Chapter 220: Penetration
Monk Agamemnon was still six years away from reaching his sixteenth year of adulthood.
This timing was rather subtle.
However, Marl did not dwell much on it. Since the priests who departed with him had already been determined, he naturally had to return to prepare the warriors.
After a trip to the border, everyone returned with pain in their hearts. Even though Monk Agamemnon did his best to pull them out, counting the Temple Warriors, only a little over thirty people were still willing to remain in the Glory Fortress.
Marl said nothing more. He simply gave a large sum of gold coins to those warriors who requested to go home, while those willing to stay, Marl promoted them all to official Temple Warriors.
Still carrying the Lord’s Throne and the Cross, Marl, together with these Temple Warriors and three priests, took a ship southward to Light Port.
Upon arrival, Councilor Julian and Bevan welcomed them together.
“Landon, Weir, Jeremiah—these three priests are here to spread the Lord’s Teachings upon this land. I ask the two councilors to look after them.” Marl introduced them.
The two men cast deep glances at the three priests, who still appeared somewhat youthful, and memorized their faces.
The current standing of the Church of the Sanctuary was somewhat transcendent, and the priests who served as its backbone naturally held no low position. Yet even among priests, their status within the council varied.
For instance, those priests who preached in villages were regarded by the councilors as being on par with the gentry families, while priests like Marl and Agamemnon, who held important positions, were at least treated as equals. As for these three priests, the two councilors tacitly placed their standing somewhere in between.
They knew well enough—the church doctrine, though not as extreme as the Theocracy’s, where it was a matter of life and death, still aimed to seize nearly all the noble families’ retainers.
How could those nobles who had not yet been re-educated possibly accept this? So in the minds of the two councilors, the three priests were already considered dead men walking.
“Priest Weir will be going to Earl Raul’s territory. Before that, he will establish a small church here in Light Port, and only then proceed to Earl Raul’s domain.” Marl motioned for Weir to step forward.
Weir came forward, bowed slightly, and saluted Julian and Bevan.
Julian returned the bow, while Bevan nodded and said, “I will arrange for the recruitment of laborers. The people of Baron Morn Turner’s territory are always quite willing to work for us.”
Whether Baron Turner and the gentry were willing or not did not matter. As long as the commoners were willing, Bevan and Julian could always ensure the baron and gentry followed along.
After a brief exchange, Bevan summoned attendants to lead the three priests to rest, while Marl accompanied the two councilors to the manor at the port.
“I do not recommend that Priest Marl proceed to Earl Raul just yet,” Bevan said. “According to the reports I’ve received, Earl Raul has only faced attacks from fishman servants so far, and there are scarcely any signs of fishman hunters.”
Fishman servants could be compared to first-tier commoners in monastery ranking. Fishman hunters, however, were second-tier lower warriors, and above them stood fishman warlords, on par with third-tier upper warriors.
“With only large numbers of fishman servants, Earl Raul still has enough strength to deal with them. At this time, he might not care for the church’s assistance, and may even see Priest Marl as an enemy.”
How could he not see them as enemies? Over thirty fully armed third-tier upper warriors appearing in his territory—equip them with a knight and some logistics troops, and they could directly assault a small town.
“Of course, based on our intelligence, after some time, even without fishman warlords appearing on the battlefield, Earl Raul will be forced to consider seeking help.”
Bevan chuckled and continued, “Though fishman servants are weak, they are too numerous. Each day, over three thousand pour into Earl Raul’s lands. These fishmen do not care if a fortress blocks the pass. They will not necessarily break the fortress before flowing into the hinterlands.”
“They will simply bypass the fortress and rush into the rear. And once in the rear, even if a hundred or a thousand fishmen cannot take down a village, if each day a hundred or a thousand slip through, over time, the fortress at the pass will instead be surrounded from behind.”
“The knights and barons under Earl Raul are limited. Against these fishmen whose only aim is to break through and wreak havoc, they cannot kill them fast enough.”
“They need a more efficient method of slaughter. For now, they rely on Earl Raul’s Sacred Relic, which can kill thousands of fishmen in one use. But correspondingly, every use requires the sacrifice of a hundred human lives. At such an exchange rate, those below have long voiced their discontent.”
“Our people have already been working within. In another month, Priest Marl, you will be able to lead the Temple Warriors right to the earl’s castle.”
With external crises and, behind them, a force both well-supplied and militarily powerful, the gentry and barons, if they wished to live, would naturally choose to stake their lives on a side.
