Chapter 835: Sneaking Into the Cathedral
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Just as Benjamin hesitated, all of a sudden, a few figures appeared inside the cathedral: servants in twos and threes were surrounding a noble dressed in luxurious garments. That noble was Duke Collin.
Benjamin was suddenly moved in his heart.
All he could see was the group moving towards the entrance of the cathedral, as though about to leave. However, realizing they were trapped in by the barrier, they immediately had surprised and angry expressions. Duke Collin turned around, giving the priest who stood by the door a ___.
"Priest, what is this about?"
"...It’s those people, they’ve come to make trouble again, but Duke, sir, you need not worry. It’s impossible for them to come in." The priest had on a respectful attitude towards him, and immediately answered thus.
Nevertheless, Duke Collin’s face darkened, saying, "What? But I have urgent matters to attend to, I need to get to the outer district of the city immediately! Please dismantle this thing quickly. I must leave this place within ten minutes."
The priest was startled, with an instant troubled look on his face, "Duke, sir... This cannot be done, what shall we do with those people outside if we dismantle the barrier?"
"What’s there to be afraid of, they are just a bunch of civilians, and are those not many Holy Knights over there? Get them to come over here and help us get rid of these people!" Nevertheless, Duke Collin had on an anxious look, "Whatever it is, get this thing blocking the doorway removed quickly!"
"But there are too many people outside, and we don’t have enough manpower here to shoo them..."
"I really couldn’t care less!" Duke Collin immediately cut in, saying, "If you do not let me out, and I miss the meeting this time, if the funds for the cathedral repairs are insufficient, don’t tell me you will be able to bear that responsibility?"
"I..."
The few priests there were rendered speechless by him. Even the bishop inside the cathedral ran out to inquire of what was happening. Duke Collin, however, did not budge at all. Emphasizing on the cathedral repairs, he blabbered on non-stop, so much so that even the bishop was unable to rebut him.
Finally, taking a look at the situation outside the door, he nodded.
"...Forget it. Shut down the protective barrier temporarily, and get those Holy Knights over here."
The priests looked at each other, not daring to say a word. They merely took their specially crafted crosses out and directed them towards the entrance of the cathedral. With murmurings in their mouths, a magical oscillation spread out and, together, they shut down the Holy Barrier at the entrance.
The moment the barrier disappeared...
"Look, God’s protection is gone! God is no longer protecting this place!"
"Get in quickly... There must be a lot of valuable things inside..."
The rioting crowd seemed to boil, and rushed straight towards St. Peter’s Cathedral without hesitation. The priests at the entrance were unable to stop them at all, and even Duke Collin disappeared almost instantly in the rushing crowd, along with his servants.
The Holy Knights who guarded the cathedral quickly hurried over, and outside the cathedral, the Holy Knights who had just arrived could not just sit by and watch, naturally, and immediately rushed towards the crowds.
The entire situation became absolute chaos in a mere instant.
The priests were rushed into a mess, but they could not cast their spells. They were absolutely forbidden to use divine spells upon innocent citizens, and as the pope was not present, they were unable to immediately convict a few hundred citizens of any crime; it would have caused extremely serious damage to the reputation of the Church.
Only the Holy Knights could resist the shock of the oncoming rush. Their original duty to guard the various corners and rooms of the cathedral was forcefully set aside as they had to gather at the entrance, doing their best to keep the rioting civilians outside.
Under such confusing circumstances...
"I actually managed to slip in."
Benjamin snuck in from the side entrance of the cathedral’s main hall, unnoticed by anyone, and arrived in the corridor that was out of bounds for outsiders. From inside his helmet, he looked out at what laid before him, and could not help but say as he sighed.
He had thought that the plan was starting to be a bust.
"This is a frightening place," The System spoke in his head, "There are Holy Barriers everywhere. Even spiritual energy is unable to get through. I can’t scan anything."
"It does not matter. We’re not here to be spies," Benjamin shrugged and answered in his heart, as he walked towards the underground room where the King was being kept.
He tried to use the water elemental sensing technique as well, to check out his surroundings, but that was blocked by barriers as well. However, it seemed that Grant was really absent. This helped soothe his nerves slightly.
A spellcaster as powerful as he was would definitely cause the flow of the light elements to show signs of his presence in the cathedral. So far, both the System and him had not discovered any traces of the sort.
Had he really gone to the Mountains of Magic Beasts?
This pope was... Really ambitious.
Benjamin secretly scoffed as he walked forwards, along the corridor. The size of St. Peter’s Cathedral was rather astounding: corridors, gardens... It was not much smaller than the palaces in every nation. On the way, he encountered some priests and Holy Knights who were hastily coming to and fro. Only, faced with Benjamin, who was clad in the armor, they did not give him a second look, and hurried towards the entrance of the cathedral.
Some Holy Knights even stopped on the way to ask him about the situation.
"Hey... How is the situation at the doors?"
Benjamin hurriedly walked forwards as he answered in a low, muffled voice, "There is no time for details, you have to go quickly and help!"
Not a single person doubted his identity, or even asked him where he was going. Looking at his hasty behavior, everyone probably thought that he had some important news to report of, and did not dare to hinder him in the least bit.
Thus, Benjamin got close to the underground room smoothly.
"What’s going on outside? Hasn’t the protective barrier been opened? Why has it become so messed up?" At the top of the stairs to the underground room, there were a few priests, two lines of Holy Knights, and a Bishop standing. Seeing Benjamin hurry over, they immediately asked.
"I don’t know... The protective barrier seemed to have... Been broken."
"Broken? How can it be? How can a bunch of mobsters break the protective barrier?"
"I’m not sure as well, but the Bishop has sent me here to get help from you, as if... As if... It seems that there are signs of mages amongst the rioting civilians..."
Suddenly, the expression of the Bishop changed.
"How can it be... Is it possible that those nobles have collaborated with the mages..."
After a moment’s deep thought, he quickly raised his head and brought most of those who were present out of there, hurrying towards the main gates. However, due to the importance of the underground room, he left two priests and five Holy Knights to guard the place, in case anyone were to come here.
In a few short moments, they vanished from the end of the corridor.
"Those people can’t give it a rest for just a day!" Standing guard by the door of the underground room, as always, a priest looked somewhat furious, and snorted as he spoke.
"Yes..."
Beside him, a man clad in Holy Knight armor suddenly replied, "His Majesty the King is clearly well and under the protection of God. They just had to think that there’s some sort of conspiracy and come out to protest."
The priest nodded. However, for some reason, he felt that the voice of this Holy Knight seemed to be a bit strange. It felt as though he was agreeing with him, but he also seemed to be mocking him.
This made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
Because of that, all of a sudden, he frowned and turned his head to look at the Holy Knight who had come to convey the message to them, and asked, "Which troop are you from? What is your name? Why do I feel as though I’ve never met you?"
However, the Holy Knight simply reached up and took his helmet off.
"No... I think, you’ll definitely recognize me."