Chapter 2017 - 543: Humans Are Truly Terrifying_4

The Judicial Court plans to end its holy mission in the Twilight Province before autumn arrives and hand over the local governance to the Holy Light Council.

A trace of mockery flashed in the turbid eyes of the old man.

Based on his understanding of Himenes, if the situation over there were truly as smooth as claimed, His Excellency the Referee Chief would never depart in such a hurry.

Ending it before the harvest...

It suggests that this year's harvest will likely not happen, and the local production is probably in disarray. The Judicial Court would rather pass the blame before people truly start starving.

That so-called Holy Light Council is likely taking the blame. But it's a pity for the people there, who must endure another year of starvation.

However, fortunately, the same kind of Chaos rarely erupts consecutively in the same land over a short period.

Gregory IX sighed softly and mourned for the starving people for two seconds, then turned his gaze to the letter in his right hand.

It was a petition from the capital of the Ryan Kingdom, written by Bishop Claude of Roland City.

He lamented the poverty of the parish, the faithful of the Holy Light unable to afford bread, and the priests even unable to gather the Gold Coins to repair the church roof. The blame lies entirely on the Campbell Duchy downstream of the Rushing River, where the Duke is implementing a blasphemous reform, deceiving them out of their gold and silver with false papers.

[… Only beseech the mercy of the Holy City to allocate funds to appease the restless believers…]

Gregory IX finished reading the letter in silence, ultimately without even a sigh, only shaking his head gently.

He slowly lifted his head, his gaze passing over the two letters, and looked at the sunset about to sink into the horizon, a hint of melancholy rising in his heart.

Five hundred years ago, did this sun also shine upon the lands of the Aus Empire like this?

What a glorious time it was for the Holy Sis Church back then!

The Imperial Army's spears were strong, and everywhere you looked, there were the roads of the Empire!

And their might was not only martial but also cultural. The Nobles of the Council of Elders maintained pacts with the royal courts of Various Kingdoms through the bonds of blood, their lineages intertwined like living beings!

As for the Church, its Influence was above both.

The Bishop sent from the Holy City to every Kingdom was the true uncrowned king of the area, and even the strongest Monarch had to bow to them.

Every Priest had to pilgrimage to the Holy City three times in their lives, once in their youth, once in their middle age, and the last time in their old age.

Back then, the Pope only needed to wave the Scepter lightly to mobilize millions of troops from the vast expanses of the Aus Continent!

The Lizardmen cowered in a corner of the Old Continent, Beastmen and Elves were forced away, and the Strength of the Human Clan and Holy Light was unprecedentedly powerful.

And the Aus Empire coalesced this supreme might!

However—

The wonderful days of old are gone forever.

The Empire's gaze gradually extended beyond the raging waves, towards the New Continent, abundant in Gold. The Holy City was unprecedentedly young, yet unprecedentedly aging.

The new officers' eyes contained only battle achievements and the riches of the colonies. They would rather send the young men of the Holy City to the front lines to fight, than look back at their own hinterlands.

In their eyes, the Kingdoms of the Old Continent symbolize poverty and savagery, and their Kings are a group of barbarians who can't be helped.

Such is roughly the attitude of the Council of Elders as well.

With the ongoing prosperity of trade across the Vast Ocean, the Various Kingdoms have gradually transformed from the main course of the great families of the Holy City to mere appetizers.

The amount of Gold Coins an Imperial person spends in a lifetime is not comparable to ten Rhode people, and the relationship between the Rhode Kingdom and the Empire is the closest, with farther lands only getting worse.

They are powerless to implement the Empire's advanced order on the old lands where conservative influences run deep, so they simply cast their gaze to the distance beyond the Vortex Sea.

This stems not only from their pursuit of self-interest and the collapse of political marriages but also from a long-term conspiracy by the Nobles of the Holy City to balance religious power.

After successfully neutralizing the immortal Emperor, they quickly turned their attention to the Saint Clement Church. Without anyone's instigation, this was almost inevitable.

Gregory IX was well aware of the families' plans in the Holy City; they wanted the Church's authority to die with the decaying flesh of the Old Continent, thereby creating a new Empire!

This conspiracy did not start today; it has lasted for a full five hundred years. Amid the open and covert struggles between two factions, a faction representing the civilians—the Officer Faction—was even indirectly nurtured.

And the result of this struggle was that the Bishop who once shepherded a region has now become a jester at the King's dining table.

One of the most typical examples is Bishop Claude of Roland City!

Gregory IX clearly remembered this name, and was helpless over the fact that a regional bishop had degraded to the point of borrowing money from the Pope on behalf of secular Monarchs.

Although secular Kings used to borrow money from the Pope, they often wrote personally, after which the Pope would instruct the local parish Bishop to allocate funds.

These greedy worms... have probably long squandered all the gold placed by the Church in various places.

Nowadays, the only local institutions still directly controlled by the Church are probably just the adventurer guilds in various regions.

But like the bishops, these institutions have long been riddled with scars by local powers, and it's hard to say how many adventurers still remember themselves as servants of the Holy Light.

As Gregory IX reminisced alone in the glow of the sunset, the oak door behind the bench let out a low moan, breaking the silent stillness in the prayer room.