When Lan Zhan and Youn stood at the gate of the Vatican, they were sent away again. Because on this day of all days, no visits, no matter for what reason, were allowed in the walls of the Vatican. They had to leave without having achieved anything. But they already knew where they would go. To the dungeon of the city guards to question the Nubian!

In the time that had passed since Lan Zhan and Youn had watched the slave being dragged along the dusty street by the city guards in front of the inn, until the moment they reached the dungeon, the slave had been beaten and even tortured. He was barely responsive when Lan Zhan had been let into his cell.

Lan Zhan squatted beside the slave and carefully cleaned his wounds with a cloth and water. In Nubian, he asked him, "What is your name?"

"Ali, my lord." He replied.

"Hello Ali. I am Lan Zhan. How old are you?"

"I am seventeen years old my lord."

"What happened? Can you tell me?"

"My master's daughter fell in love with me and I fell in love with her. Her father caught us and punished me with beatings. He forbade us to ever get close to each other again. But we love each other and continued to meet secretly. He found this out last night. He locked me in the cellar and I heard him beating his daughter and suddenly there was silence. Shortly after, the city guards came. They dragged me out of the house. I heard my master say that I had raped and killed his daughter and that he could not help her because I was too strong. He said he could only lock me in the cellar. I tried to explain it to the city guards. But they don't understand my language."

"I understand. I will talk to the city guards."

"My lord, I don't think they will believe you."

"We'll see about that. I'll be right back." Replied Lan Zhan. He went to the city guards and saw that the girl's father was also present. He was supposed to testify before a judge about what Ali did to his daughter and how he killed her.

Lan Zhan stood by the businessman and the two city guards and listened to their conversation. Meanwhile, he took a closer look at the businessman. He saw lacerations on the knuckles of his hands. He also saw deep scratches on the man's neck. He grabbed the businessman's hand and held it so that the guards could also see his hand. "If supposedly your slave killed your daughter, how come he doesn't have wounds on his knuckles, but you do? Surely you know that these wounds are clear signs of having beaten someone with your fists." Said Lan Zhan.

The city guards took a closer look at the hand and clenched their own hands into fists. Then they realized that Lan Zhan was right. They also looked at the man's other hand and then sent one of the other guards to the prisoner. The latter was to look at the slave's hands. But they were unharmed. "Do we try the truth again now sir?" The city guard asked the businessman.

The businessman looked back and forth in panic and suddenly started to run. But he didn't get far because Youn was in his way. Youn simply pushed him back and the city guards were able to arrest the man. Before the city guards could even consider torturing the man to get him to tell the truth, he told the truth on his own.

He admitted to hitting his daughter out of anger. He had pulled at her dress and had been torn in the process. Her femininity was exposed and he pounced on her and raped her. Afterwards, out of shame to have done such a thing to his own daughter, he had killed her so that she would never be able to tell anyone about it.

When he repeated his confession to the judge shortly afterwards, Ali was cleared. But because he was a slave, he was not allowed to just leave. They wanted to lock him up with other slaves and sell him at the next auction. Lan Zhan, however, wanted to spare him this fate and made the city guards an offer they could not refuse.

Although Lan Zhan's travel money had decreased considerably after he bought Ali from the city guards, Lan Zhan felt good for having done a good deed. And he did it completely selflessly. However, he still didn't really know what to do with Ali now. He was now officially considered his slave. But Lan Zhan could never bear the thought of people being forced to serve others against their will.

When they were back at the inn with Ali, he turned to Youn: "Youn, I want you to help Ali. He doesn't understand our language yet, so you will teach him. I know you can. We will take him home with us. He can live with us. There he is free and doesn't have to fear being sold and enslaved again."

"I'll be happy to do that. Can you believe he is only 17 years old? He must be 1.90 meters tall and looks really strong." Replied Youn.

"Yes I believe him. The people of his people are taller than us. And because of all the hard work he had to do, he has become strong. Probably he was enslaved since he was a little boy. He doesn't know it any other way. So it will be a huge change for him to suddenly be free."

"I think so, too. But how do I communicate with him if he doesn't understand me?"

"Speak English to him, that's what he understands."

"Good. Then I will start today. It will be an interesting task."

"Which I'm sure you'll do well.

"Lan Zhan?"

"Yes?"

"I thank you for your trust."

"You have earned it, my dear Youn."

"I am happy and grateful for you Lan Zhan. You made this life possible for me and I will help Ali so that he too can feel as good as I do."

"He will. Give him time and don't rush him. He will have a lot to learn." Said Lan Zhan, patting Youn's shoulder appreciatively. He then explained to Ali that Youn would take care of him from now on and he would be a free man from now on. Ali was so grateful and touched that he cried.

Until sunset, Youn and Ali talked and laughed. Lan Zhan watched the two with a smile. He knew they would become good friends. After the three were in the guest room for dinner and then back in their room, Lan Zhan opened one of the windows and sat down on a chair. He watched Youn and Ali playing cards.

When Youn suddenly paused in his movement and Ali also froze, Lan Zhan turned his attention in the direction the two youths were looking. "Wei Ying? How did you get in here?" He asked.

"Well, where there's a will, there's a way." Replied the beautiful Wei Ying.

"And what brings you to me?"

"I was hoping you might be up for a little trip?"

