Chapter 165: The Wind Fills the Tower (Part 2)

  The room was spacious, magnificent, and even more imposing. The heavy black tables, chairs, and furnishings all exuded an air of grandeur and solemnity. This place seemed to be a microcosm of the entire St. Peter's Basilica, and the Cardinal sitting steadily in the center was like a deity in the heart of the church. Perhaps he had intentionally, or perhaps unintentionally, arranged his room this way, but the majesty he exuded was indeed a match for his status.

  "Knight Talise, is this the reason you had me wait here in the middle of the night?" The Cardinal frowned, looking at the mentally disturbed girl before him. His majestic and solemn eyes merely swept over her before withdrawing, with a hint of disapproval. "She is merely suffering from a mental closure caused by excessive fright. Although this condition is indeed serious, Celeste should have three or four people who can treat her, right? Was it necessary to use a magic message to specially call me here to wait?"

  As the Cardinal of Erathia, with a status comparable to Queen Katherine herself, he was waiting here on this stormy night like a doctor, specifically to treat someone. If it weren't for Talise, the sole disciple of Lancelot, Eschol would never have had the patience or good temper to sit here and talk with her.

  Talise quickly bowed and said, "Please forgive me, Lord Eschol. But there are actually very complicated circumstances behind this matter. I did not dare to bring this girl to Celeste on my own. Master Lancelot is recuperating and I did not wish to disturb him. So I brought her to you first, for you to treat her, and to report this matter to you at the same time."

  The Cardinal frowned and nodded. Since she was already here, there was no harm in looking. He often unconsciously slowed his movements and made his expression more solemn. Even this look of impatience seemed to carry the majesty of a divine revelation. He looked again at the vacant-eyed girl and suddenly noticed that she had been constantly muttering the same sentence.

  May the merciful Lord, with the life of a believer, bestow Your compassion and protection upon that fragile soul and life...

  The girl's voice was low, her pronunciation indistinct. Under her vacant expression, it seemed like meaningless rambling. But the words naturally carried a sorrowful majesty. All of the girl's spirit, all her thoughts and will, were concentrated in this endlessly repeated murmur. Each word was not spoken by her mouth, but vibrated from her soul.

  If the Cardinal's majesty was like this man-made cathedral, tall and magnificent, making all who see it look up in awe, then the girl's sentence was like a stone by the river, deposited over hundreds of millions of years—plain, even ugly, but those who knew its true meaning would surely be moved by it. It was a shock that coexisted with heaven and earth.

  "This is the prayer of The Divine Aegis of the Gods," the Cardinal said, unable to hide his astonishment. This spell, in his eyes, was naturally not considered profound or subtle. But no one could possibly ignore a spell that could only be cast by the most devout high priests, at the cost of all their life and magic. Even Bishop Eschol, in his decades of magical career, had only witnessed this spell a limited number of times. His gaze suddenly focused entirely on the girl. After a slow scan, his whole body trembled slightly, and he said in a lost voice, "She..."

  "Did you see something?" Talise asked cautiously.

  A gleam of light flashed in Bishop Eschol's eyes. He nodded slowly: "This girl was once saved by the magic of The Divine Aegis of the Gods. The situation at that time must have been exceptionally terrifying and bloody. It was the excessive fright that caused her to lose her mind."

  "How did you know?" Talise asked, her face full of astonishment.

  The Cardinal smiled faintly, a smile as majestic and compassionate as a statue of a god on a high platform: "It's simple, clear at a glance. The words repeatedly muttered by someone who has lost their mind from excessive shock, even if not the shock itself, must have a great and direct connection to the stimulus that caused their breakdown. And you know very well what kind of spell The Divine Aegis of the Gods is. The person who sacrificed their life to protect her must have been a very close relative. The caster of this spell is not within the spell's protective range, so they must have been killed right before her eyes."

  "The title of the first mind magician on the continent is well-deserved by you," Talise said, completely and sincerely convinced. Although she knew that Bishop Eschol's attainments in mind magic were very high, she never thought he could understand all the cause and effect with just a glance, as if he had witnessed it himself.

