Chapter 123 The Best Future

The wind, carrying the smell of feces, flowers and fish, passed through the torches in the dungeon. In the gloomy darkness, drops of water fell one by one.

Moss had crept up onto the former stone floor, and wooden shoes made a clacking sound when they tapped on it.

Three men in black robes, led by a guard holding a lantern, came to a prison.

This place is much better than other prisons. Not only is there a desk and a soft bed, but there are also no rats or cockroaches on the floor.

On the soft bed, there was a man sleeping. He was skinny and looked like a branch of a dead tree lying there.

Catherine tapped lightly on the iron railing with her fingers, but the sleeping figure did not move.

She knocked twice more, but the figure remained motionless.

"Get up, old man!"

Catherine kicked the railing, making a loud noise, and the man was startled and turned over in bed.

"Don't you see that others are sleeping?" The white-haired old priest cursed angrily, as he was in a bad mood after waking up.

"Teacher, we are here to save you."

"Why are you knocking so loudly in the middle of the night? Do you have any manners?" The man pretended not to hear and continued to speak angrily.

Seeing the white-haired old priest lying on the bed and about to lie down and continue sleeping, Catherine anxiously hammered on the wall: "Teacher, it's me, I'm here to save you."

"You are?"

Catherine felt a rush of blood to her head and could even hear her heart pounding.

Fist, hard.

Blood pressure is high.

Every time she communicated with Juanno, she could feel that her life span would be shortened.

"Oh, it's you, Minamoto." Juanno picked up the crystal glasses from the cabinet and put them on, staring at Catherine who was wearing glasses.

"Can't sleep again? Ahem, I heard the singing coming from..."

"I don't need a lullaby. How old do you think I am, you old man?"

"Don't you want to listen to lullabies? Then I can't give you cookies. You'll get cavities."

"You old goat, I'm thirty! I'm not here to eat cookies from you!"

Seeing Juanno, who didn't listen to her at all, still bent over with his butt sticking out, mumbling and rummaging around in the cupboard, Catherine was furious and wanted to do something evil.

Through the iron bars, she grabbed Juanno's robe and pulled him over forcefully.

"Would you like some cookies?" Juanno handed a box of cookies to Catherine across the railing.

Looking up at Juanno's smiling face, then looking down at the cookie box, Catherine grabbed a handful and stuffed it into her mouth in angrily.

"Do you know what's going on now? The Inquisition is tomorrow." Catherine said incoherently with a biscuit in her mouth.

"You will win." Juanno said seriously.

"You're not going to win. Don't you know who the jurors are? Constance is presiding over the trial."

The dispute between Juano and Constance was long-standing, not least because Juano demanded that the church properties be returned to the secular world while the priests did not return to secular life.

These conditions also included allowing the people of Qianhe Valley to serve as bishops themselves, and a series of other conditions that the monks of Qianhe Valley could not accept.

Those who will come to the heresy inquisition tomorrow will be local monks and priests, most of whom are Juanno's enemies.

The reason is simple, Juanno is a crazy whistleblower.

On average, he wrote nearly a hundred open letters to the Vatican every year to report the illegal activities of priests.

He even compiled his open letters into a famous pamphlet called "The Story of One Hundred Bishops and Eight Craftswomen".

It contains many anecdotes about the bishops.

For example, Bishop Shiningwino, a natural prodigy, was just seven years old when he became the bishop of Oak Flower Township. Juano did his best to defend him in his book:

This seven-year-old bishop is a natural prodigy. Other children can speak at the age of two, but he spoke for the first time when he became bishop. If he is not a child prodigy, what is he?
He became a bishop entirely through his own efforts, and it had nothing to do with the Blue Bull family, the aristocratic Franco-French family he came from.

For example, Bishop Resite, who came from the Fuka family, served as the bishop of Whitewater Castle for 30 years, but presided over no mass.

When he gambled, he even mortgaged his bishop's mitre and scepter, and had to run home naked from the gambling house.

Juanno designated him as the person closest to the Holy Father Byrne, because he was naked and illiterate, and was simply the Adam of the new era.

In this book, Archbishop Constance was honored to be on the list because he opened a technical college for girls at home and collected protection fees after making free money.

As a result, Archbishop Constance was given the nickname "The Flying Bustard Archbishop" by Juanno.

Basically, all the monks of all levels in the Thousand River Valley had been reported and exposed by Juanno.

"That bunch of rubbish, wait and see how I defeat them one by one tomorrow and leave them speechless."

"Who asked you to go to court and debate with the judge?!"

Catherine took a deep breath, suppressed her high blood pressure, and said seriously:
"Teacher, I got some news. They found a crucial piece of evidence and they might attack you for it tomorrow."

"What evidence?"

"Did you give someone a ruler with 'Very Good Quitting, Love from Brago' written on it in Irving?"

"That thing is indeed mine. When I was preaching, I liked to give things away. I even carry cookies with me now."

Catherine grabbed Juanno's dry hand and said, "Just don't admit that it was you who gave it to me."

Originally, given the personal grudge between Constance and Juanno, as well as Juanno's status, Constance would not really do anything to him in order to avoid suspicion.

However, due to the stroke suffered by King Leia some time ago, the voice of the Leia Kingdom within the church suddenly weakened.

