Chapter 412: Red Beans Must Be in the Dorayaki

The majestic bell of the Holy Church rang from the highest tower of the Imperial Church, its thirteen tolls echoing all the way to the Priory of the First.

The Battle Sisters were first bewildered, then showed a hint of panic and confusion.

Even Mo Wen-Val, the Grand Mistress of the Battle Sisters, showed a moment of shock.

"My lord, does this bell sound mean..." a Sister in exemplary battle armor standing beside Mo Wen-Val asked in astonishment.

"How could this be so sudden?" Mo Wen-Val couldn't help but frown tightly.

"What does this bell sound mean? What is so sudden?" Zhou Yun's voice suddenly rang out from behind Mo Wen-Val.

The Grand Mistress of the Battle Sisters turned hurriedly and performed the Sky Eagle Salute to Zhou Yun.

"My lord," Mo Wen-Val explained, "this is the sound of the Holy Chalice Zhong Sheng."

"When this bell sounds, it means a Pope of the Imperial Church has passed away."

"But, but this is too sudden; Pope Baldo-Slest was in the prime of his life."

Mo Wen-Val's words were full of shock.

Baldo-Slest belonged to the conservative faction, believing that the Imperial Law was the perfect embodiment of the Emperor's will, allowing not the slightest change.

His political stance was opposed to Zhou Yun and Mo Wen-Val.

Furthermore, Baldo-Slest had attempted to control the Battle Sisters by manipulating Mo Wen-Val, only that Mo Wen-Val was not as young, naive, and easy to manipulate as he thought.

But even with conflicting stances, Baldo-Slest was still the Pope of the Imperial Church, the spiritual leader of hundreds of millions of believers; such a sudden and inexplicable passing made Mo Wen-Val's heart tremble.

Zhou Yun's expression also shifted slightly.

He remembered the words Sanguinius had spoken at the three-person small meeting.

"Could it be that he saw the Archangel Sanguinius, became emotionally agitated, suffered cardiac arrest, was summoned by the Emperor, and ascended to the Golden Wang Zuo?" Zhou Yun twitched the corner of his mouth and said to Mo Wen-Val.

"Baldo-Slest was after all a seasoned political veteran; how could his will be so weak?"

Mo Wen-Val shook her head repeatedly; she hesitated for a moment before saying:

"My lord, it is not that I do not trust your judgment, but that I do not believe Baldo-Slest's faith was so fervent."

"You do not understand what kind of person he was; even if the Emperor himself refuted him, he would still believe his own thoughts were the Emperor's will."

That was indeed true; Zhou Yun nodded slightly. He had originally thought that after returning to Terra, the Imperial Church would be the first to kowtow deeply.

After all, Zhou Yun had returned with Sanguinius, the Emperor's purest, most perfect, and most beloved son according to the Imperial Church's faith.

But he never expected the Pope of the Imperial Church to firmly stand on the opposite side of Zhou Yun, Sanguinius, and Guilliman.

He even claimed that his own act of adhering to the Imperial Law was the Emperor's will.

The world had turned upside down; did he understand the Emperor better, or did the Primarch and Zhou Yun understand the Emperor better? Zhou Yun wished he could know exactly who had used the Emperor's backside.

"If Baldo truly died this way, then we Battle Sisters will first acknowledge him as a Saint," Mo Wen-Val said resolutely.

It was clear that this Grand Mistress had strong opinions against the Pope of the Imperial Church.

But Mo Wen-Val obviously hadn't considered another possibility: his faith indeed had deficiencies, but Sanguinius's psychic power could help him make up for those deficiencies.

"Grand Mistress! My lord Saint Doraemon!" Grand Sister Magda ran over from the outskirts of the Priory of the First.

She was panting slightly, obviously carrying news and having run over in a hurry.

"What exactly happened?" Mo Wen-Val asked.

"The Archangel visited the Imperial Church Cathedral; Pope Baldo-Slest met Saint Sanguinius, became emotionally agitated, suffered sudden cardiac arrest, was summoned by the Emperor, and has now ascended to the Golden Wang Zuo."

"Saint Sanguinius held his corpse, wept for his fervent faith, canonized him, and named him Saint Slayster."

As Grand Sister Magda spoke these words, her own expression twitched extremely.

"... Ah?" Mo Wen-Val's voice was full of disbelief, containing both envy for Baldo-Slest and shock at the accuracy of Zhou Yun's judgment.

At the same time, she also vaguely sensed something was wrong.

Mo Wen-Val was not a politician; before becoming Grand Mistress, she was just an ordinary Battle Sister, and after becoming Grand Mistress, for the vast majority of the time she disliked getting involved in Terra's political struggles, preferring to stay on the front lines, so she only felt something was off without noticing the meaning behind it.

Until she saw a wisp of white smoke rising from the Imperial Church Cathedral in the distance.

"They have already elected a new Pope? So fast?" Mo Wen-Val said in astonishment.

The rising of white smoke meant the Imperial Church had elected a new Pope, but the former Pope had just passed away; this was simply too fast.

"The Imperial Church has chosen Eros-Litla to serve as the new Pope, under the witness of the Archangel," Grand Sister Magda said in a low voice.

Eros-Litla—a name full of Ultramarine style; actually, according to Mo Wen-Val's memory, this Cardinal was indeed from Ultramar and had worked there for a long time.

