Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Ye Qingxuan frowned and asked, “Anglo is still shrouded by fog?”

  “Yes,” Albert nodded. “Currently, we can’t see what is really going on inside the fog. But there is one thing we can be sure of; the Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster is still intact. The enchantment is fine, so I think we should still do our best to save the people there.”

  “How about the Sacred City? Do you intend to give it up?” Ye Qingxuan asked.

  “We don’t have enough people,” Albert said. “We have already sent many people from the Sacred City to different places. Yes, we have lots of people here in this city, but remember we have to save the whole world. It is just difficult. Currently, the Knights Templar have already made their departures, and all the musicians have gone as well. If possible, we have to send another group of people to the desert in the west.”

  “There are only Knights Templar of Hospital there, and around forty percent of them have died. It is already a miracle for them to be able to protect that area.”

  “The Knights Templar of Hospital… you mean Father Bann is there?” Ye Qingxuan suddenly realized that Father Bann had been sent to the desert in the west. “How is he?”

  “Don’t worry, he is fine, and is the commander of the Knights Templar of Hospital and the Sixth Army Corps. When you were in a comma, he sent his regards to you, and after he knew you woke up, he hasn’t sent any more messages to us.”

  Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan sneered. “Giving him a good title and then sending him to the most dangerous place, is this how you usually do it?”

  Albert sighed. “We have already sent eight hundred members of the Knights Templar of Hospital, three thousand warriors, and hundreds of engineers to support him. Besides, they are equipped with six airships. And four musicians, even the whole membership of the Third Institute of Mechanical Engineering went with him… with these people, he could occupy a small country. Moreover, the big Camp of Chainsaw Fraternity is there. Do you think they would not help him?”

  Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan was finally relieved.

  But what on earth was happening in Anglo? Ye Qingxuan had lost touch with Maxwell, and according to the emergency rule, all the members of the Fifth Department should obey Ye Qingxuan’s orders.

  Up until now, the members of the Fifth Department had been collecting as much information as they could outside Anglo, but they still got nothing.

  From time to time, people would be drawn into Anglo by the illusions in the fog, and never came back. From the document, Ye Qingxuan knew that the fog was magical.

  In less than a week, around thirty people had disappeared, including some knights with strong minds.

  Ye Qingxuan had not heard anything from Bayer, the principal of the Musician Association, the Royal Music School, Maxwell, or the royal family.

  “I see.” Ye Qingxuan put away the document.

  “Someone wants to see you,” Albert said.

  527 Face-to-Face Talk

  “Another one wants to see you,” he whispered.

  Ye Qingxuan looked outside the cemetery where Albert pointed.

  By the road sat a carriage in which a figure could be seen vaguely.

  People who attended the funeral noticed the carriage. The well-informed ones saw the sign on the door and averted their eyes immediately, shocked and pretending that they didn’t see anything.

  “I’m a bit busy.” Ye Qingxuan sighed. “Can I not go?”

  “Are you going to tell the King of Red that you’re busy?”

  Albert’s expression suddenly looked like he had eaten a fly.

  Ye Qingxuan could not imagine a man who had the same appearance as Ludovic’s becoming the King of Red of this generation. It was only after seeing the real body of Nibelungenlied that he reluctantly accepted this reality.

  However, if the pope came to visit in person, then he was up to his neck.

  But he actually couldn’t get away…

  Ye Qingxuan became very anxious.

  “Just go,” Bai Xi said. “I am not a child. I don’t need people to stand by me all day long.”

  Ye Qingxuan didn’t know how long she had been standing behind him.

  He coughed deliberately. He was awkward enough that she could see through him.

  “Then I will be back soon.”

  He wrapped his scarf around Bai Xi’s neck. “Very soon.”

  “Okay.” Bai Xi nodded and looked at the snow falling to the ground in the distance, holding an umbrella in her hand.

  She waited for him in silence.

