Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Papal Territory (2)
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“Eh, how did you know?”
Hypnos asked urgently while pinned beneath me.
“The only person who knew I’d infiltrated the Audit Office was Archbishop Hausel. No one else had any idea. How in the world...”
“Why should I explain that to you?”
“Ugh...”
About twenty years ago now.
The Dialogue Church’s radical faction was at the height of its power. The atmosphere was one of absolute confidence that they could annihilate the Holy Knight Order and bring down the Holy Spirit Church.
In preparation for the final battle, various executives carried out all sorts of arrangements, and as part of that, the one Archbishop Hausel had infiltrated into the Holy Spirit Church was the infiltration and disguise genius, Hypnos.
‘I figured Hypnos would stay embedded in the Audit Office, maintaining his cover indefinitely. And I was right.’
With Archbishop Hausel dead, no one knew Hypnos’s true identity.
From Hypnos’s perspective, cutting ties with the Dialogue Church and living a stable life as the head of the Papal Audit Office suited him far better.
He’d always complained about how tiresome it was constantly switching identities and living as a spy.
“Ah, does the Aleyas family already know everything? Is that why you came?”
“......”
“Are you here to arrest me and hand me over to the Inquisition?”
Hypnos trembled in fear at my feet.
If it came out that he was a Dialogue Church spy, there’d be no letting that slide. Hypnos would face brutal torture until his last breath.
“Hypnos.”
“P-please spare me. I beg you...!”
“I have no intention of disrupting your life.”
With that, I lifted my foot.
“I’m not planning to arrest you or reveal your identity. So don’t worry.”
“W-what?”
“You’re doing a fine job as head of the Audit Office right now, aren’t you? As long as you’re not colluding with the Dialogue Church, there’s no issue.”
“......”
Hypnos rose to his feet with a bewildered expression.
“Y-you mean it?”
“Yeah. I have no plans to harm you.”
“B-but just now...”
“I was just countering your attack. You struck first.”
“......”
It wasn’t exactly a lie.
I truly had no intention of harming Hypnos.
‘Hypnos, I have no desire to interfere with your second chance at life.’
Unlike Dietrich or Casaria.
Hypnos was living a stable life as head of the Audit Office.
If he’d cut ties with the Dialogue Church and was getting by just fine, I wanted to leave him be.
“All I want is your help.”
“H-help?”
“Yeah, your help.”
Of course, I hadn’t come just to check if Hypnos was living well.
I had no intention of disrupting his life, but I still needed to get what I could out of it.
‘Without my support back then, you couldn’t have infiltrated the Audit Office... This much is fair, Hypnos.’
Hypnos stared at my face in disbelief.
“Y-you’re really not going to expose my identity?”
“I told you, no.”
“......”
“How about we make a deal like this?”
I pointed at Hypnos’s face as I spoke.
“I won’t tell anyone your secret. And if someone tries to dig into it, I’ll block them personally.”
“I-is that even possible?”
“I’m an Aleyas, Hypnos.”
“......”
Whether he understood what I meant or not, Hypnos clamped his mouth shut and listened intently.
“In exchange, all you have to do is tell me what I want to know. As head of the Audit Office, you must know plenty.”
“Information... Doesn’t the Holy Knight Order’s Inquisition handle that?”
“The Inquisition’s main job is investigating hostile forces against the Holy Spirit Church, like the Dialogue Church. For internal Holy Spirit Church matters unrelated to that, the Audit Office knows more.”
“Then what exactly do you want to know?”
“I’ve got about three or four things on my mind right now.”
“Shoot.”
Hypnos seemed to have decided to make the deal.
He’d always pursued a stable life. He’d agree to this much if it meant protecting his current one.
“First off... Is the Pope healthy right now?”
“......”
“The Pope’s been in total seclusion, right? Officially, the Holy Spirit Church says there’s nothing wrong, but he’s over ninety now. Surely health issues are cropping up.”
Hypnos pondered my question for a moment.
But he finally sighed and answered.
“You’re right on the money. His Holiness the Pope is so frail from old age that he can barely move.”
“How bad exactly?”
“Even I don’t know that much.”
“You don’t?”
“His Holiness has been inaccessible for meetings these past few months. Aside from the attending servants, only Cardinal Epitrax can see him.”
“As head of the Audit Office, you can’t get intel from the servants?”
“The Pope’s palace servants are selected for utmost secrecy—they’re mutes who can’t speak or write. And recently, Cardinal Epitrax replaced them all with his own people.”
“He replaced the servants too?”
“Yeah. Probably means His Holiness’s condition is pretty dire.”
“......”
That’s suspicious.
Pondering what it might mean, I threw out my next question.
“Then the next Pope will be elected soon, I take it. Cardinal Epitrax the top candidate?”
“That’s right. He’s the one closest to His Holiness, after all.”
Epitrax, who’d commissioned us to transport the grail, was currently the most powerful among the cardinals.
He was the leading contender for the next Pope.
“Anyone besides Cardinal Epitrax?”
“Hmm... Cardinal Versachio, probably. Being younger and more ambitious is his edge over Epitrax.”
Cardinal Versachio.
I hadn’t heard the name back when I was Archbishop Hausel.
“Cardinal Versachio represents the Holy Spirit Church’s hardliners. He argues the Church should build more power and effectively rule the continent.”
