“The envoy of the Etruscan kingdom, Prince Alfonso de Carlo, has arrived!”
The gates of the golden city of Trevero were wide open on both sides.
The carriage carrying Ariadne and her companions slowly poked its head inside.
And after entering Trevero, everything was crazy.
As soon as Prince Alfonso's arrival was known, Pope Louis XIV immediately announced the date of the audience.
“How about we have dinner together in three hours? The representative of the Salamanta Kingdom has arrived today. I think it would be nice if we could all say hello.”
Three hours later, almost immediately after unpacking and washing up, the group hurriedly dispersed and began to prepare.
Cardinal de Mare felt uneasy from the moment he entered Trevero. Something was not right.
It was when he met the priest who brought him an invitation from Ludovico that he was first able to uncover the true nature of that sense of discomfort.
“Archbishop Buschduren and several members of the Holy See will welcome you to the dinner.”
“How is Archbishop Buschduren doing?”
Archbishop Arthur of Buschduren was a man of great ability who ascended to the rank of archbishop at a young age.
He was the right-hand man of Pope Louis, and for a young man of unusually good character, he had many followers and was famous for his love of the people and sincerity.
Pope Louis also loved the young man very much, considering him his successor. In short, he was the young man Trevero loved.
The presence of Archbishop Buschduren was largely responsible for Cardinal de Mare's abandonment of his ambition to become Pope after his last trip to Trevero.
There just seemed to be no way to win.
But when Archbishop Buschduren's story came up, the detective's expression darkened.
“Ah... If you are referring to the newly appointed Archbishop of Buschduren, he is doing well.”
“Arthur?”
“He passed away.”
Arthur was young, in his early thirties at most, and had no chronic illnesses or bad lifestyle habits.
Cardinal de Mare, unable to believe the news of his death, wanted to ask the friar a few more questions.
However, the investigator clearly wanted to avoid further questions and quickly left the area.
What was strange about Trevero was not only the absence of Archbishop Buschduren.
At the banquet hall, there was an increasingly delicate exchange of familiar faces, and there was also the curious eating habits of Pope Louis.
“Welcome! It must have been difficult to come this far!”
Pope Louis welcomed the group with wide open arms and in Etruscan.
It was a perfect accent, which was only natural since he was from the prestigious Etruscan noble family of the Giustini.
The eldest son inherited the family line, and the second son was sent to become a priest. However, the eldest son died young without any children, and the second son also had no children, including illegitimate children, so the family line was lost.
He always had an Etruscan personal secretary by his side.
Although he had received a priestly vow, he said that he had been a close associate of his since the time when he was a noble young master.
But today, that spot was replaced by a young friend who looked like a real detective to anyone. The young detective was struggling and taking on the minor tasks of the Pope.
Cardinal de Mare quietly bowed his head, examining each of these with keen eyes.
“I met His Holiness the Pope. May the protection of the heavenly gods be upon every step of His Holiness’s steps.”
“De Mare, why do we have to use such a stiff greeting among ourselves?”
Pope Louis laughed heartily, stepped down from his throne, and patted Cardinal de Mare on the back as if putting his arm around his shoulder.
He was a man of great stature, wearing luxurious attire.
He was two years older than Cardinal de Mare and was now well into middle age, but his rosy skin and muscular body like eggs gave him no such impression.
Cardinal de Mare's slender figure shook as he was hit on the back by the Pope, whose shoulders were wide and sturdy.
He seemed trustworthy even if he were not a priest, but a mercenary captain or a King of a country.
“His Holiness still looks good.”
However, Cardinal de Mare did not let his guard down at all despite Ludovico's friendly demeanor.
“I’m always like that, hahahahaha!”
Pope Ludovico, smiling pleasantly, looked at Ariadne, who was standing behind the Cardinal, bowing her head respectfully.
“Oh, this way? De Mare, is that your daughter?”
Cardinal de Mare only smiled and did not answer.
Not far behind San Carlo in Trevero, it was common for priests to have children, and the prevailing theory was that the reason Pope Louis had no heir was not because he did not lead a debaucherous life, but because he was an eunuch; it was impossible to find fault with him.
The smiling Pope Louis on his home ground and the excommunication-faced Cardinal de Mare have different views.
Ariadne reluctantly bowed and bowed to Pope Ludovico's urging gaze.
“My name is Countess Ariadne de Mare.”
In fact, she was taken aback. Ariadne blinked at Ludovico's impression, which was completely different from what she had imagined.
This friendly welcome was beyond what she had expected. Wasn't this man her father's political rival, and had he been summoned to Trevero to excommunicate her father?
But Ariadne's strength was her unwavering attitude. She treated the Pope with exact court etiquette.
