——“duet macabre”from act i,《massa di requiem per shuggay》
...
at midnight,
At the foot of the holy city [Vatican],
The entrance to the ‘Customs’ guarded by the Inner Guards,
The guard with a spear and golden armor stood upright, dozing slightly.
No one noticed that he was actually dozing off secretly with his eyes squinted.
The golden mask hid the face,
Like the skull surrounding the brain,
Comfort is built on heavy protection,
Strength, faith, wealth, divine blessing,
For many members of the Church of the Holy Redeemer, their lives in the Kingdom of Spain are extremely comfortable.
Of course, the church members who work the hardest and are under the greatest pressure are probably the condemnation knights and inquisitors of the Inquisition, as well as the high-level core personnel of the church.
In short, at midnight, this golden-armored guard from the inner court was at the foot of the holy city,
Comfortably, standing upright, secretly,
Dozing off.
Fishing is a very happy thing,
But no matter where in the world,
The time of ease and peace is always short.
Far in front of this fishing guard,
On the swaying river, in the 'Venice' town at the foot of the Holy City Mountain,
A golden boat came along the flowing water.
The hull shell on the water is inlaid with a thin layer of decorative gold carvings.
Apparently it was a church boat.
In the river system in the Kingdom of Spain, it is very simple to identify the boats on the water.
The luxurious boat belongs to the private wealth of the noble lord.
Boats decorated with gold belong to the "ecclesiastical wealth" of churches everywhere.
The other boats belong to other people - oh, obviously no one cares about this. After all, the noble and church ships are the most beautiful and cool.
"Which parish?" Another golden-armored guard who had not fished came forward and asked.
This golden boat slowly stopped at the 'Customs'.
It is only one step away from entering the inner city of the holy city [Vatican].
On the deck, the coolies rocking the oars on both sides were silent.
They are just ordinary boatmen, earning a hard-earned income. They don't know anything and don't care about anything.
From the cabin of the boat, a local priest walked out quickly with a smile on his face.
"I am the priest of the monastery in the parish of Cartell. You see, this is my priest's disk."
It took out his certificate disc from his sleeve, as well as the gold nameplate used to identify his position within the church (engraved with complex anti-counterfeiting heraldry).
The soldiers of the Imperial Guard who had never touched the fish carefully reviewed the documents and nameplates.
The smiling priest in front of me is indeed a monastery priest in the Diocese of Cartel.
He returned the identity document to the other party, hung the spear behind his back, picked up the record book and quill from the table next to him, dipped them in ink, and yawned at the same time.
"Hey, I have committed a serious crime. I shouldn't yawn while standing guard." The golden-armored guard immediately shook his head and said to the priest in front of him, and stretched out three fingers to make a religious gesture of "three-character knot".
, to show his repentance.
The priest still had a smile on his face and said, "The sin of laziness and laziness should not be committed again after reflection."
The golden-armored guard who was working seriously turned his head and glanced at his colleague on the other side of the river with some doubts - the other fish-touching guard was still standing upright, secretly dozing off, and had no reaction to the movement on his side.
"Then I asked the boatmen to continue paddling?" asked the smiling monk.
The golden-armored guard in front of it turned around, laughed dryly, and raised the record book in his hand.
"Ahem, officiant, please register the reason for entering the city again."
"As long as your reason for entering the city complies with the latest regulations formulated by the Imperial Court, I will let you go immediately."
The smiling monk asked with some confusion: "Huh? How do I remember that when I entered the city a few years ago, you let me go directly without registering the reason?"
"My rank is that of a parish priest. I shouldn't have to wait for review and issuance of customs clearance documents like ordinary monks!"
It is indeed doubtful. According to his memory, last time, the last time before, and even earlier, when he visited the Holy City, there was no need to register, review, and wait for the issuance of documents at the 'customs'.
Treated differently from ordinary pilgrims,
The mid-level and high-level personnel of local dioceses were directly released by the Imperial Court - this was the case in the past.
"Master Priest, you don't know something." The golden-armored guard in front of it waved his hand and pointed to the mountain.
"Some time ago, ah, about two or three months ago? Something went wrong in the inner city."
"Don't ask more questions about what the problem is, I don't know."
The golden-armored guard explained in a low voice,
In fact, as a member of the Imperial Court, he was vaguely aware of the turmoil that occurred a few months ago [where some cardinals 'forced their way' into the Holy See].
