章 31: Holy father Heimlich's glossy green hat
The Main Branch of the Church of the Seven
Ferum...
The capital of Hertalese
......
Inside a grandiose cathedral
*CLIP*
*CLOP*
The sound of leather boots meeting floor tiles echoed through the silent hallways as a servant boy led a tall black-haired man dressed in plain but subtly luxurious clothing towards the core of the cathedral.
The man whilst dressed in causal wear was adorned in a splendidly crafted leather suit of armour and boots with a delicately crafted rapier strapped and sheathed to his waist looking quite dashing in his entire getup.
After walking for a few more minutes encountering the occasional maid or servant along the way busying themselves with maintaining the mighty cathedral the duo finally reached a chamber guarded by two men dressed in plain brown robes armed with short swords.
The guards had stoic expressions on their faces and appeared to be well trained, but unlike knights, they lacked arrogance and inflated pride, looking particularly solemn instead.
But the revelation shouldn't come to be much of a surprise to anyone since the church of the seven isn't famed for depending on knights to 'protect itself from harm' nor to enforce its beliefs.
The church of the seven instead conscripts young men and teenage boys amongst its believers to be trained as members of a force known as the faith militant tasked with the protection of the church interest-only loyal to the Grand Pope much like a normal army is to a king.
These males are made to undergo a stringent training regime before they are then armed to the teeth and tasked with eternal loyalty to church much like with the faceless. They usually always live simple lives devoid of luxuries and are sustained by nothing more than their fervent faith and fanatic belief so they look down upon those who do otherwise.
Because of this, they lacked the natural air of arrogance put up by knights who in great contrast are generally dependent on a life of luxury and debauchery.
When the duo arrived in front of the chamber one of the guards spoke up.
"What do you seek here knight?"
"I am a delegate from the royal family sent here with a message, may I seek an audience with His esteemed self, Grand Pope Heimlich on behalf of the royal family of Hertalese." The young knight said Although it was a question the delegate made it sound much less subservient than the words should have normally been if spoken rightly.
"The Holy Father is currently having a discussion with High priestess Crystal Methuven so you would have to wait for some time, Though I might you suggest you leave then return in a while." The second guard said in a monotonous voice.
Though he's words where neutral and could even be considered friendly, his tone was oozing of disregard and even a subtle hint of scorn but the knight just ignored it, not deigning this mere guard worthy of his time.
While the Church had great influence even up to the point where the royal families of all the seven kingdoms were very wary of them, even the Grand Priest couldn't afford to rashly offend anyone of the royal families without having a good excuse to back up his motives.
This was because while the church had a much larger military force than any of the seven kingdoms, it's faith militant is still directly linked to the general populace which inadvertently makes the church accountable to the public and vulnerable to its criticism.
Unlike the royal families who could decide most things on a whim without worrying too much about public repercussions, if they don't have a good reason for doing so the church couldn't just randomly declare war on any kingdom even if it had a one hundred per cent chance of winning...
Because with each conflict hundreds of lives are lost which directly affects the loyalty of the common folk to all involved in such conflicts, and with the church being heavily dependent on the people's faith and loyalty such an outcome is something it wants to avoid at all costs.
The Great War from a century ago was a very clear example of the results of the church actively involving itself in a conflict of that scale without a valid reason.
In just a few years it had lost the influence and power it had accumulated over the years and fell from the pedestal of being the most powerful force to becoming 'one of the most powerful forces' whilst having to exchange in unequal transactions with the victors of that era just to survive.
So while the church was indeed still a big threat after getting the chance to recover from that past calamity, the seven kingdoms never truly feared them anymore like before the war and were only wary of being schemed against in the dark.
All these facts led to a glaring difference between the forces of the royal kingdoms and the church evident by their extremely polarized lifestyles and vivid disregard of one another.
The knight eventually decided to stay behind whilst the servant boy returned to his duties leaving the trio standing their silently glaring daggers at each other.
A few minutes later the door to the chamber and a stunning silver-haired woman in her early thirties walked out, elegantly dressed in plain white robes looking somewhat similar to the clothing nuns wore back on earth.
"High Priestess." The guards greeted after seeing the lady come out.
When she walked out she glanced at the handsome knight as a strange light flashed in her eyes. After giving a subtle nod of acknowledgement to which the knight replied with a nod of his own, she sashayed away leaving behind a lovely fragrance and a faint muskiness that was hard to describe in her wake.
One of the guards went in to inform the holy father about The delegate's arrival before returning to call him in.
The knight walked into more of the fragrance he smelled off the priestess body but also with a much stronger hint of that suspiciously musky scent he perceived earlier.
"Who are you? You weren't the one who came the last time?" A round-bellied man who looked to be in his early fifties asked while scrutinizing the young knight in front of him with squinted shrewd eyes.
"I am Willie of household Stroker a knight under King Tukhus's banner, I was sent here with a message for your holiness." The knight said in a respectful tone. Although he despised the church he didn't dare show it in front of the Grand Priest because while the king didn't fear the church he wouldn't go against them for a little knight such as himself if anything were to happen to him due to his arrogance.
