Main Volume Chapter 116 The Secret Behind
Holy city.
The prison at the bottom of the Arbitration Bureau.
Edward was sitting on a wooden chair with a wooden table in front of him. His hands and feet were wearing heavy iron chains with unique magic cast on them. Five powerful Holy Knights stood around him, and outside was a separate passage with strict guards.
It can be said that Edward is locked up here and cannot escape.
But he was not panicked at all. Instead, he was very leisurely flipping through an old book with a yellowed cover, reading the story on it silently.
At this time, the iron door of the detention room was opened, and Pope John walked in from outside. He sat directly on the chair in front of Edward and stared at Edward who was reading across the wooden table.
The Holy Knight standing beside him raised his right hand, placed it in front of his chest, and saluted him respectfully.
“…”
After a moment's silence, John knocked on the table with his hand, making a "dong dong" sound, which freed Edward, who was concentrating on reading, from the ocean of thoughts. He slowly looked up at John.
John asked slowly: "Edward, can you tell me why you do this?"
Edward put down the book and said, "I've already said that my faith is broken. I don't believe in gods anymore. I just want to destroy them."
"nonsense!"
"I don't know you yet?"
"Anyone here could betray their faith, except you!
John looked at Edward with a serious face, but his tone was slightly softened. He asked, "Tell me, old friend, what's wrong with you? Is someone forcing you?"
Edward shook his head and said, "No."
John frowned. “If not, then you must be executed. Are you sure?”
“…”
Edward agreed.
John sighed, looked around, and asked, "What about your daughter Effie?"
Hearing his daughter's name, Edward's body trembled slightly, but he quickly recovered and said slowly: "I'm sorry for her."
John was silent for a moment, then suddenly waved his hand, asking all the Holy Knights on guard to leave, and said, "Close the door tightly and cast the silencing magic. No one is allowed to come in or eavesdrop on our conversation without my order. Anyone who violates this will be punished with capital punishment."
The Holy Knights obeyed, "Yes! Your Holiness!"
Soon, the prison was emptied, leaving only two good friends who had known each other for many years. They were loyal believers who had been loyal to the sect since childhood, and they were also good brothers who grew up wearing the same open-crotch pants.
John asked, "Can you tell me now?"
Edward sighed : "I have said it many times, this is the situation, I can't help it if you don't believe it."
John frowned, put his hands on the wooden table, tapped it slowly, and then said, "Edward, do you remember when I was canonized as Pope?"
“…”
"You are obviously the best candidate. All believers are willing to recommend you. God also favors you. But you chose to give up and give the position of Pope to me."
“…”
"So I want to ask, if you wanted to destroy this city, why didn't you become the Pope directly, but became an archbishop instead? If you had become the Pope, wouldn't you have succeeded in what happened in the past few days? No one could have stopped you!"
Seeing John talking about this, Edward knew that this was indeed very suspicious, but he did not waver at all. He just said casually: "People get older and their ideas are different. I didn't think so much at the beginning. Now I have ideas, but I don't have the ability."
After hearing this, John clenched his fists and slammed them against the table, making a dull thump. Then he stood up and shouted, "Edward!"
"Do you really want to be burned at the stake!?"
"Don't you think about your daughter, Kuula, or me at all?"
"We are brothers! We grew up in the Holy City! We eat the same meals every day! We pray the same prayers! We have been through ups and downs together over the years to get to where we are now!"
"Are you really willing to do nothing, say nothing, and just give up like this?"
"Even if you are lying, I can use my position as the Pope to intercede for you and save you from the pain of being burned at the stake, and you don't have to die!"
"And Effie didn't have to watch her father being executed..."
After hearing this, Edward was silent for a moment, shook his head, and said, "It's useless. I have betrayed my faith and no longer believe in God. Those high gods will not let me go, even if you beg for mercy."
"So, John, give up, don't waste your loyalty in the eyes of God, do business as soon as possible, kill me, and make judgment for this matter that harms the world."
Suddenly, John was so angry that he couldn't speak: "You..."
