1414 Cardinal Farsas
Galamor's house was a beautiful white mansion near the top of the mountain, with guarded gardens on either side. It was a 3 story-tall mansion with beautifully designed windows all over the front and sides.
A bunch of cars were parked outside of the mansion with church officials and guards in white patrolling the front constantly. There seemed to be some sort of path on the side of the house, but the car Ning and the rest were on stopped outside of the main doors to the building.
Galamor got off and helped Jasmine get out too. Ning and Tim got out on their own and stepped to the side as the car drove to the side where it parked amongst the dozens of others.
"Come with me," Galamor said and walked up the small flight of stairs before passing through the main doors. When Ning and the rest tried to follow him, the guards crossed their spears, stopping them right there.
"Oh, right. You'll have to go through a search. I hope you don't mind," Galamor said.
"Sure," Ning said and raised both arms to let the guard search them.
After a minute or two of searches, all three of them were down a few pieces of jewelry and a horn. Galamor looked at the box where everything was kept and looked back at Ning. "You didn't bring the gun?" he asked.
"Of course I did," Ning said as he produced the gold and silver pistol and showed it to Galamor.
The guards, who had just done completely searching Ning were confused and quickly jumped to take the gun from his hands. However, before they could, Ning put away the gun.
"Please place the gun in the basket," one of the guards asked.
"What gun?" Ning asked, raising his arms to let them search him. "If you can find it, you can keep it."
The guards desperately tried, but came up with nothing in the end. They had no idea where the gun could have possibly gone to.
Galamor was equally confused as well, but he had to stop this in the end. "Let him be. We're meeting the Cardinals and we can't be late," he said.
The guards reluctantly let go of Ning.
Ning walked into the mansion, arriving at a large corridor that led to the hall in the distance. The corridor was full of beautifully carved furniture with magnificent vases full of bright flowers growing from them.
Colorful lights shined down from stained glass windows that were on the sides of the wall. There were also open windows that shone bright sunlight on the plants.
Tapestries and paintings, depicting a heavenly Zurinus filled the walls of the corridor. Ning looked at the imagery for Zurnius and realized that each one was a different interpretation of the artist, and thus not the correct one.
He so desperately wished to find one that would just show him what the real Zurinus looked like.
An old man with a crooked back walked to Galamor and they spoke something in hushed voices. Ning could hear them talking about whether the other Cardinal had arrived or not.
He had not. "My father is this way," Galamor said, taking him deeper into the mansion.
They arrived at a massive hall, once again filled to the brim with holy artifacts, paintings, tapestries, furniture, and stained windows that seemed to depict Zurinus once more.
Several paladins stood around the hall with their swords to their waist as well as some with rifles next to them.
On the couch sat an older man with a thick beard and a head full of hair more white than black.
He looked toward Galamor and the rest as they walked in.
Galamor bowed a little and spoke, "I have returned with our guests, Father. Allow me to introduce them."
Galamor swiftly went through the introductions and turned around to introduce his father. "This is my father, the Cardinal of Justice, Farsas Meras."
"A pleasure to meet you, Cardinal Farsas," Ning said with the slightest of bows. Tim and Jasmine, however, showed more deference.
The Cardinal looked at Ning from his seat for a second too long before standing up and walking up to him.
Ning watched the man walk right up to him and wondered what he would do next. However, the man surprised Ning by placing a hand in front of him.
"I heard you were looking for a handshake," he said. "Thank you for helping us capture that serial killer."
Ning smiled a little and took the man's hand in a shake.
'Link?' Ning asked internally.
<He is a human and thus cannot be linked>
That did it. The second Cardinal was a human too. Now, Ning had to hope either of the other Cardinal or the Pope was Zurinus. If not, his journey would start anew once more.
"Take a seat," the Cardinal said and sat down on the couch.
Ning and the others took the other couch, sitting opposite the Cardinal.
Never in their life would either Tim or Jasmine have ever imagined that they would be face to face with a Cardinal from the holy church of Zurinus. Such an event was something they could not have imagined in all of their life.
Refreshments were soon brought out with fresh fruits and drinks served for them.
Ning took a cup of juice from freshly squeezed oranges that was quite cold to the touch.
"I heard Cardinal Marcus speak about you," the Cardinal said. "He said it was hard to judge you. Is that a persona of yours, or just something that you do naturally?"
"Who knows?" Ning said as he took a sip.
The Cardinal said nothing. "And my son here tells me you are a fighter too. Is that true?"
"I have indeed dabbled in fighting in my life," Ning said.
"I know of all countries in the world, and nowhere do I know where they still teach you how to fight with weapons anymore. It's all guns and rifles," the Cardinal said. "Would you mind going a few rounds with my students to see how good you are?"
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