“Yes, it is me,” Ning said as he reached forward for a handshake. “I am Ning. It is a pleasure to meet with you, Cardinal Elias.”

The thin man remained with an emotionless face, with his hands by his side as he stared at Ning’s hands for a few moments.

Ning gave a dry laugh. “Are you going to leave me hanging like that?” he asked.

“Why do you wish to shake my hand?” the man asked. “I am told that this is what you have been wanting to do with all of us Cardinals and His Holiness, but it makes no sense to me. Why?”

“It’s just a handshake,” Ning said.

“But I am also told that this will lead to my death or one of our deaths,” the man said. “That makes me reluctant to shake your hand.”

Ning frowned a little.

“Forgive me, but I won’t be shaking your hand without knowing explicitly what I am getting myself into,” the man said.

Ning stared at the man for a bit and wondered if this was Zurinus, hiding himself in plain sight. He decided to learn some more before getting into the touch aspect of his quest.

“Very well,” Ning said and sat down on the couch opposite him as he brought out a pistol. As soon as the pistol was out, several swords came out of their sheaths, and multiple rifles were cocked in his direction.

Ning slowed down and slowly raised one hand while lowering the other toward the desk where he placed it just as slowly.

“Down!” the Cardinal of Justice ordered and the guns were put down, the swords slowly being sheathed once more.

The Cardinal then turned toward Ning. “Never do that again without telling us before,” he said and sat down beside the other cardinal, reaching for the gun.

Before he could get to it, though, Ning placed his two feet across the table, hiding the gun underneath.

“You get the gun once I get the handshake,” Ning said. “I won’t have it any other way.”

The Cardinal of Coins paused for a long moment and looked toward Galamor. “I was told by you that I would have to come here to meet him for the gun, was I not?” he asked. “Why did you fail to mention anything about the handshake?” “Uh… I… don’t remember verbatim what was said all those days ago, but I’m pretty sure the letter I sent to you had exactly what sir Ning told me. I wrote that as soon as I could so as to not forget,” Galamor said.

“And the letter only mentioned that just me coming here to meet you would be enough for that gun. Was the young man wrong about that?” the Cardinal of Coins asked.

“He is sure—” Ning paused and thought back to the night when they captured Braval and everyone went their own way. ‘Shit!’ he thought.

“No, he was right,” he answered. Ning shook his head in disappointment. He was so lost in thought about why Braval had chosen to do what he did, that he had completely not cared what he said exactly.

To be fair, he never thought that he would have to be so careful either. He had thought the meaning behind his wish for the Cardinal to be here would be clear, but as that was not what he had asked for, that was not what he was going to receive today it seemed.

“Uhh… it is too late to change what I want from you?” Ning asked.

The Cardinal of Justice frowned, while the Cardinal of Coins simply shrugged. “You are free to make that decision,” Cardinal Elias said. “After all, the only thing we got from you was your words, and I understand words can be flimsy and quickly changing.”

Ning glared at the man and ended up being unsure if he was trying to be sarcastic or not. The man gave no information away in his expression.

“Fine,” he said and put down his leg. “That gun is yours. I stick to my word.”

Galamor’s father looked rather surprised by Ning refusing to change his words when he had the chance to. As for the Cardinal Elais, he simply nodded as that was the right choice here.

The thin man took the gun and looked at it all over, seeing as though he wanted to see everything he could. “Have you bonded with this gun yet?” he asked Ning.

“I haven’t touched it since the day we caught those criminals,” Ning said. “You can bond it right now and see.”

The Cardinal of Coins took it and attempted to shoot it before stopping. “No, someone more worthy of it should own it,” he said before placing it down. “Thank you for giving it to us for such a small price. If we can do anything for you—”

“Actua—”

“Beside getting you in touch with the pope,” the Cardinal stopped Ning before he could intervene. “We will happily do it for you.”

Ning put on a grumpy look and sighed a little, thinking about what could he want that was not a handshake with the pope.

“Would you mind telling me about the church then?” Ning asked. “Like who does what. Where do most of the laws come from, and who is overall the most important person besides you and the pope.”

The two Cardinals looked at each other, trying to gauge each other’s response, and shrugged. “This isn’t really a big secret so we can tell you,” Cardinal Farsas said.

Cardinal Elias nodded and started explaining things.

Ning listened to everything clearly, trying to remember names and their influence in the church. There were many names thrown around, from Archbishops to bishops and other paladins as well.

However, in the end, Ning realized that there was no one more influential in the church than just the 3 Cardinals and the Pope.

So, if anyone in the church was going to be Zurinus, it would have to be one of the 4 of them.

And given Ning already checked the other 2, he only had two more people to go through.

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