Chapter 190 He? (Two in one! Please subscribe!)

Holy City, Bethlehem.

As the center of the Holy See of Light and the residence of successive popes, the Lateran Palace is undoubtedly the most eye-catching building in the entire holy city.

At least... that's what it looked like before the Colossus was completed.

The majestic statue of the god of light has been erected on a fairly solid base among the mountains outside Bethlehem.

Although compared with the speed of building wonders in Idar Territory, the construction progress of the Colossus can be regarded as slow as a snail, but if it is judged according to the most common construction speed in this world, this speed can be regarded as a leap forward.

after all……

Idar Territory is the only place in the entire continent that can use the power of magic to carry out large-scale infrastructure construction!

With the full support of the Idar School, the application of a large number of magic arrays not only reduced the workload of Idar workers, but also played a very significant role in promoting the construction of wonders.

In addition, the establishment of production teams greatly promoted the work enthusiasm of serfs and civilians, which undoubtedly enabled all areas of Idar Territory to enter a stage of rapid development.

However, although Bethlehem is a holy city, it does not have these new things.

As for the workers in Bethlehem, except for the engineering team composed of Idar people, almost all the other workers were forced to work under the endless whipping of the Crusaders, so such progress was already a cause for celebration.

At this moment,

Newly ordained priest Michael is walking on the streets of Bethlehem with a smile on his face.

However, what makes Mike quite helpless is that even with the care of the God of Light and the existence of the Holy See of Light, it has not been able to change the current situation where the streets and alleys here are full of feces and water.

Idar City is still the best...

Although he was a jerk deep down in his heart, a faint and friendly smile was always on Mike's face.

Along the way, from time to time, passing priests and even bishops would greet Mike warmly.

As a priest promoted by Cardinal Camus Blanchard himself and directly entered the Inquisition, many clergy in the Holy See were very willing to establish good relations with this new priest who had a bright future.

This is not only due to everyone's optimism about Mike, but also because of Mike's humble words and deeds, respectful etiquette and deep understanding of Vatican scriptures, all of which make colleagues who communicate with him feel a kind of warmth like a spring breeze.

In the eyes of everyone, such a good person with a devout faith and kindness to others should be promoted!

but,

The moment Mike finally crossed the street and stepped into the Inquisition, he immediately put away the smile that had always been on his face, giving people a feeling of being kept at a distance.

The Inquisition, the highest law enforcement agency of the Holy See of Light, has the supreme power to judge traitors to the Holy See and execute heretics.

And the current Cardinal Camille Blanchard is the direct person in charge of the Inquisition!

However, although it has the right to execute heretics, since the power of the church has never expanded to the level of the Western Middle Ages on Earth, its most important responsibility is to judge those clergy who deviate from the canon and make a lot of money.

Of course, they will also do some shameful things for His Excellency the Cardinal.

However...since Mike's character is a devout believer who is obsessed with church scriptures, most of the time he will look for clues about the church in the scriptures included in the Inquisition.

And today is no exception.

Since he had always maintained a very secret communication channel with the Earl in Idar County, Mike naturally also received the message from Bruno about the early history of the church.

You know, in order to keep Mike's identity from being revealed as much as possible, Mike will not have any correspondence with Lord Idar unless something extremely urgent happens.

Therefore, except for the letter Mike received from Idar when facing the accusations from Snessa Hani a few days ago, he had never had any communication with the Earl who was far away in Idar.

But……

Just a few days ago, the Earl wrote to Mike again for the first time, and the purpose of writing the letter was just to let Mike pay attention to the early history of the church.

Although the task was simple, Mike could even sense the Earl's anxiety from the wording in the letter.

You don’t know until you see it. It’s shocking.

Relying on his status as a member of the Inquisition, Mike had access to many church texts that were not normally made public. However, even so, he only had a few words about the history before the establishment of the Norman Empire mentioned by the Earl.

But even in these few words, Mike saw a lot of clues.

As one of the most important institutions of the Holy See, the Inquisition was definitely established earlier than the Norman Empire. However, its original purpose and time of establishment were directly skipped over, and there is no written record of it!

This was completely different from the church scriptures that even recorded the farts of the Pope. It was totally unreasonable! But what surprised Mike the most was that although the church's public scriptures recorded many complete story fragments from the birth and advent of the God of Light to the blessings of the people, a complete belief system related to the God of Light was constructed.

But……

However, some parts of the books stored in the Inquisition are completely opposite to what is recorded in public documents.

If these were minor records, it would be understandable and could be attributed to a clerical error by the person in charge of recording them, but these were records related to the God of Light! In a church that worshipped the God of Light as the highest faith, there were completely different and contradictory descriptions of the God of Light. To Mike, this was simply unbelievable!

unless……

A bold idea gradually emerged in Mike's mind. What the Earl had guessed was correct. The records related to the God of Light were indeed fabricated by the church!

However, this presented a problem that made Mike feel very conflicted.

Since the wonder construction system mentioned the fallen gods in the records about the Faran Islands, Bruno tactfully mentioned the possibility of the existence of gods to Mike in his letter...

That's a bit embarrassing...

After much effort, I finally made the Earl's atheism have a more reasonable basis. However, the Earl in Idar changed his atheist stance at the last second before I was about to complete the task...

Therefore, based on the thinking principle that "the Earl's cognition is correct", Mike had to change his thinking.

