Ch.430Official Conclusion

# Empire of Karl Las

After leaving the capital city of Alhebron, the Church of Volberg and Church of Grimnir moved to their respective core cities.

Wolfgang, who was framed as the mastermind behind the cardinal’s assassination, marched to Barseba, which he had jointly ruled with the Church of Vimos, and completely occupied the entire city.

The Church of Vimos made it clear that they didn’t care what he did as long as their believers weren’t harmed, and Wolfgang accepted this, allowing him to enter the city without bloodshed.

Walter Lübitz of the Church of Grimnir headed to Nasiriya.

Shernel, the archbishop of the Church of Ceres who had co-ruled Nasiriya, wanted to refuse Walter’s entry, but he couldn’t stand against the Church of Grimnir that came with all their followers.

After all, the city was already full of Grimnir’s church members.

“Archbishop Shernel! Lay down your weapons and surrender! If you don’t resist, I guarantee the safety of your followers!”

After hearing Walter’s declaration directly from atop the city wall, Shernel surrendered to Walter after much deliberation.

There was no way to win a fight, and honestly, he didn’t feel like fighting anyway.

Shernel knew why they had come here.

Or rather, he could guess.

They came to Nasiriya because the cardinals in the capital had framed them.

Shernel opened the city gates without resistance, and Walter, respecting his cooperative attitude, didn’t harm a hair on Shernel or any of the Ceres followers.

He only urged them to leave, saying they couldn’t remain in the city.

The members of the Church of Ceres who remained in Nasiriya left for the capital Alhebron with Shernel, and the remaining city became the property of the Church of Grimnir.

Of course, it wasn’t because Walter Lübitz had an abundance of compassion that he let Shernel leave quietly.

If he had slaughtered them all, there would be no way to refute the false accusations against them.

Barseba and Nasiriya.

The Free Holy Army, having occupied these two cities, began to fortify them while vehemently condemning the churches that had framed them for the assassination.

Other churches criticized the Free Holy Army but showed no further movement.

The Church of Warriors and the Church of Mages, holed up in fortified castles.

They were not only difficult opponents to attack, but no church wanted to be branded as having fired the starting gun for the Second Religious War.

Even the Church of Menes did not attack the Free Holy Army.

Though for somewhat different reasons than the other churches.

They never believed the cardinals’ announcement in the first place, so instead of condemning and attacking Wolfgang, they independently began investigating the real culprit.

It was around this time that the declaration written by Lacy and Bells was posted throughout the Holy State.

—-

A manifesto that severely criticized the current Holy State and pointed to the cardinals and blind followers as the source of all evil.

For the common people, it was nothing short of a tremendous shock.

They could finally understand the identity of the inexplicable oppression that had been squeezing their hearts.

That emotion was named distrust.

Religious doubt toward the church, felt for the first time in their lives.

The church’s behavior, so different from what they had been taught and believed, was enough to shake even the faith that had been repeatedly instilled in them since birth.

Voices criticizing the church began to spread.

Just as Stardolf had hoped.

—-

And it wasn’t just the believers of the Holy State who found this declaration impressive.

In some underground room in the Holy State.

A flickering candle dimly illuminated a man half-lying on a sofa.

A tall man with narrow, sharp eyes that barely showed his pupils, and short chin beard.

He had distinctive tattoos covering his entire forehead and under his eyes.

The man chuckled as he blew Mana Herb smoke toward the ceiling.

Beside him, a woman with lush purple hair sat on the armrest of the sofa, scanning a small piece of paper he had handed her.

“What do you think, Eljur?”

An appearance that matched Hush’s description.

Eljur, the leader of the Council of Dream Utopia who had supposedly been annihilated by Haschal and the Church of Menes, was here.

“This manifesto? It criticizes the cardinals, but… I can’t say they’re on our side. The purpose of this writing is different from ours. This was written by someone who wants reform, not annihilation. Still…”

“—But we can use it, can’t we?”

The man cut off Eljur’s words and turned his head to look at her.

