People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

The problem is that the dignified Seventh Papal Court, despite the rampant rumors, doesn't even know the name of the enemy organization's leader. The only useful information—the boss's codename—was obtained from Fiameta.

This can only mean two things: either the people in the Seventh Bureau have had too much sugar in their brains and have been thoroughly brainwashed, or the other organization's level of secrecy is far higher than initially imagined. Considering the Seventh Bureau's rather impressive track record in diplomacy in recent years, the first possibility is highly unlikely. And if it's the second...

The mysterious organization that's stirring up trouble in Laterano is probably far more complex than they imagine.

The organization is well-organized, with clear objectives and ambitious plans, and it maintains unity and secrecy.

Although the Laterans have never eaten pork, they have watched pink-haired piglets run around for thousands of years. This process is like a rebellion!

Fiameta frowned.

Logically speaking, this matter shouldn't really concern her. Her current task is simply to supervise Mostima, the fallen angel who carries the artifact of the lock and key, as her guardian. If anything were to happen to the Holy City, that would be handled by the Papal Court's specialists; it's not her place to worry about it.

But she just couldn't let go of her worries.

The source of the "precursor" message was her junior in the Lateran Guard—Patia.

The Lateran Guard was a city guard spontaneously formed by the Liberians living in Lateran to protect the city. It was later recognized by the Papal Court and given a formal organization. Although it was not strong in combat, had a small number of members, and was not very useful, it was still considered a military force in Lateran and enjoyed many rights.

To be more precise, guarding the city gates, protecting the Papal Palace, and safeguarding the core city's power plant are all matters in which the Lateran Garrison is authorized to participate.

And all three of these things are related to the core of Lateran.

If the city gates are breached, the Holy City will face a massive onslaught from wilderness refugees, Sarkaz, Rusthammers, and bandits. If the Papal Palace is lost, the Holy City will lose its only "brain." If the power furnace is destroyed, the Holy City will lose its ability to escape natural disasters.

And yet, within this crucial team, there were followers of the "Pioneer," and a traitor among them.

Fiameta felt her heart clench suddenly.

What a similar situation. Both are a team with outstanding achievements, both are people who trust each other, both are comrades holding weapons, but one person is suddenly tempted and develops disloyal thoughts. Both end up with no turning back once the fighting starts.

If Patia really does something reckless, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Even if she is stopped in the operation, the Lateran Guard will suffer annihilation and disintegration because of her actions!

This moment is just like that moment!

They are so similar!

This directly triggered Fiameta's PTSD. Her face darkened to an unprecedented degree, and just as her gaze fell upon Mostima, she heard her friend say, as if she had expected it:

“I didn’t tell the old men in the Seventh Bureau where the information came from. You still have time, Fiameta. Go and stop her.”

With a slight upturn of his lips, Mostima gave the astonished Liberian girl a "Don't worry about me" smile, promising:

"There are priorities, so go quickly. You don't need to worry about me. Being a guide for a foreign leader is a boring job that won't get you anywhere."

Fiameta pursed her lips and nodded her thanks to Mostima:

"Thank you very much, then I'll leave it to you. I'll be back as soon as possible."

After she finished speaking, she turned around and glanced at Remian on the hospital bed. Then, as if being chased by something, she ran away from the hospital without wanting to waste even a second longer.

Mostima could guess what she was thinking—"That time with Remian and you, I was late. But this time, I absolutely won't let that happen again!"

Feeling a slight pang of guilt, Mostima sighed softly, looking at Remian on the hospital bed, and murmured to herself with mixed emotions:

"Now, Fiameta is out of the loop."

"It's time for you to unleash your full potential and complete the task assigned by the Pope, Mostima."

"Find out exactly how many cards Ernst has. And..."

Mostima grinned slightly, revealing a smile that Ernst would definitely recognize—a smile reminiscent of a black rabbit.

"Satisfy your little bit of personal curiosity."

Chapter 223 Lateran Notary Office

Lateran, St. John's district, hotel.

After a day of rest, Ernst felt much more energetic.

There was an unspoken rivalry between Sherag and Lateran, but that was a matter for later and didn't stop him from taking the opportunity to enjoy life in Lateran.

The reason why the Holy City is a Holy City and is praised by countless people is because of its style, which is completely different from the outside world.

No one worries about making a living; food is plentiful, manners are observed, one can do as one pleases without overstepping boundaries—this is the picture of Lateran life in the Holy City. Ernst must admit that Sherag has a very, very long way to go before achieving these requirements.

In order to make the journey more rewarding while being relaxed, he prepared an itinerary in advance, and when Mostima arrived, he took the initiative to ask her where they were going.

However, to Ernst's surprise, when Mostima knocked on the hotel room door precisely at nine o'clock in the morning, Ernst did not see that dashing figure in red when he opened the door.