Perhaps, there is indeed a God in this world, but... He is not the God of Light!

This idea suddenly entered Mike's mind and made his eyes light up.

Great! My reasoning skills seem to have improved again! …

The Inquisition is located west of the Lateran Palace, opposite the Basilica of St. George.

When Michael was reading the scriptures in the Inquisition, wondering whether God really existed, he didn't know that

Right under the Lateran Palace, a non-human being who was most likely to be regarded as a "God" finally opened his eyes that had been closed for a long time due to a faint wave coming from the east.

If there was a clergyman from the Holy See standing here at this moment, he would be shocked beyond measure and even faint.

because,

The old man who suddenly opened his eyes had a face that was very familiar to everyone...

The founder of the holy city of Bethlehem, the first pope of the Church of Light, the only representative of the God of Light in the world who should have died a thousand years ago - the great, respected and selfless O'Brien I! The portrait of this pope can be said to be the most common decoration in churches besides the God of Light. Its appearance frequency is even higher than that of the twelve angels under the God of Light.

O'Brien I is also the only known pope with written records who unfortunately "died" before the establishment of the Norman Empire!

As a terrifying existence that has lived in the underground palace of the Lateran Palace for nearly a thousand years, although his face still remains very similar to the portrait, O'Brien I's body looks like a run-out oil lamp.

His pale face was covered with deep wrinkles, and his arms and fingers exposed outside his robe looked like dry bones in a tomb, with the distance between them and the bones seeming to be only separated by a very thin layer of flesh.

There was obvious turbidity and dullness in O'Brien I's eyes when he just opened them, making people extremely doubt whether he could actually see the world in front of him.

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"Clement..."

After a long time, he finally opened his mouth and called out in a deep voice.

Perhaps because he had not spoken to anyone for a long time, the voice of the first Pope sounded particularly hoarse and with a slightly tearing sound, which made people feel particularly strange.

The hoarse voice sounded particularly dull in this closed underground palace, and the candlelight in the wall lamp brought a faint light to this dark underground palace.

After the first Pope's voice fell, the sound of a door opening like metallic friction was finally heard not far away.

The heavy palace door made of bronze was slowly pushed open, and the figure of a middle-aged man gradually emerged in the darkness.

He is the current Pope Clement V, the nominal supreme ruler of the Holy See of Light.

after all……

Who could have imagined that in the basement of the Lateran Palace, there actually lived a first pope who existed a thousand years ago? Clement V walked cautiously to the first pope.

Then,

He knelt on the ground and whispered, "My God..."

My God!

As the current Pope of the Church of Light, Pope Clement V, who is the most devout to the God of Light in the eyes of all believers, actually called the first Pope of the Church of Light a God! If there were other people present at this time, they would probably be so surprised that they couldn't close their mouths...

Even a powerful figure like Cardinal Camille Blanchard knew nothing about this building located in the basement of the Lateran Palace! He had never heard of the secrets of the first pope!

because,

This was a top secret known only to successive popes! As for Clement V who was kneeling before him, Ottoline ignored him and asked, "What's going on outside?"

"My God, the Odins have won victory after victory, while the Norman Empire has been defeated. Now, the two sides have already started a confrontation in the Sogn Plain. The situation is extremely stalemate, but..."

Clement V paused and said cautiously: "...After all, the Norman Empire is vast and rich in resources. The previous decline of the imperial army has gradually reversed, and it has gradually gained the upper hand."

"The Church has given the Odin people so many conveniences, but they are so useless!"

After hearing what Clement V said, the first Pope gradually showed some anger in his words: "Barbarians will always be just barbarians. Even if we let them have the upper hand, it will be useless!"

Clement V crawled cautiously on the ground, listening respectfully to this being whose lifespan had exceeded the limits of human life, and venting his anger.

When the first pope gradually calmed down, Clement V said cautiously: "The monarch of the Odin people may have noticed our intentions and is deliberately letting us go...waiting for the help of the Crusaders."

"Assistance? " "Heretics are always heretics. Why should we honor the contract we signed with them? The Church had helped them open up a road to the Forest of Monsters before, which was already a big favor to the Odins! However... the current confrontation is obviously not what the Church wants to see. Clement, move up the plan and send someone to add fuel to the fire!"

After a moment, the first Pope finally made up his mind and gave the order.

"yes."

Clement V looked shocked and replied quickly.

"etc……"

Just as Clement was gradually retreating, the first Pope suddenly called him.

"In the east of the empire...is there any unusual movement?"

"East?" Clement V was obviously stunned.

"According to Camus Blanchard, the number of believers in the eastern part of the empire has increased significantly during this period. In addition, it seems that a medal has been awarded to the nobles in the east."

Hearing this, the first Pope nodded.

The magic well in the east of the empire has been operating smoothly. Except for the fact that dead griffins sometimes fall into the well, it has never been discovered by anyone over the years.

Maybe... I've been too sensitive recently...

"Have you found the other magic wells?" the first Pope couldn't help but ask.

"The magic wells in the western part of the empire and the Kingdom of Basel have been restarted and are operating normally. However, it will probably take quite some time to extract all the magic power there. As for the northern part of the empire... the church has not found any trace of the magic wells. The magic wells there may have completely collapsed..." said Clement V regretfully.

"You go down..."

"Yes." Clement V bowed and replied.

(End of this chapter)