The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 74 The Long Night
Looking at the sky, it felt like sunset was approaching. Under the watchful eyes of the knights and nuns, Eric walked alone into the candle-lit cathedral and knelt down to pray before the statue of Yela.

The knights had to take turns standing guard outside the church, while the nuns had to keep an eye on the burning candles and replenish them at any time, and this work was done by Alena alone.

When it was completely dark, Alena went into the church and changed the candles for the first time.

"Why are you alone?"

She turned around and saw Eric still kneeling in front of the statue, not looking at her.

"Your Highness, you must not be distracted when you pray."

"That's all I got." Eric said, even getting up and coming over to help her change the candles. "Yela just told me to go to sleep when I'm tired."

"..."

Alena prayed silently to Ye La for a while, asking her to forgive the quasi-saint's...casualness.

There were dim candlelight in the church. There seemed to be a lot of candles. It didn't take long for the two of them to change them together.

Eric knelt back in front of the statue of Yela. Alena watched for a while and was about to leave when he called her.

"It's still early, stay here with me for a while."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Facing Yela, Alena knelt behind Eric and found that he was turning his head to look at her.

"Is that how you want me to talk to you?"

"Your Highness..." Alena had no choice but to move next to him. "The prayer has just begun. You should at least show your sincerity."

"Who said I'm not sincere? Sincerity is in my heart." Eric moved closer to her. "Are you cold?"

The church on the mountain had no fire crystals to keep it warm, so the wind and snow could not blow in. The temperature was actually quite low. Eric could endure it thanks to his physical fitness, but Alena might not be able to bear it.

"I'm fine, Your Highness." Alena clasped her hands together. "I've been through much colder times before."

"By the way, you're from Northria." Eric thought of her hometown, which was in the even colder north. "But you've been here for so long, can you still be the same as before?"

"Ha..." Alena exhaled a breath of cold air and smiled at him, "It's definitely not as good as before."

Eric was about to ask how they had survived coming up here a few years before, but then he remembered that the nuns didn't need to spend the night there at all - the old saint could just pray and go down the mountain.

"Isn't it freezing to death?" Eric couldn't help but ask, "Are there any heating devices in the nuns' resting areas?"

"They all carry fire chips with them," Alena reassured him. "One chip per person will last them all night."

Eric looked at her, "Then you..."

"They gave me one too, but I felt like I could still hold on, so I didn't use it." Alena took out an unused fire crystal from her bosom and showed it to Eric.

He took it, and the amber translucent crystal still carried her warmth.

Fire crystals are flakes of fire crystal that, when stimulated by an external force, can continuously emit heat. The higher the purity, the more heat it can release.

"amazing……"

Eric muttered, looking through the translucent wafer at the flickering candlelight on the other side.

In "Crown of Thorns", Fire Crystal is one of the most common enchanting and alchemical materials. He didn't know how many he had consumed, and never thought that one day he would touch this material with his own hands.

The method of igniting fire crystal is also very simple. Just burn it on an existing fire source, or simply knock it on a stone, and it will gradually heat up.

After playing with it for a while, Eric returned the fire chip to Alena.

The night has just begun.

The wind and snow outside the church continued to blow, and in this quiet moment, one could even hear the rustling sound of snowflakes hitting the walls.

Lutia is further north, and I don’t know if the snow is heavy over there in Irene... Eric smiled when he thought of his sister’s curiosity when she saw the snow flying all over the sky.

He was distracted for a while, and when he regained consciousness, he found that Alena had closed her eyes and was praying.

He didn't disturb her, but just looked at her face for a while.

In a sense, they have been living together for more than half a year.

As they became more and more familiar with each other and experienced many things together, the wariness and estrangement they had when they first met were no longer there, and he became more and more dependent on the various support Alena gave him in life.

Alena has always maintained the distance brought by their respective identities, and they are close but not intimate with each other.

Identity...

The would-be saint took a deep breath of the night air, her teeth aching from the cold. The snow on the mountain gradually thickened, and the night slowly passed. At one point, seeing that the candle was almost burned out, Eric stood up to replace it.

