For the vast majority of people in the Holy Church, New Year's Day in the fifth and sixth years of the new calendar was spent in a dreary and sad atmosphere. The sharp confrontation between several church leaders at the luncheon alone was enough to make the onlookers uneasy, and after a whole afternoon of chanting indoors, a snowstorm in the evening put an end to their beautiful plan to go out and breathe.

In the evening, most of them went back to their rooms to sleep, ready to end the unpeaceful first day of the fifth and sixth years of the new calendar on this warm snowy night.

However, there are still many people who do not want to go to bed and choose to sit in the minaret for a while.

In the past, the Church's routine had strict rules, and if you didn't go to bed at the appointed time, a team of priests would come and correct it, but today is the first day of the new year, and the Church is in danger of dying out of the day, and everyone seems to feel that there is no need to follow some old-fashioned rules now.

From the glazed windows of the minaret hall, you can see the dark night. Crystal snowflakes are constantly sticking to the glass under the strong wind, staining the windows cold. In the minareta, the luncheon table had not been removed, and the church members and their friends sat at the table in twos and threes, chatting, reading, or playing chess.

It was getting late, and the servants set up candlesticks on the table, rendering the entire minaret into a warm garden in the middle of the ice and snow.

Otto, captain of the Central Cathedral Guards, sat at a long table in the corner, staring intently at a game of chess on the table.

Across from him, First Class Guard Jefferson was concentrating on the game with the captain.

In the morning tournament, it was the same guard who used a mace against the sword and shield and lost to the paladin in a humiliating way, but at this moment Captain Otto clearly had no intention of pursuing the victory - he was just trying to find himself a game opponent.

"Captain Otto?" Jefferson said cautiously.

"I'm not going to let you eat my knights. Captain Otto didn't even lift his head.

"It's not a matter of chess......," Jefferson said in a high-pitched voice, "what will happen to the Lord and the Pope?"

Captain Otto looked up at the guards.

Although everyone in the church was silent about this, Captain Otto knew in his heart that the contradictions between the top leaders exposed at the luncheon had touched everyone's heartstrings.

In the history of the Church, it is not without bishops who have opposed the decision of His Majesty the Pope, but the Divine Envoys have always sided with the Pope! As a result, this time, the Divine Envoy Eliot openly opposed the Pope, and encouraged everyone to persist in resistance with a well-founded speech -- even Captain Otto, an old fritter who has been in the Church for many years, could not imagine how this farce would end.

Will the Pope forgive the transgression of the oracle, or will he take more extreme measures?

For some reason, Captain Otto remembered the time when the Divine Envoy visited the Guards training.

"You don't have to worry about their big deals. Captain Otto said lightly, lifting his pawn and taking a step forward, carefully guarding the knight in danger, "We only need to obey the decisions of the higher-ups, as for how they make decisions internally, it has nothing to do with us." ”

"However, I heard that Lord Cromwell has been ...... Under house arrest!" Jefferson eagerly lowered his voice and whispered, "I heard Wilson say that as soon as the luncheon was over, Lord Benedict went to Lord Cromwell with a few paladins, and then Lord Cromwell's room was locked from the outside!"

Otto shook his head with a wry smile.

As a cardinal, he openly opposed the Pope's surrender at the luncheon...... Lord Cromwell's fate can be regarded as self-inflicted: the Church is not a loose organization such as a guild, but has a strict hierarchy of power, and the cardinals who have historically been dissatisfied with the Pope have basically no good fruit to eat.

"Whatever. Otto shook his head, stretched out his hand, and motioned for Jefferson to hurry up and play chess, "It's none of the business with us." ”

"But, it seems that the Pope is gone!" Jefferson apparently had no intention of ending the conversation, "His Majesty the Pope has been seen summoning Deputy Head Alice before, but no one has seen the two of them since the afternoon - do you say, are they dealing with the oracle?"

Otto felt a tightness in his heart. He wiped his cheeks and said as calmly as he could:

"It's not something we should do. High-level disputes, they can handle them themselves. ”

"But aren't we the Guards?" argued Jefferson anxiously, "if God has put His safety at risk, shouldn't we find a way to protect him?"

Otto stared at Jefferson:

"—Even if it is our Pope who threatens the safety of God's Majesty?"

Jefferson snorted.

"Young man, this is not some malicious invasion from the outside, but a struggle within the church......" Otto sighed and tapped his finger on the table, "I can understand your thoughts—after luncheon, most people, like you, will have a good opinion of the God's Envoy Lord's policy of resistance, and I am no exception. But at the end of the day, it's His Holiness the Pope who decides church policy, and that's the case for our Holy Church – even if God puts His Excellency under house arrest like Lord Cromwell, we don't have the power to intervene, you know?"

Jefferson nodded in silence.

Otto looked at him with relief, picked up his teacup from the chessboard, and took a sip.

At the door of the minareta, there was a clashing of metal armor.

The idlers in the room looked towards the door, only to find Alice, the deputy head of the paladin, fully armed, and the white silver hair of the knight, and the armor of her body, all of which had turned a dull golden color in the candlelight of the minaret.

"What are you doing here? It's bedtime, don't you know?" said the knightess, with her hands on her hips, to everyone in the minaret.

Otto hurriedly looked around and saw that he seemed to be the highest-ranking person in the minareta...... The senior guard hurriedly stood up, ran to Alice's deputy head of the regiment, and said with a smile:

"Isn't it just after the New Year, and everyone is so excited that they can't sleep! The church's rules and regulations don't have to be followed today, right?"

"How can it be done!" Alice said angrily, her eyes stern, "the rules are the rules, even the end of the world must be obeyed! Tomorrow at six o'clock in the morning, the priests still have morning prayers, they don't go to sleep now, can they get up tomorrow?"

Captain Otto smirked and craned his neck.

"Alright, it's a bad day today, everyone go back to bed early!" Alice left Otto alone and waved to the others in the minareta, "This is God's ...... An order from the Pope!"

No one dared to disobey the authority of His Majesty, not to mention that the female knight had a bad face and a bright two-handed sword behind her back. The idlers in the minaret stood up one after another and walked out in a hurry.

Alice crossed her hands on her hips and watched sternly as everyone left the minaree.

"Captain Alice, let me ask more......" Captain Otto lowered his voice when he saw that the man was almost gone, "God has made him ...... Are you okay now?"

Captain Otto was surprised to see that the female knight's eyes changed subtly.

"The gods are all right, he ......," Alice replied coldly, "...... It's safer than you think. ”

What do you mean by that? Otto asked again, but found that the female knight had left without looking back.

The captain of the guard looked out of the window in a daze: the cold wind mixed with snowflakes pierced the bones and muscles, just like this turbulent and dangerous hour.