Chapter 256: Transfer to Saint Rosalia Prison
“Congratulations, Leon.”
After Archbishop Miller left, Aaron stepped forward to congratulate Leon.
“Thank you for attending my ceremony, Your Highness.” Leon smiled and shook hands with Aaron, while glancing twice behind him.
Some of the others who had attended also seemed ready to congratulate him and were still seated, but they obediently lined up behind Aaron.
As for Edward, after giving Leon a couple of meaningful looks, he stood up and left.
“Your Highness, are you acquainted with Bishop Edward?” Leon asked Aaron.
Before the ceremony began, he had noticed that Edward, who arrived later, had taken the initiative to sit beside Aaron and strike up a conversation with him. Judging by their reactions, they seemed to have known each other for quite some time.
“We've had dealings a few times before when handing over case reports. He's an excellent Inquisitor worthy of the Stuart name.” As Aaron said this, he also subconsciously looked back at Edward's departing figure.
“I see.” Leon responded.
The Stuart family should already have firmly taken a stance in support of Prince Aaron. Before Aaron publicly revealed his identity, Cardinal Stuart should already have known about Aaron's background.
As the eldest son of the Stuart family, Edward would naturally have established contact with Prince Aaron early on as someone of the same generation.
“In just one year, you've achieved another major accomplishment, you're indeed outstanding. Have you considered……transferring to a knight order?” There was a probing note in Aaron's tone.
“It wouldn't be easy for me to transfer to a knight order. Is Your Highness planning to open the back door for me?” Leon joked bluntly.
“Who wouldn't want to recruit outstanding talent?” Aaron raised an eyebrow, “However, from my position, it would be rather difficult to directly transfer you across Churches into my own knight order, but if it's a knight order of the Church of the Prophet, I think I should be able to find an opening……”
Leon studied Aaron. Rumors outside had long said that after Prince Aaron publicly revealed his identity, he would inevitably need to gather a group of people capable of assisting him. Leon, who had once served under Aaron and had repeatedly advanced in rank through merit, might be promoted by the Prince.
Now it seemed that Aaron truly did have such intentions.
Unlike the Inquisition Office, the Church's knight orders were not directly subordinate to the College of Cardinals. Instead, the four Churches each separately formed and managed their own knight orders. The highest authority over personnel transfers in each knight order was the cardinals of their own Church, including the Pope, which meant the quarter of seats in the College of Cardinals belonging to that same Church.
So on the surface, the knight orders would accept orders from the College of Cardinals, but in reality, they remained highly subordinate to their own Churches. Aaron was currently a Knight Commander of the Church of the War God, so if he wanted to transfer Leon, who belonged to the Church of the Prophet, into his own knight order, he would need to complete cross-Church transfer procedures, which was extremely troublesome.
But knight orders from different Churches frequently interacted. With Aaron's connections, transferring Leon into a knight order of the Church of the Prophet wouldn't be difficult, and they would have more opportunities to work together in the future.
For Leon, this would count as a significant promotion, allowing him to step directly from law enforcement into military affairs.
However, Leon had actually already made up his mind in this regard.
“I'm honored by Your Highness's kindness, but I've actually already decided which unit I want to transfer to.” Leon answered.
“Could it be Bishop Edward invited you?” Aaron asked.
After advancing in rank, Leon had the opportunity to transfer to a better position. But the prerequisite for having choices was that there had to be positions willing to take him. Otherwise, at most he would simply continue serving as an Inquisitor in a somewhat larger town or archdiocese.
Aaron could leave him a position in a knight order, and Archbishop Miller was also willing to recommend him as a civil bishop, but in terms of how closely the job matched his existing profession, neither was actually as suitable as Edward inviting him to serve in the Holy Order of Discipline. The Holy Order of Discipline and the Inquisition Office both belonged to the Tribunal, and the former held higher status.
“That wasn't it. The one who sent me a transfer invitation was Archbishop Kulik of Saint Rosalia Prison……” Leon replied.
After news of his advancement reached the archdiocese, Archbishop Kulik, who had previously mentioned the matter to him, had as promised sent the archdiocese a transfer recommendation concerning Leon, hoping he could serve as one of Saint Rosalia Prison's stationed Inquisitors in the Southeastern Archdiocese.
A transfer to Saint Rosalia Prison as an Inquisitor was organizationally closer to becoming a prison guard within the Church system. Compared with knights as military personnel and bishops as civil officials, the room for upward advancement seemed considerably smaller.
But Leon was certain that this was currently the position best suited to him.
Accepting Aaron's resources and becoming a knight seemed like the fastest way to raise his status, but knights were often required to accept assignments to other regions, sometimes being stationed away for months or even years at a time.
And Leon still needed to keep a close watch on the safety of his territory and his turf, so it would be best if he could remain stationed in the Empire's southeast, not too far from Allende Island.
Not long ago, Dorothy had sent him a secret letter indicating that the Witch Assembly had approved his application for cooperation and telling him to prepare the agreed amount of gold for the first transaction.
Now that he had established contact with the Witch Assembly, he would need to maintain long-term dealings with these heretics from an enemy nation, making intelligence exceptionally important.
And in the Empire, the best source of intelligence on the Witch Assembly was the Great Witch Lamia imprisoned in Saint Rosalia Prison.