Besides he was here for a favour so there was no need antagonizing the other party.
"Your holiness I was..." Willie started but was cut off by the Pope.
"Tukhus sent you here to seek my aid in regards to the Arien troops and Blacksails pirates heading towards the capital, am I right?"
"Ye-yes your holiness."
"Ai... Sorry but tell the king I might have to disappoint him this time around." The old pope said with a sigh as a shrewd light flashed inside his eyes.
"What do you mean your holiness? If the invaders continued towards the capital the cathedral would also be in danger. Are you just going to let that happen without doing anything?" Willie asked with confusion written all over his face.
"I didn't say I wouldn't help defend the capital, of course, I would but what I mean is I wouldn't do anything in regards to the raids as long as the invaders don't come anywhere near the capital."
"Oh... Can I know why your holiness?" The knight sighed before asking.
"Hmm... I guess I can tell you since you might just end up finding out later anyways.
The Arien royal family sent an agreement with their royal seal stating that if we stay out of their activities outside the capital they would lax the restrictions they placed on our branches in Aries for twelve years.
So as long as they don't assault the capital the church wouldn't intervene."
The young knight let out another sigh as he realized there wasn't any way he could convince the pope otherwise. Looking at the pope's apathetic eyes he knew that this time the church would show no sympathy for those common people who are currently suffering and clearly wasn't worried about the repercussions of their negligence.
While there might some busybodies who knew the truth of the matter would accuse the church of having no compassion for its believers, the pope just has to publicly denounce the royal families for engaging in meaningless acts of conflict to extricate the church from the issue while at the same time pushing all the blame unto the nobility.
Willie understood what the pope meant by disclosing this info that supposed to be confidential to him. The church was clearly meant it was staying out of this for political reasons and unless King Tukhus could offer greater benefits than what Aries had presented Hertalese would have to tide through this on its own.
Since the issue had already gotten to this stage he was clear that there was nothing more he could do here, so he bid the pope farewell and left to report this new development to his superiors.
It was not all bad news, at least not for him since he now has first-hand information that the Capital's safety is guaranteed and he didn't need to start planning on fleeing from here.
On his way out after leaving the chamber, he met the High priestess from earlier who looked like she was clearly waiting for someone.
When she saw Willie she walked up to him with a smile.
"High Priestess, how may I help you today?" The young knight asked with a smile of his own.
"Oh nothing really, I was just curious about something and thought to ask you when you came out." She replied in a sultry voice.
"What may that be milady?" Willie asked
"I was curious about what happened to the previous delegate, I haven't seen him around for a while now?"
The young knight was stunned for a moment.
'Why would she be bothered about this' He thought to himself, but he didn't show it and instead replied?
"Oh, my predecessor. Hmm, I heard he was among the few who were sent to accompany the prince for the invasion of Algrim."
"Hmm... is that true. Alright then, I won't bother you anymore then." The priestess said turning to leave whilst adding to the young knight's confusion.
Just as he was wondering what might be going on in the lady's mind she turned around as if she just remembered something and spoke.
"Oh, I might actually need you for something very important. Would you have time later this evening? I have something you might be able to help me with." She asked with a subtly suggestive voice.
'Oh...' It was then the young knight finally understood the lady's intentions and remembered a certain scent he had being perceiving when he was in the pope's chambers, While he wasn't certain before he definitely was now...
Guess the Holy Father wasn't so holy after all.
That must also explain why all the High priestesses were such great beauties.
And also it seems the old man isn't managing his little harem well enough given the priestess demeanour.
The knight glanced at the beautiful older woman in front of him in thought briefly as he contemplated silently. She might have never actually wanted to know about the previous delegates but instead was trying to find an excuse to approach him for this...
And he could clearly guess what this important thing she needed him for was.
"Sure, I have time and would love to be of assistance," Willie replied with a suggestive smile of his own agreeing to her request.
He clearly wasn't a fool, because for a little knight such as himself gaining the attention of the high priestess clearly had significantly more gains than losses for him to benefit from, just as long as he wasn't caught.
Besides being older than himself, the priestess in her own right was a great beauty so he wasn't actually losing much and was very willing to allow himself to be used for such a 'noble' sacrifice.
As for the possibility of getting caught he clearly didn't consider it too much, because he was also clear that there's no such thing as great rewards without equally great risks.
"Lovely, I would be expecting you then." The Priestess said with a smile as she sashayed away clearly with much more definitive hip movements.
"Sure." The young knight gulped as he anticipated the feeling of cucking one of the most influential men on the continent of Udoris.
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A.N:
Fun Fact
In China "wearing a green hat" (戴绿帽子 or dài lǜ mào zǐ) is an expression that Chinese use when a woman cheats on her husband or boyfriend because the phrase sounds similar to the word for 'cuckold'. This apparently dates back to the Yuan dynasty when the relatives of prostitutes were forced to wear green hats.
It is also used to refer to Chinese soldiers who return from service to find out their women eloped with some else.
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