The Secret Talk
The Secret Talk
The secret chamber was not commodious at all, it could only take one round table and four chairs. The other two archbishops were already seated. The first seat facing the wooden door was vacant. With his failing health, the pope had not shown his presence in almost half a year. Mayne would visit the Pivotal Secret Area of Hermes' underground castle only when he encountered tough problems and sought help from the pope.
"Since you all have gathered, let's begin." Mayne locked the door and sat between the two others. "Tayfun, how was the social order maintained in the Kingdom of Everwinter?"
"Besides the nobles from King's City, there were not many revolts in other areas. The plebeians even welcomed us to rule the kingdom." Tayfun touched his beard and said, "Of course, the nobles who still clung to their glories in the past will be annihilated one by one."
"Very well." Heather licked her lips. "If it were up to me to make the judgment, the citizens would realize the ugly side of the nobilities. It is a shame that I have so much to do over here and couldn't make it to the Kingdom of Everwinter."
Mayne ignored her words and said to Tayfun, "Those vacant positions need to be filled with our people. The church raised so many talented individuals for this occasion. Now is the time to use them. Originally, the church had the most influence on the Kingdom of Everwinter. The smaller the waves that we make, the quicker that we will be able to handle the Kingdom of Dawn and the Kingdom of Wolfheart."
"This is natural."
"The people who seek refuge from the church—I mean, the nobility—how shall we deal with them?" Heather asked. "The reason why the church has attracted so many excellent believers is that we care about their ability instead of their background. If we hastily accept those fools, we'll shake the foundations of the church. My suggestion is... " She made a gesture of cutting down her throat.
"Leave them aside. We can make the issue clear to them after the situation becomes stabilized. That way, we'll meet less resistance." Regarding this issue, Mayne had consulted the pope. "The church could offer them positions equivalent to their noble ranks, which, however, can't be passed on to their descendants. Don't forget that we'll abolish the monarchy in the end. We don't need to be too anxious, Your Excellency Heather."
Heather was born in a low-income family. She had gone through the hardships of starvation and vagrancy before the church took her in. She climbed to this position, thanks to the fact that she was born with a keen mind and extraordinary judgment. Mayne deeply understood Heather's hatred toward the nobility. However, they needed to look at the bigger picture for now.
"How has the Kingdom of Graycastle been?" he asked.
"According to the information, the new lord Timothy didn't return to King's City after he was defeated. Instead, he went straight to the Eastern Region," Tayfun answered.
"A smart choice." Heather snapped her fingers. "He took Duke Frances to challenge the Queen of Clearwater, and when the duke died, he immediately went to divide the territory of the duke so as to stabilize the army and win over the support of other nobles. Well, well... not everyone in the royal family is a moron."
"This way, we don't need to worry as much. Let the High Priest from the church of King's City contact him. I believe, in such a predicament, he wouldn't refuse the benefits offered by the church. We'll cut down 30% of the distribution of pills to Port of Clearwater so as to balance the power between the two. You shall take care of it, Tayfun." Mayne arranged it. "In two years, the Kingdom of Graycastle would not have a single available soldier."
"Don't worry." Tayfun nodded. "But... something is wrong with Longsong Stronghold in the west of Graycastle."
"What happened?"
"After having defeated Duke Ryan, Prince Roland returned to Border Town. He didn't reply to the invitation from Tylo. Perhaps, is Prince Roland not intending to fight for the throne?"
"Well, what do you think?" Mayne looked at Heather.
The latter shrugged. "There's not much to think about... What were the rumors about him? They said he was ignorant, ill-mannered, incompetent, and covetous. I presume that someone like that wouldn't be able to conquer Longsong Stronghold. So the answer is obvious. He lied to everyone, nobles and also us."
"You mean that..." Mayne frowned.
"Our Royal Decree on the Selection of the Crown Prince picked the wrong person, Lord Mayne." She sneered. "He should be the one on the stage, not Princess Garcia."
