Chapter 271: College of Cardinals
The area of St. Peter's Basilica is more than twice that of the Cathedral of the Holy Fire. Crown and others followed the Pope's attendants and walked forward quickly.
He found that the places that were not open to the public had winding passages and if one was not familiar with the terrain, it would be difficult to find the correct direction.
The further you go in, the fewer believers there are walking on the road, but they are also stronger.
The Pope's attendant was a very talkative person, but with a group of silver-rank bishops following him, he felt as if his chest was being pressed down by a huge rock, and it was difficult for him to breathe. His usually bright brain was like a rusty bearing, and it was very difficult for it to turn.
Flanders broke the silence and asked, "Theo, the day before yesterday I sent over a silver warlock from the Brotherhood. How did the Pope deal with him?"
The apostles usually assist the Pope in handling church affairs, and some unimportant matters may be reviewed by the apostles.
The Pope is accompanied by two attendants who must not only have a strong level of power but also a wise mind.
Both of these attendants have reached the level of third-level transcendents. Theo has followed the Pope for more than 20 years. For a strong man from an external force to enter the church's sphere of influence, this review issue cannot be considered confidential, and the answer should be obtained by asking the attendants.
Theo slowed down his pace and walked forward slightly sideways:
"Archbishop, the Pope has approved Lord Lannister's application, allowing him to stay in the kingdom for three months and leave next spring.
I heard from that Excellency that he will stay in the brotherhood branch in the Rhine City Diocese for a while longer."
"Is that so?" Flanders nodded slightly. He was not surprised by the result.
The Pope's impression of the Brotherhood was not good, but it had not yet reached the point of hatred, so it was natural for him to approve the Lannisters' activities in the country.
If the other party is just a third-level transcendent, there is no need to report to the Vatican.
Theo led everyone to the door of a building that was slightly lower than the other buildings, where four fully armed guards stood.
Judging from their clothes, they were two Crusaders and two priests.
Clown opened his spiritual vision and took a look, and found that one of the priests had the strength of a third-order transcendent. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, this was worthy of being the seat of the Church of the Lord of Fire, and even the gatekeepers had the luxury of employing third-order transcendents.
In other dioceses, a third-level priest could easily become a high-ranking bishop.
Theo nodded to the guards with a smile and said:
"By order of your Majesty, bring several archbishops here."
"Your Excellencies, please."
The two fire warriors turned around and pushed open the doors. Their movements seemed a bit strenuous, and it was obvious that both doors were not light.
The door slowly opened with a slightly harsh friction sound, and Crown immediately smelled a scent similar to the fragrance of laurel, which immediately lifted his spirits.
He carefully distinguished the smell and found that it was not the scent of real laurel, but contained many unknown ingredients.
Theo turned around and said, "My Lords, please follow me."
After saying that, he took the lead and walked into the room.
Crown followed the team at the end and entered. He touched one of the doors with his hand inconspicuously and found that the door was made entirely of copper.
"Fine red copper! If I devour the two doors, I should be able to obtain a lot of copper essence."
He sighed in his heart. Now his first reaction when he saw metal was to identify its composition.
If it is the type that can be swallowed, you will always feel sad in your heart.
He now has a dream, hoping that one day he can make his metal clone grow to several hundred meters and be able to launch special Rijingyuehua brand missiles.
The space here is not small, and the tall pointed rib vault creates a large visual space.
The brass lamp holder embedded in the wall is as big as an average person's body, and the flame inside is not cold white, but a passionate orange-red.
The ground is paved with black stone bricks, which are polished to a very bright brightness and can reflect the light of people walking on it.
The flames were burning fiercely, and people's shadows were cast on the ground, constantly changing with the jumping of the flames.
What is even more amazing is that as everyone walks forward, silver lights light up on the walls one by one.
Cavendish slowed down his pace, walked side by side with Crown, and said in a low voice:
“There’s a special purification array set up here, and if a contaminated person is found entering the room, an alarm will sound.
The flame burning in the lamp holder can stimulate polluted spirits. It contains a special ingredient.
