What's going on? What happened?" Someone caught fire at the Governor's banquet, which was no small matter in any case.
The elite of the defense force appeared quickly and blocked the scene immediately.
"Governor, we don't know what happened. Baron Sukov was just inviting me to his estate to appreciate the paintings he had just bought. After taking a sip of wine, he felt something was wrong with him. Then he caught fire, and golden flames came out of his mouth and body." An aristocrat who had come into contact with the person who had just spontaneously combusted was brought to Alex. Although he seemed frightened, he still clearly described to Alex what he saw.
Listening to the noble's explanation, Alex frowned, walked to the side of the self-ignited noble, checked his condition and the wine glass that rolled to the side, and felt that something was wrong.
He picked up the wine glass, and there was still some wine left in it. It seemed to be the new wine this time.
Alex looked at Rachel beside him and said to her, "Go and ask Sage Olivia to come over. I need her help."
The scene before him made it difficult for Alex to make an effective judgment. After all, being able to burn a person to ashes without damaging his clothes was something he had only heard of in some urban legends during the 3K era.
But they are basically related to urban legends such as spontaneous human combustion and ball lightning, and rarely used as a means of assassination like this.
If it was poison, the poison was obviously too strong and could burn the whole person to a crisp. If the intention was just to kill someone, there would be no need to go to such an extent.
It would be more accurate to say that this was not so much poisoning as pouring promethium.
And the golden flame made Alex have some associations.
Because she was also invited to the banquet, Olivia was quickly invited over. After Alex explained the situation and handed her the wine glass, he asked her to test it.
"It's not poison. I didn't detect any other residual substances in the wine glass. It's just wine." Olivia also became interested in this matter. She carefully examined the wine glass and the remaining wine in it and concluded that everything was normal.
"Then Sage Olivia, have you detected any residual psychic energy?" Alex began to wonder if this was the effect of a psychic spell.
This is not a random guess, after all, psychic power can really do this kind of thing.
However, Olivia just looked at Alex with a strange expression and asked him doubtfully, "You are a psychic yourself. Can't you sense if anyone here has used psychic powers? Why don't you do some divination instead of asking me?"
After hearing this, Alex realized that he was wrong, but since this guess was also ruled out, the range of possibilities was narrowed down very much.
"Is the pastor of the state religion here?" Alex looked at the crowd. Although he sent people to invite the clergy of the state religion, it seemed that no one from the state religion was in his sight.
But soon, a pastor of the state religion appeared in front of Alex.
"I'm sorry, Your Excellency the Governor. The Bishop has a mass to preside over today, and he has specially ordered me to come on his behalf." The other party explained to Alex and then asked Alex what he needed him to do.
"This poor noble has returned to the Golden Throne. Can you pray to the Emperor for him?" Alex did not explain what he wanted to do, but simply invited the priest to pray for the dead noble.
This was understandable and a very normal request in the eyes of everyone. Only Guterres, who was standing next to Alex, seemed to understand it, but he did not say anything. He just watched the priest come to the pile of clothes and pray to the emperor.
However, as the Emperor's mantra was chanted, something soon began to emit a faint golden light, and the golden flame on the self-igniting noble reappeared, attracting everyone's attention.
Alex didn't pay attention to the charred corpse that was burning again, but stared closely at the wine glass in his hand.
In the wine glass that he used specifically for observation, the bright red wine was emitting a faint golden light, and looked full of a sacred aura.
"It seems that your guess is correct, so what's going on with this guy?" Guterres also noticed the changes in the wine glass in Alex's hand and asked him.
"Since he was burned like this, he is most likely a heretic. Let's peel off his clothes and check to see if we can find any evidence." Alex said so, and then poured the golden wine in the cup into his mouth.
"Sir, what's going on?" As the prime minister, Rachel naturally wanted to find out what had happened so as to appease the panicked nobles.
"The new wine is brewed by the devout nuns of His Holy Majesty. From the planting, growth and picking of grapes to the entire winemaking process, the girls from the Holy Rosary will sing hymns while working. Bathed in the hymns, the wine brewed from these grapes contains the power of His Holy Majesty." Alex said, and gestured to raise the wine glass so that the people around him could see the golden light in his glass.
Although it was only a faint light, it was very conspicuous under the gaze of everyone, especially the wine glasses in their own hands, which also flashed with golden light.
"Then this noble who spontaneously combusted is…" Everyone obviously guessed something.
"A blasphemous heretic, simply ignited by the power of His Majesty the Holy One." Alex said disdainfully, and at the same time ordered Rachel beside him: "My Palace Prime Minister, send people to search his family. I think there should be some extra gains."
"Yes, Governor." Rachel hurriedly called the soldiers of the defense army and asked them to search the house of the nobleman who had spontaneously combusted.
After such a thing happened at the banquet, everyone was obviously in no mood to continue, but Alex did not say anything, so these nobles naturally could not leave and could only continue to stay in the banquet hall, gathering in groups of three or four and whispering.
The priest, who had already figured out the whole story, walked up to Alex, gave him a Sky Eagle Salute, and asked, "Your Excellency, Governor, is this wine really the cause of this noble's spontaneous combustion, as you said?"
"The wine is not the key. The power of His Holy Majesty in the wine is the key." Alex looked at the priest with a slight smile on his face.
"Your Majesty's power envelopes each of us, and you have gathered this power into the new wine. I'm afraid no heretic would be able to drink this fine wine blessed by Your Majesty." The priest said, taking another glass of wine from the waiter beside him. After saluting Alex, he raised the glass and said to everyone, "For Your Majesty's sake, please drink this cup to the full!"
Having said that, the priest drank the wine in the cup and then looked at all the nobles present.
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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