The Distinguished Mr. Rose Chapter 108: Chapter 107: Where Rests the Greatest Evil of All

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Chapter 107: Where Rests the Greatest Evil of All It was toward midday when the gentleman’s matters had all been settled that he finally met up with Sir Ganelon near the castle’s gate. The preparations had been completed; the Grave of Emperors was ready to be unsealed. Such a shame that none of his companions were allowed to tag along, but perhaps that was for the best. Lucius had a feeling that a simple jaunt underground wasn’t all that the High Tribunal had planned. “Sir Lucius, you appear to be in high spirits. Excited, aren’t you?” the dandy man said to him with an irritated smile. “Indeed, indeed! It is not every day that I am allowed the privilege to enter such holy grounds,” Lucius replied. “However, I must say that you seem to be a bit under the weather, my Frankish friend. Is everything alright? Do inform me if you’d like to postpone this trip for another date. I wouldn’t want to force a busy fellow such as yourself if you were, somehow, stressed.” Ganelon’s eye briefly twitched, but he quickly hid his annoyance under a layer of very strained civility. “Whatever do you mean? Everything’s fine. Everything is… perfectly fine. Let’s just get this over with, hm? No doubt we both have much to do. Besides, I have a feeling my mood will positively soar after this business is concluded.” “Glad to hear it! May this experience serve to enlighten us both.” After a moment, a troupe of paladins arrived to guide the newly-formed pair far away from the city’s marketplace. The avenues Lucius treaded on were much more quiet here, more pensive. There were no hawkers selling food or material goods. Instead, a district full of marble buildings and pious priests greeted the gentleman’s eyes, and he took the chance to enjoy the scenery as marvelous decorations symbolizing the Franks’ faith dotted the old, but hallowed, district. Eventually, they arrived at their destination and stopped before a shining chapel made entirely of crystal and stained glass. The roads were noticeably more barren due to the evacuation order, but had the gentleman visited in the past, he had no doubt the place would have been the busiest in all of the capital. For this was the Venerated Sanctum, headquarters and main church of the Holy Order. With a heart full of delight, Lucius entered the exalted halls of the Sanctum. Ganelon ordered for the guards to disperse and soon followed after, his face struggling to hide a more dubious complexion. Now, amidst this colossal structure, there were only two. Alone. Lucius paid the man’s clear hostility no mind and carried on with his tour. The view inside was no less stunning! Rows upon rows of marble pews laid before a gigantic altar, the light above bathing them all in hues of twinkling gold, and toward the back was a statue of the Franks’ God, its figure perhaps ten times the size of the one back in Burgundy’s church. The three-headed deity towered before them all and rose high up to the Sanctum’s very top. “How beautiful,” Lucius said, running his fingers along the benches of aged white. Ganelon, despite the sight, trudged on with a bored look. “Yes, yes. Very pretty. The old farts in robes love to show off this section of the Sanctum. They’d polish this decrepit place the entire day if they could, all the while spitting nonsense about honoring the ancestors or whatever past glory they feel like obsessing over at the moment. Ridiculous, honestly…” “You have many grievances with the clergy, I see.” Ganelon uttered an amused laugh. “Grievances? No, I have none. In fact, I adore the current state of those miserable fools. Watching them slobber and fight over the faint crumbs of power I dangle over them brings me nothing but joy. The age of Chivalry and noble intentions have long passed, you see. All that’s left are the putrid remains yet to be cut off.” At this point, the High Tribunal wasn’t even trying to put on a cordial facade anymore. What Lucius saw now was his genuine, authentic self. “How peculiar that you would aba