Chapter 3. Beauty (14)
“Yes. Deep friendship and consideration between comrades in arms.”
“Exactly that.”
At Hakan’s words, Ardwino frowned. He couldn’t understand even more why something that had been actively encouraged was now being made an issue. Hakan was about to say something to him but closed his mouth. Soon he awkwardly changed the subject.
“…Well, there’s something like that. It would be better if you didn’t know. Anyway, what reason could there be for suddenly talking about sins that go against God’s word right after the Pope changed? Isn’t he using doctrine to clear away unnecessary things?”
“From what I’ve heard, His Holiness Severus is a truly devout person. Perhaps he’s been waiting and now wants to follow the scriptures properly…”
“No.”
At the suddenly interrupting firm voice, Ardwino slowly closed his gaping mouth. It seemed like the first time he’d seen it. Hakan’s face making such an unpleasant expression.
“That man is not such a devout believer.”
Hakan continued with a voice that even carried disgust.
“If that man becoming Pope is truly God’s will, then God must either have no eye for people or have a very nasty personality.”
Though he wanted to ask why he thought so, he didn’t want to upset Hakan’s mood any further with such unhelpful curiosity. Ardwino lay down beside Hakan and said,
“I was too presumptuous.”
Ardwino’s arm wrapped around Hakan’s lower back. Soon their bare skin touched and they could fully feel each other’s body heat.
“May I repay this sin with my body?”
Ardwino wrapped around Hakan’s legs and rubbed his intimate parts against his thigh. Feeling the hot and hard flesh so nakedly, unlike other places, Hakan asked in an absurd voice,
“Do you still have strength left for that?”
“So you dislike it?”
When Ardwino looked at him with a sticky gaze filled with heat, Hakan stared back as if entranced and muttered,
“No… It’s very much to my taste. I was asking if even something like that was to my taste.”
The corners of Ardwino’s mouth curved up lightly. His fingers slowly caressed down Hakan’s body. Hakan’s body visibly shuddered.
“Do you like me that much?”
“Haah… Of course. Can you call that a question?”
“…Me too. I also like you very much, Hakan.”
From the first time I saw you, I hoped it would become like this.
Along with his unspoken words, Ardwino devoured Hakan’s lips.
***
Ominous signs of trouble were gathering around the Papal Court. Forebodingly, black birds that fed on corpses perched atop the Papal Court and cried fiercely.
Eckart entered the training ground. There was no one in the training ground. The place that had always been stuffy with the heat exhaled by training knights before the war was now coldly cooled. Peace was bound to make people lazy.
Eckart grabbed weapons at random and swung them with all his might. The eerie sound of cutting through air continued without rest in that quiet place. His focused eyes and clenched teeth, cautious steps and merciless arm movements seemed as if he was facing an invisible enemy.
Though it was after the war had ended, he had not neglected training for even a single day, and he was still in peak condition as if standing in the middle of a battlefield. Because of this, he didn’t tire even after considerable swinging. He swung, and swung again, slashed, cut through, and struck down repeatedly.
He didn’t know how much time had passed. Steam rose from his body and sweat poured down like rain, yet he was catching his breath and switching to another weapon.
“It’s all over anyway, so what are you working so hard for?”
When he turned his head toward where the voice came from, he saw a man leaning against the entrance with his arms crossed. A rough face with a crooked expression – it was Lef.
“There’s no need to work hard, is what I’m saying. It’s probably useless anyway.”
“…Why would it be useless?”
Eckart wiped the sweat hanging from his chin while picking up a weapon and stood again in the center of the training ground. As he swung his weapon unable to hide his roughened breathing, Lef shook his head as if he couldn’t understand. Thud thud, his footsteps were heavy.
“What use could there be… When His Holiness travels? Aren’t we just like decorations anyway? If not that… patrolling the Papal Court?”
Lef walked to where the weapons were placed, looked around here and there, then drew out a sword. After lightly swinging it around whoosh whoosh, he pointed the sword tip toward Eckart. Though there was quite a distance, Eckart stopped his movements and looked at Lef – precisely at the sword pointed toward him.
“I’m dying of boredom. It seems like wartime was more fun, don’t you think? Commander.”
“You didn’t come all the way here just to spout such nonsense… If you have business, speak quickly.”
The floor was full of sweat drops he had shed from who knows when, and his chest was also heaving greatly. Veins bulged on his forearms, making the already beast-like man even more menacing.
Lef put away his sword with an indifferent face and pretended to examine the blade.
“What nonsense is this? Honestly, doesn’t everyone have similar thoughts? Is it because I have excess energy, I can’t sleep at all lately… My body is all itchy… I still seem to hear hallucinations. The shouts of allies or enemies and the sound of swords clashing, that dull sound of arrows piercing through gaps in armor and penetrating flesh…”
“Lef.”
“Ah, I talked too much.”
Lef looked at Eckart with a grinning laugh. Because of his particularly fierce features, even his laughter often gave an unpleasant feeling. Like mockery. Or the feeling that he was full of ulterior motives.
“I came to tell you that His Holiness is looking for the commander.”
“His Holiness?”
Eckart immediately put his weapon back in place. Lef also put down the sword he had been holding meaninglessly and approached Eckart.
“Good grief… It’s not like you bathed in sweat…”
At Lef’s words, Eckart could assess his own condition. His clothes were soaked and clinging to his body. He needed to cool the heat rising from within his body.
“I should change clothes.”
“That would be good.”
“Then, I’ll go ahead. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Leaving Lef behind, Eckart first left the training ground. It had started raining at some point. Watching the drizzling rain wet the ground, Eckart thought it worked out well and calmly moved his steps.
Since he would get wet anyway, there was no need to wash or change clothes. The cold rain quickly took away the heat, and it became impossible to distinguish between sweat and rain. Thinking it would be better to go to the Pope as quickly as possible, he changed his destination and headed straight into the Papal Court.
“…What is this?”
Was it because of the rain? His senses were on high alert due to the atmosphere that was different from usual. Though it had always been a quiet place, the particularly low and sunken air was ominous.
As he walked through the dark corridor, the ominous feeling grew stronger. Even when he turned around due to the unpleasant sensation of something creeping up, there was only his own long shadow.
Was it because of the long war? Or because of his naturally born sensitivity? He intuited that the reason the Pope had called him would not be a good one.
And that was exactly right.
“Though we sometimes had differing opinions, our intentions ultimately aligned.”
The Pope’s back figure standing by the window was somewhat murky. It was because of the dark sky.
“We decided to regard this as divine revelation.”
The Pope’s face revealed when he turned was somewhat chilly. It was because of the coldly cooled air.
“This country is now corrupt, so it wouldn’t be strange if God directly punished it at any time. Before that, we decided to pass judgment in God’s name.”
The Pope slowly moved his legs. He continued speaking as he approached Eckart, who sat kneeling on one knee.
“I would like you to take charge of that, Sir Eckart.”
Eckart’s hand placed on the sword laid on the floor trembled slightly. His face was completely hardened. Only his wide-open eyes revealed his confused interior.
“However… they too are servants of God…”
“Sin for the greater good. God will gladly forgive and guide the sinner.”
Eckart pressed his lips tightly shut. He was just one believer among those who followed God’s word. He could not disobey the words of the Pope who stood before him as God’s representative. He must not disobey.
Also, since he was a knight of the Papal Court before being a believer,
“I ask again. Will you accept the new mission?”
“…Yes.”
There was never any disobedience to the Pope’s commands.
At the end of 1392, the “Night Office” was established by the Pope’s command. The officials began to ransack the entire streets like hunting dogs to judge the corrupt sinners.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
