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One day, the Heavenly God summoned three disciples and asked them.

‘Who do you think I am?’

The first disciple, who was counting the stars, replied, “You are our Judgment, the Shield of Faith, and the Scales that restore the order of the heavens.”

The second disciple, who was taking notes, responded, “You are the Light that brightens the world, the Lamp that drives away thoughts, our Teacher who imparts wisdom.”

Upon hearing the answers of the two disciples, the Heavenly God closed His deep-set eyes and shook His head.

At that moment, the third disciple, who was chipping away at a rock, answered, “You are the Creator of all things, the Living Father who embraces us with love.”

To this, the Heavenly God smiled and said, “Truly correct. I shall build a cathedral upon you, the Rock. Moreover, I will entrust you with the keys to heaven, so you shall banish those who flatter with their lips, who speak falsehoods with their tongues, and those who come to me without true faith.”

This passage serves as one of the significant foundations explaining and legitimizing the authority of the Pope. Confession of faith is a primary element in all religions. Through a sincere confession of faith, the third disciple, who received the keys to the heavens, ascended to the Papacy.

In later years, the three disciples became the founders of their respective sects, but conflicts between them persisted endlessly.

During the time when the Reformation swept across the continent, the Pope quelled the conflict by exterminating the followers of two sects just after a council was disbanded.

Today, clergy sell their positions. Faith has decayed, and religion has become tainted by secularism. Clergy who criticize this are arrested by the inquisitors of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, regardless of their status.

I shall ask the Pope, who has lost his foundation: Is a man who has killed his brother, sharing the same father, worthy of holding the keys to heaven?

– Declaration of a prominent bishop and theologian who advocated for the Reformation (1546.11.10-1590.02.18. Sentenced to death while being elected as Pope with the support of the bishops and cardinals, execution carried out on the same day by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)

Episode 14 – One Religion, One Faith, Two Saints

Camila’s binge-eating finally came to a halt after demolishing two pizzas, half a chicken, and three bags of snacks.

“Feeling better now?”

“Gugh….”

I patted Camila’s back as she lay sprawled on the sofa.

Having not only polished off the lavish breakfast but also devoured the takeout I paid for, she soon turned as pale as a ghost and said, “You should’ve told me to eat moderately.”

“Well, you’re right….”

“Why on earth did you eat so much?”

With her face still white, Camila barely opened her mouth.

“The food provided at the lodgings or military was quite lacking. Occasionally, I did get a meal from Lucia, but the food served at the cathedral wasn’t good….”

For the past few months, Camila had been staying in the northern regions where the Empire’s government provided accommodations for esteemed guests. They offered the best beds and meals made from local ingredients, leaving no detail unattended.

The problem was that their standards were based not on the entire Empire but rather on the North.

The North was a conflict area where martial law had been declared. Despite the Crown Prince urging the military to end the conflict, the situation in the ravaged North couldn’t improve with the high-ups’ concern alone.

Although the hotel rooms were somewhat well-maintained due to urgent repairs from the military government headquarters, the meals were beyond salvage.

Dry, unappetizing bread, cold fried food, and mushy cream paired with shriveled meat were mere high-calorie human feed that barely resembled food.

Of course, the Empire’s government wasn’t made up of complete monsters; they did send gourmet meals prepared by royal chefs, enchanted for preservation, at least once every three days.

However, Camila wasn’t deployed in the rear but on the frontlines.

The transportation network was shattered to the point where supplies could hardly make it to the combat units, and food on the frontlines was an entirely different story. Although the meticulously prepared dinner might reach the frontlines, sending a food truck into a battlefield buzzing with bullets wasn’t an easy feat. Camila wasn’t the only one starving in the bitter cold; even the monsters lurking in the woods were struggling.

The moment the aroma of the dinner wafted through, everyone, including Camila and the soldiers, knew it was like a starting signal for battle. It would’ve been a bit awkward to retreat just for a meal and inappropriate to ask those who traveled hundreds of kilometers to deliver it to make sure it didn’t smell.

In the end, Camila had to eat meals prepared by the units performing operations in the area more often than the dinners delivered from the Empire. If not, she would have to make do with the combat rations procured at the cheapest price by the Ministry of Defense or frozen meals bought from the PX.

After all, it wasn’t just for nothing that Camila kept visiting the cathedral to meet Lucia for a meal.

