28 – 6. Miracle!
The road leading from Villach was wide and in good condition.
I thought it was really worth the expensive money.
The road is good, so many people use it. As the number of users increases, revenue also increases, creating the capacity to manage public safety on the roads.
Because of the guaranteed safety, more people use it and a virtuous cycle continues.
This, combined with the geographical characteristics that pilgrims going on pilgrimages to the Vatican and students wishing to go to university had to pass through, brought great wealth to Villach.
Isn’t that the purpose of starting from Licia without having to go far?
“It’s especially wide compared to other roads I’ve passed.”
“That means we are getting closer to the Papal States.”
“Why?”
Lisia slightly turned her head to look at me.
She was probably trying to meet her face because she was asking, but it wasn’t easy to keep her balance on her horse, so the girl tried tossing her head several times before giving up and looking straight ahead at the road. .
Lisia certainly has an excellent ability to read the flow of politics when given appropriate information.
It is not something that anyone can predict with just a few words picked up from her deacons and an official letter from the Vatican.
However, she often seemed lacking in these worldly aspects, probably because the only outlet for the girl to access information was the enemy church in Bole.
If you wanted to obtain quality information, you had to ask pilgrims or merchants walking through the city, or if that was not possible, you had to go out on your own.
Of course, there is no guarantee that the information obtained in this way is genuine, so some cross-verification may be necessary.
And whatever the reality, it was the church’s policy to keep its distance from the world, at least outwardly, so the lack of such information was understandable.
Isn’t the reason why the Pope is causing excommunication in all directions right now is because the secular power of the emperor is embedded in the right to appoint clergy?
It is not a day or two that a church starts an uproar over dirty worldly affairs.
And I have been dragged around by the teacher for half of my life and have gained a lot of knowledge by traveling here and there. There is such a thing as knowledge that comes from experience, so I should be able to become a part-time instructor for a girl.
My teacher really likes to talk about old times, so there were a lot of magazines like this that I knew about but had no use for. It’s a story you don’t easily hear anywhere.
Then, for the first time in a while, let’s try being a guardian.
Isn’t there a saying about home education? Education is also a guardian’s duty.
“A thousand years ago, there was an empire that unified this continent. Do you know what the name of that empire was?”
“Oh, I’ve heard this before. “It’s the same name as the current empire.”
“That’s right, it’s the Remus Empire.”
They say there is no future if you don’t know history, but now is the era of real men who only live for today.
It was the Middle Ages, when it was normal to have a mentality of postponing the consequences until later after excommunication and other looting.
This is an era where illiteracy is a problem to begin with.
Even if you know how to read, not everyone can go one step further and learn past characters and interpret their meaning. There is no demand for history education, so there is no reason to spread it widely.
So, most of the history that ordinary people encountered took the form of myths and legends.
It was good to tell when a child couldn’t sleep and whined about telling a story about old times, but it was a story that was somewhat far from reality because it was heavily seasoned.
“And what is the name of the city where the Vatican is located?”
“I heard it was Remus. But when I think about it, it’s strange. Why is the name of the city where the Holy See is located and the name of the empire the same?”
“The name of the ancient empire was taken from its capital, and the location of the Holy See was that capital.”
Although we are now divided into countless kingdoms and principalities and facing an age of untimely warlords, it was like that a thousand years ago.
This was the path created by the empire at that time.
Wouldn’t it be possible to invade and bring back the spoils obtained through the invasion only if the roads are built well so that the soldiers can pass easily?
Looking back, it was a bit heartbreaking.
Aren’t you eating up all the benefits that come from a path that you didn’t create? Of course, real estate is the best.
If you have land, it also comes with ownership of the roads around it.
It is a brilliant unearned income that is envied regardless of time and place. This had a big part in why I struggled to become a real estate mogul.
Considering the tolls that are charged every time you cross the city, it is a simple imagination that everyone might have at least once.