Mo Wen-Val thought again of what Zhou Yun had just said; even though she knew little about politics, she realized something.

Although somewhat blasphemous, Mo Wen-Val couldn't help but suspect that Sanguinius used his psychic power to kill Baldo-Slest, then coerced the Cardinals into electing a new Pope from Ultramar.

The pure and noble Saint Sanguinius would actually do such things... it must have been ordered by Lord Guilliman, after all, the Lord of Ultramar was most skilled at such things.

The corner of Zhou Yun's mouth also twitched slightly; compared to Sanguinius, he was indeed too gentle.

At most, he had just scared the Rogue Trader representative and twisted the thinking of the Forge General of Mars; nowhere near as straightforward and decisive as Sanguinius.

This Archangel, although appearing pure, perfect, and kind on the surface, did not have fewer evil thoughts in his heart than Guilliman.

At least this move by Saint Sanguinius was something Guilliman could not accomplish; Guilliman did not have this psychic talent.

Looking at the white smoke in the distance symbolizing the election of the new Pope, Zhou Yun also calmed his heart slightly.

According to the agreed order, Sanguinius only needed to finish with the Grand Master of the Inquisition, and then Zhou Yun would go with him to the Fortress of the Inquisition.

He also needed to speed up a bit, say goodbye to Jeanne, explain the High Lords of Terra Council matters to Mo Wen-Val, leave the Priory of the First, and meet up with Sanguinius.

Ye Ruite looked at the man wearing a cowboy hat and glasses in front of her with confusion, shock, and stunned disbelief.

Nobita Huang Daxiong—Ye Ruite had heard of this name in the Sisters' latest missionary work.

But just now, the Holy Maiden Lady Jeanne called him... called him Your Majesty.

In the Empire, only one person could be called Your Majesty.

Ye Ruite felt dizzy, her whole body trembled, and she was so surprised and terrified she almost fainted.

But she forced herself to stand, trembling, wanting to hear the holy words of that person.

"Dorayaki must have red bean paste."

With his mouth stuffed full of dorayaki, Nobita Nobi said solemnly:

"Eating dorayaki is such a wonderful thing."

The way He ate dorayaki was more terrifying than the mutants Ye Ruite had seen in the undercity sewers, as if He hadn't eaten a single bite of food for thousands, even tens of thousands of years.

Ye Ruite looked frantically and helplessly at Saint Jeanne beside her.

Jeanne just stared blankly and indifferently at Nobita Nobi devouring dorayaki, having no intention whatsoever of expressing Ji De Kan Fa.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door; clearly, Zhou Yun was returning.

As if hearing the footsteps of an Inquisitor, Nobita Nobi suddenly raised his head, quickly put down the dorayaki in his hand, and stood back in his original position.

"Do not tell Zhou Yun about my affairs."

He warned Jeanne and Ye Ruite again:

"This concerns the Great Plan of Hua Di Huang."

Ye Ruite opened her mouth slightly,

her faith telling her she should believe the words of the person before her, yet the dorayaki crumbs still uncleaned from the corner of Nobita Nobi's mouth kept assaulting her faith.

"Your Majesty..."

Jeanne looked at Nobita Nobi with a gaze almost full of pity, or rather, at the will parasitizing Nobita Nobi's body,

if Ye Ruite were to describe it, Jeanne's gaze was like

looking at a pitiful, wretched old father who went bankrupt, owed 16.8 billion, and then began to drink and fall into depravity.

"... You are not doing this to escape work, are you?" Jeanne asked softly.

Nobita Nobi's expression twitched slightly,

"You are not as obedient as before, Jeanne," he said, "Did I teach you to speak so harshly?"

"You once used broken language to sharply and harshly mock Saint Or Peson for investing his life's savings in twenty mu of real estate on Calth." Jeanne whispered.

"... I will reveal my existence to Zhou Yun at the appropriate time and place."

Hearing the footsteps growing closer, Nobita Nobi's voice became slightly more urgent:

"I wish to observe Zhou Yun from the shadows and see clearly what connection Zhou Yun has with that so-called 22nd Century."

"Trust me, Jeanne. Think of how I raised you over the past decade or so."

Ye Ruite, standing nearby, became even more afraid,

because the words spoken by the will parasitizing Nobita Nobi's body reminded her of her own scum of a father,

"Where would you be without me? How much money did I spend raising you!" Every time he took money from Ye Ruite's hands, he would say such things.

Clearly, from the very beginning, he had only treated his own child as a tool.

The tone of the will residing within Nobita Nobi's body before her eyes was somewhat like that of her scum of a father.

This god is lacking in parenting; Ye Ruite made the instinctive judgment, although this judgment was extremely blasphemous in terms of faith.

"In any case, now is not the time to reveal my existence. Neither of you two is to speak of it."

The will parasitizing Nobita Nobi's body warned finally.

Before Jeanne and Ye Ruite could even agree, He stood back in the corner, His gaze becoming empty once more.

Just then, Zhou Yun pushed the door open; his gaze swept lightly over the dorayaki on the table that was almost finished,

then swept over Nobita Nobi standing in the corner...

And Jeanne's gaze also lingered on Nobita Nobi for a moment, then...

"Hua Di Huang." Jeanne turned her head toward Zhou Yun with almost no hesitation, simultaneously pointing her finger at Nobita Nobi in the corner and said.

(End of this chapter)