I will leave this to you."
I don’t know if the teacher will be angry, but after all, the current situation was not caused by me, but by Novia. But given the teacher’s personality, he shouldn’t be angry.
Thinking of this, Peter continued.
"This should have been established by you. I am just keeping it as I embarked on this path."
"........I see."
Novia listened carefully to Peter's words, bent down and let Peter take the "Key of the Kingdom of Heaven" given to him by the former Savior Jesus.
Just like the 'cane' that Martha gave him, Novia had never thought about it before, because the meaning of these things to them was extremely important, but Peter looked at him with sincere eyes, just like Martha did that day -
Believe it and be proud of it.
No falsehood, the most natural expression.
This always made Novia's throat a little dry, so she couldn't find a reason to refuse.
The discussion ended with silent applause from everyone present, and then everyone decided to edit the New Testament that Novia suggested before deciding on a province to be responsible for the construction of Christianity there.
The edited New Testament was published about a hundred years earlier than the original, but the content is not much different, with four gospels, one history book, and twenty-one letters.
The only difference is probably that in Volume 21, there is an additional mention in Paul's letters that "Theus of Rome was a saint who came from Martha of Bethany" and that the prophetic book of Revelation, written by the Apostle John on the island of Patmos in 90 AD, is missing.
However, during the editing of the New Testament, the Locusta that Novia commissioned Narubalek to find was finally found.
When he learned the reason why he had not found this mushroom girl for so long, Novia was a little amused, but at the same time he was a little happy. It turned out that a few years ago, this Lokusta saw that being a Christian could get some food and not be despised by others, so he directly joined the church in the city and even changed his name for this purpose.
051: Saints of the First Century and the Dying Elder
That day was definitely an unforgettable day for Lokusta.
The green-haired girl, who had to live in the forest because of some mental abnormalities, heard that a religion had been established in the city and that as long as she joined, she could get food other than mushrooms.
The people in the city always gave people the impression of being angry and hungry. To be honest, Lokusta didn't like going into the city.
When she was seven, she followed strangers after her parents said those words.
They said, follow them and you can get the money.
So she left with that man, because the way her parents looked when they were angry was so scary, but her parents seemed to be smiling when she left.
As a result, Locusta was sold, but ran away after a few days, and when he returned home he found that the house was empty.
With nowhere to go, she could only wander along the road. When she was hungry, she ate food abandoned by others on the road, or simply grass or mushrooms. When she was thirsty, she just drank water.
In the summer, I walked barefoot on the hot road; in the winter, I wore tattered clothes and shivered as I walked through the long corridor.
She also felt that as long as she could get the money, nothing else mattered, but the people in the city were always angry and always looked down on the mushroom soup, the only dish she was good at.
They said she was crazy, smelly and disgusting, so she didn't like going into the city.
Although she thought so, when she came to her senses, she found that she had already arrived in the city. The people around her kept looking at her with the same "disdainful" eyes as before, which made her lower her head involuntarily. The embarrassment of being barefoot and the embarrassment of being covered in stains were once again reflected in her heart.
"Everyone," said the old man sitting in front of the church, "I know what makes you feel ashamed, but you are wandering on the wrong path, stumbling, and making mistakes. You should always be an upright person. As Lord Novia said, you should do your best to help the miserable people. When a person's heart is full of darkness, sin will grow there."
"But this is a lunatic with no sense at all! It doesn't make sense."
“Maybe God wants me to be this child’s shepherd?”
"She might kill you."
"Killing an old man? What's the good of that? What else could it be? Don't say something groundless in this tone." The old man continued, "I have patients just like a doctor. I have patients they call patients, and then I have patients I call unfortunate people. In the same way, the door of the church should always be open."
The old Christian man solemnly and gently tapped the lowered Rocusta's shoulder and said to her:
"Please come in and sit by the fire. We will have dinner in a moment, and your bed will be ready while you eat."
As the old man spoke, Locusta walked into the church involuntarily and waited slowly. After a while, when it was getting dark, the old man came in.
"Don't you want to take a shower?"
"......" Locusta raised his head timidly, "If you don't obey, you will be scolded."
A little sadness blocked the old man's throat, and he could only sigh and touch Lokusta's head.
"...I'm not a lunatic without any reason. I'm not that disgusting..."
The words flowed out of his mouth unconsciously and Locusta cried, not silently sobbing but howling like he had when he was a child.
“…..Wu…..Wu…..Wu, Wu…”
"You must be in pain, and now you're hungry and thirsty, so just stay here peacefully."
The old man sat beside her and gently pressed her hand.
From then on, Lokusta lived here with the old man and some children who were already there.
There is a field behind the church, so the children here grow some vegetables, and Locusta also grows some mushrooms to eat.
The old man who adopted her always went for walks in the countryside or the city, and often went into those shabby homes, sending blessings and being blessed by people.
People here always point his house out to anyone who needs it.
Because he had been wearing his clothes for too long but didn't want others to notice, he always had to put on a cotton robe, even in the hot summer.
One month in an old man's year is no different from one hour on an ordinary day.
But for Lokusta this is not a bad thing, it is already very good.
This went on for several years until -
"Can you excuse me?"
There was a knock at the church door.
"Please come in."
The old man looked at the man who pushed the door open with a calm gaze.
"Hello, Lord Luke, I am Narubalek, and I am here on the orders of Lord Novia to take Rokusta, who you have taken in, to Rome."
Narubalek behaved very well because in his opinion the old man in front of him was a believer worthy of admiration.
