They went to the Veneto capital in the morning. The road was a long one, and the journey took more than a day on their own, but the knights had their own horses, which took them only half a day. When lunch was over, they had already entered the suburbs of the capital. The city itself was located on islands in the Venetian Lagoon and on the mainland. Unfortunately, ancient Venice went underwater during the apocalypse and only some ruins towered above the water. A few more islands remained, but the former greatness was irretrievably lost. Modern Venice was built on the site of the municipality of Marghera, which became part of the new city, as a residential area. A citadel was built on five large islands near the city, and a port area was also located there. On Isola Delle Tresse and on the neighbouring north island, defensive fortifications were built in front of the entrance to the city from the sea. Further north is the island of Porto Marghera, where the shipyard and defensive fortress were located. Then there was the island of San Julian, on which the fortress of the Hospitallers was located. In the west – in the neighbourhood, there are the remains of an ancient fortress, which was not used in any way. In the centre of the Venetian Bay, there was a central island, on which the Dosha Palace and the entire administrative department stood. There was a trading port to the south of it.
Due to geography, the city seemed to stick out a little from the mainland, so it created a strategically successful location. In the south, there were marshes near the coast outside the city walls, and in the northwest and northeast, it was surrounded by fields and farms. Venice was protected by powerful city walls with a large moat with water. Do not forget about the fortresses that were part of the defence. The city was repeatedly tried to take, but each time the siege was unsuccessful. Defense from the sea was generally considered "impregnable". No wonder, because it is one of the most influential and richest capitals in the world.
After passing the city walls, the knights immediately headed to the fortress of San Julian, where the magistrate was located. Upon arrival in the stronghold of the Hospitallers, Marzio was almost immediately drawn into the maelstrom of events. As it turned out, the letter did reach his father in Hungary and he immediately sent a reply with a messenger. However, Mr Fermo did not know exactly where Marzio was and about his entry into the order. Therefore, the messenger rushed to the capital of Veneto, so that the general's son could already be found in the magistrate. For the luck of the messenger, Marzio himself came to him. After giving the letter to the recipient, the messenger with a clear conscience rushed away, and Marzio wanted to reveal the long-awaited answer of his father, but he was not allowed. As soon as everyone found out that Marzio was the son of Von Fermo, he was immediately escorted to his chambers so that he would clean himself up before meeting with the master of the order. A little stunned by such a course of affairs, the knights did not contradict, and there was nothing to argue about. Apparently, the order already knew Marzio's situation, which is why they treated him so leniently. While Marzio was led by servants to separate rooms, the squad headed to their restrooms, taking Lily with them.
A little confused, Marzio entered a small room inside the castle, where he had to change into clean clothes and wait for the magister to summon him to himself. The young man, with pleasure, took off his soldier's robes and put on a ceremonial doublet, which, although it did not fit perfectly on Marzio, looked quite decent. Then the young man with trepidation tore the seal from the envelope and began to read his father's answer:
"My dear son! I am very saddened by your news and I grieve bitterly with you. I hope that you are well now. I would really like to see you in person, but the service does not allow it. I'm busy in Hungary right now, and only God knows how long it will last. Therefore, I do not know when we will be able to meet in person. However, I cannot leave you without support, so I am sending you several gold bills, and I have already ordered the papers to be sent to the order. They need to know who you are, so I hope you will be treated with dignity. In addition, I officially recognize you as my bastard and give you every right to be considered my son. You can also go to my castle in Trieste. You should be accepted and provided with everything you need, if necessary. I hope the letter arrives on time and without any problems. I am waiting for your letter with an answer about my health. I fervently pray to God for our speedy meeting."
Marzio was delighted with his father's answer. Now his soul was a little calmer. At least he had fulfilled his original task of informing his father of what had happened. It was worth getting used to the world somehow and not falling into the dirt face because now he can shame his father's honour. The fact that Dad sent the money was also a nice gift. They could use, especially in such quantities. It remains only to find out what awaits him in the order, and how it will affect his future life.