The turmoil in the Oracle Hall was known to the high-level officials of each court within the Holy City, and they tightly covered the lid to prevent the news from spreading.
But like a wall, cracks will appear over time.
After all, the news was leaked due to "a variety of complex factors" - of course, the accuracy of the information that different groups of people can grasp through different channels is very different.
Just like the golden-armored guard in front of it, it came from...
Ahem, pay attention to sentence fragmentation:
From his squad leader/I heard the rumors from the squad leader’s cousin/The squad leader’s cousin’s superior made a drunken gaffe and told him/The squad leader’s cousin’s superior directly subordinated the Bishop of the Imperial Guard
The assistant officiant/secretly hinted to the squad leader’s cousin’s superior in private about some of the details of the [Oracle Hall Forced Concubine Incident].
Well, the legendary ‘fourth-hand information’. (Golden Armored Guardsman
As a comparison, what the [Dragon Rider Secret Agent] of the French and Portuguese Kingdom obtained was ‘second-hand information’. (Dragon Rider Secret Agent)
"Oh, I don't ask, of course I don't ask." The monk with a smile on his face raised his head and looked at the city on the top of the mountain in the dark night. "The turmoil in the holy city has nothing to do with me, because I just came to worship [Three-Word Knot]
of."
The golden-armored guard nodded and scribbled on the record book with his quill,
"Hmm, if you just go to the Court of Atonement to pay homage to the [Three-Word Knot], you, the officiant, can enter the city directly."
"Promise, I'll give you the adoration document from the Court of Atonement."
The golden-armored guard took out a gold plaque from the drawer of the wooden table beside him and handed it to the smiling monk.
There is a wonderful pattern carved on the card: a big tree growing in a twisted spiral.
Hundreds of years ago, when the first Holy See of the Church was dying, his body turned into a strange big tree, and hot oil continuously flowed down from its bare trunk.
This tree on the mountain is a twisted and spiral tree, shaped like three fingers interlaced together.
The last words of the first Holy See before his death were three words: "I have sinned very much" - which became the "three-word motto" most widely spread in the Kingdom by the [Holy Atonement] Church in the future.
Therefore, "Three-Character Knot" became the sacred name of this big tree.
It took the golden tag handed by the golden-armored guard, glanced at it, and put it in the bag.
The golden-armored guard reminded a few more words:
"Ahem, Master Priest, when you arrive in the Holy City, if you plan to visit the cardinals by the way - no matter which court you are - you will need to register and review separately. Please understand."
"Since the last turmoil in the Holy City, the Twelve Cardinals and the Grand Knight Commander of the Inquisition [Domingo Atris], after several discussions, unanimously agreed and revised it.
, the registration and review procedures required for those visiting the Holy City, and the use of customs clearance documents.”
"Hey, why are there factional disputes among the cardinals?... Well, sorry, I made a mistake."
It smiled and shook its head,
"With the naked eye, in mortal form, we can only see blood and flesh."
"The Holy Lord we believe in cannot measure His supremacy with the prison of blood and flesh."
When the golden-armored guard heard the monk's words, the word "confused" was written all over his face under the mask.
Internal Guard soldiers like him are actually only "deeply baptized" soldiers.
In ‘Bianjing’, ah, in the fields of [Debating] and [Theology],
The monks of the local dioceses (as well as the monks in the Holy City) are the true exegetes,
Guardsmen in golden armor like him often accept theological exegesis one-sidedly.
"Ah, yes, yes."
The somewhat confused golden-armored guard nodded quickly, indicating that he very much agreed with the sermon just now.
The monk, who was always smiling, turned his head slightly and glanced at the other golden-armored guard on the other side of the river, who was dozing off the whole time.
People who fish are still in their dreams, fishing comfortably.
It waved its hand, signaling the silent boatmen to start rowing the oars again, allowing the boat decorated with gold carvings to slowly sail into the "heaven on earth" and enter the inner city river of the holy city [Vatican].
When the boat passed the golden-armored guard who was awake all the way,
"The Holy Lord of our faith also said -"
"——We live in the dark ocean, on a small island called ignorance. This ocean is vast and contains endless secrets."
"Ignorance is bliss."
The golden-armored guard was stunned for a moment. When he came to his senses, the boat had already sailed farther and deeper.