Ch.339Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

“Your Holiness. Why do you say such things?”

“I’m merely asking for your thoughts.”

“Do you mean political thoughts?”

“I’m not trying to verify your ideology. I’m purely curious about how you view the Magic Tower.”

“…That’s an unfamiliar topic I’ve never considered before.”

“I’m not asking anything difficult.”

“……”

“Are you saying you need time to think?”

“I need time to… organize my thoughts, Your Holiness.”

“……”

“……”

“…Very well. Then come back tomorrow.”

Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

The Pope had a private meeting with Lucia. During that process, friction developed between Lucia and the Pope.

Though I don’t know the exact details, one thing is clear: something unusual is happening.

So I sought out someone knowledgeable about the Church’s internal affairs.

“Oh my, Major! What brings you here?”

The Church’s Saint, Veronica.

She was right there when I burst through the door.

“Ugh, what the hell.”

I had opened the shop door expecting to meet Veronica, but I stepped back in surprise.

The interior was filled with fog. At first glance it looked like mist, but the pungent, acrid smell irritating my nose was clearly tobacco smoke.

The tobacco shop that Veronica frequently visits—a place said to gather exotic and unusual tobacco from around the world—was filled with smoke.

In this shop with no attendants visible,

Veronica sat prominently at the center of the smoke.

“Phew…”

After blowing smoke into the air, the Saint placed her Maduro cigar on an ashtray and waved at me with a smirk.

The tobacco smell was so strong that just breathing felt like my lungs were rotting. Feeling dizzy, I covered my nose with my sleeve and approached her.

“You said you were busy and left early. Did you come all the way here just to smoke?”

“I heard they got new stock today, so I rushed over in the middle of work.”

“What about your duties?”

“I’m sure someone is handling them for me.”

What a lunatic. How did such a worthless person become a Saint?

Unable to comprehend the religious world, I gave up trying to understand.

Regardless, Saint Veronica, who had abandoned her duties to escape here, took a cigar from the box and offered it to me.

“Here, a bribe.”

“What?”

“Take this and keep quiet. Take it. My arm’s getting tired.”

I let out a deep sigh.

With practiced movements, Veronica cut and toasted the cigar before handing me the lit one.

After savoring the heavy smoke that hit the roof of my mouth and nose, I exhaled and put a piece of chocolate in my mouth to counter the dry taste.

“What brings you all the way here? I haven’t gotten my hands on the Imperial personnel list yet.”

“I heard Lucia had a private meeting with John XVI. What happened?”

“It’s exactly as you heard.”

Tilting her head, Veronica brushed back her silky black hair and began explaining.

“Three days before you entered the country, the Pope summoned Lucia to the palace first. They had a private meeting for about 10 minutes, and the next day they met again in the garden to talk.”

“What was so important that they needed a private meeting?”

“I don’t know either. Since even the guards were dismissed, no one heard their conversation. All I know is that after the meeting ended, the Pope left the garden looking very angry, and Lucia got into her carriage with a gloomy face. So rumors are flying that something went wrong.”

The Pope was furious after the meeting, and the Saint began secluding herself.

Even I could tell that a serious problem had arisen in the Church if the normally sociable Lucia was refusing to leave her room.

Moreover, the Pope, like Raphael, was a cleric who had held a high position in the Inquisition. A hardliner among hardliners. In other words, a person completely at odds with the gentle Lucia.

“……”

To find out what happened there, I needed to meet one of the parties involved.

But Lucia was in seclusion, and the Pope was not easy to meet.

Perhaps because I inhaled the smoke too quickly in my anxiety, the cigar began to taste burnt.

I tossed the cigar into the ashtray and exhaled the smoky air as I looked at Veronica.

“Veronica.”

“Yes.”

“Where is Lucia now?”

*

Bethlehem for Christianity, Mecca for Islam, Jerusalem for Judaism.

Every religion has regions considered sacred. People call these places holy sites.

The Church is no exception.

“Rusalium,” where the Heavenly God first manifested on earth and ascended.

“Tiberias,” where three wise men from the East, reading the movement of stars, met the Heavenly God and sought teachings.

Finally, “Laterano,” where the Pope, groaning as he watched the Church collapse due to war with Al-Yabd after the Heavenly God’s ascension, received divine revelation and migrated.

Laterano is both a holy site and the capital where the Church’s headquarters is located.

Streets lined with buildings created by the finest architects over centuries. Not just the towering cathedral, but even the gravel on the roads and the branching alleys contain thousands of years of history.

When the brilliant radiance gifted by heaven lifts the quiet morning fog, the holy site begins to fill with vitality.

Two days before Frederick arrived at the Church.

Lucia, who had been gazing at the city greeting the morning, finally came to her senses at the sound of a nun’s voice.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes.”

Walking along the path that unfolds between stone pillars, marble eventually disappears, replaced by gravel and grass.

A garden prepared inside the cathedral.

An old man who was gently caressing plants and smelling their fragrance looked up just then to see her.

“You’ve come?”

John XVI.

The Pope, who was approaching retirement, smiled with a childlike innocence that belied his age and offered her a seat.

