Chapter 46: Viki’s Actions (Part 2)
[So, that should’ve been around early June last year. The exact timing was so muddled that even Her Majesty the Queen’s spies left in the Holy City couldn’t figure it out. The Church really kept the whole thing under wraps! But anyway, that old coot, St. George, really did make a run for it. He just up and vanished from the underground prison beneath the Holy City like a magician who forgot his vanishing trick!…]
[Shortly after that, rumors started popping up everywhere, even in the tiny taverns of the Royal City and all over Ethanbel. There were countless versions, all whispered in corners, but the gist was… the Church was acting one way on the surface, but behind the scenes? Oh boy, they were as shady as they come! For decades—heck, even centuries—they’d used victims of wars and disasters… those poor orphans, abandoned kids, and downtrodden folks… all in the name of saving the world, they gathered them up, brainwashed them, and then used them for some truly horrifying experiments. Why? Because some power-hungry officials were drooling over the might of a great deity, planning to reshape themselves into some new almighty god!]
[The rumors exploded as if they had all been waiting for the green light. During that time, while the Church scrambled to handle a slew of internal conflicts, the rest of their energy went into catching those rumor-spreaders. But there were just too many slippery folks! They couldn’t catch the source! And the Church’s frantic efforts only made those wild rumors seem even more believable. It was like throwing fuel on a fire!…]
[Eventually, they gave up trying to control it. The various parishes started turning a blind eye, choosing to ignore the chaos… but after that, it seemed like the rumor mill just kind of stalled out. To this day, those whispers keep circulating, mostly in Ethanbel, and then in the Valen Empire. You can hear all kinds of crazy talk in the late-night taverns… Clearly, someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes! Everyone started pointing fingers at the current Pope, and some even got so worked up that they began to march in protest!]
[Even so, I didn’t take any of this seriously at the time. I thought it was ridiculous—there’s no way anything like that could happen! It was just the aftereffects of the internal strife; some people were desperate for a last stand before they bit the dust—a real bunch of lunatics!… until that night when Her Majesty herself spilled some secrets, saying those rumors weren’t just chicken little tales—they were true!]
[And guess who the mastermind behind all the rumors was? None other than Cardinal St. George himself!]
[That old coot actually escaped from the so-called “impenetrable” underground prison of the Church! And what we outsiders thought—that the Church had quelled internal conflicts and uprooted St. George’s faction—was far from the truth. It was way more complicated! St. George’s roots ran deeper than anyone could imagine, like an ancient tree tangled in weeds… ]
[Of course, I didn’t know all the specifics; Her Majesty surely clued in on some things but wouldn’t spill the beans to me. That evening, she mentioned St. George’s escape and revealed that old letter was meant for him. The charges pinned on him by the Church? Made-up nonsense! And that holy war two years ago? It was meticulously planned! They used the heretics’ attack to take out one of the biggest thorns in their side—the eldest son of St. George, Captain Williams, and his Third Knights Order!]
[You know how that war unfolded! I got to learn a bit afterward; on the surface, the Third Knights Order’s defeat seemed obvious, but if you really think about it, there were just too many oddities… ]
[You know those heretics disappeared for years, then suddenly re-emerged en masse two years ago? Even with their best kept secrets, rallying that many crazies without leaving a trace? Almost impossible! In fact, as soon as the heretics began gathering and the Jester popped up again in the Eastern Continent, the Church had folks slinking into their ranks… ]
[Though it was mainly just the Jester who was in the loop, he still had enough intel to know their exact attack time. As soon as those heretic ships set sail from the Eastern coast, the Church got wind of it! But surprise, surprise, most of the Church’s top brass, including the Pope and St. George, totally underestimated those lunatics!]
[They seriously underestimated their foes, sending in just the Third Knights Order and two Pope Knights, while the Sixth Knights Order—who should have backed them—decided to make a hasty retreat after just a single encounter at sea. Later, they totally ignored the urgent situation at the Mosri coast, letting those crazies tear open a gap and defeat the Third Knights Order, forcing them to retreat a hundred miles!]
[Even with all of this, things shouldn’t have escalated to that level! The Third Knights Order shouldn’t have lost that many soldiers; they could have turned the tide! Because at that moment, one of the Church’s most powerful factions, the First Knights Order’s Division of Judgment, had already set foot on Silgaya’s soil!…]
[But what did they do upon arriving at Silgaya? Instead of rushing to the battleground, they took the scenic route to Woodward Forest, sitting there defending against nonexistent enemies… Of course, what happened later showed there was indeed a threat over there. The Jester stealthily led the strongest forces of the heretics right under their noses, but I’d like to think that was just a wild coincidence!]
[If the Church really foresaw these movements? Well, they probably wouldn’t have sent so many of Judgment’s forces to hold the line, they would have dispatched someone as formidable as you to squish the opposition and avoid unnecessary waste! That would’ve been the smart move, not just plopping most of Judgment there and watching the Third Knights Order get wiped out at Alectine City!]
[You could argue this was a huge miscalculation on the Church’s part. At the time, it made sense! The battlefield was completely shut off due to flooding, but honestly, that flooding struck me as too coincidental—almost like someone orchestrated it… I think that old coot, St. George, got snagged right there. Stuck in the Holy City, he had no idea the Third Knights Order had already crumbled; otherwise, he’d have risked everything to rescue his brilliant son!]
[And Currency Exchange? They thought everything was simple, didn’t prepare well, and then found themselves caught off guard when things hit the fan. They say even Captain Williams’ son charged into Alectine City with Currency Exchange investigators, totally clueless, and got himself into hot water—then he went missing and to this day, no one knows whether he’s alive or not!]
[You know the rest—you’ve probably heard it all! Those guys ended up facing severe punishments: heads rolled, some hung… Their ends must have felt beyond frustrating, ultimately clueless about who the real enemy was! The whole Williams Family was left in tatters post-war, a once tightly-knit clan suddenly a scattered mess, ultimately devoured piece by piece, and now even Currency Exchange has a new boss… ]
[Heretics eliminated, dissenters removed, regardless of how ridiculous their rise was, we all know who benefited the most from this chaos, don’t we?]
[That guy is downright terrifying!]