“Then why is today’s empire using that name again? Perhaps they brought back the heir to the imperial family…….”
“No, it’s not like that. Instead, the pope crowned the emperor and revived the empire with the authority of the church.”
“But the emperor.”
“I was excommunicated.”
Licia, seen from behind, had a subtle expression.
If there was no capital, which is the origin of the name, the emperor was excommunicated by the Pope, and the feudal lords were running amok saying they could not recognize the emperor, the expression seemed to be as follows: Where on earth was the origin?
After thinking about it for a while… It seems like there isn’t one either.
It was something new. It has been a long time since the church and secular lords lived in deception and contradiction. And it is the empire that inherently endures such contradictions.
Anyway, to summarize what I want to say, the Vatican and the surrounding Papal States are enjoying great prosperity by inheriting most of the legacy of the ancient empire.
In many ways, the legacy of the empire was like lost technology. Roads that were over a thousand years old continued to be used, and aqueducts built at that time were left abandoned when they were damaged because no one knew how to repair them. The tall and gigantic buildings built by the empire in the past were also impossible to reproduce now.
In fact, even if we had the technology, I wonder if we would have the capacity to proceed with large-scale construction because we were only trying to break out a civil war on an empty day.
“The empire’s legacy includes roads, buildings, and works of art, but it cannot leave out magic. That’s why universities are around there.”
“I see.”
“If you go, study hard. “There is no place more proficient in magic than a university.”
Lisia closed her mouth for a moment.
She hesitated for a moment, pursed her lips, and then she spoke softly.
“Even if we break up after arriving at university… ….”
“Huh?”
“… Even after we break up, can you come back later?”
It was a random question, but I don’t think it was the first time we had this conversation. Where was it?
… Oh yeah. It was when I was in Bole.
‘So, this may be a little presumptuous, but can I ask you to make me one promise?’
‘After you return from the north, could you please stop by this church just once?’
I probably would have answered like this at that time.
“There’s nothing that can’t be done.”
I don’t mean to make promises you can’t keep, but there was no reason you couldn’t keep them if you survived the battlefield.
I don’t know what she was thinking, but the girl smiled slightly and nodded. I don’t know why, but I was satisfied.
After following the road for about half a day, we came across a city again.
There was a guard in front of him, and the pattern on the shield was familiar. It was the emblem of the Holy See.
I wasn’t sure until now because the borders weren’t exactly aligned like they are in modern times, but that meant we had entered the territory of the Papal States.
Sure enough, as we got closer, the guard asked us to identify ourselves.
“Are you a knight?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any affiliation? If not, do you have any other means of proving your identity?”
I handed over a small pass proving that I had departed from Villach and the pledge I received there.
The guard looked at it for a moment and then handed it back to me. In some ways, it was more lenient than modern immigration screening.
They kept a list of the names of all believers, but they were not shared, and they did not have a computerized list of fingerprints, so all they had to do was roughly prove that they were not heretics or excommunicated people.
In that sense, the oath was useful when traveling around the Papal States. Importing here what you used in Bole was the same as hoping that your country’s ID card would work in a foreign country.
So, the oath can be viewed as a medieval passport.
The place we arrived at this time was a small city.
As there was no separate inn, I went to the church again with Licia as I was used to.
“Who are you?”
“I’m on my way to the Vatican. Can I stay one night?”
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The priest didn’t knock on the door at night, but came out right away. He looked at the pledge I gave him, nodded, muttered, “You’re a faithful person,” And let us in.
Then I made an offering again, and the priest showed us to a room and went to bed. Things progressed the way they had all along.
It felt like something I had experienced somewhere, but compared to that small town, there was even a decent wall.
Besides, unlike before, since this is the Papal State, thieves won’t come all the way here and make a fuss. I was glad to have peace after a long time.
“We are recruiting people to participate in the Battle of Villach!”
“Please join us in the crusade against the wicked!”
That was until the priest dragged me to the square two mornings later and appealed to everyone for help.