The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 193 Nameless Fear
Emperor Chik Utu was stunned for a long time when he learned that Sinmagu was requesting an audience and was already waiting for him in the hall of the Imperial Council.

"Sinmagu? High Priest Sinmagu?"

“Yes, Your Majesty, it is the High Priest,” the attendant confirmed.

"Wasn't he missing? When did he come back?"

"He looks like he's just returned, travel-worn, and wants to see His Majesty. Do you wish to see him?"

The emperor thought for a moment and then nodded, "Then let's meet him. I also want to know where he's been all year. The church has been putting pressure on me."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

On the way to the Imperial Council Hall, the Emperor looked at the sky and turned to ask his attendant, "How many days has the Holy Maiden been away from Lutia?"

"It's been over a week, Your Majesty."

"What a pity," the emperor sighed. "I guess Simagu was off adventuring somewhere during his disappearance. The two of them must have gotten along very well."

The attendant nodded in agreement.

Upon arriving at the hall, Simagu was already waiting downstairs.

"Where have you been, Simagu?"

The emperor walked straight to his seat and glanced at the high priest standing ramrod straight below. After a year apart, he felt that Xinmagu had become even more of a strange old man.

His gray-black robe looked like it hadn't been changed in a long time, and he didn't seem to be in a good mental state. If he used to give off a rigid feeling, now he seemed more like a dead soul, just an empty shell standing there.

The emperor then suddenly realized that Xinma Gu was definitely not the kind of person the saintess would talk to him about her adventures.

“I have gone to ancient Norslia, Your Majesty.”

When Xinma Gu answered, the emperor was surprised to find that he seemed more energetic, as if his soul had returned after being absent from his body.

"Ancient Northria?" The emperor frowned. "Where is that?"

“North of the Black Ice Great Wall lies the Demon Realm,” Xinmagu replied, a hint of struggle flashing across his face, but it quickly disappeared into his almost unchanging expression.

"..."

The emperor opened his mouth, and it took him a while to realize what he had just heard.

"The High Priest went to the Demon Realm?"

“Yes,” Simago replied. “At the invitation of His Majesty Lord Rattle, I went to see him and stayed there for a year.”

"..."

"The demon army is poised to march south. His Majesty in the north has instructed me to tell His Majesty in the south to abandon resistance, thus reducing unnecessary casualties. This is also my intention, and that is why I have come here."

In the sweltering heat of approaching June, the emperor felt a chill run down his spine.

"Xin, Xinmagu, don't talk nonsense... I'll get angry."

Xinmagu looked up and stared directly at him. "The disparity in strength is too great. War is meaningless. Your Majesty, please surrender the country."

"You're talking nonsense!" the emperor roared. "Guards, arrest him!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing the commotion, several guards rushed into the council hall and toward Simagu, but as soon as they got close, their bodies burst into black flames.

"what--"

The rushing guards all fell to the ground, and no matter how they rolled and struggled, they could not extinguish the black flames on their bodies. For a moment, the entire hall was filled with screams.

The emperor was completely terrified, shrinking into his seat, not daring to look at the guards struggling, and even less daring to look at Xinmagu staring at him.

"Please consider this carefully, Your Majesty." Simagu turned and left the hall. "I will come again tomorrow."

The emperor didn't dare utter a single word until he left.

The enormous impact took him a long time to recover. He suddenly realized that the screams from before had all stopped, and looking down, there were only a few human-shaped pieces of black ash on the ground.

"what!"

The emperor slumped to the ground, supporting himself with his hands as he stumbled backward, almost losing the strength to stand up again.

"Help! Help!"

More guards rushed into the council hall and, at the emperor's request, surrounded him. No one chased after him.

"Write to Natalia! Tell her I'll grant her any request! Hurry! Go now!" The emperor shouted, his voice trembling and hoarse by the end.

"..."

The guards looked at each other in bewilderment, then helped him up and escorted him back to his seat.

However, the emperor was too weak to sit up.

Xinmagu walked out of the palace, mounted a skinny horse parked outside, and rode away.

