Chapter 123: The Invitation of the Church

On the fourth day, Roland addressed all the Western nobles in the Grand Hall and told them what they already knew.

The announcement was brief: the Duke was dead, the western territory now belonged to the fourth prince, and governance would be delegated to the eldest son of the Honeysuckle family, who would hold the position in perpetuity so long as the contract terms were honored. Questions could be directed to the new representative.

No one objected. Ryan’s head was still on the gate. The news from Eagle City had reached everyone by now, and what it meant — that Timothy couldn’t send a punitive force west for months, possibly longer — was understood without being said. The alliance of six noble families had produced one battle and one catastrophic loss, and the five that remained had already begun the mental calculation of what came next.

The knights who hadn’t been ransomed went back to Border Town with the column, along with the mercenaries. In Roland’s plan, the mercenaries would work off their debt in the mine — honest labor for honest wages, applied against an obligation, no ambiguity about the arrangement. The knights were a different resource: most of them were literate, and literate men in Border Town had options that didn’t involve carrying a weapon. He had made it clear, through Carter, that the option was employment and the condition was permanent retirement from arms. Several had accepted already.

The traitors from the winter — Ferrero and the others who had fled Border Town during the food crisis — were bundled onto a barge with their hands tied and sent upstream to face whatever Barov and the town court had prepared for them. The arsonist, Count Medde, had died in the battle, which Roland found genuinely frustrating. He’d wanted that particular conversation.

Barov was going to be busy. Karl was going to be busy. He thought about the construction queue in Border Town — the wooden housing for the incoming workers, the expanded warehouse capacity, the farming schedule that needed to start within the week — and felt the particular itch of being in the wrong place at the right time. He wanted to go home.

He was considering the most efficient way to arrange his departure when his guard knocked and announced the High Priest.

Longsong Stronghold had been Church territory for over a century.

It wasn’t just the cathedral — it was the network of smaller chapels, the network of donations, the priests who knew everyone’s names and children’s names, the systematic presence in moments of private difficulty that made the Church the kind of institution people came to without being told to. Border Town had a church building and nothing else. The Church’s roots there were shallow enough to manage. Here, pulling them out entirely would mean either a public confrontation Roland couldn’t yet afford or a quiet two-decade process of substitution.

This was the actual reason he was going back to Border Town, the one he hadn’t said to Nightingale, or Petrov, or anyone. Not the power structure; not the complexity of the noble relationships. Those were real problems, but they were solvable. The Church’s presence in Longsong Stronghold was a different kind of problem, one that required time he didn’t have yet and leverage he was still building.

He had Nightingale stay outside. The High Priest would have a God’s Stone, and proximity was a risk he wasn’t willing to take.

High Priest Tylo was around forty, neat in the Church’s white-and-blue, with the manner of a man who had learned to make ecclesiastical dress look natural. He was genuinely pleasant. Roland suspected this made him more dangerous than the unpleasant kind.

They exchanged the formalities. Roland ordered tea. Tylo gave his blessing, accepted the tea, and moved directly to substance.

“The Church would like to offer cooperation.”

“Cooperation,” Roland repeated. “The Church intervenes in secular affairs.”

“We rarely intervene,” Tylo said, with the precision of a man who had made this distinction before. “There’s a difference. When two siblings compete for a throne and the result is widespread suffering, we consider what we can do to shorten the suffering.” He paused. “Timothy Wimbledon was our candidate, initially. He is no longer.”

“Because he lost to Garcia.”

“Because the people of the south are suffering for his ambition.” Tylo’s voice didn’t change. “Your Highness led Border Town through three Months of the Demons without abandoning your people, purchased grain from Willow Town when your reserves were threatened, and built a fighting force that has now demonstrated itself against a major noble coalition. The Church’s assessment is that you have the character required.”

Roland looked at him for a moment.

“Character required for what, precisely?”

Tylo reached into his robe and set two pills on the table between them. One was red. One was black. Both bore the Church’s sigil.

“The red pill provides a temporary increase in physical capacity,” he said. “Strength, speed, reaction. The black pill suppresses pain and cold sensitivity while substantially increasing endurance — multiple times the baseline, for a sustained period. Both are produced in the New Holy City. We’re prepared to supply them at cost — one gold royal per pair.” He gestured at the two pills. “Those are for your evaluation. Verify the claims.”

Roland looked at the pills. He didn’t touch them yet.

