Chapter 34

Chapter 34, Marcel Diocese (4)

We returned to the inn carrying the ‘Agreement for the Establishment of the Marcel Diocese,’ complete with the Pope’s signature and seal.

The full leadership meeting, which all the suspects would attend, was scheduled for two days later.

Until then, my job was to remain inside the inn.

To prevent anyone from becoming suspicious, I was also supposed to avoid outside contact.

“What am I supposed to do for two days? Martin, is there anything fun around here?”

“No.”

“...”

It was my fault for asking Martin.

I doubted there was another person in the world as boring as him.

At least he was not completely socially hopeless, so holding a conversation with him was possible.

I sighed and looked toward Pascal.

He watched my expression while nervously moving his eyes from side to side.

I decided not to ask him.

I doubted I would get any useful answer.

Why did these young men live such boring lives?

Could it be because I made them work too much?

I reflected on myself a little.

Anyway, two painfully boring days passed.

We followed a trainee priest from the Holy See toward the hall where the full leadership meeting would be held.

By the time our group arrived, many department heads, committee chairmen, directors, and deputy directors from the various organizations had already gathered in the meeting hall.

They gathered in small groups and exchanged information about why the meeting had suddenly been called.

“Why did His Holiness suddenly summon this meeting? Do you know what matter will be discussed?”

“I only received a one sided notice as well. Even my acquaintances knew nothing.”

“Hmm. I hope it isn’t anything serious.”

They seemed to be deliberately speaking loudly, hoping that someone who knew the reason would respond.

Because of that, even we could clearly hear them from the observer seats.

“There are quite a few observers today. They wouldn’t discuss anything dangerous while outsiders were present, so everyone should stop worrying.”

“I wouldn’t be so certain. His Holiness has always been rather unusual.”

Anyone saying something like that in front of outsiders was probably part of a faction opposed to the Pope.

Every organization had factions, so no one seemed particularly bothered.

As the meeting time approached, people began taking random seats.

However, the trainee priests stopped them.

“You must sit in the seat bearing your nameplate.”

The leadership members looked confused by the unusual procedure.

“Assigned seats? This is the first time I’ve seen that.”

“Surely they aren’t using the seating arrangement to establish our rankings?”

“Don’t say frightening things like that.”

The seating arrangement based on nameplates had been prepared because of me.

If the true name shown by [Convenient Lesser Appraisal] differed from the name written on the nameplate, I would immediately identify that person as a suspect.

I had already confirmed that none of the leadership members officially used aliases.

After the brief disturbance ended, Pope Catriel entered the meeting room together with the Chancellor of the State Secretariat.

Seeing them together again made me curious about their relationship.

They’re always together. Is the Chancellor the Pope’s right hand man? No, maybe not. He seemed kind of useless. Did she put him there as a figurehead?

There were plenty of leaders who disliked having a talented second in command.

For such people, someone obedient was considered the best subordinate.

Anyway, once everyone was seated, the Pope announced the beginning of the meeting.

“Everyone, Viscount Eric Marcel, a man blessed by God, has requested the creation of the Marcel Diocese. I have decided to accept this request and appoint Daniel, Deputy Director of the Internal Affairs Office, as Bishop of the Marcel Diocese. Please offer him your congratulations and encouragement.”

I looked toward Daniel.

However, the Director of the Internal Affairs Office sitting beside him twisted his expression and tightly closed his eyes.

Looks like the Director has been keeping Daniel in check. I don’t know what happened between them, but he’s out of your hands now.

I did not care what kind of person Daniel had been in the past.

What mattered was that he followed my instructions from now on.

When Daniel stood and bowed, many of the other participants applauded and congratulated him.

Apparently, the rest of the leadership did not particularly care what kind of person Daniel was.

Their faces clearly said that as long as it was not their problem, they did not care.

The Pope must have a headache. Passive officials, opposing factions, political schemes, she has all of it.

I almost shook my head in sympathy.

Now then, let’s find the false ones.

I began using [Convenient Lesser Appraisal] on the members of the leadership.

First, the Director of the Internal Affairs Office.

[Manuel, 52]

[Son of the late Fernando, a back alley delinquent from Burgos. Director of the Internal Affairs Office of the Holy See of the God of Abundance. Worships Annapurna.]

Safe. Being the son of a neighborhood thug isn’t a crime.

I continued appraising the others one by one.

Nothing particularly strange appeared.

Then,

[Haides, 60]

[Son of the late Dertis, a farmer from Royan. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Holy See of the God of Abundance. Worships Hela.]

Found you!

Hela was the God of the Dead.

Since people in this world worshiped many different gods, someone worshiping the God of the Dead was not automatically rejected by society.

The problem was that this man worked at the Holy See of the God of Abundance.

I had no idea why a follower of Hela had infiltrated the Order of the God of Abundance.

Nor did I particularly care.

Just because I believed gods truly existed did not mean I believed in religion itself.

Religion was merely a tool.

Since it seemed I would have to wait quite a while for the meeting to finish, I continued using [Convenient Lesser Appraisal] on the other leaders.

What the hell? Why are there more?

The Pope had said there was one infiltrator.

She was wrong.

I found two more.

The Vice Minister of the Department of Doctrine of Faith and the Deputy Director of the Grand Tribunal both displayed the words, ‘Worships Hela.’

I had planned to simply tell the Pope, but now it seemed better to write everything down.

I wrote the three names on a piece of paper along with the words, ‘Followers of Hela,’ then called over a trainee priest.

“Take this paper to His Holiness. It is extremely important.”

The trainee priest carried the paper to the Pope.

No one paid any attention to the tiny piece of paper.

Yet it was about to bring a bloody storm upon the Holy See.

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock interrupted my thoughts.

