What is the concept of a Cardinal of Poseidon Church?
First of all, the hierarchy of bishops within Poseidon Church from small to large is cardinal, archbishop, archbishop, and diocesan bishop. The cardinal is the first person under the pope! Secondly, the administrative levels of the Kingdom of Meletni are, from large to small, regions, counties, districts, and parishes, and only the Poseidon Church in the administrative regions at the region level will have one or two cardinals appointed by the pope.
Fleming Harbor is an independent city with the same administrative level as the county. Its jurisdiction includes Fleming Harbor itself and dozens of surrounding towns. It has developed economy and trade and has a very high military status. Even so, there are only two An archbishop is in charge. Apart from routine inspections and passing by, perhaps no cardinal will come over for a few years.
So Austin was shocked, and then he saluted, pulled Vanya to the side, and stood at the back of the cardinal's side - although it was the pope's order that the two of them follow the church's arrangements for baptism, but the church How could a cardinal come to greet two mere majors in person? Moreover, the man in front of him was completely different from the portrait of the Cardinal of Albert Region in the newspaper. What he was waiting for must be a big shot that he could not afford to offend. At this time, You should huddle in a corner and wait.
After Austin stood still, he began to think about which big shot would come to Fleming Harbor. Is it His Majesty the Pope or His Majesty the King? What are they doing here? All kinds of thoughts lingered in his mind until Vanya pulled his cuffs.
Austin raised his head after finishing his thinking, and was almost frightened to the point of falling down - the cardinal actually turned around and looked at the two of them! This made him a little overwhelmed, and subconsciously wanted to pull Vanya into the church quickly.
The cardinal paused with the scepter in his hand, and a layer of water film instantly appeared at the side door. Austin ran into it, as if he had hit a thick ice wall.
"My child, what is your name?" the cardinal asked. He narrowed his eyes slightly, with a smile on his lips, like a simple country old man
Austin woke up, clicked his heels, stood up straight and saluted: "Report!"
Austin didn't say the next words, because he suddenly remembered that he should kneel down on one knee when meeting people in the Holy See who have a higher status than himself.
Next to her, Vanya was very smart. She quickly knelt down on one knee, pulled Austin down smoothly, and said: "Poseidon is above, and the waves are blessing you. I am Vanya, he is Austin, and we are the Royal Navy of Fleming Port." The newly promoted major comes to be baptized in compliance with the Pope's decree."
"Poseidon is above, and the waves are blessing you." The cardinal made a wave-like movement with his right hand and said slowly, "Get up, Paco has something to do and can't get away. This time I will preside over the baptism ceremony. You can call me Meledo. bishop."
Austin and Vanya were stunned for a moment - the cardinal actually presided over the baptism ceremony in person?
This is not without precedent, but the last school-level officer whose baptism ceremony was presided over by a cardinal was a legendary figure in the Kingdom of Meletni. The man who led less than a thousand remnants of the army in a surprise attack during the war with the Orista Empire in 1642 of the New Calendar Colonel Truth, who broke through the enemy's logistics hub and thus reversed the defeat - he was only a captain during the war. After that battle, he was quickly promoted to colonel and was baptized by the then Cardinal of Lancaster.
Later, Colonel Truss rose through the ranks and finally took the position of Prime Minister of the country. He vacated the king and monopolized military and political power. He was not overthrown by the royalists until 1671 of the New Calendar. Of course, these are all things for later, so much to say. Just goes to show how awesome a school grade officer is who can get a Cardinal to perform a baptismal ceremony.
In the 256 years since then, no one has received this honor.
Austin kept kneeling on one knee, raised his head and looked into Bishop Meledo's eyes in disbelief. First of all, neither he nor Vanya was as ruthless as Truth, nor did they have such achievements. Secondly, he still hit him. A "sinner" who lost the war and brought huge losses to the country.
"Of course there are reasons why the church does this. It's not convenient to talk outside, so you can come in with me and talk." Bishop Meledo's narrowed eyes were like eternally frozen ice crevices, with a cold abyss hidden inside.
"It seems that my transfer order may also be related to the church. The church attaches great importance to me or the favored person I met." Austin quickly figured out the key and expressed part of his speculation.
Vanya also nodded thoughtfully, and then said seriously: "Think about it, it's wrong. I have no interaction with the church or the God's Favored Ones. Am I just incidentally?"
Austin carefully recalled Bishop Meledo's words, and then nodded seriously: "Maybe it's just incidental."
"By the way, are you cursing me for 'glorious sacrifice'?" Vanya cried sadly.
The side door of the church is only decorated with sculptures on the porch, and the door panel is extremely smooth and a little plain, but once you enter, you will find yourself in a different world.
The decoration of Poseidon Church is generally a combination of dark blue background and gold decoration. The decorations are mostly marine style elements such as octopus tentacles, waves, harpoons, anchors, etc. Except for the rooms used for prayer and mass, there are few Poseidon emblems and The statue exists. The decorations and carvings are all made of pure gold or plated with gold, and the dark blue part is taken from the skin of the sea monster. It can be said that the most luxurious church in the world besides the Church of the God of Commerce is the Church of Poseidon.
After Austin and others entered from the side door, they came to a straight corridor. On both sides of the corridor were prayer rooms for bishops or priests. Corresponding numbers were painted on the door panels. There was a golden wave-shaped base on the left side of each door. It is a magical crystal that can emit light. The wall is still the traditional dark blue, but under the light you can see the murals painted in a darker color.
Bishop Meledo was standing in front of the second door, waiting for the two of them. When he saw the two of them coming in, he opened the door first and walked in.
