Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Swoosh.

The Holy See's roundtable conference room.

Pope Heinz, his long white beard hanging down, let out a deep sigh.

"As for Cardinal Barneo…"

"……"

"Has he still not arrived?"

At the pope's quiet question, the attendant cleric standing by the door lowered his head, unsure what to do.

"I went to look for him again, but…"

"Tell me."

"I was told that His Eminence Cardinal Barneo is currently away from his post."

"Away from his post, you say."

"Yes. I was told that, unfortunately, the notice of the conference that was sent earlier had not yet been delivered to His Eminence."

At the attendant cleric's reply, the other cardinals seated around the round table all let out a collective gasp.

"How could such a thing have happened?!"

The conference room instantly grew as noisy as a marketplace.

When Pope Heinz gently raised a hand, the tumultuous conference room fell silent as if by magic.

"I ask that you please be a little quieter."

Heinz pressed down on his throbbing temples.

'How truly frustrating.'

This was an unprecedented incident.

Of course, even within the vast Holy See, conflicts between various factions, large and small, had always existed.

But in the face of conduct that treated the order and structure of the entire church so lightly, they could not put shallow factional self-interest first.

That was why every cardinal had put aside all other matters and gathered here despite the summons of their old and ailing pope.

And yet the person who most passionately and earnestly needed to defend his position here was absent?

"Haaah."

At the pope's deep sigh, one cardinal cautiously opened his mouth.

"Your Holiness. It seems Cardinal Barneo deliberately avoided coming."

"Deliberately?"

"Yes. We have only barely confirmed that an official document was sent to the academy in the church's name. We do not know its contents at all, however."

Another cardinal joined in, venting his fury.

"Cardinal Barneo, whom we strongly suspect drafted that document on his own authority, has vanished without a trace!"

"The situation may be complicated, but how can you say he acted on his own authority? We have not even established the facts!"

"That is precisely why I say it! Considering the temple's lofty status and dignity, we cannot openly ask outsiders such as the imperial family or the academy for information!"

It was a reasonable complaint.

The Holy See's leadership does not know what was written in an official document sent by the Holy See, so they ask the academy, 'What did we just send from our side?'

It would go down in history as an unprecedented humiliation, with no parallel anywhere in the church's history.

When even a centrist cardinal who did not usually oppose Barneo politically lamented with a click of his tongue, the person who had just defended Cardinal Barneo closed his mouth.

Heinz was deeply uneasy about one thing above all else.

"I know it is improper to voice negative opinions about someone who is not present. However, this has, unfortunately, left our hands and feet completely bound."

No matter how he considered it, Heinz could not shake the thought that Cardinal Barneo had devised a ploy to buy time and prevent the church from doing anything.

'Hah… honestly.'

Pope Heinz could do nothing but let out a hollow laugh.

To think that the church he had spent his entire life building was being tossed about by an ambitious man's reckless rampage.

"Everyone, calm yourselves."

Pope Heinz lightly tapped the table and drew their attention.

His voice was old and feeble, but the authority within it remained as weighty as a great mountain.

"Let us wait quietly until dawn today."

"Until dawn?"

"Yes. But if we still see no clue toward resolving this absurd situation by daybreak tomorrow…"

A clear, piercing light of reason rose in the pope's eyes.

"Then I will thoroughly ascertain the situation outside, even if I must do so through the Imperial Intelligence Department and the merchants who enter and leave the temple."

"……!"

"Until then, I earnestly ask all the cardinals gathered here to remain in this conference room, so that we may resolve the incident swiftly and through a unified effort."

No one dared raise an objection to the pope's decision.

Creeeak.

At that moment, the conference room door carefully opened, breaking the heavy silence, and a monk entered.

"Your Holiness. We have received word from the academy."

The monk approached at a brisk pace and handed Pope Heinz a document envelope.

The fact that it was a document envelope rather than a letter envelope indicated that this was not a private message, but an official document representing the academy.

An unmistakable tension appeared on the faces of the cardinals seated around the round table.

Pope Heinz forced his voice to sound gentle as he addressed the stiff cardinals.

"Relax your expressions, everyone. Why not think of this as a good thing? At the very least, it may provide a clue as to what Cardinal Barneo has done and help us understand the situation."

The cardinals' expressions softened, if only slightly, at the pope's reassurance.

With trembling hands, Heinz tore open the envelope's seal.

There was only a single sheet of parchment inside.

"……"

As the pope read through the contents, his expression began to turn red with rage in an instant.

