Chapter 246: Scene in Galilianin (1)*
New chapter of The Demon King is out! (1/2 chapters)
In a grand office of the government building, Fritz Roni, the Vice President of the Galilia Union, gazed out the window. The wind carried a faint salty scent of the Black Sea, slightly different from the western great sea. From a makeshift shoreline, small fishing boats were rowing out, and Fritz could see fishermen hoisting their vertical sails. At the port, an unfamiliar ship with conspicuous red sails was anchored.
Galilianin was once known as Shantinion. In ancient times, it was the capital of a great nation inhabited solely by a Long-Eared race. The historical image of Shantinion varies. Some said it was a barbaric land full of shacks, while scholars who could read ancient texts describe it as a grand metropolis rivaling Vaticans.
No buildings from Shantinion’s era remain in Galilianin, so the truth was unknown. However, the foundations were still there. Engineers from the Shantilla Empire favored large, sturdy cut stones for the bases of their massive structures. These foundations were difficult to destroy, and it still existed throughout the city. It was still being used even now. The precision of their construction, with stones so perfectly aligned that not even a sheet of paper could fit between them, suggested that Shantinion was not merely a sprawling city of shacks.
The current government building where Fritz works utilized a foundation from the Shantilla Great Empire’s era. After the Great Empire’s fall, Galilianin became a northern frontier of the Papal States. A grand cathedral was erected on the castle ruins in the city’s center to serve as a missionary hub for the northern regions. This new district soon established a metropolitan archbishop’s seat, and the significant relic, the Holy Jaw of Orta, was brought from Vaticans to serve as the center of faith.
Three centuries later, dissatisfaction with the homeland grew in these early Crusader-established colonies, fostering a spirit of independence. When the Governor of Galilianin led a rebellion, the initial colonial cities united were under the flag of the Galilia Union and they became independent. Naturally, the homeland responded with fury and raised an army. However, the Kururuan Straits were closed, and the land routes were sabotaged. So, the punitive force never reached Galilianin. Still seething, the Papal States withdrew their clergy, declaring any priest performing sacraments or preaching in the Galilia Union heretical. Consequently, the Lulu Great Cathedral was abandoned, and the Holy Jaw of Orta was taken away.
Now, the government building Fritz occupied was the renovated Lulu Cathedral. Its cruciform main hall was now the grand chamber where the Galilia Union held its assembly meetings. Despite the normalization of diplomatic relations with the Papal States, they never reinstated a bishop’s seat in this city. The Galilia Union’s rebellion happened over six centuries ago, so it was not a matter of lingering resentment but likely a continued display of stance. Currently, the massive diocese encompassing the Galilia Union and the city-state regions had no archbishop. The episcopal seat in the Papal States’ colonial city of Gerizim oversaw the entire diocese.
In a building with foundations laid by the Shantilla Great Empire, its structures built by the Papal States, and renovations done by the Galilia Union, Fritz Roni was now waiting for a messenger from the Papal States who had arrived on a ship with red sails.
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