It didn't take long to wait. Just ten minutes later, Marzio was summoned by the master of the order. Servants escorted him through the corridors and halls of the castle to the upper floors, where the master's office was located. In front of the massive oak doors. They left Marzio, saying that he should continue to talk to the master himself. Noticeably nervous, Marzio knocked loudly on the doors, and then timidly opened them. Only then did the thought occur to him that he should have waited for the invitation first, and then come in. But it was too late.
A large rectangular room stretched out in front of him. Opposite the door, in the distance, there was a large table, at which a man was sitting, but he was not visible. Marzio shone from the window, which was located behind. It had a round shape in the entire wall and looked partly like cobwebs because of the construction of the beams. On the sides of the room, there were large bookcases with decorative elements: paintings on the walls, laths on special pedestals, vases with flowers and so on. There were a couple more doors on the left and right. The room was dominated by purple: curtains at the round window, carpet on the stone floor - everything had a purple hue in one way or another. Marzio took another awkward step and asked:
'May I?'
'Of course!' a man's voice answered him from the darkness.
The young man walked to the middle of the room. As Marzio's eyes adjusted to the light, he was finally able to make out the man at the table. In appearance, he was an elderly man with an elegant beard, moderately long purple hair, blue eyes that emphasized elegant thin eyebrows and large eyelashes. He was dressed in a luxurious black doublet. Marzio stopped in front of this man, waiting. In turn, the magister stared intently at the young man, waiting for something.
'So that's what Fermo's son is like...,' the magister thought aloud.
'Come in, Marzio, make yourself comfortable,' the magister invited him good-naturedly.
Marzio awkwardly approached the table, opposite which there was a chair. Then he sat on it and listened to the master.
'I already know everything about you, Marzio Variatle, but you don't know anything about me, do you?' Marzio nodded.
'Then let me introduce myself...,' said the master getting up.
'My name is Flavio Ricci, I am the master of the Order of the Hospitallers, as well as a representative of the caste of seers. You probably already know their differences,
Marzio nodded again. Flavio sat down and continued.
'I understand that you are uncomfortable and uncomfortable in such an environment. Life has spun too fast, and you can't keep up with it in any way. Especially since you're after a fight and you need to rest, and not go through half the country, but such are the circumstances. I hope you, Marzio, will forgive us for such haste and inconvenience caused,' The young man nodded again.
"Well...," Flavio began suddenly, 'If you can't ask them yourself, then I will voice everything you are interested in on my own. So, are you most likely interested in your future fate? From now on, you are a knight of the Order of the Hospitallers, this means that you are no longer a simple soldier, but a more influential figure. Your father has officially recognized you, so you can consider yourself as a nobleman, even without inheritance. You are also entering a new step of the hierarchical ladder. Roughly speaking, now for ordinary soldiers, you will be at the level of a sergeant, but for everyone else, you are just an ordinary member of the order. We have a payment system, so from this day you will be receiving a salary, but we also have contributions, but don't worry – your father has paid all expenses for a year ahead, including education.
'Education?' Marzio was finally able to ask.
'Yes, exactly. Did you really think that we would let an uneducated person into battle? I know your mother taught you a lot, including the forbidden sciences of handling artefacts, but that's not all.'
'Do you know about my mom?'
'Of course. We know all about you, Marzio. I'm sorry for what happened to you, but there's something else...,' he seemed to think for a second.
'Surely you want to know about the fate of your belongings that you left in Padua, don't you?' Marzio immediately remembered about the personal belongings that he had left in the city before sending.
'So, we have them, you don't have to worry,' Marzio breathed a sigh of relief to himself.
'Father Abele gave you up.'
'What!?' Marzio interrupted him. Flavio laughed softly.
'And what did you think? Keeping such dangerous things under the nose of the church is a risky game. As soon as you left, he immediately reported to our order. At first, all the things were confiscated, but then the news came from your father. It was not difficult to put two and two together and understand whose things they were.
'That's how she is...'
'Don't be angry with Father Abele – he's just a cult minister and nothing more. It would be strange if he didn't give you up, but it doesn't matter. Let's get down to business, Marzio: now an important period in your life begins – the training. As I said before, your father has paid all the expenses, so you can study at our academy basically for free. You have a lot to learn, Marzio, so you have an interesting year ahead of you.
