The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 86: Old Man
After the first day, voting for the Pope election will be divided into two rounds each day, morning and afternoon.

Because each vote and vote counting was extremely time-consuming, the bishops and cardinals had little time to return to their rooms to rest throughout the day. They stayed in the church hall, watching the cardinals who were selected to count the votes doing useless work again and again, and watching the black smoke rising from the fireplace again and again, repeatedly conveying the message of failure to the outside world.

In the last round of voting, the Saint was drawn.

Voting is sacred, but going up to count the votes is purely physical work. Without any hesitation, she woke up Eric who was lying next to her.

"You are the only person in hundreds of years who dared to sleep during the voting period of the secret meeting." The saint threatened him while poking him with her cane, urging him to come forward. "If there is no result, I will burn you and the ballot together."

Although he saw an old man lying in the corner, Eric didn't dare to be stubborn.

After a day of voting, there was still no result and the situation was unclear. The old lady became visibly annoyed. The ancient system really worked.

Arriving in front of the ballot box, Eric first saluted the bishops and cardinals around him.

There's no way around it. He's the youngest here, both in age and seniority.

The other two cardinals who were in charge of counting the votes also came up quickly. Fortunately, they were not very old and their movements were quite agile. After some courtesy, they began to count the votes.

"Scott." "Scott."

Eric took the ballot from the two men, glanced at it, and called out, "Scott."

This person seems to be Archbishop Dorne...

"Scott."

The next ballot is still Scott.

With each round of voting, the votes became more and more concentrated, and situations like Cardinal Chesterton, who didn't even understand why he was voted in, basically disappeared.

However, the votes among the four main candidates were very close, and the order of votes occasionally changed, but no one could get more than half of the votes, let alone more than two-thirds of the votes.

The same was true for the final vote today.

Cardinal Tobias led with a slight advantage and became the person with the most votes, but there was not much joy on his face, but more fatigue.

Keep on torturing me, keep on torturing me. After another day or two, someone will be unable to bear it and will start to consider compromising and giving in, Eric thought.

He moved the now-spoiled ballot to the fireplace, grabbed a handful of black powder, and snapped his fingers to ignite it.

A small, bright flame covered it, quickly lighting up the ballot and igniting a more real flame.

The black powder mixed in it quickly turned into billowing smoke and poured into the chimney.

"Eric—"

The saint was calling him to help her go back and rest. If he was slow, the chief cardinal might stop him and ask him to distribute bread to the old men.

When Eric came out again, the dinner basket was on the table, with about half the bread still inside.

The food will gradually decrease, and there will be less wine with dinner today than yesterday.

After giving the Saint's share to her, Eric went back to his room to rest. He knew that many people would still come to the Saint to canvass for votes tonight.

He now didn't know which side the saint was leaning towards.

He watched the voting during the day, and found that the Saint Maiden voted for four different people in each of the four votes. It was extremely chaotic.

——You can’t accept gifts from all four families and then cast a vote each as a token of your appreciation, right?

But this has no practical significance. The saint only has one vote and cannot decide anything. What each party values ​​is the choice she reveals to the cardinals who are watching her attitude.

Who will win and who will compromise? Another sleepless night passed as all the bishops and cardinals speculated.

By the third day, Eric found that his breakfast had been greatly reduced, and all he got was a loaf of bread that was not even as big as his palm.

The elderly actually don’t eat much, so they don’t feel anything at the moment, but he, a big guy, may be the first person in the whole church to feel hungry.

"Not eaten enough?" The Saint glanced at him, "I asked you to hide some bread yesterday."

Eric wasn't that hungry, "Then others won't have anything to eat."

The Saint disagreed, "Don't worry, there are many people who can't eat it."

At nine o'clock in the morning, a new round of voting began, and the results were almost the same as the last vote of the previous day. Cardinal Tobias was still the leader.

The two consecutive rounds of lead, although slight, seemed like some kind of sign, making his face look much better.

By the second round of voting at noon, Tobias was at the bottom - of course, last among the four main candidates.

