Chapter 440 The Church's Statement
After the Pope finished speaking, the six priests present in the council did not say a word.
Two of them frowned and remained silent, two of them bowed their heads in thought, and one of them looked at the youngest cardinal present, Atwood, with an ambiguous expression.
Priest Atwood was only one hundred and forty years old... indeed, he was considered very young among the twelve cardinals of the Gold Coin Church.
No matter how much it is despised by pagans, the foundation of the Gold Coin Church is there. It will not be like the Prosperous Church with only one top-level combat force... Among the twelve priests of the Senate, five cardinals have exceeded the lifespan of 300 years, which can be called extraordinary among the extraordinary; His Holiness the Pope, who is more than 400 years old, has already stepped through the third "gate".
But no matter how "young" he is, the strength of Priest Atwood is there, and he is not much worse than other priests in the Senate. In this mess caused by his illegitimate great-grandson who was caused by his second son who was famous for his debauchery, the other cardinals always have to take Priest Atwood's face into consideration before expressing their opinions.
Priest Atwood, who had the thick flaxen curly hair common among Middle-earth people and looked like a young man, sighed slightly.
"Your Majesty, since my descendants are involved, please allow me to withdraw from this meeting." Priest Atwood stood up and bowed slightly to the Pope.
The Pope seemed to have anticipated that Priest Atwood would make this choice and nodded in agreement.
As Priest Atwood was about to leave the main hall, the Pope suddenly spoke up, "Although he is an illegitimate descendant who is not worthy of respect, he is still a member of the church with your surname. Atwood, you should go to the Rhine capital."
Priest Atwood was slightly stunned, but soon realized that this was a statement from His Holiness the Pope. He quickly put his hand on his chest, bowed solemnly to His Holiness the Pope, and strode away.
The five cardinals who remained seated without moving, no matter what their previous reactions were, now all looked at the Pope in astonishment.
The Pope's expression remained unchanged, and he repeated his previous question: "Ladies and Gentlemen, what do you think of this?"
Among the five priests on the council, at least three were secretly complaining in their hearts - you have already made such a gesture, why are you still doing this?
Yes, Sam Atwood did commit the crime of betraying the church and selling out his own people, but it was indeed the Rhine nobles who induced him to fall... There is indeed nothing wrong with holding the Rhine nobles accountable while holding one's own people accountable.
Although the Gold Coin Church is a low-level sect that is often mocked by outsiders as "money makes things easier", it is not so easy to talk to as to allow people to murder the Night Watchmen and drag church members into corruption without doing anything.
But given the precarious situation of the Rhine Kingdom now... sending people to investigate the responsibility at this moment, and they are the blood relatives of the "victim", what's the difference between this and helping the Nightmare Butcher to commit atrocities!
"Your Majesty, the Kingdom of Rhine is, after all, a diocese of the Church." A senior priest of the Senate who was qualified to question the Pope's decision reminded gently.
The Pope extended his hand and pointed to the thick "Summary" in the middle of the long table. He said in a calm tone, but with hidden anger: "The Kingdom of Rhine is a diocese of the Church. I used to think so before I saw this investigation report."
The priest who hoped to persuade the Pope was stunned.
It is unlikely that anyone who can make it to the Central would have a flaw in intelligence. The priest quickly realized why the Pope was so angry...
"Allowing the spread of evil cults without any control, or even fanning the flames—" His Holiness the Pope raised his chin slightly, veins slowly surging on his forehead, no longer hiding his anger, "The church doesn't need these pseudo-believers, and neither does Lady Gold Coin."
The priest who had spoken shut his mouth.
The upper echelons of the original Lars city had indeed kept their butts clean. There were absolutely no traces of evil worship within dozens of miles around the city, and the cultists active in the city were all low-level cultists with clean backgrounds who usually only did miscellaneous tasks such as delivering messages.
If any other organization or institution had descended on Lars City to investigate the disappearance of the Night Watch, they would never have found out anything - even if Sam Atwood, the only Night Watch officer who knew about the "upline", was arrested, the former Lord of Lars City would have plenty of ways to distance himself from the matter.
Not to mention that Sam Atwood was already in a mentally unstable state. There was a high possibility that he would lose control of his emotions during interrogation and kill the investigator on the spot... This guy was not only a member of the church, but also a blood relative of the church's top leaders. The Gold Coin Church could only swallow its anger and could not blame anyone else.
These cunning people had planned everything, but they didn't expect that the evil black magician who had swallowed up the Innader Territory and the Adler Territory in the south would bring more than a thousand people on a boat to kick down their door...
The upper class ran away cleanly, and the middle class was also scattered, with no one to help cover up and manage the situation; the old mayor of Baboba Town, who had been shrewd and cautious all his life, dared to come forward and inform on the matter, so it was only natural that the underwear of the Tachia nobles was stripped clean.
The priest, who had been frowning since reading the "Summary", nodded his head in indignation, "Yes, if it weren't for the captain of the night watch in Dutata City, Metz, who lifted the veil, who knows how long those damned cultists would have deceived the church! When the Rhine Kingdom was invaded, the church sent priests to help. This is how the Rhine royal family repays the church!"
