Chapter 123 (1/2)

Chapter 123 The Invitation of the Church

It was already the fourth day since Roland had taken over the castle, today nearly all nobles in the surrounding areas were gathered inside the castle Grand Hall.

Although most people already knew of the news, Roland still felt that it was necessary to tell them personally that the Western territory now had a new ruler.

After he informed them about his intentions to move back to Border Town and that the eldest son of the Honeysuckle Family would now rule in his stead, everyone had suddenly started to discussing the news. Of course, no one was willing to take the lead at this time to stand up and object to it, after all, the Duke’s head was still hanging above the city gate and news that King Timothy had suffered a great loss and couldn’t send any external forces was now also known to everyone.

Furthermore, all the knights of the Honeysuckle Family had already been redeemed, while at the same time he hadn’t accepted any ransom for the other knights, so that the knights, together with the mercenaries, could all come back with him to Border Town. In Roland’s plan, the mercenaries would be sent to the mine, where they could work to earn their freedom, and the knights would get a job offer in case they showed their repentance and had good manner – after all, most knights were literate and could thus also be used as teachers. Of course, for the rest of their life the wouldn’t ever be allowed to ever use a weapon again.

If it was handled like this, the Honeysuckle Family should have enough power to hold the other four noble families back, and they should also have enough troops to defend Longsong Stronghold and their own territory as well, Roland thought. As for the invisible stirring undercurrent, it’s a problem that Petrov will have to worry about on his own.

In the past few days, he also took the time to send some Border Town residents back who had rebelled during the winter where many people had died out due to hunger and the cold, including the former Finance Minister Ferrero, they would all face trial in Border Town. His only regret was that the mastermind behind the attempt to burn his food and the death of Grayhound, Count Medde had already been killed on the battlefield.

Today, the traffic between the Longsong Stronghold and Border Town has finally been restored, which meant that until the end of next week many ships would sail upstream to Border Town to deliver the gathered supplies. Roland guessed that Barov would be very busy for the few next weeks, he had not only received a lot of looted gold coins, he also had to organize the resettlement of the large number of immigrants. Also it was still unknown whether Karl had built enough wooden sheds.

Thinking of this problems, he could not help but want to return to the Border Town as soon as possible, in addition, the great farming operation also needed to start soon.

After entertaining all the nobles to lunch, Roland intended to take a nap, but then one of his guards announced a special guest.

The High Priest of the Church in Longsong Stronghold.

Hearing this, Roland suddenly had no thought of sleep left.

Longsong Stronghold was completely different from Border Town, here the Church had already been rooted for a long time, they not only had a church, they have even dispatched a High Priest to this place. This was also the Prince’s main reason that he had decided to further develop Border Town rather than staying further in Longsong Stronghold – here the people were already under the influence of the church for a long time and any of the civilian could become their eyes. Here his plan to manipulate the people’s view would become complicated and the risk that the witches would be discovered would also become much higher. Unless he completely unrooted the Church, his reforms would never get a chance to work.

Paying attention to the replacement of the ruler of Longsong Stronghold is a normal thing for the Church, so Roland wasn’t too surprised that they would send him a representative to come into contact with him. However, the identity of the person they send was a bit special, as the High Priest of the Church he belonged to the most influential people of people, the area under his jurisdiction was of a similar size to that of a Duke.

Once more he decided to use the Grand Hall as the meeting place.

The High Priest Tylo seemed to be around 40 years old. He was dressed in the typical church-style with a with a white underrobe and a blue robe above it, giving him a very neat appearance and a behavior that was just like a courteous aristocracy. If he wasn’t a member of the royal family and allied with the witches, Roland believed that holding a conversation which such a person would have been a pleasure.

As the High Priest he had to be in possession of a high-quality God’s Stone of Retaliation, so in order to avoid any accidents, Roland specifically told Nightingale before the meeting, that she should stay away from him during it.

After Tylo gave him a salute, Roland invited him to sit at the table and ordered some tea.

No matter what he thought, he had to at least show a welcoming atmosphere on the surface.