137. The Major Mission
The long and eventful, no, rather the long and bright days of the Holy See had finally come to an end.
Now, what remained was to board the train once more and head toward the Imperial Palace for a brief report to the Crown Prince, after which everything would conclude—
“Your Highness! I absolutely, absolutely believe that you will return to this holy land once more!”
“I understand. Everyone. I will definitely visit again, so please let go of my hand—”
“The diligent figure of you scattering light and hope across the continent! We will surely follow that example!”
What? The moment I heard those words, the line ‘scattering love and truth, and darkness’ came to mind.
This is too much. If this continued, something terrible might happen. I had been overwhelmed too much!
At first, the holy knights had solemn expressions, but now they were starting to look worried. Not anywhere else, but in the Holy See, they were desperately calling out a name other than the gods.
“Brothers and sisters!”
Suddenly, I couldn’t imagine the sight of ‘Karl Adelheit idolization banned’ signs plastered all over the continent.
Before that, I must quickly stabilize this situation so I could return home in peace!
“Do not gaze upon the places where the will of that person has reached.”
It might have been a bit sudden, but this was the Holy See. The heart of the Church and the center of doctrine.
And everyone here immediately realized what I was about to say.
“Just. Investigate what His will is.”
They completed the doctrinal phrase I started. Yes, everyone! Do you understand what I’m saying?
“The Lord has something He wishes to convey through me. That is what we must ponder and reflect on every day. That must be what He truly desires!”
To put it simply, it would be ‘Stop bothering me and go pray or something!’ Of course, I wondered if those people here would take it that way? Well, nine out of ten probably not.
Anyway, it had some effect. Thankfully, the noisy ones calmed down somewhat.
The knights also looked at me with expressions like ‘Thank you so much! Thanks to you, I lived!’
So, after seeing off the ordinary believers and priests, I bid farewell to the Pope accompanied by the Cardinals.
“I hope we can meet again.”
“It won’t be often, but I’ll come to visit occasionally to pay my respects.”
From the Church’s perspective, my experience of a miracle (honestly, I was still unsure if this was a miracle) and visiting the Holy See often was beneficial in many ways.
And for me as well, at least for myself and our Adelheit family, and moreover for the prestige of the Empire, having a close relationship with the Holy See was much better.
In other words, this was not a vague promise like ‘Let’s meet sometime and have a meal.’
Rather, we should try to hold hands as soon as possible, pray to the Lord together, and work together for each other.
‘That’s why having a noona made it so easy. No worries about successors.’
With advice from Father here and there, this was barely it. There were still many things lacking.
Adapting to the fact that in the noble world, the words and the content were very different was still not working. It was tough, so tough!
“Where is the starting point of our esteemed one?”
“W, Your Holiness!”
Selena, standing beside the Pope, blushed at the Pope’s joke. Of course, since she knew what ‘starting point’ meant in reality, she would react like that.
“Stand by our esteemed one’s side and please become a precious person. A friend is fine, but even better is a companion, is it not?”
Wow. He went straight for it. With that one shot, Selena let out a dry cough “cough!”
Meanwhile, the grandfather standing behind burst into laughter, saying ‘The Pope’s words are correct!’
“And our four brothers as well.”
Because I had been swept up in too many flashy events, our four-person squad were also important guests.
From the Church’s perspective, the four of us created a foundation and poured funds into various charity works, so the Church, which was already sincere about such matters, benefited greatly.
“Do not forget. The advantages of brothers come from their warm hearts and sincere actions. If you keep that in mind, all the brothers will become another esteemed person who does not fall behind the friends here.”
“I will remember. Your Holiness.”
“I will engrave the Pope’s advice deep in my heart and live by it!”
When they said it in such a serious tone, I couldn’t adapt. I didn’t think they’d do it in front of me either? And even when I was older? No way.
It was ominous. Men were said to remain boys until they died. At 40 or 50, if instead of this, they showed the old appearance next to me, it would burst my stomach.
“Your Holiness.”
“Ah, it’s about time to board the train. I’ve kept you for too long.”
May the blessings of the gods be full on your paths ahead. After receiving the send-off from the core personnel of the Church, I was about to board the carriage heading back—
“Your Holiness! Again, again!”
No. Please! Oh gods?! Even until the day I leave, are you doing this?! Let’s go quietly!
Even as I boarded the carriage, I had to endure that blinding light excessively.