"Miss Mostima is alone today?"

“What? Mr. Ernst cares a lot about Fiameta?” Mostima said, shaking his head with some regret. “But she has urgent business to attend to right now, so I will have to take over the tour guide duties for the time being.”

She clasped her hands together in prayer to Ernst and pleaded, "Please, Mr. Ernst, do not tell His Holiness the Pope about this."

Ernst raised an eyebrow in surprise, gave Mostima a meaningful look, and nodded slightly.

He hadn't expected that Fiameta had an urgent matter that prevented him from attending. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be anything more urgent than an order personally issued by the Pope.

Mostima specifically emphasized that she should not inform the Pope of this matter...

Hmm... Although there was no basis for it, he could smell the scent of an "incident".

Although he had never really believed in the concept of "event constitution," having already experienced time travel, it didn't seem so hard to accept. Rather, Ernst was more inclined to believe that an "event constitution" didn't mean events always happened around him, but rather that he always seemed to be drawn into them?

Ernst had to retract his initial assessment; while Lateran was indeed peaceful most of the time, it wasn't entirely tranquil.

It seems that Ivangelista XI also has his own troubles.

Of course, Ernst couldn't be 100% certain that this little incident was a sign of something big about to happen in Laterano. To be conservative, he estimated it was about 80%. The remaining two layers of suspicion were partly out of consideration for the city of Laterano and the Sakorta race—what if Mostima, this seemingly respectable Sakorta, was actually plotting with Fiameta to throw a birthday party for King Evangelista XI, and he needed to keep it from him?

As for the remaining half-layer of the chance, consider it a sacrifice to the random whims of this land—natural disasters aren't always accurately observed by the Disaster Messenger and successfully transmitted back to the city.

In the past, Ernst would have avoided any potential trouble as much as possible. Not everyone likes to dance on a tightrope. Being forced to perform is one thing, but why would someone risk their life to do an extra act?

But this time, Ernst was actually looking forward to trouble.

This is because it helps him achieve the second requirement of his "competition plan," namely, "get Lateran to recognize Sherag's initiation." — Nothing works better than a favor.

However, before trouble comes his way, it would be presumptuous for Ernst, given his status, to get involved rashly, which might be seen as overstepping his bounds and could potentially cause displeasure from Laterano.

Therefore, he adopted a strategy of advancing as a form of retreat, and did not proactively inquire about the details of Mostima's readily available entry point.

Anyway, Mostima will be his guide for the next few days, so Ernst will have plenty of opportunities to let Mostima or Fiameta bring it up themselves.

All I can say is that it was all a calculated scheme.

Having made up his mind and laid out his plans, Ernst took out the pre-prepared itinerary and handed it to Mostima:

"Then I'll have to trouble Miss Mostima for the time being. I'd like to visit your notary office today, would that be convenient?"

Notary office?

Mostima blinked and nodded, saying, "It's convenient, but Mr. Ernst, the notary office is a very boring place. Are you sure you want to go there?"

Ernst nodded firmly.

Are notary offices boring?

From a purely sightseeing perspective, it is indeed quite boring. The Notary Office is one of the official institutions of Lateran. Its function is simple: to collect fees from all Lateran citizens, to urge them to fulfill their various legal obligations, and to provide various rights protection services for Lateran citizens.

Simply put, it's a three-in-one system combining the tax bureau, police department, and consumer protection commission (the ultimate upgraded plus version).

In Ernst's view, this configuration could only be described as luxurious, second only to the trinity of public security, procuratorate, and judiciary in feudal aristocrats, almost maximizing the power of enforcement.

Ernst was very curious about how they usually operated. What was it like inside an organization with such immense power? How did the employees work? How did they monitor themselves and prevent corruption?

These experiences can provide valuable lessons and serve as a reference for the future development of the Sherag government.

After all, Ernst's Scherrag government would certainly not adopt the Western-style "small government" model in the future—it's such a small place, if too much power is given to the local governments, then who knows, once he leaves office, the next leader might not have enough prestige, and the whole of Scherrag would directly surpass Letania and Victoria in terms of the degree of division, and become a cosplay of the Holy Roman Empire—he would definitely take the Eastern-style "big government" approach.

Seeing Ernst's resolute stance, Mostima had no objections.

King Ivangelista XI granted her extensive authority during this mission. Apart from not being able to directly take Ernst into the Papal Palace's Second Chamber to view Lateran's confidential documents, she could go to most parts of Lateran with just a report. For institutions like the notary office, which were open to the public, even the Sakorta could blow them up after submitting a report. With Ernst, she didn't even need to submit a report.

But why would a representative of a colossal beast like her want to go to that place?

Was this some kind of test? Or did Ernst feel that there was something there that could attract his attention, something he hadn't noticed?

