The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 177 Novelty

After the ceremony, the Pope and the College of Cardinals left the Basilica of Sant'Sagittarius, and the knights outside the church bowed in respect to see them off.

After they had gone some distance, the two knights exchanged a glance.

"Why does His Holiness the Pope seem a little unhappy?"

"You are mistaken."

"A blank face, no expression at all, doesn't that mean they're angry?"

"Perhaps His Majesty is thinking about something..."

A moment later, Lord Edward, the commander of the Knights, also came out of the church and told them more details about the ceremony during their conversation.

"...Finally, His Majesty proposed that the Holy Maiden be renamed the Holy Son, but the Holy Maiden refused on the spot."

"Why? His Highness Eric is male; wouldn't it be more appropriate to call him the Holy Son?"

Edward shook his head, indicating that he didn't know.

"Perhaps Your Highness has more respect for the traditions of the Saintess Convent. But in any case, we are loyal to Her Highness, understand?"

"Yes!"

Edward glanced at the knights before him, then at the towering Papal Tower, without emphasizing the meaning of this loyalty for the time being.

Inside the convent, after the ceremony, the nuns continued their work and life as usual. Eric returned from the cathedral to the nunnery and first changed out of his heavy gown.

As for the jingling ornaments, those were left for the young nuns to dismantle slowly.

After changing into lighter clothes, Eric arrived at the convent and issued his first decree in his own name, reaffirming some of the convent's holy offices.

The head nun who oversees all affairs of the monastery remains Jabi;

A new position of deacon sister was created as the head nun's assistant, with Alena serving in that role.

Sophie, who was originally a prospective saint's theological advisor, was promoted to a more formal saint's theological advisor and became her attendant.

As for other personnel adjustments, they were basically made with reference to Jabi and Alena's opinions, following tradition, either by promotion or demotion.

Eric exhaled as he watched the saint's seal be affixed, the decree being taken away and issued.

Less than an hour after officially becoming a saintess, his initial excitement had completely worn off—what he was doing now was something he had been doing for a year or two, only with a slightly larger scope of real power.

"So now I just stay on the Saintess Tower when I have nothing to do, waiting for you to send the documents up so I can stamp them?"

Alena looked at him. "That's right, Your Highness."

"What did the previous saintess do when she first took office?" Eric asked.

"When the previous Holy Maiden took office, she first made some adjustments to the various holy duties of the Holy Maiden Academy. Then she spent two years learning the basic knowledge that a Holy Maiden should master. After that, she began to respond to the invitations of various countries on the continent and embarked on her first tour of the continent."

Eric looked at her. "I don't think there's anything else I need to learn?"

Alena lowered her head. "By the standards set by the previous saintess, Your Highness no longer needs to attend classes as before."

Eric breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought I was going to be a lifelong learner."

"If Your Highness requires it, High Sister Jabi and I will make arrangements."

"unnecessary!"

"Yes."

After a while, Eric remembered the original purpose of his question.

"What I mean is, I can now go out and tour the continent?"

Alena looked up at him. "Your Highness has only recently assumed the throne. Now is not the right time for you to leave."

"Don't be nervous, I was just asking," Eric reassured her. "I'm not about to leave after only one day as a saintess."

Upon hearing this, Alena's heart leaped into her throat again. "So when do you plan to leave?"

Eric raised his gaze and stared at the impossibly high ceiling of the St. Mary's House for a while. "That depends on when the continent descends into chaos."

“Your Highness, please forgive my bluntness, but the continent is about to descend into chaos, and you should remain in the monastery,” Alena quickly said.

Eric lowered his gaze and stared at her. "Luckily, I'm in charge now."

"..."

Alena pursed her lips.

"Alright." Eric stood up. "I won't be leaving anytime soon, I can guarantee that. Go on with your work."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Where does Your Highness wish to go again?" Sophie, who had been following him, finally spoke up as he ascended the Saintess Tower. Unlike Alena, she was completely uninhibited. "Now that you've become a Saintess, you should be more composed."

"Is this something an advisor should say? It sounds like something an old woman would say."

"..."

Sophie pouted, stepped forward and took his arm. "Your Highness made me stay by your side, isn't that what you want me to say?"

Eric glanced at her. "What if I take you with me?"

She hugged him even tighter. "When are we leaving?"

"..."

The two looked at each other, and Sophie felt a little embarrassed.

"This is my sixth year in the monastery. In these six years, I haven't left the holy city even once..."

"So, the ones who went to Dante County to welcome the Holy Maiden's successor were Alena and your twin sister?"

Sophie was stunned.

"I forgot... this happened two or three years ago!"

Eric walked to the window of the tower and looked down at the holy city.

“Even if I were to leave now, I would leave as a saintess, not sneak away like before. I would take some people with me, including you.”

"Mmm." Sophie hugged his waist from behind. "I believe in Your Highness."

She paused for a moment, then asked, "What about Your Highness's two adventurer companions? Will they stay in the monastery indefinitely?"

“It’s hard to say. It depends on their own plans.” Eric turned to look at her. “Sophie doesn’t like them?”

"No."

He turned around and looked into her eyes.