There was no way a person who loved eating could survive on a rotation of mass-produced meals, combat rations, and frozen food!

“So, you’ve been eating all week long?”

“Yup….”

“Impressive.”

I looked at Camila with the mixed feelings of an officer meeting a shirking soldier at the end of their service.

Clearly, Camila couldn’t withstand that gaze, and she burrowed deeper under the blanket.

“I brought some digestive medicine, so eat up.”

“Thanks….”

“Geez, you poor thing.”

I really couldn’t take it anymore.

*

It had already been about ten days since I started living under the same roof as Camila.

We were residing in the townhouse located in Abbas City—the very townhouse owned by the Nostrim family.

“By the way, how did you come to own a place like this? It looks incredibly expensive.”

“We didn’t buy it.”

“Huh? So?”

“It was a gift.”

The townhouse in the capital originally belonged to my mother’s side of the family.

A long time ago, when my mother served as a royal court maid to the Crown Princess (now the Queen), it transferred ownership when she married my father.

“My maternal grandfather gave this townhouse as a wedding gift to my father. Both of them worked in the capital, so they gave it to my father, telling him to commute to work easily without traveling far.”

“Working in the capital? What kind of jobs is that…?”

“My father is a Treasury Department official, and my mother is a royal court maid. They fell in love while moving in and out of the palace.”

“Wow!”

Camila was amazed by the romantic love story of the Nostrim family.

It was quite an appropriate reaction for her age. After regaining her spirit from taking the digestive medicine, she eagerly began to ask about my parents’ past.

“Are you close with your parents? What are they like?”

“Not really.”

“Oh, why not?”

I shrugged lightly.

“I didn’t see them much when I was young.”

“Oh….”

While civil servants are supposed to balance work and life, that’s not always the case.

Soldiers, police officers, firefighters, and intelligence agency employees are infamous for their brutal workloads, but other government offices aren’t too far behind.

For instance, when I occasionally visited the National Intelligence Service, I often encountered prosecutors dispatched from the Ministry of Justice, who would complain about their peers at the Judicial Research and Training Institute dragging themselves into after-hours work over the weekdays and weekends.

The adults in the Nostrim family were no different.

“My father, who works in the Ministry of Finance, usually rested on weekends, but he rarely came home. Taking a trip back to the countryside and then returning to the capital would cost a whole day! During budget season, he didn’t even get to go home.”

“…….”

“My mother, working for the royal family, had it even worse. She commuted between work and the lodging, never knowing when she might be called to the palace. If the couple couldn’t see each other, how would the children fare? So, during holidays, we would all take the train to the capital to see our parents.”

“So, it sounds like you got along well with your siblings?”

Did I get along well with my siblings?

I chuckled and replied.

“With our parents hardly ever home, we did bond a bit tighter, but can a bunch of kids control themselves?”

Didn’t I get crabby when my older siblings ate all the good food and whined when I was supposed to do academy homework? The childhood of the Nostrim siblings was quite a sight.

Every day was filled with fights and chaos, exhausting not only the steward and nurse but also our parents commuting from the capital.

There was even a day when my mother and father took the Warp Gate to our home after Ayla had bitten sister Adela for taking her toys. For a week after that day, the Nostrim couple discussed seriously whether one of them should quit their job to stay home.

I was probably the only one who ever heard that.

I wrapped up my reminiscences saying, “It was a complete mess.”

Camila was speechless at the unearthing of Nostrim family secrets.

She seemed to have realized she had inadvertently used her charm. Flustered, she began to stammer.

“Uh, uh, uh….”

With her brain, which had made it into Cambridge, quickly spinning, Camila cautiously redirected the conversation elsewhere.

“So, what was your relationship like with your parents?”

“I just told you.”

“No, not that! I mean your original relationship with your parents.”

“…….”

Upon this second question about family matters, I momentarily paused.

My body was in the townhouse, but my mind had shifted to a little government housing.

The musty smell of mold filled the living room of the quarters. Early in the morning, my dad, dressed in a suit, adjusted his badge on the lapel.

The small fire emblem that marked him as a member of the Information Command. My dad, hurriedly packing his passport, put on his shoes and left through the front door.

While waiting for my dad to return, looking out the window…

“…huh?”

Suddenly, I snapped back to reality upon hearing a voice calling me.

The view outside the window faded, and before I knew it, Camila was standing there.

“Are you okay?”

