Are you worthy of saving the world?

After more than an era of development, the Tianli Church gradually formed an extremely large and extremely complex administrative bureaucracy.

The hierarchy of priests ranges from the lowest monks and nuns upwards to monks, deacons, priests, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals.

There are countless church members all over the continent. Even the highest-ranking cardinals, there are as many as eighty-eight bishops. They are in charge of the leadership of various departments of the Vatican and important dioceses in many countries.

Above the cardinals are the "Twelve Holy Sees" who are at the pinnacle of power in the Tianli Church and command the Papal Office.

The "Twelve Holy Sees" are twelve contemporary saints recognized by the Holy See.

Only believers with the most devout faith and the most outstanding abilities in the Tianli Church can obtain this status and honor——

At least, that's what the scriptures say.

The "Twelve Holy Sees" respectively control almost all the powers of the Papal Palace of the Tenli Church, including administration, justice and legislation, and also control the four major military departments under it.

They are the city-state armed bureaus that dispatch the Knights Templar and the Vatican's army respectively.

And the Inquisition, which is affiliated with special forces such as the "Witch Hammer".

There is also the Relic Investigation Bureau, which is responsible for recovering, researching, and preserving holy relics.

Finally, there is the End Administration, which consists of only one member (commonly known as the "Saint").

The reason why the "Twelve Holy Sees" have such enormous power is that their hierarchical lineage comes from the fact that they are vassals of the Pope.

Unlike the Catholic Pope (Papa) of Blue Star, the Pope of the Tenli Church is a hereditary secular monarch and religious leader.

In the last era, humans established the papal city of Falion, and their leader was revered as the first Pope.

At that time, the Pope was both the king of the Vatican City-State and the leader of the Tianli Church.

After an era of development, the Tianli Church became too large.

So there came into being the "Twelve Holy Sees" to assist the Pope in his work.

The subsequent story was just like the struggle between imperial power and prime ministerial power in Chinese history. The Pope and the Holy See began to take sides and fight for power.

They each had a period of dominance.

But overall, the Pope was at a disadvantage and his ecclesiastical power was being constantly weakened.

In recent generations, the Pope has not only completely lost control of the Church, but also most of his secular power has been taken away from him. He is now almost like a mayor.

Unless something unexpected happens, the Vatican City will evolve into a parliamentary republic with a dictatorial tone in a few generations.

By then, the Pope will become a true symbolic head of state (mascot).

Lucia Farion is the Pope of this generation.

She is the adopted daughter of the previous Pope who had no children, and just turned 9 this year. She has no ability to govern and needs to be protected by adults.

Everything is developing towards the future that the Holy Sees expect.

If Ulysses hadn't jumped out to cause trouble in the original plot of the game...

"But speaking of which, isn't Brother Yuri supposed to be interrogated today? Why is he here...ah, are you here to see someone?"

Rukia blinked her watery eyes.

Although she is only nine years old, the girl is quite smart.

"Oh, you found out." Yuli rubbed her head.

This garden was a place that Lucia loved to visit. Yuli thought he might meet her here on the weekend, so he came to try his luck.

"Fufufu, so happy! I've heard a lot of rumors about Yuri-nii recently."

"Has my heroic deeds spread to the Vatican as well?"

"That's right, I heard that Brother Yuli helped the orc princess to remove the curse, right?"

"That's true, but it's just a tiny page in my heroic deeds that is not worth mentioning."

"Wow... so awesome! You are worthy of being Brother Yuli."

Rukia opened her eyes wide and started clapping.

"Rukia, what else did you hear? Can you tell me?"

Although Yuri had to address her as "Your Holiness" in formal occasions, he could just call her by her name in private.

The girl nodded and began to excitedly recount the rumors she had recently heard.

As the Pope, Lucia had never left the floating city, so the rumors she heard were all from the servants.

Of course, Rukia didn't have any friends her own age to talk to.

The only friend who could be considered close to her in age was Ulysses, who was about five years older than her.

Perhaps it was for this reason that Rukia pestered her servants to find out about Yuri's recent situation in the upper city.

Seeing the girl's hearty smile, Yuli suddenly felt that his recent efforts were not in vain.

Although they were both birds kept in cages, Yuli was the freest person in the world compared to her.

“Sister Stella is also more beautiful than the rumors say. I’m so surprised!”

Rukia said excitedly halfway before turning to the silver-haired witch at the side.

"..."

"Sister Stella?"

"Someone is talking to you." Yuli elbowed her.

"Ah... um! Sorry, I was just daydreaming."

Stella came back to her senses and gave Rukia a forced smile.

"Can I call you Sister Stella?" the girl asked nervously.

To her, Stella was someone who was close in age and naturally friendly.

“Well…it’s not impossible.” Stella scratched her hair.

"Great!" Rukia smiled.

"Can't you just say 'yes'?" Yuli said.

“Stop talking nonsense.” Stella folded her arms and snorted.

"Pfft...!"

Rukia watched the interaction between the two and laughed, covering her mouth.

"Brother Yuli and Sister Stella really have a very good relationship!"

Afterwards, the three of them spent a very relaxing and pleasant time in the garden.

"It's almost time, Your Majesty."

The followers came over and whispered.

As Pope, Lucia only has one hour of free time every day at her disposal.

As far as Yuli knew, she would have to take various classes until 8:30 in the evening.

"Okay, I know."

Although she was full of excitement just now, Rukia's expression immediately returned to calm.

If it were an ordinary child, she might have acted like a spoiled child or complained, but she was able to calmly say goodbye to Yuli and Stella.

Is it because she is naturally more sensible and mature than other children and doesn't want to cause trouble to others?

Or did Rukia already realize that her struggles and complaints were meaningless?

"Yuri...you bastard."

After the young Pope left, Stella looked at Yuli with anger on her face.

"what happened?"

Stella frowned and said, “Tsk, don’t play dumb! You brought me to this place on purpose just to let me get to know that kid, right?”

"Ahh, I've been discovered."

Yuri narrowed his eyes slyly and asked back: "So...how?"

Stella gritted her teeth: “You win, you succeeded in angering me.”

Yuli deliberately created an opportunity for Stella and Lucia to meet.

Because he knew that with Stella's outspoken and rebellious character, combined with her past experiences in the orphanage, she would definitely be angry about the young girl's situation after seeing Lucia.

Yuli succeeded.

The witch lady, who had been timid in front of the "Twelve Holy Thrones" until just now, now had a look of anger on her delicate face.

"To use such a young child as a tool to consolidate rule... is unforgivable." Stella murmured indignantly.

"Rukia is so lucky to have a sister who cares so much about her." Yuri said with a smile, "It's about time we leave."

The two moved towards the deepest part of the Pope's Hall.

……

……

……

Yuli and Stella came to the towering building located at the center of the Papal Hall.

From the outside, this building looks as majestic and huge as a palace. In the floating city where white is the main color, it is the only one that is painted gold all over.

Not only does it look huge from the outside, it's incredibly spacious on the inside.

Led by a nun, the two passed through a passage that was like a maze of corridors.

It is more like a bridge than a passage.

The ceiling with the painting of angels is very high, almost as high as the real sky.

On both sides of the passage are bottomless dark holes, and high fences protect the pedestrians passing by, making people shudder and feel as if they are walking on thin ice.

Stella looked around in surprise, her reaction similar to Yuli's when he came here for the first time.

However, unlike young Yuli who was simply shocked by the grandeur of the building, Stella also noticed the various barriers spread throughout the building.