Chapter 349 – Bishop Ivan’s Secret

Chapter 349 – Bishop Ivan’s Secret

Agatha took out the letter of report – this letter, which looked like it was written on the most common letter paper, with an envelope produced by a small factory in Frost, and even the ink was obviously ordinary, was sent to her from Cemetery No. 3, and to be honest, if she didn’t know that the old guard wouldn’t play such a joke on her, Agatha would have never believed that it came from an unnamed superior transcendent being. Honestly, if she didn’t know that the old caretaker wouldn’t joke with her, Agatha wouldn’t have believed that this came from an unnamed higher transcendent being.

She couldn’t even sense any transcendent power from the letter – but after doing a few simple tests, she had already confirmed that it was indeed from the hands of that higher transcendent.

A sound of clothing rubbing came from the dark and heavy coffin, and the thick lid finally slowly opened, accompanied by a strange smoky scent, a body wrapped in bandages and seemingly mummified slowly rose from within.

This is the bishop of the Frost City State, Ivan – he lost his complete form in an accident many years ago, but the greatness of Bartok has allowed him to continue his life to this day, and most of the time he stays in the “spiritual coffin” of the Holy Church of Contemplation, only appearing in public during the major sacraments. Most of the time he stays in the “casket” of the Sacristy of Meditation, only appearing in the public eye during major sacraments, but even then he is the most popular and trusted bishop the Frost has ever had.

The Bishop’s knowledge of the transcendent realm is unquestionable.

He sat up in his coffin and took the “letter of report” from Agatha, staring at it with his only bandaged left eye for a long time in silence.

Agatha couldn’t help but break the silence: “You ……”.

The knowledgeable and learned Archbishop opened his mouth in a muffled voice: “I’ll slow down again.”

Agatha waited for a while and asked again, “Have you slowed down?”

“…… Are you sure this is it?” Bishop Ivan looked up, confusion in those slightly yellowed eyes, “Have you ……”

“It does look ordinary – but I lost fifteen minutes of my memory on the spot when I tried to look at the words on the letter through a spiritual lens,” Agatha nodded with a serious expression as she knew what the bishop was trying to say, “It entwines powers unimaginable to mortals, and this plain appearance …… might just be that visitor’s unique interest.”

Bishop Ivan was silent for a moment, seemingly still slowing down, before slowly speaking, “What is mentioned in this letter …… is disturbing, you have already seen that ‘Sea Petrel’, and if what is stated in the letter is true, then the Sea Petrel is only the If the letter is true, then the Haiyan is just the beginning, and even the loss of control of Dagger Island is just the beginning. …… Whether it is the cultists in the city or the pollution caused by the ‘primeval elements’, whether it is the return of the Haiyan or the anomalies on Dagger Island, everything points to the Deep Sea. the anomaly on Dagger Island, everything points to the deep sea, to the abyssal plan from half a century ago.”

“I’ve already warned the city hall and applied for access to the secret files that have been sealed for half a century, and I’ll also make a trip to the church library afterward, in addition, I’ve already arranged for my manpower to intensify the search of the whole city to catch the cultists who are hiding,” Agatha said, “but that’s not enough, we at least need to confirm what’s going on on Dagger Island right now – the larger source of contamination appears to be on that island.”

Bishop Ivan thought briefly and sighed softly, “If everything points to the Subterranean plan …… the Sea Mist fleet that has appeared near Frost at this moment seems to explain it.”

“…… You think that this is all part of the Frost Queen’s plan back then?” Agatha frowned, “Is it because of what orders she left for that ‘Steel Lieutenant General’ back then that the Sea Mist Fleet appeared today?”

“I’m not sure,” Bishop Ivan shook his head, then suddenly looked up into Agatha’s eyes, “Agatha, what kind of image does the Frost Queen have in your perception?”

Agatha hesitated for a moment and said while thinking, “A once great ruler, but after a short glorious reign was infested and compelled by the power in the deep sea, and degenerated into a dangerous ‘mad king’, because of her bent, Frost established a connection with the horrors of the deep sea, and her terrible plans even after half a century still need to be completely sealed and forbidden to be known by any ordinary person – her life was as tragic as it was dangerous.”

“Pretty standard answer – as a younger generation and with enough access to some of the information from half a century ago, you’ve kind of summed it up pretty well,” Bishop Ivan nodded, but then the words immediately changed, “but you didn’t haven’t really experienced that.”

Agatha didn’t say anything, just quietly looked at the archbishop in front of her.

“I have experienced it – that year, I was twenty-six years old, and I was still an ordinary bishop of a small church in the docklands, you know? That chapel was right next to the test site of the Submarine Project, and I had even held a blessing ceremony for some soldiers and officers, and later I realized that those soldiers and officers came to the chapel to receive the blessing because they were going to be in contact with the ‘Submarine’.”

