Vortex(5)

“Miss Magadal.”

Even though the Anderla Cathedral was battered brutally by storms, it did not affect the solemn quietness of its halls one bit. Normally, the hall would be used to conduct silent prayers and meditations. But there would be occasions where it would be required to hold up to thousands of people, which was why the interior was designed so magnificently. The curved roof of the cathedral was supported by twenty-eight grey stone pillars; long rows of chairs facing the central altar which created a fan-shaped space. It was truly a sight behold.

A large number of subordinate workers are responsible for cleaning the cathedral daily. When they saw Princess Magadal walking inside, they rushed to greet her with respect.

Magadal was a high-level priestess, a princess, not to mention that she was even a student of Archbishop Wood. In addition, after Archbishop Wood’s departure, her status rose and she was recognized to be in charge of the place temporarily.

Magadal stopped and nodded her head lightly in return to the workers. Although she was born as a princess, there is little to no glimpses of arrogance and snobbishness in her. Though it may be because of her education, the main factor caused was that she was originally gentle in nature.

Well known for her social relations, the Nun Princess was praised both inside and outside of the cathedral.

“Is the Archbishop in?” she asked.

“Miss Magadal, The Lord Archbishop……is still unwilling to meet outsiders.” The minister replied.

“Is that so…” Magadal sighed, although this was expected, she still felt a sense of despair. She contemplated on this and later asked again, “How about Lord Moros?”

She referred to Wood as Archbishop Wood but she referred Moros as Lord Moros. And everyone knew why: Moros was a cold, serious ‘foreigner’ that was not accepted by anyone in the cathedral.

“Lord Moros seems to be meeting a guest,” a worker answered.

“A guest?” Magadal replied with a slight shock. How could there still be guests at this late hour? “Who is this guest?”

“His name is Marquis Yoakam accompanied by another guest which we don’t recognize.” Another worker answered.

It’s him? Magadal knew that Marquis Yoakam supported Duke Seifer, but he was not closely tied in relations with the Northern Alliance. What’s the reason for his visit to the cathedral? Is it something urgent?

Magadal frowned and felt nauseated when she thought of the past. A worker observed her expressions and immediately went forward to attend to her, saying, “Your highness, do you want to go take a look?”

“No, it’s fine,” Magadal replied, shaking her head decisively. Her face was filled with disgust.

The workers exchanged glances. The rumor that there was bad blood between The Nun Princess and Marquis Yoakam seems to be true.

However, little did they know that her face was burning from guilt and her palms nervously sweated. Would Marsha forgive me for lying to the public?

But no matter what, this was the path she had chosen, a path that she cannot regret.

“O great Marsha, please grant me success.” Magadal prayed silently in her heart.

Marquis Yoakam’s POV

There was a flickering candle in the cramped room, shining bright and dim while occasionally bursting out small sparks.

Brendal knew that Ampere Seale’s current Archbishop, Moros, was a famous villain in history. The difference between him and Amman was that although Moros was insidious and cold, he is much disciplined, he lived a simple life and had no materialistic desires – literally like a monk.

Although this image of him could be a façade, it had been engrained in the minds of people he was involved with. And he was not cold towards the nobles of Aouine either, although his opinions did favor the Kirrlutz a little, he still had a passable relationship with the Aouine royalty.

But that was history. Brendel caused a butterfly effect that steered history off course, and even the current Archbishop’s personality was vastly different from the original.

This small and cramped room was a guest room in the side hall of the grand Anderla Cathedral. As the Anderla Cathedral rarely receives guests, there were not many guest rooms, and most of them were very simple. It’s been a while since Archbishop Wood handed his power over the cathedral to Archbishop Moros. But the new Archbishop insisted on staying here, showing just how lacking his desires were.

But the two men seemed a little restless, especially Marquis Yoakam. Although he may act like a rascal, his pursuits for a lavish lifestyle was unlike the others. This room felt like a slum house, and despite how clean the table was, he still felt as if there was a layer of dust on it.

He only sat there for a brief moment before he had the illusion that an ant was crawling on him. Not to mention that he was still burdened heavily with the ‘important matter’ in his heart – time was even boringly slow.

Before the arrival of the master, both of them dared not to make trouble.

Finally, there were sounds of footsteps approaching, but in less than a moment, Moros’ cold face appeared outside the door, with his prominent hawk-like nose, he was wearing his daily routine red-golden robe. His face was serious and strict.

He always had this expression on his face, which led to the Aouine players nicknaming him as ‘Iron Face’. This was not meant to compliment his strictness and selflessness, but it was meant to just tease his lack of expressions.

Yoakam dare not conceive such a thought. Even if he could disregard this person before him, he could not ignore the person backing this man up. Although the Aouine people had defeated the Kirrlutz centuries ago, the Aouine nobles were one of the groups that feared the Kirrlutz people the most.

You can’t say that it’s not a type of insult –

Both of them stood up and greeted Moros, but Moros only nodded his head in return, revealing a slight glimpse of arrogance. Yoakam did not find that peculiar, as if he had expected that. The Kirrlutz people had been prideful people all along, thinking that everyone in Aouine was underneath their feet.

“Marquis Yoakam, you must have some important matters to come to the Anderla Cathedral in such hours,” Archbishop Moros spoke up blatantly.

“You are right,” Yoakam said with a slight smile and immediately swapped with a stern look. “As expected, due to the letter we had sent back then, there seems to be some trouble in the Royal Faction now,” he added.

