Tome of Blood

Chapter 575 -74- Invitation from the Theocratic State

The development of the magical alchemy industry is smoother than Charlotte imagined.

Of course, Charlotte knows this is just the beginning.

At present, it is just to improve the financial situation of Falling Star Kingdom, but with the innovation of magic industry, the series of social changes that will follow are more critical.

Not only that, with the money, the kingdom can also officially start the innovation of armaments. A powerful extraordinary army is also indispensable in the continent of Miria.

Charlotte also needs to prepare for Advent.

She is powerful on the one hand, but even the true God is not omnipotent, and the extraordinary power controlled by the world cannot be underestimated.

Charlotte still doesn't know how much power "Helios" has accumulated in this era, but according to her observations, he may have infiltrated many forces in Miria, just like the old ones when traveling through history. Same as the Alliance of Gods.

Charlotte is likely to face enemies like the Alliance of Old Gods in the future, and for this, she must be fully prepared.

The development of the magic alchemy industry is one of the two major changes in Falling Star Kingdom, and the other change is the church in Falling Star Kingdom.

In the three and a half years since Charlotte's absence, the Dark Night Order, which believes in the "God of Darkness and Order", has developed greatly in Falling Star Kingdom. With the overt and covert support of Falling Star officials, it has become almost as powerful as the Holy King. The branches of the court in Luo Xing competed with each other, and even faintly became the largest church in the kingdom.

In this regard, even the clerical state that originally supported "Saint Charlotte" has sent seven protests and three warnings to Luo Xing in three and a half years.

If the Falling Star Kingdom were not too far away from the core area ruled by the Holy Court, the Holy Court itself had declined too much, and the Dark Night Order still carried the banner of "The God of Dark Night is also a member of the Holy Court", the Falling Star would The church branch of the Kingdom is still functioning, at least on the surface...

Otherwise, I am afraid that the Holy Royal Court would have taken action against the Dark Night Cult long ago.

To be honest, Charlotte was far more surprised by this convenient change in religion than by the changes in the magic alchemy industry.

She was surprised by the rapid development of her religious order, but she was even more surprised by the inaction of the Holy Royal Court.

To be honest, before she fell asleep, one of the three things she was most worried about was that the Holy Royal Court would interfere with the Dark Night Order.

But the facts have proven... This is no longer ignored. Even though the Theocracy has made many protests and warnings, in fact, the development of the Dark Night Order by the Holy Royal Court is almost equivalent to a certain sense of "connivance" .

Charlotte clearly remembered how the Holy Court's books dealt with heretics and heretics, and she had personally witnessed it when she was in the Crescent Kingdom.

In a sense, their reaction to the Dark Night Order in Falling Star Kingdom can be called mild.

"Didn't the Tribunal of the Holy Royal Court respond?"

Charlotte asked looking at Nice.

In a sense, this guy is actually a non-staff member of the Holy Court, and he has good friendships with several high-level priests in the Crescent Kingdom. Charlotte knows that he still has some private channels to understand some of the secrets within the Holy Court. .

"No."

Nice shook his head and replied:

"Logically speaking, Falling Star Kingdom belongs to the New Moon District of the Holy Royal Court. However, in the past few years, the New Moon District of the Holy Kingdom has been too busy to take care of itself. Of course, it has no energy to take care of us."

"The parish of the Crescent Kingdom has no time to take care of itself?"

Charlotte's heart moved slightly:

"Did Louis V take action against the church?"

Nice nodded:

"Yes, Louis V took action against the church power of the Holy Royal Court in the Crescent Kingdom. In the past few years, I heard that he not only kept the Fallen Star nobles in check, but he also replaced the parish priest of the Crescent Parish. Those who are loyal to him have almost become puppets of the Crescent Royal Family."

"Oh, by the way, the Theocracy has also protested many times. The Siyonite Empire, which has the most influence of the Holy Royal Court, also reacted strongly to this. The new emperor of the empire who succeeded to the throne two years ago Ferdinand II even mobilized the imperial army to attack the Crescent Royal Family with the support of the Theocracy. The emperor mobilized a total of 150,000 troops. "

"However, the empire's coalition forces were no match for the Crescent Kingdom at all. They were defeated by Louis V and abandoned their armor. The Crescent Royal Knights even chased the empire's defeated army like dogs and fought all the way to the West Union Empire. To the capital city of Yunet, Ferdinand II had to sign a peace treaty with the mediation of the Theocracy six months ago and even ceded part of the border territory. "

Good guy, the Crescent Kingdom also fought a war with the Siyonite Empire?

Charlotte looked surprised.

She finally understood why there was no border conflict between the Crescent Kingdom and Falling Star Kingdom in the information submitted by Nice. It was probably because the Crescent Kingdom was at war with its neighboring country to the east.

Speaking of which, the Crescent Kingdom's coveting of the Castel Territory and the Roman Principality Territory was one of the three things that worried Charlotte most before she fell asleep. At that time, she even discussed her plans with Sebas, Nice and others. During the period of slumber, the Crescent Kingdom had a plan to deal with the outbreak of war between the two countries, but they did not expect that the Crescent Kingdom would first fight with the Siyonite Empire in the past few years.

