episode_0167

New Year.

If you are welcoming a new year, most people tend to get busy.

However, Evelyn Gegurte Howard, one of the ordinary priests of the Holy Kingdom, was spending days a little busier than others.

Welcoming pilgrims who want to commemorate the New Year.

Receiving confessions from believers who want to move forward anew in the new year and repent for the sins they committed last year.

Doctrinal education for believers who are celebrating their 10th birthday this year.

And finally, congratulations on the birthdays of family members who will be visiting one after another soon.

Among these, celebrating family birthdays seems to be the easiest and most comfortable task, but ironically, it is the birthday celebrations that are putting Evelyn in the most trouble right now.

The celebration doesn’t have to be grand; at best, all you need to do is write and send a letter.

However, the bizarre situation of having to take care of the birthdays of as many as six people in a short period of about two months has increased the difficulty of that simple and trivial task.

It is difficult to write small talk because the dates are too close.

However, celebrating them together bothered her, as it felt like she was passing over the day a life was born too insincerely, and unifying the greetings with similar phrases was no different from celebrating them together.

Therefore, family birthdays were both a joyous and difficult day for Evelyn.

If only a few people, like William, who celebrates his birthday in the fall, had birthdays in seasons other than winter, she wouldn’t be worrying so much…

“Hoo…”

Evelyn sighed deeply and looked at the clear blue sky with a gloomy expression.

She had roughly written a letter to congratulate her youngest sibling, Hayes, whose birthday was coming up soon, but she already felt overwhelmed thinking about what to write to the remaining five family members.

“Haa…”

Therefore, Evelyn continued to sigh incessantly, trying to squeeze out phrases for the letters as if wringing water from a dry rag.

“Haa… Should I go back to the Empire next year…”

However, all that came out was a petty complaint of wanting to avoid the current situation.

It was only a fleeting thought, but Evelyn felt disgusted with herself for having such a terrible idea.

She chose the path of the Holy Kingdom to study theology while walking the path of a priest, but she’s having such worries because of just one letter…

“No, I have to stop these useless thoughts…”

Evelyn slapped her cheeks hard, stood up from her seat, and held the cross lying gently on her chest tightly in her hand.

Then, she urged herself to stop acting disgracefully, finished her rest, and moved her steps toward the inside of the Grand Cathedral.

Priests busily moving to prepare for daily masses and sacraments.

Monastics assisting with chores beside those priests.

Pilgrims piously offering prayers among those priests and monastics.

“Hmm…?”

While looking over the church members who were mindlessly doing their jobs, Evelyn, who was slowly moving toward where she should be, noticed a nun rushing toward her in the corner of her vision and stopped her steps.

“Father Evelyn!”

“Sister Karen.”

A loud voice, frivolous behavior.

It is basic etiquette to show calm and orderly behavior inside the cathedral, and basic respect for the Holy Father whom the church members serve. Therefore, Evelyn glared at the nun named Karen with wide eyes.

“Sister, what’s wrong? Raising your voice so loudly and running around the cathedral so frivolously.”

“Th, Father, did you hear the news?”

“News, what are you talking about?”

“They said your sibling was reported to the Inquisition.”

“…?”

Evelyn, who tilted her head with a dumbfounded expression at Karen’s words, tapped her ears lightly with both hands and then gave a light smile.

“Sister Karen, what’s wrong?”

Evelyn, who asked the question calmly as if nothing had happened, was smiling with her mouth, but she stared at Karen with a creepy expression in which her eyes were not smiling.

“Th, well, so… did you hear the rumor that your sibling was reported as a heretic…”

“Oh my… I keep hearing strange noises in my ears.”

“Father, don’t deny reality as if it’s a hallucination, your sibling was really reported as a heretic, you know?”

“God…”

Evelyn frowned at Karen’s answer, which didn’t change even after repeating it several times, and wiped her face with trembling hands.

“Which sibling was reported?”

“I don’t know that much, I just heard the words ‘son/daughter of Count Hume’ and rushed here right away, but they said that an Inquisitor has already departed for the Empire. Anyway, a report has been filed, so they have to investigate.”

“I see, thank you for letting me know. I have somewhere urgent to go, so may I excuse myself now?”

Evelyn, who thanked Karen for delivering the news, sought understanding to quickly end the conversation while putting on the best smile she could muster right now.

“Ah…, uh… th, then, please do.”

“Thank you.”