As soon as the result came out, the old man looked like he was about to die, with his eyes staring blankly. He didn't say a word for a long time until he was pushed by another cardinal next to him, and then he yelled out in a panic.

"He's no longer good." The Saintess privately eliminated Tobias. "It's only the third day."

The listless guy next to him didn't say anything and was waiting for lunch.

The afternoon vote continued the fruitless election, but the Saint asserted that tomorrow, or at the latest the day after, we would witness the birth of a new Pope. On the third night, the cardinals in the church were unusually active.

Eric could clearly hear the footsteps coming and going outside the room, which only became sparse around midnight.

On the fourth day, when the final round of voting ended in the afternoon, Eric couldn't help but become irritated.

Just as the saint had predicted, Tobias was no match for him today, but there were still three competitors left, and the Pope had not yet been elected.

If he eliminated one person a day, he would have to suffer here for another two days!
After spending four days with these old men, he felt like he had become an old man.

He wanted a sweet and soft nun...

But a heavy, old bone suddenly stumbled and bumped into him, interrupting his fantasy, and Eric had to support the person.

You are already so old, is it interesting to fight for the Pope?

"You're already this old, what's the point of fighting for the Pope position?" The old man was still trying to squeeze the other old man, "Go south and continue to be the archbishop, where wouldn't it be more comfortable than suffering from cold and hunger here?"

"Do you think I want to starve and freeze here?"

Eric lowered his head and squeezed through the two old men who were spitting at each other, took two loaves of bread, lowered his head and squeezed back, and gave one of the loaves to the saint.

Today's dinner was just a dry little bread, without any jam or meat floss. Even the saint who didn't have many requirements for food frowned.

Eric broke his bread and gave her half.

The Saint looked at him for a while and shook her head. "Good boy... Tell me why we are stirring up this mess."

“Once you give up your power, someone else will take it away from you,” Eric replied using her words.

The saint laughed, sighed, and then returned his half of the bread to him.

"If you stay hungry for another night, you'll know the result tomorrow."

I hope so, Eric ate ​​a piece of bread in one bite.

On the fifth day of the conclave, the first round of voting focused on the two archbishops.

The second round of voting showed no change in the results.

It was not until the third round of voting in the afternoon that one of them gained a significant lead, but still did not reach a majority of more than two-thirds.

But everyone breathed a sigh of relief: the final result of this long election will be decided in the fourth round of voting.

At 5 pm, the final round of voting began.

The saint took the quill, dipped it in ink, and was about to write the name of the almost inevitable future Pope, when she suddenly remembered something, felt around, and found the note Eric had given her on the first day.

Before opening it, the old man glanced at the heir who had been lying next to him for half the afternoon and couldn't help shaking his head.

She was talking about conserving her energy. She didn't even complain of being hungry, so how could she starve him to death?
The saint remembered the last time he sent her a greeting note, which was at the turn of spring and summer last year, and it gave her quite a fright.

And this time...

The saint slowly opened the note in her hand.

Winner: Archbishop Alberto Guradia

Title: Clement XI

Hey, still scared.

Even the title was written on it.

God...you have indeed sent me a messenger who can foresee the future.

The saint closed her eyes and prayed silently, then picked up the quill again and wrote the name on the note, which was also her original intention, onto the paper.

Vote and count the votes.

Before the final result came out, Eric was awakened by the saint's elbow, and they witnessed together how Archbishop Alberto of Gradia won almost all the votes and became the undisputed winner.

Some were relieved, others were reluctant, but all the exhausted bishops and cardinals applauded and celebrated this hard-earned result.

The Chief Cardinal confirmed his intention to be elected to the elected person, and the answer was naturally beyond doubt.

Then, the Chief Cardinal asked the new Pope whether his title should be named after a predecessor or his own name.

“My predecessors have shown me the way forward,” said the new Pope.

Eric yawned.

In early 729 AD, Archbishop Alberto of Culterra was elected as the new Pope, taking the title of Clement and being called Clement XI.

(End of this chapter)