“I hear Cardinal Epitrax prioritizes harmony with the Sacred Empire’s government and the Holy Knight Order.”
“Exactly. So it’s hardliners led by Versachio versus moderates led by Epitrax. They clash on everything.”
“Like what?”
“Hmm... Take the Papal Guard, for instance. Versachio wants to expand it further, but Epitrax thinks the current size is enough to defend the Papacy. They fight over budgets and such all the time.”
Hypnos went on to share more about the internal Papal politics.
Listening to him, I started piecing together what was going on in the Papacy right now.
[Hey, this seems...]
‘Yeah, something fishy’s brewing.’
Hypnos had all this information but didn’t grasp its true implications.
So how should I play this?
“Alright, one last question.”
“You said three or four, but you’ve asked a ton. What is it?”
“How many grails are currently stored in the Papacy?”
“What? Obviously just the one.”
“Be precise.”
“It’s really just one. Ah, adding the one your group just brought makes two.”
He didn’t seem to be lying.
“Has anyone tampered with that grail?”
“Tampered how?”
“Like someone stealing it. In the last five years.”
“How did you know about that?”
“So it happened.”
“It’s the deepest secret. Four years ago, while moving it for a ceremony, someone stole the grail. It came back quickly, but they never caught the culprit.”
Casaria’s doing.
This time too, she’d tried to snatch the grail we were transporting but left it behind.
She’d confirmed there wasn’t enough power in it to resurrect Archbishop Hausel.
‘If she’s already checked the Papacy’s grail too, Casaria won’t show up here.’
I’d been planning to lure her out using the Papacy’s grail, but if she’d already inspected it before, it was pointless.
“Alright, that’s enough for today.”
“Wait, you’re saying some ominous stuff.”
“If I have more questions, I’ll drop by again.”
“Don’t ever come back!”
Hypnos bellowed.
* * *
After leaving the Audit Office.
While Lieselotte was in the bathroom, Dietrich approached me.
“My lord.”
“What’s up?”
“You didn’t reveal your identity to Hypnos?”
“No need.”
I shook my head.
“Hypnos is content with his current life. Let him have his second chance.”
“Sixteen years ago, when we heard you’d died, Hypnos rushed back over the Winter Mountains in a panic.”
Dietrich spoke in a wistful tone.
“Back then, he went on about how we had to avenge you. But in the end... he escaped the Dialogue Church with us without doing a thing.”
“......”
“If he knew you’d been reborn, Hypnos would be thrilled.”
“No need.”
I couldn’t bring Hypnos to my side right now.
Keeping him as Audit Office head was beneficial for me too.
No point revealing myself now—especially if he got cold feet and spilled my secret.
“I’ll tell him when the time’s right.”
“Understood.”
Someday, I’d gather all my old subordinates and return beyond the Winter Mountains.
I just hoped Hypnos would be by my side then.
* * *
Before heading back to our lodgings, Lieselotte and I decided to grab a meal.
Kurt had told me earlier to eat something.
“I lived here a bit, but I mostly ate in the Audit Office, so I don’t know what’s good.”
“Then let’s try something that looks tasty.”
We wandered the market and entered a clean-looking restaurant.
We went with pasta in tomato sauce and herb-seasoned pork cutlets.
“Tastes great. The tomatoes must be fresh.”
“It’s got that umami kick. These cutlets are good too.”
“I want to feed some to Edwin.”
“Shall I figure out the recipe and have him recreate it?”
As Lieselotte and I ate, the chatter from nearby patrons drifted over.
“Is it true the Judgment Knight Brigade from the Holy Knight Order is here?”
“Yeah, I saw them myself earlier.”
A glance showed men with swords at their waists.
Not many could walk armed in the Papal Territory.
‘Papal Guard.’
Their chest badges confirmed it.
Separate from the Holy Knight Order, they only protected the Papacy and Papal Territory.
“The Judgment Knight Brigade—that’s the unit Kurt Aleyas commands, right?”
“Yeah, heard he returned to active duty three years ago.”
“Kurt Aleyas... The loser who couldn’t take down Archbishop Hausel in the end.”
Lieselotte’s hand paused mid-meal.
“He clashed with Archbishop Sapphire multiple times too but never finished him off.”
“Yeah, all fame, no substance.”
“His siblings all snagged top posts, but he’s stuck with frontline duty. Guess his standing in the Order isn’t great.”
“Loser through and through. Ninth-circle Sky-rank Knight? Our Guard Captain’s stronger...”
Their words cut off there.
Because the fork I’d thrown was embedded in their table.
“Gasp...!”
The fork had sunk deep into the wood.
Cracks spiderwebbed out, splitting the table clean in two, spilling all their food.
“W-what the hell?!”
They looked tense.
If it’d just been someone tossing a fork, they’d have jumped up yelling.
But a single fork cleaving a table meant the thrower was a high-level master.
“You know the Holy Knight Order’s here and blather like that? Guess it doesn’t matter if it reaches their ears.”
I handed a gold coin to the terrified waiter nearby.
That’d more than cover the food, table, plates, and cleanup.
“You’ve tarnished the Holy Knight Order’s honor.”
As Lieselotte and I stood, they flinched at the knight badges on our chests.
The Grade 1 Knight Badge on Lieselotte’s chest. And my Iron Rank Knight Badge.
“You’re prepared to pay the price, I assume.”
The room fell deathly silent.