“…No.” Sophie looked into his eyes, but then glanced away. “Well, I just have a feeling that Miss Alan is a bit dangerous… doesn’t seem like a good person.”

“Elise is certainly not a good person, but she would never betray me,” Eric said.

“Hmm…” Sophie bit her lip, deciding to be more direct, “I’m worried she might seduce His Highness.”

"..."

Now it was Eric's turn to look away.

"Your Highness?"

After a moment of silence, Eric sighed and didn't hide anything, "I wouldn't say seduction, I should say it was my initiative."

Sophie's eyes immediately turned red.

“I told you Your Highness shouldn’t have gone out… There are too many temptations outside, how could Your Highness possibly resist?”

“If that’s the case, then there are plenty of temptations in the monastery too,” Eric said, looking at her with a clear meaning, “and they’re even harder to resist.”

Sophie bumped her head against his chest. "I don't count..."

"There are still some left."

"..."

Sophie looked up quickly, her gaze terrifying, her emotional shift astonishing Eric. "Who else?"

"It's just a temptation right now."

Eric struggled out of her increasingly tight embrace and sat behind his desk. "In short, this is the kind of relationship I have with Elise and Molly."

"And that southerner?" Sophie was both heartbroken and shocked.

"We're all going on this adventure together, we can't favor one over the other..."

"What kind of reason is that!" Sophie sat on his lap and shook him, her heart broken. "Your Highness doesn't really like them, does he? Is he just using them to satisfy his desires?"

Eric looked at her and slowly shook his head. "A lot has happened in the past six months. They are just as important to me as Sophie."

"..."

Sophie leaned weakly against him.

"I don't want to be compared to others at a time like this..."

Eric patted her back. "I'm sorry to have disappointed Sophie."

Sophie remained silent for a long time. "Is Your Highness tired of me?"

"No. At most, I'm a little fickle, but not to the point of being fickle."

"..." She sat up and looked at him. "This isn't a good point."

Eric laughed, "I didn't say that was a good thing."

"That's how His Highness expressed it."

"I thought I was expressing that I didn't want Sophie to be sad."

Sophie leaned closer to him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. "How could I not be heartbroken..."

Just as Eric was about to say something, she suddenly sat up straight and almost bumped her head into his chin when she looked up.

"Do they know about my relationship with His Highness?"

"of course I know."

"Knowing this, you still tried to seduce His Highness..." Sophie gritted her teeth, swallowing back some unpleasant words because she was still in front of him.

"I already said it was my initiative. Besides, adventurers don't stand on ceremony."

Seeing that Eric was still speaking up for his two companions, Sophie sighed, realizing that she might never be able to have him all to herself again.

She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, making a final struggle.

"Your Highness is now a saintess; you can't be so casual about these things anymore. If this gets discovered, the reputation of the entire monastery will be ruined."

Eric glanced sideways. "Why don't we start with Sophie and lead by example?"

"Oh no—"

The two stayed on the St. Mary's Tower until almost noon before coming down, because nuns kept coming up to Eric with various documents to confirm, so they didn't actually get to be very intimate.

As Eric left the convent alone, he saw Irene wandering over there.

"Would Eileen like to come in and take a look?"

“I’ve been inside,” Eileen said. “I’ve seen everything except the top of the Saintess Tower. They wouldn’t let me go up.”

"Let's go eat first. I'll take you up this afternoon."

“Okay.” Eileen agreed quickly, but Eric could tell she was somewhat unenthusiastic.

He quickly thought of himself—Eileen's initial excitement was also fading.

When it comes to interesting places, monasteries, which emphasize purity, asceticism, and focused spiritual practice, are definitely not among the top choices. Even the convents of saints in the holy city are, in the eyes of those outside the devout believers, nothing more than greater boredom.

Eric estimated that Eileen wouldn't be here for more than a few days, and there was no need for the siblings to hide their relationship.

"Hehe, I feel like this place is pretty boring..."

While eating at the restaurant, when asked, Eileen bluntly said, "Although it's very big and sacred, it's just so-so after a while. It doesn't feel as good as the Ramallah Monastery in our Oren City."

When they were children, the brother and sister lived together in that monastery in the city for a short time. The hazy and distant memory makes Eileen view that monastery through a lens of romanticized beauty.

"Well, it's certainly not a very interesting place, but I can't leave for the time being. When does Eileen plan to go back to Lutia?"

"Hmm... I plan to take this opportunity to travel around and get back to Lutia before May. Then I'll tell the teacher that Eric couldn't bear to part with me and insisted that I stay in Lesser for two more months. She can't very well come to Lesser to confront Eric, can she..."

"No way." Eric immediately refused. "Do you think this is still a time of peace? Once you leave Leslie, go straight back to Lutia. I'll have Leslie keep a close eye on you the whole way."

Eileen immediately pouted and said, "Eric—"

He remained unmoved and said, "Call him Your Highness."

"Humph!"

Eileen abandoned the food she had barely eaten and ran away.

Eric sighed to himself; his freedom was gone, and his innocent, obedient sister was gone forever.

In the afternoon, the Apostolic Palace sent someone to invite Eric to attend a cardinal meeting.