Seeing that Edward was not going to say anything, John sighed and stood up from his chair: "Edward, if you don't want to say anything, then forget it. Anyway, I will investigate the matter of Ajid thoroughly, and I will definitely find out the whole reason for your actions by then!"
"And you..."
"I will use my status as Pope to buy you enough time."
"Unless I find out the truth, no one can kill you. Even if it's a decree from the gods, I have enough rights to disobey!"
"Wait!"
"I'll get to the bottom of everything!"
After saying that, Pope John pushed the door open and walked out. The silent barrier created on the wall was also eliminated, and the group of Holy Knights who were guarding outside the barrier and the gate came back in and stood around Edward as still as stones.
Edward ignored them and continued to pick up the half-closed ancient book on the table and began to read leisurely.
Not long after, Kuula walked in from outside, closed the door tightly, and then gave a look to the Holy Knights who were guarding Edward, signaling them to go out.
Several Holy Knights nodded quickly, walked out of the secret room, closed the door, and activated the silent barrier to prevent any sound from the room from being transmitted out.
"Father."
Edward put down the book, raised his head, looked directly at Kuula, and asked, "Why are you here?"
Kuula knew that Edward was worried about him. He had pretended to be selfless before, arresting and killing all the participants, but now he came to see Edward secretly and did not allow the conversation to be spread. This strange behavior would easily arouse suspicion from others.
But she was not worried, everything was under control and she would not be suspected.
"Don't worry, father. All the Holy Knights guarding you are my men. They won't tell anyone about our meeting."
"Besides, it was Lord John who personally ordered me to come and see you. I told you what happened for your sake. I didn't come to see you on purpose..."
Edward breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
"Tell me, what's the situation outside now? Where is that man?"
Kuula said slowly: "In the holy city, all members of Agito have been cleared out, and anyone who had any connection with them has been captured or killed. Not a single one has been let go."
"Almost all of our people have been imprisoned. Now there are only me and a few other paladins left. They did not participate in the incident of letting Ajid into the city, so I let them continue to lurk and did not arrest them."
"Outside the Holy City, Ajid has already approached the Holy City, but they listened to your advice and did not attack the Holy City directly. Instead, they hid in the quicksand area more than ten miles away and sent some undead creatures to hinder that man."
"I guess that man has already encountered the Undead Army and is cleaning them out..."
"Just to be on the safe side, I asked Caiyu and Yiyu to go in the direction he came from and help him eliminate those troublesome members of Agito, leaving only the group of undead creatures, in case anything goes wrong along the way."
After hearing this, Edward nodded slightly and said, "Very good, as planned, he should be able to eat these undead spirits and then improve his abilities..."
"Next."
"You must immediately bring all the armed forces of the Order to reinforce the defense of the Holy City."
"When that man is about to arrive, send a signal to the Ajids to have them attack the city, then pretend to open the gates of the holy city. When they come in, activate all the magic arrays and try to eliminate all of the Ajids at once."
"If Ajid refuses to enter the city and only lets the undead army attack, then you can directly activate the magic circle and fight Ajid head-on."
"Remember, first eliminate those followers of Ajid. Don't move those undead if you can. They are what that man needs. We need to find a way to leave them to him..."
"After all, that man is our hope. He is the only one who has the special talent to strengthen himself by killing the enemy..."
Kuula said: "Yes, I know, I'm already preparing."
Edward: “Okay!”
After a pause, Kuula looked at Edward and suddenly asked in a low voice: "Father?"
Edward tilted his head: "Hmm?"
Kuula asked, "Are you really not considering escaping? I can use some tricks to let the rest of us help you escape from prison, or deliberately let Agito's troops enter the city, and then take advantage of the chaos of the battle between the two sides to quietly let you go."
Edward shook his head: "No."
He explained slowly: "I am old, over fifty years old, and I don't have the talent of a professional. With this fragile body, I can only live for a few more years at most."
"So, rather than die alone in a life of mediocrity, I would rather sacrifice my life for our cause and make a final contribution."
