The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 130 The road ahead
That evening, Eric asked Leslie for some stationery and, by candlelight, began to write a letter.

The letters were addressed to Uncle Edgar, the Saint, Alena, and Sophie.

He explained to them what had happened since he arrived in Lutia, but deliberately omitted the dangers in his letter to the latter three, and finally explained his next plans.

In one of his letters to his uncle, Eric urged him to continue preparing for the impending war, to train the militia and stockpile supplies as needed, and to be mindful that the empire was on the verge of collapse.

In his letter to the saint, besides his greetings, he also asked her to make the Holy See pay more attention to Simago, who may have sided with the demons, and especially to the possibility of him heading north.
The letters to Alena and Sophie contained mostly greetings.

After writing the four letters, Eric put them away, intending to mail them himself when he left home the next day.

There was a knock at the door, followed by Elise's voice: "Your Highness, someone is looking for you."

Eric casually asked, "Who?"

"A dark elf."

"..."

Several guesses flashed through Eric's mind as he went downstairs and found a real dark elf: Clara, the errand girl from Nightingale.

“Mother requests that His Highness Eric come over,” Clara said.

She came without any disguise this time. Not only did she remove her cloak, but she also took off her veil, revealing her delicate features. However, her expression betrayed her unease, clearly indicating that she was not used to this state.

Eric understood the reason.

Starting yesterday afternoon, all dark elves in Lutia City are prohibited from disguising their faces, especially their heads, to prevent disguised demons from infiltrating the city.

When she addressed him as "Your Highness," Eric understood that she already knew his identity.

"What do you want? Has Simagu made another move?"

Nightingale was indeed quite responsible in keeping an eye on Simmagus. When he returned yesterday, Leslie told him that there was a letter slipped under his door, which was about Simmagus being called out of town.

Elise told him that the confidential intelligence Luca had gathered was all obtained from Nightingale.

“No. It’s because Mother has something important to discuss with His Highness,” Clara said.

Eric thought for a moment and decided to go check it out. "I understand."

He went directly with Clara to the same tavern, and Elise followed him, gradually getting used to being his attendant.

Have you had any contact with Nightingale before?

“Very few,” Elise said. “These people are too chaotic, with all sorts of identities. We are worried that we might accidentally reveal the secrets of the Arans, so we will not contact them unless necessary.”

She paused, "And Nightingale's intelligence is never free."

That's probably the main reason, Eric thought.

The Arameans who were hiding in Lutia were living a miserable life, so they had no money to buy intelligence from the Nightingale.

Upon arriving at the Kingfisher Bar, I went straight to the private room of the dark elf "mother" upstairs. She was dressed quite normally today, with several large candles lit on the table, making the room bright and without the overpowering, pungent smell of spices.

It was so normal it was as if a church knight had just come to raid a brothel.

"Your Highness Eric—"

As soon as he arrived, the dark elf greeted him warmly, "Why did you have to hide your identity from us? Look at this misunderstanding..."

She pulled out a bag of gold coins. "You're being too kind by not dragging me to the cathedral to ask us what information you want. We wouldn't dare accept your gold coins."

Elise glanced at Eric.

He remained silent for a moment, then realized what was happening.

Because his identity was discovered, and because of the tense atmosphere in the city these past two days, which seemed to be targeting the Dark Elves, with the main leaders being members of the Nightingale organization, the Dark Elves, they were genuinely afraid.

Especially in the evening, he would lead a large group of palace guards, dragging a cart full of demon corpses through the city.

Eric picked up the bag of gold coins, weighed it in his hand, and realized it far exceeded the amount he had spent here.

"I don't remember buying this much intelligence here."

The dark elf sat upright, keeping her distance, neither touching him nor mentioning smelling his scent. "Yes, Your Highness, yes."

"Since you know who I am, you still dare to invite me here. Aren't you afraid I'll just bring a church knight to your door?"

“Because from our previous interactions, I have seen the respect that His Highness Eric has for those of us who are focused on intelligence, and I believe that you are not the kind of person who would abandon someone after they have served their purpose,” the dark elf said sincerely.

