Law of the Devil

Maximos softly smiles: “I believe it’s better for me to elaborate on the next part. His majesty Mayuba remained silent in his deathbed till the very end and those who kept him under house arrest couldn’t and didn’t have the courage to do anything to him. After all, if anyone had the nerve to kill him, then the one responsible will be immediately discredited and despised by millions once the news gets out. No one would do that kind of thing. Then something happened after that, and that part was completely erased from all literary texts. The only clue to its existence remains through the oral transmission of the heads of each factionary school.”

“Say it, what happened later on?”

“Later…” Maximos sadly smiled: “Later, it was said that at the last moment before Mayuba’s life came to an end, his Majesty Aragorn caught wind of the news and forcefully breached the Temple’s main cathedral with the twelve members of the Saint Roland knights. As the strongest being under the stars, along with the peerless personal knights, none could obstruct his path. Moreover, he’s the ruling emperor of the Empire, who would openly go against him when he demands to see the Pope?

So, it is said at the last moment before Mayuba’s death, his majesty Aragorn entered, and, reportedly, because of the guards refusal to back down, his majesty used force out of desperation and killed several high ranking priests and clergymen of the Temple on the spot. Finally, he came to the deathbed and saw Mayuba, weak and frail. Before his grace passed away, his majesty Mayuba managed to whisper a few words into Aragon’s ear. Then with a smile, Mayuba left this world while holding Aragon’s hand.”

After saying these, Maximos sigh unceasingly.

Du Wei also made a sigh: “Those words must be very important if Mayuba had to say it to Aragon before he passed away, but what did he say?”

“This…” Maximos made a face of helplessness: “This, no one really knows. This can be said to be a historical secret of the millennium. But the most important part isn’t just these words; rather … It was because of this event where Aragon had to watch his old friend suffer such humiliation at the hands of the different schools before his passing. He was furious, and out of impulse, Aragon did something so outrageous that it’s been kept hidden all this time, unknown to anyone outside the leadership of the Temple.”

“What?” Du Wei’s heart began to pick up speed.

Maximos whispered: “We all know that in order to get help from the Temple, his majesty Aragon openly accepted the baptism of the Temple in order to show his sincerity towards their collaboration. And the one to preside over the ceremony was Mayuba himself! Aragon, along with his twelve Saint Roland Knights, all became followers of the faith and proclaimed the Goddess of Light as their one true deity.”

“Yes … I know that.” Du Wei nodded: “So in the end what did Aragon do….”

“It is said that…” Maximos’s face was full of weariness: “Sorry, we seem to have said a lot of ‘it was said’ today, but the truth is we don’t have any written records of the event, purely knowledge of it by passing it on orally from generation to generation.” Coughing once to clear his throat: “It is said that at the time Mayuba held onto Aragon’s hand and left this world with a smile on his face. Despite the objections of all the clergymen present that day, Aragon, in a fit of rage, lifted Mayuba’s body into his arms and came out to the cathedral’s main worshipping hall!

The situation at the time was very tense because Aragon had intruded into the Temple, causing all the masters and powerful experts in residence to come out and surround him and his twelve Saint Roland Knights. But in the face of the heads of the Mosa faction and Xieni faction, plus the old secluded masters of the Heishan faction, along with the judges and Holy Knights of the time, his majesty, the first founding emperor Aragon, remains fearless. Ripping off his chest badge symbolizing his status as a follower of the faith, Aragon publicly slammed the symbol onto the ground and stamped it twice to show his displeasure. Then with a sneer at all the members of the Temple, he left this sentence, ‘such a Temple, such a religion, brings shame to all its believers. From today forward, Aragon is no longer a believer of the faith, and I believe my old friend here wouldn’t want to stay in this filthy place either.’ With that said, Aragon gallantly turned around and strode away with Mayuba in his arms. Following his majesty’s lead, the twelve Saint Roland Knights also ripped their badges off and hurled it in front of the crowd and departed. The words said by Aragon that day left everyone present in utter shame, but some turned their shame into anger and wanted to step forward. However, because everyone knew his majesty Aragon was the strongest being under the stars in that period, no one had the courage to jump out and challenge him.”

Exhaling, Du Wei could not help thinking of that period. Like himself, a traveler from another world, this founding emperor would forsake all lofty sentiments for the sake of his comrade and take on the encirclement of hundreds of masters from the Temple. What a heroic character, what bravery, what courage, who can tackle someone of such high spirit?

“But… regretful to say, this matter also raised the tensioning differences between the royal family and the temple, thus began the big break. Afterwards, both the Mosa faction and the Xieni faction both hated Aragon for ruining their affairs, and the relationship only got worse overtime.” Maximos sighed.

Listening up to here, Du Wei’s heart was deeply moved. Who could have thought there’s a passage like this hidden within such a complex story? He certainly knows of the contradictions between Aragon and the Temple, but, looking at it from the view of this story, Aragon and Mayuba were best of friends. Then only after the death of the first Pope did the crack develop between the two forces.

Recalling what Hussein said about the badges of the Saint Roland Knight being kept in a hidden chamber and cursed for all eternity, Du Wei’s heart thumped with fright when a banging sound came from within the room. Both he and Maximos’s face abruptly changed to a ghastly grey as they shared a glance.

Frowning, Du Wei screams: “WHO!”

