The evening bells rang out over Naberius City, their tolls echoing through the empty dusk. The setting sun spilled through the fiery clouds, casting the domes of Floating Gold Palace in an orange-red glow.
Rows of Golden Armored Guards stood in formation along the slope outside the palace walls, changing shifts. From afar came the orderly shouts of the Trumpet Knights, the clamor passing over the copper-tinted treetops and even reaching the inner court. At Winter Solstice Palace, Pope Petian III hurriedly finished dinner—a half roast lamb cooked to perfection, a Silver Sea Mackerel, and delicate pastries, all served on snow-white porcelain plates. The meat dishes had been seasoned with basil leaves and the leaves of Saint Osore's snow trees, then covered in sauce and black pepper. The meat was tender and fragrant, but the diner himself had no appetite. After tasting a little, he set down his silver knife and fork, wiped his lips with an embroidered handkerchief, and only then ordered his attendants to arrange a carriage to Emerald Gold Sacred Hall.
The Fanzan religious authority was unified. Although nobles still quarreled with the temple in private over unequal distributions of benefits, both the secular crown and the Sacred Scepter were held by one person when power was traced upward from the secular world. For that reason, the pope was usually not chosen by heredity, but selected from among the eight Cardinal Bishops. After abdicating, the previous pope would be given a saintly title and live in Emerald Gold Sacred Hall, taking no part in secular affairs while remaining the spiritual leader of the Templar Church. Thus, over the course of a thousand years, even this nominal position had accumulated immense power. To this day, although His Holiness the current pope could issue unilateral holy judgments, he was