Ghost letter.

If he really brought a squad of knights, the Nightingale in the tavern would probably have disappeared before they even reached the halfway point. Right now, they're just testing his attitude and preparing to pay him off.

Eric sat down at the table and gestured for Elise to sit down as well. "Since you're here, I happen to have some questions for you."

“Your Highness, please ask,” the dark elf said immediately, without mentioning the matter of money at all.

"You should already know that some demons came to you to ask for information, right?"

The dark elf paused for a moment, then readily admitted it.

"Yes. But I can assure Your Highness that we were completely unaware of the situation at the time. We only paid close attention to Lutia's movements because we thought some local lord wanted to declare independence."

"Is the one who came a middle-aged human?"

"Yes."

“You must remember how he asked the question. Tell me the whole story.”

"No problem, Your Highness."

Although he had already obtained the intelligence compiled by Luca, Eric wanted to deduce Luca's true thoughts from his questions.

The dark elf had an exceptional memory; she could recount even the long conversation that had lasted most of the night just days before, word for word, to Eric. Of course, he only wanted to hear the gist of it, so she omitted most of the details—including his final speculation about his interest in Sinmag's movements.

"...I was looking for an opportunity to assassinate Xinmagu? Is that what you told him?"

"It is possible that someone wanted to assassinate him. I did not mention your identity at all, Your Highness."

If Simagu had actually made contact with Luca, he might now think that someone from the Vatican was trying to kill him...

Eric took a deep breath. "The information you gave me, it wasn't just some random guesswork, was it?"

“That’s not true, Your Highness. I will tell you that any uncertain information is just speculation,” the dark elf immediately said.

That's how it is now, but it's hard to say what happened before.

Eric didn't bother to investigate further. "Your men saw Sinmaggu being called out of the city yesterday. What happened after that? Did you see what happened?"

“Your Highness, such long-distance covert tracking requires the deployment of Dark Elves. As you know, our people did not dare to pursue the commotion in the suburbs yesterday, for fear of being mistaken for demons.”

it is as expected……

Eric sighed, not holding out much hope.

He thought for a moment, “I’m about to leave Lutia. If you notice any signs that Simmagu is heading north, tell the two apostolic administrators at the cathedral that Simmagu might be defecting to the demons and ask them to keep an eye on him.”

The dark elf was immediately somewhat embarrassed. "You want us to deal with the people at the cathedral? This is really..."

"Who gave you permission to make direct contact? Could you have filed an anonymous report?"

"Ok."

With no other questions to ask, Eric, carrying the bag of gold coins offered by the dark elves, left the tavern with Elise.

Once outside, Eric gave her the gold coins and told her to carry them.

Elise's hand suddenly felt heavy as she deeply felt the weight of these gold coins. "The Nightingale people are really generous."

“Who told them to crack down like this these past few days? If they’re not generous now, the Nightingale’s stronghold in Lutia might be wiped out,” Eric said.

The two quickly returned to their lodgings, where Leslie, who had gone to buy the horse, had also returned and showed Eric the newly purchased Lille warhorse in the backyard.

"It must have cost a lot of money."

"Yes, everything goes up in price in Lutia. It's more than twice as expensive as the warhorse that the young master bought in Lessier."

Eric mounted his horse, familiarized himself with his new mount, and then said to Elise, "Since you're leaving with me, I need to buy you a Lille warhorse too."

“I may ride Your Highness’s horse,” Elise said.

"It's getting hot."

Elise didn't say anything, since it wasn't her money anyway.

Silent all night.

The next morning, Eric rode his horse with Elise to the magic academy in the suburbs to find Eileen.

Two days ago at the celebration venue, she didn't wait for him to return. She also heard that the royal family had been assassinated and that the emperor had returned to the city ahead of time. So she didn't wait any longer and just wandered around for a bit before returning to the academy, thus avoiding the subsequent turmoil and heavy rain.