  There was no trace of happiness or pride on Eschol's face. Perhaps, in his view, Talise's words could not be considered praise at all, but merely a statement of fact. His gaze wandered over the girl's body a few times, then, as if unconsciously, slowly moved towards the upper right, as if lost in thought.

  Those very neat and imposing white eyebrows slowly furrowed together. Talise did not speak again. She could only see that the Bishop's expression seemed to be one of thought or recollection, and she did not dare to interrupt.

  At some point, only the girl's low murmur remained in the room. The wind, rain, thunder, and lightning outside were still fierce, but a strange, heavy feeling began to permeate the air of this spacious and imposing room. Talise felt a vague sense of unease, but she didn't know where it came from, or if it was just an illusion created by the quiet inside and the storm raging outside.

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  A nearby clap of thunder exploded, causing the candle flames in the room to flicker. In the flickering light, Bishop Eschol finally looked back at the girl. After examining her carefully for a moment, he spoke: "If I'm not mistaken, this girl should be a talented mage. Her cultivated elemental magic could reach the level of an intermediate mage... The key point is, how do I feel fluctuations of white magic within her body? From the fact that you brought her to see me secretly, she is not a believer, not a legal user of white magic... Also, who used The Divine Aegis of the Gods on her? I don't recall receiving any reports recently of any priest using this spell."

  Talise nodded and replied: "Yes. This is also one of the things I need to report to you. This girl... and her brother were actually raised by Pastor Raelas of the former Pingsburg parish. It was Pastor Raelas who taught them white magic, and this time, it was also Pastor Raelas who saved the two of them with The Divine Aegis of the Gods at the critical moment."

  "Pingsburg... wasn't that one of the priests who was defrocked when Her Majesty ascended the throne?" Bishop Eschol snorted, his thick nasal voice momentarily drowning out the sound of the wind and rain outside. "Even if defrocked, teaching the sacred white magic to others without permission is a serious violation of Celeste's regulations. White magic is a magic bestowed by the Lord for believers to guard the light. For a non-believer to use white magic is blasphemy."

  "Your Excellency, please be discerning. Although this old priest was defrocked, his faith has not wavered in the slightest. That he could cast The Divine Aegis of the Gods is proof of his piety to the Lord. And this girl and her brother, I can guarantee their pure hearts and conduct with the honor of a Temple Knight." Talise hurriedly defended herself. "And behind the matter I wish to report is a true blasphemy. A blasphemy against the sacred white magic. Please allow me to finish."

  Bishop Eschol nodded expressionlessly.

  "It happened like this... this young girl and her brother joined a merchant caravan from the Erathia Merchant Guild to Oufu... On a night on their return journey..."

  The female knight narrated in great detail, everything as if she had seen it with her own eyes. Bishop Eschol was listening, but perhaps because he was listening too attentively, too absorbed, the Cardinal's expression and gaze did not change in the slightest, just looking faintly at the female knight.

  "To be able to use a paralyzing immobilization spell, and even Divine Aegis of the Heavens, the caster must be at least a bishop. Although I find it hard to believe, I didn't dare to bring this girl to Celeste lightly, just in case. So I came to report to you first..."

  "Knight Talise, do you find this story credible?" Bishop Eschol suddenly interrupted the female knight, saying faintly.

  "This..." The female knight was stunned.

  "A believer who serves the Lord, and a bishop bestowed by the Lord with the grace to teach, goes specially to that kind of barbaric and desolate land, uses sacred white magic on a few beasts just to have them kill a group of stinking merchants..." The Cardinal sighed and asked again faintly: "Do you think this story is reasonable? If these words were spoken by someone else, I would send them directly to the stake."

  A blush rose on the female knight's face. Although she paused, her tone did not waver in the slightest: "He would not lie to me, and this girl... it couldn't have been caused by any other situation."

  "He?" The Cardinal seemed a bit surprised by this choice of word. "Who? The girl's brother? The young man who helped you?"