  -

  -

  This was the first time since Ye Qingxuan had revived that he was to the new pope.

  The pope was so close that he could see his white hair, and the rose beads wrapped around his hand clearly.

  “I wanted to preside over the funeral for him, but I wondered that he might not like that.” The King of Red opened his eyes and said. “You are the most suitable person.”

  Ye Qingxuan did not respond, but only looked inside the cemetery.

  Several men in robes stood at a distance, praying far away from the tombstone of Hermes, then left in silence.

  “Are they the people of the Church?” he asked.

  “They are winged people,” the King of Red said. “It was because of Hermes’ guidance tha Romulus found land in heaven. They had enough reason to send messengers to the funeral.”

  Ye Qingxuan couldn’t help but glance at them for a short time, and he looked away disappointedly after seeing that they were a bunch of old men.

  “At your request, I have already issued Abraham’s secret command,” the King of Red said to him. “After a while, he will be released, but he can’t regain freedom. Because of his rebellious actions, he must live incognito. The Order will find him a place suitable for convalescence, and he will live his whole life under supervision.”

  Which seemed like a bigger prison.

  Ye Qingxuan had already prepared mentally for such a result, which was much better than what Anglo once gave him.

  “What about Gaius?” Ye Qingxuan asked.

  “He’s still wanted,” the King of Red replied emotionlessly. “Recently, the Revolutionary Army completely occupied the colony of the New World. Then they landed in the Commonwealth of Caucasian and began to prepare for war. Many people are ready to respond to their call and participate in this war for freedom. Among them are many scholars and craftsmen of all countries.”

  “Furthermore, the Revolutionary Army has successfully killed a pope and proved its strength.”

  Ye Qingxuan added indifferently, “The Sacred City has been too indulgent with them, so they turned into monsters. What do they want to do now?”

  “It’s far from indulgence.” The King of Red shook his head. “The Sacred City has never stopped suppressing the Revolutionary Army. However, all countries have long been tired of the leadership of the Sacred City. All along, there have been many people who agree with Gaius’s concept and also look forward to something that can restrict the energy of the Sacred City.

  “No one wants to have someone making indiscrete remarks and criticisms over their heads, the same as all kings. Isn’t that also true for Anglo? Dozens of archangel armors are smuggled to the colony of the New World every year…

  “Gaius took strength from the compromises and acquiescence from those political struggles, and nourished his own beasts… He never took those good-hearted sponsoring politicians as his companions; he even thought about hanging them on the gallows in the very beginning.

  “Now, it is just time for them to reap the consequences. After so many years of infiltration, the best time for them has finally come.

  “As long as they can help the Caucasians drive out the heaven catastrophes, the Caucasians will be willing to accept any conditions they have. Even if they want to burn their emperor at the stake.

  “After occupying the Caucasus, they will further expand outwards. Then Gaius can open up his own pattern in the chaos, which h
as not existed for hundreds of years.”

  “Gaius has waited for so many years, and now he gets what he wants.”

  “…”

  Ye Qingxuan was silent for a long time, then muttered, “Was the assassination of the pope by Gaius the conspiracy of the Sacred City and the Revolutionary Army to deceive Hyakume into falling into a trap?”

  “Conspiracy?” The King of Red laughed. “Does this kind of thing still require secret talks or covenants? A bit of tacit understanding is sufficient. Gaius used to be the closest person to the truth of the Sacred City, second only to the pope. He knew the Sacred City better than anyone, and he knew the details of the Sacred City even better than the Cardinal.

  “He knew what the Sacred City would do, what Ludovic’s intention was, and that there would be other assassins who would kill me even if he didn’t step out. So why didn’t he choose to get the maximum benefit from this incident?”

  “In the end, the Sacred City gained the victory, and he gained a good reputation.”

  Ye Qingxuan applauded admiringly. “Each took what he needed. Awesome!”

  Even a blind man could see the disgust in his false expression.

