Chapter 646 Hela
The person was very tall, with a black veil covering her face and wearing a simple nun's uniform without any decoration.
But at just one glance, everyone could sense that something was wrong with her.
Gaia and Erwin barely managed to control their expressions, but Zoe gasped, a look of shock on her face.
The wind blew up a corner of the veil, revealing the densely packed gear structure, tiny connecting rods and various pipes underneath.
The woman's eyes trembled violently and stared at Zoe. As if a mechanical lens was rotating, her pupils adjusted slightly, rapidly expanding and shrinking, giving off an indescribable inhuman feeling.
Like a human, yet not quite like a human, her appearance is stuck on a line, downwards is a cold machine, upwards is a human body.
It was like a perfunctory cover on a sophisticated machine. Instead of making people feel at ease, it aroused a primitive fear in the body.
The wind gradually weakened, the black veil fell, and the face full of sophisticated gears appeared behind the curtain again. Only then did the few people shudder and come back to their senses.
"Welcome to the Rhine. I am the Grand Master of the Mechanical Temple. You can call me Hela."
The gears rotate, air flows in the oil filter, causing the reed in the throat to vibrate, but the sound produced is a soft female voice, without any mechanical feeling.
The surrounding soldiers all paused with their halberds, and the delicate stone slabs colliding with the fine steel made a crisp sound, adding a bit of gunpowder to the introduction.
Erwin's throat rolled, but he didn't say anything. He turned to the side to make way for the two people behind him.
He was a military attaché and theoretically an accompanying personnel, so he shouldn't have spoken at this time.
"Hello, I am Gaia, the technical priestess of the Imperial Truth, and she is Zoe, the chief clerk of Blood Harbor." After Gaia finished her introduction, she subconsciously extended her hand, and then realized that this was not Castel.
The custom of shaking hands when meeting someone was brought over by Hughes. On the one hand, he hated the red tape of the aristocracy, and on the other hand, he knew that physical contact could trigger [detection].
There was no such ritual either in the empire or in the church.
Just as Gaia looked embarrassed and wanted to withdraw her hand, a complex expression flashed across Hela's face, which was full of gears. She took a step forward, gently held Gaia's hand and shook it.
Warm and dry.
The soft touch disappeared immediately, and when Gaia came to her senses, Hela was already shaking hands with Zoe.
Strange, how did she know about shaking hands? Is this etiquette practiced by anyone other than Castel?
The hatch of the airship slowly closed, and with the roar of the steam engine, the entire airship slowly rose into the sky.
Hela glanced at the airship in the sky and turned without saying anything. “Please follow me, guests.”
After saying this, she walked forward from the square. The path in front of her was already covered with soft carpet, and soldiers and priests stood quietly on both sides.
Gaia and her group hurried to catch up, and when they walked away, the soldiers behind them turned around and followed them, walking in this magnificent Rhine city.
"His Majesty Ruo An has been in poor health recently and has not seen guests for several days. The meeting with you may be postponed."
A gentle voice came from under the black veil. Gaia and Zoe looked at each other, both a little surprised.
No matter what, Beatrice is an extraordinary person.
It is normal for extraordinary people to get injured, but not many of them get sick. I think this must be an excuse.
However, their original purpose in going to the Rhine was not to do this. As long as they could exchange technology with the Mechanical Temple, it would be fine. As for the audience with the Pope, it was actually not important.
There is a fundamental conflict between Castel and the Candlelight Society. There is no point in cooperating. It would be good if there could be temporary peace.
"Please convey my best wishes to Her Majesty Joan. I hope she recovers quickly," Gaia replied in an official tone. "Count Hughes also sent us his regards. He has missed Her Majesty Joan very much since she left Castel."
Hearing this, Hela suddenly stopped.
Several people were suddenly shocked. After all, this was the territory of the Candlelight Society. They didn't know whether they had violated any taboos without paying attention. They just hoped that there would be no conflict.
But Hela just paused.
After a moment, she continued walking forward without looking back, her tone calm, "Your Majesty has mentioned Earl Hughes several times. He has always guarded the empire's borders and helped Your Majesty solve problems. Such loyalty should be rewarded."
Gaia was stunned when she heard this. Where was the lord's loyalty?
But now Beatrice is not only the Pope, but also the Empress of the Empire. If she says that Hughes is loyal, then naturally the Imperial Cabinet will look for evidence of Hughes' loyalty.
Gaia could only thank him casually, but Erwin's eyes flickered and he felt something was wrong.
This Hela is obviously from the Mechanical Temple. When she introduced herself just now, she said that she was the Minister of All Machines, but now she said on behalf of the Empire that she wanted to commend Zeus.
It seems that the empire has completely fallen into the hands of the Holy See. Church officials no longer avoid suspicion and have begun to directly take charge of government affairs.
Several people walked through the long corridor that runs through the Rhine City. They didn't notice it when they just looked at it from the airship, but now they can feel the grandeur of this building when they stand on it.
The stone brick pavement is carved with delicate patterns and inlaid with gold foil.
If you look closely, you will see that the gold foil is only inlaid on the inside of the pattern, which makes the overall look neither too dominant nor too exaggerated, and makes the entire corridor look magnificent.
The sunlight shone on it, reflecting golden spots, like thousands of candlelight shining, and all the way forward, even the people of Castel felt it was extremely sacred.
No wonder the Church of Silence said their church was simple. This corridor alone is full of ingenuity.
only
Several people looked at each other, and then looked down the corridor.
Beneath their stone brick corridor were rows of straight square stone pillars, topped with pointed arches carved with intricate patterns, extending down to the Rhine.
Perhaps because it was too high, they could not see the ground when looking down. They could only see countless towering church spires and corridors, priests from the Candlelight Society and the Mechanical Temple coming in and out, and actors singing psalms.
The sunlight gilded the entire city.
Holy, peaceful, neat, perfect, just
This is an industrial city, the Rhine?
Where is the industry? Where are the factories? Where are the roaring steam engines? Where are the chimneys spewing black smoke?
Gaia opened her mouth, but ultimately did not ask the question.
As you can imagine, this topic is somewhat sensitive.
They are here just to exchange technology, so let's avoid trouble.
"The Gear Sanctuary of the Temple is ahead. Please wait for me for a moment." Hela walked forward alone.
Several people stopped and looked up at the building in front of them.
(End of this chapter)
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