A thick vein rose on his wrinkled forehead, and his fingertips trembled as the parchment in his hand crumpled.

Anxiety instantly filled the eyes of the cardinals watching the pope's ferocious reaction.

Heinz squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and desperately calmed his emotions before passing the parchment to the cardinal beside him.

"Unfortunately… it seems an unsavory matter far worse than we imagined has occurred."

At the pope's hoarse voice, the anxiety of the cardinals who had not yet received the paper deepened further.

That was because the expressions of the cardinals who received and read the document were all darkening to an ashen gray.

"Good heavens…"

"My God."

"How… how could such a terrible thing…"

Each uttered a dismal lament, and the document plunged them into a mire of shock and despair.

Eventually, after the document had made a full circuit around the table and returned to the seat before the pope, Pope Heinz stared at it again with a devastated heart.

[We have clearly discovered evidence of physical abuse inflicted upon the saintess's body, and secured clear testimony that the church craftily claimed said abuse was 'a prayer for those who have descended to the lowest place.']

[Because the saintess is twenty years old, there is, in principle, no issue with an adult cleric choosing to endure hardship or being encouraged to endure hardship. However, through the saintess's direct testimony, we have secured testimony confirming that this abuse continued for a very long period, beginning when she was still a minor.]

[This academy clearly states that, as it is not an institution of national law, it has neither the authority to determine the illegality of the abuse in question, punish those responsible, nor forcibly detain the saintess.]

The contents were uniformly appalling.

The sharp sentences, which pierced straight to the church's deepest disgrace, left Heinz struggling to breathe.

[However, saintess Lily is the direct disciple of Viscountess Müller, a full professor at this academy.]

[The professor formally and forcefully requested that this academy ensure her disciple's safety for the sake of her own research activities.]

[The adult saintess Lily herself does not wish to return to the temple and strongly wishes to remain at the academy.]

[Although this academy is not an educational institution for minors, considering that, as an educational institution, it may be said to have a duty to protect its members from undue external pressure, we hereby inform you that the senior faculty council has resolved to actively protect the saintess.]

His head had already begun to ache as if it might split, but the true crux lay in the final two items that followed.

Those items laid bare exactly what Cardinal Barneo had done behind the scenes—what sort of madness he had committed.

[The church's claim in its official document that the saintess was kidnapped and detained is unequivocally contrary to the facts, as clarified by the position above, and we deeply regret the church's coercive stance, which is no different from threatening to use force to enter the academy.]

[As for the church's notification that it would report the alleged illegal conduct to the imperial family, this academy proudly announces that, being completely innocent, it has already proactively informed the imperial family of the full circumstances of this matter.]

[Once again, this academy clearly states that it does not claim to be an institution of national law, but merely assumes the role of guardian, with the complete consent of the adult concerned, to protect a member of the academy until just before a legal judgment is rendered.]

"……It seems Cardinal Barneo has decided, in the church's name, to cross an irreversible river with the academy."

No one in the conference room dared speak at the pope's voice, heated with fury.

His wrinkled expression was filled with an unprecedentedly cold and heavy rage.

'The situation is dire.'

Barneo's unilateral rampage had pushed the church to the edge of a precipice.

Pope Heinz clutched his throbbing head and muttered quietly.

"Judging by what this old man's wisdom tells him… it seems the academy saw straight through Cardinal Barneo's mind and prepared for everything perfectly."

Immediately after voicing that dreadful premonition, Heinz hurriedly instructed the monk waiting by the door.

"Find out the whereabouts of every holy knight in the church, without missing a single one. Every moment counts."

"Yes, Your Holiness!"

The monk dashed outside like an arrow.

The pope hoped desperately that his ominous premonition was wrong, but he did not consider that likely.

If Barneo had put a threat to use force into writing, there was a strong chance he had already drawn his sword.

And a short while later.

After hearing the report delivered by the monk, who returned gasping for breath, the pope squeezed his eyes shut at the dizzying realization.

"We have confirmed that most of the East Cross Order's knights are currently away from the temple. Furthermore… we have determined that they secretly armed themselves before leaving the temple."

"As I feared…"

The pope felt his mind turn completely blank.

A sigh that he could not bring himself to voice piled up inside Heinz's mouth.

An irreversible catastrophe had reached the very doorstep.

But it was at that exact moment.

Bang!

The conference room door burst open, and another monk rushed inside with a pallid face.

"Your Holiness! We have a major problem!"

"What is it this time?"

"A heavily armed force believed to belong to the East Cross Order is reportedly confronting the faculty at the academy's main gate right now!"