Alena opened her eyes at the same moment, "Let me do it, Your Highness."

"I thought you were asleep."

"Your Highness..."

The two began to change from both sides of the church, and finally met in the middle, lit the last candle, and smiled at each other.

Alena was about to sit back down and continue praying when Eric said, "It's getting late. Go get some rest."

"...Yes, Your Highness."

Alena agreed at first, then looked out the window at the dark snow outside the church and said, "I will stay with Your Highness until midnight."

Eric looked at her, "That's still early."

"It's too early to rest now." Alena said, returning to her previous position and kneeling in front of the statue.

"That's up to you."

Instead of continuing to pray, Eric walked around the church.

The buildings on the Holy Mountain are roughly equivalent to a younger version of the Apostolic Palace. They are not as tall, but they are fully functional so that they can serve as the second Holy See at any time.

Apart from the church, all other areas were closed, but Eric wasn't bored enough to go in.

"The history of this place is even longer than that of the Saint Maiden Palace."

Eric's voice echoed in the empty church. Alena opened her eyes and prepared to answer, but she couldn't shout as loudly as he did, so she stood up and walked over.

"Yes."

"Do you know what happened here?" Eric asked.

Alena shook her head. "I only know that the cathedral was built on the Holy Mountain shortly after the church was founded."

Nuns basically don't need to take church history courses like Eric did. They only need to understand the parts recorded in various scriptures.

"You don't know anything else?"

Alena was startled because the quasi-saint suddenly perked up. "I don't know..."

"Then you are blessed, you can listen to your fill tonight."

Eric's interest brightened when he thought of the church's shameful past. He took her hand and sat back in front of the statue. "Come, let's talk to Yela. Let her hear what the church has done."

"..."

When he pulled her back to the statue, Alena first prayed upwards, silently asking the gods not to care about such a small matter.

"When talking about what happened at the Cathedral of the Holy Mountain, we have to mention Pope Innocent III. But before that, we must first talk about another pope who had a huge influence on him, Innocent II..."

Eric was talking about gossip about the previous Pope with great interest. Even though she knew that they were the only ones in the church now and the knights guarding outside could not hear anything inside, Alena still couldn't help but look around.

"Your Highness, please speak a little more quietly..."

"Hmm? Come closer then. Where were we talking just now?"

Alena moved closer to him, keeping her shoulder to shoulder, about a fist's length away. "His Majesty, Innocent II, issued the Papal Bull."

Eric also moved his body to fill the last bit of distance and pressed against her arm.

The warmth came over her, and Alena glanced at him, but he had already continued speaking.

"…Innocent II issued a papal bull declaring that the power of the Church comes from the Pope, who in turn inherited his authority from the Holy Prophet Raphael and his disciples. These predecessors had received direct divine guidance and enjoyed a special status in the secular world. Therefore, as their successor, the Pope should also enjoy full power in the secular world, that is, supreme authority. He was implying that the Pope should have power equal to or even greater than that of the Emperor.

"At the time, the empire was busy dealing with the demons that had resurfaced on the northern border and did not express its stance. The Pope took this as Emperor Utu's tacit approval.

In 224 AD, the Pope invited Wutu to the Cathedral of the Holy City of Lasir to pray for the blessing, under the pretext of 'celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Emperor's reign.

"While the emperor was kneeling in prayer before the statue of Yerla in the cathedral, Innocent II suddenly stood before the emperor, took the crown from the attendant, and crowned the kneeling emperor. He then accepted the cheers of the onlookers who had come to celebrate the emperor's 20th anniversary of his accession to the throne."

Emperor Utu canceled all other plans for the day. The next day, Innocent II was found dead in the papal residence.

Thanks to the book friend [Don’t worry, I’ll find a way] for being the leader, and thanks to the book friend [Light of the Netherworld] for being the captain.

If nothing unexpected happens, it will be on the shelves tomorrow.

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(End of this chapter)