Grand Lust Sovereign

The Grand Cathedral, Aurelia.

The white-golden spire of the cathedral did look like it could pierce the heavens. It was mighty tall.

Intricate stained windows lined the exterior walls, depicting god's blessings upon humanity, their divine decrees, and the crusade against heretics.

Massive double doors made of sanctified silver and ivory, adorned with engravings of angelic warriors and celestial flames opened for them as the Templar Knights escorted them in.

Julien's party and Christopher were escorted to a private meeting chamber.

The two were of such importance that three Cardinals of the highest echelons were tasked to look into this matter.

These Cardinals were right below the Pope in hierarchy and were possible future Pope candidates.

They sat by a table and were waiting for their guests to arrive.

"Please have a seat." The Cardinals said and had everyone settled down.

Julien was facing Christopher and his uncle. This was not going to go well.

All around them were Templar Knights, ready to intrude if anything went wrong.

Julien sat calmly and pretended everything was going according to his plan. There was no use panicking.

"Shall we start?" The Cardinals asked the two.

Both parties nodded their heads.

"Commander of the Vermilion Empire, Sir Luther Ingress, may we know the reason why your side turned hostile in our own capital while coming for peace talks?" One of the Cardinals, a man with a somber look on his face asked.

Luther, Christopher's uncle, folded his hands and laid back on his chair.

He looked at the Cardinals and said, "Our side believes in teaching our kids world affairs when they're young. Where there's children, there's bound to be some trouble. Christopher had a conflict with someone in the Tower. It appears that he had mistaken the esteemed guest of the Theocracy sitting there as his enemy. Hence, his emotions got the better of him. I apologize on his behalf, the Empire does not…"

Luther gave an appropriate reason without going into much detail.

Julien clicked his tongue internally and thought, 'There's no way he was mistaken. What a bullshit cover up.'

"…as a form of mutual understanding, I ask the Cardinals to overlook this matter. Christopher will apologize to the guests and I hope this incident does not interfere with the diplomatic matters." Luther said with a straight face, masking the fox-like cunning underneath the calmness.

Christopher was clenching his fast hard underneath the table. His body shivered and he looked like he could burst in anger at any moment.

However, one sideway glance from his uncle made his blood run cold.

He took a deep breath and calmed down.

Standing up, Christopher looked at Jackie and bowed.

"I apologize for my actions. From afar, I had mistaken Your Excellency with the one I had a fallout with. It will not happen again, you have my word."

Christopher's words sounded quite sincere.

The Cardinals seemed to be nodding.

"He is not lying." One of the four said, looking at the shimmering golden barrier around the room.

"I hope esteemed guests let this matter slide." One of the Cardinals turned to Julien and said.

Julien never had a choice in this matter.

All he could do was play along.

If he was cornered by both the parties, then the only way out was to reveal his identity and threaten them.

His family might be small, but they possessed enough power to topple all the nearby kingdoms if they wished.

Julien was once given a rough estimate about the army his family possessed.

When asked the number, he was asked back, "Which field's number? We have assassins numbering in hundreds scattered around the nearby kingdoms, an army consisting of thousands patrolling the borders, and…"

The number was just mind blowing.

His family really was more powerful than the King's.

Though they stayed hidden and not many knew about it.

Everyone from nearby kingdoms only feared his mother's name. Nobody knew the extent of her powers.

In any case, this was a formal matter and the Ingress Family was doing their best to suppress this matter.

Julien had no choice but to go along.

Since he had no problem and accepted the apology, the Cardinals dropped the matter by giving the Ingress Family a warning.

Christopher and Luther were then escorted to another chamber. They had to wait until further notice for the diplomatic talks.

Meanwhile, Julien was still in the chamber with the four Cardinals. They were looking at him.

Three of the four were middle-aged men while one was a middle-aged lady.

They all did not have a single wrinkle on their face and possessed a youth glow.

The Cardinal with a full beard and mustache turned to Julien.

"We apologize for the inconvenience caused."

"It's not a problem." Julien replied.

"Can the esteemed guests state their purpose for roaming the streets of the capital without security?" The Cardinal was soft-spoken, but it was evident that he was asking about Julien's background indirectly.

They had been briefed by the Templar Knights that did not know who Julien was associated with in the Theocracy to possess such an honor.

They also stated that he had a badge on him, but there were no records of the Theocracy handing it to a person this young.

Julien's identity was suspicious, but nobody took action yet.

It was highly possible that Julien belonged to some major powerhouse. The high ranking person in that place could've given the badge to him and sent him to the Theocracy for unknown reasons.

Plus, the Theocracy had a policy of innocent until proven guilty. They thus did not give Julien a hard time and asked about his background right away.

Julien thought about it for a good few seconds and said, "They say that in war, it is the commoners that suffer the most. I was strolling around trying to see whether such was the case in Aurelia."

Julien immediately fired shots. The Cardinals did not expect such an answer and had surprise flash in their eyes.

They couldn't outright ask Julien about his background, so they continued the conversation, "So what did the esteemed guest find?"

"Your Eminence, god's grace is clearly visible throughout these holy lands. No person we encountered on the streets seemed hungry or sad." Amelia turned to the panel and said with her hands clasped.

She was the perfect person in these matters and Julien was glad she spoke.

The Cardinals had their suspicions lowered when they heard Amelia's voice.

Amelia was a being that radiated purity even without doing anything.

Her soothing voice and her gentle demeanor, coupled with an aura of holiness was enough to make the onlookers know that she was more blessed and loved by god than anyone else in this chamber.

A person of such caliber would truly make anyone envious, but envy was a sin, and the Cardinals weren't sinners.

They were happy to have a being like Amelia grace her presence to them.

They lowered their guards somewhat and said, "We are glad that Your Grace places us in high regards. If possible, we would like to invite you to…"

The Cardinals and Amelia went back and forth spouting sweet and holy words, trying to compliment the other more.

Julien and Jackie rubbed their temples. It was painful to hear such a conversation.

After a couple of minutes, the Cardinals did not inquire much about Julien's background. They were sure that he belonged to some powerhouse who was given a token of theirs.

It was all thanks to Amelia.

The Cardinals believed that no average person would be able to hire such a holy being as their house's personal priestess. They thus cleared Julien off of all suspicions and dropped the matter.

The Cardinals then asked, "Esteemed guests, is there anything you'd like to know?"

Julien nodded. There indeed was.

"Can you brief us about the situation? If possible, we'd like to volunteer in such difficult times."

"God's blessing has brought us together. Let us cherish this moment." Amelia added, making the Cardinals nod in understanding and spill out the current affairs.

"One fine day, the brutes of the Vermilion Empire thought that the Theocracy was not worthy of existing. Everyone here derived powers from god, which in their eyes looked like borrowing powers from an external source. They thought we did not have our own individual powers and considered us weak, thereby attacking us."

"The lost lambs of the empire thought they could acquire the land of gods and keep it to themselves. They thus began causing a lot of trouble at the borders, and eventually started an all out war."

"The war occurred when the empire killed a Cardinal. We could not sit still after that. God has said that one should always be compassionate and kind, but he had also stated about striking back if someone is actively trying to cause harm."

The lady Cardinal continued.

"Needless to say, if the church did not strike back, many innocent believers would've lost their lives. The ones surviving would have despaired and we, the ones in power, would've become sinners for not watching over them."

"So, after the empire's invasion…"