Chapter 277: Prompt Judgment
Chapter 277 – Quick Sentence
The “smoke” that briefly touched me dissipated.
However, more smoke was still escaping from the Storm Cathedral, drifting, gathering and dispersing, as if it were a dark cloud, invisibly gathering in the sky above Prand, and covering a wider and wider area, gradually spreading over half of the city-state.
Duncan fingertips still remain a little cold touch, he slightly frowned, gazed at the sky above the city center, the heart of the clouds of suspicion.
Those gray-white fog gave him a feeling …… as if some huge creature had lost its form, its soul rose up in the reality dimension and became this appearance without constraints, and as if something located behind the reality dimension was gradually releasing its own perception, using the fog as a tentacle, “touching” the fog. It was as if something behind the dimension of reality was gradually releasing its senses, using the fog as its tentacles, and “touching” the contours of the real world.
The second sensation was especially evident when he touched the smoke.
“Uncle Duncan?” Nina’s voice suddenly came from beside him, interrupting Duncan’s ramblings, “What are you doing with your hand outstretched?”
“…… Nothing.” Duncan blinked and said softly.
Apparently, Nina couldn’t see the smoke – nor could Shirley and Alice next to her, nor could the ordinary people gathered in and around the docks.
But could the people on the Storm Cathedral see it? Could the Pope, who sat in the cathedral and was regarded as the earthly spokeswoman for the Storm Goddess Gemona, see it?
Duncan quietly watched that almost as huge as the entire port area of the magnificent “ark”, watched it decelerate at the edge of the Prand, watched its side of the mechanism slowly deformation, as if growing some kind of limb extended out of the long mechanical bridge, and connected with the harbor trestle in a place.
And the undefined and invisible smoke expanded visibly in the process.
Duncan did not sense any hostility or perceive any harm from the fog, so he took no action for the time being.
……
Following the requirements of the ceremonial code, after a salute was fired and acoustic music was played in the harbor of Prand to mark the welcome, the Cathedral of Storms released the long mechanical bridge that completed the connection between the parade ark and the city-state, and then, from the ark, came a second burst of melodious and solemn whistles.
Huge steam valves rotated open, and the pressure relief pipes and whistle devices in all parts of the parade ark were activated at the same moment, and a stream of white air erupted from the church’s barriers and spires, and went straight into the sky at the sound of the whistles.
The bell towers on the city-state and the church ark chimed at the same time.
Vanna took a deep breath – standing at such a solemn scene, even as an Inquisitor, she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous at the moment.
After a few more moments, she saw some colorful flags appear on the edge of that church ark, and right after that, a group of Protector Knights wearing special armor appeared on the long mechanical bridge, they rode on a steam walker, and came along the mechanical bridge to the pier, and one of them went straight out of the line and came in front of a group of high-ranking clergymen.
“Bishop Valentine, Inquisitor Vanna, the glory of the Storm Lord be with you.”
The Protectorate Knight Commander bowed his head – his entire body was covered in armor made of black alloy, with the structure of pressurized pipes and steam valves still visible on various parts of his breastplate and arm guards, and a thick mask of steel obscured the Knight’s true face, so that all that Vanna could see was a faint red glow in his goggles, and hear his voice interspersed with the the hissing of the gas stream.
Steam was the breath of the gods, steel was the bridge between man and god, and underneath the faceplate, the hissing of air currents in his words carried the holiness of preaching.
“The glory of the Storm Lord be with you.” Vanna bowed her head, joining Bishop Valentine next to her.
“The Pope’s Crown invites you both to ride aboard the Ark,” the Commander of the Protectorate Knights spoke over the hissing of the air currents, “The others please wait a moment.”
Vanna looked up in surprise, then subconsciously looked at Bishop Valentine, only to see that the latter had the same look of confusion on his face.
Was there this part in the ceremony?
“This is the Pope’s temporary arrangement,” seeing the confusion of the two high-ranking magi in front of him, the Protector Knight Commander opened his mouth to explain, “There are some things that she would like to find out from you.”
“At the Coronet’s pleasure.” Bishop Valentine immediately collected the confusion in his expression and bowed his head respectfully.
Vanna beside him also reacted instantly, lowering her head to show that she obeyed the order.
“Please wait a little while for the magi and city-state officials – or you can go aside and rest a little,” the Protector Knight Commander looked at Dante and the others again, nodding slightly, “Please rest assured that it won’t be too long. ”
Vanna stepped onto the mechanical bridge leading to the Storm Cathedral with Bishop Valentine – the imposing cathedral growing closer and closer in her sight, while also exuding an increasingly stirring, if not slightly suffocating, aura of majesty.
Simply by moving closer to it, Vanna felt her heart begin to pound.
