Chapter 59 - His majesty the pope who spreads the holy light (2)

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Translated by: Niladri

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When Lu Heng opened his eyes, he saw a man kneeling on the ground dressed in regal clothes. On the man's broad back, a golden embroidered Griffin was vividly visible. He bowed his head and put his right hand on the left side of his chest, in a pious gesture.

From Lu Heng's point of view, he could only see the man's thick brown hair, but he had already guessed the other’s identity. His Majesty Surrey of the Bega Empire. Combining with his own state of holding a crown in his hand, Lu Heng knew that this should be the coronation scene of Surrey, even though his memories hadn’t been completely sorted out.

"May God bestow you glory." Lu Heng placed the crown on Surrey's head and took the scepter held by the cardinal beside him, and tapped on Surrey's left shoulder.

"May the light be with the Bega Empire." Surrey lowered his upper body and kissed the pope's instep in front of him.

Lu Heng had a gentle and yet dignified face, but he felt uncomfortable. In this theocratic world, kissing the pope's instep is regarded by everyone as an incomparable glory.

It couldn’t be that Surrey later considered this to be a humiliation and so killed the pope? Lu Heng’s mind had some doubts. The  formalities that followed were long and boring. The Seven Cardinals began to recite tens of thousands of syllables of the holy verse in unison. And Lu Heng, as the noble Pope, just sat on the elegant high chair and watched. It also allowed him time to sort out his memories.

It was an unexpectedly early arrival. Surrey has just taken office, and there is still 20 years before the Pope is publicly convicted and sentenced. The life span of people in this world increased according to their battle spirit and magic mastery levels. The average person's life expectancy was about 70 years, and when anyone reached the rank of War Saint or Holy Saint^[1], their life expectancy could reach thousands of years.

1. "法圣"- This was used. Everywhere I searched, it indicated something similar. I was tempted to change this to “Saint Magus” but I could not, in good conscience do that. “Holy Saint” it is!

The same was true for priests. He looked like a young Pope in his early twenties, when in fact he was over two hundred years old. Of course, the lifespan of a thousand years was nothing compared with that of the elves who had thousands of years of lifespan, or the giant dragons that had tens of thousands of years of lifespan.

At the end of the elaborate coronation ceremony, Lu Heng got up and was ready to return to his residence in the temple. Behind him, the Cardinal carefully held up Lu Heng’s Pope's cloak. As he was about to take a step, he heard Surrey say behind him, "Your Majesty, please wait."

Lu Heng turned around, and this was the first time he had seen Surrey’s face. His Majesty Surrey, a fighter who practiced battle spirit, was said to have reached the rank of Great swordsman. The person standing there exuding power had a strong figure and a handsome face.

Seeing Lu Heng nodding slightly, Surrey went on: "A banquet will be held at the palace tonight, and your Majesty the Pope is invited to grace us with your presence."

The coronation ceremony was held in the shrine of Leiming City, the capital of the Empire. In fact, the Pope did not spend much time in the church every year. He spent most of his time travelling around the mainland and spreading his holy light. The Pope happened to be preaching in the temple of the capital of the Empire at the time of Surrey’s accession to the throne.

Wherever His Majesty the Pope is, the coronation ceremony takes place in that temple. So the Pope issued an Oracle summoning the five Cardinals along with the two cardinals that were with him to Leiming City for the coronation of Surrey.

The relationship between the Papacy of Light and the Empire and the Republic seemed to be harmonious on the surface. After all, it still needed the support of the emperor or the prime minister to preach and build temples in other countries. Although Lu Heng felt that it was better to return to his residence instead of attending the banquet, he still had to give face to the emperor.

"After the evening prayers, I'll be there." Lu Heng said.

"Your Majesty, I look forward to your arrival." Surrey took a step forward and bowed slightly. "Listening to Your Excellency Randall, even though you are in a revered position, you never miss the daily morning and evening prayers. Your spirit of hard work is a model for all of us."

After singing each other’s praises, Lu Heng finally got rid of His Majesty Surrey and returned to the rear Hall of the temple. After bathing and changing into regular clothes, Lu Heng went to pray in the temple.

It was an established rule that the two cardinals, who waited outside the door of the temple, never allowed anyone to attend the Pope during his evening prayers.

In front of him was a tall statue of the God of light, holding a scepter, eyes half closed, long curly hair spread over his shoulders, and his face was full of compassion.

Evening prayers are a daily necessity for the priests of the Faith of light. When the last ray of light is about to disappear in this world every day, the believers crawl on the ground in the most pious manner, thanking God for the light given to the mainland on that day, and praying for the next day's light.

As the servant of the God of Light and leader of the priests, Lu Heng should have crawled to the foot of the God of light and kissed the foot of the God with the most humble gesture. Then, with the forehead against it, singing long hymns in gorgeous fancy pronunciation, the evening prayers of the day should have begun.

At this moment, Lu Heng just put his hand in the wide sleeves of the sacrificial gown and looked up at the God of light. At the moment he saw the God of light, a great deal of information poured into his mind.

Probably the memories of this body, Lu Heng muttered.

"My lord."