"Being able to defeat a duke showed his capability. However, no matter how talented an individual is, it'll be meaningless if he doesn't have enough resources." Tayfun shook his head. "If he chose to go back to that desolate place, that means that he has given up the chance to fight for the throne of the Kingdom of Graycastle. In this way, he'll naturally not hinder our plan."
"Yes, theoretically. However, it becomes interesting to view the situation with this new information." Heather took out a note. "My personal information."
Mayne unfolded the note and scanned through it. "Witches?"
"Uh-huh, a witch organization, which calls itself the Witch Cooperation Association, claims that they have settled down in Border Town and beckon other sisters to gather there. This may be a rumor without any confirmed evidence, and I shouldn't have brought it here for discussion, but we all know that the name 'Witch Cooperation Association' isn't made up. Since the association was attacked by our Judgement Army in the forest east of King City, its members fled to the west and ultimately disappeared in some place to the west of Longsong Stronghold. And Border Town is just outside of the Western Region of Graycastle, at the foot the Impassable Mountain Range. Your Excellency, don't you think that this is too coincidental?"
Witch Cooperation Association... Mayne had a vague impression of that name. They were hunted by the Judgement Army, and yet insisted on fleeing toward the Impassable Mountain Range even after losing many of its members. Through interrogating a captured witch, they knew that the witches wanted to find Holy Mountain in Barbarian Land. This was a suicidal act. Therefore, he did not put much effort into chasing them. There were several witch organizations like that over in the Kingdom of Wolfheart and the Kingdom of Dawn. Those witches who hid in the city were far more threatening than those who rushed to Barbarian Land.
"You mean that this prince is afflicted with the witch organization?" Tayfun's face was gloomy after hearing the news.
"Maybe or maybe not." Heather curled up her lips. "It's a simple speculation of mine. What're witches most afraid of? 'Being exposed.' Apparently, using the name Witch Cooperation Association will receive attention from the church. However, they're still using that name in their underground messages. Why?"
"Because to us, this is a familiar name," Mayne said calmly, "as it is to the other witches."
"Exactly!" Heather clapped her hands. "That way, it could lower the vigilance of wild witches. And perhaps someone will be attracted by this news and go to Border Town. It's difficult to imagine they dare to do so without the support of the lord. We always say that we choose the lesser of two evils. Apparently, they believe that the consequence of not being able to recruit witches would be more serious than being exposed..." Her voice grew gloomy. "I feel that we've underestimated."
"This isn't a problem of underestimating or not," Tayfun said in a furry. "Once the witches have settled down, they'll be able to use their power without worries. They'll probably soon discover that the so-called Demonic Torture can be avoided. That's why we need to annihilate any residing witches and force them to hide or live in exile. Only by that way can we maintain the secret."
Mayne knew that Tayfun had the right points. Witches themselves were not a threat to the church. However, as a group, once they got rid of their identity of 'sinner,' they would be impactful to the church's propaganda and even influence the foundation of the church's control.
He found that he had fallen into a dilemma. In normal situations, they should launch the Judgement Army to annihilate the witches. However, Border Town was too distant from Hermes. In addition, the church's army would soon attack the Kingdom of Wolfheart, so it was difficult for them to arrange the army to destroy this remote town. In addition, at such a turning point, if they commanded a large army to enter the Kingdom of Graycastle, it would raise the vigilance of Graycastle and the other two nations. This might affect later plans.
He decided after a long cogitation.
"I'll send an emissary delegation to Border Town. There'll be 10 members of the Judgement Army and a priest. They'll investigate this issue with the help of Priest Tylo. If the prince isn't involved with the Witch Cooperation Association, then this emissary delegation will eradicate the witches on its own."
"What if the prince is involved in this?" Heather asked.
[God's Punishment Army only obeys my orders and that of a few trusted priests. This is a rule personally set by the pope.] Thinking of that, Mayne said word by word, "Bring the news back to Holy City and I'll lead the God's Punishment Army to the town."