The trip to the Grand Monastery quickly ended, there was only so much to see in that empty place of worship, statues of snow crafted in the same style as the statue in the small church were to be found everywhere, Dame-Sommer was the one and only deity of the kalt.
"Wait for me here, I'll go speak with the pope" Alkayne put his armoured hand atop of Jiji's head, ruffling her long, pale blue hair.
"Didn't you speak with him just yesterday?" she asked, during the entire visit through the monastery, as she showed him the various areas, the minor lord had been almost always looking at the floor, which was weird, the zombie would always be staring straight ahead most of the time, only cranking his neck around to indicate things like who he was addressing when speaking, so this near-constant observation of the ground like it was something of greater interest than the brilliant architecture of snow and ice that could somehow resist the ambient heat of the monastery was just odd.
"I just want to speak with him, is all" Alkayne remained mysterious and walked toward doors unlike any other here, the dwelling place of Janus, the one who had been pope for around half a century, the most supreme and exalted worshipper of Dame-Sommer, it wouldn't be a stretch to refer to him as the 'Son Of Green Fields And Warmth', one of the few men to have ever received the blessing granted by marrying a nun.
Jiji was having a bad feeling about this… She kept her mouth shut because now that they were betrothed, they owed one another loyalty and trust, so even if she didn't really get the whole deal about undeath or if it was really as miraculous as he claimed, Jiji had acted none the wiser and not told anyone about any of what she knew.
"Please be careful, alright?" she said in a hushed voice, Alkayne heard her nonetheless and replied.
Announcing himself with a knock, he pushed open the heavy doors with one hand, surprisingly, no one had said anything about him carrying a halberd around the monastery, so he still had it in his possession, the gentle voice of the pope told him to enter.
Alkayne found Janus standing, surrounded by statues of both snow and ice depicting Dame-Sommer, the scene looked rather oppressing, one could not see the walls of this room due to the number of statues, and they all seemed to be followed movement with their eyes, which wasn't right, he may be a warrior but the minor lord knew that this should only be the case on stuff like painting, not statues.
But he did not sense any life or otherwise signs that these could be something like golems, in any case, even if they had been, he would have still moved forward.
The pope's private quarters were rather unsettling, apart from the statues, there was only a bed, a desk and some sort of altar filled to the brim with incredibly detailed and realistic-looking depictions of a beautiful woman, the zombie could have almost assumed that these were the same as what the Cognitio produced with their weird machines, but no, the artist was just incredibly good.
The zombie posture made it so he seemed to be clearly facing the pope and was only focusing on him, but Janus glanced at the altar.
"Gorgeous, isn't she? Jiela was even more blinding that sunlight reflected upon snow" whether he noticed that Alkayne payed attention to it or if the pope just couldn't help speaking about his late wife, the minor lord could not quite tell.
"By the way…" he then added "...I don't believe that I left you time to tell me how you met Jiji yesterday, my apologies, once I start rambling, I can hardly stop"
"No worries, it was nothing grand, I simply stumbled upon the church she was residing in, that is all"
"What about the other occupants?"
"They had all turned to accursed"
"Jiji said that they kept praying to Dame-Sommer anyways" added the minor lord, and for a moment, he was certain that the pope's hand twitched.
"...I see, you must have ran into the nearby village as well then, right?"
"Jiji guided me to it, but it was utterly empty"
The pope did not say anything else, so Alkayne took the occasion to change the subject.
"Me and my soldiers bear no fear of the cold or wildlife, neither can we starve or suffer from thirst, so I was hoping to assist the kalt and grant rest to the wandering accursed" he stated, his tone not quite as empty as General Loimos, but giving the impression of incredible calm and casualness still.
"Now… Mister Alkayne, I do not doubt your capabilities as a warrior and leader, especially since you could win over the heart of a nun as strong headed as Jiji… But it is meaningless, there are too many of them, you would waste your time on this venture-"
"But they all appeared ten years ago, no? So their numbers can only go down, as an eternal being, even a hundred years is nothing to me" Alkayne felt certain of it now, he watched as the pope stayed silent, as though searching for the right words, his expression remaining the exact same.
"Ah… But I guarantee, there is no need for you to trouble yourself with problems that only belong to us, you may have been blessed, but it does not mean that you should have to bear the sins of our people as well, we the kalt shall be the ones to face the consequences…"
"Sir Janus, I fear that my code of honour forces me to make my wife's problem my own, and since Jiji is a kalt, the problem of your people is mine as well" Alkayne pushed back, hoping for some sort of reaction from the pope, but Janus simply sighed as if admitting defeat.
"Unbelievable, I never would have guessed that Jiji, of all nuns, would be the one to land herself someone so reliable, I am certain that many are envious of her- Very well, you may do as you wish"
This wasn't what the minor lord had been hoping for, he debated whether to try and push some more buttons, but eventually decided against it, perhaps Janus was sincere, and if he was not, Alkayne would surely find something in the way of his campaign to get rid of the accursed.
"My thanks, Sir Janus, may we meet again soon" he turned his back and walked out of the room without any hitch.
"Let's go, Jiji" he picked up the nun who was already slumbering off and headed out of the monastery.