Chapter 5: The Ordination Ceremony
“WOW, it’s such a long procession!”
“The holy remains are inside the carriage at the front, which is surrounded by mounted soldiers. The pope is riding in the carriage at the rear. This is intended to signify that the holy remains are superior even to the pope.”
“A bunch of old bones are more important than a living person who’s working their hardest, huh?”
Bruno snorted at Ophelia’s innocent but tactless comment. In preparation for the Ordination Ceremony the following day, the holy remains were being transported from the Cathedral to the chapel inside the Royal Palace. Bruno had brought Ophelia to view the procession as a learning experience.
A large number of commoners had likewise gathered around the gate separating the Royal Palace grounds from the rest of the city, hoping to catch a glimpse of the procession transporting the holy remains.
“Is that so? The pope was really working that hard?” Bruno asked with a chuckle.
“That’s right, the pope was using a broom and tending to the gardens with his own hands,” Ophelia stated confidently.
In response, Bruno chuckled again and said, “I see. I suppose you have a point, then. ‘A bunch of old bones’ certainly aren’t going to clean anything.”
“Lord Bruno, do you want to get closer so we can see better?”
Bruno watched the procession draw closer, his eyes narrowed against the dust being kicked up by so many feet. At Ophelia’s suggestion, he turned to look at her with a puzzled expression. The movement caused his neatly trimmed hair to brush gently across his cheek.
“No, that’s not it. I was just thinking that if not for you guys proving my innocence, I wouldn’t be here now, watching this. It made me unusually emotional just thinking about it.”
With this, Bruno turned his back on the procession and muttered almost to himself that he needed to thank everyone again for gathering the evidence that exonerated him.
“All right, we should probably head back soon,” he said. “This will most likely be the last day of interrogations related to this case.”
They’d already determined that the target of the aristocrats Claudio and the others had been investigating was the Ordination Ceremony. Persistent investigation to track the whereabouts of the foreigners these aristocrats had brought in from other countries revealed that they frequently visited the National Art Museum and the Cathedral. Even now, mixed among the commoners outside the gate, were a number of foreigners intently observing the scene within.
Ophelia’s ability didn’t help when it came to guessing their exact objective. The investigation had determined that they were trying to interfere with the Ordination Ceremony, but the members of the Director’s Office would need to obtain a confession to learn any more than that.
Cancelling the Ordination Ceremony hadn’t been an option, so the Ministry of Safety had increased the number of guards for the event, and everyone related to the ceremony was being thoroughly investigated.
Bruno’s eyes caught on a few people not wearing uniforms scattered throughout the Royal Palace grounds, which theoretically shouldn’t be easy for civilians to infiltrate. “I’d be willing to bet there are probably suspicious people lurking among us who just haven’t been caught yet. If only we knew what they were trying to accomplish…”
“Isn’t it to interfere with the ceremony?” Ophelia asked.
“If it were only that, all we’d need to do is tighten security and prevent it, but the aristocrats we captured had also made preparations to sneak those they’d smuggled into the country back out again at a later date. That’s what really has us concerned.”
“Hmm… Why don’t you arrest everyone who seems suspicious, just to be safe?” Ophelia’s breathing grew heavy, and she clutched her elbows as if she were cold, making Bruno’s brow furrow in a troubled expression.
“We’d love to, but it’s the Ministry of Safety who are in charge of making arrests; that’s outside our jurisdiction. If we’re attacked, we have the authority to arrest someone if we catch them in the midst of committing a crime, but that’s about it. And, anyway, ‘being suspicious’ by itself isn’t grounds for an arre— Lady Narve?!”
As they passed a man in a dark green tunic, out of nowhere, Ophelia fell over, landing hard on her bottom. This startled a middle-aged man wearing an official’s uniform who’d been walking beside the first man, and he quickly rushed over.
“Miss, are you okay?!”
“Huff, huff… I’m okay…”
“I-I’m so sorry! I was so engrossed in conversation that I didn’t even notice I’d bumped into you! Ohhh, what have I done to such a fragile-looking young lady…?!”
The man in the tunic bowed his head, acting extremely apologetic. His stomach bulged out on both sides when he bent forward, giving the impression of being stuffed into his tunic like an overfilled sausage. He was so plump that even Ophelia, knowing it not to be the case, briefly questioned whether maybe he had bumped into her after all.