It is like poison to evil spirits, and just a special spice to normal people, but for the extraordinary people of the church, it can speed up the operation of holy power or life source flow."
Clown nodded slightly, glanced at the layout of the room, and asked:
"Why didn't I see this spice in the Holy Fire Cathedral?"
He was definitely considered a high-ranking official in the Rhine City Diocese, and he had not noticed the use of this special spice.
“The manufacturing process is complicated, and the diocese only gets some every few years. Flanders is reluctant to use it easily.
If we don’t advance to the silver level this time, the Pope probably won’t use it. Walking through this room is also a small test to initially verify whether we have any problems. "
Walking through the empty corridor, Crown realized that the building was going down.
After passing through several more doors, they entered a passage that spiraled downward.
The stones in the passage were lava red, with lines and runes etched into them.
There were also lamp holders on the wall, but they were farther apart and the light was much dimmer than before, but it didn't make much difference to Crown.
He can now see in bright light and in the dark.
Cavendish continued to explain: “The magic array in the passage is divided into two layers, which can echo each other.
The inner layer responds to internal attacks, and the outer layer blocks external attacks, but no matter which layer you attack, it is equivalent to attacking the defenses of two layers of the magic circle at the same time, unless both the inner and outer layers are attacked at the same time. "
Clown was a little surprised and asked, "How do you know so much?"
Logically speaking, these things should not be known by the other party.
"I recently heard the archbishop talking about the common secrets in St. Peter's Basilica. The cardinals of several major dioceses will know some of them. After all, all the popes were born among them.
And when we achieve the Silver Rank, these secrets will also be revealed to us."
"I see," Crown muttered.
Perhaps it was because the downhill road was easier to walk on, and everyone walked much faster than when they were in the corridor. After a while, there was no road ahead.
There is no light source here, and it is a bit dark, with the only lighting coming from the runes on the wall.
"Your Majesty is waiting for you in the sanctuary," Theo said softly, and his voice was echoed in the passage.
He fumbled around for a rune somewhere on the wall, then stood aside with his hands behind his back.
Just as Crown was wondering, a rumbling sound was heard, and the stone wall at the end of the passage, which was three stories high and ten meters wide, began to rotate, revealing a gap.
As the stone wall rotated, golden light shone from inside.
"Thank you, Theo."
Flanders smiled and nodded, then walked in. A group of people followed in.
With a rumbling sound, the stone wall returned to its original position.
Theo leaned against the wall and his body fell into the shadows again. He let out a long breath and closed his eyes.
He had never felt that this familiar road was so long and stressful along the way.
"A strong silver-level warrior," he said slowly, with a tone full of envy.
As the Pope's close aide, he knew clearly that the relationship between these visiting archbishops and the Pope was not close, and it could even be said to be somewhat bad.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
The Pope wanted to wipe out all the forces that opposed him in the Kingdom of Farouk, recreate the glory that the church had achieved in the secular world hundreds of years ago, and then concentrate on dealing with external threats.
The opinion of these bishops is that now is the time to unite more forces to deal with the evil god. The mortal world has undergone tremendous changes in the past hundred years, bringing another kind of "ability" that is very helpful in combat.
Humanity should be a whole, and everyone should contribute to the battle against the evil god. Humanity should not fight among itself first.
Theo knew that the archbishops' goal was to establish a College of Cardinals to curb the power of the Pope.
He was not worried at first, because the College of Cardinals needed to vote when passing important resolutions, the Pope alone had two votes, and the other silver-rank cardinals had only one vote each.
But today, six people actually entered here. You know, the members of the College of Cardinals must be at least silver rank, which is far beyond the Pope's original judgment.
Things in the church may develop in another direction, which is not a good thing.
No matter how strong a force is, if it gets caught up in internal strife, it will only make its loved ones sad and its enemies happy. I hope the church will not fall into such a situation.
Putting aside other things, the church now has nine silver-ranked people, which should be one of the most powerful forces among all the churches, right? !
. . . .
Crown entered the sanctuary and quickly looked around.