“In exchange for what?”

“We’d be pleased to see churches built in every territory you govern,” Tylo said. “But honestly, our main interest is stability. A unified western Graycastle under a capable ruler ends this war faster than any alternative. The people benefit. The Church considers that its obligation.”

He said it with complete equanimity, which was not the same as sincerity. Roland picked up the pills and turned them over in his hand.

“I appreciate the offer,” he said. “For the moment, I have no intention of competing for the throne. Timothy and Garcia are my family. I have no wish to harm them.”

“Of course.” Tylo stood and bowed. “I understand entirely. But sometimes family bonds become complicated when a third party represents a threat to a sibling’s ambition. If that changes your circumstances, the Church is available.” He straightened. “May God be with you, Your Royal Highness.”

Roland watched him go.

When the hall was empty, he held the two pills up to the window light. The red one had a slight iridescence. The black one was flat and dense.

Church pharmaceuticals, he thought. One more thing Barov is going to have to find storage for.

He put them in his pocket and went to find out how soon the barges could be ready.

Chapter 123 The Invitation of the Church

It was already the fourth day since Roland had taken over the castle, today nearly all nobles in the surrounding areas were gathered inside the castle Grand Hall.

Although most people already knew of the news, Roland still felt that it was necessary to tell them personally that the Western territory now had a new ruler.

After he informed them about his intentions to move back to Border Town and that the eldest son of the Honeysuckle Family would now rule in his stead, everyone had suddenly started to discussing the news. Of course, no one was willing to take the lead at this time to stand up and object to it, after all, the Duke’s head was still hanging above the city gate and news that King Timothy had suffered a great loss and couldn’t send any external forces was now also known to everyone.

Furthermore, all the knights of the Honeysuckle Family had already been redeemed, while at the same time he hadn’t accepted any ransom for the other knights, so that the knights, together with the mercenaries, could all come back with him to Border Town. In Roland’s plan, the mercenaries would be sent to the mine, where they could work to earn their freedom, and the knights would get a job offer in case they showed their repentance and had good manner – after all, most knights were literate and could thus also be used as teachers. Of course, for the rest of their life the wouldn’t ever be allowed to ever use a weapon again.

If it was handled like this, the Honeysuckle Family should have enough power to hold the other four noble families back, and they should also have enough troops to defend Longsong Stronghold and their own territory as well, Roland thought. As for the invisible stirring undercurrent, it’s a problem that Petrov will have to worry about on his own.

In the past few days, he also took the time to send some Border Town residents back who had rebelled during the winter where many people had died out due to hunger and the cold, including the former Finance Minister Ferrero, they would all face trial in Border Town. His only regret was that the mastermind behind the attempt to burn his food and the death of Grayhound, Count Medde had already been killed on the battlefield.

Today, the traffic between the Longsong Stronghold and Border Town has finally been restored, which meant that until the end of next week many ships would sail upstream to Border Town to deliver the gathered supplies. Roland guessed that Barov would be very busy for the few next weeks, he had not only received a lot of looted gold coins, he also had to organize the resettlement of the large number of immigrants. Also it was still unknown whether Karl had built enough wooden sheds.

Thinking of this problems, he could not help but want to return to the Border Town as soon as possible, in addition, the great farming operation also needed to start soon.

After entertaining all the nobles to lunch, Roland intended to take a nap, but then one of his guards announced a special guest.

The High Priest of the Church in Longsong Stronghold.

Hearing this, Roland suddenly had no thought of sleep left.

Longsong Stronghold was completely different from Border Town, here the Church had already been rooted for a long time, they not only had a church, they have even dispatched a High Priest to this place. This was also the Prince’s main reason that he had decided to further develop Border Town rather than staying further in Longsong Stronghold – here the people were already under the influence of the church for a long time and any of the civilian could become their eyes. Here his plan to manipulate the people’s view would become complicated and the risk that the witches would be discovered would also become much higher. Unless he completely unrooted the Church, his reforms would never get a chance to work.

Paying attention to the replacement of the ruler of Longsong Stronghold is a normal thing for the Church, so Roland wasn’t too surprised that they would send him a representative to come into contact with him. However, the identity of the person they send was a bit special, as the High Priest of the Church he belonged to the most influential people of people, the area under his jurisdiction was of a similar size to that of a Duke.

Once more he decided to use the Grand Hall as the meeting place.

