章 53: The Council
The Whitmoon Festival is an annual religious event that lasts for a week, consisting of four main days.
There are seven days in a week of festival celebrations: Sun day, Moon day, Tubas day, Weald day, Trust day, Free day, and Star day.
The four main days are Moon Day, Tubas Day, Weald Day, and Trust Day.
The whole city in the kingdom celebrates this festival, but the capital city is the most crowded. All nobles sent their representatives to the kingdom during this time to celebrate this event.
Most of the nobles who come are the head of the family along with their wife and children, while the region's affairs were left to the aid.
There is something different about the Whitmoon Festival this time. That's because one of the members of the royal family, the 14th Prince of Wildenhall Kingdom, Francis Ismenia Wildenhall, will be baptized on that day. As a result, the capital will be visited by royalty and important people from neighboring countries.
That is why the Whitmoon Festival must run smoothly this year so that the kingdom is not embarrassed by visitors from outside.
With only a few weeks before the Whitmoon Festival commences, the kingdom is already facing various issues threatening the capital's safety.
First, Prince Leofric's arbitrary actions in the Barkaley region.
Second, the deaths of all important prisoners in prison and the soldiers guarding them were inevitable. Some of the guards were also noble children who were apprentices. As a result, many things had to be overhauled, such as who would take care of the vacant tasks and the people who had to be sent to solve the problem.
Third, one of the nobles who had always been loyal to the kingdom, Earl Isabelle Browet Wolverlope, betrayed the kingdom by hiding Norrtish. And it turns out that the impact of this betrayal is greater than expected, with many casualties on the royal side.
Lastly, the suspicious movement of the anti-government organization Noctem Dolls, which is said to have reached the capital, has been reported.
These four main problems branched out, creating a domino effect in the kingdom. To find a solution, the king and the council, most of whom had gathered in the capital, decided to hold a meeting.
Members of the Council are generally senior nobles who have retired, relinquishing their names to their successors. However, some Council members also hold other titles, such as the Archbishops, who are both nobles and religious leaders.
" Her Majesty Queen Regina Horman Wildenhall has arrived!" shouted one of the knights who was guarding the entrance.
The second queen of the Wildenhall kingdom, Regina Horman Wildenhall, dressed formally, entered The Determiner Great Hall.
The Determiner Great Hall is a chamber where the council held a meeting inside the castle. Compared to the luxurious-looking castle, the room was more modest, with no knick-knacks and gaudy wall decorations. The floor was a polished stone surface covered with a red carpet. The walls were black and gray, with large poles suspending light crystals on each side. The room was square-shaped, with only one entrance and no windows.
In the center was a round table with the Wildenhall royal crest engraved in the center, surrounded by long stone chairs covered in cloth and cushions.
"Thank you for waiting," Queen Regina said as she entered the room.
There were already six council members in the room.
Archbishop of Fire Church, Benedict Spelman
Archbishop of Soil Church, Stephen Kyllingworth
Archbishop of Wind Church, Cornelius Beckingham
Head of the Knights, Maximilian Beatrix Glenham.
Former head of the family of Earl Norkshire, Hamo Dryden
Former head of the family of Earl Valentine, Turgiva Isley.
The knights who were accompanying the Queen waited outside, and the Queen walked to the table and sat at the far end.
The other people in the room were the guardian knights stationed in each corner and the priest and priestess of the fire church to confirm the presence of the fire spirit so that it could give light through the crystal.
"I have come in place of my husband, who is unwell and cannot be here. So my voice is the voice of the king, and what I hear is also heard by the king. I hope everyone understands," the Queen said.
"Of course, I have heard about the king's poor condition, and I heard that many physicians and high-level medics have come, but none have been able to cure him," said Archbishop Cornelius.
"Let's pray that God can heal him," Stephen continued.
"If it's any consolation, I'm glad the queen came here because I'm now not the only woman here," said Turgiva.
The Queen then looked at the empty seats, and asked
"I know the reason for the other three, but why couldn't Archbishop Dormer Chaundeler come?"
Then the Queen's question was answered by the aide standing by the door.
"His Excellency, Mr Chaundeler is on his way here. We heard that his ship hit an iceberg, but there were no casualties or major problems; he would just arrive late.
