at the same time.
St. Peter's Basilica, in a lounge deep in the corridor.
The pope and the bishop stood in this room together, looking down at a knight lying on the bed.
There was no one else in the entire lounge. But the naked knight's face was flushed at the moment, his eyes were closed tightly, and his hands and feet were twitching from time to time, looking like he was terminally ill.
Obviously, he was also infected with the "plague" that was raging in the royal capital.
"Plague? Who spread this rumor?" Suddenly, the Pope snorted in displeasure and said, "Isn't he just trying to force us to lift the ban? The mages in the capital are becoming more and more rampant."
The bishop lowered his head and stared at the unconscious knight. He was silent for a moment before slowly speaking:
"The form of this curse is very special. Unless His Majesty the Pope takes action, it will be difficult for anyone else to lift it. Now, at least 30,000 people in the entire royal capital have been cursed. There is no way we can cope with it."
Even the bishop's poker face inevitably showed a stern look when he said these words.
Hearing this, the Pope turned around.
"Do you think this curse was cast by that boy from the Rise family?"
The bishop shook his head and said: "Benjamin Reese, this person is very strange. I have bypassed the nobles' eyes and ears and extracted his memory many times. However, his memory has always been clean, and there is no trace of him becoming a mage. There were signs. Therefore, even if he had some abnormal behavior during this period, I didn't care."
Suddenly, the pope's two gray eyebrows frowned together.
"Memory never lies." He almost muttered to himself, "The artifact left to us by His Majesty the First Pope will never be faulty unless the Holy Spirit comes."
"Yes." The bishop nodded and replied.
The pope fell silent and the bishop didn't speak. The whole conversation reached a deadlock. It seemed that they all couldn't understand what happened to Benjamin.
For a moment, the only sound in the room was the occasional painful groan from the mouth of the knight lying ill in bed.
A long while.
"What clues are there in the investigation of the Riise family?" Seemingly having hit a wall with the previous question, the Pope suddenly spoke and asked in a different direction.
"Very few." The bishop shook his head again, with a calm expression that seemed a little helpless. "We found some magic-related things from his room, but everything pointed to an entry-level mage. The huge water balloon that day, and With the current curse, we haven’t found any relevant clues.”
"What about their memories?" the Pope immediately asked.
"Due to our previous agreement, we only extracted the memories of all the servants." The bishop replied. "Although there is still no harvest, there are various signs that his personality has changed slightly before and after he was kidnapped."
Upon hearing this, the Pope sneered, as if he heard something ridiculous and contemptuous.
Therefore, he did not pay attention to the details of Benjamin's character change in the bishop's words, but expressed considerable dissatisfaction with the agreement that the church could not extract the memories of the nobles.
"Promise..." His voice became low and gloomy, and even a slight hint of anger could be heard in it, "After something like this happened, do we still need to continue to treat the Riese family as nobles? Hidden mages, they The crime is enough to remove them from the nobility, not to mention... "
"Your Majesty the Pope." The bishop suddenly spoke and interrupted him, "Don't forget Grant."
“…”
As soon as these words came out, the pope's anger was like a ball with a hole in it, and it dissipated completely in the blink of an eye.
He sighed, shook his head, and stopped saying anything. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the image of God depicted in the murals in the room, surrounded by holy light, and surrounded by holy light.
"Grant..."
He spoke in a long tone and with a complicated expression.
The bishop also looked at the mural and said, "This is the will of God."
The Pope nodded and repeated, "So it is, God willing."
The two of them looked at the God in the mural and remained silent, as if they had just entered the time to pray. They just kept their mouths shut, perhaps even silently reciting the original passages of the Bible in their hearts, each praying for completely different things.
I don’t know how long it’s been…
The Pope sighed again, breaking the sacred and somber silence in the lounge. His brows furrowed again, showing a solemn expression.
Then, he turned around and looked at the unconscious knight lying on his bed.
"The form of this curse reminds me of a person," the pope said.
The bishop seemed to understand who the pope was talking about. However, he expressed a different opinion.
"What happened many years ago, Your Majesty the Pope, you don't need to be so brooding about it anymore. That person has died long ago. Even if other people have received the inheritance, they cannot replicate what happened back then." He seemed to be recounting something. As if it were an established fact, he said slowly, "Benjamin Reese, this mage who has surpassed all cognitions, is the one who deserves more attention at this moment."
Hearing this, the Pope turned back, looked at the bishop with great solemnity, and asked: "So, do you think it was that boy who obtained the inheritance and cast this curse?"
"That's not important." However, the bishop did not answer the question. Instead, he changed the topic and reminded, "No matter who cast the curse, he has succeeded. Everyone is eager to escape from the Royal Capital. The city gates of Wenlaite can no longer be closed."
Hearing this, the Pope couldn't help but take a deep breath, as if there was an extremely difficult problem in front of him, and only he could make a decision and solve this problem.
"We can't let him leave the royal capital, he is too special." The Pope said slowly and firmly, "Even if we have to use the power of the entire church and make some sacrifices, this is the case."
"Yes." The bishop nodded.
The Pope lowered his head, seeming to be thinking about how to recapture Benjamin.
This may be a fairly simple question, or it may be an extremely difficult one. The reason is that they don't understand Benjamin's magic level and have difficulty making decisions about it. They were afraid of underestimating their opponent's capabilities and sending people out recklessly, which resulted in the loss of church manpower.
The Pope thought about it for a long time.
"Since it can't be closed anymore, let's open the city gate." After a while, he finally raised his head and whispered, "The escaping devil is hiding so well, no one knows how long he can hide. . Without opening a door and spreading some bait, we can’t lure him out.”
The bishop immediately asked: "After the trace is led out, who should be followed?"
The Pope walked to the door and pushed open the door to the lounge. He glanced at the gorgeous dome in the corridor, then turned back and spoke. The wrinkles on his face were like crisscrossing ravines, and his eyes were stern.
"you and me."