En Route

The courier arrived in Avignon that evening at almost seven o'clock. The actual fact is that there are almost two hundred to three hundred furlongs from Marseille to Paris, and one furlong is approximately four kilometers. In fact, there is no direct courier from Marseille to Paris, and the passengers who take the courier to Paris generally change from one section to another.

In the twilight, the courier passed through the towering walls of Avignon and entered this ancient city. Avignon was for a long time the residence of the Catholic Pope, and although the Pope has long since returned to the Vatican, the city is still a direct territory of the Holy See. This special status will not change until after the Revolution.

"That's the papal palace." Seeing that Joseph was looking over there, Padre Alfonso explained, "Although the Pope is no longer here, this is still a holy place.

"Can I go in and see?" Joseph asked.

"Oh, boy, I'm afraid I can't. It's not a place that anyone can go into." I have been a messenger of the Church to Marseilles and Paris many times, and every time I have passed by here, but every time I have only been able to look at this sacred palace. If you are interested in the inside, you can ask the bishop yourself in the future.

Joseph shook his head and said, "I don't need to ask the bishop, I think I should be able to go in myself in the future.

When Alfonso heard this, he thought he meant that he could become a bishop himself, so he smiled and said, "That's what the bishop expects of you.

But that was not what Joseph really meant. Joseph knew that in a few years, the Revolution would break out. In the Revolution, especially during the time of Robespierre, Catholicism was knocked to the ground and trampled on with ten thousand feet. Almost all the churches were confiscated and converted into so-called "rationalist" churches. The icons in the churches were replaced with busts or full-length statues of revolutionary leaders and heroes of the past. The Pope's Palace, a bastion of reactionary power, was no exception. At that time, it would have been very easy to get inside.

Avignon is still a direct territory of the Holy See because Jesus had driven out the businessmen who were trading in the Temple of Yéhéhuá, so in the city of Avignon, compared to other cities of similar size, the atmosphere of commerce here is much lighter, there are no loud and boisterous merchants in the city, some of the people walking around are wearing black robes, the rest are mostly devout pilgrims. Of course, Joseph understood that this is only a superficial phenomenon, in terms of greed for money, in terms of doing business, there are not many institutions in this world that can compare to the Roman Church. After all, they invented the amulet of absolution and can sell a poultry feather as an angel feather. But on the surface, they still have to put on a holy face.

After getting out of the car, the passengers said goodbye to each other in a friendly way, and Joseph followed the priest Alfonso down the street for about a hundred chunks of the old French unit of length, about 1.624 meters, before reaching the dark door of a monastery. But instead of going straight to the gate, the priest turned to the right and went to a small door on the right, also dark, and raised his hand and knocked gently on it.

The door did not open, but there is a small door with a barred window. The window was pulled open and an eye appeared in the small window.

"I am a messenger sent to Paris by Bishop Mignonette, the Bishop of Corsica. I will spend the night here. This is the bishop's godson, who will go with me to Paris. Cleric Alfonso said as he handed over a document.

The eyes looked at Alfonso, then at Joseph, and then a hand appeared at the window and took the document, and then the small window in the door was closed.

After a while, in a creaking sound, the door shaft seemed to be rusted small door was opened. Revealed a large man dressed in black clerical clothing, with a hood covering most of his face. This large man stood bowed in the dark aisle, without saying a word, returned the instrument to Alfonso, and then stepped aside. This action made Joseph notice that one of his legs seemed to be a bit lame.

Alfonso then led Joseph in, and the big man closed the door again, dropped the lock, and then reached out and took a horse lamp from the wall, carried it in his hand, and walked ahead to show them the way.

There were no windows in the monastery that was near the street, and the windows in the courtyard inside were very small, so even in the daytime, it was very dark in the aisle, and now it was even more eerily silent. Only the light of the horse lamp and the shadow of the big crippled man walking in front of it were wavering. This scene, inexplicably, reminded Joseph of the dark underground passages of Sacramento Cathedral in the Diablo games. And the big hobbled man walking in front of him also somehow reminded him of the "dark wanderer". So Joseph could not help but look towards the two sides vigilantly, afraid of where will suddenly jump out of or a group holding a small torch of red sinking demons.

However, Joseph crossed into a normal world after all, so the dark and long alleyway, suddenly emerged only rats, there is no monster, and walking in front of the big block, but also a silent janitor, he walked past the place did not somehow ignite a fire.

After walking for a while, the janitor stopped and took out a set of keys from his waist and opened a small door at the side of the passage, then turned back and said in a low, incoherent voice: "You ．．．．．． Tonight ．．．．．． Here."

Then he raised the lamp, lowered his head, and walked in. Alfonso led Joseph also walked in. By this time, the big guy had already lit the candles on the candlestick in the middle of the room. The room was immediately filled with a layer of dim yellow light.

After lighting the candles, the janitor got up and walked out, and when he left the door, he walked through the low doorway with his head down. By the light of the candle and the horse lamp in his hand, Joseph saw a long scar on his face.

Seeming to notice Joseph's gaze, after the janitor had gone out, Alfonso sat down in front of the table and said, "He was originally a captain of His Majesty's army. He was wounded in the Seven Years' War, and after he retired from the army, he couldn't find anything to do, so he came here and became a janitor.

Then he sighed again, "Life is getting harder and harder nowadays, and even able-bodied people can hardly live, let alone people like him. It is good that the Church does not forget those who have fought for the Catholic Church. God will bless him too, amen."

"Amen." Joseph followed suit.

The next day, just after dawn, Joseph left the monastery with Alfonso again and bought two tickets for the courier to Lestushte. As soon as they got on the train, they heard a surprised voice saying, "Brother Alfonso? Little Joseph?"

The two looked over and saw the two young couples they saw yesterday also sitting in the car.

"Oh, it's you guys? Are you also going to Lestat?" Alfonso asked.

"Yes, we're going to Lyon. I got a job at a school there," the husband replied happily.

"Sounds like a good job already," Alfonso said.

"Thank you." The husband replied.

So they chatted as if they had forgotten the argument that had taken place in the car the day before. But when they got to Lyons, after we parted from them, Alfonso exclaimed to Joseph, "I didn't realize that the apostate had such a big influence.

"What apostate?" Joseph asked.

"The same Voltaire who was torn by the devil and plunged headlong into hell last year. Alfonso replied in a rare, meantone, "This damned apostate, it is said, was dying with blasphemies about burying half of himself in the church and leaving half outside. So that if he can luckily go to heaven, he will go to heaven from the half of the church, if - in fact, not if but definitely - to be punished to hell, he can escape from the outside half. Oh, where can he escape from the hand of the living God? Now he must be very warm inside that great pit of fire, hahahahaha ．．．．．．"

"But Mr. Gregor didn't seem to mention Voltaire," Joseph asked. Joseph asked again, "And what he said didn't seem particularly unreasonable.

"You're right." Alfonso said, "It's true that he didn't mention the apostate directly. But many of his points, well, the ones that you think are not unreasonable, even very reasonable, actually come from the apostate. Joseph, you should note that this is the scary part of the devil. The devil never shows his true face to people, instead, they disguise themselves as prophets, and saints, and use their seemingly radiant "truths" to seduce you and lead you down the path of evil. This is the most terrible and dangerous thing about the apostates, the devils, the false prophets, and the Antichrist. My son, you must know that Lucifer, the demon king, was originally the most glorious archangel of God. He has the same light in him that can deceive people. Therefore, if we do not trust the church, we will be easily deceived by them. May God punish them, amen!