The High Priest Tylo seemed to be around 40 years old. He was dressed in the typical church-style with a with a white underrobe and a blue robe above it, giving him a very neat appearance and a behavior that was just like a courteous aristocracy. If he wasn’t a member of the royal family and allied with the witches, Roland believed that holding a conversation which such a person would have been a pleasure.

As the High Priest he had to be in possession of a high-quality God’s Stone of Retaliation, so in order to avoid any accidents, Roland specifically told Nightingale before the meeting, that she should stay away from him during it.

After Tylo gave him a salute, Roland invited him to sit at the table and ordered some tea.

No matter what he thought, he had to at least show a welcoming atmosphere on the surface.

“Your Royal Highness, I’m here as a representative of the New Holy City,” Tylo said with a smile, “You have become the veritable master of the Western territory, may God bless you.”

“Thank you,” Roland said in a relaxed tone. “You do not seem to care at all that I’ve gotten rid of Duke Ryan and taken over Longsong Stronghold.”

“We rarely intervene in secular disputes, as long as the people can live a good life, he has to be a good ruler. So in which family he was born, or if he belonged to the royal family, it is not important to the Church. In fact, I think the church is much more open minded in this respect, previously I was only a

farmer’s son, and now I have became a High Priest,” he smiled. “Excuse me, my Lord, but I don’t believe that a mere farmer could become a Duke, right?”

If he launched an uprising to overthrow the royal family, he can even become the King. Roland thought, so he never spoke it out, instead, he went straight for the topic, “So why did you come today, was it only to deliver the blessing?”

“The blessing was only part of what I have come for, I also want to offer a cooperation between us.”

“Cooperation? What kind of cooperation?”

“We would help you with whatever you need to expand your territory or your forces.”

“Hold on…” Roland frowned. “You just said that the Church rarely intervenes in secular disputes.”

“Rarely intervention doesn’t mean no intervention,” said the High Priest, still casually. “I have said that as long as the people in this world have a smooth and peaceful life, we will not intervene. But the struggle between your brother Timothy and your third sister Garcia has resulted in widespread poverty throughout the south. In the beginning, we thought that Timothy deserved it and would become a respected King, but now we think he isn’t any longer worthy, you are such a man.”

Roland got a thoughtful look, it seems the Church has the desire to help me fight for the throne. He subconsciously asked. “Why?”

“You lead the people of Border Town to resist the demon beasts, and spend the whole Months of the Demons with them in Border Town, this all proves your courage and ability. And from the large amount of food you purchased from Willow Town everyone can see do not want your people to starve, which shows your kindness. With this you have the three grandeur characteristics a noble should have, furthermore, you are even of royal blood. All this are the reason why we chose you.

Roland didn’t believe one word the High Priest said, but at least it proved that, even if Border Town was at the edge of the country and was an independent island-state during the winter, they were still under the close watch of the church.

“How would you help? Would you dispatch an Army of Judges to fight for me?”

“Even though we want to quell the warring state in the south as soon as possible, but if we were to do something like you suggested we would arouse the resentment of most of the nobility. So we can only help you materially,” the High Priest took two pill out of his pocket, one was black the other was red, on both the sigil of the Holy City had been etched, “This is our equivalent to the drugs produced in your Alchemy Square. The red pills will temporarily make your men stronger, while the black pill reduces the feeling of pain and coldness and instead increases their endurance by several times. With these drugs, your army should become unstoppable, and the Church would only charge you the production cost,” for a moment Tylo paused, “One gold royal. These two pills, can be presented to you as a test product to prove that my statement is the truth.”

“What is the reward you are hoping for? Expanding the reach of the Church and building churches in every territory?”

“Of course this would make us happy, but our main intention is to end the war. As long as the people can have a peaceful life, they will naturally come into God’s arms.

Roland accepted the offered pills. “This sounds amazing, but for the time being, I have no intention of competing for the crown of the Kingdom of Graycastle, Both Timothy and Garcia are my close relatives and I do not want to hurt them.”

“I can understand your point,” the High Priest smiled reassuringly, “but sometimes the bonds of family cannot stop the temptation of power, especially when you become only a stumbling stone on the road to power for others. These pills will only be the beginning, there are still many other possibilities of how we could help you. If you decide to take that step, you

can always come to the Church to find me.” Having said all of this, he stood up, bent down in salute, “With this I have already informed you of the Church’s intentions, may God be with you, Your Royal Highness.”