“Hehe… judging by your expression, you’ve thought of something terrible. What are you planning to do now? Valkers.”

Eljur smirked and ignited a flame to burn the manifesto she had been reading.

White smoke rose as the ashes scattered like dust.

“I must sow discord. That is my true calling, after all.”

Valkers tapped his Mana Herb into the ashtray beside him, pulling up the corners of his mouth.

======================

The Paulus assassination case was “officially” closed, and the capital city finally returned to normal after being at a standstill for ten days.

Contrary to expectations of a bloody conflict, it was quite a peaceful conclusion.

The two churches accused as culprits occupied only two cities and remained stationary, while the churches in the capital seemed to have decided to leave them alone for now.

If the dead Paulus had seen this outcome, he might have jumped up in disbelief before feeling resentful.

[What a deflating conclusion. It’s pathetic.]

Hersella mocked the churches that fiercely criticized each other yet didn’t actually shed a drop of blood.

While it’s fortunate that civil war didn’t break out, even I found the resolution so anticlimactic that it was ridiculous—how much more so for Hersella?

Anyway, with the capital returning to normal, Lacy’s hearing was also scheduled to resume.

Though it was a mess of a hearing with the collaborator dead and two churches gone.

“It might be a good thing for me. The Church of Volberg, which harbored resentment over Baron Median’s past issues, has left, and the other churches have shown disgrace incomparable to my transgressions… In this situation, it would be difficult for them to excessively interrogate me. Plus, the manifestos we spread throughout the region seem to have been effective.”

Lacy said with a smile.

According to reports from the Special Crusader of Seals, since the spread of the manifesto, people criticizing the corruption of the churches have been forming small gatherings.

To prevent them from acting rashly, Special Crusader agents have infiltrated the larger groups to control them.

Of course, the Special Crusader of Seals was also faithfully carrying out their original mission to infiltrate criminal organizations across the region and investigate their backgrounds.

The disappearances in Nasiriya. The violent organizations in the back alleys of Barseba.

Even the illegal brothels in Arvil.

While the Council of Dream Utopia, a criminal organization in Holon, had been dealt with by my hands, other cities were still plagued by cancerous entities.

Some personnel had died in the line of duty… but overall, things seemed to be progressing smoothly.

Though the infiltration methods I was briefed on were mind-boggling.

In Nasiriya, they were making people disappear from back alleys themselves to find the trail of kidnappers.

Saying that the kidnappers would eventually reveal themselves when they ran out of targets.

…Isn’t this kind of “thinking outside the box” closer to insanity?

Nasiriya wasn’t the only place that was absurd.

The Special Crusader in Barseba had disguised themselves as a new violent organization, destroyed one group, absorbed their thugs, and were now competing for dominance in the back alleys.

They were about to determine the strongest organization in the back alleys when the Church of Volberg members occupied the city, causing everyone to remain silent for now.

Disguising as a violent group was fine, but… what exactly did they do to end up in a power struggle?

That part wasn’t written in the report.

Arvil was quite a spectacle.

Non-priest agents had taken on the role of prostitutes to infiltrate the pleasure district.

It’s good to be loyal to Lacy, but this level of dedication is somewhat…

Isn’t it a bit much?

Did Lacy brainwash her subordinates or something?

“…Their hatred for evil and other races is that immense. To the point where they willingly sacrifice their bodies for the greater cause.”

According to Lacy’s explanation, their fundamental motivation wasn’t faith but grudges and hatred.

Or personal loyalty to Lacy.

Most members had apparently suffered terrible pain at the hands of other races or evil people.

Those who had to watch their families being eaten by Werebeasts.

Those who lost their lovers to fairies, and worse, lost all contact with them.

Even victims rescued from dens of evil.

She said it was an organization carefully selected with people who prioritized revenge over their own lives.

“Still… this is a bit… excessive. I didn’t intend for them to be this extreme…”

Even Lacy apparently hadn’t expected them to go so far as to disguise themselves as prostitutes for infiltration.