Bruno knelt beside Ophelia, reaching out to steady her, and then, in one fluid motion, casually took her right hand in his. “Unbelievable, crashing into a lady so hard that she falls over… You need to be more careful. Are you two working on preparations for the ceremony?”
The middle-aged man’s uniform was light purple, indicating he belonged to the division within the Ministry of Ceremonies responsible for coordinating ceremonies. And the tunic the fat man was wearing was a common style preferred by merchants for being both presentable and easy to move in. The middle-aged man in the uniform nodded repeatedly.
“Yes. We were in a hurry to attend to preparations for tomorrow’s Ordination Ceremony. I’m terribly sorry, miss…”
Bruno looked up at the fat man, squeezing Ophelia’s hand lightly. “What about you?”
The man, who was holding his massive stomach and looking down at Ophelia with a worried expression, frowned nervously when Bruno addressed him. “I came to deliver merchandise to the chapel.”
“Are you a merchant from this city?”
“Y-Yes! That’s right. I made a mistake with the delivery time and was in such a hurry that I bumped into that woman without even noticing… Oh, how could I have done such a thing?! Are you injured anywhere, miss?”
Sweat began pouring down the fat man’s forehead in rivulets, and his face blanched alarmingly. Seeing this, Ophelia waved her free hand frantically in what she intended as a placating gesture.
“I-I’m okay! I fall over all the time, so I’m quite used to it!”
“You don’t have to downplay it—a fragile build like yours being sent flying by me is akin to a catastrophic event!”
“I’m fine, really, so please don’t worry about it!”
Due to his great agitation, Ophelia’s words didn’t seem to reach the fat man.
“Ohhh, now I’ve made such a young lady feel that she needs to excuse my terrible mistake! Great and good God, I beseech you to bestow your forgiveness on this vile sinner!”
The fat man struggled a bit but ultimately managed to kneel on the ground, where he began repenting to God. The official accompanying him seemed at a loss as to how he should handle his companion, because he remained frozen in place, looking around helplessly.
“Lady Narve, can you stand?” Bruno’s steady voice snapped Ophelia out of her daze, and she easily stood on her own.
“See, I’m just fine,” she said. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“I’m really very sorry.”
The man who’d called himself a merchant gave one last deep bow, then continued walking toward the chapel with the man in the official’s uniform. Once they were out of earshot, Bruno grabbed Ophelia’s arm and set off running.
“Lord Bruno?!”
“We have to get the Ministry of Safety to arrest that merchant!”
“Huh?! But he really didn’t bump into me! It was a misunderstanding! And even if he did, you can’t arrest someone for merely bumping into me!”
“That’s not it! When he said he was a merchant, your hand shook, right? He’s not a merchant at all.”
“Wait, it did?!”
Come to think of it, Bruno had a point. Ophelia had suddenly fallen over right when she passed by the fat man. He’d apologized so profusely that she herself had forgotten for a moment that he hadn’t actually bumped into her. “Most likely, he’s late for the delivery because he received the old version of the schedule.”
Ophelia’s eyes shifted back and forth, indicating that she couldn’t understand how he’d come to this conclusion, and Bruno raised one eyebrow and grinned.
“Of course, I’m angry that I was falsely accused, but we didn’t let that stop us from playing things to our advantage. We offered that cleaner a plea bargain and got him to intentionally pass along the old schedule to his contact, claiming it was the updated version. Just in case he happened to get an updated version elsewhere, you see.”
“And you think that merchant had the old version…”
“Furthermore, that guy was a follower of Lartomeum.”
“Lartomeum?”
“That’s right. It’s a new religion that branched off from Euvtomeum. Angelo is the resident expert on that kind of thing, but even I recognized his prayer addressed to ‘Great and good God.’ That distinctive prayer style is unique to Lartomeum.”
“I’m impressed you stayed calm enough to notice something like that, Lord Bruno.”
“Thanks to you, Lady Narve.”
No, thanks to you!
That was what Ophelia wanted to say, but she was still being tugged along by Bruno at a breakneck speed and had begun breathing so hard that she couldn’t get any more words out.