Outside Lutia Cathedral, Elise crossed her arms and glanced sideways at Sophie, who was saying goodbye to her family not far away.

She had no memory of her family members who had passed away many years ago, and she didn't want to go over and join in the commotion, which would only add to her sadness. She just wanted to wait for Sophie to come over, say a few words to her, and then go find Eileen and Molly.

After staying in Lutia for a few more days, she prepared to leave and catch up with the saint and her entourage as soon as possible.

A moment later, Sophie came over, sniffling.

"You could have stayed another night at home, why are you saying goodbye now?"

“If we say goodbye tomorrow morning…” she wiped her eyes, “it will definitely take a long time. If I say goodbye now, I can stay at the monastery tonight and leave directly tomorrow morning.”

“You’ll definitely regret it,” Elise asserted. “You’ll definitely go home tonight, and you’ll definitely be crying and wasting another half a day tomorrow morning.”

"……Won't!"

"I'm going to find Eileen and Molly."

Elise didn't bother to say more, "I might come back, I might stay there for one night, but I'll definitely make it by tomorrow morning. Just wait here."

Sophie instinctively responded, then belatedly grabbed her arm, "You should come back. If I'm alone at night, I won't be able to resist going home. And then..."

"You are so troublesome."

"Even His Highness has never said that to me!"

"Alright, alright, I'll be back." Elise said helplessly, "If you don't let go, I won't make it back in time."

Sophie let go, and Elise, holding the horse she had borrowed from the church, prepared to ride it outside.

"You must come back."

Sophie watched her go, and then she saw Elise suddenly stop walking.

She looked ahead, first surprised that someone dared to ride a horse near the cathedral, then she recognized the figure.

"High Priest..."

Sophie was shocked. The person the Holy See and Her Highness had been searching for for a year had actually appeared in Lutia City like this?

Elise, facing him directly, felt she should mount her horse and run away, but an indescribable fear weighed her down, making her just stare fixedly as Simmagu drew closer and closer.

Is he really Simagu?

Although they have the same face, the feeling they evoke is completely different from before.

The old Simagu, while it could also create a sense of mental oppression, was never as suffocating as it is now.

Elise even felt that she would die the moment she looked away.

“You’re still alive.” Simagu’s gaze now fell on her face. “Yalan.”

"The High Priest..."

Elise spoke with difficulty.

She hadn't seen Sinmagus since she tricked him out of Lutia a year ago.

She knew that Xinmagu must already know her undercover identity. After ten years of deception, he would definitely not give her a good look and might even kill her, even if he had probably already sided with the demons.

Simagu, however, seemed completely unconcerned, glancing at the cathedral that was so close by. "Is Her Highness the Saintess here?"

"...not."

With her body almost stiff, Elise rolled her eyes as she watched Simmagu approach, pass by her, and then continue forward without stopping, distancing herself from her.

The invisible pressure suddenly eased, and she had just breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Simagu say, "I've come back to find some things. Come and help me, Alan."

"..."

Her intuition told her that refusing would not end well.

"Yes... the High Priest."

She loosened the reins, returned to the church, and stared intently at Sophie, who was still standing there dumbfounded. In the instant their eyes met, she repeatedly signaled to her to run away.

"..."

Sophie opened her mouth, then suddenly collapsed to the ground.

She also felt that oppressive feeling of death.

Xinmagu didn't even glance at her, and after dismounting, he went straight into the church.

Elise immediately bent down, pinched her shoulders, and lowered her voice to a whisper, "Write a letter to His Highness, tell him that Simmagul has returned, quickly!"

The pain in her shoulder brought Sophie back to her senses. She glanced in fear at the figure that had walked into the church. "What happened? I thought I was going to die..."

Elise didn't know why, but she repeated what she had just said and then pulled her up.

Looking back into the church, her breath caught in her throat—Simmagu was staring in her direction.

"...Hurry up and go."

She practically forced out those two words through gritted teeth, gave Sophie a push, and then walked into the church.