After all, when Earl Raul inherited his title, he was only the third in line, and he had little connection with the gentry and barons below him.
It could be said that Earl Raul’s situation was somewhat similar to that of Baron Belair back then.
Both had fathers who took away their elder brothers and the family elite.
But Raul was luckier than Belair, for not all of the family’s elites were taken away, and he was even left with a Sacred Relic.
For this reason, Bevan, seeing the internal discord in Earl Raul’s domain, applied the knowledge he had studied from books in the monastery, and quickly managed to sow division among the gentry and barons under Raul.
Not enough to win them over to his side—after all, the church doctrine had never shied away from anyone, and all could see it clearly.
But getting them to play along and pass along some messages was no problem.
Moreover, while Earl Raul chose to wait and refused to adopt the advanced crossbows of York Territory, these gentry and barons did not care as much.
They outwardly supported the earl’s decision, while secretly conducting trade with Bevan.
In a sense, Bevan thought Raul was even more foolish than Belair.
At least Belair understood the needs of the gentry below him, and did not think that just because he was a baron, those beneath him had to obey.
Look at Earl Raul—at such a critical juncture, he even forcefully conscripted a baron. Was this not handing Bevan an opening?
“Has infiltration of Earl Raul’s side already reached this point?” Marl was somewhat surprised. After all, this was an earl’s territory.
Bevan smiled and replied, “They do not have faith in the Lord, nor have they listened to the priests’ teachings. So, after the old earl’s death, the first concern of the barons and gentry was their own survival, not resisting foreign races. After all, it takes time for them to accept a new lord.”
Marl did not take these words at face value. The church’s teachings currently held sway mainly among the lower commoners. For these powerholders, the influence was far less.
At the very least, Marl was certain that, if the church lost its position and the lord had not yet returned, these councilors would quickly turn against them, carve up York Territory, and the gradually rising York Gold Coin system would collapse instantly.
Resisting foreign races? Caring for commoners? How many gold coins were those worth to such men?
The monastery’s scholars might speak half-truths when teaching the councilors, perhaps withhold certain things when teaching apprentices, but when instructing Marl, a church priest, they held nothing back.
Marl remembered the words Scholar Caleb once told him:
‘By looking throughout history, we can see these powerholders have no noble virtues whatsoever. In their eyes there is only profit, and only profit can sway their decisions.’
‘All order at its origin requires absolute violence to uphold. When that order becomes tradition, it gains the foundation to endure. And when every link in that tradition is tied to profit, only then will the powerholders abide by it.’
‘Powerholders are greedy, but their greed is also driven by the parasites clinging to them. Just like with Yara’s matter recorded by the church—she may not have wished to oppose the church, but those who raised her up as a powerholder would not allow her to damage their own interests. Thus, she could only choose to oppose the church. Of course, that is but one example. In truth, in most cases, the powerholders themselves are the greediest.’
When Marl applied these words to the councilors before him, he understood more clearly than ever. The reason these men cooperated so well in fulfilling their duties now was only because it brought them greater profit.
If the church lost its position, then a vast, unclaimed York Territory—now that would be the greatest profit.
Marl cast a glance at Julian beside him. Although in the past war against the werewolves, Julian had left a good impression, how long could such an impression last once he sat in the council?
Marl did not know, nor did he wish to think on it now. He turned to Bevan and said, “If possible, I hope Councilor Bevan, when dealing with them, can also pass on the church classics, so that at least the commoners might come to know of them.”
Bevan’s face showed difficulty. “Priest Marl should understand. Though the gentry and barons may deal with us, those commoners are what they truly value.”
Bevan did not say it too bluntly. Compared with monks of the monastery and priests of the church, only Marl among the Temple Church’s priests had once been a pure commoner, who had lived under the rule of the gentry in a village.
“If the church classics were to be known among the commoners, it might lead to some undesirable actions,” Bevan said.
The matter of the Theocracy’s founder was already well-known among these gentry nobles, thanks to the Rat Path. Though the details varied across versions, in every telling, the church’s Holy Scriptures were a crucial part.
Even the Theocracy now upheld the Original Sacred Scriptures word for word, requiring every priest and bishop to recite them as classics.
Though their interpretation differed from that of the priests of the Temple Church.
Marl also understood this, so he said, “Just do your best. This is not the council’s task anyway. The spreading of the Lord’s Teachings is ultimately still the responsibility of our church.”
Bevan breathed a sigh of relief. Though they often joked in private, saying they were merely working for the church, in truth the church had not directly ordered them to do anything.