When he was still a prospective saintess, he often attended cardinal meetings on behalf of the saintess, which consisted of nothing more than listening to a bunch of old men arguing about trivial matters.

Occasionally, the Pope will also attend, and when the Pope attends a cardinal council, the council usually decides on important matters that require a vote by the cardinals.

After finding out the meeting time, Eric realized he could take a nap, so he returned to the St. Mary's Abbey and asked the nun serving outside his room to wake him up at the appointed time.

Eric, having slept until he was awakened by the nun, took Alena to the Papal Palace, where they waited for the meeting to begin in one of the small chapels.

Alena stood behind his chair, and Eric told her to sit down before everyone arrived, but she shook her head repeatedly.

"I don't know what they're going to argue about today, but it's probably none of our business."

Eric smiled at one of the cardinals opposite him while talking to Alena, "We'll leave when they start throwing holy scriptures at each other."

Alena responded softly. The Cardinals' Council was rife with factions, and arguments were common; leaving a meeting midway through was hardly a big deal.

The cardinals arrived one after another, and when the meeting was about to begin, the chapel was not full. Eric glanced around and roughly estimated that there were only forty or fifty people present, so he guessed that the matters to be discussed today were not of great importance.

As soon as the Chief Cardinal spoke, Eric wanted to run away.

"Ahem... Well, what we need to discuss today is still the revision of chapters seven through fifteen of the Sacred Book of Mia, as annotated by Archbishop Baldwin in 551. His Holiness the Pope believes that Archbishop Baldwin intentionally distorted the original meaning of the ancients in his commentary, implying, though not explicitly, that he was negating the Pope's role as a representative of Yela..."

The old man rambled on for a long time in his opening remarks, but the key point of the meeting was only one: Archbishop Baldwin has a lofty position in church history, so should we change it in accordance with the Pope's wishes?

Eric hadn't expected today's meeting to be so academic. Judging from the content, the chances of it turning into a heated argument were slim, so he couldn't very well run away in front of the cardinals.

“I knew I shouldn’t have come.” There was no one in the seat next to him, so he said this directly to Alena, “I only came because this is my first cardinal meeting since I became the Holy Maiden.”

Alena was also somewhat helpless, but could only advise him to be patient and participate until the end.

“This is none of your business. There’s no need to take notes at these meetings.” Eric pulled out a chair next to him. “Sit down and listen to them brag.”

Alena glanced at the other cardinals in the chapel, then shook her head.

Eric frowned.

Alena had no choice but to sit down and quickly glanced at the other cardinals.

Several people glanced in their direction but made no comment.

Even after she sat down, she said in a low voice, "Your Highness, this is not a place where I can sit down casually."

Aside from special cases like saints and near-saints, cardinal councils cannot be represented. Either the cardinal himself attends, or he is absent. There is no situation where someone other than a cardinal is present.

If Eric has to leave the Holy City, he will have to forgo attending all the cardinal meetings during that period, even if the meetings are about the Saint or the Convent of Saints.

“You’re just assuming it’s not allowed, but these people wouldn’t stoop to care about such a trivial matter. Since no one’s stopping you, why can’t you sit down?” Eric said.

Before Alena could say anything more, he added, "If you still consider me your source of confidence, then sit here."

Alena paused for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"I understand, Your Highness."

"Move over a little more."

"..."

Alena dragged her chair closer to him.

Eric, still feeling the distance was too great, pulled the chair closer with one hand, bringing her and the chair much closer until they were almost side by side.

Alena glanced at the reactions of the other cardinals in the chapel; no one seemed to care. Yet, her cheeks still flushed, and she felt that something was about to happen that would make her heart race even faster.

Eric lowered his voice: "I'm asking you..."

Alena moved closer.

"If I want to expand the size of the Guardian Knights, what obstacles will I encounter?"

"..."

Her heart was indeed beating faster.

"The main obstacle is... the resistance from the Vatican."

Alena felt a sense of emptiness, yet the topic itself made her tense.

“From the very beginning of the establishment of the Holy Maiden Convent, the size of the Guardian Knights was already limited, because those knights were already elites, and the convent was located within the Holy City. Even if the heretics invaded outside the Holy City, it would be the Papacy's guardian knights who would go to meet the enemy, so…”

She indicated that if he insisted, then the next cardinal meeting would inevitably discuss this matter, and the result would certainly be a rejection.

"Then give me a reasonable excuse to expand the size of the Knights Order."

Eric posed a difficult question, and Alena immediately frowned.

“Your Highness, expanding the size of the Guardian Knights will also be a new expense and burden for the monastery.”

"It's alright, I've calculated it. With the monastery's accumulated wealth over the years, supporting an elite knight order several times larger wouldn't be a problem."

Alena pursed her lips, lost in thought.

Eric looked at her, already having a plan in mind, but just wanted to prepare her mentally in advance.

After staring at the beautiful nun beside him for a moment, he realized that meetings weren't so boring as long as someone was there to keep him company.

At one point, he looked up and found the chief cardinal looking in his direction.

"Your Highness, is there anything you wish to say?"

"It can be changed, anything can be changed."

(End of this chapter)