Chapter 799

Chapter 46 Victoria’s Actions (Middle)

[It should have been around early June last year when even the secret agents of Her Majesty the Queen in the Holy City couldn’t figure out the exact time. The Church had kept the news tightly under wraps, but in any case, old Saint George had indeed fled. He suddenly disappeared from the underground prison of the Holy City sometime around early June last year, and his whereabouts were unknown.]

[Soon after, rumors began to spread mysteriously in taverns all over Eisenberg, including those in the royal city. There were many versions of these rumors, all circulating in private circles. The general content was that while the Church appeared to be doing good, they were actually very corrupt. For decades and centuries, they had been using victims of wars and disasters, orphans, abandoned children, and destitute individuals, under the pretense of helping the people, gathering them, brainwashing them, and then using them for some terrible experiments. The reason was that some powerful figures coveted the power of the great deities, attempting to touch divine power, wanting to reshape a supreme new deity with human bodies.]

[No one knew where these rumors started, but they seemed to spread simultaneously across various places. During that period, apart from dealing with internal conflicts within the Church, most of their remaining energy was spent trying to catch those spreading these rumors. However, there were too many of them, and they were very cunning, making it impossible to trace the source. Moreover, the Church’s frantic attitude only made these absurd rumors more credible, escalating the situation.]

[Later, they simply gave up, allowing people to talk freely. Various dioceses began to turn a blind eye, choosing to ignore what they did not want to see. After that, the Gazette seemed to stop publishing new editions. Until now, these rumors continue to spread, mainly in the Eisenberg region, followed by the Valen Empire. People whispered things in the taverns at night. This clearly showed that someone was behind this, and gradually everyone pointed the finger at the current Pope. Some radical areas even held protests over this.]

[Even so, I didn’t take these matters seriously at the time, thinking they were absurd and impossible. Why would anyone do such a thing? It was just the aftermath of an internal conflict, with some people taking desperate measures before their deaths, trying a final gamble. They were simply a bunch of lunatics. But on that night, Her Majesty told me in person that these rumors were not baseless; they were true.]

[The mastermind behind the spread of these rumors was none other than Cardinal Saint George himself.]

[That old man escaped from the supposedly ‘in and out’ Church underground prison. What we outsiders believed—that the Church had quelled internal conflicts, led by the current Pope大人—was far from the truth. It wasn’t that simple. Cardinal Saint George’s roots ran much deeper and more complex than anyone could imagine.]

[Of course, I don’t know the details. Her Majesty probably knows something, but she wouldn’t reveal more to me. That night, she shared secret information about Cardinal Saint George’s escape and told me that the previous letter had been sent to him. Most of the charges against him planted by the Church were baseless. The heresy war two years ago was actually premeditated, using the momentum of the heresy attack to first eliminate one of the biggest supports within, namely Cardinal Saint George’s eldest son, Williams,团长, and his Third Knight Order.]

[You know about that war, and I’ve learned a bit later. The reasons for the defeat of the Third Knight Order seem obvious, but if you think carefully, there are too many unreasonable aspects.]

[You know, those heretics… ]

After disappearing for many years, they suddenly appeared on a large scale the year before. Even with their best efforts to keep everything under wraps, mobilizing so many fanatics would inevitably leave some traces. In fact, as early as when the heretics first gathered and the clown reappeared in East Continent, someone from the Church side had already infiltrated their ranks.

Although it was only on the clown’s side and the details about others were unclear, it was enough to figure out when they would launch their attack. The moment the heretics’ ships departed from the East Coast, the information reached the Church. However, what was surprising was that even Pope and Cardinal Saint George underestimated the extent of those fanatics.

They underestimated their enemies so much that they only sent the Third Knight Order and two Papal Knights into battle, while the Sixth Knight Order, which should have cooperated, retreated after a single clash at sea. Later, they ignored the dire situation at Mosley coast, allowing the fanatics to tear through the defenses and push back the Third Knight Order by hundreds of miles.

Even so, the situation did not need to deteriorate to such an extent. The Third Knight Order should not have lost so many men; the tide could have been turned. At that time, one of the most powerful forces within the Holy Church, the Judgment Fist Division of the First Knight Order, had already arrived in Silgaya.

However, upon arriving in Silgaya, they did not immediately head to the battlefield but took a detour to Woodworth Forest instead. Choosing to defend against non-existent enemies there. Of course, later events showed that there indeed was a threat, as the clown secretly led the strongest heretic forces there. But I prefer to believe it was just a coincidence.

If the Church had truly anticipated this move, they probably wouldn’t have sent so many members of the Judgment Fist Division to guard the area. Instead, they would have dispatched more powerful Papal Knights like you earlier, having the strong fight the strong, avoiding unnecessary losses and sacrifices. That would have been the better strategy, rather than wasting most of the Judgment Fist Division, watching helplessly as the Third Knight Order was decimated at Aretheon City.

You could say this was a mistake in the Church’s decision-making. Given the circumstances, it was quite normal. Due to flooding, information on the battlefield was almost completely cut off. But the flooding seemed too convenient, almost as if it were planned. I think Cardinal Saint George fell into this trap. Being in the holy city, he didn’t know that the Third Knight Order had already been defeated. Otherwise, he would have risked his life to save his most outstanding son.

And because of this, the coin operation oversimplified many issues, failing to prepare adequately. When the situation turned dire, they were caught unprepared. It is said that even the son of Commander Williams, without knowing anything, led the coin operation investigators to Aretheon City and met with disaster, disappearing afterward with an uncertain fate.

The aftermath, you are well aware. Those people were all sentenced to death for their crimes. Some were executed, others hanged. They likely died very unfairly, never understanding who their true enemy was. The Williams family, once highly cohesive, disintegrated due to that war and was gradually eliminated and absorbed. Now, even the coin operation has a new owner.

With the heretics eliminated and dissenters removed, no matter how coincidental or absurd the process, I don’t think we need to elaborate further on who benefited the most from this.

That truly is a terrifying individual.