“Your Holiness, the Pope’s lofty reputation truly resonates throughout the Central Continent, and it is an infinite honor to be able to meet you in person.”
“The Saint of the Rambouillet Relief Home!”
The Pope himself approached Ariadne and shook her hand.
“You are the one who shook the Central Continent! Old people like me are relegated to the back room.”
There was nothing sinister about his attitude; rather, it even gave off a childlike innocence.
“I'm sorry.”
“Well, what do you think about going around and seeing the people’s lives?”
The Pope asked Ariadne some detailed questions about what it was like to travel during the Black Death.
He asked some very pointed questions, which were in direct contrast to his description of himself as a 'backroom old man'.
He talked a lot, but in all this, he didn't drink a single drop of water.
“It seems clear that at some point, the relief home inmates tried to knock you down and steal your food.”
“I was lucky. It helped that we had a vigilante group in the house.”
“A vigilante group within the family! That’s not something a young lady should be thinking about! Be smart, be smart!”
The Pope was adept at extracting details by simultaneously showering her with praise and asking her questions.
Contrary to his rough impression, he was a very likable speaker.
“Was it hard? People around me kept talking nonsense. I only have one body.”
“In fact, I feel sorry because there are many people who like it more than I do.”
“That is the fate of those who must appear before others!”
The Pope tried to gain sympathy by listing the difficulties he had experienced since ascending to the throne.
“Once, I went to inspect a village that was in chaos due to a crop failure, and they asked me to make a basketful of rice cakes for a hundred people! I thought, ‘I'm the Pope, so I can do that!’ Hahaha. So what could I do? I took the wheat cakes I had loaded onto a cart and spread them out, pretending that the rice cakes had stretched.”
He smiled kindly and asked.
“You’re a young friend, so what on earth made you start helping people?”
The Pope's expression changed into a smiling face, like a wax mask.
“Is it a sense of calling?”
If you read like this, young children will naturally start to speak fluently. They will be fluent in speaking about certain beliefs or teachings of adults.
The Pope was waiting for a plump bug to fall into the spider's web.
Ariadne shivered as a chill ran down her spine, for she realized where the Pope was leading her.
'There were a lot of fools here, bragging about having received revelations from St. Francis or hearing the voice of the Virgin Mary!'
To claim to have seen a miracle without the approval of the Holy See was to hand one's life over to the Inquisitor.
Of course, most Saints and Saintesses perform holy miracles first and are then honored, but that is only when the Holy See looks favorably on them.
There were far more people who were burned to death on the pyre.
When Ariadne hesitated to answer, the Pope poked her once more with his usual hearty, good-natured laugh.
“Why, didn’t the Saint Asman hear the voice of the angel Isiel and give her the last grain to feed the beggar who came to her house? That scoundrel was none other than the first Pope Peter, who escaped from the hands of the soldiers of the Latin Empire.”
“I, I am not that great of a person.”
Ariadne waved her hand.
“The place where I usually went to do volunteer work was suffering from hunger, so I just shared some of the remaining grain from my family’s storage. It was nothing more than petty selfishness, taking care of only those around me. It was not a noble intention like the Saintess of Asman, who received a revelation from God and shared with those who did not know their last meal.”
This was a story that was objectively at odds with the nuance of the story Ariadne had told just before, when she had fallen for Pope Ludovico's inductive questioning—that the people at the relief home were sometimes burdensome—and with the scale of the relief work she had undertaken.
But she couldn't get dragged into the story of God's revelation.
She cut off Pope Ludovico's ramblings with determination, regardless of whether her words contained logical inconsistencies.
'Look at this?'
Pope Louis was impressed by Ariadne's resistance. He was, after all, the most powerful man in the Central Continent.
Even if he did not give immediate rewards or punishments, people would watch his face and try to please him. It was rare to find someone who did not go along with what he was pushing.
'She's quick-witted and has a good sense of humor.'
He ended his story by roughly confessing his grievances.
“It’s been a while since a Saint who performs miracles has appeared. I wish someone would perform a miracle. Since the Yesak Temple ended so successfully, I would be happy if just one Saint like that appeared these days!”
But it felt a bit regretful to just let all the caught prey go like this.
It was funny to think that Cardinal de Mare was sending desperate glances at his daughter behind his back.
He added one more word purely to annoy Cardinal de Mare.
“Who else but you could be closest to a Saint?”
But de Mare's young daughter resolutely cut him down.
“It's overwhelming for the uninitiated.”
The gates of the golden city of Trevero were wide open on both sides.
The carriage carrying Ariadne and her companions slowly poked its head inside.
And after entering Trevero, everything was crazy.
As soon as Prince Alfonso's arrival was known, Pope Louis XIV immediately announced the date of the audience.
“How about we have dinner together in three hours? The representative of the Salamanta Kingdom has arrived today. I think it would be nice if we could all say hello.”