"Demons have actually appeared in Lutia..."

Eileen had already heard that Eric had gone out of the city yesterday to kill a group of demons and drag them back to the palace—their return to the city was quite a commotion, and in just one night and one morning, all sorts of rumors had already spread.

"Eric, you didn't tell me anything!"

“This is an internal church matter, I can’t say anything about it.” Eric looked at his sister. “Besides, it’s so dangerous, I don’t want Eileen to get involved.”

Eileen glared at him. "What if Eric is in danger? What will I do then?"

“It won’t happen again.” Eric touched her face, reassuring her with a smile, and then told her that he was about to leave Lutia.

Eileen was still reeling from what had happened. She paused for a moment, then grabbed his hand. "Where are you going, Eric?" "Our initial plan is to visit the ancient battlefield ruins in the south."

"An ancient battlefield?" Eileen asked blankly.

“Hmm.” Eric nodded. “That’s the site of a great war between humans and demons hundreds of years ago. Several major battles also broke out there when the empire tried to annex the southern countries, resulting in countless deaths and injuries. The ghosts there have lingered for years, making it a perfect place for a priest like me to train and improve my strength.”

With a combination of attack and purification, undead enemies, being countered by holy light, were eliminated more efficiently and yielded more experience. He also remembered that there were many dungeons near the ancient battlefield, which he could explore if given the chance.

“Eileen, continue your magic studies here,” Eric said, then added after a moment’s thought, “If you hear news of the demons marching south in the next year or two, don’t doubt it, it’s true. Leave Lutia with Leslie immediately and go back to Dante County first.”

"Ah, the demons are heading south? Wait a minute..." Eileen was a little flustered. "Will Eric be gone for a long time?"

"maybe."

"You said just a few days ago that you'd celebrate your birthday with me again next year."

"..."

Eric was silent for a moment, then reached out and hugged his sister, kissing her on the forehead.

“As long as we live, we will meet again sooner or later. But to survive in that chaotic world of the future, Eileen needs to continue to study magic, and I also need to improve my strength.”

Eileen didn't say anything for a while, and finally nudged his chin with her head.

“I knew Eric would leave... but I didn’t expect it to be so soon.”

She didn't say anything about leaving with him; she was sad for a moment, but quickly accepted it.

Then, Elise, who followed, told her that she would also leave with Eric.

"……Why?"

“There might be traces of my people in the south. I want to go and look for them,” Elise said.

Eileen's resolve wavered for a moment.

Eric immediately saw through his sister's thoughts. "Once you truly master magic, you can go wherever you want on the continent. You're still too inexperienced now, so stay in the academy."

Eileen pouted.

"Of course, don't go overboard," Eric added. "Go out often, maintain healthy lifestyle habits, communicate more with friends, actively manage negative emotions, and maintain mental health."

In another timeline, Eileen's reputation as the witch is not only due to her destruction of the capital and the countless lives she has taken, but also because her mental state at that time was close to madness, with less than one-tenth of her reason remaining.

Eileen frowned. "What is Eric talking about?"

Eric didn't know if Eileen's future madness was related to her sudden increase in strength, or if it was caused by some other stimulus, or even related to Simago. But he absolutely did not want to see Eileen in that state again.

"In short, I'm still alive, and my uncle is alive too, so don't think about unhappy things."

She tilted her head, laughed again, and reached out to tickle Eric's waist.

"What are you saying? It's getting weirder and weirder..."

Eric and Elise spent most of the day with Eileen at the academy before preparing to leave.

"I'm leaving tomorrow. I'll come back to say goodbye to Eileen before I leave."

Eileen nodded, watching the two mount their horses and leave together, when she suddenly remembered something.

"Eric!"

Eric Lema turned around, and Elise turned around too.

"You can have a child with Miss Alan and let your uncle take care of it!"

"..."

Eric was extremely embarrassed. He glared at her from afar, waved his hand, and then left without looking back.

"What is Eileen saying?" Elise couldn't help but ask.