This was not so much an exchange between the Pope and the god of light, rather, his own musings.

"What is the meaning of light? At the beginning of creation, light and shadow were born together. If you are merciful towards all living beings, why do people in the world have so many disputes and why are there so many evils? If the light lasts forever, why have you, my Lord, fallen? "

This was the greatest lie of the Papacy of Light. The gods had fallen hundreds of years ago.

The divine realm had already collapsed.

Hundreds of years ago, a plague swept across the continent. Whether it was the human race or the elves or the evil heretical orcs, all faced an inexplicable sudden decline, and there was no cure. After the plague, the number of living beings on the mainland dropped by half.

At that time, the Pope of the faith of Light learned the truth through an Oracle from the God of light. The Armageddon, the strange plague, was caused by the gods taking the lives of their followers to supplement their divine power. The final result of the Armageddon was the fall of the gods and the collapse of the divine realm.

Lu Heng closed his eyes and pulled out from this huge repository of information. He turned to the statue and touched a dent in it with the ring on his middle finger^[2]. The seemingly seamless statue had a square-foot hollow opening. Lu Heng reached in and after fumbling a bit, he took out something.

2. like green lantern

Lu Heng was holding a statue in his hand. The soft outline of the face, the slightly raised corners of the eyes resembled him clearly, that is, it was the statue of the Pope.

On the mainland, inside the statues of the god of light in every temple, there is such a device. This is a secret that only the Pope and his close Cardinals have known for nearly a thousand years.

The God of Light has fallen, and there is no Holy Light from the God of Light. Where did the Pope and his disciples derive their power of light? This was the last Oracle from the Pope before the fall of the God of light, and also the Godfather of Lu Heng, to maintain the position of the Pope of light.

Inside the statues of light god, the statues carved by the pope with divine power were put in. This way, the power of faith can be gathered when the believers pray. The Pope transforms the power of faith into the power of light, and then sprinkles it into believers through statues.

It was also one of the final charges under which Joseph Belgorio VI was executed: defrauding of the name of God and deluding the believers across the world to gather power.

After removing the statue, Lu Heng put his hands in front of his chest and converted the power of faith collected by various temples in recent years into holy light.

Leiming City, in the palace.

Today, the new emperor ascended the throne, and all the famous nobles of the Bega Empire were gathered in the banquet hall. To be able to attend this banquet was the highest honor of all nobles. It is said that His Majesty the Pope will also attend the banquet.

[T/N: If you are not reading this at isohungrytls.com then this is stolen. Please read it only on isohungry.
Also- A big round of applause for the very first non-villainous FL in this novel. *Throws confetti*]

In a discreet corner of the hall, a beautiful blonde girl frequently glanced at the front door of the hall. The girl looked like a teenager, but the atmosphere surrounding her was tranquil and gentle.

"Your highness, His majesty assured you that he would invite His Majesty the Pope to come, and he will definitely do it. When has his Majesty ever deceived you?" A woman dressed as a maid reassured her.

"Although my brother has said so, I am still very nervous. Pope is the person I admire most. I wish I can speak a few words with him this time.”^[3]

3. very tempted to use “pope-sama”

This girl was the sister of Emperor Surrey, Princess Windsor. Princess Windsor was pure-minded and practiced the power of light from an early age as a fanatical believer in the Pope of Light. The thing she longed for most was to see His Majesty, and it would have been better if she could get some of his instructions. However, she was only a probationary priest, and it was impossible to see the Pope.

The banquet hall suddenly quieted down. The crowd gave way to the aisle in the middle. Princess Windsor saw that it was the Pope who had arrived. At last, she acted as a girl befitting her age, lifted her skirt and ran forward with a brisk trot.

"Your Highness, be careful not to fall." The maid chased after her, shouting. Although Princess Windsor only practiced the faith of light, yet her physique was much better than that of ordinary people, and the maid could not catch up with her at all.

Lu Heng was greeting Surrey when he heard something moving behind him. When he looked back, he saw a girl in a gorgeous dress trotting over.

The girl stopped in front of Lu Heng, raised her head halfway, and looked at Lu Heng with a pious gaze.

"Windsor." Surrey looked at his sister being still as if she was frozen and coughed softly.

"Ah, sorry." In response, Princess Windsor hastily saluted, "Your Majesty, Father Pope."

Princess Windsor's salute to Lu Heng was a disciple's salute to their master.

"May the Light be with you." Lu Heng put his hand gently on top of her head. This was the gesture of the Holy Father Pope to bless his disciples.

Princess Windsor, blessed by the Pope, was flushed with excitement.

"This is my sister, Windsor. She is a faithful believer in the God of Light. When she was eight years old, she had been baptized and is now a probationary priest." Surrey introduced her to Lu Heng appropriately.

The girl in front of his eyes was full of the gentle power of the Holy Light. At first glance, she was seen to be a pure-minded devout.

Lu Heng nodded, and wanted to say a few words to the girl who gave him a gaze of adoration, but the crowd suddenly panicked.

The guard captain rushed over in a panic: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Dragon, it's a giant dragon! "

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I am surprised how so many of you were able to accurately guess who the ML was. I wonder how much screen time FL will get though...