There were whispers here and there at the rare chance to be invited into the Great Temple by the Pope himself without any "special" reason.
The Pope only visited rulers or summoned their representatives to the Great Temple when he had to ddle in sothing. Such as, for instance, when the priests and believers in a territory were condemned or treated badly by the ruling power.
A visit or summons from the Pope usually ant the rulers in a territory did sothing wrong that caught his attention or sothing was going on in the said territory that the Great Temple had to ddle.
’He never visited Crux or other kingdoms with slavery though.’
It made Arabella wonder why he didn’t visit those places.
’Or was it because there were no believers of the sa faith there?’
The Great Temple was on the opposite side of the Grand Palace, but they were right next to each other.
Arabella encountered priests, bishops, and cardinals in her previous life. But never the Pope.
This was the first ti she saw the Pope and entered the Great Temple.
Even during the Assembly, the Pope never attended in person. He sent his representatives. And they didn’t take part in the discussions and rely listened and reported back to the Pope about what they heard.
Those who were still too shocked to discuss the monster attack were sent to a separate hall where they could rest comfortably and calm down.
Arabella’s mother, Sera, Andrew’s mother, and most of the young ladies and elderly were sent there since they were still too stiff and pale.
anwhile, those who wanted to be part of the discussion were directed to another hall.
"Do you need to go there, or would you like to co with ?" Ferdinand asked her and Arabella decided to go with her husband.
She wanted to know what would be discussed and she was too curious about the Pope to leave. She gave her mother a hug and told her to calm down and relax before following Ferdinand.
Ferdinand sent Riley to guard Arabella’s mother just in case another attack cos.
"Please make yourselves comfortable," the Pope said as they were ushered into a wide hall.
Due to the attack earlier, most royals had at least two knights and one magician with them.
It was rather a wonder to Arabella that Lobelius didn’t have a single magician in their kingdom. They could afford to hire magicians if they wanted to.
She noted to ask her family later since they were ushered to their seats.
The monster attack was then discussed. The Pope spoke first since eradicating monsters was one of their duties.
"The Grand Palace and deus itself had never been attacked by a horde of monsters especially ones this huge ever since the founding of the Great Temple. Our predecessors erected a barrier around the deus to prevent monsters from entering. This was why this is the first ti in a while that residents of deus get a glimpse of them. They are surely in a panic."
The Pope was right. Even the royals themselves were still unnerved and nervous.
The citizens were surely horrified as well since most of those who had stayed in deus for long had never seen monsters since birth.
"Please be rest assured that I and the entire temple continue to strengthen the barrier with all our might. And even after the incident today, the barrier is not broken, nor did it fail to do its job."
He made it clear that the temple was not being negligent nor were they failing in their job. And that the attack was not their fault either.
"There were intruders who were able to enter the palace grounds and summoned monsters," the Pope said, and the Grand Knight Commander of the Supranational knights apologized since it was akin to saying it was their fault.
"I am not trying to bla it on the knights nor on anyone. I was rely stating a fact. The intruders were simply that capable. I didn’t notice their presence either until the monsters appeared. Two of them entered the temple and were able to reach the Halls of Reflection. I wanted to catch them, but they were quick to escape and left monsters in Halls of Reflection so I had to eliminate them first," the Pope continued.
"They also entered the underground dungeons. I received reports from the knights stationed there that the assigned guards all passed out. One had a protection spell on him cast by his sibling, magician of the temple, and was the only one who remained conscious," the Grand Knight Commander of the Supranational knights added.
He said the knight pretended to have fallen asleep too since he felt that the intruders were more powerful and stronger than he was. He thought of observing or calling for reinforcent once the intruders went deeper into the dungeon and could not see him.
The knight sensed two people checking each cell. After they have checked every cell, the two left and monsters popped up suddenly. The monsters tried to forcefully open the cells.
"He said soone else arrived and killed all the monsters with magic and left shortly after. The other knights woke up after that and the one who remained awake got the chance to report."
This horrified the rulers since the prisoners in the underground dungeon were among those that had committed the most heinous cris.
They wondered if the intruders were companions of soone who was sent to the underground dungeons.
"It seems they were not sure whether it was us, or the knights, who captured whoever they were searching for which was why they checked the two," the Pope surmised.
"But who would be the magician who killed the monsters in the dungeons?" soone asked.
"Ah, he wasn’t from us."
"Oh, I thought it was soone from the temple since he prevented the monsters from freeing or killing the prisoners," the Grand Commander of the Supranational Knights said.
"My magicians were busy providing support then. If it was them, they would have reported to already. It was soone else and I believe I know who it is," the Pope smiled and glanced in Alwin’s direction.
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