  “This is politics, isn’t it?”

  The King of Red looked at him. “If you can’t conquer your enemy, then you can only compromise. The overall situation is not a game that can be gambled with.”

  “Is Wolf Flute really a mole?” Ye Qingxuan asked disappointedly. Before, he always wanted to convince himself that the Wolf Flute was only a mole sent into the Revolutionary Army under the arrangement of the Sacred City.

  But now it seemed that there was no possibility for that.

  “Is the Sacred City so insane that it would sacrifice a saint for a mole?”

  Ye Qingxuan was silent.

  “I’m afraid that Wolf Flute was on the side of Gaius long before he joined the Silence Governance,” the King of Red said. “When he was found by Bach, he was just a child raised by wolves. In order to become a human, he suffered a lot. But he changed into a kind of human unwanted by us.”

  “Why did Gaius rebel?” Ye Qingxuan asked directly. “For the so-called ‘democracy’? For freedom? Or to fight against the technical monopoly and blockade of the Sacred City ?”

  “Perhaps,” King of Red answered indirectly.

  “Don’t slight me with those foolish words, your majesty.” Ye Qingxuan was expressionless. “I once heard what he said to Wagner. He said…”

  Ye Qingxuan moved closer to the King of Red, looking at his expression, and said word by word,

  “…after the past and the future of humanity were tampered with, you lost your qualifications to lead the world. One day, you will bear the consequences.”

  The King of Red remained expressionless.

  528 Go Back to My Profession

  “I always wanted to become a historian. Your Majesty, among all the scholars, I know the most about the Dark Age,” Ye Qingxuan said coldly, “so I am qualified to say that there is something wrong with this subject. On one hand, we lack enough historical materials, and on the other hand, the direction that those historians are heading is wrong… After I heard what Gaius told me, I finally realized that we have been misled. Someone is trying to make the whole scholarly circle focus on something meaningless, making us historians study fairytales… The true history, however, has been neglected all the time.”

  “You are right.” The King of Red nodded.

  “You concealed what happened in the past, and twisted and changed humanity’s future.”

  “Yes.” The King of Red nodded again. He confessed it without any hesitation, which surprised Ye Qingxuan.

  After a long while, Ye Qingxuan asked, “What on earth have you done?”

  “I can not tell you. I have been keeping this secret for hundreds of years,” the King of Red replied. “Once they know what happened in the past, they can’t bear the pressure. The King of Blue, the King of Yellow, and I decided that one day, the church group should tell this secret to the entire human race, but now…”

  “Is ‘Son of Original Sin’ also part of it?”

  “Maybe.” The King of Red did not directly answer this question. Instead, he looked at Ye Qingxuan and said gently, “Ye Qingxuan, you have asked too many questions, and we should stop here. Now it is your turn to answer my questions.”

  Ye Qingxuan was silent.

  On the day when Ye Qingxuan woke up, the King of Red had promised Ye Lanzhou that he would take up for his son. He kept his promise by giving Ye Qingxuan the bishop’s ferraiolone. If Ye Qingxuan joined the Sacred City, in less than five years, he would become the archbishop and have great power in the Cardinal Church. In only a few decades, he would become the most powerful man in the world, and his offspring could even inherit his titles.

  Both Ye Lanzhou and Ye Qingxuan had protected the glory and solemnity of the Sacred City by defeating Hyakume. No one had done a better job than they had in defending the city. If Ye Qingxuan did not want to be a clergyman, he could also be a member of the Silence Governance, and all the classic books and information would be open to him. In less than five years, he would reach the level of scepter, and then he would be granted the holy title of Hendel and the Scepter of Messiah. He would become a holy saint of the highest rank…

  These were the promises the King of Red had given to Ye Qingxuan on that night in the holy temple of Sarroman.

  However, until now, Ye Qingxuan had not given any reply.

  “I still need more time,” Ye Qingxuan said.

