-pg216- Retribution: Bound in Irons Hollow Icon -pg217- This guy Look! Knight We have brought the Black Swordsman. Farneze Enter! Knight Hah! Farneze Thanks be to you. -pg218- Farneze Fasten the prisoner to the post. You may leave. Knight But, uh, what about... Farneze Unimportant! I have been told that these extra-large irons will be enough to hold him. Knight But the report from the Lt... Farneze Never mind it! Knight B-but... Farneze Again, there is a bodyguard just outside this tent that can reach me quickly should my life be placed in danger. Knight But there are ten thousand men all very stirred up...the Lt. thought, just a word... Farneze You forgot your rank! -pg219- Farneze If you obey the Lt.s instructions, how can you follow my commands? And who has the highest position of command in the Knights of the Holy Iron Chains!? You are speaking to her!!! Knight Hah! Please forgive the impoliteness of my speech! Farneze Do not forget this. Knight Hah! Farneze ....... The Black Swordsman....no, it was Gatts, was it not? -pg220- Farneze Before I was told to deliver you to the Vatican... I served as the liasion to the lowest seated member of the Vatican Grand Tribunal, and there is was my duty to perform two or three small inquiries. Gatts ....... Farneze Firstly, your origins, history, motive, and purpose! Answer me that! Gatts Heh... Farneze Cur, how dare you laugh? -pg221- Gatts I mean, really... All that stuff about God... And you think I'm workin' for the evil side. Farneze You have taken the name of the Lord in vain. I shall not allow that a second time. Gatts ...... Farneze Firstly, these... These peasant weapons. What are they for? Pakk ........ -pg222- Farneze This... Sword, if you can call it that, it is more like a vast clod of iron... How like a mercenary to affect such a showy, overlarge instrument. Why do you not use a more practical weapon? For what do you use this? What do you do with it? Do you intend to round up an army? ...... And this thing... -pg223- Farneze This is a dubious object. Such as a fortune teller might have... If this holds some pagan god... Then perhaps I should bring you before a heresy trial? They can probe deeper than I could ever hope to. They are very strict, and you can rest assured your punishment would involve fire. .....! Why do you not respond? -pg224- Gatts Do you... Believe in God, and the Devil? Farneze How dare you even ask such a thing... After I told you not to take His name in vain... Gatts Have you met him? God. Farneze God in his glory does not show himself upon this earth. God exists because we have faith. In my heart... And even more so in Heaven. -pg225- Farneze How dare you laugh! Gatts Your answer is like drawin' a picture. You study that in the cloister? A long time ago...on a battlefield there was a nobleman that spoke like you... There was a town, that had been burned completely to the ground, along with the women, and the children. The man I spoke of had filled the ranks with penniless beggars. They never stood a chance in this shit duty and there was no sign of God. Confession was a waste of time. They could not repent or change. They would never understand what you have just told me. At most, one of them might have passed by a temple and smelled the stink of it's splendor. -pg226- Farneze Damn you... DOG!! Pakk Not agaaiin. (After all the trouble I went to heal him...) Could have avoided it, too. Farneze Dog, before I became the commander of the Knights of the Holy Iron Chains, I had never seen such speech, or behavior. -pg227- Farneze I excuse it only due to your injured condition. I intended this inquiry to be more compassionate. I shall not forgive you again. And then I shall not stop until your skin is falling away from your body, and I am certain your mouth will never speak again. I swear by my faith. Gatts You couldn't if you tried. With your God... And your Commanders... It all comes down to human ambition. That old Bridge Knight... When he spoke to you. You had the same respect for him... As the other for the beggars. -pg228- Farneze How dare you... How dare you!! -pg230- Azan Farneze-sama!! Excuse me!! What are your... Farneze-sama!! What is the meaning of this? Farneze What means this intrusion? Before I was sent from the Vatican, I investigated two or three cases. Azan But this... -pg231- Farneze That's enough! Return this man to his cell! Azan Farneze-sama! Farneze I will not hear it! Do as I command! Azan As you wish. Farneze Do not remove the irons! Throw him in after you tend his wounds! Knights Will do! Aye! Gatts She really oughtta listen to the old guy... Serpico Please don't torment her too much. The commander. Aaah...you see, she is so very cute. -pg232- Gatts (Heh) -pg233- Gatts (sneezes) Covered in little wounds and sittin' out here in the freezin' cold. Anyone else'd die. From the west... On its way. ! -pg234- Demon Nie... Gatts Lovely. Hollow Icon - The End