However, these two countries can be regarded as historical enemies.

If the centripetal force of the states in the Western Yunet Empire was not weak, the Western Yunet Emperor actually controlled only a Grand Duchy of Yunet, which was similar to the scattered Holy Roman Empire in Charlotte's previous life in the history of Blue Star. Otherwise, it would be hard to say who would win or lose.

By the way, the last of the three things Charlotte was most worried about before she fell asleep was the mysterious force suspected to be "Helios" on Luna Island.

However, Charlotte roughly looked at the records provided by Nice. Luna Island has been very quiet in recent years and is still closed.

Charlotte estimated that this may also be related to the "crossing" of "Helios".

In addition, Charlotte finally understood why the Theocracy did not take action against the Dark Night Cult in recent years.

The supporter behind the Western Yunet Empire is the Theocracy. According to Nice, the war between the Crescent Kingdom and the Western Yunet Empire, which lasted less than two years, can actually be regarded as a war between the Crescent Kingdom and the Theocracy in a sense.

Being distracted by the Crescent Kingdom, the Theocracy certainly has no more power to deal with the "heretics" of the Falling Star Kingdom, which is thousands of miles away.

After all, for the church, heretics are enemies, the kingship of the puppet church is also an enemy, and the Crescent Kingdom is the core area of ​​the church.

But then again, since the West Yunet Empire and the Crescent Kingdom have already negotiated peace under the mediation of the Theocracy, then... for Charlotte, the next situation is very delicate.

You know, for the Crescent Kingdom, the Falling Star Kingdom is an enemy that occupies the core territory in the north, and for the Theocracy of the Holy King's Court, the Dark Night Cult is also an enemy.

Even if the Lord Harald is really Charlotte's apprentice, it does not mean that the Holy King's Court is a friendly force, even if Charlotte is now an "official certified" saint.

After all... the saint and the witch are just a thought of the church.

In other words, in a sense, both sides are potential enemies of Charlotte.

And it is hard not to think too much when two forces with a common enemy shake hands and make peace.

Thinking of this, Charlotte's expression also became serious.

It seems that she must pay close attention to the actions of the Crescent Kingdom and the Theocracy.

Fortunately, this war that lasted less than two years also exposed a problem.

That is the decline of the Holy Court, which may be more serious than Charlotte expected...

"By the way, Lord Charlotte, there is one more thing."

Nice took out a beautiful document with a cross logo from the information and handed it to Charlotte:

"The chief high priest of the Holy Court is about to change. The official succession time is three months later. The newly appointed chief high priest Gregory XII sent an invitation letter to invite you to attend the ceremony." The chief high priest of the Holy Court has changed?

Charlotte raised her eyebrows.

As she flipped open the invitation, she asked in confusion:

"I remember that the chief archbishop of the Holy Court was a lifetime position? Wasn't the original archbishop still very young? Was he called Benedict VIII? He seemed to be only in his fifties, how come there was a sudden change of term?"

Nice chuckled:

"What else could it be? He fell. The defeat of the Western Union Empire was equivalent to the defeat of the Theocracy. As soon as the treaty was signed half a year ago, the former chief archbishop Benedict VIII "fell ill" and died more than three months later."

Charlotte:...

The fact that the chief archbishop of the Holy Court, who was good at holy healing, died of illness was somewhat black humor.

However, this was also a detail.

Charlotte noticed that almost half of the protests and warnings from the Holy Court that Nice brought over the past few years occurred in the past two months, which in a sense represented some of the attitudes of the new chief archbishop.

Thinking of this, Charlotte browsed the contents of the invitation:

"To the beloved daughter of our Lord, the wise and merciful Queen of Fallen Stars, Her Highness Saint Charlotte de Castel——"

"I will hold the succession ceremony at the Cathedral of Saint Ute on October 10, 1450 of the Holy Calendar. On behalf of the chief priests and believers of the diocese, I sincerely invite you to attend the ceremony.

——Elbino Saint Gregory, on June 23, 1450 of the Holy Calendar"

The invitation is not long.

It was written by Gregory XII himself, and his personal seal was left on it.

"Three months...Is the preparation period for the succession ceremony of the chief high priest of the Holy Royal Court so long?"

Charlotte asked curiously.

Nice replied:

"About the same. You also know that the Holy King's Theocracy has limited control over the major dioceses. In order to strengthen control, every time the Holy King's Theocracy changes its chief, the chiefs of the major dioceses are forced to go to the Holy City for an audience."

"The major dioceses are close and far away. Even if there is a dedicated teleportation array within the church, it takes a long time to go back and forth. In addition, the representatives going to the Theocracy are often not just the chief high priests of each diocese, so the preparation period is generally longer, so the invitation letters will be sent two to three months in advance."

After speaking, Nice looked at Charlotte and asked curiously:

"Lord Charlotte, are you... going to participate?"