Strongest Among the Heavens-Chapter 329: KAZI: Outsider of the Castle
April 26th, 178 HE.
Walking through the halls of the Templar Castle as a non-Templar always garnered looks. Kazi was an outsider. No armour and no sign of Christian faith and accompanied by Father Phillip.
Up the stairs to a tower in the south-east section, the Grand Draper, Sir Nicolas, and his office were in sight. Father Phillip sent him a smile.
"Try not to get too hammered by the hammers," Phillip joked.
"I’ll do my best, old man. What’s with the half-shaven beard though?"
"Finally! You were killing me by not asking! I did it for, well...no good reason."
"As if. You did it for the new kids, didn’t you?"
"Ah, you got me!"
The last time they met up, Phillip informed him that the Grand Weaver was unable to complete his request. Jack’s terror led the Grand Master to ordering a set of stronger armour for everyone. Rank did not matter, all were supposed to be delivered A-rank armour by three month’s time.
Kazi had asked him about Jack, about the Great Schism and the real identity of the Ripper. Not the current vessel he housed, the real Jack. Kazi told the Saint that the Ripper had nearly killed several of his friends and that he had to know. The Saint grimaced.
"Out of everyone you could have asked, I am at least knowledgeable. I was at the Chapel, praying."
"But you were there," Kazi had said.
"Yes, but...the death of Alexander—the start of the Great Schism, it was all very quiet. I can remember the day vividly. I was talking to a young man who had ended himself during the Great War. He said his ears were still ringing and that his palms were stained with blood. I suspected that his soul was soiled with the memories of the war. The Chapel itself tasted of stagnant air and the walls were old. Alexander promised to rebuild it. It was...an ordinary day. Then the news erupted. Everyone was panicking. ’The Grand Master is dead! Marshal Boaz is dead! Marshal Blackwood is injured!’ It was like hell had come upon our little home."
Quiet. The Great Schism and the death of the Grand Master was quiet.
"But how did the Ripper get there in the first place? Was he a friend?"
"I...do not know. Truly, I did not."
"You can’t remember?"
"I just...don’t know."
Phillip didn’t know. Nobody seemed to know. The rumours of Templar affiliation had been there since the beginning yet the Templar themselves could not say how.
"Although..." Phillip almost trailed off. "Marshal Blackwood may know. He spearheaded the hunt for Jack and was there when Marshal Boaz died. I doubt anyone other than him knows a sliver of the truth."
So Marshal Roland Blackwood was his target. Good to know. As for the Grand Draper, Kazi planned for the visit to be business-only. If possible, he wanted to ask and interrogate him.
’I won’t hold my breath though. Phillip didn’t know, so I doubt the Draper knows either.’
Currently, deals were being made with the Imperial Sect in order to deliver particular metals to the Draper. Kazi saw the papers on the Prince of Revenue’s desk and memorized the numbers and money involved. The scale was truly massive and who else was renowned for processing metal other than the Imperial Sect?
The Grand Weaver, both a tailor and a blacksmith, worked day and night. Just by being inside the Grand Draper’s workshop, Kazi could tell as much.
The thick scent of smelted metals. Two squires were hard at work and hammering away at the same armour. The Grand Draper was threading together a cloak with a warp weighted-loom. He sat there, hands coming into strange gestures and his voice erupting in low mutters. Incantations, hand signs—magic. Sir Nicolas Dirkx the Grand Draper was threading together powerful magical garments.
No doubt, he was too busy to answer questions about Jack from an outsider.
The long fur coat was set to the side and the chainmail was removed to reveal his toned pale muscles. His helmet remained, however. Sir Nicolas remained hidden.
Kazi and Phillip were hardly able to take a step before three knights came by and delivered metal to the squires. The squires didn’t look, they continued hammering. Kazi looked at the walls and the paintings. Jesus Christ, the Last Supper, the First Crusade, the Crusade against the Byzantine Empire, and the Second Heavenly War.
"What was it like?" Kazi asked.
"Hm?" Phillip followed his gaze and his smile thinned. "Ah, the war." He seemed not to know what to say. "It was...long. The war became so intense that the Heavenly Games themselves were put on hold. The time axis was thrown off and the two years became seven years."
"That’s possible?"
"When someone throws a Brahmashirastra, yes, it is," Sir Nicolas intervened. The threading kept going and going. "You have caught me at a bad time, Kazi Hossain."
"So it seems, Grand Draper." Kazi lowered his head.
"Jack has returned. We cannot dilly-dally. He must pay for what he did to Alexander."
The previous Grand Master of the Templar Order who died during the Great Schism, the month-long affair between the Templar Order and the Knights of the Holy Light, currently known as the Holy Dynasty. An event that officially separated the two powerful groups. One group flourished. The other was struggling to prolong its existence.
Phillip appeared to dislike the hate on the Grand Draper’s expression. He did not speak though. The Grand Draper was, spiritually speaking, above even him. A position respected by all regardless of rank or affiliation.
"However, a deal is a deal and my promise is long overdue," Sir Nicolas said. "The cloak made of Hanuman’s Divine Essence, as promised."
The threading on the weighted-loom stopped. Sir Nicolas brought his hands together and pulling them apart unveiled a collar. Grabbing the collar caused an intense light and a spreading of the collar, turning from a thick strip of fabric to a full-blown cloak that rippled in the air. Long and black, the edges were detailed with green threading that provided space for lettering that was not yet there.
Dasha held out two hands. On its own, the cloak went over to him.
[ Equipment Name: Divine Garb of Hossain
Rank: A
Defence: 300
Magical Might: 330
Current Value: 120,000,000
A cloak created by the Grand Draper of the Templar on the order of Kazi Hossain. While incomplete, its potential and connection to its wielder is great. Increase the effectiveness of wind magic by 15%. ]