Getting up, he walks up to the door leading into the inner cabin room and swings it open. Tensely peering in, the first thing that came into Du Wei’s sight was the sacred beast, master penguin QQ lying on the floor as if he just fell from the table.

Looking at this sacred beast, although this penguin didn’t have any facial expression from the quirky bird face, but paying close enough attention to the eyes, Du Wei can discern a faint sense of emotions running through those pupils.

Ramping his brain to the max, Du Wei turns around to face Lamu and Maximos with a fake smile: “Oh, don’t worry, you see, this is my pet, it accidentally fell off the table just now.”

Maximos and Lamu glanced at each other and then became reassured after seeing the strange looking bird. The stuff they were talking about was after all scandals of the Temple, they can’t turn a blind eye if someone were to ease drop on them. Sure, the bird’s on the weird side, but a bird’s a bird, it can’t talk.

Technically, the story didn’t end here, but considering the strange look from QQ’s eye, Du Wei can vaguely guess there’s some hidden passage from this abominable bird regarding the event!

Thinking of here, he returned to the main cabin room and made a laugh at the bishops: “Both of you, I give my thanks for sharing the story with me today. For you to be able to share something of such importance with me, I can see the trust you placed in me. Ahh, after what happened today, I’m sure both of you are tired by now. Why don’t you two take a good rest and we can continue our discussions tonight over dinner, how about it?”

Finishing his words, Du Wei found Lamu immediately making a discontent face: “Duke Tulip, you…..”

Du Wei smiled: “Vice-bishop Lamu, you don’t have to say it, I’m not a fool. For you to tell me such a secret, I know you have something to ask of me, am I correct?”

Lamu blushed from having his thoughts brought to light. Meanwhile, Maximos only make a inscrutable smile as he whispered: “Well then old friend, the Duke is wise, much wiser than us old ones here. Needless to say, sometimes we don’t need to say things aloud to understand each other.”

At that, Maximos made a slight bow to Du Wei and then smiled indifferently: “Duke, I’m happy to hear you understand our intentions. Also, I hope you can give us a clear answer once you finish deliberating our request. As for the story, we can continue over dinner.”

Du Wei bellowed out a laugh, then made a farewell gesture to dismiss the two: “I would love nothing more. I’ve prepared two good rooms for the both of you, let us talk again this evening.”

Contrary to Maximos’s calm and relaxed manor, Lamu was reacting more worried as they slowly headed out the door.

When they went out, Du Wei immediately signaled the guards outside his door with a wink to closely guard the entrance without letting anyone in. Then closing the door behind him, Du Wei hurries into his inner cabin to see QQ, the sacred penguin beast.

QQ had by then restored his graceful appearance once Du Wei entered the room. As this bird watched Du Wei come in, the usual slyness that enveloped this bird was instead replaced with a rarely seen nervousness.

“Well then, my dear lord sacred beast.” Du Wei sat opposite to the bird: “What have you got to tell me this time after ‘remembering’? Is your amnesia temporarily healed again?”

Unlike in the past, this time QQ didn’t taunt Du Wei, instead, the cunningness and playfulness in his voice was gone and replaced by a serious and regretful tone.

“Du Wei, do you not want to know what Mayuba said to Aragon before he passed away?”

Du Wei eyes immediately popped: “Say what?”

QQ exhaled a sigh: “He said, old friend, I’m sorry I have to leave so soon, I’m afraid I cannot help you through with the rest and finish your plan. It’s such a pity… When I die, the Temple is bound to become the cancer of the mainland.’ Hmm, that’s about right, not a word off.”

Du Wei couldn’t resist a shiver at that sentence!!

For the meaning behind those words are too… too shocking!!

It’s as if……

Does it mean that Mayuba had always been of the same heart with Aragon? He only became the Pope to help Aragon weaken the influences of the Temple after the unification war and ensure it doesn’t endanger the rule of the empire?

“I know what you’re thinking, and know what you’re guessing at.” QQ looked at Du Wei’s expression: “And, I can tell you, you guessed right. Mayuba was never a true believer; he’s always been and always will be a close ally of Aragon.

From the moment of Aragon’s revolution, Mayuba’s been by his side, aiding him, and supporting Aragon with the power of the Temple! It’s a pity Mayuba died so early. If he had lived another ten years… No, just five more will do, than Aragon and Mayuba would’ve been able to dissolve the power held by the Temple by working from the inside out. Pity… things didn’t pan out as planned.”

Du Wei’s face instantly changed, and then he jumped up abruptly: “You … You know all this … Why?

QQ sighed: “Du Wei, you clearly guessed it, why are you hesitating in saying it?”

Then, the bird’s eye suddenly turned sharp and gave the small body of this bird a sense of awe-inspiring aura!

“It’s simple, because, I’m Mayuba!”

Thump!

Du Wei franticly fell from his chair.

Struggling for a good while, Du Wei expended great efforts in order to climb back up again.

Staring intently at this funny looking fat bird, he opens his mouth with great difficulty:

“You … Are you the creator of the Temple of Light? The representative of the goddess of light in the world? The greatest figure in the history of the Temple of Light, the first Pope?”

“That’s right, I am he!”

QQ’s tone was serious as he said it.

Du Wei moaned in agony and fell back down; his all four sprawled wide as he lay there on the floorboard.