Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Yol
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(24) Yol
Every time Yol met Cardinal Lorenzo, he felt an urge to kill him.
"If I snapped that neck right now and killed that man, how would human history change?"
It was an unbearable temptation.
He admired himself for holding back.
"Report."
He was the head of the Raphael Clergy Assembly and wielded influence across the entire Rom Empire, yet his attic room was so Spartan it bordered on shabby. The bookshelf crammed with worn books and scrolls, or the desk with pens and ink haphazardly arranged, were so old they couldn't even be sold as antiques.
He probably dressed in relatively fine clothes when heading out to the cathedral, but here at home, he wore garments patched multiple times, with the stitches still visible. It was so excessively frugal that Yol suspected he was putting on an act.
"Shall I just give the results, or the full story?"
Yol asked.
"The full story."
Cardinal Lorenzo replied without looking up from his quill, which danced busily across the page. His white hair and facial wrinkles betrayed his seventy years, but the force in his voice and his stamina rivaled that of a young man.
Yol had never seen him sleep. No matter the hour, he was always awake when Yol arrived.
"He really doesn't sleep, does he?"
Yol found it a bit tedious but started from the part where he went looking for Jervah and missed Jade. He omitted killing the inquisitor and the coachman. Midway, he deliberately dragged out the explanation of how he lost track of Father Daniel's movements and ended up guarding the wrong place, then transitioned to visiting his house.
Lorenzo listened without lifting his head, his pen still moving. Yol recalled how, in past conversations like this, he had repeated Yol's words back verbatim, not missing a single syllable.
"You killed Daniel?"
At the part where Yol described leaving after killing Daniel, Lorenzo stopped his pen and looked up. Even Yol felt a chill when stared down like that, his shoulders tensing. That was the fun part.
"For a mere old man to frighten me like this!"
It was like a lion toying with a rattlesnake. One wrong move and he might get killed, but the curiosity to keep poking just to see those fangs bared...
"What went wrong?"
Yol asked.
"A great deal. I never ordered you to kill Daniel."
"You told me to kill Jade."
"And?"
"You didn't say not to touch Daniel."
"Did I have to specify who to kill and who to spare?"
"You're right. Since you didn't specify, I had to respond to the situation. I was tracking Daniel to get to Jade, but all I found there was some kid acolyte from Saint Vesta Cathedral. If Jade had been there, I would've killed only him and left."
"You don't say you actually killed Jade."
"It's an interim report. And I was passing by anyway."
Lorenzo's unnecessarily serious expression meant he wasn't pleased with the situation.
"You shouldn't have killed Daniel."
"I thought you called me to stop the Holy Grail expedition. So I judged killing Daniel was necessary..."
As far as Yol knew, Lorenzo's stance on the Holy Grail expedition was ambiguous. He hadn't interfered with the departure of the Round Table Knights or the Holy Knights, and the Holy Emperor's announcement wasn't his doing either.
Even someone like Yol, who had burrowed this deep, couldn't read Lorenzo's intentions, so outsiders certainly couldn't. Priests who loved gossip just chattered away.
"That's not for you to judge."
"My apologies."
"Why did you set the fire?"
Lorenzo pointed out something Yol hadn't mentioned yet.
It had been a massive blaze with plenty of witnesses, so it wasn't strange that Lorenzo knew about the fire. He kept tabs on everything in Rom and Rotican, down to a single horse or cat. But for some reason, Yol felt a sense of unease that Lorenzo knew even that much.
"How did he find out about this one?"
Yol cleared his throat once before answering.
"It wasn't a fire I set."
Lorenzo didn't look convinced. Yol, who went around with lies and deceptions on his lips, felt wronged now that he was telling the truth and no one believed him.
"What was the cause of the fire?"
"I don't know."
Yol didn't mention that the oil can he'd brought had caught fire on its own. Nor did he say he'd planned to set it himself once the job was done. The more he explained, the more it sounded like a lie, and if it was just a simple accident, he'd look like a fool.
"This feeling is new. I've killed countless people, stood before the dying as the god of death and an object of terror—why do I feel defeated now?"
Once again, Lorenzo didn't believe Yol.
"Was there no chance it would look like arson?"
"Not that I know of. And it wasn't arson anyway."
"You said you don't know the cause."
"The only ones there were me and Daniel. He was tied up, and I was busy interrogating him."
"Anyone else involved?"
"At least, I didn't see anyone."
"Did you see anything suspicious in the process?"
Curiously, Lorenzo said "existence" instead of "person."
"No."
"You might have missed it."
"Possibly."
Yol was starting to get angry. He considered just giving in to the impulse to snap his neck.
Then he suddenly thought there had been someone suspicious. If Lorenzo hadn't asked, he might have forgotten entirely—the memory was already faint.
A filthy little girl covered in mud had been squatting in front of the burning Daniel's house. Her calm expression, as if it were none of her business, was eerie. Even if it was a stranger's house, no one could stay that composed before such a huge fire. And if it was someone she knew, it made even less sense.
Yol approached out of curiosity about who she was. But then the homeowner appeared, claimed her as his daughter, and took her away.
Yol shrugged it off and turned away. Soon after, the house collapsed, so there was no reason to stay.
"If that girl was a suspicious presence, then she was."
Yol didn't bother mentioning such a trivial detail.
"So what next?"
Lorenzo asked.
"I went to Saint Vesta Cathedral. If Father Daniel had stopped somewhere on his way, it might be there. Plus, that acolyte was with him."
"And?"
Lorenzo urged him on.
Yol hesitated whether to tell this part. If things went well, it would show his foresight; if not, it would seem like meddling.