Bishop Valentine at the side sensed the hesitation in Vanna’s steps, and the old man gently shook his head, “Relax, this isn’t the first time you’ve met the Pope’s Crown.”
“…… Well, I understand.”
Led by a group of escorting knights, Vanna and Valentine crossed the long bridge, walked across the connecting deck that was almost as wide as a dock plaza, and were finally ushered into a huge elevator.
Vanna expected the lift to take her somewhere on the upper level of the church ark, but instead felt the entire caravan sinking all the way inside.
The process of sinking lasted for a long time, so long that Vanna couldn’t help but begin to suspect that this elevator was going to go straight to the sea, and only then did the creaking sound of steel cables running in her ears suddenly stop. The door to the elevator opened.
The voice of the Protector Knight came from the side: “Please move forward on your own – the Pope’s Coronation is waiting for you up ahead.”
Vanna followed Valentine out of the lift along with her somewhat sparsely, hearing the grated gate behind them thump shut with a scraping sound, and then the two looked ahead to see, instead, a place that was almost completely shrouded in darkness.
They could only vaguely see a figure in fancy dress standing in the center of the extremely dimly lit room.
Vanna hesitated for a moment and took a step forward.
Just as she took a step, the slight popping sound of the flames lighting up suddenly broke the silence in the dimly lit space.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, several fire pans were lit in succession, and the light of the fire suddenly dispelled the darkness near the elevator, allowing Vanna to see Pope Helena standing not far away, and at the same time allowing her to be shocked to realize that the scale of this space was far more vast than she had imagined—.
Even though there were several fire pits illuminating the space in the distance, it was still shrouded in darkness, and Vanna couldn’t see where the end of the “room” was, she could only see the grayish-black, slightly rough ground stretching out in front of her eyes, all the way to the end of the darkness, and on the edge of the fire pits’ light, she could vaguely see some huge “pillars”, and some “pillars”, and some “pillars”. “pillars”, and there are many crisscrossing shadows connecting between those pillars, it looks …… like the piping system at the bottom of the church ark, or maybe it is a support structure.
Is this the bottom of the Parade Ark?
Why did the Pope receive himself and Bishop Valentine here?
Questions flooded Vanna’s mind for a moment, but before she had time to open her mouth, she already heard a gentle yet majestic voice coming from the front, “You’re here – Saints Valentine, and Saints Vanna. Welcome to the Ark.”
“Coronation Pope,” Vanna quickly collected her doubts and straightened her expression before saluting with Bishop Valentine, after which she lifted her eyes slightly and spoke cautiously, “You summoned us here to …… “
Helena, however, did not wait for Vanna to finish her sentence, but suddenly came out with a somewhat inexplicable question, “Do you know what this place is?”
“Isn’t this …… the Storm Cathedral?” Valentine looked up and blinked a bit puzzled, “The bottom of the Storm Cathedral?”
“This is indeed the Storm Cathedral right below, but in terms of strict structure, this is out of the main body of the cathedral,” Helena revealed a small smile, which seemed to hide some deeper meaning under the illumination of several fire pits, “You are standing on the lowest level of the Parade Ark, this giant beast ‘s ‘belly’.”
She looked up, her gaze traveling slowly between Vanna and Valentine.
“Here under the watchful eye of the Storm Lord, and also at the closest point to the deep, where the Lord’s blessing and the Lord’s judgment coexist.”
Helena’s gaze paused, but looked neither at Vanna nor Valentine.
It was as if she were speaking into the nothingness of the darkness:
“Is it a difficult thing to continue to fulfill one’s duties after one’s faith has been shaken?”
The expression on Vanna’s face instantly stiffened.
Valentine beside her did likewise.
An insufferably depressing atmosphere filled the vast and dimly lit space.
After an unknown amount of time, Vanna was finally the first to react, and she took a deep breath, “My faith ……”
“I didn’t ask about your faith,” Helena shook her head, “What I asked was whether continuing to fulfill your duties after your faith was shaken became more difficult for you than before?”
Vanna was stunned for a moment, as if she hadn’t realized the meaning of the Pope’s words, but Bishop Valentine beside her showed a sudden realization after a brief moment of dismay, and the old bishop immediately spoke up, “I carry out my duties as I have always done, and it is from my heart that I shelter the city and state, as well as guide the believers …… “
“Very well, Saint Valentine, I am moved by your firmness – you shall continue to fulfill your duties as the patron of the city-state of Prand until the end.
“Saint Vanna, I see your confusion in my eyes as well, and in view of your actual situation, I am compelled to announce the temporary suspension of your duties as Inquisitor of Prand.
“This decision is effective immediately.”
Helena spoke quickly and finished before Vanna and Valentine could react.
The two saints on the scene looked at each other in disbelief.
Valentine: “……?”
Vanna: “……?”
(end of chapter)