Chapter 321 (1/2)
”Religion is like a double-edged sword!” Rody sighed and smiled bitterly ”Of course it is useful to control people’s mind, but the more sacred it is, the more unacceptable for it to be desecrated Once the believers realized that the bishops and the servants of Gods whoarded as sacred and superior are actually a bunch of conradually beca!”
Nicole lowered her head and thought for aslowly, ”I see, so your plan is to seize this opportunity to defaain continuous support froently around Nicole’s waist and sround for one whole day, it’s tio back to the church and visit the bishop The bishop must have slimmed down quite a bit these few days due to depression”
Mouse, as sitting beside thehed and looked at Rody, her expression co with the Church, why didn’t you ested it to the Sauron King too”
Rody was silent for ame? Now that war has started in the Roland Continent, many will die in this war between the Tedo now, even if I’ve told the Sauron King about it then, he wouldn’t be able to use it against the Tedom is different from Radiant Empire!”
Inside the West Hill Church, the bishop was very miserable The soldiers fro it seem like a prison nobody was allowed to enter or leave, including those ere in charge of daily purchase of food supplies for the church
Initially, the bishop was even afraid that they were planning to let hi that those who had been sent out to purchase food were severely punished after atteain
Fortunately, Rody did not want their lives right now He ordered his soldiers to toss a few pieces of cheap, dried, black bread inside every day
But since when had the bishop as used to live an extravagant life suffered such hardshi+p? And none of those high-ranking clergy three days of coarse food, all of the, but they dared not make any moves as they were deterred by Marquis Rody’s authority
However, they could tolerate everything else Even if the food was bad, they could just put up with it, but the soldiers outside not only stopped those inside fro, they also stopped those who came to clean up the church, which of course included those carts which handled the toilets!
There were dozens of clergymen stuck in the church for these few days No matter how little they ate, they still needed to defecate! The toilets in the church were not cleaned for days Upon stepping inside, one could smell the unconcealed stench around the once-sacred church
The bishop could only sit about and pray every day Things were getting out of hand this time, and he knew that even if he could escape dooe responsibilities afterward
He had been waiting for the Flaht, and when they finally arrived, things did not go as expected by the bishop That Marquis Rody’s attitude was extraordinarily unconored the Church’s Flame Warriors and the public security forces’ soldiers had no intention to disperse at all The Flame Warriors were simply pushed aside!
Rody’s attitude was harsh He did not even order his e proper quarters for the Fla officer to greet them for show and set up a simple shelter outside the church After Strehl failed to meet Rody, he went back to the church dejectedly, and he understood that this matter could not be resolved within a short period of tiht that ca officer and request for quarters to be arranged to house his two thousand warriors
The reasons Strehl gave was simple First of all, whenever the Flame Warriors traveled to any place in the Empire, usually the local church would be responsible to provide for thee, and there were never any armies of the church stationed here as West Hill was the fief of the Tulip Family, so naturally West Hill should take over the responsibility
The co officer had already received secret orders from Rody He listened to the Flame Warriors’ request quietly then spread out his hands, replying without emotion, ”I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill your request Barracks for the Church’s warriors never existed in West Hill City To be honest, the only barracks here is where our public security forces’ soldiers are stationed Other than thathehe, before this there was an euards of the Tulip Mansion, but now it is occupied by Marquis Rody’s escort troops Hence, there’s nothing I can do about your request”
Strehl objected angrily, ”So, are you saying that we, the warriors of the holy Fla officer rolled his eyes and replied lazily, ”Well, to be honest, this is beyond my jurisdiction But if you must find a place to stay, why not head to the Tulip Mansion’s barracks and discuss with Marquis Rody’s escort troops? Ask them if they can make some room for you in the barracks”
Strehl immediately sent ten of his men there, but in less than an hour, all of his ten warriors ca back with bruises and swollen faces
It turned out that when they arrived there, before they could even finish talking, they were ruthlessly thrown out by Marquis Rody’s escort troops These people froant and looked down on local troops
But this time, they had run their heads into a brick wall
Marquis Rody was here in West Hill with his neife, Miss Nicole, escorted by a troop of two thousand guards Although they were not the Lightning God’s Whip and their co God’s Whip, their haughty eous!
Those were two thousand Imperial Guards!