*
Upon returning to the Imperial Palace, what was waiting for me was, as expected, a summons from the Crown Prince’s palace.
It seemed I had become the mad dog who met the Crown Prince most often in the Empire. Recently, rumors that even the Dukes’ domains were monitoring my movements were not unfounded.
“Come in, brother-in-law!”
The moment I entered the Crown Prince’s palace, the Crown Prince greeted me brightly. I smiled back, and just as I was about to say the playful line ‘Welcome back, brother-in-law.’ since I was still a Crown Prince—
“Karl!”
A shadowy figure suddenly appeared from somewhere behind the Crown Prince and pounced on me.
The speed was so fast I didn’t even react, let alone notice. As expected, our noona. The strongest— inheriting the mother’s skill and father’s strength directly—
“Kyaa!”
“Welcome back?”
“Ye, yes. Crown Princess. Welcome back.”
“You’ve been told not to call me like that even at this place.”
“…Sorry, noona.”
I barely escaped from noona’s arms and quickly checked the Crown Prince’s expression. I was worried if the brother-in-law jealous brother-in-law appearance would show, but thankfully, no such vibe was felt.
After a while, the servants brought tea, and Selena, the Crown Prince, and I sat facing each other.
“…Please tell me again, Your Highness?”
And there, I realized that the matter had become even bigger than I thought.
“What are you surprised about. Brother-in-law. It’s a very natural thing.”
“No… but this is too much, the matter has gotten too big—”
“Tsk tsk. Sometimes brother-in-law underestimates himself too much. It’s the Holy See. The place brother-in-law visited. And the place where a miracle was experienced. The Holy See, the heart of the Church! Even in front of the Pope and the Cardinals! And you wanted the continent to be quiet?”
Hahaha! The laughing Crown Prince and the noona smiling happily beside him.
And the phrase on the report placed in front: ‘Large-scale prayer meetings planned in each imperial diocese – due to the miracle that occurred in the Holy See’
The matter had become too big. I thought it ended with ‘Oh! Esteemed one!’ in the Holy See, but that was just the trailer.
The main story seemed to be that they planned to make a huge profit in each diocese of the Empire. Even the Elf diocese in the Southern Great Forest and the Lasker diocese had agreed to join in.
“The Lord answered with His own will when we prayed in the Holy See. I don’t believe that this brilliant light is just a coincidence. If it were, there wouldn’t be any excuse to drag us away as heretics right away.”
“…I acknowledge.”
It was scary. When I came out after receiving the light once, the believers didn’t scream ‘Karl! Karl!’?
If I had grown a mustache there and waved my hand saying ‘Gganf to the end!’, everyone might have shouted ‘High! Karl!’
“More than that. Actually, the reason I’m in such a good mood is elsewhere.”
“I understand. It’s because of the Crown Prince, right?”
Then the Crown Prince looked back and forth between noona and me, laughed “huh”, and nodded.
When I asked if that was good enough, he said ‘Who else but the Pope personally offering prayers to the Crown Prince every day? Where else in the world is there a parent who wouldn’t be happy about that?’
Honestly, even I thought it was amazing. Looking through the history of the Empire, the Church hadn’t held regular prayers before the birth of the Crown Prince.
After the Crown Prince was born, there were many cases where blessings were given, but this time it was truly the first time.
“By the way. Brother-in-law. That, perhaps.”
“Don’t worry. I clearly prayed ‘daughter’.”
“Hahaha! Good. Very good! You are truly a loyal subject!”
Then noona looked at the Crown Prince with a very contemptuous look, but… what could I do. All fathers had to want a daughter anyway.
“Your Highness. Karl too. The mad dog Karl must be busy with his own matters, so it would be better to get to the main point quickly.”
“Ah, yes. Bi is right.”
Main point? What? So until now, it wasn’t the main point? I looked back and forth between the two men, and the Crown Prince cleared his throat “ahem” and straightened his posture.
“Karl Adelheit, the mad dog.”
“…Yes, Crown Prince His Highness.”
“Since you are the one who gave all these great blessings and gifts, I want to entrust the remaining ones to you as well. Will you accept?”
“Your Highness?”
“Will you do that?”
“Yes. If it’s something I can do, anything… No, but what exactly is it that you want to do?”
Why? What is it? Why are you being so serious? And where will I use it? Send me to the military or to the diocese to appease public sentiment?
“The name of our Crown Prince.”
Eh…?
“I, not Bi, not the Emperor. I want you to name it.”