Age of Adventure

She sighed as she returns to her room and wear her ceremonial robe. Today, she would meet Alex again. Only in front of an audience, Arianna would say The Holiness

But when they were alone with each other, Arianna would call the Pope his real name which is Alex.

Her servants quickly help her change her clothes and when she is finished she went down.

She took her breakfast and then went to the front gate where the carriage is already waiting for her.

The journey to the Apostolic Palace would take some time from her residence. After that night massacre, there is a new place where the Pope held his office

It is more secured and grander than the last one

Inside the carriage, she closed her eyes. She had not had a good sleep for the past couple of months.

Sometimes she would look outside the carriage windows and saw the vibrant city life and smile. Other time, she would sigh as she thinks of the problem that is plaguing the holy Zun Empire. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Trade had gradually rose on the seas since the battle between Vanheim and Veranis which cut off merchant’s route on lands.

Since there is a lot of river that could connect to the sea, a lot of merchant uses this sea route to travel toward the other side of the continent.

Merchants did not have such strong attachment to the affiliation of their place of birth instead they chased money and wealth

The Vilajeri Continent is quite unique in that even though they were of one continent, the usage of ship is quite popular.

It is faster than land transportation because the wind around the shores of the beaches of Vilajeri Continent is very strong. But the strong wind did not lead to violent winds that would wreck a ship

People would say Poseidon blessed the winds of the Vilajeri Continents.

The Church used to have four great regions in its territory. It is the fallen Vanan kingdom, the Pruvar Republic, Zun Kingdom and Nero Republic.

When it was conquered by Ariana, the region respectively was called Vanan region, Pruvar region, Zun region and Nerothian region

Arleans is inside the Zun region and inside the Zun region there is two cities that have become a major trading places which is Pisa and Genoa which is around the region where Temple of Zeus is once situated in.

On the Vanan region there is also one city that have also become a major trading hub which is Venicia.

It is a small city connected to the mainland of Vanan region through a sea crossing. This had aided the prosperity of the current Holy Zun Empire.

It also helps that Veva and the other kingdoms of the west did not do anything and all were conserving their powers.

King Zeus of Veva had changed, becoming more cautious in his actions and Alfhaim is beginning taking a hostile action toward the soldiers of Holy Zun Empire that they met.

Nero Republic had fortified their walls and is always ready to meet Holy Zun soldiers after being sponsored by Vanheim.

There were many changes that had happened but other than the Antipope that threaten to split the church in to two, the other change was that the imperial power had increased and the diatribes over power between the Holy See and the Emperor of the Holy Zun Empire began

Unlike the Bishops and the priest and the ecclesial official that she could punish and judge with her sword, the Emperor during the absence of the Pope and her had reign over an Empire that was suffering from rebellion, rising it back up and usurp most of the Churches power and increase imperial authority almost without limit.

Now, that Emperor sitting on the Imperial Throne is not so easy to kill. If she killed the Emperor, no holy titles that the Pope would give her that could save her life from being hunted or executed.

And considering that this time, if she dies, she would truly die, she did not want to risk her life to know where the bottom line of the Emperor truly was

While Vanheim is in war, their economic power that have been conserved still is stable. But it is also because of the war that many parts of the region of Holy Zun Empire is experiencing good economic growth.

Trade routes, on both land and sea, linked Holy Zun ports to the merchant league of Veva and other trade networks in the continent.

Merchants did not care whether they were trading with churchmen or pagan worshipers. If anything, money is their god.

The other things that worries Ariana was that during the time of her reign and the Pope they had promoted unity above all else.

But after the breaking off Nero Republic from the Empire, the city states grew in power.

Venicia, Pisa and Genoa is there of the strongest and wealthiest city states in the Holy Zun Empire.

They expanded their definition of a city during the time of chaos after the adventurers disappeared from the world.

Some of the grew to the point that could become fully independent from the Holy Zun Empire.

The only reason that the did not do so and establish their own dynasty is probably because of her return and the Pope returns.

The Emperor might not have care about the growing power of these states and might even encouraged it so that the Church had to expend more powers to deal with it.

These city states and the Emperor both seems to be in a cooperative relationship

The current Emperor is a puppet Emperor and what he wanted is probably different from what the Church wanted.

Many believe that the Holy Zun Empire is an empire like United Kingdom of Veva which is based on aristocracy. But Holy Zun Empire was actually a theocracy.

It is a kingdom of God under the closest person to God.

But that is slowly changing. Half a year ago, Ariana had toured the countryside of Pisa and Genoa.

She could see new infrastructures and commerce methods that had been developed there and every once in a while she could see Bank of Vanheim and exchange markets.

Things had changed for the better on some parts.

Peasants were no longer as poor as when she had first encountered them.

The trade of slaves was banned and outlawed by the Church and most peasant nowadays would move to the city instead of clustering together their peasant population and become a village

She sighed thinking of all of this matter. She then once again looks outside and she could see the Apostolic Palace and she smiles

She did not know how Alex would cope inside the Holy Palace. There is also the tall towering bastion that loomed ahead

All around the Apostolic Palace there is guards and it is highly secured. In fact, it is even more fortified than the Imperial Palace.

The Apostolic Palace. It is the official residence of the Pope. It is northeast of St Alex Basilica and next to the Bastion of the Saints and the Old Palace of Konstantonius, the founder of the Zun kingdom.

It is also referred to as the Holy Palace, the Sacred Palace and the Papal Palace.

This huge mega structure could not have been completed easily without the help of adventurers’ builders and magicians and mages that helps quickly created this Palace.

If they rely on the expertise and abilities of the people of the native world, it might take years before it is completed

Because most powerful native people would not degrade themselves in doing labor work but for the adventurers it is nothing.

It is even safer than going to war. This mega structure is a complex building comprises of several Papal Apartments, some of the Church government officers, the Holy Papal Library and a number of both private and public church, chapels among other buildings.

There is over one thousand room within the Palace itself.

The palace houses offices of different functions including administrative offices that are not necessarily related to the Pope’s duties.

it is not merely the pope’s residence. It is also used for other administrative functions of the Holy See.

Ariana probably would also visit the gardens and the fishponds later after finished talking with Alex.

She enters the Apostolic Palace.

When her carriage stops in front of the arc entrance leading to the Pope Office, the guard was about to check the carriage and ready to inspect it with extreme vigilance.

After the many attempts by many factions trying to kill the Pope the guards around the Apostolic Palace is very paranoid about letting someone in.

The guard was young but before the guard even take a few steps toward the carriage, one of the older guards stopped the young guard by grabbing his hand.

The old guard made a gesture to the young guard to look carefully at the carriage.

The young guard once again look at the carriage and when the curtain of the wind of the carriage was opened slightly the young guard could see someone inside it and seeing that face the guard gulped in fear and take a step backward

He saw the face of the Holy Maiden. Arianna also saw the young guard and she smiles and nodded at the old guard.

The Holy Maiden is now entering the Apostolic Palace and white pigeons flew all over the holy city announcing this matter to all the high ranking bishop in the city.

It has been a week since Ariana had set foot into the Apostolic Palace. And this time, the Pope himself had summoned the Holy Maiden.

Everyone believe that something big is going to happen today