Luke, who was originally a doctor by profession, was a humble and selfless person. He did not show off his knowledge or try to attract attention. In fact, as a doctor, he could have started a secular career, but he chose to use his talents to promote missionary work.
Luke frowned, looked at him and said, "But I don't have anyone named Locusta here."
"........that is, I am......"
Lokusta plucked up the courage to raise her hand. In her opinion, if it was the Lord Novia that everyone loved to talk about, he was definitely a good person, so there was no need to cover up anything. It would be bad to cause trouble to everyone.
"Tasculo? Oh, the name is backwards."
After joining here, Lokusta somehow decided to change his name, but because he had no knowledge, he turned his name upside down.
"Okay," Luke said, "It's getting late, so let's have a good night's sleep and set off tomorrow morning. By the way, Mr. Narubalek, I want to ask, Paul of Antioch should be in Rome, because he sent me a letter not long ago."
"Yes, Mr. Paul, Saint Martha, and the eleven apostles were invited by Lord Novia to write a new testament in Rome."
"No wonder." Luke moved his lips seriously, like a man praying or talking to himself, and then took out two books from his bag and handed them to Narubalek. "Paul asked me to pass these to him. Since you are here, you can take them to him."
"Ok."
Narubalyk held the two books in his right hand. One could tell from their appearance that they were worn out. It must have taken more than ten years to write them. As a pure believer, Narubalyk naturally knew the reason why the old man did not go to Rome to enjoy this honor himself. It was probably because he could not let go of the local people and the children in the church.
At dawn the next day, Narubalek returned to Rome with Locusta and the two books given by Luke.
Novia, who learned about Lokusta's situation, naturally also learned about Luke from Narubalek.
Originally in history, this Luke was the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. He was regarded as the patron saint of medical workers and hospitals. Because it was said that he had painted a portrait of the Virgin Mary, he was also regarded as the patron saint of fine arts and artists.
This man once went to faraway Jerusalem to verify the genealogical records of Jesus. Many of the life events and preaching experiences of Jesus Christ are only recorded in the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke contains as many as eighty-two records about Jesus, as well as some parables told by Jesus, which are not found in other gospels.
Luke may have learned about John the Baptist’s birth from Elizabeth, his mother, or he may have learned the details of Jesus’ birth and early life from Mary, Jesus’ mother. Perhaps the apostle Peter, James, or John told Luke about the miracle of catching fish.
But perhaps because Novia rewrote a lot of history, Luke did not follow Paul as he did before. Instead, he ran from Antionia to a city in the province of Gaul and opened a small church. He also unexpectedly took in Rocuso, who was supposed to have been wandering in the forest and was finally recruited by Agrippina to poison Emperor Claudius.
"Hello, Locusta, I'm looking for you because I just hope you can do me a favor."
As for Lokusta, Novia said with a smile that he did not beat around the bush and came straight to the point. After all, in his opinion, although this child was in a bad mental state, he was still a good child at heart.
"Okay, okay... I'll try my best. This is what I should do..."
Lokusta was originally dejected because she was afraid that she would be discovered by the important people for entering the church just to eat, and that she would implicate everyone and be punished. But after hearing Novia's call, she suddenly raised her head with a firm expression, but she was a little lacking in confidence.
"This is a recipe for a poison. Do you have a way to make an antidote?"
Novia took out the poison formula that Agrippina had given him and put it in Rocusta's hand.
"Poison, poison... Let me see..."
Locusta was shocked when he heard this, but he felt a little relieved when he heard that Novia was going to make an antidote.
Lord Novia must be trying to save someone, she thought.
But the more he looked at the poison formula, the more horrible it seemed to Lokusta.
Because this poison is colorless and tasteless after it is made, and it is a chronic poison. When the disease breaks out, just drink it again to temporarily stop the disease, but the price is that the symptoms will become more serious...
However, although it is troublesome, for Rokusta, who was self-taught and then educated by Luke, and often likes to eat poisonous mushrooms and make soup by himself, it can be solved by spending time.
"Lord Novia, I should be able to finish it in half a year or so."
"Half a year? Actually, Locusta, the person I want to detoxify has been drinking this poison for more than ten years. This is the situation."
When Locusta heard this, his eyes widened instantly.
Ten years?
This has already reached the point where it has even spread into the bone marrow... What a poor man, who did this to him that it has lasted for so many years, it's so scary.
"Then, just, three years."
After thinking about it, Lokusta came back to his senses from his surprise. After all, it was just a poison with too much toxicity. It would not be so troublesome if he spent more time studying it and never drank poison again in the future.
"Then I'll trouble you, Locusta."
After getting Lokusta's promise, and because the mushroom girl repeatedly asked what else she could do, Novia arranged for her to be in charge of food safety in the palace. After all, she was an expert in this area.
Now, for Novya, everything is developing according to his original plan. The development of Christianity has indisputably swept the entire Roman Empire. Now there are only a few final steps left, which are to take control of the Praetorian Guard and let the Roman Emperor declare Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. After that, the Cathedral Church will be established in the world ahead of time and gradually improved.
Novia no longer had any hope of having the old Emperor Claudius publicly declare Christianity as the state religion, and planned to wait a few years for Nero to make the announcement.
Time passed gradually, and in the blink of an eye it was October of the 54th year AD. Although Novia had repeatedly assured that there was no possibility of poisoning in the palace, the old emperor suddenly became weak in early October and could have died at any time.
It seems that whether he was poisoned or not, Claudius' death during this period was inevitable.