Austin and Vanya stood at the door and took a deep breath at the same time, with the former taking the lead and pushing the door open.
Inside the door is a prayer room of about 20 square meters. There is a sunken shrine on the wall facing the door, in which stands a statue of Poseidon with an octopus head and human body. The decoration of the surrounding walls is similar to that of the corridor walls, except that the dark murals are clearer. There are three cushions under the crystal chandelier. Bishop Meledo is kneeling on the front cushion facing the statue.
"Poseidon is above, and the waves are blessing you." Austin followed Vanya's example and made a wave-like movement with his right hand, then knelt down on the soft cushion.
What followed was an uncomfortable silence.
Sitting on your knees can easily make one's legs sore, but because Bishop Meledo remained speechless, the two of them gritted their teeth and persisted. Austin was okay. There were many positions that were more uncomfortable than this in his Army career, but Vanya had no such experience. Austin could hear the sound of her teeth gritting from the side.
"Close your eyes, calm down your mind, and carefully perceive the surrounding environment." Bishop Meledo finally spoke.
The two of them quickly took a deep breath, tried their best to ignore the discomfort in their legs, closed their eyes and tried their best to sense their surroundings.
Not everyone can become a favored one after baptism. In thousands of years of practice, major churches have generally summarized a set of rituals with a high success rate, but there is no way to avoid the rigid requirements, such as In this first step of perception, if you can't even perceive the surrounding things in front of the statue of the god, there will be no need to continue the subsequent rituals, and this person will definitely not be able to become a favored one by the gods.
Austin opened his eyes again. There was no gorgeously decorated prayer room around him, and there was no Bishop Vanya or Meledo. There was only the endless dark blue water as far as the eye could see, as if he was in the deep sea at the moment.
The feeling in his body gradually became clearer, and Austin swam forward with ease, where there was the only light in the dark blue.
It was a "man" who was chained to an anchor. He had a layer of fine scales all over his body. The fingers at the end of his limbs were of the same length and were webbed. He had no normal facial features, only five eyes arranged diagonally. , where the ears should have been are covered with tiny tentacles.
At this time, one of his middle eyes opened and looked at Austin swimming over.
"The oracle is completed and you are rewarded." After Austin got closer, a cold and ruthless voice came from the strange creature's cavity, accompanied by a string of tiny bubbles that came from nowhere.
Austin swam over and grabbed the biggest one. The bubble exploded after contact with the finger, releasing a weak fluorescence that enveloped Austin's body, and then quickly annihilated. The surrounding ink blue took over again, leaving only the faint light from one eye of the strange creature.
It is said that after becoming a favored person by God, you can sense the call of the god at a specific moment and go to his divine kingdom. After completing the oracle, you can get the god's reward to improve your strength.
Austin can testify that this is absolutely true, because after he met the ship in the shipwreck two years ago, he became a favored one by God and came to this "God's Kingdom" from time to time. Within two years, , he has completed 25 oracles and received 25 rewards from the gods.
But he was not happy.
Austin looked at his god, the strange, restrained humanoid "creature."
His appearance has no resemblance to the seven gods that exist in the world today, and according to the information Austin has reviewed in the past two years, there was no such god in ancient times.
His divine kingdom is also extremely weird. It is not as brilliant as other gods recorded in religious classics, and the surrounding environment is terrifying. The god himself is also bound, which looks very abnormal.
The oracles issued by this god are not normal, ranging from simple ones, such as two hours of sunbathing on the beach, to difficult ones, such as sneaking into the prayer room of Poseidon Church this time. The oracle is outrageous and the reward is not much better. If someone favored by other gods hadn't acquired some extraordinary abilities, such as controlling water flow, communicating with fish schools, etc., or if he hadn't acquired some extremely powerful artifacts, only he would have acquired the ability to lose skin in the sun, water, etc. The ability to open your eyes without pain and so on, which seems useless, is actually useless.
Generally, gods with the above characteristics have a collective name in ancient and modern classics - evil gods.
What's even worse is that when receiving a gift from a god, the favored person will also inherit a negative trait from the god. The average favored person can complete at most four or five oracles in his life, so this is not a big problem, but Austin has now completed it. 25 times, if I continue, I am afraid that sooner or later I will go crazy. As for refusing to complete or procrastinating to complete, whether it is the evil god or the righteous god will impose divine punishment, Austin does not want to die yet.
But these are not important for the time being. The most important thing at the moment is that if this transfer order is related to the church, it is likely that the church has noticed this evil god and his favored person Austin. Maybe one day he will be labeled as a heretic and used as firewood. went.
Austin originally wanted to take the opportunity of this baptism to see if he could change his ways, but as soon as he closed his eyes, he entered the "Kingdom of God" and had no chance to continue. Instead, he now had to find a way to hide himself in front of the Cardinal. He was already a favored one by God, but he didn't know how to pretend. He could only pray to the evil god in front of him for some strength.
In the real world, Bishop Meledo walked behind the two of them. He had just completed the last step he should take. Whether he could become a favored one basically depends on the talent and luck of the person involved.
He kept his eyes on Austin, for fear of missing any detail.
There was a faint fluorescent glow around their bodies, and two faint thin lines were snaking out from the Poseidon statue, seemingly trying to connect to Austin and Vanya.
The thin line slowly but firmly completed the connection, the statue emitted fluorescence, and then gradually returned to normal.
The ceremony was successfully completed, and Vanya and Austin became the followers of Poseidon under the witness of Cardinal Meledo.
