Saturday, October 28, 1032 A.D
Night
The merchants gathered together at a tavern where they were staying.
"Honestly, I don't think a merchant guild would work." a fat merchant said. "It's like...how do those in military say it...ah, gathering the forces and going into defensive. We will become passive, there's no progress, we will gradually lose."
Some other merchants seemed to support him. The head of the group of merchant didn't say anything, he looked into the letter he from the Young Pope he had been keeping inside his pocket since the Pope's attendant delivered it to him.
"Look like the Young Pope has some more guidance, am I right?" said an old merchant, his voice was low enough so that only two people could hear.
The head merchant nodded.
"Well let's see what further guidance he left us when we return."
"Alright."
"By the way, you were leading us the whole time we met and conversed with the Pope. There's a high chance that you will be the Guild Master. After you are elected Guild Master, get me an honorable position in the Guild, will you? After all, I'm the oldest merchant here. Hehehe."
"..."
===
Benedict was standing on top of a hill, looking down at the city of Rome below. The city was burning. Fire was everywhere, people's scream could be heard everywhere.
"What's happening? Why am I on a hill? Why's the city burning?" Benedict looked around but found no clue or answer to his questions.
"Why did you ask? It's because of your fault and sins as the Pontiff that we ended up like this."
Benedict turned around and saw a man walking up from downhill. He had blonde hair and wore immaculate white attire.
("So handsome!") Benedict thought, his face was a little red just from seeing the man.
The man was so handsome that it wouldn't be wrong to call him the Greek God Apollo in real life.
But Benedict soon noticed something strange about him. His eyes were shut closed. In his previous life, Benedict used to watch some anime. He was, still is, a devout Catholic, but that does not mean no television, no sport and nothing to watch, except religious films. People say that "Eyes are the window of the soul" and those with eyes shut in anime are people you should never underestimate. Benedict knew that he must be extremely careful with this man.
The blonde man walked to the top of the hill and looked down on the burning city.
"I wonder how many people down there are in mortal sin and will be sent to hell." the man said happily and turned around, opening his right eye and looked at the Young Pope.
There was something evil...extremely evil...could be seen in his eye. Benedict was suspicious but now he could confirm who the man was.
("The Devil!") Benedict managed to not blurt his thought out.
"Alright, playtime's over! Let's get into business!" The Devil snapped his fingers, and the burning city disappeared. It was replaced by a beach with beautiful white sand and sparkling blue sea.
A beach chair with hell's fire pattern appeared out of thin air and Lucifer sat down on it. A white-blue beach chair also appeared beside Benedict, indicating that it's for him. The Devil's white attire also turned into some summer beach clothes.
"PAIMON!" Lucifer shouted. [1]
A floating white fairy like a mascot in some anime or game appeared and brought out a tray, on which were two glasses of some suspicious red juices. Lucifer took one glass and motioned for Paimon to serve the other glass to Benedict.
Benedict shook his head, refusing the juice.
"Benedict, no Giovanni, you and I know that you are very special...a very very special soul...in the Omnipresent Eyes of the Triune God.
Let be honest, Giovanni, you've been taught that God will reward the just on Heaven. But are you sure that the reward from God will satisfy you? To be honest, the primary reward on Heaven is to see God face-to-face and love Him forever sounds...kind of boring to me.
Meanwhile, if you serve the Infernal Court,..."
Satan snapped his fingers.
The reflection in the sea water changed. It's no longer reflected the blue sky, but a comfy bed, with many modern devices, such as iPad, iPod, modern computer, PlayStation, etc. A PC's screen was even showing Eula from Genshin Impact doing 4M DMG.
Satan snapped his fingers again.
The reflection changed to a throne with a pure golden crown on its cushion. The throne was standing on top of a big mountain of gold. There were also many other mountains of gold. Under the mountains, there were many people knelt on all four. They came from many nations and many tribes. Benedict could see a Chinese emperor, a Japanese samurai, a Caliph from the Middle East and many more.
"You could be the one who sit on that throne." Satan said.
Satan snapped his fingers again.
The image on the water changed into something very sensual. There were many beautiful women and handsome men wearing very revealing clothes. And they were in a process in taking the clothes off, inviting the viewer to join in the "fun" with them.
Seeing that, Benedict immediately covered his eyes, his cheeks blushed.
Lucifer walked towards Benedict "You can even" and hugged him, using his hand to raise Benedict's chin up "have Me if you so desire." [2]
***
[1] The Catholic Church has always taught that The Devil=Satan=Lucifer. There are many theories try to explain why Lucifer and Satan are different entities, but they are non-Catholic, even non-Christian altogether.
[2] Sensual images in this chapter and the whole novel are not intended for sensuality.