Three hours later, almost immediately after unpacking and washing up, the group hurriedly dispersed and began to prepare.
***
Cardinal de Mare felt uneasy from the moment he entered Trevero. Something was not right.
It was when he met the priest who brought him an invitation from Ludovico that he was first able to uncover the true nature of that sense of discomfort.
“Archbishop Buschduren and several members of the Holy See will welcome you to the dinner.”
“How is Archbishop Buschduren doing?”
Archbishop Arthur of Buschduren was a man of great ability who ascended to the rank of archbishop at a young age.
He was the right-hand man of Pope Louis, and for a young man of unusually good character, he had many followers and was famous for his love of the people and sincerity.
Pope Louis also loved the young man very much, considering him his successor. In short, he was the young man Trevero loved.
The presence of Archbishop Buschduren was largely responsible for Cardinal de Mare's abandonment of his ambition to become Pope after his last trip to Trevero.
There just seemed to be no way to win.
But when Archbishop Buschduren's story came up, the detective's expression darkened.
“Ah... If you are referring to the newly appointed Archbishop of Buschduren, he is doing well.”
“Arthur?”
“He passed away.”
Arthur was young, in his early thirties at most, and had no chronic illnesses or bad lifestyle habits.
Cardinal de Mare, unable to believe the news of his death, wanted to ask the friar a few more questions.
However, the investigator clearly wanted to avoid further questions and quickly left the area.
What was strange about Trevero was not only the absence of Archbishop Buschduren.
At the banquet hall, there was an increasingly delicate exchange of familiar faces, and there was also the curious eating habits of Pope Louis.
“Welcome! It must have been difficult to come this far!”
Pope Louis welcomed the group with wide open arms and in Etruscan.
It was a perfect accent, which was only natural since he was from the prestigious Etruscan noble family of the Giustini.
The eldest son inherited the family line, and the second son was sent to become a priest. However, the eldest son died young without any children, and the second son also had no children, including illegitimate children, so the family line was lost.
He always had an Etruscan personal secretary by his side.
Although he had received a priestly vow, he said that he had been a close associate of his since the time when he was a noble young master.
But today, that spot was replaced by a young friend who looked like a real detective to anyone. The young detective was struggling and taking on the minor tasks of the Pope.
Cardinal de Mare quietly bowed his head, examining each of these with keen eyes.
“I met His Holiness the Pope. May the protection of the heavenly gods be upon every step of His Holiness’s steps.”
“De Mare, why do we have to use such a stiff greeting among ourselves?”
Pope Louis laughed heartily, stepped down from his throne, and patted Cardinal de Mare on the back as if putting his arm around his shoulder.
He was a man of great stature, wearing luxurious attire.
He was two years older than Cardinal de Mare and was now well into middle age, but his rosy skin and muscular body like eggs gave him no such impression.
Cardinal de Mare's slender figure shook as he was hit on the back by the Pope, whose shoulders were wide and sturdy.
He seemed trustworthy even if he were not a priest, but a mercenary captain or a King of a country.
“His Holiness still looks good.”
However, Cardinal de Mare did not let his guard down at all despite Ludovico's friendly demeanor.
“I’m always like that, hahahahaha!”
Pope Ludovico, smiling pleasantly, looked at Ariadne, who was standing behind the Cardinal, bowing her head respectfully.
“Oh, this way? De Mare, is that your daughter?”
Cardinal de Mare only smiled and did not answer.
Not far behind San Carlo in Trevero, it was common for priests to have children, and the prevailing theory was that the reason Pope Louis had no heir was not because he did not lead a debaucherous life, but because he was an eunuch; it was impossible to find fault with him.
The smiling Pope Louis on his home ground and the excommunication-faced Cardinal de Mare have different views.
Ariadne reluctantly bowed and bowed to Pope Ludovico's urging gaze.
“My name is Countess Ariadne de Mare.”
In fact, she was taken aback. Ariadne blinked at Ludovico's impression, which was completely different from what she had imagined.
This friendly welcome was beyond what she had expected. Wasn't this man her father's political rival, and had he been summoned to Trevero to excommunicate her father?
But Ariadne's strength was her unwavering attitude. She treated the Pope with exact court etiquette.
“Your Holiness, the Pope’s lofty reputation truly resonates throughout the Central Continent, and it is an infinite honor to be able to meet you in person.”
“The Saint of the Rambouillet Relief Home!”
The Pope himself approached Ariadne and shook her hand.
“You are the one who shook the Central Continent! Old people like me are relegated to the back room.”
There was nothing sinister about his attitude; rather, it even gave off a childlike innocence.
“I'm sorry.”
“Well, what do you think about going around and seeing the people’s lives?”