  The King of Red did not urge him to give his answers right away. Seeing his face, the King of Red seemed to understand something.

  The King of Red said, “The world is moving fast. I hope you can make preparations beforehand.”

  Before Ye Qingxuan got out of the carriage, the King of Red gave him his rosary and said, “Come to the Apostolic Palace tomorrow and tell me your answer. Take this with you and you can pay me a visit whenever you want.”

  The King of Red spoke firmly, as if he knew Ye Qingxuan would think things through by the next morning.

  Ye Qingxuan hesitated for a while and received the beans.

  The carriage left. Ye Qingxuan stood at the end of street alone. He stood there, silently, for a long time. Then he turned around and went back to the graveyard.

  There was only Bai Xi standing in front of Hermes’ tombstone. She stared at the tombstone for a long time and took off her scarf. She wound her scarf around the tombstone, though it looked very ugly.

  The tombstone would not feel cold, and neither would the dead.

  “I have never been kind to him,” Bai Xi said gently. “He helped a lot, but I have never had the chance to return the favor.”

  Ye Qingxuan did not say anything. Bai Xi turned her back to the tombstone and said, “Let’s leave here.”

  “Okay.” Ye Qingxuan nodded and walked with Bai Xi, side by side.

  Bai Xi said she did not want to take the carriage. “Let’s take a walk.”

  “Now?” Ye Qingxuan was surprised.

  “Yes, now.” Bai Xi stepped on the snow and looked at him. “Don’t you think it is the perfect time to take a walk around this city? It is quiet and not crowded.”

  Watching her serious face, Ye Qingxuan agreed.

  Throughout the years, the Sacred City had never been as desolated and quiet as it was then. Few people were walking on the street, and most of the shops were closed. Since the government had adopted the ration system, there was enough food and water for people. Two days ago, there were few luxury goods here, but soon, merchants from all over the world would come with their luxury goods, hoping to make a big fortune.

  The construction of rebuilding the city was going on. Soon, the Sacred City would be bustling and prosperous again.

  Now, there were ruins everywhere, and apart from the places that had been protected by the enchantment, nothing intact was left.

  “Everything has been ruined,” Bai Xi said when she
arrived at the sixth scenic spot. “There is nothing but broken churches, ruins… and dead bodies.”

  She kicked away a few broken bones that were in her path and looked at Ye Qingxuan. “Cousin, I want to see the Apostolic Palace.”

  “…” Ye Qingxuan looked at the sky and did not reply.

  The Apostolic Palace was the power center and military-restricted area where the Cardinal Church was located. It was heavily guarded by the Knights Templar and surrounded by three layers of enchantments. Not even a fly could get in, not to mention a person.

  “Then show me to the Stela of Destiny?”

  Ye Qingxuan still did not reply.

  When the Terminal Red Dragon fled, the entire Central Square was burnt, as was the Stela of Destiny. Now, there was only a big hole left there. The hole was also a restricted area, since it was directly connected with the Underground Palace, which was supposed to be secret. From time to time, some devils would crawl out of it. It was going to take at least three months to clear it up…

  Apart from the brothels and bars, there was no place that was worth going.

  “Not the Apostolic Palace, not the Stela of Destiny, why not just destroy the whole Sacred City.” Bai Xi frowned and said, “How about the Central Holy Cathedral? I have always wanted to go there!”

  Go there to do what? Play with bombs?

  Ye Qingxuan was speechless.

  “Sorry, I can not take you there.”

  “F*ck.” Baixi cursed and did not say anything. She walked forward and wandered in the street. After a long while, she stopped and pointed to the crowd in front of them.

  “Cousin, I am hungry.”

  In front of them was the temporary Food Distribution Zone. Here, people could not only receive the staple goods and daily necessities, but could also eat deli food. People who did not like eating compressed biscuit would come here. The deli was well-supplied and cheap, but it didn’t taste that good…