Chapter 383 (1/2)

Chapter 383: The Bite

Translator: Meh Editor: – –

Inside the Tower of Babel at Hermes Cathedral.

The newly-crowned Supreme Pontiff, Mayne, was quietly listening to the reports of the three Bishops in the secret room.

Aside from the elder Bishop Tayfun, the other two were newly-promoted Archbishops, Soli Darl and Ell, who came from the Verdict Army and Tribunal respectively. The former had been a gallant and heroic Presiding Judge who had gained a stellar reputation over the course of more than 25 years of service in the army, and the latter had been Heather’s adjutant and was also widely respected.

“The intake of orphans from the Kingdom of Everwinter has been very successful during this year’s Months of Demons. The nobles of every major city have fully yielded to the church. At present, the number of orphans sent to the Holy City is already three times more than the planned,” Tayfun said with a sigh. “This is the only piece of good news recently.”

The nobles were always like this—as soon as they saw that the situation was not advantageous to them, they would change sides faster than they drank water. Mayne nodded and replied, “This is only the first year, and there will be more and more in the future. If we’re able to take over the whole continent, our yearly intake could fill up an entirely new city.”

“I hope so.” Tayfun sighed deeply. “How many times has this place been attacked by demonic beasts since the heavy snow began to fall?”

“Six times,” Soli replied.

“Six times… and hundreds of Verdict Warriors have already died on the frontline,” Tayfun said in a heavy tone. “The God’s Punishment Army has also lost ten of its personnel, and the demonic beasts’ offensive will only become fiercer next year.”

“This is easier than fighting the demons,” Ell said and gestured with his hands. “Although I haven’t personally witnessed the might of the demons, the Holy Book describes them as invincible. Is it really necessary to defend this place to the death?”

“What on earth do you mean?!” Soli frowned upon hearing Ell’s words. “God gives us our direction and strength. As his disciples, how can we not stick to our faith and run away instead?”

“Stop quarreling,” Mayne said, thumping his scepter on the ground. “After working with Heather for more than ten years, Ell has been affected by her loose-lipped temperament.” As he watched Soli and Ell bicker, he could not help thinking about the partnership between Tayfun and Heather in the old times. He glanced at the old Bishop, only to discover that the latter was glancing back at him, as if they were thinking about the same thing. “Our ultimate goal is to sustain the human race, and the only way to do so is to defeat our enemies.”

“Understood, Your Holiness.” The two Bishops bowed their heads in respect.

Although, even he himself was not sure if they could defeat the demons by maintaining their position and defending Hermes.

Mayne suddenly thought about O’Brien’s entrustment and felt his shoulders grow heavy.

The Fearful Beasts of Hell had already appeared, and the demons would arrive in five years. Mayne would get to witness the next Battle of Divine Will while he was alive, but unlike O’Brien, he would not be able to entrust his duties to a successor. He could neither sleep nor eat well whenever he thought about this.

In truth, he had also thought about leaving a way out for himself. When Garcia’s Blacksail Fleet was captured, Mayne did not order the ships to be burned nor execute all of the rebels, but instead locked them behind bars. Apart from executing a few of the fleet leaders together with a large number of scapegoats who were actually commoners living in the slums, most of the fleet crew were kept alive and were presently locked up in the harbor of the Kingdom of Everwinter by Mayne’s most trusted subordinates.

If the defensive line is completely broken, the Fjords will become the final refuge—even though retreating to those islands will mean that Mankind is near extinction and has no chance of redemption, at least I’ll be able to live out the rest of my life.

After all, hasn’t Mankind already done everything it could and not been able to defeat its enemies in two attempts?”

In the subsequent discussions regarding how the church should expand and how to stabilize the governance of the Kingdom of Wolfheart, Mayne did not pay much attention. He waited until the three bishops finished discussing before saying absent-mindedly, “We’ll do as you three have said. That’ll be it for today’s meeting.”