Chapter 370

Chapter 156 – Part 2

“Chomp… Gulp.”

As I swallowed the mouthful of food, I grabbed a second pie from the plate and continued to listen quietly to Angel’s words while eating.

“Three months ago, in the Valen Empire, the plans of the heretics had not yet been implemented when they were completely shattered by your arrival. That time, their years-long covert operation failed, and the Truth Gate lost an ‘executor’—the golden-masked man who died at your hands…”

Golden mask?

Oh…

I remember him. The man with his face burned, Varal listened to him obediently.

“After that, the highest decision-making body of the heretics, the Senate, decisively terminated all activities of the Truth Gate in the empire. They cut off all transportation routes for guchao grass in the Valen Empire and killed two bishops who had already been identified as problematic before the Church could act. They had been hiding within the Church for years without being discovered. Such actions can almost be considered self-mutilation, but the purpose was obviously to protect the mastermind behind the scenes… Little Black Charcoal, you know who she is.”

Of course, I do.

“Teresa…”

With food in my mouth, I mumbled my response to Angel.

“Correct.”

The Pope lifted his head, drained the wine from his glass in one go, picked up the bottle beside his plate, and refilled his glass. He continued, “But those rats… ultimately moved too slowly.”

“Despite their efforts to cover everything up, the Church followed the clues and uncovered the mastermind behind the scenes, the leader of the Truth Gate’s operations in West Continent… We tracked her down, and we knew she was hiding in the Order King City of Ethan II. But at that time, we weren’t sure who this person was, only knowing that she held a high position within the Church and had the authority to open special entry channels for heretics. Given that, there were only a few people who could be targeted, and finding her was just a matter of time.”

“Mmm…!”

I understand now. That’s why Teresa decided to take such a desperate action…

It wasn’t just because of our investigation results; she must have known that the Church was already onto the King City. Even if I hadn’t noticed anything then, she wouldn’t have been able to hide for long. She would have been exposed soon, making escape nearly impossible. So she…

“However, Teresa’s subsequent reactions… truly exceeded my expectations. Now that she’s dead, the matter hasn’t ended because of her death. Teresa had already made all the necessary arrangements. After her death, the remaining members of the Truth Gate quickly gathered in the King City. They used Duke Lex’s coup d’état to attempt to kill Queen Elizabeth and completely destroy St. Zayieri Cathedral… They almost succeeded.”

Ah!

So Victoria’s injuries…

The three guys I killed near the cathedral were preparing to destroy it… They must have been among the best of the heretics, each with considerable order power, plus the Sinfire… If I hadn’t arrived in time, with only Reckt and the few remaining monks and nuns, it would have been truly dangerous…

Thinking about this, I felt a bit scared.

“But…”

I quickly swallowed the food in my mouth and looked at Angel. “But they failed.”

Yes, they failed.

Recalling carefully, the heretics who could fight me like that… were actually few in number. Otherwise, I couldn’t have taken Victoria away so smoothly.

After Victoria was injured and poisoned, those black-robed heretics should have gone to No. 2 Longdor Street first, but they didn’t find anyone there. Instead, they were ambushed by the Kani Sword and lost one person. The others might have split into two groups, one going to the cathedral and the other to the palace, or maybe all went to the cathedral… Regardless, both sides ended in failure.

Victoria survived and killed them all after waking up. And St. Zayieri Cathedral… Someone set a fire, but Margaret extinguished it in time. Here I am, and everything is fine.

After settling this fact, I put my mind at ease, swallowed the pie in my hand, turned my head, and reached for a third piece from the plate.

But my peripheral vision caught Angel squinting and shaking his head slowly. “No, in a certain sense… they have achieved their goal.”

“…Hmm?”

I widened my eyes, puzzled.

“But…”

Victoria told me she had killed all those people, right?

“Little Black Charcoal, what do you think the Truth Gate’s purpose was? Why did they spend such a huge cost?”

“Hmm…”

I tilted my head, thinking.

“Eroding the foundation of the Church, undermining faith…”

They just want to overthrow the Church’s rule, don’t they?

In the Valen Empire, Edward was shouting like that, transporting guchao grass wasn’t for earning gold… Besides opposing the Church, what else could it be… Ah!

“That blood bead!”

What exactly does the blood bead do? Angel definitely knows!

“I’ll explain more about the divine relic later.”

The Pope shook his head, adjusted his sitting posture comfortably, and continued looking at me. “In short, the heretics aren’t just trying to undermine the foundation of the Church as you might think… At least, they aren’t doing it now. Of course, it’s not because they don’t want to, but because they know they can’t do it yet.”

“The Holy Church has stood for thousands of years, constantly seeking blessings from the gods to benefit humanity, establishing countless great achievements. It’s not something a small cult organization can easily shake… They just want to create chaos to distract the Church’s attention, nothing more.”

Distracting attention…

I took a bite of the pie, chewed slowly, thinking while listening.

“But let’s be honest, their methods are effective. Whether it’s the coup in the King City or the civil unrest in the Valen Empire, it’s giving me a headache… In fact, even though the plan in the empire was terminated before implementation, considering the current situation of the empire, these events might be exactly what they wanted…”

The current situation of the empire?

“Ugh!”

Oh no, I’m choking…

I pounded my chest and struggled to swallow the mouthful of pie, staring wide-eyed at Angel, anxious. “What’s wrong with the empire?”

“Rest assured.”

Angel remained calm, his azure eyes showing no ripples.

“Little Black Charcoal, I know what you’re worried about… Your father is doing very well, better than ever. But so far, his actions are precisely what the heretics hope to see… Just like the King City, can you understand?”

Like the King City…

That means it’s finally going to happen.

But I knew nothing about it… The letter sent back later was stuffed into the nun’s robe I was wearing at the time. During the battle with Eilush, the robe was torn, and the letter was lost… But it must have been some message telling me not to return. My mother didn’t want to tell me, even though she knew how powerful I was.

“Are you worried about them?”

Angel asked, then tried to reach out to touch my head, but I turned away.

“Forget it, continue…”

I didn’t want to reveal my inner thoughts, nor did I want him to see my weakness and concerns. There was no reason; I just felt we weren’t close enough.

Angel paused at my words.

Then he withdrew his hand, picked up the wine glass on the table, and drank it all.

“Hah—, what excellent wine…”

He refilled his glass, raised his eyes, looking at me with a dazed gaze, and smiled.

“In short, the purpose of the Truth Gate is to make the Church unable to focus fully, forcing them to allocate sufficient personnel over the next few months to deal with these chaotic affairs, thereby concluding the chaos they created. As a result, they won’t have the full strength to counter their upcoming actions in Silgaya… That is likely the most crucial part of their plan.”