An Arcanist's Citadel 15

An Arcanist’s Citadel

Chapter 15

-VB-

I am actually happy about how my interaction with the Ordamunth agents ended. 

For one, I now had books I could learn new things from. It was obvious to me that they were not prepared for this kind of exchange, but what I did have also told me that they weren’t unfamiliar with larger spiritual threats, if the mention about giants was true. 

They also learned from this interaction that, despite my power, I was not some sort of a slumbering planetary god ready to end any and all life that opposes me or some sort of corny shit like that. 

No, I was very happy to be left alone, and would even cooperate, which was also relayed indirectly by how I readily accepted the offer to talk with the Catholic vicar. 

Speaking of whom, I had tried to do my research on the man through the internet, and I found a few things but not enough for me to have a gauge of the man. 

Vicar Emiliano was one of the Roman Catholic Church’s most fervent supporters of the Exorcisa Militant and other paramilitary projects. He came out multiple times in public to decry the entire project that was the Systems Alliance as being “too bureaucratic and disconnected from the wider human sphere.” He wasn’t exactly wrong about that, but he also underplayed the causes of that disconnect. As far as I saw (and heard from Hidemasa), the Systems Alliance suffered the same problem that most decentralized governments suffered from: a lack of funding. 

Due to the more forward looking and limiting laws of the Systems Alliance, the SA could not borrow money that exceeded 15% of its budget. So if it borrowed that much in the previous financial year, then it could not borrow any more money this year, regardless of the actual need. Emergencies were different, of course. But this limitation of budget (which had to be agreed by a supermajority of the parliament of Systems Alliance which drew its members from all of the members of the Alliance) prevented them from keeping up with the actual expansion of the human sphere, both literally and metaphorically.

Vicar Emiliano should know this but he chose to ignore it in favor of criticizing them for something SA could not easily fix. This made him something of a demagogue as far as I was concerned. Of course, just because the man was a demagogue of a sort didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to meet him when he’s taken the time to, essentially, set up an appointment with me. 

He was also a “vicar.” A vicar was traditionally a role within Catholicism reserved for “representatives.” It wasn’t exactly a titled position like a priest, bishop, archbishop, or cardinals. Traditionally, that was. In this day and age, a vicar was a priest or a bishop who was not working intimately within the Roman Catholic Church’s traditional boundaries. Rather, they were individuals who were still representatives of the RCC but operating in a different capacity. And Vicar Emiliano was a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in charge of the Exorcisa Militant. One could say that he was directly under the pope in that regard. 

So I should refer to him as a bishop as that was his actual title.

But whenever he was mentioned, he was always referred to as “vicar.”

He was also a private person, but wasn’t shy by any means. He hated the mass media with a passion, but praised them without holding back when they did what he considered “good and righteous” like reporting on corrupt politicians, elevating individuals who’d done good work for their community, and so on. 

One could almost say that he was one of the faces of the Roman Catholic Church that human society knew a lot about. 

And as powerful as I was, I didn’t want to upset the Roman Catholic Church unnecessarily. They could make my life hard in more ways than one that didn’t involve violence. 

Instead of meeting at my house, though, we met at the city hall. 

I waited inside the meeting room, waiting for the man to show up. 

And he did. 

The doors of the meeting room opened.

My eyes widened when I found myself looking at the papal swiss guards. I sat up a little straighter and then stood up when the vicar walked in. 

To my surprise, I didn’t find myself looking at a decrepitly old man but someone who hadn’t even left the middle ages yet. He stood tall with wide shoulders, and a sculpted blank face. I walked over to him… but didn’t go up to him all the way. Aside from the face that his swiss guards looked tense at my approach, I wasn’t about to make myself appear like I was elated and begging for his attention.

So I stood off to the middle of the meeting table, waiting for him to approach the rest of the way. 

His eyes flashed as if he he instantly understood what I was doing and nonchalantly walked over to me. 

I struck a hand out and he shook it. 

“So you are Alan Marris,” he said as he pulled his hand back. 

“I am. And you are Vicar Emiliano.”

“I am, but call me Jose. It’s more fitting for a meeting like this.”

“Only if you call me Alan.”

We smiled. 

But what exactly was a “meeting like this” about?

I nodded anyway and walked back to my seat and sat without any more words. He walked over to his side of the table and sat down. I noticed then that Major Kim was among the guards along with a squad of his own exorcists, and they deployed themselves in the rear along with the swiss guards. 

“So,” I began. “What brings you to see me, Jose?”

“What else?” he asked with a smile. “I’d like to hire you.”

I blinked. 

“... Hire me.”

“Yes,” he replied. “What would it take for you to teach the Exorcisia Militant?”