Our group was waiting for the Pope in a reception room.

Surprisingly, she arrived much sooner than expected.

The exhausted looking Pope immediately handed me a pouch.

I accepted it.

It was quite heavy.

“Viscount Marcel, thank you very much for your efforts. And this doesn’t have any special meaning. Please use it for your travel expenses.”

Money.

Thank you very much.

“If there is anything else you want, please tell me.”

The Pope seemed to be in a hurry.

Apparently, she wanted to end the conversation quickly.

They needed to interrogate the people they had arrested and uncover any accomplices hiding among the lower ranks.

Every moment mattered.

So I immediately stated my request.

“Our territory lacks people.”

The Pope looked confused.

“Do you mean you lack talented personnel?”

“I mean exactly what I said. We lack population. I want Your Holiness to help make it easier for people to migrate to Marcel.”

If I simply took residents from other territories, I might accidentally cause a territorial war.

I wanted the Pope to intervene and mediate.

Apparently understanding my intention, the Pope nodded.

“Very well. I will discuss the matter properly with the Iberian royal family. If there is nothing else, I should leave now.”

“If we have the chance, let’s have a meal together next time, Your Holiness.”

“The Marcel Territory and our Holy See are now friends. Please visit whenever you wish.”

She smiled, but the hand she extended for our farewell handshake hung weakly from exhaustion.

I was also a lord who needed to manage my territory, so we quickly packed our belongings and departed.

Apparently disappointed that he could not do any sightseeing, Pascal complained.

“There seem to be many places worth visiting. Couldn’t we stay for another day or two?”

“No. Travel all you want after you retire.”

“When can I retire?”

“About forty years from now?”

“...I don’t even know whether I’ll still be alive by then.”

Seeing him sigh like that, I decided I should probably give him some vacation after returning home.

If I wanted to keep working him hard, I needed to let him rest before he burned out.

As we rode past the slums, someone called my name.

“Viscount Eric Marcel!”

I turned toward the voice.

The Director of the Internal Affairs Office was running toward me while waving.

I dismounted and approached him.

“Director Manuel, what brings you here?”

“Oh, you remembered my name.”

I only knew it because of Daniel.

Besides, even if I forgot, I could simply use [Convenient Lesser Appraisal].

Obviously, I could not say that.

So I gave him a pleasant answer instead.

“You have such a reliable looking build that you left an impression.”

“Haha! You’re embarrassing me. I’m the son of a farmer, so I’m rather broad.”

He certainly looked strong.

There was a small lie mixed into my compliment, but I let it pass.

“Anyway, what brings you to me?”

“I wanted to speak with you about Deputy Director Daniel.”

I stared into his eyes for a moment before speaking.

“Daniel will be doing many things for me from now on. Leave him alone.”

Director Manuel looked slightly surprised.

“You already understand what I’m worried about.”

“Yes. I understand very well. However, Daniel isn’t the person you should be worrying about right now. There are three apostates, aren’t there?”

“...You know about that too? We’re treating it as top secret.”

I grabbed my horse’s reins as I prepared to mount again.

“Compared to those apostates, isn’t Daniel practically a devout believer? He isn’t obsessed with money or women. He only devotes himself to rising through society. Compared to the rest of your leadership, isn’t he fairly normal?”

Manuel fell silent.

He probably could not deny it himself.

“Director Manuel, leave Daniel to me from now on. I’ll take care of him and make sure he doesn’t stray.”

“...He’s a deeply twisted man. His background as a noble also makes him dangerous.”

I could not help laughing.

I had intended to let this go, yet he kept interfering unnecessarily.

“Director Manuel. You said you were the son of a farmer?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Do you know Fernando, a back alley delinquent from Burgos?”

Director Manuel looked as though he was about to faint.

“H, how do you know that?”

“There are ways for me to know everything, even things others don’t. Of course, I’m sure you didn’t lie about your background with malicious intent. Still, the fact remains that you hid your origins.”

“...”

“Look at yourself first. A person’s origin does not matter. Besides, Daniel has at least never deceived others about who he is. He merely hides his true thoughts.”

“...I understand. I won’t interfere, so please keep my secret.”

Revealing such an old secret now would probably only embarrass him.

It would not seriously harm him.

Actually, I had no intention of embarrassing or harming him at all.

However, even if I told him I would protect his secret, he probably would not trust me.

If I wanted to create trust, it would be better for both of us to feel indebted to the other.

“Director Manuel, who do you think discovered the apostates arrested today?”

“Surely... you?”

“Yes. Please protect my secret as well. Now we each have one.”

I had revealed the truth even though the followers of Hela might target me if they learned about it.

Naturally, I only said it because I believed Manuel was the type of man who would never reveal such information.

Understanding my intention, Manuel finally looked relieved.

Just as we were about to finish the conversation and say goodbye, the voices of children playing in the slums reached our ears.

“Bishop Daniel is warm and kind, he cares for poor little children, he even gives them food to eat~

Bishop Daniel is gentle and sweet, he cares for poor suffering people, he even gives them food to eat~”

Apparently, Enrique had already started spreading songs.

He had even made a children’s song.

That was fast.

I turned my head.

Director Manuel was glaring directly at me.

At times like this, he was surprisingly quick to understand things.

Well, I supposed there was a reason he had become the Director of the Internal Affairs Office.

Feeling awkward, I cleared my throat.

“Ahem, ahem. Director Manuel, please don’t worry about things like that.”

“...I’m not worried at all. Vis. Count. E. Ric. Mar. Cel.”

He was sulking.

“Haha! Why don’t we go get something to eat? Pascal! Find us a good restaurant immediately!”

“Yes, my loooord.”

Pascal laughed loudly as he rode away.

That bastard’s vacation was canceled.