Chapter 177 – Bishop’s Visit
Chapter 177 – Bishop’s Visit
The Grand Duchess said, “There is indeed something about Fanny that interests a mage.”
As expected, Lardy sat quietly across from her and waited for the other party to continue.
“Six months ago, she awakened to her potential in magic.”
“Indeed? Did you guide her?”
“No!” Helen shook her head in denial, “At that time, I followed my mentor to learn magic because of coincidence of opportunity coupled with curiosity.”
“But when I gradually grew up and realized how difficult mages are in this society, although I didn’t regret my original decision, I also didn’t want Fanny to be on this path in case I was not careful ……”
“Someone else?”
“Neither ……”
Her Highness Helen spoke with a half proud, half worried expression on her face.
“Fanny, she’s self-awakened.”
“Self-awakening?”
Lardy was shocked! Someone who could self-awaken their magical potential was a legendary existence in the mage community!
“Helen-senpai, do you …… you indeed?”
Helen replied with unparalleled confirmation, “I’m sure, Fanny has always been under my guardianship, I know exactly who she’s been in contact with.”
“She didn’t realize at the time what it meant, so I told her never to show this ability in front of anyone but me.”
“Hokage, it looks like her awakening is still known by someone who is interested in it, and young children like Fanny don’t quite know how to control their abilities.”
“Yes, I’m still not doing it carefully enough.”
Helen’s voice revealed remorse.
“This is not the time to talk about that, let’s ……”
Lardy was just about to voice her advice when there was another knock on the door from outside.
“What is it? I’m in the middle of a meeting.”
The voice of the attendant from earlier came from outside the door, “Your Highness, Lord Elvis, the Bishop of Fort Ness, has come to visit.”
“Bishop?”
Helen and Lardy frowned, due to the witch-hunting movement in the south and their own status, it gave them an instinctive aversion to the clergy.
“Let him go back first, I’m busy right now.”
“Uh …… He handed me a box and said that if you didn’t want to see him, he asked me to pass it on to you.”
“Send it in!”
The door to the room opened and the attendant came in and placed a box carefully on the table in front of the pair before exiting again.
Helen opened the box with suspicion.
“This …… is …… this.”
The Grand Duchess was in a daze for a moment.
Lardy looked into the box and inside was a necklace.
“What’s so special about this necklace, senior sister?”
Helen picked up the necklace as soon as she could and looked it over and over.
“This is Fanny’s necklace! It is! That’s right! This is the necklace, my own gift to her.”
Finally having a clue, the Grand Duchess’s face showed a mixture of sadness and joy.
“Why is Fanny’s necklace in the hands of the local bishop?”
Helen calmed down all of a sudden, the church forces, the witch-hunting movement, and the magical potential in Fanny’s body made her think of the most horrifying scenario all of a sudden.
“Sister, there’s no use in imagining things, it’s better to meet this Bishop Elvis.”
“You’re right.” ……
Bishop Elvis of Nisborough followed the attendant to the parlor inside the embassy.
Seeing that Her Highness Helen, the Grand Duchess, was already waiting for him inside, the bishop immediately went forward and bowed.
“Your Highness! Thank you for taking the time to meet with me.”
Helen waved her hand, “Don’t say any unnecessary polite words, Mr. Bishop please take a seat first.”
After Elvis sat down, Helen held up the necklace and asked, “Can Mr. Bishop explain what’s going on here?”
“Oh, Your Highness, I’m sure you’ve already recognized this necklace.”
Elvis had a slightly derisive look on his face.
“The thing is, the Church raided the stronghold of a group of evil wizards not long ago, and we met unexpected people there.”
“Fanny?”
“Exactly, it was your sister who was kidnapped not too long ago – Duchess Fanny – and this necklace is what the Duchess had on her.”
Helen’s heart was shaken, partly because she finally expected news of her sister, and partly because she had fallen into the hands of the Church.
She forced herself to be calm and took out a slightly authoritative voice and said, “Thank you for rescuing my sister, but why don’t you just send her back?”
Bishop Elvis’s expression seemed to smile.
“Your Highness Helen, in addition to this necklace, we also found something interesting on the baroness.”
Helen felt a great sense of dismay in her heart, “What things?”
“Magic, Your Highness, we found magic belonging to a sorcerer on the Baroness’s body.”
“Ridiculous!”
The Grand Duchess scolded sternly.
“Not ridiculous at all, Your Highness Helen. After all, there is so much at stake that we had all the witch-hunting experts stationed in our city come and confirm it, but they came to a unanimous conclusion – Duchess Fanny is a witch, or is on the path to becoming one.”
Helen stood up with a start, “She is merely an eleven year old.”
Elvis said immediately, “An eleven year old child, but also an eleven year old witch, and being young doesn’t mean you can ignore her sins.”
“Sins? She’d feel guilty half the time for even stepping on an ant! Even if magic was found in her, it was due to being seduced by an evil witch, she has no idea what it means!”
“It is true that your sister claims to know nothing, but as you know, Your Highness, witches are always good at deceiving and compelling people.”
Helen stared coldly at Elvis, “I will have the Archduke protest to the Archbishop of Corner Bay!”
The bishop smiled, his face not the least bit worried, “You don’t need to bring up the archbishop to pressure me, the archbishop will surely be on the same side as me when it comes to treating witches.”
Helen’s heart was burning with anxiety, she wanted to immediately call out for someone to detain this wildly disobedient and impolite guy in front of her, and then mobilize manpower to search for people in Nisborough Cathedral.
But she calmed down; after her sister fell into the hands of the church, they did not send her back, but they did not publicly proclaim it either.
When she thought about it, after all, Fanny is a noble with a low status, the wife and sister of the Grand Duke of Eaton, the church, no matter how arrogant, would not dare to make a decision on their own, which would cause the anger of the entire Horn Bay nobility.
Helen calmed her heartbeat, her tone regained its composure.
“May I ask Mr. Bishop what he intends to do with his sister-in-law?”
“Dispose? Your Highness is overstating the case.”
“Isn’t your means of dealing with so-called ‘witches’ always to tie them to the stake and burn them?”
Elvis shook his head repeatedly, “That was treating ordinary civilian witches, for a noble person like Duchess Fanny, she was merely going astray. It’s not as if there weren’t such examples before, we usually let their families discipline them severely and think behind closed doors to get back on the right path.”
“After all, you nobles are always privileged!”
This sentence carried a strong sense of sarcasm.
(End of chapter)