Karen, who saw Evelyn’s gruesome smile, turned pale and nodded her stiffened head creakingly, hurriedly ending the conversation with Evelyn.

Evelyn bowed her head lightly to such Karen, greeted her roughly, and passed by her as she immediately removed her smile and moved her steps with a stiff face toward the office of the Archbishop who oversees the cathedral.

_

After two days had passed since the new year was greeted.

“Your Majesty, it is truly unfortunate, but a report has come in that Baron Howard, a nobleman of the Empire, is suspected of heresy.”

Shocking news delivered by a stuffy clergyman who visited the Imperial Palace.

Not anyone else, but William is an absurd nonsense called ‘heretic’.

Jim, who was in a bad mood due to the ridiculous nonsense, frowned as he looked at the Cardinal with a crooked posture.

“Cardinal Gregory, what did you just say?”

“A report has come in that Baron Howard is a heretic, so I am sorry, but we will have to investigate him.”

“Ha, haha, hahahahaha! Baron Howard is a heretic…”

Laughter erupted.

The human being called William was not someone who would be treated as a heretic.

He does not object to the Church’s actions, nor does he question the doctrine, nor does he resist the doctrine put forward by the Church.

He may cause some trouble from the Church’s point of view, but if you ask if that’s enough to be called a heretic? Everyone will answer no.

If the Cardinal had said, ‘I came to warn you about actions that undermine public morals,’ he would have thought that what was coming had come.

That’s why he was so curious.

Which crazy bastard reported William.

Which madman made such a big deal out of it.

“Which crazy bastard reported it?”

“That cannot be revealed yet to protect the reporter.”

“Even though they falsely accused the wrong person of heresy? You’re going to protect even such a person?”

“Isn’t that a fact that can only be known after an investigation? If you are going to blame us, I wish you would say so after Baron Howard’s false accusation is confirmed.”

“……”

Jim was speechless at the Cardinal’s appearance, who calmly presented the correct theory even though the Emperor of the Empire was glaring at him fiercely.

They only spout correct theories like parrots, and they are boring guys who have no flexibility.

That’s why he hated the clergy.

However, because it was the correct theory, he had no choice but to follow it even though he didn’t want to, which made him feel even more repulsed.

“What are you going to do if I refuse the investigation?”

“Then we have no choice but to suspect that the Emperor of the Empire is also a heretic.”

“Do you have certainty?”

“No, how can we dare to assert that someone is a heretic without even conducting an investigation? Rather, if you are confident, shouldn’t you actively cooperate with the investigation? If a report about heresy comes in, thoroughly investigate it so that there is no further gossip about the matter. It is an iron rule established after countless victims of false accusations emerged.”

“Tsk…”

He wanted to stop it if possible, but all they wanted was an investigation, and there was no justifiable reason to stop it.

It is unpleasant that he has to be mindful of the Church in Jim’s Empire, but the Church is also showing a respectful attitude by seeking understanding from Jim, so he had to show a mutually respectful appearance.

“Okay, I will allow the Church to investigate Baron Howard, but there are a few conditions for allowing that investigation.”

“I will listen and decide.”

“One, I will have a person dispatched from the Empire attend the entire investigation process. Two, if Baron Howard’s crime is proven to be a false accusation, we will need to know the identity of the person who reported Baron Howard. Three, we will directly punish the person who falsely accused Baron Howard, so the Church should not touch them.”

“I will accept the first and second conditions as long as you do not interfere with the investigation, but I cannot accept the third condition. The Church also takes false accusations of heresy sensitively. Therefore, it is difficult to entrust the punishment for that crime to another.”

“Then, how will the Church handle that person?”

“They will be treated the same as apostates.”

“……”

They will nitpick and try to mitigate the crime when they actually investigate, but in any case, it meant that the Church was even considering excommunication.

He wanted a definite answer that they would impose severe punishment, so it was a somewhat disappointing answer, but it would be difficult to insist on this any further.

“I understand.”

Jim nodded with a displeased expression and finally permitted William’s investigation.

Then, the Cardinal smiled and bowed his head.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. We will begin the investigation as soon as the Inquisitor arrives in four days, so please prepare an observer by then.”

“I will.”

With those words, Jim waved his hand roughly and issued an order to dismiss the Cardinal.

“Hoo…”

While looking at the Cardinal leaving the audience chamber, Jim sighed deeply and felt stressed by the fact that he was starting the new year with troublesome matters, and gently rubbed his stiffened forehead with his fingers.