novelraw Chapter 54 : Chapter 54
Chapter 54 : Chapter 54
Chapter 54. Divine Authority and Human Rights
Sylvia sat in her study, holding a newly delivered report in her hand.
The snow outside had grown heavier again, and the city seemed especially quiet beneath its white curtain.
She lifted her head and looked at Esmeralda, who was standing beside her.
“Provide some funding and have the Northern Territory Gazette prepare a feature article.”
“The title?”
“Magitech: The Divine Grace That Improves People’s Lives.”
Esmeralda raised a brow.
“Your Highness, that title is certainly direct.”
“It is meant to be direct.” Sylvia set down the document in her hand. “Helena will be coming this afternoon. I want her to understand that the people of the Northern Territory are standing on my side.”
Esmeralda nodded and turned to leave, but stopped again when she reached the door.
“Oh, right, Your Highness. Helena has been secretly investigating Logaris these past few days.”
Sylvia raised her eyes.
“Investigating what?”
“Everything she can find.” Esmeralda leaned against the doorframe. “From official records to rumors among the common people, she has met quite a few people and examined quite a few documents.”
Sylvia frowned.
She was not worried that Helena would uncover any substantive problem. Although Logaris had an eccentric temperament, he generally had his own bottom lines in the way he handled things.
But this obsessive investigation still made her somewhat uncomfortable.
“Have someone watch her closely,” Sylvia said. “I want to know every person she meets and every document she reads.”
“Understood.”
Esmeralda left.
Sylvia remained seated in her chair, her gaze settling on a file lying on the desk.
It was Helena’s detailed dossier.
Red hair, green eyes, a Holy Knight who had just advanced to the fifth tier last month, twenty-one years old.
Her father was Bishop Valerius, who had been killed by Logaris five years ago.
Sylvia let out a quiet sigh.
There was no reasoning away a personal grudge like this.
What was more, Helena had no idea what sort of man her father truly had been.
When Logaris struck back then, a large part of the blame had lain with that old wretch himself.
But some things were simply impossible for the person involved to believe.
Sylvia closed the dossier. The meeting that afternoon was not going to be easy.
At exactly two o’clock.
Helena arrived punctually at the reception hall of the Duke’s Manor.
She wore silver-white temple knight armor, with a longsword hanging at her waist. Her whole bearing radiated an unquestionable severity.
Sylvia was already waiting in the hall.
Today she had changed into a relatively simple white riding outfit. Her long hair was pinned up, and a proper smile rested on her face.
“Miss Helena, please have a seat.”
Helena did not sit.
She stood there and spoke directly.
“Your Grace, I have come today as the representative of the Holy Church to lodge a formal protest with you.”
Sylvia’s smile did not change.
“Please go on.”
“Logaris West’s Fleeting Youth potion is a theft of the gods’ authority and an open act of blasphemy.” Helena’s voice was cold and rigid. “As the representative of the Holy Church, I demand that the Northern Territory immediately cease the production and sale of this potion, and that it cooperate with the Holy Church in carrying out a full investigation of Logaris himself.”
Sylvia nodded.
“Are you finished?”
Helena’s gaze grew colder.
“Your Highness, this is an official demand from the Holy Church.”
“I heard you.” Sylvia still wore a smile. “But I must regretfully decline.”
Helena frowned.
“Your Highness, are you protecting a blasphemer?”
“No.” Sylvia shook her head. “I am only protecting a scholar who seeks welfare for the people.”
“Welfare?” Helena let out a cold laugh. “Extending the lives of those greedy nobles is what you call welfare?”
“Miss Helena, you misunderstand.” Sylvia rose to her feet and walked to the window. “The existence of Fleeting Youth is not for indulgence. It is for allowing heroes and sages who serve their nation and their people to extend their lives and make even greater contributions to the world.”
She turned around and looked at Helena.
“Is that not a practice of divine mercy?”
Helena froze for a moment.
“Your Highness, you are twisting the meaning.”
“I am only stating the facts.” Sylvia returned to her seat. “The Holy Church’s scriptures say that the gods love all people. So when mortals possess the ability to let the virtuous live longer and spare the sick from suffering, yet choose to stand by because of dogma, that is the greatest abandonment of the dying. That is the true act of defying divine will.”
Helena’s breathing grew slightly quicker.
“Then what about the gods’ arrangement? Birth, aging, sickness, and death are all the will of the gods!”
“The will of the gods is for us to become better.” Sylvia’s voice was calm, yet powerful. “Logaris has pushed for reductions in agricultural taxes so commoners no longer go hungry. He has built Enlightenment Schools so children can have books to read. Next, he intends to advance medical construction so the poor can be spared from disease.”
She looked directly into Helena’s eyes.
“Can a man who runs about for the sake of the common people and ensures that children have books to read truly be the ‘blasphemer’ you speak of?”
Helena opened her mouth, but no words came out.
She remembered the scene she had witnessed at the Enlightenment School that day.
The light in those children’s eyes. The gratitude on the faces of those commoners.
Those things had truly existed.
And yet…
“He killed my father.” Helena’s voice sank low. “That is a fact.”
Sylvia was silent for a moment.
“Miss Helena, I understand your pain.” Her tone softened somewhat. “But some matters are not as simple as they appear on the surface.”
“You mean my father deserved to die?”
“I mean that some truths are things you will need to seek out for yourself.”
Helena drew a deep breath. She knew that, in terms of argument, she had already lost.
But she was unwilling to accept it.
“Your Highness, no matter what you say, I will not give up this investigation.”
“As you wish.” Sylvia sat down again. “But please remember this: the Northern Territory is not land belonging to the Holy Church, and I am not a vassal of the Holy Church either.”
Helena turned to leave.
At that moment, Sylvia spoke again.
“Oh, and one more thing, Miss Helena.”
Helena stopped.
“Saintess Aurora and I are close friends. We correspond often and discuss the relationship between faith and the people’s livelihood.” Sylvia’s tone was casual. “She also believes that any technology capable of improving the lives of the people should be regarded as a gift from the gods.”
Helena’s expression changed.
Saintess Aurora.
That rising new star within the Holy Church. That woman whom countless people regarded as a future candidate for the papacy.
Her opinion could not be ignored.
“I will verify that with Lady Aurora.” After saying that, Helena turned and left.
The door closed.
Esmeralda stepped out from the shadow in the corner, a smile on her face.
“Your Highness, it is truly a waste of talent that you did not become a cardinal in the Holy Church.”
Sylvia rubbed the space between her brows.
“This is only the beginning. She will not let this go.”
“Then let her investigate.” Esmeralda shrugged. “She will not find anything anyway.”
“Hopefully.”
Meanwhile.
Helena returned to her own quarters.
She took off her armor and sat at the table, looking at the mountain of documents piled before her.
Over the past few days, her people had gathered a great deal of information on Logaris.
His background, his experiences, his academic achievements, and all sorts of rumors.
She flipped through the files faster and faster. Then suddenly, her hand stopped on a portrait.
It was a group portrait the academy had made when Logaris first enrolled.
What drew Helena’s attention was that the Logaris in this portrait had one major difference from the portraits that came after it.
In this portrait, Logaris’s left eye was covered by a black eyepatch.