Heresy
“The Vatican owes you a great debt, Brother James.”
“Yes, Your Holiness. I’m not sure how I can ever repay such grace.”
But James wanted nothing from the Vatican.
You still have to prove whether you’re truly worthy of being the master of the Holy Grail.
He had handed over the Holy Grail and the Holy Paten, but he still did not trust the Vatican or the Holy See. He intended to see how they handled the relics before deciding what to do next. For the same reason, he also had no intention of asking for money equal to the relics’ value.
Besides, if I took money for handing this over, I have a feeling I’d be buried under some truly awful curse.
He already felt uneasy enough about using the Holy Grail as a cup for water and wine.
“I’ve already told Father Stefano. The Holy Grail and the Holy Paten are relics beyond price and beyond commerce. I will accept only the Pope’s and the chamberlain’s goodwill.”
“Oh, Brother James.”
“I’ve been terribly rude to such a polite and upright brother. Please forgive me.”
“Ha ha. I do have a request of my own, actually.”
“Anything at all, Brother James.”
“I would like only the two of you to know that I am Merlin’s disciple and a magician. I have no intention of revealing myself to the world as a magician. If word spreads that magic exists, it will only add chaos to an already complicated world.”
“...We will keep your secret.”
“So will I. No word of your being a magician will leave this place.”
“And also... yesterday, by magic, I learned something strange. It was about Cardinal Augustino.”
“?”
“Cardinal Augustino?”
He had deliberately revealed the existence of his magic only after gaining enough trust to bring up this matter, and only after handing over the Holy Grail and Holy Paten did he finally raise the subject.
“I……”
James explained that through magic he could tell when someone lied, and that he could faintly perceive a person’s nature. He thought it would be easier to earn their trust after demonstrating his magic first.
“...And so, while I was speaking with Cardinal Andrea and Father Stefano about the Holy Grail yesterday, Cardinal Augustino suddenly came in. I could tell that he was a consummate liar, and that he was hiding a rotten character beneath the surface.”
“Oh. Brother James, Cardinal Augustino is a man I personally appointed as cardinal. He is a priest we can trust.”
“He may have been, but not now. He is no longer Cardinal Augustino.”
“...What do you mean?”
“Father Stefano told me that Cardinal Augustino was on sabbatical after a car accident, and that during the process he suffered such severe facial injuries that he even had to undergo plastic surgery.”
“...That is true.”
James had only been making an educated guess, and yet even that was true.
“It was because Cardinal Augustino was in charge of the Vatican Museums that they did that to him.”
“……”
“……”
Even now, the two men still could not tell where James was leading them.
“Someone is after the Vatican Museums’ relics. That is why they caused the accident involving the car Cardinal Augustino was riding in, and in the confusion they switched him out and brought someone else into the Vatican in his place. What they did not expect was that the cardinal in charge of the Vatican Museums would be changed to Cardinal Andrea. So now they are simply waiting for the right moment to steal the relics.”
“...I-I cannot believe this.”
“Brother James. Cardinal Augustino is the same man he has always been.”
“When I saw him yesterday, I could not find a trace of the accident on his face. He looked very healthy indeed. Even his gait was vigorous, almost like a young man’s. Father Yosef, are you truly certain he is Cardinal Augustino?”
“……”
Only then did Yosef begin to reconsider Cardinal Augustino.
His walk had been a little different when he returned from sabbatical, but...
He had only assumed that was because the surgery had gone well after the accident. He had dismissed the changes in his voice and even the subtle shifts in expression as nothing more than minor side effects of the operation. Rather, he had been grateful and pleased that the cardinal seemed to have recovered his health.
“Good heavens……”
Seeing that Yosef was beginning to accept his suspicion, James moved on.
“The reason I’m telling you this here and now is because of the Holy Grail. If not for the Holy Grail, I would not care whether he was Cardinal Augustino or not. But the Grail bothered me. He was clearly after it. There was greed all over his eyes when he looked at me.”
“Oh. Lord...”
“Pope, I still have more to tell you about this.”
“...Go on, Brother James.”
“The only people who know that I brought the Holy Grail here are Father Yosef, the chamberlain, and you.”
“Ah... yes, of course. This is the Pope’s private vault...”
The chamberlain could be certain that no one knew the whereabouts of the Holy Grail and Holy Paten, which had just been revealed and then carried back into the deepest part of the secret vault.
“And I brought them out with mysterious magic...”
“No one knows. No one can steal the Holy Grail, Your Holiness.”
“I let that man disguised as Cardinal Augustino believe I had left the Holy Grail in Las Vegas.”
“!”
Chamberlain Yosef understood at once what James had meant by that.
If we turn that to our advantage...
The rest of James’s plan matched Yosef’s own thoughts exactly.
“Once the Pope hears from my mouth that the Holy Grail is there, he’ll send the Swiss Guard and an envoy to Las Vegas, in the United States.”
“...If we proclaim that the Holy Grail is there, then it would only be right to do as Brother James says.”
“He’ll move his accomplices, too. Then wouldn’t the place the Pope sends his envoy to recover the Holy Grail already have been visited by those men?”
