Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The One Who Leaves and the One Who Pursues
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'Today really is a strange day.'
David loaded the still dazed Franco onto the back of the cart as he reviewed the day's events.
Things had been off ever since Lorenzo visited St. Vesta Cathedral. He had gone out of his way to discuss matters that didn't need addressing today—nor were they the sort that could be used to catch anyone off guard.
Beno, Lorenzo's errand boy, had poked around the cathedral, which put David on edge, but there was nothing particularly unusual about his behavior.
David had always feared Lorenzo. The man had never resorted to threats, engaged in serious doctrinal debates, or applied political pressure. On the contrary, he helped with difficult tasks, handled annoying chores, and introduced talented individuals. He even made polite requests when his own side faced troubles.
In his younger days, David had liked him enough. Though from a different priestly order, he believed they could be good allies who combined their strengths.
Pinpointing exactly when that fear began was difficult. Was it after hearing rumors that he never slept, only worked? Or after whispers of strange happenings around him?
One incident stood out from a visit to Lorenzo's home. David had obtained some apples that were too heavy to carry all the way home, and since Lorenzo lived nearby, he decided to drop by as a gift.
David knocked politely and waited for Lorenzo to answer. He appeared after about a minute. But behind his head shone a halo. It was blinding, as if an angel were descending, filled with a holy aura.
Stunned, David stood there with his mouth agape, unable to greet him. Lorenzo seemed utterly unaware, asking casually what brought him there.
David handed over the apples as a gift and fled the house.
He never asked Lorenzo about it. It might have been light from a window behind him, or simply an optical illusion.
Lorenzo showed no unusual behavior or mention of it. He merely sent a box of olives in return, saying he'd enjoyed the apples.
After that, similar incidents occurred several times. Subtle anomalies that only David noticed kept happening around Lorenzo. Other priests' complaints—that he had become politically corrupt or was plotting against the Emperor or Holy Father—even seemed enviable by comparison.
If Lorenzo were scheming, David felt, it would be on a scale beyond what mere priests could imagine.
Lorenzo's lack of any special response to the Holy Grail was equally suspicious.
Only the Holy Father was excited about the Grail. The Raphael Priesthood officially sided with him, so his views were theirs. And with Lorenzo, their de facto leader, remaining silent, it seemed like agreement. Most thought so.
Only David believed otherwise.
'Lorenzo isn't distancing himself from the Grail. Just as the Emperor opposed the Grail expedition through silence, Lorenzo is expressing some stance through his silence. But what is it? Opposition? Support? Or something more?'
After Lorenzo chatted amiably like a casual visitor and left, David found himself unable to leave St. Vesta Cathedral. He needed to hurry after Jade and protect him, yet he felt certain that Lorenzo's subordinates were watching from somewhere.
He also had to wait for Danel anyway.
David learned of Danel's death at noon. Patrol guards and security officers nearby had delivered the news, both convinced of it. Eyewitness accounts even matched that an unknown companion had died with him.
It felt like the sky was collapsing.
David and Danel were close enough to exchange wills. David's was over ten pages, long and intricate. He had to properly outline the relationships around St. Vesta Cathedral, lest it spark internal conflicts in the Rom Priesthood later!
Danel's, by contrast, was excessively simple. Even without formal praises to God or self-reflection—fitting his personality—it left the same directive for every matter.
'Leave everything to Jade and let him handle it.'
To an outsider, it might seem a warm bequest, like a father passing his legacy to a son he raised. But to David, it looked like shirking responsibility: 'Jade will clean up the mess I made.'
A month after the Emperor assigned the Grail expedition, mere half a day after returning to Rom with Jade, he died in a sudden fire.
David was convinced it was murder, no need for further proof. Now was the time to protect Jade as per the will and let him resolve Danel's issues.
David prepared to depart in disguise, borrowing a wine merchant's cart and making himself as shabby as possible to hide his identity.
Just as he left the cathedral, a beggar girl approached. Normally, he would have cared for her warmly, but anxious, he tossed her a coin and left.
The beggar girl had an oddly unsettling air. Covered in mud, her clothes disheveled, her hair color unrecognizable, yet she seemed refined. Unlike typical beggars, she didn't cling desperately. She showed no joy at the coin or greed for more.
David inexplicably felt guilty. Seeing her evoked a tale from the ancient scriptures, predating the Nine Scriptures.
Angels decided to burn the corrupt city of Sodom. But one angel objected.
There must be at least one righteous soul in this fallen city!
They delayed judgment by a day, and that angel descended to earth as a beggar girl.
She begged for help, starved and ill. Villagers ignored her, fellow beggars drove her from their turf, soldiers raped her.
Finally, she reached a small chapel on the city's edge. A poor priest named Racob fed her, sheltered her, and nursed her despite his own poverty.
At dawn, she revealed herself as an angel and warned him.
Tonight, rain of fire will fall from the sky. But this chapel is under my protection and safe—do not leave it!