  "Yes."

  Bishop Eschol sat up straight, looking at the female knight expressionlessly like a statue of a god, the majesty and aura in his eyes irresistible: "I see in your eyes a wayward emotion that should not be there. For a Temple Knight who has dedicated her life to great justice and the glory of the Lord, this is depravity."

  "No, I don't..." Talise's body trembled, her face full of shock.

  "Even if this girl was indeed saved by The Divine Aegis of the Gods, it absolutely does not prove that what he told you is the truth. Is there not enough bloodshed on the hands of the beasts of the Barbarian Highlands? In the past few hundred years, the number of innocent souls who perished in their stomachs is countless. And now you believe someone would specially use sacred white magic to frame them?"

  "No, Bishop, it's because..." Talise had just opened her mouth but couldn't continue.

  "A person believes something, not necessarily because the matter is credible, but because they are willing to believe it. That you would believe such a clumsy lie shows that your heart has been moved, that you are willing to believe this story. Because this story can turn those who misused white magic into victims, making their crimes seem less severe in this fictional plot. This is nothing more than a trick by that young man to shift attention while trying to cure his sister and absolve himself of blame."

  Talise looked at Bishop Eschol, emotions like confusion, anxiety, and unease constantly changing and alternating on her face, mixed together.

  "I see weakness, confusion, and unease in your eyes. And that evil temptation." The Cardinal looked at the female knight, the majesty and light in his eyes growing heavier, almost as if he could see through and shatter the knight before him, his voice becoming harsher, "Feel your own heart. Is this the heart of a Temple Knight who is firm in body and devout in faith?"

  The light in Talise's eyes, under the Cardinal's seemingly tangible gaze, shattered and scattered like a pane of glass, silently. Finally, she nodded her head and said in a low voice, "Yes, I know I was wrong."

  Bishop Eschol's voice and gaze softened. He said, "As the youngest Temple Knight of Celeste, a disciple of Lancelot, your talent and intellect are absolutely impeccable. What you lack is tempering in the mortal world, understanding and insight into the human heart." The Cardinal sighed and said earnestly: "You must know, many things in this world are not as simple and pure as they appear on the surface."

  "Yes." Talise lowered her head, but then suddenly raised it again. In those phoenix-like eyes, the dazed light once again condensed into a firm color. "But I still request you to heal this girl. As for whether those matters are true, we can investigate later."

  A look of surprise flashed in the Cardinal's eyes. Bishop Eschol nodded, revealing a rare smile and said: "Of course, I will naturally heal her. By the way, her brother, the young man you mentioned, is he here? Call him here."

  Talise was stunned for a moment, looked at the Cardinal's face which had begun to show a kind and gentle expression, and nodded happily.

  Until the female knight turned and left, and the Cardinal was alone in the room, the kind and gentle smile on his face did not fade in the slightest. Although outside the window it was still a world of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, a warm atmosphere seemed to begin to permeate this originally solemn and heavy room.

  The wind outside was still fierce, the rain still urgent. It was unknown which clap of thunder illuminated the dark world for an instant. In the thunder that seemed to shake the entire cathedral, two black shadows could be seen clinging to the outside of the window. Unfortunately, from the angle inside the room, they were completely invisible.

  The two black shadows were completely soaked by the rain, the outlines of their bodies and muscles clearly visible, but they did not move, seemingly without any trace of a heartbeat or breath, clinging tightly to the outer wall like two stone carvings that had merged with the stone wall and the storm.

  One of the smaller black shadows moved slowly. The curves of this shadow's body were soft and slender, yet filled with a wild temptation, like in the darkness a statue of a enchantress forged by a devil. Her movements were slow and careful. Even in the sound of the wind, rain, and startling thunder, she did not dare to make the slightest sound. She looked at the other black shadow, her hand slowly pointing to the Cardinal's shadow in the window and making a pulling-down gesture.

  The other black shadow slowly shook its head, opened its mouth, but made no sound, only making the motion of uttering a single word.

  That word was: Wait.