He laughed and talked, completely overwhelmed by his excitement, he then sarcastically added, “Although Sir Makarov and Grandmaster Fleetwood are extremely smart, they were short-sighted and selfish. They only saw the carrot before them while completely disregarding the traps up ahead.”

“This displays just how important a noble goal is,” Moros replied and nodded in agreement. “As a matter of fact, this plan was proposed by the opposing faction. They blocked the news from the north but at the same time was bombarded by the news of the Lion Beastmen, which caused chaos in the Royal Faction.” Moros added.

While it may be a plot, it was expected that Makarov would have taken bait nevertheless, as it was their noblemen nature to do so. Moros could not help but sneer at this.

“It’s hilarious that they still want to divide the kingdom into North and South to rule differently, not knowing whether they could even live till tomorrow’s sunset,” Yoakam remarked with a proud smile.

It was at this precise sentence when Princess Magadal came behind from the dark alley. She was startled when she heard it. At first, she thought that they were discussing the Gryphines, but when she held her ear close to the wall, she realized that they were talking about the Royal Faction.

The Royal Faction and Princess Gryphine really conflicted! The princess held her breath. When I heard about Brendel’s rebellious act in the auction house, I had my doubts about. To think that it’s actually true. And now that the Royal Faction is breaking up, will Gryphine be okay?

I really don’t want this to happen…

She closed her mouth, staying silent as she continued to hear the two men speak. The construction of the Anderla Cathedral was done by the Holy Cathedral of Fire, so besides her, Archbishop Moros should know about the secret passages here too. But he should not know that I have the other key to this passage, should he? Or else he wouldn’t have let his guard down.

Most likely due to this, she dared to brag in front of Brendel. However, she still had to stay cautious in this situation.

Moros was not exceptional in terms of his combat capabilities, but as an Archbishop, he was close to that of an Elemental Awakener. Although Yoakam was often perceived to be a debauchee, few knew that he was a Gold ranker. The noble that I can’t recognize is probably not of a common background, Magadal looked silently, not daring to take even a breath.

Marquis Yoakam expressed his thought and Moros glared at him unhappily. Cautious as he was, he disliked arrogant people. After all, even he was uncertain whether or not defeating the Royal Faction, with Buga and Makarov who were both in the Elemental Realm, was an easy task.

In addition, Fleetwood was an experienced wizard and it was common knowledge that, at the same rank, a wizard would be harder to deal with compared to a swordsman.

He shook his head and replied, “Even if we ignore the Royal Faction, it won’t be easy to deal with the princess too. Maynild and Oberwei are both Gold rankers. Plus, there are really strong characters in the bitch’s Royal Knights too. Now that the Knight of the Lake who was stronger than Fleetwood joined her forces…”

“The key is that she already has the Lionheart Sword, meaning the sword guardian family would definitely side with her. And I heard that Count Yanbao’s three Gold Rankers are here in Ampere Seale too. And let’s not forget the peculiar young man in the Elemental Realm.” Moros said, looking at Yoakam.

Yoakam’s face twitched, saying,” Hmm, that’s true.”

“Although they are not united anymore, we still have to face four experts in the Elemental Realm. Do you have any problem with that??” Moros’ freezing cold eyes swept past the two.

“No problem.” The unnamed noble finally spoke.

“Ah!” Magadel couldn’t help but scream discreetly, she finally figured out who the noble was. He was barely public and did not have a high rank too, but coincidentally Magadal recognized him, He’s from Marquis Balta’s family!

The White Lion Legion!

Is the White Lion Legion near Ampere Seale? The Legion was once the pride of the Kingdom, but after Marquis Balta was bought over by the prince, their pride had fallen to the nobles. Contrary to the Black Blade Squad, the White Lion Legion was tasked with protecting the borders, fighting against the Kirrlutz. And unexpectedly when everyone’s focus was on the Blade Blade Squad, the White Lion Legion joined the fray.

But how could they leave the border unattended? Is Duke Seifer out of his mind? Magadal’s mind was spinning, her body drenched in cold sweat. Thankfully, the noise isolation of the secret passage was exceptional, and her sound was not detected by the people outside. The Nun Princess sighed softly, her hands and feet were icy cold, but she could not help continue stalking.

“That’s good,” Moros nodded, “Has the person been assigned?” He then turned to glare at Yoakam sharply, “This involves the reputation of the Holy Cathedral of Fire, and is the last step of our plan.”

“Please don’t worry.” Marquis Yoakam replied, nodding his head with assurance. He then took out a miniature object from his arms and placed it on the coffee table, “That man can definitely be trusted, and this ring is his offering – “

Moros was silent, he just took up the ring and coldly nodded his head.

It was at this moment, the three men in the house heard a slight noise as if as something heavy had fallen to the ground. “Who’s there?!” The Archbishop reacted first. He roared and shot a golden-red ray, hitting a bookcase.

The bookcase burst into flames, sawdust and sparks descended like colorful butterflies. Meanwhile, the sidewall of the house suddenly rumbled loudly and slid open, revealing a secret passage.

Moros glanced towards the secret passage to see Magadal on the ground with a pale face.

“Miss Magadal!” The Archbishop of the Anderla Cathedral turned livid with rage, and the words seem to be forced out of his gritted teeth. “I think you have crossed the line this time, not even Wood can help you anymore.”

She was staring dumbfounded at the ring and did not hear him

“This is impossible……” She murmured.