"Are the letters that others wrote to me still kept here?" Simagu asked as she walked in, ignoring the various surprised or solemn gazes in the church.

“I don’t know… High Priest,” Elise said. “I’ll have to ask Archbishop Dorian.”

Simagu responded, then suddenly looked up. The current Archbishop Dorian and the Apostolic Administrator Basil were looking at him from upstairs, their expressions complex.

"High Priest Simagu..."

Dorian exchanged a glance with Basil beside him. "I didn't expect you to be back."

Simagu looked at the two calmly. "I've come to find my things." "The High Priest left in haste a year ago. We haven't touched your things at all; they're still in the High Priest's old office," Basil said.

"it is good."

Simma nodded and went straight upstairs. Elise followed, glancing at the two people who were nominally the highest-ranking in the cathedral as they passed by.

Both of them understood her eyes—to find a way to subdue Xinmagu, or rather, to kill him.

No one spoke. Elise followed Simmagus into the office, while Dorian and Basil immediately slipped into another office and closed the door tightly.

"Why is Simmagu back?" Basil asked immediately.

“How should I know… This guy is getting weirder and weirder. I glanced at him and I thought I was going to die. My chest felt so tight.” Dorian said, rubbing his chest.

“I feel the same way. What should we do now?” Basil continued to pose the difficult question.

"I don't know!" In his frustration, Dorian's voice rose considerably, then he quickly lowered it again. "Her Highness the Saintess ordered you to set up ballistae outside the church. Have you prepared them?"

Basil's eyes widened. "Didn't you say we didn't need to pay any attention to him...? Are you really going to kill Simmagu?"

Dorian swallowed, a hint of lingering fear on his face.

“I don’t know how to describe it… but just now, my intuition told me that if I don’t kill Simagu now, I might die at his hands in the next moment.”

“But it’s too late to prepare now…” Basil said.

Dorian suddenly turned to look at him. "Basil, go and gather the church knights. Have them assemble outside. Be quick and discreet, and don't let Sinmag catch your eye."

"..."

Basil opened his mouth, "Should I go?"

“I’ll stay here and watch over Simmagu.” Dorian opened the door and pushed him out. “Go now!”

With a bang, the door was closed.

Basil gritted his teeth, glanced at Simago's office on the other side of the corridor, and cast a spell to eliminate fear on himself as he went downstairs.

"What the hell... Why am I so afraid of him...?"

Meanwhile, in Simagu's office, he was sitting behind his desk, rummaging through his belongings.

Meanwhile, Elise was also searching.

"A letter from a man named Rusdy many years ago... find it for me."

Rusdy...

She still remembers the name.

Isn't this Molly's teacher? She's supposedly a master of soul research, and the person Eric has been searching for.

Why does Simagu also want to find him?
She was unaware that Rusti was still in contact with Simmagu.

Looking at the several bookshelves in front of her, Elise felt at a loss as to where to begin.

How long will it take her to find a letter that was sent from an unknown time and place?
If she finds the letter, will she be able to leave alive?

Elise wasn't sure.

She tried to subtly tilt her head and glance at Xinmagu, only to meet his gaze.

"..."

It was too late to turn our attention away.

“Your strength has improved a lot, Alan,” Xinmagu said.

“…Yes, High Priest.” She explained involuntarily, “I spent more than half a year training with Her Highness the Holy Maiden on the ancient battlefield.”

Simagu put down the stack of letters in his hand. "I heard that the Holy Maiden has just returned from the North."

"Yes……"

"Has he already returned to Lesser?"

"Yes."

Simagu made a sound that was hard to understand.

"Where has the High Priest been this past year?" Elise asked, surprised that she herself could even ask him that question.

"The Northern Demon Realm." Even in the cathedral, Simmagu made no attempt to hide anything. "It's the place you Arans and demons want me to go."

"..."

Elise was deeply shocked, and then fell silent.

Xinmagu has actually sided with the demons.

She is considered a traitor on the other side, so will he kill her for that?
“Keep searching,” Simagu said calmly, neither asking about the past nor mentioning her choices, remaining focused on the initial goal.