" Well, Archbishop Dormer's territory is mostly in the north, on the Aisland, so it's no wonder he's late. Although it's already hot here, the Aisland is usually cold for three out of four months.
The Queen then lightly tapped her desk and said
"Alright, let's start this troublesome meeting."
The meeting of the council, began.
[ILLUSTRATION]
...
"Luke, what are you doing? Let's pick it up quickly! Don't linger!"
"O-Okay! But, what is this exactly?"
"Don't ask too many questions!"
While the council was in a meeting, two holy knights brought something to the underground of the capital's wind church. One of the knights was named Luke, who had recently become a holy knight.
Luke was a commoner who lived alone with his sickly mother. His mother's illness was unknown; she was unable to move her body, even to defecate, and required assistance. All she could do was only speak and slightly move her head.
Because he had to take care of his sick mother, he had to quit his job at the blacksmith's shop, so now he just splits firewood and does other odd jobs for his neighbors. But of course, the money wouldn't be enough to support him and his mother, so he went to church every day, praying to God to make all his problems easier.
It turned out that God granted his wish. His daily visits to church and his solemnity while praying were seen by the bishop, who was in the church at the time. The bishop was touched by his solemnity and wanted to make him one of the church's holy knights. His mother would be taken care of by the freed slaves employed by the church.
"Would you do anything for the church?" the bishop asked.
"Of course, I believe this is God's choice to make my life easier," Luke replied.
At that moment, Luke became one of the pawns of the holy knight.
The pawn job turned out to be more or less the same as what he did at home, helping the foster priests prepare for mass, cleaning the church, and doing community service. The only difference was the shift guarding the church and traveling around the city.
After a month, his loyalty to the church was confirmed, and a new job came to him when the archbishop visited the capital for a council meeting.
The church that Luke joined was the Church of the Wind, under the direction of Archbishop Cornelius Beckingham. Two days after the archbishop's arrival at the church, Luke was called by his senior, a rook of the holy knight. At 12 p.m., he roused Luke from his sleep and brought something to the church basement.
'He said not to ask too many questions, but however you think about it, it's a human body, right?'
The two of them carried something like an adult human body wrapped in a worn cloth. In front of them, they walked with Bishop Augustin, the bishop who recommended Luke join the holy knight. Because of his existence, Luke believed that what he did must have some meaning.
The church's basement was like a prison. Several barred rooms mostly contained unused church items.
They put the body into a cell with a metal chair inside.
Bishop then opened the cloth wrapped around the head.
And as it turned out, it wasn't a corpse but a living human being.
"Wh-what is this, Mr. Augustin?!" said a shocked Luke.
It was a man, alive and conscious, his eyes were bright blue, and his hair was white.
"Keep your voice down, Luke. You said you were ready to be loyal to the church, right? This is Archbishop Cornellius' will."
"But why, aren't Norttish dangerous?"
"Take it easy; there's a clandestine flower here so that the mana explosion won't happen," his senior replied.
Luke wouldn't rest on his laurels. He needed confirmation of Bishop Augustin's actions in hiding the Norttish.
"You misunderstand, Luke. I'm not hiding Norttish, but rather capturing him. We will hand him over to the Norttish research center immediately after this. But for now, you must keep your mouth shut about this."
"I see…" with some hesitation, Luke understood bishop's words.
"Fufufufu," the Norttish suddenly give a small laughed, and his laughter somehow gave Luke goosebumps.
"Is there something funny? Leader of the Noctem Dolls, Ivaylo?" asked the bishop with an angry look on his face.
'Ivaylo?! Noctem Dolls? That dangerous organization?! What the hell is going on? Why did bishop catch this guy?!' Luke thought.
"Nothing. It just, what you just said was very funny," Ivaylo said with a strange smile.
Bishop then ignored him and looked at Luke.
"Luke, from now on, you will have to look after him during your duty hours."
"Me?"
Luke felt uneasy around this strange Norttish; he desperately wanted to reject this duty, but it felt like he would be eliminated from this world if he reject it.
"A-Alright, Mr. Augustin," Luke replied.
The three of them then walked out. As Luke was about to close the door, he looked back at the Norttish, who was still looking at him with a strange smile.
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