"Actually, I've had someone planted in Saint Vesta Cathedral for a year now. A monk named Autis. I told him to act like one of the Rom clergy and build trust."
Yol decided to spill it.
"Originally, I was supposed to meet Autis there, but I didn't. So I discreetly asked one of the acolytes, and he said Autis hadn't been seen for a few days. I'm hoping he was urgently deployed for this job. If it was nothing major, he would've left word for me."
Lorenzo mulled it over for a moment, then shook his head.
"That's just speculation."
"My hunches are usually spot on. Except this time, a bit..."
"What about Bishop David?"
Lorenzo cut him off.
"I didn't know I had to watch him too. And hadn't Your Eminence already met him?"
Yol shot back as if getting revenge.
Lorenzo glared again, but briefly this time.
Yol hadn't completely ignored Bishop David's movements.
He'd lingered near Saint Vesta Cathedral until noon, waiting to see if David did anything unusual. If he rushed off somewhere, Yol planned to follow; if some procession entered or left the cathedral, he'd tail it. But all that came and went were a few small carts, a dozen worshippers, beggars coming to plead, merchants selling goods, and endless groups of foreign tourists treating the cathedral like a holy site.
"You must have searched around the cathedral at least. No unusual visitors?"
"None..."
Yol paused mid-answer. Come to think of it, there had been another suspicious figure this time too. Another faint memory he wouldn't have recalled if Lorenzo hadn't asked.
It was a grubby little girl. For a moment, Yol felt like he'd seen her before. To check, he approached the beggar girl. But an old coachman spotted her and tossed her a coin. She took it, shoulders slumped, and shuffled off somewhere.
For a beggar, she didn't seem particularly thrilled about the coin. Then a gang of beggars surrounded her. Furious, they cursed her out and roughly dragged her into an alley.
They were probably angry she'd encroached on their turf. They'd take her somewhere secluded, rob her of the money, rape her, and if they felt merciful, kill her painlessly.
Yol quickly lost interest and left the cathedral.
"...that I saw."
"Hm?"
The gap between the start and end of his sentence was so long that Lorenzo tilted his head, not understanding. Yol repeated.
"No unusual activity."
Lorenzo asked with a dissatisfied look.
"So you're reporting that you're waiting for news from this unverified source named Autis, who may or may not show up?"
"No. Actually, I came to request a few things."
"Speak."
"No matter how thorough I am or how I've never failed a mission, I want to cover any loose ends. Just block Rom's city gates for a day or two."
"There's no state of emergency. We can't restrict entry and exit."
"I see. Then could we just track the movements of clergy? We can identify them by their attire. No need for blockades. If the guards report, I'll handle it..."
Yol trailed off, and Lorenzo nodded curtly.
"That much is possible."
"And one more: to head east for the Holy Grail, they'll have to use Pisa Port or Sangpol Port. Block those too."
"You think Jade will go on the Holy Grail expedition alone, without Daniel?"
"If he doesn't leave, that's one less job for me. Or maybe it's already handled."
Yol thought of Autis as he continued.
"Better safe than sorry."
"I'll request the Lituwana Principality to do it."
Yol jumped at the name.
"Speaking of which, I heard something interesting. The Lituwana Principality's princess isn't the duke's real daughter, right? Name's Alma or something?"
"How did you know?"
"I have my sources. Is it true?"
"None of your business."
Yol chuckled inwardly.
If Lorenzo said that, it was true. Rumor had it the duchess had an affair, got pregnant by another man before marriage, and it came out, but the truth was unknowable.
Lorenzo hated chit-chat during business and moved on.
"Where will you go next?"
"Red Desert first."
"Isn't that completely unrelated to the route?"
"Not unrelated—it's a huge detour. But if I had to flee to Pisa Port avoiding someone, that's the path I'd take. I could go to the port ahead of time, but with Father Daniel this time—I guessed his move and he slipped past. If they skip Lituwana Principality, they might choose Luna Principality's Rimba Port. Then Red Desert becomes the optimal escape route."
...And I have plenty of underlings I can command in the Red Desert, he didn't add.
Yol had no intention of revealing his identity to Lorenzo. Someday maybe, but not now. Perhaps at the old man's deathbed.
"Don't miss twice."
"Don't worry. We just crossed paths. I had a bit of bad luck, he had a bit of good. Luck doesn't repeat, nor does misfortune."
"Luck is indeed something that can't be ignored."
"That's unexpected. I figured you'd hate words like that."
Yol said with curiosity in his voice.
Lorenzo opened his mouth as if to say more, then closed it.
"Anything else?"
"No."
Yol stood.
There was no retainer fee between them, no contract. A modicum of trust, but if one turned on the other, it wouldn't be betrayal. Even if guards Lorenzo called bound him the moment he left this house, Yol wouldn't call it betrayal. In fact, he'd welcome it. He wouldn't die from something like that anyway.
Conversely, Lorenzo probably wouldn't call it betrayal if Yol suddenly snapped his neck here. Was it because he didn't fear death, or because like Yol, he was confident he wouldn't die from it? Yol wondered.
"Oh, and even after the job's done, my report might be a bit late. I have to stop by the monastery—can't leave it empty too long. If you want, I can send a letter, but as you know, it's hard to send mail from Saint Santarimo Monastery."
"No news is good news."
"Thank you for understanding."
Yol quietly left the attic.
At the bottom of the stairs, Lorenzo's servant Beno waited.
Tense, he checked Yol's hands and cuffs.
"He's looking to see if I'm bloodied. What if I am? Avenging his master?"
Yol almost snapped at him but held back.
Night had deepened, and he had much to do. Walking in the darkness, Yol thought.
"It'd be great if Autis just finished the job."