“Um… uh…”

I nodded repeatedly, wiping the dry sweat from my forehead.

“I’m fine. It’s all good.”

It’s fine.

Of course it is.

It has to be fine.

*

Time certainly flies.

The weekdays flew by in an instant. Time flowed and soon we were racing towards the end of January.

The Imperial Army, having launched a large-scale offensive, continued to report victories day after day.

Having experienced firsthand how serious the information control is, it’s foolish to believe the military’s propaganda, but it’s the role of an Information Officer to sift through that propaganda and extract usable information.

While staying in the townhouse, I used OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) to gather information related to the situation in the Northern Regions.

To be precise,

“Are you not doing it? Your hands are getting idle.”

“…Why am I doing this again?”

I outsourced the task.

With some rare free time on my hands, I decided to make the most of it and train Camila.

This week’s topic was OSINT.

It involves collecting and analyzing intelligence through newspapers, broadcasts, the internet, academic journals, magazines, and publications.

“Since the 1980s, the importance of open-source intelligence has become prominent. Advanced information agencies like the CIA, SVR, DGSE, and MSS, as well as intelligence agencies in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, all commonly use this intelligence gathering method.”

This part was something Camila, who had interned at SIS, was well aware of. Interns at intelligence agencies generally handle translation or OSINT tasks.

Of course, there are interns who team up with regular staff and are dispatched overseas, but those are exceedingly rare occurrences.

Moreover, most interns entering intelligence agencies are, like new recruits, simply more fodder.

For the record, Camila was one such intern. Technically, that was in the past.

Watching Camila diligently work on OSINT, I crossed my arms.

“Wow…. seeing you reminds me of the old days, Camila.”

“When was that?”

“Naturally back in my intelligence days.”

The intelligence days. My first assignment after completing training and being assigned to the field was OSINT.

I had to collect and analyze intelligence posted on Chinese media and Baidu. No matter how strictly the Chinese Public Security controlled things, it couldn’t stop usable information from circulating.

Suddenly, the memories of my rookie days sprang to mind, and I began to share a tale with Camila.

“You know how when you connect to the internet, logs are left behind, right?”

“Yes.”

“The seniors always warned us to be careful when accessing Chinese internet. They told us to use DuckDuckGo or Yandex. But, you know, those Chinese bastards are incredibly good at blocking that stuff, right? So, the main task for newbies was to find ways to minimize traces while avoiding that.”

“And then?”

“Oh, but my foolish colleague forgot and just connected to Chinese internet without a care. And that was with a company computer. What do you think happened?”

Well, we all know how that went. He got totally wrecked.

As soon as he accessed the Chinese internet from a company computer, the military intelligence agency immediately contacted us. The seniors, who were drinking at the quarters after work, dashed back to the office the moment they got the call.

What happened afterward was something even a peanut brain could guess.

“The computer was promptly replaced, and that colleague was dragged away and beaten like a dog.”

“He got beaten? As a newbie?”

“Even if they were just majors, do you think they didn’t have promotion ambitions? But when a security incident occurred, how could they not go crazy and vent their frustrations, especially being the new guy, right?”

In the end, that colleague was branded as useless from the very start. Of course, the same applied to the other newbies.

Some inserted a malfunctioning USB into an intranet-connected computer, others uploaded password materials to the internet, and one even got himself infected with a North Korean computer virus while investigating it in the Technical Information Department.

Thanks to that, our batch, who failed to manage their juniors, received scoldings from the military intelligence agency and the seniors. There was even a time the National Intelligence Service sent investigators, causing quite the upheaval.

Our batch was older with higher ranks, and we were down to tears from the scoldings, but I was fortunate to be on the field and didn’t notice much. However, those who stayed at headquarters felt like they were walking on thin ice every day.

Lost in reminiscing over the past, I let out a deep sigh towards Camila, who was still a rookie.

“Please just do well.”

“Ah, come on. You don’t think I’d do something like that?”

“Feeling confident, are we? Good. Then let’s also delve into cryptography and data recovery while we’re at it.”

“…What?”

“Encryption, decryption, data recovery. If you work in an intelligence agency, you need to know these three well. If you can’t do that, can you truly call it an intelligence agency? It’s like a Tanzanian gossip agency.”

I grabbed Camila and started teaching her about cryptography and data recovery.

I had her recover a deliberately broken storage device, find hidden codes in plaintext, and decipher a command based on that assignment.