Kuula wanted to say something else: "But..."
Edward interrupted, "Kuula, you know, once the Ajid incident is exposed, someone in a high enough position must stand up and take full responsibility. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why they were able to pass the strict screening system to enter the Holy City and hide it from the Divine Life Cult for so many years, and set up secret chess pieces in various countries."
"The only person who can secretly help them, besides Pope John, is me, the one he trusts the most..."
"As the Pope, John had no involvement in this, so he will never take responsibility. Therefore, I have to confess. This way, I can explain all of Ajid's arrangements and reverse the advantages they have accumulated over the years."
"That's why I gave up my position to John. Otherwise, if I became Pope and the situation today happened, it would be difficult to deal with."
Kuula lowered his head and gritted his teeth, "I know, father, because of that man's appearance, the plan has changed, and you have to be exposed as the mastermind... but you don't have to die for this, right?"
"I can help you escape!"
"As long as you do things carefully, no one will suspect you, and with our help, you will definitely not be caught!"
"Besides, Uncle John doesn't want you to die, so he will definitely not care about you. You just need to find a remote place and live the rest of your life in peace..."
After hearing this, Edward sighed, stroked Kuula's hair, and said slowly: "Kuula, do you know why I chose you to know all this instead of letting Effie bear it all?"
Kuula raised her head and stared at Edward without saying a word.
Edward said slowly: "It's not because she is my biological daughter, nor because you have inherited the legacy from the gods... but because you are all my daughters, and I love you, but you are better and smarter than her, and you can handle problems more calmly, so I gave you such an important task."
"If I tell Effie all this, given her personality, she will definitely stop me from sacrificing, causing all our careful preparations over the years to go to waste."
"She certainly wouldn't be able to bring herself to kill her former friends and comrades who fought alongside us."
Kuula remained silent: "..."
Edward sighed and continued, "Only you can endure the pain in your heart and kill me and the friends who fought alongside us indifferently, and then pretend that you don't care and continue to be a devout Holy Knight."
"I know."
"This is very unfair to you. You are my daughter, but you have to bear all this alone."
"But this world is so cruel. If we want to make changes and achieve our goals, we must make sacrifices. Our ancestors have made countless sacrifices, and now it's our turn."
"I must die!"
"Only if I die can we preserve our cause, preserve 'it' that we have worked hard for thousands of years, and put the world back on track!"
"You also know how many people have sacrificed their lives for this goal. Our comrades, the king of the Kingdom of Alberia, the ordinary people slaughtered by Ajid, the residents of several cities who died tragically in order to create the Undead Army, our friends who worked with us, believers, clergy..."
"They sacrificed themselves for this, but I am just trying to survive. Is this justifiable?"
"Father..." Kuula lowered her head silently, with tears in the corners of her eyes. She knew that Edward loved her very much, no less than his love for Effie, so she was extremely sad in her heart.
"I understand……"
"It's all for the world..."
After a pause, Edward patted her shoulder and said slowly: "Okay, Kuula, dry your eyes. You are my best daughter. Don't shed tears for someone like me who is not worthy."
"Let's go!"
"Remember, help that man, make him grow up, defeat Akito's group of false hopes, and then complete our goal!"
"When the time is right, 'it' will find you. Then all the truth will come to light, and our sacrifice will be acknowledged. Everyone will respectfully call us heroes..."
After hearing this, Kuula immediately raised her hand, wiped the tears from her face, and took a deep breath: "I know, father, don't worry, I will definitely achieve our goal!"
Then her face turned cold and she turned back into the extremely indifferent Holy Knight. With ruthlessness in her eyes, she turned around, walked straight to the gate and pushed open the closed iron door.
Then, Kuula walked out of the door and the iron door slowly closed. She looked at John and others who were waiting outside and said coldly.
" I asked."
"He still sticks to his previous reasons."
"In this regard, I suggest that we don't wait any longer and execute him immediately to avoid our Shensheng Sect being questioned."
"Even though he is the foster father who raised me..."
"You can't blaspheme..."