This time, Lamia's intelligence had helped him successfully contact Dorothy, proving the value of maintaining continued contact with this defected Great Witch.
Accepting Archbishop Kulik's invitation and taking up a position at Saint Rosalia Prison would make it easier for him to use Archbishop Kulik's authority to meet with Lamia.
Leon explained to Aaron that he planned to accept the transfer invitation to Saint Rosalia Prison. Aaron looked somewhat surprised: “A prison? Why did you suddenly choose this direction?”
“To tell you the truth, even now, I still haven't forgotten Mrs. Hersh's case. Her story made me think about many things. Reality made her lose faith in the gods and instead pray to heretics for a miracle, and there are still many things about that which I don't understand. If I want to figure them out, I believe I need to try studying these heretics and know both myself and the enemy. Saint Rosalia Prison is the most suitable unit for that.” Leon said.
“You……could it be you're still blaming yourself over that matter?” Aaron frowned slightly and reached out to pat his shoulder, “Mrs. Hersh had a terminal illness, that wasn't your fault. Haven't you been looking after Melissa all these past two years? I heard you've even become her guardian. She has now relied on her own efforts to get into the archdiocese's school and has even signed up for the Inquisitor training camp. Isn't that her working hard with you as her goal? You've already done very well!”
“Your Highness, you're still looking after her even now?” Leon was somewhat surprised. Aaron knew Melissa's current circumstances very well, clearly having specifically asked about her.
He had thought that after Melissa left the reformatory, Aaron would gradually forget about the matter.
“I can only make a little insignificant compensation. To her, I was ultimately the cold-hearted law enforcer who arrested her mother. The one who truly supported her and helped her reach where she is now was you.” Aaron said earnestly.
“Thank you for your encouragement, Your Highness. Melissa actually knows you've been looking after her, and she's very grateful to you.” Leon nodded.
“Are you planning to visit her while you're in the archdiocese this time?” Aaron casually asked.
“Yes. Before coming here, I sent her a letter first. I was planning to visit her after the ceremony ends, I'll pass along your regards.” Leon said.
“It's probably better if she forgets about me. After all, what I left her with can't really be called good memories.” Aaron smiled somewhat bitterly.
Aaron chatted briefly with him for a few more moments before saying goodbye and leaving. After that, more people came forward one after another to congratulate Leon.
At last, after Leon had finally finished dealing with everyone and left the cathedral to prepare to visit Melissa, when he passed through a walkway along one side of the Church plaza, he saw Edward Stuart standing ahead with a cane.
“Congratulations once again, Viscount of Allende.” Edward wore that purely ceremonial smile on his face.
“Thank you, Bishop Edward.” Leon noticed there was no one around at the moment, only two nuns hurriedly passing far in the distance. Realizing Edward had something he wanted to tell him privately, Leon proactively lowered his voice and asked, “Should we go somewhere else?”
“No need, we can speak right here. Don't worry, no one can hear the sound from this side.” Edward smiled.
As soon as those words fell, Leon experienced a strange sensation.
Although the scenery hadn't changed at all, he felt an indescribable sense of separation appear around them, as though invisible walls had been erected.
He vaguely guessed that perhaps Edward had activated the power of a Blessing.
“Do you have any instructions for me?” Leon asked.
“I only wanted to remind you that you shouldn't use this method of gaining promotion through such achievements again in the short term. Both times you've advanced, you seized large quantities of goods, yet the criminals involved were only some relatively unimportant small fry. If this keeps happening, sooner or later it will draw certain people's attention……of course, I mean other people in the Holy Order of Discipline, not me.” Edward spoke in an advising tone.
“Indeed, looking at it that way, it could cause unnecessary misunderstandings.” Leon replied cautiously.
He couldn't use this method of accumulating merit too many times, especially the higher he climbed. Edward already basically knew what kind of business Leon was doing, so naturally he understood that the achievements Leon presented were essentially just a portion spat out from internal underworld infighting and handed over to the Church.
“So, I recommend that you climb upward using a greater achievement. For example……regarding your transfer to Saint Rosalia Prison, do you know that a Great Witch who defected from Moyland is imprisoned there?” Edward asked with a smile.
“There's such a thing?” Leon became somewhat wary. He still wasn't sure how much the Stuart family knew about his contact with the Witch Assembly.
“Quite a few Inquisitors have tried to pry some intelligence from this Great Witch and gain merit from it, but unfortunately, she's very tight-lipped. Many people can't even necessarily get a chance to meet her. Perhaps you can give it a try.
Moyland's heretical forces often operate in the east, so you should also be careful with your territory, Your Lordship the Viscount. If you encounter any trouble, you can always come discuss it with me.” Edward stared at Leon meaningfully.
Looks like he knows that Arachne may be targeting this side……Leon thought.
Cardinal Stuart had most likely already guessed that Leon would establish dealings with the Witch Assembly just like the Count had, while also hoping Leon would lean more toward the Church in the balance between the Church and Moyland.
But judging from appearances, they didn't seem to know exactly how far Leon had progressed yet.
“All right, thank you for your concern, Bishop Edward.” Leon replied politely.
Grand Inquisitor Stuart and Edward seemed as though they could serve as a balancing force to restrain the Witch Assembly, but exactly how far they could be trusted probably still deserved a question mark.