Bishop Ivan spoke slowly, his voice low and slow, as if a tributary trickled out from the river of memories, and those things that were so long ago that they could not be recounted to an ordinary person, little by little, were told from underneath those interlocking bandages.

“After the insurgent army broke through the palace, most of the information about the Subterranean Abyss program was sealed, coupled with the panic effect caused by the collapse of the sea cliff that occurred at the beheading site afterward, the relevant information about the Subterranean Abyss program was even more destroyed by seven or eight, so even if you have access to the ‘gatekeeper’, you can actually have access to the information, but also to the information. The information that can be accessed is actually only the most superficial part of it – if I tell you now, in fact, back then, the Frost Queen had come to that chapel the night before the city-state guards went on the rampage, and let me hold a spirit-sending ceremony for her …… What would you think? ” Agatha’s eyes snapped open.

“She was known as the ‘Mad King’ – indeed, her demeanor in the last few months really wasn’t much different from ‘madness’, after the whole program had gotten completely out of control, with people disappearing, dying, and going mad on a daily basis, and kept pushing the project forward, even closing down the palace, secluding the last ministers who were still willing to speak out, and ordering the gendarmes to blockade the ports and arrest those who tried to flee the Frost …… With these moves in the first place, the uprising that followed was a logical step, and she was destined to not end well in her Queen’s She was not destined to end up in her position as queen ……

“But even so, I don’t think she’s actually ‘crazy’ at all …… she’s sane, even …… “

Bishop Ivan suddenly paused, as if remembering those long ago events had overwhelmed his mind, or perhaps he was searching for the right words to describe the eeriness he felt back in those days, and it was a full few seconds before he continued, “Even, it was like the only person in the entire city-state who was still sane.”

Agatha had leaned forward without realizing it, “Why do you say that?”

“She walked into the church, without any entourage, with clear eyes, as if she had already known her fate, and she came to Bartok’s icon by herself, lit incense for herself, and then came over and tapped me on the shoulder – just like that.”

Bishop Ivan raised his arm as if restoring the scene of half a century ago.

“She tapped me and said, ‘Wake up, you’re the only one in the whole city who still has his eyes open – come and do something for me, I’m dying.'”

Agatha felt her breathing suddenly falter a little, like a pause in breathing between half-asleep and half-awake, and then in the next instant she couldn’t help but reach up and hold her forehead, feeling her heart thumping so hard she didn’t know how to react, and after a few seconds of silence could only ask her most immediate question of confusion, “You’re the only one in the whole city who still has your eyes open …… What does this sentence mean?”

“I haven’t quite figured it out until now,” Bishop Ivan sighed, his voice low and muffled under the bandages, “She told me to wake up – but I stayed awake, and after that, she didn’t explain to me any thing, but only commanded that I should follow the orders …… She lay on the mortuary table, just as the dead do, and then …… I gave her the rite of committal.”

“How does a living person perform a spiritual delivery ceremony?” Agatha stared incredulously, “Did you …… really accomplish that ceremony?”

“Of course a living person can’t perform a spirit sending ceremony – I just completed the whole process as she told me to, and rightfully so, nothing happened after the ceremony,” Bishop Ivan shook his head, “I thought the ceremony was pointless, but the Frost Queen seemed to have accomplished her purpose, and she left like that, entrusting me with one thing before she departed ……”

“One thing?”

“She told me not to tell anyone about that night, or the Insurrection would absolutely kill me – and at the time she said that, it was a full twenty-four hours before the first City State Guard attacked the armory.”

Agatha fell silent, and it was an indeterminate amount of time before she finally whispered, “You never told me this ……”

“I told no one,” Bishop Ivan said lightly, “I was only a minor bishop at the time.”

“But you have since become a bishop of the city-state, and there is no longer anyone who can judge you for the ‘implication’ of that year, the secret ……”

“It’s a secret I intend to take to my grave, so why tell it?” Bishop Ivan raised his head, his cloudy, yellowed left eye gazing silently into Agatha’s, “I know that this is not a small matter – the fact that the Queen has long been aware of the actions of the Insurrectionists, and has even accepted her own death gladly, can shake many people… …but it has no significance beyond its own shock value, the Subterranean Initiative will still be blocked, the stable order of the City-State is what matters most to the vast majority of its citizens, no one cares what a Queen who has already been executed thought or did at the end of the day, and there’s an even more important reason for that… …”

Bishop Ivan paused for a moment and exhaled softly.

“A more important reason – the Subterranean Program is over, the Queen’s era is over, the dust has settled, or at the very least …… that’s what I’ve been thinking for the past fifty years.”

(End of chapter)