"Where to?"

"To the place where we were last night. I'd like to stay there a little longer than last night, though."

"Mhhh, how much longer? I was planning on going to the Vatican in the morning."

"I know. Well, if you want, I'll take you there. Right now."

"How?"

"What do you think?"

"All right, I'm in. But I can't leave the boys alone that long."

"Then we'll take them with us."

"You don't seem surprised that there's another young man here now."

"Of course not. I was close to you. I saw everything and you did really well. Saving him was a real heroic deed."

"Heroic deed? Hardly."

"Well, you are a hero to him. Because contrary to what you think, they wouldn't have sold him out. He got involved with a white rich man's daughter. They would have hanged him for it."

"You mean..."

"They never intended to spare him."

"I should have known, shouldn't I?"

"How?"

"I do not know. I've lived long enough now to know what people are like."

"And yet, not all people are the same. Ali is like that. He's a good, hardworking young man. He will make you as proud as Youn."

"Me? Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt without being asked." Said Youn.

Wei Ying walked up to Youn and smiled. "You turned out well. Lan Zhan has been a good teacher and father to you. You will have many more adventures together and help each other."

"How do you know?" Asked Youn.

"Because I can see a little into the future. And I promise you, you will get your cute boyfriend. I might even tell you what his name is."

"Um, no. I want to find out on my own. But thanks for the offer."

Next, Wei Ying turned to Ali. In his native language, Wei Ying asked, "You know what I am, don't you?"

"Yes sir." Replied Ali.

"Could I ask you to keep it to yourself for now?"

"Of course sir."

"I thank you. You have a pure heart. Now you are safe and will have a good life. They will never treat you like a slave. But like a human being. For nothing else are you."

"Thank you very much sir. I haven't really realized that I am a free man now."

"Soon you will feel it. And hey, don't worry. You'll fall in love all over again. In a few years you'll meet a Nubian beauty and she'll capture your heart in the blink of an eye."

"Is that true?"

"Yes. You will get married and have two healthy boys."

"Wow, I don't even know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. Study diligently what Youn teaches you and enjoy your life from now on."

"I will, master." Replied Ali.

"So? Shall we go?" Asked Wei Ying. All three nodded. Lan Zhan was speechless after hearing what Wei Ying said to Youn and Ali. But now he was even more sure, whatever Zhan is, he belongs on the side of the good guys!

The four of them stood in a tight circle to each other and Wei Ying swung his coat, which miraculously grew larger, around them all. When he took the coat away again, the four of them found themselves in the archives of the Vatican. Youn and Ali stared at Lan Zhan, but said nothing. Lan Zhan immediately began looking for the documents on Inquisitor William.

He didn't have to look for long. Because the file with the documents was already on one of the reading tables. However, the contents did not help him. Because the entire file consisted of only 4 pages, in which only had been listed, where the alleged Inquisitor William had done his mischief in the years between 1565 - 1609. On the last document it was written that the search for the impostor had been stopped in 1620. The reason given was that it was assumed that he was no longer alive, since at the time he was doing his mischief, he was said to be already between 50 and 60 years old.

Disappointed, Lan Zhan showed Wei Ying these documents. "Wasn't it obvious?" Asked Youn, who was also looking at the documents.

"Mhhh, I think this is not all." Said Wei Ying. He took something out from under his coat and gave it to Lan Zhan. "Wrap it up. We don't have enough time for you to read them here. We'll bring them back soon." Lan Zhan nodded and packed the file. Afterwards, Wei Ying used his coat to teleport them all out of the archive again.

When Wei Ying opened the coat, they were in the temple where Lan Zhan and Wei Ying had been the night before. This time, however, the inside of the temple was lit by what seemed like countless torches and candles. Lan Zhan sat down on a bed carved out of stone and began to read in the file, while Wei Ying led the youths Youn and Ali around the temple, showing them everything.

He told Youn and Ali the history of the temple, as he had told Lan Zhan the night before. When the three of them returned to the main hall of the temple, Lan Zhan said, "It says here in the file that they sent 1000 soldiers to search for and capture the false inquisitor. But not one of the soldiers ever returned. They joined William or were killed. They then sent 12 fighter monks to kill William. But only one of the monks made it back to the Vatican seriously injured. And he told that Wilhelm gives them a choice. Either they leave him alone, or he would come with thousands of soldiers and burn down the Vatican City. Fearing Wilhelm would follow up his words with action and burn Vatican City to the ground, they gave up chasing him and ignored everything related to him from then on."

"So they left the people who were tortured, tormented, burned alive and killed by him alone with their fears because they were afraid themselves?" Asked Youn.

"That's right. But it also says here that they never found out his real name. They didn't have any information about his person other than what he looked like." Explained Lan Zhan.

"And after the massacre in your village, he wasn't sighted again was he?"

"Yes that's right Youn. The massacre of the people of my village was almost 200 years ago. The last time he was seen, according to the documents from the Vatican, was in 1609. It's been pretty quiet about him since then."

"Which means the search for him may prove even more difficult than we thought."

"Right. This doesn't even specify where he was last seen. It only says that he killed all the inhabitants of one village. But not which village it is or in which country. Unfortunately, these documents are therefore useless to me." Said Lan Zhan in disappointment. He had expected so much from these documents. But this hope was abruptly shattered.