The furnishings here are simple, with only a rectangular table and a dozen chairs. It looks more like a conference room.
There is a circle of small lamp holders surrounding the wall. The flames are very stable and the frequency of flickering is very low.
Behind the main seat at the long table stands a three-meter-high pale golden statue of an angel.
In each of the hands of the statue, there is a dancing flame, the outer part of the flame is orange-red, and the core of the flame is shining gold. His head is slightly forward, and his eyes are open looking down at the long table.
For some reason, Crown could actually read a sense of pity in the eyes of the angel statue.
Osman sat on the main seat, his brows furrowed and his eyes solemn.
In his spiritual perception, six balls of silver light of varying brightness illuminated the sanctuary from the opposite side, complementing the flame in the hands of the holy statue.
"Six silver bishops. Even if they reveal their cards, we only have four silver bishops."
Although his solemn expression was fleeting, it was caught by Flanders and others.
The surprise of Archbishops Draguer and Ach was even more obvious, their mouths were half open for several seconds before closing.
"Your Holiness, may the light of the flame illuminate you and me," Flanders took the lead in saluting Osman.
Although he did not have much respect for the Pope in private, he was still polite during the meeting, which was the basic ethics of a mature archbishop.
"Haha." Osman's stern face relaxed and he stood up. "Welcome home, bishops. May the light of the flames dispel the fog on the road ahead. Come and sit down."
Everyone took their seats. The Pope's eyes slowly swept over everyone, nodded and said, "There are new faces in the team. Please introduce yourselves, everyone."
After everyone informed their names and origins, Osman asked:
"I feel that Bishop Crown is very young. How old are you this year?"
He possesses a secret method that can sense the activity level of the silver soul. The younger the person is, the more active they are. The other person's silver soul is the most active among the crowd, and even the brightest.
The light of the other person's soul is pure and lively, and I actually feel a sense of enjoyment when watching it.
But he had never heard any intelligence from the other side, which shouldn't have happened.
He didn't think there would be anything wrong with the other party. The sanctuary of St. Peter's Basilica was different from other parishes. Being able to walk in here meant that the other party was a pure human being without any spiritual pollution.
"Bishop Clown is 26 years old this year," Flanders answered, and recounted Clown's resume, and finally concluded: "I think Clown has stimulated the power of his own bloodline, comparable to the Son of God, so he can achieve what he has today."
Everyone was even more surprised, because everyone present knew what kind of person the Son of God was.
Martin already knew about this situation and said with a smile, "The gods are protecting the church. This land has given birth to people with more potential. The flames are illuminating us."
After some flattery, the meeting finally got down to business. As to how much truth there was in these flattering remarks, perhaps only the gods knew.
Flanders stood up straight and said in a sonorous and powerful voice:
"Your Majesty, according to the regulations, when the church has four or more silver-ranked people, a College of Cardinals must be established to share your pressure."
“Indeed, when the silver rank continues to emerge, it means that the spiritual concentration of the world is constantly increasing, and the kingdom of the gods is beginning to approach the material plane.
It also means that those evil beings are beginning to revive, so there is this rule in the scriptures.
Now that the church has so many silver-level extraordinary people, the College of Cardinals is established today, and you are all members of it. I will announce this good news to all dioceses. "
Osman spoke slowly and although his speech was not fast, it was full of majesty.
He never thought of obstructing the establishment of the College of Cardinals, because doing so would be pointless and would simply bring dissatisfaction.
Although the establishment of the College of Cardinals would disperse his power, these members of the College of Cardinals could not stay in St. Peter's Basilica forever. They needed to return to their respective dioceses and lead the believers in fighting against the evil god's followers and the invasion of monsters.
At that time, he still had the final say in the Vatican.
The Council of Cardinals will only be convened when major events occur. As for what constitutes a major event, he will first identify it himself.
Flanders stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, there is an urgent military situation in the Rhine Diocese. A large number of cultists have been found gathering in the Andes Mountains, and their number is increasing. I predict that when the ice and snow melt again, we will face a two-front war."
(End of this chapter)