"...Don't worry about her, she's just worried that her uncle back home won't have anyone to take care of him."

Elise glanced at him from behind but didn't ask any further questions.

They left in the morning and returned to Lutia in the afternoon. Leslie led out his horse, looking like he was about to go find him.

"Young Master, Her Highness the Princess has sent someone to see you."

Eric was taken aback. "When did this happen?"

Elise dismounted, and Leslie replied, "Not long. I noticed the young master hadn't returned, so I was about to go to the academy to look for you."

Eric didn't dismount. He glanced at Elise, who was standing at the door watching him, and knowing that she didn't want to see those who knew her, he headed straight for the palace.

As soon as he arrived at the palace gate, the guards invited him in, saying that the princess had already given instructions.

Eric followed the guards inside, and after a short walk, his guide turned into a maid. He walked through gardens and courtyards until he arrived at Natalia's bedroom.

The maids were busy tidying up her things.

Princess Eldest was writing a letter when she heard the announcement. She turned her head and saw that it was Eric. She quickly smiled and then asked him to wait a moment.

She continued writing her letter, and Eric glanced at her room, which looked much the same as he remembered—he had been here on a mission to retrieve some lost item for the princess.

I didn't see any of the demon corpses on the way in... I wonder where they were dragged to yesterday.

After a while, Natalia finished writing the letter in her hand, got up and came over to greet Eric.

“His Highness Eric was the first man to come here after I moved in.”

"...His Majesty hasn't come either?"

"What kind of man is he?"

Eric didn't respond.

Natalia smiled and gestured for them to go outside for a walk, and Eric followed her.

As the two walked in the palace courtyard, Natalia spoke up, "His Majesty has agreed to let me go to the North."

It seems her actions yesterday were indeed effective.

Natalia turned to look at him. "I should say I was exiled. You have no idea how angry His Majesty was when he saw those demon corpses in the palace yesterday."

The emperor's wrath was nothing to fear, especially towards his own people. Eric didn't know what expression to wear at this moment.

“He got even angrier when he heard that you had dragged those corpses around the city for a long time,” Natalia continued. “I told him it was my idea.”

Eric bowed his head. "Thank you, Your Highness."

“I should be thanking you,” Natalia said. “Otherwise, His Majesty would probably have just burned those corpses and that would have been the end of it.”

The emperor was indeed capable of such a thing.

"When will Princess Natalia depart?"

"immediately."

Eric opened his mouth slightly. "Right away?"

"I'll leave as soon as I've packed my things." Natalia smiled at him. "The people I sent said His Highness Eric wasn't home. I thought I wouldn't have a chance to say goodbye to you."

"Please be careful on your journey, Your Highness." Eric thought for a moment, but had nothing else to say in farewell. "Once you reach the North, you must be even more careful."

“I understand,” Natalia said, then pointed in a certain direction of the palace. “My brother may be angry, but he’s not really sending me to my death. I’ll still get the protection I need.”

This was arguably the most brilliant move by that emperor.

"When will Prince Eric leave Lutia?"

"tomorrow."

Natalia paused for a moment, then smiled. "It seems that Prince Eric and I are both quite anxious."

She took another breath and looked at him. "Will Your Highness definitely become a saintess of the Holy See in the future?"

...What is the question?
Eric glanced at her and nodded, saying, "If nothing unexpected happens, it can only be me."

Natalia pursed her lips, her smile fading slightly.

"I think so too... Sorry for asking such a strange question."

Eric shook his head.

The two chatted for a few more minutes before the maid came over and said that everything had been packed.

Natalia went to say goodbye to the emperor, and then left the palace with Eric through a side door.

Before boarding the carriage, the princess extended the back of her hand to him.

Eric was taken aback, then reached out and took her hand, lowering his head to kiss her.

"Your Highness Natalia, have a safe journey."

"You are too... Eric."

He raised his head, the young princess gave a final smile, got into the carriage, and headed north without looking back.

·
[The Upheaval in the Imperial Capital - Part 1]

(End of this chapter)