Chapter 323

The Pope was sitting on the throne as the Hayes walked inside the hall. Hayes looked at the Pope before walking towards him. He had dreamed many times to sit in that throne but suddenly he felt that it was not a good place to be. There was a tall statue of Uther behind that throne. The one who was sitting on that throne will have to betray the man in the statue behind him. It required a strong mind and resolution.

Hayes thought in his mind that perhaps they weren’t worshipping Uther anymore but the throne that Pope was sitting on. Perhaps the throne was the god that ruled them all.

“Praise the great Uther! Praise the great Pope!” Hayes walked to stop about 10 meters away from the Pope.

The Pope always disliked when people got too close to him. Uther wondered if Pope was protecting something or concealing it. Or was it just a psychological problem? Did Pope think that anyone who approached the throne was a threat to his rule?

Hayes snorted in his heart: “Great Uther?” Afterwards, he looked at the gigant statue behind the throne. All the paladins were praising and praying for Uther day and night while Uther was in another place and fighting for another person.

“Hayes …” The Pope’s voice was etheral. It seemed as if it was echoing from all over the place instead of a single person.

“Yes, Pope.” Hayes bowed his head in respect. He didn’t know why but he thought that everything was quite fake at the moment. After the last meeting, he was seeing everything under a new light. Nevertheless, he knew that if he had slightest hostility towards the Pope then only the ashes of his body would float in air after moments.

In addition, he saw everything from a different perspective. Everything in the church was much more clear to him. IT was dirty, hypocritical, full of sins and interests of people controling it.

“What is the result?” Pope asked. Everyone knew that the Pope didn’t like nonsense. He preferred direct questions and laconic answers. The Pope was never interested in the process but the result.

Moreover, each Pope could use a particular spell that was called Great Prophecy. It wasn’t an offensive spell but no one had doubt about the power of this spell. That’s why it was stupid to try to lie to Pope.

“It is the Redemption Battlegear that Duke Xiao gave me.” Hayes put forward the box and opened its lid.

The sacred light was exuded from the box and covered the hall. This hall was sacred and full of light power but the power of light exuding from the battlegear still could be felt.

The Pope’s facial expression stayed same but he lifted his index finger of the right hand and gently tapped on the throne. IT was a conditional reflex not something that Pope controlled. It was a sign and direct manifestation of the turmoil in Pope’s mind.

The mood swings of the Pope weren’t shown on his face after experience of so many years. That’s why the facial expression on Pope’s face wouldn’t change even if he saw or heard about the most shocking thing in the world. Perhaps it was the reason why the tapping with his finger had manifested in an unconscious manner. However, no one knew about this habbit of Pope.

“I saw the man called Uther. I felt pure divine light exuding from his body. At the same time, he showed paladin magic which was the true spell from the ancient times. I can assure you that he wasn’t cheating as I could feel the power of light from his body.” Hayes added. His voice was calm but not loud. It was as if he was narrating a small matter.

“Do you mean that he is the real Uther?” Pope’s tone was calm. You couldn’t feel neither fury nor panic but the index finger of his right hand tapped two more times on the throne.

Hayes shook his head: “I’m not sure. We have found ancient paladin magic in ruins too. Using ancient magic doesn’t mean that he is the Uther. Nevertheless, Duke Xiao didn’t seem to try to spread the knowledge of his Uther but only have remarks within the certain range. Likewise, he has characters called Antonidas and others by his side.”

“He isn’t spreading…” Pope responded.

“They spread in a certain range because they want to win the support of public.. They aren’t interesting in spreading it far and wide because everyone will turn attention to them. This puny Duke is waiting… He willl reveal everything once they are strong enough…” Pope murmured as he looked at the murals in the cathedral. Now he knew why he couldn’t use the Great Prophecy as he willed. The reason was that the real Uther had come back and regained some strength. As a result, the strength of faith that Pope could borrow was getting less. The power of faith was a weird force. There were few people in the continent who knew about the inner works of this force. Pope himself didn’t believe in God or any kind of deity. But he knew that the power of faith that he could control rested upon Uther. People prayed and believed in this faith and that power gathered together for people like him to use. Pope believed that this force had nothing to do with this world but from an alternate reality. There were some books in the Church which told that there were infinite number of planes in the universe. There were some powerful creatures that lived in those planes which were regarded as gods from this dimension. It wasn’t an accident that the creators of the Church used such “gods” to bring people together. This belief had turned into some kind of energy which could be used as the power of faith.

Hayes knew that Pope was aware that Uther was the real one when Hayes heard Pope murmur those words.

Hayes wasn’t aware that all those decades of prayers had put Uther as a god in his heart. It was the power of faith in his body which made up paladin’s strength. It wasn’t just about mana or battle energy. This power of faith was much stronger than ordinary mana or battle energy.

“You don’t seem to be surprised at all… Have you already made decision in your heart?” Pope looked at Hayes. Hayes felt a great pressure over his body.

Hayes nodded: “Yes.. I felt a very familiar feeling from him.. It felt as if I had seen him many years ago… ”

Pope added: “Good…Good…Very good… He is back… ” Afterwards, Pope stood up from the throne. He used a handle to slowly walk towards the back of the throne. Pope looked like an ordinary old man at this moment.