77 Ascension

There was a clear blue sky over Hermes and the air was calm. The city was quite lively today as there would be a momentous event. A few days prior, tragic news had been announced. The pope had died. The people were told that his Holiness Mayne had faithfully served the church during his time and now it was time for him to return to God. His body would rest alongside the other popes.

The entire nation grieved for this great loss.

Soon, it was announced that the new pope had been chosen. Today was the day that the new pope would officially be crowned. Today, Zero would take on the mantle of pope, publicly this time.

As this would be a very important event, it was only natural that the king of Graycastle would attend to give his congratulations. Roland had arrived by train earlier in the day. Accompanying him were his wives Anna and Nightingale. They were there to accompany Roland, as well as to see the city of Hermes for the first time.

That was not the only reason for their presence. When Steven had invited Roland, he also made a small request for a bit of help with one of his problems. More specifically, he needed Nightingale. Of course, with Nightingale going with Roland, Anna was determined to also go. Thus, the three of them traveled to Hermes to attend the ceremony.

In the center of the city, a huge crowd gathered. The masses of standing people gathered around a platform. Directly next to the platform was an area of seating cordoned off from the public. In that area sat important figures in the church such as the archbishops or the high ranking church officials responsible for various departments.

Roland arrived and was escorted to the location by guards. He was brought to the reserved section and was seated. He was technically in the seating area for foreign dignitaries, but normally there would be a much larger section. However, considering the fact that all of the other kingdoms have been annexed, the Graycastle delegation was the only one. And since there were no nobles left, the king was the only one attending. As a result, there was basically no foreign section and Roland, Anna, and Nightingale were placed with everyone else, though in a position that was quite forward as befitting of their status.

The crowd gathered was very large and many of the citizens wanted to attend, but there was not enough room for everyone. The crowd of people was packed tightly with hardly any space between people. There was only one area of open space, the aisle leading into the center.

There was a cordoned off corridor leading to the platform. Guards were stationed throughout to keep people back.

Finally, it began. Zero emerged and she slowly walked down the aisle until she reached the platform and stepped up. She received the papal robes which were draped over her. Then, under the gazes of everyone gathered there, she was crowned pope. In this moment, Zero finally allowed herself a smile.

Now, everyone gathered erupted into applause. The noise was almost deafening as there were so many people gathered there. Steven in particular was clapping the hardest of them all. As he looked up toward Zero, she noticed and gave him a quick glance and nodded.

Next, the archbishops and the senior officials went up to the platform and kneeled to pledge their loyalty. Afterwards, they rose and Zero commanded them to return to their seats.

After Steven came back to his seat, which happened to be positioned next to Roland, he discreetly received a message from them. The purpose of having Nightingale present was to check for lies and thus determine anyone who was disloyal. And there was one in particular that had to be dealt with.

Of course, Roland was still there for official purposes and he gave his congratulations to Zero before returning to Neverwinter.

After the ceremony ended, Steven waited for Zero in the Pivotal Secret Area below the cathedral. Soon, he saw Zero approach. Steven approached her with a smile on his face.

Steven bowed. "Your Holiness", he said teasingly.

Zero chuckled. "Oh, stop that Steven."

Then Steven wrapped his arm around her. "Well, is this better, Zero", he said while stroking her hair.

"Mmnmm." Zero smiled. "Now tell me, are there any problems?"

"There is", replied Steven casually. "One of the archbishops. Ell."

"Oh him? I always got the feeling he didn't like me", Zero said. "It looks like we'll have to deal with him."

Zero and Steven returned to their respective rooms. Now that Zero was the pope, she now lived in the pope's quarters in the cathedral. Steven's room happened to be located nearby. In addition, there was a secret tunnel built connecting the two rooms. This meant that during the night, they could visit each other secretly for their nighttime activities.

Meanwhile, archbishop Ell was returning to his quarters. While on the outside he appeared to be quite happy, inside he was anything but. "That bitch Zero", he thought to himself. "She has definitely done some kind of trickery. I know there is an evil plan involved. She is going to bring the church to ruin."

Archbishop Ell was quite convinced there was a conspiracy involved as he continued to think to himself. "Everything is suspicious. Mayne spoke to us so little, and we never saw him much. It was very strange how quickly he made the decision to allow the witches to live. Clearly he must be working for the demons. Or he was controlled by the evil witches all along and now that they don't need him anymore he was finally discarded. I have to do something about it."

In reality, he was actually correct about many things. Unfortunately for him, he never did manage to do anything. A week later, archbishop Ell suffered a tragic accident. It seemed that he fell down the stairs and cracked his head open. It was a terrible accident, most tragic. At his funeral, Steven praised the archbishop for his great contributions and loyal service and said that his death was a great loss, but inside Steven was laughing.