“...If the United States moves first at the Vatican’s request, then they can seize them in one stroke...”
It was a judgment that, with the cooperation of the U.S. government, they could capture the men even without the Vatican Swiss Guard.
“It isn’t my place to concern myself with the method. The rest is something Father Yosef can handle on his own.”
“Of course.”
“Since the Holy Grail has now entered the Vatican, I felt I ought to point out that you shouldn’t sit by and watch a rat gnawing at the granary. My request is finished now. I have nothing more to say.”
“……”
The Pope took James by the hand. James had asked for nothing, all the way to the end. On the contrary, everything he had said had been in the Vatican’s favor.
“Brother James, who brought the Holy Grail here is also driving out the Vatican’s darkest shadows.”
“I was only worried that the Holy Grail, which I had worked so hard to recover, would be stolen by the wrong people, Your Holiness.”
“I offer my deepest gratitude for Brother James’s boundless kindness.”
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
Kindness only needed to be received in the heart.
“James Kane. I hereby grant you honorary citizenship in Vatican City.”
“...”
This had not been expected, but it was hardly a tremendous burden. He could handle it easily enough. If he took Vatican citizenship, he would have dual nationality, but most countries allowed dual citizenship with the Vatican and their own nation.
“Thank you.”
“I will also appoint you Director of the Magic Office of the Holy See. In effect, you will be the head of the Vatican’s magical affairs.”
“That’s a bit...”
He had to keep his identity as a magician hidden. What was he supposed to do if they officially appointed him as one?
“Of course, I have no intention of making it public. For now, nothing will be recorded anywhere, so you need not worry, Brother James.”
“Ah. Just among ourselves?”
It was a title that would exist only between the Pope and the chamberlain.
“If that’s all, then it’s fine with me, Your Holiness.”
“Ha ha ha. I gave you this office partly because I didn’t want your name to appear in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, so do remember that, Chamberlain.”
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
“...What exactly is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that my name might end up there?”
Yosef answered James’s question.
“You may think of it as the successor to the former Inquisition.”
“……”
James wondered whether they were about to tie him to a tree and burn him at the stake. But then another thought came to him.
Heresy? When Jesus returned to this world, what religion would dare say he was not heretical?
The oldest Catholic Church emphasized its own orthodoxy, but Judaism, which had believed in God long before that, possessed an even older legitimacy. As for the churches that later claimed to follow only the Bible and obey it, they all strove not to violate the will of God. Every other religion in the world claimed its own orthodoxy too, so who could possibly brand anyone else a heretic?
Still, a magician is heresy, no matter how I look at it.
But the existence of magicians would be hard for any religion to accept.
“Even if it should someday come to light that you used magic and were a magician, your name would never appear there.”
“...That’s a relief.”
He had never imagined that magic could lead to an heresy trial in the Vatican, but the mere thought that it would not happen was enough to ease his mind. Still, he could not relax completely.
“But shouldn’t there at least be an internal meeting of some sort for it to have proper authority...”
Even if he was the Pope, James wondered if one could really just appoint someone to such a high office at will.
“Ha ha. Cardinals are appointed according to the will of His Holiness the Pope as well. No discussion is necessary. Since His Holiness has personally appointed you Director of the Magic Office, it is only natural.”
“Ah...”
The Pope held a position in Vatican City no different from an emperor’s. The name for this power of the Pope was Infallibilitas. It meant that in executing papal authority, the Pope could not err. In other words, anything done under the Pope’s authority was free of error and had to be accepted as it stood. Since the appointment of James as Director of the Magic Office was a formal proclamation, there was no room for anyone to object.
“In that case, I have one question, Brother James.”
“Yes. Please ask, Chamberlain.”
“Have you been baptized?”
“...Ah.”
James remembered something from long ago at the orphanage.
It was such a long time ago, but...
After crossing over to America, he had lived without even knowing whether he had been baptized. But recent memories recovered through the language he had absorbed from Su-ji and Ho-jung had brought the answer back to him. The orphanage where James had stayed had been founded under Catholic auspices, which meant he could indeed have been baptized there.
If it was a long time ago, then I still was baptized.
“...Yes, I was. My baptismal name is Francis Xavier.”
He hadn’t gone anywhere near a church after coming to America, and he could hardly remember ever making the sign of the cross, but he was still, in the end, a baptized believer.
“Yosef, doesn’t Brother James suit Saint Francis Xavier perfectly?”
“Indeed, Your Holiness.”
“……”
At that moment, James did not know much about his baptismal name, Francis Xavier, but he was a saint who communicated with nature, spoke with animals, and performed countless miracles. The Pope had called it a fitting baptismal name because that saint had wrought wonders that were almost magical in nature, making it a perfect match for James.
“James Kane Francis Xavier, do you swear to fulfill your duty as Director of the Magic Office of Vatican City?”
James could not ignore the Pope’s question.
“...Yes. I swear it.”
“Yosef.”
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
“Have a ring made for him, one that symbolizes the Director of the Magic Office of Vatican City.”
“I shall do so.”