Mostima couldn't figure it out for a moment. So he simply went with the flow and led the way, saying, "Sir, this way."

Chapter 224 Ernst: Another Me in the World

Why did they send you out?

Mostima clicked his tongue, muttering to himself with a somewhat unpleasant expression.

Unfortunately, her deliberately lowered voice didn't escape the ears of the tall, silver-haired man in front of her. Federico frowned slightly and explained:

"My colleagues have recognized my understanding of the duties of the notary office, the statutes of Lateran law, and the history and honor of the notary office, and therefore elected me. If Miss Mostima feels there is anything inappropriate, she may explain the reasons to me."

Your emotional intelligence is inadequate.

Mostima choked up, unable to say the words aloud.

She could somewhat understand the thoughts of the Sakotas at the notary office. Introducing Ernst to Laterano was hardly a lucrative task for these civil servants; a poor performance could even result in punishment from King Ivangelista XI. And in terms of professional knowledge alone, no one understood a notary office better than Federico, so assigning this task to him was a natural choice.

However, Mostima felt that if Federico were to assist him, one of them, Ernst, would surely be furious.

After all, this guy's personality is... a hundred times more difficult to deal with than Fiametta's!

Federico Giallo, a notary public with an emotionally low level comparable to a machine, is rigid and stubborn in everything he does. He is mostly assigned to execute wills and deal with the affairs of the deceased's family. Because of this strange job experience, he has also earned an impressive and terrifying nickname: "The Undertaker".

There's an urban legend circulating in notary offices: if you ever find Federico showing up at your door, you should start thinking about what you did wrong, or if you need to make some arrangements for your funeral.

But since Federico was already there, Mostima couldn't very well ask him to go back. As this "funeral director" himself said, aside from vague terms like emotional intelligence, Mostima couldn't find a single reason why Federico was unsuitable beforehand.

Moreover, she was also somewhat looking forward to seeing how Ernst would deal with this rather unusual Sakorta.

Nodding to Federico and waving for him to follow, Mostima walked out of the notary office and introduced himself to Ernst, who was waiting outside:

“Mr. Ernst, this is Mr. Federico Giallo, a staff member of the notary office. You can ask him any questions you may have during your visit.”

Ernst sized up Federico and extended his hand:

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Federico."

Federico also extended his hand and shook hands with Ernst.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Ernst."

He may lack social skills, but he's not ignorant of etiquette. Social skills require personal understanding, while etiquette can be cultivated through systematic education. In this respect alone, Federico is probably more "etiquette-savvy" than the Pope.

However, excessive politeness can sometimes be a sign of a stiff attitude. Judging from Federico's expressionless face and cold tone when he spoke, his attitude towards Ernst was clearly far worse than that towards the other Saktas Ernst had encountered before.

This slightly overturned Ernst's expectations. Ernst had assumed that all the Sakortas from Lateran were as outgoing as Ivangelista XI and Mostima.

So there are still normal people out there.

The thought of admiration had just crossed his mind when, a second later, Federico's brief remark froze Ernst's smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, but based on the testimonies of my colleagues at the notary office, you cannot be allowed to enter the notary office today."

You are not allowed to participate in Impact!

Ernst was taken aback, and her gaze unconsciously swept over Mostima beside her, only to find that Mostima looked even more bewildered than she did.

Dude, so all that stuff you just told me was just to fool me? What about "there's no one more suitable than me," what about "if you're not satisfied, you can list your reasons and I'll evaluate them," what about "I know the notary office inside and out, and my colleagues recommended me for this position"? Was there a single word of truth in any of that?

You've gone astray, Federico! You're no longer the impartial notary I knew! Who are you?!

Mostima wanted to keep her composure and was curious about Ernst's reaction after being rejected, but at this moment she couldn't help but report the matter to the Pope and have Ivangelist XI personally order that the unfortunate boy be removed from any post where he could come into contact with living people.

Mostima almost bared his teeth in a grimace, then covered his face, sighed, and prepared himself to clean up the mess Federico had left behind.

But before she could speak, Ernst asked:

"why?"

He stated logically and with evidence: "I am granted the right to move freely and tour the Lateran, and to visit all departments except for the confidential units of the Papal Palace after reporting my presence. This is a right granted to me by His Holiness Pope Ivangelista XI. As per procedure, Miss Mostima has already notified the notary office in advance. You have no right to refuse, do you?"

"Since you have no right to refuse, then your refusal is actually an unreasonable overreach of authority. Am I right?"

"If I insist on entering through this door today, Mr. Federico, will you really stop me?"

“If you intervene, I can reconsider today’s itinerary, but I’d like to know, on what grounds are you interfering? On your own? On the behalf of your colleague? Or on behalf of the Lateran Notary Office?”