The Thousand River Valley is on the verge of making a move again. The church has authorized Constance to be promoted to cardinal as long as he can solve the problems of the Thousand River Valley.

The ruler obtained from the short-haired people was the breakthrough point.

Maybe it's not enough evidence to convict, but it's enough as an explanation.

At this point, with public and private hatreds coming together, it is not impossible for Constance to give it a try. This is what Catherine is worried about. Saving Juanno's life is more important than anything else.

"If I know you, I know you. If I don't know you, I don't know you. That's what I gave to someone else, even though I don't remember who it was."

"If you don't even remember who it is, how can you say you know him?"

"Your words are so hurtful."

"If anyone is sad, it should be you who hurts him, okay? It's you who forgot about him." Catherine patted the railing in dissatisfaction, "Can't you just pretend you don't know him?
Just like Constance said that the technical college was run by servants, he was too old and confused to react. "

"No." Juanno shook his head. "Constance can pretend to be old and confused and not take responsibility for what she said, but I can't."

"Why? You are already 70 years old. I think you are really getting a little senile."

"I can't let all the truths I've said be overshadowed." Juanno rubbed his sore knees, "Those jurists and imperial civil servants can lie and make random judgments.

But if I lie, who will speak for ordinary people?"

"But……"

"Don't worry, we will win. Constance has always bullied the weak and feared the strong. With Meliati here, it won't matter."

Juanno reached out his hand through the railing, rubbed Catherine's head and gave her a fatherly smile.

Catherine, who has always been a strong woman, stood there obediently, allowing the rough hands to ruffle her hair.

"Okay, go back quickly. If you don't sleep at night, Mammy will be worried."

"I'm thirty! I don't need to go to bed on time every day!"

"Calm down." Juanno raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "No wonder you're already thirty. Getting angry makes you age faster."

The blood rushed to Catherine's head, and she jumped up like a wild beast, growling and pulling Juanno's beard.

Juanno was obviously prepared and jumped back a step, just avoiding being caught by Catherine.

After threatening to rage for a while across the railing, Catherine turned around angrily, said "See you later" and walked away quickly.

Holding the lamp, Mitternich did not leave immediately. He looked deeply at Juanno, and Juanno smiled and nodded to him.

Mithren bowed to Juanno and left behind Catherine.

"I have finished what I need to teach." When Juanno was the only one left in the cell, his voice was so low that it was hard to tell who he was talking to. "I have finished what I need to do. Now, it is your turn."

Catherine disappeared at the end of the dungeon. The midnight bell had already struck. Juanno stood for a while and then sat down at his table.

He pulled out a palm-sized booklet from under his robe, made of parchment and carefully bound.

The edges of the booklet have been curled due to being touched and are now a light yellow.

He opened the first page and saw the words written at the top: "All believers under your rule should be well fed. - Andro."

Andro was Juanno's good friend when he was young. They had founded the Orthographic Society at Charles University in Changgong City, and fifteen young priests joined.

Most of them came from the lower class of peasants, and the highest status was only poor armed peasants.

However, unlike other priests, most of them received funding from the John Party, otherwise they would not be able to go to university.

This is a record of when they established the Orthographic Society. It states what they should do if they become bishops in the future.

So the second page says "Everyone must have at least one pair of shoes. - Gorbo."

On the third page it says "The rich and nobles should be taxed more, while the peasants and citizens should be taxed less. - Deva."

From the first page to the last fourteenth page, the fifteenth page is blank.

Because of Juanno's procrastination, he has been putting it off until now, when he is the only one left.

Picking up the pen, Juanno thought for a moment, then slowly wrote the last line on the blank page of page 15.

"The bell of dawn has rung, and I will light up the last night sky. - Juanno."

Lying back on the small bed, Juanno looked at the ceiling in front of him and suddenly hummed the lullaby he had just unfinished.

"I heard singing from far away,
The crisp laughter is like the morning sun and dew.

The wide road is full of colorful flowers.

The children were jumping and cheering as they chased butterflies.
Ah, the best of prospects!
The best future!
Please don't be cruel to me.

That’s a lifelong journey.”

………………

October 1444, 10 of the Imperial Calendar, sunny.

Juano José, abbot of the monastery of Blago and a highly respected theologian, was tried for heresy by Archbishop Constance.

He had his scapula pierced by an iron hook, was forcibly tied to the stake, and escorted to the city gate.

In front of tens of thousands of people, it was burned to ashes in the raging fire.

When the news spread around, the villagers and citizens from all over the country who were ready to take action suddenly became quiet.

It was deathly quiet, like the silence of midnight.

　p.s. There is one more chapter.

　　The anecdotes of the priests in the ps2 article are adapted from real events.

　　The child bishop was Magnus of Mecklenburg, Bishop of Schwerin in 1516, who was seven years old when he took office.

　　The one who did not celebrate Mass for 28 years was the 15th-century Bishop of Strasbourg, Palatinate-Simon Rupprecht.

　　The illiterate one was the Archbishop of Cologne in 1515, Hermann von Weide.

　　The one who opened the technical college at home was Matvey, a monk from the Prague monastic community in 1379.

　　The person running naked is a fellow monk of the Prague Order, an unknown priest (no name is recorded) from St. John's Church.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)