The Pope asked Ariadne some detailed questions about what it was like to travel during the Black Death.
He asked some very pointed questions, which were in direct contrast to his description of himself as a 'backroom old man'.
He talked a lot, but in all this, he didn't drink a single drop of water.
“It seems clear that at some point, the relief home inmates tried to knock you down and steal your food.”
“I was lucky. It helped that we had a vigilante group in the house.”
“A vigilante group within the family! That’s not something a young lady should be thinking about! Be smart, be smart!”
The Pope was adept at extracting details by simultaneously showering her with praise and asking her questions.
Contrary to his rough impression, he was a very likable speaker.
“Was it hard? People around me kept talking nonsense. I only have one body.”
“In fact, I feel sorry because there are many people who like it more than I do.”
“That is the fate of those who must appear before others!”
The Pope tried to gain sympathy by listing the difficulties he had experienced since ascending to the throne.
“Once, I went to inspect a village that was in chaos due to a crop failure, and they asked me to make a basketful of rice cakes for a hundred people! I thought, ‘I'm the Pope, so I can do that!’ Hahaha. So what could I do? I took the wheat cakes I had loaded onto a cart and spread them out, pretending that the rice cakes had stretched.”
He smiled kindly and asked.
“You’re a young friend, so what on earth made you start helping people?”
The Pope's expression changed into a smiling face, like a wax mask.
“Is it a sense of calling?”
If you read like this, young children will naturally start to speak fluently. They will be fluent in speaking about certain beliefs or teachings of adults.
The Pope was waiting for a plump bug to fall into the spider's web.
Ariadne shivered as a chill ran down her spine, for she realized where the Pope was leading her.
'There were a lot of fools here, bragging about having received revelations from St. Francis or hearing the voice of the Virgin Mary!'
To claim to have seen a miracle without the approval of the Holy See was to hand one's life over to the Inquisitor.
Of course, most Saints and Saintesses perform holy miracles first and are then honored, but that is only when the Holy See looks favorably on them.
There were far more people who were burned to death on the pyre.
When Ariadne hesitated to answer, the Pope poked her once more with his usual hearty, good-natured laugh.
“Why, didn’t the Saint Asman hear the voice of the angel Isiel and give her the last grain to feed the beggar who came to her house? That scoundrel was none other than the first Pope Peter, who escaped from the hands of the soldiers of the Latin Empire.”
“I, I am not that great of a person.”
Ariadne waved her hand.
“The place where I usually went to do volunteer work was suffering from hunger, so I just shared some of the remaining grain from my family’s storage. It was nothing more than petty selfishness, taking care of only those around me. It was not a noble intention like the Saintess of Asman, who received a revelation from God and shared with those who did not know their last meal.”
This was a story that was objectively at odds with the nuance of the story Ariadne had told just before, when she had fallen for Pope Ludovico's inductive questioning—that the people at the relief home were sometimes burdensome—and with the scale of the relief work she had undertaken.
But she couldn't get dragged into the story of God's revelation.
She cut off Pope Ludovico's ramblings with determination, regardless of whether her words contained logical inconsistencies.
'Look at this?'
Pope Louis was impressed by Ariadne's resistance. He was, after all, the most powerful man in the Central Continent.
Even if he did not give immediate rewards or punishments, people would watch his face and try to please him. It was rare to find someone who did not go along with what he was pushing.
'She's quick-witted and has a good sense of humor.'
He ended his story by roughly confessing his grievances.
“It’s been a while since a Saint who performs miracles has appeared. I wish someone would perform a miracle. Since the Yesak Temple ended so successfully, I would be happy if just one Saint like that appeared these days!”
But it felt a bit regretful to just let all the caught prey go like this.
It was funny to think that Cardinal de Mare was sending desperate glances at his daughter behind his back.
He added one more word purely to annoy Cardinal de Mare.
“Who else but you could be closest to a Saint?”
But de Mare's young daughter resolutely cut him down.
“It's overwhelming for the uninitiated.”
The Pope was smitten by Ariadne's firm refusal.
“What a pity, what a pity!”
In many ways, it was. De Mare's daughter was better than her father. She talked so much that her throat was parched, but she didn't take anything to drink.
The Cardinal, who had been standing quietly behind without saying a word, gulped down water because his throat was parched. The Pope glanced at him and confirmed this.
While the Pope was pondering what to do next to harass his dear Cardinal, fortunately for Ariadne and Cardinal de Mare, the rest of the dinner guests entered.
The Pope had no choice but to release the demarets he had captured.
“Enter Prince Alfonso de Carlo, heir to the Etruscan kingdom!”
“This is the position of Marquis Lorenzo de Variati, the representative of the Kingdom of Salamanta!”
“This is Cardinal Velasco of the Kingdom of Salamanta!”
Today's main dish was this.
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