Who were the Iuards ere specifically responsible for guarding the royals all along! In the name of the royal family, each of them had always looked down on other people The Flaance? The Iant than theainst each other and the Imperial Guards hurled curses at them ‘All this while it was only us, the Imperial Guards, who bullied others There was never anybody who dared to corab our territory!’
Strehl was deeply troubled He was not a fool Although he was a little bit ill-te down
It was obvious that this Marquis Rody was deliberately defying the Church!
The identity of this newly enitary of the Empire was somewhat unique He was not only the brother-in-law of the Empire’s supreme commander, Duke of the Tulip Faiment coht-provoking was the fact that a Marquis of the E his travelThis honor was exclusively for members of the royal family!
He could not afford to offend such a person! It seeh! Initially, they thought it to only be a normal dispute within the local area of the church, so he was sent here to mediate and suppress the mob It did not occur to them that the situation here was so co rashly Things had come up to this point where it could not be handled by someone of his rank anymore He immediately sent his men back to the Imperial City to report on the situation here On the other hand, he had no other choice but to order all his men to station on the square outside the church
When this order was passed down, the Flame Warriors were stunned
‘Stationed on the spot? How? By sleeping on the streets?’
Due to the powerful influence of the Church in the E any supplies when traveling to any city in the Empire This time, when two thousand of thee, just some personal rations, let alone heavy supplies like tents
These two thousand people had to be fed, and the horses needed to graze too Where would they source for these?
At one point, Strehl even put aside his ego and beseeched the public security cos froes in the nahty God
However, when they heard of his sayings, fro officer to the soldiers, all of thehtforwardly, ”I’h the religion of God had established its status as the state religion, the Empire’s laws did not ion of God Also, even though the laws dictate that one was not allowed to eion of God, and it was declared as the only legal religious organization in the Eiven the right to be a non-believer
This ions, then it was a personal choice whether or not to eion of God
Strehl was in utter despair now He had already noticed that in West Hill, even in the whole of Westwood Province, everyone here, no matter if it were the soldiers or normal civilians, they seemed to possess an extraordinary air of superiority In their hearts, whether it was the Empire’s emperor or His Excellency the Pope, they were incoreat Duke of the Tulip Family! In their eyes, they knew nobody except the Tulip This place was basically the Tulip’s private kingdom!
But fortunately, Rody did not really want theht on the streets, Marquis Rody finally showed his face
At noon the next day, young Lord Rody probably woke up late After having breakfast and washi+ng up, he brought along the fifty ered to the church on horseback
When greeted by a weary-looking Strehl, a gentle smile finally appeared on Rody’s face He did not dismount from his horse, but instead sat there and spoke in a kind manner, ”Lord Strehl, you arrived yesterday? It h journey I wonder if you’ve rested well last night?”
Strehl looked helplessly at the sht, and right now his stoive soly, ”Since you’ve had a good rest, then we shall start handling this dispute today I’o I hope you understand that the reason I ordered , and forbid anyone fro, is because I’m afraid someone will take the opportunity to destroy the evidence I did this purely for the purpose of preserving the Church’s sacred glory!”
Rody paused and waved his hands, signaling the soldiers surrounding the church to make way He finally dismounted froo in andthe church, Rody’s expression became harsh when he saw the bishop Rody was livid and he looked at the bishop coldly, saying in a deep voice, ”Your Eations these few days, and indeed so fraud in the name of the Church”
The bishop’s voice was hoarse, but he shouted, ”We have been framed! False accusation!”
Rody shook his head and replied softly, ”Whether or not you are fraoes, to catch a thief you esture of justice, I will order my men to enter and search the church to see if there’s any booty If there aren’t, this move is the most effective method to crack down on those slanders! To prove the church’s innocence with irrefutable evidence! I think this is the best solution we have nohat do you think?”
His final question ‘what do you think?’ was obviously directed at Strehl Rody then added, ”The reason I delayed the search here is to wait for your arrival These past few days, I merely ordered my men to surround the church so that ill only do the search in your presence when you’re here Only by doing this can justice be preserved”
Search the church? Search a religious institute of a parish of the religion of God in the E the era of the Great Emperor Abbas, as a powerful ruler who ruled with an iron-fist, he was not so disrespectful to the Church!
But then, even the Great Ee the Church
Strehl carefully weighed Rody’s words in his heart Search the church? If this young Marquis dared to come up with such proposal, then he must be quite confident Or else, what he did these few days would be totally useless