1413 Up the Mountain

Ning healed the dog that was with them before returning to the hotel with Tim and Jasmine.

As he walked back, he seemed lost in thought the entire way through, thinking about something.

Tim and Jasmine did not say anything for a while, but soon enough curiosity took over.

“Sir Ning, are you alright?” one of them asked. “You have been quiet the whole time.”

“Hm? Oh yeah. Sorry,” Ning said. “I was just thinking about the guy and why he was killing people. It’s weird.”

“Yeah, he was only killed religious people,” Tim said. “I wonder why that was.”

“He was an orphan,” Ning said. “Raised in an orphanage, like you.”

Jasmine looked at Ning with slightly wide eyes. “And he killed people because of that?” she asked.

“Yes,” Ning said. “Something like that. It seems to have to do with a lot of repressed emotions from his childhood where he was traumatized due to events that happened by the caretakers in the orphanage.”

“They are like that,” Jasmine said. “They do good that they take care of orphans. But they also doctrine them to become the biggest religious zealots for Zurinus. And if you show signs of refusal, they beat you until you do. I told you why I ran away from my orphanage, didn’t I?”

“You did,” Ning said. “Well, anyway. Let’s forget about him. In a day or two, we should be meeting with Galamor’s father, the Cardinal of Justice.”

“I’m a little scared to meet him actually,” Tim said. “I wonder if he’s just as intense as that other Cardinal.”

“We’ll have to see,” Ning said.

They returned back to their hotel and went to sleep for the day.

For the next 2 days, Ning did nothing but wait for Galamor to come to visit him with the good news, only to be left without any notice.

Another two days passed once again, making Ning wonder if he had been duped or something.

Finally, on the 5th day, Galamor showed up at the hotel and called Ning out to talk with him.

“What took you so long?” Ning asked him as soon as he saw him outside the hotel. “Do you know how long you kept me waiting?” Galamor grimaced a little and gave a small bow of apology. “I’m sorry, but it took time to get what you wanted,” he said. “But I worked hard, so I was able to do it.”

“Oh,” Ning said with a pleased smile. “So your father finally accepted?”

“Oh, no,” Galamor said. “I mean, yes, but my father accepted your meeting long ago. It was Cardinal Elias who took time to accept your offer.”

“Wait, Cardinal Elias?” Ning asked. “You asked the Cardinal of Coins to meet us too?”

“Yes,” Galamor said. “That’s… what you requested, wasn’t it?”

“That was,” Ning said. “Then, does that mean the reason why you were so late was because you spent your time trying to get both the Cardinals to agree to my request?”

“Yes,” Galamor said. “That and I had to deal with the criminal Braval and his hanging. I don’t know if you heard or not, but he was hanged to death yesterday in the Justice Plaza.”

Ning shook his head. “I haven’t gone out really,” he said. “I didn’t notice any news.”

“I see,” he said. “Anyway, the criminal is dead, and news of his death should spread throughout the world in a few days. The world has become a slightly safer place.”

“It certainly has,” Ning said. “Then, about meeting those Cardinals, when do I leave?”

“They have requested that I bring you there later in the afternoon. If you can’t, I will have to return quickly and let them know that you won’t be able to make it.”

“That’s alright,” Ning said. “I have plenty of time to make it.”

As soon as that, Ning, Tim, and Jasmine were on their way to the Level 1 section of Airan, where the high-ranking members of the church stayed.

Getting to Level 1 took some time, but surprisingly not as much as Ning thought it would. As they went higher, the number of people and buildings lessened significantly as well, allowing for a more or so empty region where people could stay in without having to deal with other people.”

“This place is entirely for the church and individuals of the church to be in,” Galamor explained as they rode a small car from Level 2.

“People are allowed to be here from early morning at 6 am to until 2 PM during the day so that they can get a glance of His Holiness.”

“Does the pope come out regularly?” Ning asked.

“No, not regularly,” Galamor explained. “But regularly enough that people have a high chance of catching him if they wait for him here.”

Ning slowly nodded to himself. They were stopped once along the way to check who they were. As soon as they saw a piece of paper that Galamor showed them, they let him go easily.

The houses were white this far up in the mountain, with beautiful gardens filling the sidepath and the many buildings beyond. Tim and Jasmine were in absolute awe as they watched every building and wall that they came across. Tim especially excitedly asked questions and wrote down the answers whenever Galamor gave any.

They passed past a large ground with people hung by large wooden posts. Tim and Galamor only saw bodies from far away, but Ning could see Braval directly. It seemed he was hurt a lot before he was hung.

“What do people get hanged for usually?” Ning asked Galamor.

“Mostly? For murder and rape and blasphemy and—”

“Blasphemy? Against Zurinus?” Ning asked.

“Of course,” Galamor said. “We cannot let those who speak ill of the lord remain alive.”

“That’s horrible,” Jasmine said, refusing to elaborate further.

Ning simply shook his head. “Here we are,” Galamor said, turning everyone’s attention toward the large building to their left with massive walls and intricate window frames.

The car stopped and they walked out.

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