Racob warned the people and urged them to seek refuge in the chapel. Only those who believed in God and followed him came.
At midnight, as the angel foretold, fire rained from the heavens....
David pondered this from seeing the girl until leaving Rom to meet Jade.
'If she's still in front of the cathedral when I return, I must do what Racob did. Wash the mud off, clothe her properly, and bring her into the cathedral. If she wishes, send her to a convent.'
David was lost in these thoughts even after sending Jade off and riding back in the cart. He didn't notice Franco had vanished from the back.
Only just before entering Rom did David realize the cart was empty.
"Franco? Franco!"
His first thought was that Franco had tumbled off the bumpy cart. But though shabby, it had no broken parts or spots where someone could roll off.
'Franco got off without me knowing. Why?'
David scanned the road behind, but no figure appeared on the horizon.
'Why else? My God!'
Plunged in guilt, David sat motionless on the cart.
'I stepped up to help, only to put Jade in danger.'
'Jade, this guy has the Fourth Holy Scripture!'
Franco had no intention of betraying David or endangering the Rom Priesthood. Quite the opposite—he burned with a mission to triumph over the Raphael Priesthood and revive Rom.
Bishop David and Cardinal Pietro always preached that 'the Rom Priesthood is in a hostile relationship with the Raphael Priesthood.' To him, it rang hollow.
When Rotikan declared the Grail as God's will and the Raphael Priesthood pushed the expedition from the shadows, Franco fretted.
'People want to see the effort to find the Grail itself! Even if we fail!'
Franco prayed the Rom Priesthood was secretly pursuing it without realizing. But as time passed, his disappointment grew.
'If the Raphael Priesthood actually finds it, Rom is finished. The world will revolve around Rotikan, and Rom will live only in history books: "There was once a minor priestly order."'
As he prepared to set off alone to the eastern continent if needed, Franco sensed something brewing around Father Danel. Soon after, Bishop David summoned him to guard Danel.
'My God, protect Father Danel? The Danel with the Fourth Holy Scripture? This is divine revelation.'
He had long investigated the Fourth Holy Scripture's whereabouts. At any rumor of leads, no matter how distant, he pursued them relentlessly, sparing no time or effort even for vague whispers.
Exegeses that could reinterpret the scriptures, books holding all the world's secrets, tomes of miraculous power.... Any rumor would do.
Franco was obsessed with the Fourth Holy Scripture, tirelessly hunting traces.
He heard the rumor about Danel a month ago. Without hesitation, he sneaked into Danel's home, searched his inns and cathedrals. Nothing.
'He wouldn't carry such an important book around.'
As Franco pondered closer access to Danel, David assigned him the guard duty.
How could this not be divine revelation!
He recalled his long-prepared solo plan.
First, seize the Fourth Holy Scripture from Father Danel. Whatever power it held—or if mere rumor—he'd decide after obtaining it. Then find the Grail and head east alone....
If killing was necessary, so be it—God's will.
'My purpose is noble. Not personal greed; if it arises from following God's word, it cannot be wrong.'
When Autis displayed demonic power in the underground tomb chamber, Franco wasn't surprised. He was already thinking of sending him to a religious trial for his heretical doctrines, so it felt natural.
The problem was Jade.
Jade opened what he thought was a scripture, unleashing brilliant light that incinerated Autis. Franco had handled and confirmed that book himself—it was a scripture. Luxurious leather binding aside, nothing special.
'Of course! The Fourth Holy Scripture has been hidden this way all along! That's why my exhaustive searches yielded nothing.'
Franco refused to believe he wasn't chosen.
'There must be some secret. A way to hold it, reorder pages, ciphers. Naturally!'
He feigned unconsciousness in the chamber, eavesdropping on Jade and the Emperor. As expected, Jade was tasked with Danel to seek the Grail.
Wielding the Fourth Holy Scripture, petitioning the Emperor directly, embarking on the Grail expedition in glory—that was Franco's dream. Yet it fell to the man right beside him, a young excommunicated murderer!
Franco agonized inwardly as Jade carried him.
'Squeeze his throat and take the scripture?'
But his mind hadn't fully cleared. His head still spun from Autis's blows. No guarantee he could move well, and Jade had that fearsome incinerating magic. Better to strike when certain.
By the time he could move and overpower Jade, Bishop David arrived. Franco played dead, listening in.
The foolish bishop sent Jade alone. Franco envied Jade's trust from Emperor to bishop.
Though unofficial, the Raphael Priesthood dispatched Glitten's Royal Knights and Parens' 1st Holy Knights for the Grail—acknowledged strongest orders. Yet Emperor and bishop sent this weakling who could crush two skulls with one fist? No.
'Perhaps this too is divine revelation. This task was meant for me, but bishop and Emperor misinterpreted God's will and gave it away.'
Riding in David's cart, Franco waited for his chance and jumped off. The oblivious David noticed nothing.
Franco could pursue Jade unchecked.
'Isn't everything aligning perfectly for me? Defying this is defying God's will. I must follow. God wills it!'