Two hundred years ago, during the Rhine Kingdom's Defense War, the diocesan bishop of Tachia was caught off guard at the beginning because he was not prepared and had to evacuate his men first.
When the Rhine Capital was slow to organize a counterattack due to internal strife, corruption, and war profiteering, it was indeed the two legions of priests sent by the Gold Coin Church that held up the enemy's northern troops, preventing the main enemy force moving down the Barcelo River from receiving reinforcements and being stopped at the gates of .
Another priest from the Senate who was also angered by the content of the "Summary" said coldly: "The diocese that countless people in the church have devoted their lives to maintain is not for the convenience of those cultists."
The proliferation of cults is inevitable. Even powerful churches like the Blazing Sun Church and the Storm Church still have cultists causing chaos every year, but the Gold Coin Church will not respond to this.
But the nature of the matter is different when a large number of Rhine nobles are involved.
"Officially" surrendering to the enemy, what's the difference between this and parish betrayal? !
What made the Pope and the cardinals hate it even more was that these Rhine nobles voted for the "Whisperers", a cult that was regarded as the biggest enemy by all orthodox religions!
Being able to prolong one's lifespan, even if it meant living like the living dead, was very tempting to those who had the conditions to perform living sacrifices. No one knew this better than the central priests - the collective fall of the upper echelons of Lars City, and even the nobles of Creek City, the capital of Tachia, were involved, which was irrefutable evidence.
The Pope thought even further... Although it was not mentioned in the "Summary" compiled by Night Watch Captain Metz and another agent named Stanford, no one can deny that the Rhine royal family is also involved!
In the final analysis, for ordinary people who are not extraordinary, the temptation of extending life is too great! The higher the status of ordinary people, the more difficult it is to resist!
The Pope, who looked very unhappy, nodded to the two cardinals who had made clear their positions, then looked at the other three and said in a deep voice, "It's the 'Eternal Sleepers' and the 'Whisperers' again. Even our diocesan bishop and the Night Watch are not sure how many evil cults there are in the Rhine Kingdom, and how many Rhine nobles these sects are connected to. We may need to examine it further to determine which side we should support to rule this diocese."
The Rhine Royal Family is undoubtedly the ruler of the Rhine Kingdom Diocese. The Pope directly put the Rhine Royal Family on the same footing as the Nightmare Butcher. This tendency is actually very obvious...
The three priests on the council who had not expressed their opinions exchanged glances, thought for a moment, and nodded in agreement.
The so-called "Undead Regime" launched by the black magician Nightmare Butcher rules the diocese of the Gold Coin Church. It is indeed unpleasant to say... but apart from its bad reputation, there seems to be no other shortcomings.
The tithe tax has never been in arrears.
The evil sects that were competing with the orthodox sects for believers were dealt a heavy blow.
The undead of the Nightmare Butcher is also very keen on helping parishes around the country solve difficult and dangerous incidents. Not only is the remuneration they ask for lower than the normal commission, but their efficiency is also quite high.
As for the bad reputation... Anyway, the reputation of the Gold Coin Church has never been very good!
So... on the day when Priest Atwood set out from the Holy Land and boarded an airship to the capital of the Rhine to call for justice, a letter signed by several priests of the Senate and stamped with the emblem of the gold coin church was also sent from the Holy Land to the city of Lars.
This important letter, which was also entrusted to the Bounty Hunter Association for air transportation, was delivered to Yang Qiu at dusk that day.
"The priests of the Gold Coin Church are indeed reasonable people."
After reading the contents of the letter, Yang Qiu gave a thumbs up to those casual priests, and then happily... urged Zhao Zhenzhen (national team) to speed up the training of indigenous grassroots cadres.
The Gold Coin Church, this stumbling block, has decided to support "fair competition", so he will not be polite and must conquer the Rhine Kingdom within this year!
On the other hand, the old king in the capital felt dizzy when he heard that the Gold Coin Church had sent a cardinal to investigate the collusion between the nobles of Tachia and the cultists.
As for the matter of the Undead regime extending its hand to the Taqiya Territory, so many days have passed and the old king knows everything he should know.
The year before last it was Innadri, last year it was Adler, this year it was Tachia... The Nightmare Butcher was determined to snatch a piece of his territory every year, and the old king really vomited blood on the spot.
What made the old king even more anxious and angry was that at this moment the Odysseus family also started to make trouble - Phoenix claimed that he was humiliated by the third prince and demanded an open duel with the third prince!
If the third prince didn't dare to duel, Phoenix claimed that he would lead his troops to the capital for an "armed trip"... When the old king thought about how he had supported this dead girl last year to resist the Rose royal family's covetousness, a mouthful of blood got stuck in his throat.
A prince from the royal family certainly cannot duel with a woman from a noble family.
Winning would bring shame to the royal family, and it would also prove that the third prince had indeed disregarded the dignity of the royal family and humiliated the daughter of a great noble.
If they lose, the royal family will have to throw away its reputation.
The old king was already annoyed enough, and now the Gold Coin Church has done this again. He really can't stand it anymore.
The day after Priest Atwood arrived at the Rhine capital, several court mages who had been served by the Rhine royal family for many years secretly left the palace.
On the same day, two private yachts sailed out of the Royal Capital Port, one heading for Lars City and the other for Dutata City.
