ebookland #123 - The best future
#123 - The best future
The wind, carrying the stench of feces, the fragrance of flowers, and the reek of fish, swept through the dungeon's torches, where gloomy darkness reigned and water droplets fell one by one.
Moss climbed the original stone floor, and wooden clogs tapped against it, creating a rhythmic 'clack, clack' sound.
Three black-robed figures, led by a lantern-bearing guard, arrived before a prison cell.
This cell was far better than the others, boasting not only a desk and a soft bed but also the absence of rats and cockroaches on the floor.
Sleeping on the soft bed was a person, gaunt and withered, resembling a branch lying across a dead tree.
Catherine gently tapped on the iron bars, but the sleeping figure remained motionless.
She tapped twice more, yet the figure still didn't stir.
"Old codger, wake up!"
Catherine kicked the bars, causing them to clang loudly, finally startling the man awake.
"Can't you see someone's sleeping?" The white-haired old priest cursed, filled with morning grumpiness.
"Teacher, we're here to save you."
"Why are you banging in the middle of the night? Have you no manners?" The man seemed not to hear, still venting his rage.
Seeing the white-haired old priest on the bed about to lie down and continue sleeping, Catherine anxiously punched the wall. "Teacher, it's me! I'm here to save you."
"You are?"
Catherine felt a surge of heat rush to her head; she could even hear her heart pounding.
Her fists clenched.
Her blood pressure soared.
Every time she interacted with Juan, she felt like she lost years of her life.
"Oh, Yuanlai, it's you." Juan took crystal spectacles from the cabinet, and he and Catherine, wearing glasses, stared at each other, eyes big and small.
"Can't sleep again? Cough, hmm, I hear singing coming from..."
"I don't need a lullaby! How old do you think I am, you old geezer?"
"Don't want to hear a lullaby? Then I can't give you cookies; they'll cause cavities."
"You goat-loving old man, I'm thirty! I didn't come here to eat cookies!"
Watching Juan, oblivious to her words, still sticking his backside out, bending over, and muttering as he rummaged through the cabinet, Catherine's anger rose from her heart, and evil thoughts stirred in her mind.
Reaching through the iron bars, she grabbed Juan's robe and forcibly pulled him over.
"Want to eat cookies?" Juan held out a box of cookies to Catherine through the bars.
Looking up at Juan's smiling face and then down at the cookie box, Catherine grabbed a handful in a fit of pique and stuffed them into her mouth.
"Do you even know what's going on? Tomorrow is the heretical inquisition!" Catherine mumbled, her mouth full of cookies.
"Will win, oh."
"Win my foot! Do you know who the jurors are? Constance is presiding over the inquisition."
The conflict between Juan and Constance had been going on for a long time, not only because Juan demanded that priests not return to secular life while also returning church lands to secular control.
It also included a series of conditions that the Thousand River Valley monks could not accept, such as allowing the people of Thousand River Valley to serve as bishops themselves.
The heretical inquisition tomorrow would be attended by local monks and priests, most of whom were Juan's enemies.
The reason was simple: Juan was a snitch.
He wrote nearly a hundred open letters to the Holy See each year, reporting the illegal activities of the priests.
He even compiled his open letters into a famous booklet called 'The Story of One Hundred Bishops and Eight Prostitutes'.
It recorded many anecdotes about the bishops.
For example, Bishop Shining Wino, a child prodigy, was only seven years old when he took office as Bishop of Oak Flower Township. Juan tried his best to defend him in the book, saying:
This seven-year-old bishop is a child prodigy. Other children can speak at the age of two, but he only spoke for the first time when he took office as bishop. Isn't that a child prodigy?
He became a bishop entirely on his own merits and had nothing to do with his family's wealthy Blue Bull family, a Frankish aristocratic family.
Another example is Bishop Resit of the Fuka family, who served as Bishop of White Water Fortress for 30 years and presided over zero Masses.
He even mortgaged his bishop's mitre and scepter when he gambled and had to streak home from the gambling house.
Juan appointed him as the closest person to the Holy Father Bain because he was both naked and illiterate, simply a new-age Adam.
In this book, Archbishop Constance was gloriously listed for opening a technical women's college at home, taking protection fees after freeloading.
Archbishop Constance was therefore given the nickname "Flying Brothel Archbishop" by Juan.
Basically, none of the monks of all levels, large and small, in Thousand River Valley had not been reported or exposed by Juan.
"Those trash, you just watch how I refute them one by one tomorrow, making them unable to say a word."
"Who told you to go to court and debate with the judge?!"
Taking a deep breath, Catherine suppressed her soaring blood pressure and said seriously:
"Teacher, I learned some news. They found a crucial piece of evidence that they might use to attack you tomorrow."
"What evidence?"
"Did you send someone a ruler with 'Very good for quitting drinking, love from Brago' written on it in Elven?"
"That thing is indeed mine. I like to give people things when I preach. I even carry cookies with me now."
Catherine grabbed Juan's withered hand. "Anyway, don't admit that you sent it, okay?"
Originally, given the personal grudges between Constance and Juan, and Juan's status, Constance wouldn't really do anything to him in order to avoid suspicion.
However, because Old King Leia had a stroke some time ago, the Leia Kingdom's influence within the church suddenly weakened.