"Yes……"

Elise then took down a thick stack of letters, searching for the sender named "Rusdy".

As she searched, she suddenly realized that the entire cathedral was eerily quiet, as if the only sound she could hear was the rustling of her own letters.

She listened carefully again, and in the extreme silence, she heard a series of extremely faint but rapid footsteps.

—The knights are gathering in the church.

Her heart sank instead.

Xinmagu was an eighth-tier, nearly ninth-tier, archmage. She believed that if the elite knights in the church swarmed him, they would definitely have the ability to kill him, but it was difficult to guarantee that she would not be affected by Xinmagu's resistance.

She could only hope, amidst heightened tension, that neither of them would act impulsively.

Therefore, when Simagu suddenly sighed, she trembled.

But he only sighed.

Iris was puzzled, guessing that Simmagu had heard the knights gathering.

While taking the letter from the bookshelf, she glanced at him and noticed he was holding a letter, which seemed to be the source of his sigh.

She was more familiar with the envelopes on the table—they were special envelopes used only for letters sent from the Lesser Palace.

The only thing that could make Simmagu sigh at this moment was the old Pope's letter, Elise guessed.

Thinking of the Pope, she inevitably thought of Her Highness the Saint, who was on her way back to Leslie.

When will he receive news that Simmagu has appeared in Lutia?

She suddenly felt incredibly remorseful.

Why did she stay at this time?
Why did Simagu return to Lutia at this particular time...?

Unbeknownst to her, Eric had already returned to Lutia and was leading a large contingent of knights through the east gate into the city.

He had only been in the city for a short while when he was about to turn onto the main street where the cathedral was located when he suddenly saw the royal guards rushing towards him from not far away.

Both sides noticed each other from a distance, but neither knew the other's intentions. Eric hesitated for a moment, and the palace guards swarmed forward and surrounded them.

All the knights immediately drew their weapons and entered battle stance.

"Morse!"

Eric spotted the palace guard captain leading the group immediately. "What do you mean?"

Morse then noticed that the leader of the group of knights was the saintess.

“Your Highness, I am acting on His Majesty’s orders to surround the Lutia Cathedral and execute the traitor Sinmaggu.”

"Simmagu is back?" Eric asked hastily. "When?"

“Yes, just now. He went into the palace to see His Majesty, claiming that he had surrendered to the demons and demanding that His Majesty surrender the country. He even killed more than a dozen palace guards in front of His Majesty before escaping the palace,” Morse replied.

Eric frowned.

Did Xinmagu storm the palace just to persuade them to surrender?

"Is His Majesty dead?"

"..."

"Ahem... I meant, was His Majesty harmed?"

“No,” Morse replied, “but His Majesty was quite frightened.”

He paused, then looked at the knights he had brought. "Your Highness, these knights you brought shouldn't stop us, right?"

“Our goal is the same as yours. Sinmaggu betrayed the Church, and I want to kill him,” Eric said coldly. “Are you sure Sinmaggu is in the cathedral?”

"Many people saw it with their own eyes."

"Go over there."

Eric pulled on the reins and turned onto the main road, soon arriving at the cathedral, where he found a circle of knights already surrounding it—the cathedral's own knights.

Outside the church, Dorian and Basil, who had already run out, stared at him in surprise.

"Your Highness, Simagu..."

“I came here for him.” Eric had just dismounted when the royal guards, who had followed closely behind, circled the cathedral twice more. The inner circle drew their swords, while the outer circle drew their bows and arrows, making the church knights who were originally inside extremely nervous. Morse had to go over to mediate.

"Is Simagu inside?"

Dorian nodded. "And the attendant who defected to His Highness from Simmagu's side."

Eric was taken aback. "Elise?"

"Yes."

His expression immediately darkened. "What is Xinmagu doing in there?"

"It seems like... they're looking for something?"

"—Your Highness."

Eric turned his head and saw that Elise, whom he was worried about, had come out on her own.

Her face was equally grim. "The High Priest invites you up."

(End of this chapter)