When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#341 - The Promised Paradise Island

In what was once the largest brothel in Jeanne d'Arc, now converted into a theater, nearly a hundred people sat watching the play.

They included both city artisans and laborers and farmers, distinctly separated on either side, whispering and discussing as they gazed at the red curtain on the stage.

Horn, sitting in the front row, was also in discussion with Bussac. After Armand went to Cascia County for further study, he sent the latest news from the Empire to Jeanne d'Arc for the first time.

“The civil war in the Kingdom of Laye officially began three weeks ago. Duke Luel, in the name of avenging Inberra, officially launched a war for the succession to the throne. His brother, Duke Niedbach, formed an alliance with Duke Luel…

Currently, Prince Condé is still attacking Upper Reaver County. He has publicly written to the Holy See stating that he has no ambition for the throne and only wants to maintain an armed force to resist heretics and foreign enemies…”

“What is the Holy See’s reaction?” Horn interrupted Armand’s recitation, asking him.

Bussac rubbed his temples: “According to the news Armand sent back from Cascia County, it’s still a situation of sede vacante.”

The so-called sede vacante is similar to the Empire's, where everyone believes they are the one qualified to be Pope.

The papal election conclave had concluded, and a Laye bishop, the Archbishop of Windmill Land, Prianus of Eagle Corner Bay, was successfully elected as Pope.

This was supposed to be a settled matter, but the outrageous point is that the election was quite problematic.

According to ancient laws, the election of the Pope should require an absolute majority vote of the cardinals, that is, more than two-thirds of the votes.

But the problem is that the old Pope’s will before his death stated—

If he died, in order to quickly respond to the crisis of the Empire, the cardinals of the Holy See should immediately elect, and only a simple majority (more than one-half) of the votes is needed.

The final result was that this unknown Prianus was elected Pope by a single vote.

But the biggest problem is that if the vote was held before the Pope died, it should at least be a tie, not a one-vote difference.

Because the Pope’s will promoted a young bishop beside him, Shelley, to be a cardinal.

This led to the Laye bishops, who were originally at a slight disadvantage, leading by exactly one vote, pushing their favorite candidate to the papal throne.

For the Laye bishops, naturally, it was very good, but for Grandiva, the favorite to win the position, it was—

John VIII, you devil, you don’t have martial ethics, ambushing an old comrade of forty-nine years old!

Grandiva, who had already lent a Pope and accepted gifts, was furious. There were still seven or eight Frankish cardinals in the Kingdom of Francia during the election!

If the normal election procedure had been followed, waiting for these seven or eight cardinals to arrive before the election, it would have been impossible for Prianus to be easily elected.

Without other Frankish cardinals present, and with only a simple majority, why did you elect him as Pope?

So, in the eyes of Grandiva and some Franks, he is an illegitimate Pope, a fake Pope.

Grandiva immediately demanded a re-election, but his request was vetoed by the “new” Pope.

“So Grandiva is expected to declare himself Pope?” Horn exclaimed as if hearing a heavenly book.

“Not expected, but already preparing.” Bussac said with a bitter face, “According to the news passed down by the monastic system, Grandiva is expected to announce a re-election of the Pope at the end of June.

In fact, all Frankish bishops and some Elvish bishops in the Holy See have returned to Francia.

They will quickly elect a Pope in the Frankish capital, just like the old Pope did, with a simple majority principle.

I am even sure that Grandiva's election as Pope will be unprecedentedly unanimous.”

“Unilaterally declaring himself Pope, tsk tsk, that’s too degrading.” Horn shook his head in disgust, as if forgetting how he became Pope in the first place.

In that case, wouldn’t there be a strange sight in the Empire in July—three Popes in one Empire?

Shaking his head, Horn put this strange idea behind him. He was about to speak when he heard the clear sound of a lute.

“We’ll talk about the specifics later, let’s watch the play first.”

As the curtain slowly opened, Horn relaxed his body and immersed all his mind in the play.

This play was the solution that Jeanne had mentioned earlier.

Before, in Black Pottery Town, the Brothers of the Holy Father had complained that it was difficult to do land redistribution and the Great Inquisition.

The suffering of many villagers really matched their perception, and the always-effective grievance meetings only had two or three-tenths of their original effect.

Horn had to admit that these nobles and churches did have some skill in training the people with supernatural powers.

But it doesn't matter, the contradictions exist, they are just covered up and cannot be ignored as if they don't exist.

Just like landlords living in good houses and eating delicious food won't make the farmers break down, but landlords feeding white steamed buns to dogs will make the farmers break down.

As long as you start with their lives, little by little, they will definitely wake up.

The method Horn came up with was a play.

Different from the complex operas appreciated by the nobles, the plays Horn created were quite simple.

Spoken in vernacular, sung in vernacular, using folk tunes for accompaniment, and having wandering poets sing the narration, striving to be easy to understand and close to life.

Horn gave this task to Grampin. First, he was a witness, and second, he came from a circus troupe, so he must have some talent for drama.

So Horn, Grampin, and a group of wandering poets began to brainstorm.

In the end, based on the deeds of the Blue Blood Monastery and the Nameless Monk, they wrote the first play in the history of the Empire—'The Promised Heavenly Island'.

For the sake of dramatic effect, they did not completely copy the original story, but made many adaptations.

For example, the Nameless Monk stayed in the monastery for more than ten years, while in the play it was only one year.

For example, the location of the monastery was placed in a rural village, and a clownish knight was added to make it easier for the farmers to relate to.

This play has five acts and uses the sentimental ending of 'happy beginning and sad ending' that the 'masses' love most.

This stuff, which many people in Horn's hometown were sick of watching, was incredibly novel in this world.

The five-act play is tightly structured. The first three acts are comedies, telling the story of a thief pretending to be a Nameless Monk trying to steal the secret recipe for wine.

It tells how he used his wits to fight the bishop and the knight, how he searched for the secret recipe, and created a lot of jokes.

The underlying theme is that the Nameless Monk gradually fell in love with these innocent orphans.

The fourth act is when the Nameless Monk discovers clues with the help of a clever and kind farmer, and discovers the truth at the end of this act.

The fifth act is the final ending. The Nameless Monk chooses to save the children and dies with the bishop.

But most of the children were caught back by the church, cruelly killed, and only the little girl Tess survived and met the Salvation Army as the ending.

For this reason, Horn also plagiarized many famous sayings from his hometown to add color to it.

For example, at this moment on the stage, the little girl Tess asks, holding the arm of the Nameless Monk, “Is life always so painful? Or is it only like this when you are a child?”

Anyway, Horn basically sewed in any famous sayings that were suitable.

As the Nameless Monk finally makes his decision and says, “To steal or to resist, that is the question,” the whole play is nearing its end.

Many of the citizens and villagers present couldn't help but cry, and more people were holding the armrests of their chairs tightly, as if they were about to rush up and save people in the next second.

Horn, who had rehearsed countless times, did not cry. He watched the scene on the stage as if he had returned to that winter.

I wonder what it will be like when this play is performed in the countryside?