“Thank you for accepting my invitation, Saint. I’ve prepared refreshments, so please sit comfortably.”

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

Lucia gladly took the seat prepared for her.

The Pope approached, tapping the grass with his cane, and received help from a priest. As the middle-aged priest carefully pulled out a chair, the Pope leaned his cane against the table and slowly sat down.

The labored, sighing breath lingered at the table only briefly.

John XVI picked up the teapot and filled both Lucia’s cup and his own.

“Thank you for indulging an old man’s whim. I wanted to visit you myself, but it’s not easy to move about with this aged body.”

The garden in the cathedral courtyard maintained its deep green hue despite the chilly weather.

The plants, meticulously cared for by clerics and monks, radiated a healthy glow, and the fresh scent of blooming flowers drifted on the breeze.

Roses bloomed within reach. The Pope stretched out his hand and plucked one.

“It smells wonderful. Would you like to smell it too, Saint?”

“The rose, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, yes. Please wait a moment.”

After asking for permission, Lucia rose from her chair and approached the rose bush.

Carefully touching the rose to avoid being pricked by thorns, she bent down to smell its fragrance.

“…Hmm.”

John XVI, who had been staring at her intently, remained silent until Lucia returned to the table, lost in thought.

Lucia spoke as she removed flower petals from her hair.

“It smells lovely.”

“Doesn’t it? The gardeners would be pleased to hear that.”

The Pope, with a clear smile, gestured for everyone around to leave.

First, the monks and nuns attending the Pope and Saint withdrew, followed by the priests. Finally, when the guards watching the corners of the garden left through the door, only the Pope and the Saint remained in the garden.

The Pope took a sip of water from a transparent glass and began with a light greeting.

“These days, doctors are clamoring for me to reduce sweet foods. They say I should prioritize my health since I’m as old as the Emperor of the Empire, but cutting out things you enjoy isn’t as easy as they make it sound, which worries me.”

“Isn’t it true that good medicine tastes bitter?”

“That’s why I secretly eat candies. It’s the only pleasure in an old man’s life. Ho ho.”

The Pope playfully laughed as he picked up a candy from the table and ate it.

Lucia, who had been looking at the Pope with concerned eyes, suddenly raised her gaze at his continued voice.

“Can I hear your answer today to the question I asked you yesterday?”

“I’m sorry, Your Holiness.”

Lucia gently shook her head.

“I haven’t found an answer yet.”

“You’re still thinking about it, you mean?”

“Shamefully, yes. That’s right.”

“Ho ho.”

Lucia bowed her head, but the Pope waved his hand dismissively, bursting into laughter and saying it was fine. John XVI smiled comfortably and quietly made a joke.

“You’re the only one who has ever kept me waiting this long.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Even bishops and cardinals have never kept me waiting. You’re the first Saint to make me wait.”

“What about Saint Veronica?”

“Ah…”

At the sudden mention of Veronica’s name, John XVI’s expression clouded over.

“Well, yes. There is one other person who always keeps me waiting. The problem is that she not only makes me wait but also rots my insides with worry… That’s… Let’s consider her an exception for now.”

After trailing off with a worried face and muttering in a gloomy voice, he cleared his throat. Then he naturally steered the conversation in another direction.

“I arranged this meeting to hear your answer to my question, but that’s not the only reason I called you here.”

“Do you have something else to tell me?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“What do you wish to discuss?”

“It’s a complicated matter. Should I call it philosophical or theological? It’s also a political topic. It’s a complex subject that’s difficult to pinpoint.”

The Pope paused his explanation to moisten his throat.

Then, pressing the handle of his cane with his wrinkled hand, he said:

“But if I had to define it in one phrase…”

“……”

“It would be about the future of our church and our order.”

*

“Lucia? She’s in her quarters right now. But you won’t be able to get in.”

“Why not?”

“Have you forgotten, Major? Remember when the Imperial Guard planted spies and installed bugs in my quarters and got caught? Security has been tightened because of that. With dozens of Holy Knights guarding around her quarters and the Inquisition keeping close watch, who could get in? No one can enter right now. Not even me.”

“So Lucia isn’t receiving any visitors.”

“That’s right. That little brat must have grown up because now she won’t even come out when I visit.”

Chewing on her cigar with a somewhat irritable attitude, Veronica sighed and continued as if there was nothing to be done.

“So give up. Don’t waste your energy trying for nothing.”

“Is there really no one entering her quarters? Not even the building?”

“Well, I suppose the clerics who assist Lucia, the Holy Knights, and people who handle things Lucia needs do come and go. Some people commute from their homes. But why do you ask?”

“……”

“……”

As I remained silent, deep in thought, Veronica’s expression subtly changed.

Not noticing the ash falling on her clothes, she looked at me with suspicious eyes and asked:

“Major.”

“Yes.”

“You’re not thinking of disguising yourself as a cleric to sneak into Lucia’s quarters, are you? Are you?”

Veronica asked twice, as if urging an answer. I quietly lit a cigarette and met her gaze.

No further conversation was necessary.

“Go find out the list of people entering and the route to her quarters.”

“What a crazy bastard…”

Veronica tossed aside her cigar and immediately grabbed the back of her neck.