Thousand River Valley was once again a scene of unrest, and the church authorized Constance that as long as he could solve the problem of Thousand River Valley, he would be promoted to cardinal.
That ruler obtained from the short-haired men was the breakthrough.
It might not be enough to convict as evidence, but it was barely enough as an explanation.
At this point, public and private grievances converged, and it was not impossible for Constance to take a gamble.
Catherine's worry was this point. Saving Juan's life was more important than anything else.
"Knowing is knowing, and not knowing is not knowing. That's what I gave to someone else, although I don't remember who it was."
"If you don't even remember who it is, can you call that knowing?"
"You're hurting my feelings too much with those words."
"You're the one hurting other people's feelings, okay? You're the one who forgot them." Catherine patted the bars in dissatisfaction. "Can't you pretend not to know them?
Just like Constance said the tech institute was opened by servants, and he was too old and muddled to react."
"No can do." Juan shook his head. "Constance can pretend to be old and muddled and not be responsible for his words, but I can't."
"Why? You're 70 years old; I think you're really getting muddled."
"I can't let all the truths I've spoken be clouded by shadows." Juan rubbed his aching knees. "Those jurists and imperial bureaucrats can lie and judge cases randomly.
But if I also lie, who will speak for ordinary people?"
"But..."
"Rest assured, will win. Constance has always been a bully who fears the tough. With Melitia there, it's okay."
Reaching out through the bars, Juan rubbed Catherine's head, revealing a fatherly smile.
Catherine, always a strong woman, stood obediently in place, letting the rough palm mess up her hair.
"Alright, go back quickly. It's late at night, and you're still not sleeping. Mama must be worried."
"I'm thirty! I don't need to sleep on time every day!"
"Calm down, calm down." Juan raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "No wonder you're thirty; getting angry makes you age faster."
Heat rushed to Catherine's head, and she jumped up like a beast, roaring and reaching for Juan's beard.
Juan was obviously prepared and took a step back, just out of Catherine's reach.
After waving her claws through the bars, Catherine turned around angrily, tossing out a "See you never" and quickly leaving.
Carrying the lamp, Mittene did not leave immediately. He looked deeply at Juan, and Juan smiled and nodded at him.
Mittene bowed to Juan and followed Catherine away.
"What I should teach, I have taught." Once he was alone in the prison, Juan's voice was so soft that he didn't know who he was talking to. "What I should do, I have also done. Now, it's your turn."
Catherine disappeared at the end of the dungeon. The midnight bell had already rung. Juan stood for a while and sat down at his desk.
He pulled out a palm-sized booklet from under his robe, made of parchment and carefully bound.
The booklet was worn and dog-eared, with a faint yellow tint.
He opened the first page, which was headed with "Ensure that all believers under your rule are well-fed. —Andro."
Andro was Juan's friend in his youth. They formed the Orthodox Society at Charlie University in Longbow City, with fifteen young priests joining.
Most of them came from the bottom farmers, with the highest status being no more than poor armed farmers.
However, unlike other priests, most of them received funding from the Joan Party; otherwise, they could not afford to go to university.
This was a record of when they established the Orthodox Society, and what was written on it was what they would do if they became bishops in the future.
So the second page read, "Everyone must have at least one pair of shoes. —Gorbaugh."
The third page read, "The rich and nobles should pay more taxes, and farmers and citizens should pay less. —Deva."
From the first page to the last fourteenth page, the fifteenth page was blank.
Due to Juan's procrastination, he kept dragging it on, dragging it on until now, dragging it on until he was the only one left.
Picking up a pen, Juan thought for a while and slowly wrote the last line of text on the fifteenth blank page.
"The bells of dawn have already rung, and I will light up the last night sky. —Juan."
Lying back on the small bed, Juan looked at the ceiling in front of him and suddenly hummed the lullaby he hadn't finished singing.
"I hear singing from afar,
Crisp laughter like morning dew,
Wide roads are filled with colorful flowers,
Children chase butterflies and cheer,
Ah, the most beautiful future!
The most beautiful future!
Please don't be cruel to me.
That's the road to take for a lifetime."
………………
Imperial Calendar 1444, October 27, sunny.
Brago Monastery Dean, the highly respected theologian, Juan Yos, was tried as a heretic by Archbishop Constance.
His collarbones were pierced with iron hooks, forcibly tied to the stake, and escorted to the city gate.
In front of tens of thousands of people, he was burned to ashes in the flames.
When this news spread around, the restless villagers and citizens in various places suddenly fell silent.
Deadly silent, like midnight silence.
ps: There is another chapter.
ps2: The anecdotes of the priests in the text are adapted from real events.
The child bishop was Magnus of the Mecklenburg family, Bishop of Schwerin in 1516, who was seven years old when he took office.
The one who did not celebrate Mass for 28 years was Ruprecht of the Palatinate-Simmern family, Bishop of Strasbourg in the 15th century.
The illiterate was Hermann von Wied, Archbishop of Cologne in 1515.
The one who opened a technical institute at home was Mattwei, a monk from the Prague monastic order in 1379.
The one who streaked was an unnamed priest from the Church of St. John (no name recorded), who was also a Hidden Dragon and Crouching Phoenix from the Prague monastic order.