Chapter 670 - How Dare You (1/2)
Chapter 670 How Dare You
Fanatics were useless believers to the lawful gods.
They could provide a great deal of faith power, a dozen, if not hundreds of times more than the average believer.
But the problem was that this group of people were too extreme in their actions.
They didn’t care at all about the status of others, nor did they care about the context in which others spoke. Whenever someone dared to say half a bad word about their god, they would break loose.
There was absolutely no room for maneuvering.
They pushed things to the point of no return.
So most of the time, the fanatics were given a place to settle.
They were put in some special organization, bound by doctrine.
But this wasn’t very safe either.
Once they found an opportunity to break out of their cage, they would cause great trouble.
The Church of Light then threw all the fanatics into the Inquisition, so at least a third of the people in the Inquisition were fanatics.
Including the director Macaron.
He looked at the Pope. His eyes then swept slightly over the three Saint Samurai with a flat expression. “I didn’t expect such a great man as you to come to our dull place.”
“Macaron, tell your men to stop.” The Pope sighed. “Things can’t go on like this. We can investigate internally, but we can’t arrest those outsiders. We need evidence.” “Evidence?” Macaron snorted. “Is that important? Is it as important as the reputation of our religion? Will it diminish the wrath of the Goddess? You should feel it too: the Goddess has cast her eyes down. She will be disappointed if we don’t do something about
it.”
The Pope held back his anger and advised, “That is no reason for you to arrest people indiscriminately, and I now hear that you have sent someone arrest those at the First Princess’s manor!”
“Can’t I?” Macaron snorted. “A woman with the scent of a Demon God is wandering in the territory of the Holy Realm. The Holy Lady sees it and ignores it, you hear about it and don’t care, and since you are ignoring this obvious oddity at such an important time, we, the Inquisition, will take responsibility for bringing her back for questioning?”.
“That’s the royal family’s territory, not ours.” The Pope finally couldn’t hold back and slammed the table, shouting, “Don’t throw a tantrum, think of the big picture. In this case, just uncover the people who corrupted Tula. If we really strike at the royal family, we’ll have to face the joint counterattack of the royal family and the Association of Mages. The two forces are inextricably linked. Wouldn’t sending people to the First Princess’s manor now be a declaration of war on the royal family? A declaration of war on the Association of Mages?”
“So what?” Macaron snorted.
“Stephanie is the future queen-do you understand what to do if something happens to her?”
“With the princess gone, there are still princes
– plenty of princes to inherit the throne.” Macaron stood up straight and proud. “All they’ve lost is a princess, and what we’ve lost is a Saint Samurai.”
The Pope took a deep breath. He almost couldn’t suppress his anger anymore. “Regardless, I forbid you to send men to deal with Stephanie.”
“You have no authority to order me around, Pope.” Macaron snorted. “The Inquisition has been out of the hands of the papal chambers since its inception, and you have no control over what we do.”
The Pope was so angry that the veins on his head were popping out.
The Church of Light had a system of separation of powers.
The Pope oversaw all the archbishops and combat priests, the Holy Lady managed the clerical, denominational propaganda, and logistical side of things, while the Inquisition cleaned up apostates internally and did some of the more shady work of tying up loose ends externally.
Normally, the Church of Light had the pope as its head.
But when it came to critical times, each faction of power had the freedom to act alone.
Normally, the Inquisition would give face to the Pope, but now the other side did not accept the Pope’s command and management. The Pope couldn’t deal with them in the name of apostasy.
Macaron said to his trusted aide next to him, “Thomas, take five hundred men and set out. If anyone dares to stand in your way, deal with them by the ordinance of apostasy, and if there’s someone you can’t handle, come back and tell me.”
Thomas smiled and glanced at the Pope, then turned and left.
The Pope clenched his teeth in anger, then he immediately said to a Saint Samurai behind him, “Orlanto, your wings of light are better and fly faster, now go immediately to inform Her Highness the First Princess and tell her to be careful. Tell her the Church of Light is caught up in internal strife.” The Saint Samurai turned around and left.
Most of the Saint Samurai were originally combat Priests, so they had more respect for the Pope, their old boss.
Macaron looked at the Pope coldly. “Telling the outside world that we’re in internal strife, Pope, where does this put the reputation of our church? Does the Goddess’s reputation still matter-do you, the Pope, still have some heart to defend the Goddess?”
The Pope said slowly, “Everything I do is for the development of the church, to spread the glory of the Goddess to more lands.”
“You have been compromising with worldly forces, and I see no move on your part to spread glory.” Macaron extended his finger and pointed it at the Pope’s heart. “Ask your conscience, has the total number of followers of our church grown in the decades of your reign?”
The Pope snorted. “A reckless man is worthy enough to talk to me about how to govern a church? You don’t even know what it means to protect the foundation, do you?”
“I only know that once the secular forces are subdued, there will naturally be more believers.” Maccarone sneered. “What your papal office dares not do, I will do for you. That’s all, Pope. Please leave, you’re too honorable to stay in such a gloomy place.”
The Pope’s old face grew darker and darker as he snorted, flung his cuffs, and turned to leave.
Once outside the confines of the Inquisition, the Pope said to the two Saint Samurai behind him, “Go to the First Princess’s manor as well, and if a fight breaks out, try to stop them. Try to lessen the deaths and injuries on the Princess’s side, and try not to let our people get hurt.”
The two Saint Samurai spread their wings and left.
The Pope had a forlorn look on his face.
As angry as he was at Macaron’s recklessness, the Inquisition was part of the Church of Light after all, and he had to help them tie up loose ends when they screwed things up; he couldn’t push them out and see them as outsiders.
It was a relationship between the palm and the back of the hand.
At this time, in front of the First Princess stood Orlanto.
After listening to the other party, Stephanie showed a hint of sarcasm. “Honorable Saint Samurai, your people are coming, and now you’re letting us go… I appreciate you informing us beforehand, but I have a question for you. Can you answer it?”
“Please go ahead.” Orlanto saluted slightly in a gentlemanly manner.
“If we go, then we’re showing fear for the Temple of Light. What will others think of the royal family? Wouldn’t they think we are cowards?” Stephanie spoke gently, but the words that slipped out from between her pink lips were sharp. “Glory is hard to establish, but it can be destroyed with one or two small things. In the future, the royal family will have a reputation for being cowards. Can you compensate for this? Or is this your scheme? You are the ones who sent people out to deal with me, and you are the ones who persuaded me to leave. Interestingly, you are the bad guys and the good guys—that is, you can tarnish the reputation of the royal family without making us hate you.”
Orlanto’s face became rather stiff.
When he came, he did have the idea of saving and protecting the First Princess.
As long as there was no corruption, there was a bottom line and a code of conduct for Saint Samurai.
But they couldn’t help what others may think.
“I…” Orlanto ran out of words. He was a Saint Samurai, not a politician or an orator, and didn’t know how to handle such a situation.
The First Princess looked at him and snorted. “So, Mr. Orlanto, please leave. I, Stephanie Fareins, will stand here today and never back down, whether it is the Inquisition or His Holiness the Pope’s squad of combat Priests that come. No one will make me so much as step half a foot out of this manor.”