'A year?'
'Maybe a little less, depending on how you learn the material. You need to get all the knowledge, as well as train every day. After that, you can join the task force to fight demons, well, or as we call them – mutants. Then you will be able to move up the career ladder, and who knows, maybe sooner or later you will take my place. Flavio smiled. His lips were always half smiling, but now it was clear. Flavio Ricci looked more like a cunning merchant, rather than a master of an influential order, who had fooled the buyer for a long time, and now he was just playing with him.
'You'll be living here in Venice the whole time. We'll give you a room in our dorm. You will pay for food and everyday clothes with other needs out of your own pocket. But don't worry, if anything happens, we won't leave you in trouble.'
'Uhm, Mr. Magister Ricci...'
'You can call me just Magister or Your Excellency.'
'Your Excellency, there's something I have to tell you, it just happened to be that I am not alone. A little girl came along with me, and I do not know where to arrange it,' The magister was obviously surprised. He thought for a second and then said.
'I think it won't be a problem. She's in our citadel, so we'll sort it out on the spot. Is that all you wanted to ask?'
'Not yet. I would really like to know if I will ever be able to meet my father?'
'Hmm, I think that here's a problem. You see, the situation is complicated now, and your father is a military man, so it's not a fact that you will cross paths, but you can write to him. Well, our time is running out. He got up from his chair and walked over to Marzio, who immediately got up.
'We have to get to the ceremony. The servants will tell you how to behave. It's just a formality, but it's a tradition. It shouldn't take long, so don't worry,' and he tapped Marzio lightly on the shoulder.
The ceremony actually didn't last long. Marzio was taken to a large hall with high ceilings, more like a church cloister. In the centre of the hall, there was a carpet that led to the steps leading to the podium. There was a stone throne on it–with two smaller ones on each side. To the left and right of the carpet, stone benches stood against the wall. Right under the ceiling above the throne was a large window in the form of a cross. There were also large mosaic windows on the sides of the wall. They depicted some men and women whom Marzio did not know. The hall itself was built of white marble, which was soothing with its colour scheme. As Marzio understood, this hall was used for solemn initiations and receptions, but now there were very few people in it. In theory, the whole hall was supposed to be full of servants and knights, and the ruler of Veneto and his heirs should sit on the throne. Today it was almost empty: a small group of people, consisting of servants whom Marzio had already seen, a group of Visconti and several other strangers, and Magister Ricci was waiting for him on the podium, dressed in a snow-white silk robe with the symbols of the order and a sword. Marzio did as he was told: he walked alone along the carpet in complete silence and climbed the steps to the master. He had to do all this to loud music, and gloshaty had to vocalize his name in all hearing. Such emptiness confused and strained Marzio, it seemed that he was late for something grandiose and he was condescendingly doing a favour. Going upstairs, Marzio knelt down in front of the master, and he made a small speech in a rather ringing voice. The essence of the speech was as follows: Marzio solemnly swore allegiance to the order and the ruler of Veneto - Dino I Allegro. Then the magister lowered the sword first on Marzio's shoulders, and then on his head. Then Marzio kissed the shining sword and said: I swear to remain faithful and carry the word of the Lord not with a word, but with a sword, after that there were long rites and prayers. That was the end of the ceremony. Instead of being initiated in front of the whole Veneto world, God forbid there were twenty people at the ceremony of Marzio. However, this is only a formality.
After Marzio, everything was explained. Knights are solemnly accepted into the order not one by one, but in a crowd at once. Such dedication was often associated with a new admission to the academy, which was at the beginning of the year. Now the students have a short vacation, so Marzio will start studying with the others, but he has lost almost half a year. However, as the master explained, the knowledge that Marzio has by itself gives him a head start, so it's not worth chewing. Now Marzio Variatle has become a full-fledged Knight of the Order of the Hospitallers. New privileges and new responsibilities. At least, he has established himself in life, well, or he just finally began to see the way ahead.