Chapter 88 - Eighty-Eight ... A Haven for the Morhan

Chapter 88: Chapter Eighty-Eight ... A Haven for the Morhan

Chapter Eighty-Eight ... A Haven for the Morhan

"Er... You truly mean to allow it?"

"Why not?"

"The Papal See won’t like it, my lord. Dissection is... practically forbidden."

In other words, he was asking whether it would be possible if the Papal See pressed. But Jan only shrugged.

What did a little dissection matter?

In the end, it was for saving people’s lives. The Papal See’s displeasure could be smoothed over with the right words. If that didn’t work, he could always show a great deal of "goodwill."

No one ever disliked money, after all.

"That’s not something for you to worry about. That’s for me, your employer, to worry about."

"Huh..."

Vesalo seemed amazed by Jan’s answer.

What Jan had said was that radical. It was the sort of thing one would expect from a heathen ruler across the sea.

Whatever Vesalo thought, Jan paid it no mind and went on.

"I hear from Master Agphiel that all your achievements have been denied, and you’ve never been able to properly train any students. All because you dissected corpses."

"Th-that’s right."

It was absurd.

People enjoyed executions like festivals, yet treated dissecting the bodies of the dead as taboo.

To Jan, the custom of dipping bread in an executed man’s blood for good luck was far more chilling.

"Even now, countless people are dying from bad medicine. I mean to stop that. And for that, I need you. What I said about building you a university isn’t a lie."

"T-truly?"

"Yes. What would I gain by lying to you? Develop your learning in my lands, and train as many students as you like."

As though he couldn’t believe it, Vesalo looked at Agphiel standing beside Jan. He seemed to wonder whether his old friend was playing a prank on him.

But Agphiel only smiled and shook his head.

"Our young noble is a bit unusual... Well, it could be a good opportunity for you."

"Huh..."

Vesalo was deeply moved.

He had never met a noble who believed in him like this. And with Agphiel vouching for it, it was all the more believable.

"Do you know any other scholars or craftsmen in a situation like yours?"

Once it seemed Vesalo had been won over, Jan quietly raised the question.

He was still hungry.

To make his lands strong, he needed more talent.

’Birds of a feather flock together.’

The harder things were, the more people in similar situations banded together.

Especially artists, scholars, and craftsmen.

Sure enough.

After thinking for a moment, Vesalo carefully spoke.

"Well... there are some craftsmen and scholars of considerable skill, my lord."

"Oh? Then could you introduce them to me too? As it happens, my lands are very wide and the population is small. I’ll give them land and let them make their learning and crafts flourish."

"That’s a truly generous and gracious offer... but there’s a slight problem."

"A problem?"

"Yes. The truth is, my friends are... Morhan, my lord."

"Morhan? You mean the dark-skinned people who came across the sea from the eastern empire?"

"Yes, my lord."

The moment Vesalo finished speaking, Jan cheered inwardly.

In his past life, the Morhan had been known as keepers of great learning and craft.

They were the ones who had carried on the lost arts of the old empire.

’What a windfall. It really does pay to live well.’

It was more luck than he could have hoped for.

"Good. That’s even better."

"Of course, that would be difficult... Pardon?"

"I said it’s good."

"S-so you mean you’d accept them, my lord?"

Vesalo spoke carefully, studying Jan’s face as though he couldn’t believe it.

"Why? Have your friends still not converted?"

"No, that’s not it. They work here, so of course they’ve converted."

"Then what’s the problem?"

At Jan’s words, Vesalo couldn’t hide his bewilderment again.

He seemed thoroughly flustered.

And no wonder. The nobles of the continent harbored a deep loathing for the Morhan because of the color of their skin.

But Jan had worked beside men of every land in his past life. He judged a man by his skill, never by the color of his skin.

Besides, people who lived persecuted in a distant foreign land would surely be loyal to the bone if they were given a reasonable measure of freedom.

As long as he could bear the Papal See’s disapproving looks, they were the finest human resources there could be.

So Jan spoke to Vesalo with a satisfied look.

"So persuade them for me. I’ll gladly make them a haven of their own."

Vesalo looked as though he were bewitched throughout the conversation, but the meeting ended well.

After Jan and Agphiel persuaded him, Vesalo finally agreed to join Jan’s lands.

And together with Morhan scholars and craftsmen.

At last, the skilled craftsmen his lands had been lacking all this time would be joining him. He finally had a way to solve all sorts of technical problems that had been blocking him.

"My lord!"

"Hm?"

And that wasn’t the only good news.

"At last! At last! An invitation has come from the Papal See!"

The Papal See, which had been silent all this time, had finally begun to move.

The moment word spread that there would be a gathering at the Papal See, the nobles who had been entertained by Rhomara’s powerful houses began flocking there one after another.

Rumors that a crusade would soon begin had already spread far and wide.

Their aim was to get noticed, in hopes of picking up a few crumbs.

"Ha ha ha. It’s been a while. How did you ever manage to lift your heavy backside and come?"

"Ahem. What nonsense! You, who were always so reluctant to donate to the Church, got here quickly enough for something like this, didn’t you?"

"What? Are you insulting me?"

So some hurled accusations at one another.

"Now, now! Come, calm down, all of you. We must stand firm together under one faith, mustn’t we? Stop quarreling and each have a cup of the wine of reconciliation I’m offering."

Others used their authority to mediate and show off their own presence.

When a crusade to purge heresy began, every house entangled in it would be excommunicated and lose its lands.

Anyone who wanted to take their place had to move quickly, starting now.

Jan, of course, wasn’t paying it any mind at all.

"Hm, this food is truly delicious."

"After all you ate last night until midday, you still have room?"

"That was the drinking stomach. This is the eating stomach. As they say, the stomach that holds drink and the stomach that holds food are different, Master Agphiel."

"I’ve lived a long time, and that’s the first I’ve heard of it. Different stomachs! Not even a child would believe that."

Agphiel clicked his tongue as though it were pathetic, but Jan only shrugged.

As befitted a place where goods from every land gathered, Rhomara’s food was wonderfully varied. So many spices and so many ways of cooking! For Jan, who had been eating plain, monotonous country fare all this time, it was pure happiness.