Chapter 34, Marcel Diocese (4)
We returned to the inn carrying the ‘Agreement for the Establishment of the Marcel Diocese,’ complete with the Pope’s signature and seal.
The full leadership meeting, which all the suspects would attend, was scheduled for two days later.
Until then, my job was to remain inside the inn.
To prevent anyone from becoming suspicious, I was also supposed to avoid outside contact.
“What am I supposed to do for two days? Martin, is there anything fun around here?”
“No.”
“...”
It was my fault for asking Martin.
I doubted there was another person in the world as boring as him.
At least he was not completely socially hopeless, so holding a conversation with him was possible.
I sighed and looked toward Pascal.
He watched my expression while nervously moving his eyes from side to side.
I decided not to ask him.
I doubted I would get any useful answer.
Why did these young men live such boring lives?
Could it be because I made them work too much?
I reflected on myself a little.
Anyway, two painfully boring days passed.
We followed a trainee priest from the Holy See toward the hall where the full leadership meeting would be held.
By the time our group arrived, many department heads, committee chairmen, directors, and deputy directors from the various organizations had already gathered in the meeting hall.
They gathered in small groups and exchanged information about why the meeting had suddenly been called.
“Why did His Holiness suddenly summon this meeting? Do you know what matter will be discussed?”
“I only received a one sided notice as well. Even my acquaintances knew nothing.”
“Hmm. I hope it isn’t anything serious.”
They seemed to be deliberately speaking loudly, hoping that someone who knew the reason would respond.
Because of that, even we could clearly hear them from the observer seats.
“There are quite a few observers today. They wouldn’t discuss anything dangerous while outsiders were present, so everyone should stop worrying.”
“I wouldn’t be so certain. His Holiness has always been rather unusual.”
Anyone saying something like that in front of outsiders was probably part of a faction opposed to the Pope.
Every organization had factions, so no one seemed particularly bothered.
As the meeting time approached, people began taking random seats.
However, the trainee priests stopped them.
“You must sit in the seat bearing your nameplate.”
The leadership members looked confused by the unusual procedure.
“Assigned seats? This is the first time I’ve seen that.”
“Surely they aren’t using the seating arrangement to establish our rankings?”
“Don’t say frightening things like that.”
The seating arrangement based on nameplates had been prepared because of me.
If the true name shown by [Convenient Lesser Appraisal] differed from the name written on the nameplate, I would immediately identify that person as a suspect.
I had already confirmed that none of the leadership members officially used aliases.
After the brief disturbance ended, Pope Catriel entered the meeting room together with the Chancellor of the State Secretariat.
Seeing them together again made me curious about their relationship.
They’re always together. Is the Chancellor the Pope’s right hand man? No, maybe not. He seemed kind of useless. Did she put him there as a figurehead?
There were plenty of leaders who disliked having a talented second in command.
For such people, someone obedient was considered the best subordinate.
Anyway, once everyone was seated, the Pope announced the beginning of the meeting.
“Everyone, Viscount Eric Marcel, a man blessed by God, has requested the creation of the Marcel Diocese. I have decided to accept this request and appoint Daniel, Deputy Director of the Internal Affairs Office, as Bishop of the Marcel Diocese. Please offer him your congratulations and encouragement.”
I looked toward Daniel.
However, the Director of the Internal Affairs Office sitting beside him twisted his expression and tightly closed his eyes.
Looks like the Director has been keeping Daniel in check. I don’t know what happened between them, but he’s out of your hands now.
I did not care what kind of person Daniel had been in the past.
What mattered was that he followed my instructions from now on.
When Daniel stood and bowed, many of the other participants applauded and congratulated him.
Apparently, the rest of the leadership did not particularly care what kind of person Daniel was.
Their faces clearly said that as long as it was not their problem, they did not care.
The Pope must have a headache. Passive officials, opposing factions, political schemes, she has all of it.
I almost shook my head in sympathy.
Now then, let’s find the false ones.
I began using [Convenient Lesser Appraisal] on the members of the leadership.
First, the Director of the Internal Affairs Office.
[Manuel, 52]
[Son of the late Fernando, a back alley delinquent from Burgos. Director of the Internal Affairs Office of the Holy See of the God of Abundance. Worships Annapurna.]
Safe. Being the son of a neighborhood thug isn’t a crime.
I continued appraising the others one by one.
Nothing particularly strange appeared.
Then,
[Haides, 60]
[Son of the late Dertis, a farmer from Royan. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Holy See of the God of Abundance. Worships Hela.]
Found you!
Hela was the God of the Dead.
Since people in this world worshiped many different gods, someone worshiping the God of the Dead was not automatically rejected by society.
The problem was that this man worked at the Holy See of the God of Abundance.
I had no idea why a follower of Hela had infiltrated the Order of the God of Abundance.
Nor did I particularly care.
Just because I believed gods truly existed did not mean I believed in religion itself.
Religion was merely a tool.
Since it seemed I would have to wait quite a while for the meeting to finish, I continued using [Convenient Lesser Appraisal] on the other leaders.
What the hell? Why are there more?
The Pope had said there was one infiltrator.
She was wrong.
I found two more.
The Vice Minister of the Department of Doctrine of Faith and the Deputy Director of the Grand Tribunal both displayed the words, ‘Worships Hela.’
I had planned to simply tell the Pope, but now it seemed better to write everything down.
I wrote the three names on a piece of paper along with the words, ‘Followers of Hela,’ then called over a trainee priest.
“Take this paper to His Holiness. It is extremely important.”
The trainee priest carried the paper to the Pope.
No one paid any attention to the tiny piece of paper.
Yet it was about to bring a bloody storm upon the Holy See.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock interrupted my thoughts.
Our group was waiting for the Pope in a reception room.
Surprisingly, she arrived much sooner than expected.
The exhausted looking Pope immediately handed me a pouch.
I accepted it.
It was quite heavy.
