Unlike the Lionheart Empire, the Holy Alliance was made up of many countries of different sizes. The royal power and the divine power coexisted. In the early days, the pope was only a nominal ruler. However, after a series of events, the royal power gradually declined, and the divine power began to take over. The knights of the temple had gone through fourteen expansions, and the standing army had exceeded eight hundred thousand. Now, the royal power was almost gone, and the church had smoothly taken over the rule of the various countries.
The headquarters of the Church was located in the capital of the Kingdom of Falo, Saint Massa. The former was the largest country in the Holy Alliance, with a population of more than ten million. About two hundred years ago, King Rey VII was overthrown by the people due to his extravagance and excessive taxation. Since then, the King of Falo had been replaced by successive popes.
After Rey's death, the Church tore down half of the palace he had built, and the remaining half was renamed the Palace of Charity as the residence of the pope. In a sense, Rey VII was quite a miserable king. All the wealth he had accumulated throughout his life was basically used to build the palace, and he only enjoyed it for less than half a year before he lost his head. Instead, he had built a wedding dress for someone else.
Today, Van 'er the Fifth was going to the Winter Hall of the Palace of Charity to receive the future patron saint of the human race, the first Duke of the Holy Alliance, the Lionheart Empire, and the Free City-State, the honorary archbishop of the church, the guardian of the Divine Canon, the eternal friend of the elves, the honorary prince of the dwarves, and the most outstanding genius in the history of magic, Rob Atlee Richard Holstein Rex.
The church was very humble about this meeting. The reason why they set the meeting in five days was to fully prepare for the arrival of Rob.
When Rob, Steins, and the others appeared in the Magic Association of Saint Massa, there was already a welcoming party led by a cardinal and two archbishops waiting there for a long time.
The one in charge of greeting them was Cardinal Markwell, one of the three cardinals. Although his reputation in the church could not be compared to Cardinal Saruman's, he was less than fifty years old and had a bright future ahead of him. He was quite dignified in the temple, and most of the time, he had a straight face and did not smile.
But this time, he squeezed out a smile for the first time. "Supreme Magister Stein, His Holiness Atleid Richard Holstein."
"Bishop Markwell, thank you for your hard work." Steins and Rob returned the gesture.
"Of course. The whole city should celebrate your arrival at San Massa. His Holiness the Pope has been waiting for you at the Palace of Charity for a long time. This way, please." Markwell gestured.
Today was the day of the meeting between Van 'er the Fifth and Rob. Steins was worried that something might happen, so he accompanied his disciple here. However, he would not go to the Palace of Charity, but to the Association of Sorcerers in Saint Massa. Saint Massa was only five kilometers away from the Palace of Charity. With the strength of a ninth-grade supreme magus, he could reach there in an instant if anything happened.
Steins nodded to Rob, who had just followed Markwell out of the Magic Guild when he heard a tsunami of cheers. The streets outside were filled with people, and the windows of the surrounding shops were wide open. Even the roofs were filled with the citizens of the city.
Bishop Markwell pointed at the golden convertible carriage in the middle of the street, which was engraved with complicated divine runes. "This is the carriage used by His Holiness the Pope. His Holiness specifically asked me to use this carriage to welcome His Holiness Atlee Richard Holstein."
Markwell paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "I'm willing to hold the reins for His Holiness."
His voice was not loud, but it was clearly heard in the noisy street. It spread far and wide, and fell into the ears of others like a clap of thunder. The whole street suddenly fell silent.
Who was Markwell? He was one of the three cardinal bishops of the Church, second only to the Pope in the Pantheon. He was worshipped and respected by hundreds of millions of believers. In the Pantheon, he was always cold and arrogant. But now, such a big shot said, "I'm willing to hold the reins for His Holiness." No wonder the people around were shocked.
For a moment, the streets were so quiet that even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard. Then, no one knew who shouted that name first, but everyone started shouting Luo Bu's middle name. In the end, the entire city was filled with the same name.
Markwell stood in front of the carriage, pulled up the reins, and bowed. "Your Holiness, please."
Luo Bu took a deep look at the former. The Shrine of Light's attitude today was undoubtedly beyond his expectations. Even with his identity, a Cardinal would not personally drive for him, not to mention the endless crowd around him. Almost half of the city had come to welcome him today. Perhaps even the Pope might not be able to enjoy such treatment when he traveled in person.
Not to mention that there was already a rift between him and the Pantheon because of Lolo. He had killed countless people from the Court of Heresy, kidnapped Archbishop Morteris with D 'Addario, and forced Bishop Saruman, the second-in-command of the Church, to self-destruct that night in Gudilesi.
Unless Venner the Fifth was a well-hidden masochist, there was no reason for them to welcome him in such a grand manner after so many things had happened.
There must be a reason for the abnormality, but for the time being, Rob could not figure out the meaning of the Church's action. However, he would soon meet the number one figure of the Church. As for the things that he could not figure out, Your Honor, the future Supreme Magus, simply stopped thinking about it.
Rob got on the carriage with a calm expression. Markwell's eyes flashed with a hint of indecipherable meaning. He smiled slightly, and the dense crowd parted like a tide, revealing a road.
Markwell then gently shook the reins. The horse that pulled the carriage raised its head and strode forward. Wherever it passed, thousands of believers knelt on the ground.
It took the carriage two magic hours to travel the short distance of ten miles. The Palace of Benevolence was already in sight.
A red carpet extended from the inside of the palace. The people who lined up to welcome Markwell changed from the common people to the Holy Knights of the Pantheon. Rogge, the leader of the First Holy Knight Group, and Bishop Marston, the second-in-command among the cardinals, stood at the gate, looking at the carriage coming from afar.
Both of them had smiles on their faces, but the smiles looked a bit cold.
Rogge said, "This is the most courteous reception in the Church in the past 900 years. Those sorcerers all say that he is the most powerful sorcerer in the history of magic, second only to Roland. Today, we will treat him with the same courtesy as we treated Roland."
The wrinkles on Marston's face all stretched out. The old bishop only said one sentence and then closed his mouth.
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