Initially, Camila kept up, but as time passed, her expression soured. Eventually, she reached a stage where she attempted to escape through the window out of sheer desperation.

I apprehended her on-site and dragged her back in front of the security terminal.

“Uaaaaah…!”

Ultimately, Camila, who had collapsed on the desk, started to cry.

“This isn’t reality! The movies lied to me…!”

“What are you crying about over such trivial things? Did I ask you to hide information in HEX codes, or did I ask you to alter files?”

“I’ve only done analysis! I haven’t played with encryption!”

“This is all stuff one should do regardless of position. So hang in there. Oh, speaking of movies, let me tell you that if you mention movies as your motivation in intelligence agency interviews, you’ll get brutally roasted. No interviewer thinks that’s a good idea.”

That’s why the SIS interviewers laughed when Camila brought up 007. Those who learned about information warfare from movies always end up getting wrecked in the field.

007? Jason Bourne? Sicario? Kingsman? There are no intelligence officers like that in the world.

If you join thinking about looking dapper in a suit, you’re 100% going to encounter locals who can’t speak English and live in despair with cockroaches crawling around. For the record, that’s my story. When I first got dispatched to China, I found myself speaking in local dialects instead of Mandarin more than once and didn’t even know how to respond.

I trained Camila with advanced methods, differing from the naive base training.

Eventually, Camila began to straighten up and keep up with the training.

Then one day, a sudden ring from my secure mobile phone interrupted us while I was updating Camila on the conflict situation in the Northern Regions.

“Communications security. Frederick speaking.”

-“Major. This is the Chief of the Military Attaché’s office at the Magic Tower Embassy.”

“Oh, yes, Director. What can I do for you?”

It was the news that Francesca’s investigation had concluded.

*

Pure white marble was impeccably maintained without a speck of dust.

It was so clean that the transparent marble even reflected the faint outlines of standing figures.

In a grand corridor supported by stone pillars and adorned with marble tiles, Lucia walked slowly, guided by a priest.

“You may enter.”

The young priest nodded his head towards Lucia before the massive door.

Returning the gesture with a slight bow, Lucia took a deep breath before crossing the threshold opened by the guards.

A colossal hall that could comfortably seat hundreds of Cardinals and Bishops had only four people present.

One was Lucia, who had just stepped inside. The other two were the upright Guardsmen of the Pope.

And then,

“Ah, you’ve arrived?”

The elderly man seated on the throne spoke in a faint voice.

The leader of a Church with thousands of years of history. The Pope.

Pope John XVI gazed at Lucia.

“Thank you for responding to the invitation. Come closer.”

“Yes.”

Lucia crossed the hall and reached the Pope’s side.

The two Guardsmen flanking the Pope didn’t even flinch at the appearance of the Saint. Standing firm with weapons in hand, they maintained their posture, gazing straight ahead.

Observing the two Guardsmen, Pope John XVI waved them away.

“I have urgent matters to discuss, so you may retreat.”

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

The two Guardsmen left the hall. Now that only the two remained, the Pope’s faint voice reverberated through the space.

“Come closer.”

Lucia took another step forward.

“Come closer.”

At the Pope’s instruction, Lucia slowly advanced. She climbed the small staircase adorned with a low red carpet made for the aging Pope until she finally stood before the throne.

The Pope, John XVI, began to speak in a quiet tone.

“Preparations for the canonization ceremony must be in full swing, and I’m sorry to summon you suddenly like this. Initially, I intended to visit you in person, but as you can see, I’m quite frail.”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“Thank you.”

At Lucia’s response, Pope John XVI smiled gently.

“May I ask if everything is going smoothly with the preparations?”

“Of course. Everything is proceeding without a hitch.”

“Ah… I see.”

The seated Pope nodded slowly. As he did, a strand of silvery hair slipped from his wispy head. The hands tidying his white robe looked like withered twigs.

With a shallow breath, Pope John XVI spoke to Lucia.

“The reason I summoned you today is to discuss the individuals participating in the canonization ceremony. I also wish to talk about the things you will encounter as a Saint. There are matters about the future I would like to discuss.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“But first, I’d like to ask you something. There’s no need to feel burdened, but I would appreciate it if you answered me honestly and without concealment.”

“Yes.”

Facing the Saint, the Pope posed one question.

“What do you think of the Magic Tower?”

 

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