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Chapter 83 - 83 Signs of Invasion
Chapter 83 - 83 Signs of Invasion
83 Signs of Invasion
After returning to Thorn City, William found Vincent in the Rose Palace’s conference hall, who was handling all kinds of matters.
William looked at Vincent, who looked a little tired, and asked, “Aren’t you too busy? Do you want me to get some help to share your burden?”
To tire out a magic chanter who had just broken through to the Legendary domain, his work probably hadn’t been easy recently.
It wasn’t a surprise. In the Blackwater Province, where the Church was weak, many matters that were originally handed over to the Holy Spirits Church had to be handled by the secular bureaucracy. Furthermore, the large-scale purge of the Moon Realm worship groups in the palace some time ago had caused a large-scale suspension of the entire administration. There were vacancies everywhere, but there were no candidates suitable for replacing them.
Vincent had even advised William that they go easy on the officials involved in the Moon Realm’s worship until everything was back on track.
However, William firmly rejected this and said that dealing with Moon Realm worshipers was his top priority.
Tumors had to be dug out early. Otherwise, when they sprouted, they would be like maggots attached to bones that couldn’t be shaken off.
However, the result of this was Vincent being in charge of the dysfunctional, unstaffed departments.
Recently, he had been so busy that he didn’t have any time to rest. Countless matters—both big and small—had to be handed over to him for approval.
This was how rulers who didn’t have a stable foundation but plenty of power were. They had to do everything themselves.
Moreover, such an arrogant form of rule was destined not to last in the long run.
“Stop joking. If there were a helper, I wouldn’t need to be so tired,” Vincent put down the dossier in his hand and replied with a bitter smile.
He followed up with a question.
“But since you’re asking, Presiding Judge, is there a solution?”
William sat opposite Vincent and fiddled with the wax seal on the table.
“My suggestion is to reassign those unimportant matters to the Holy Spirits Church. Focus on reorganizing the matters in the palace and nurturing your trusted aides. This will make things much easier for you in the future.”
Regarding this, Vincent’s expression turned very serious as he asked, “But this will bring about two long-term problems. Firstly, will this cause the independence of the Blackwater Swamp to be restrained by the Empire again because of faith? Secondly, doesn’t bringing in the Holy Spirits Church’s faith system run counter to your previous goal?”
He actually had something else to ask.
Don’t tell me you’re also saying that this is a necessary path to reach your ultimate goal?
William looked into the other party’s eyes and understood what he was worried about. He replied, “Be it the rule of the Riel royal family or the reversal of the Holy Spirits Church, the two problems you mentioned won’t be a big problem in the future. You have to view this from a broader perspective.”
After all, be it the Riel royal family or the Holy Spirits Church, they would be resolved as a problem in the future.
William didn’t wait for the other party’s reaction and continued, “I have my considerations for making this suggestion. Firstly, it’s because Simon suppressed the Holy Spirits Church. The remaining Holy Spirits Church in the Blackwater Swamp has nothing to do with Moon Realm worship. Moreover, they have a relatively complete organizational structure. As long as you provide some support, their expansion won’t be too slow. It can greatly resolve the lack of manpower.”
Regarding this, Vincent said worriedly, “The advantages you’re talking about are what I’m worried about. It took us more than 20 years to gradually escape their influence, and it might not take them two to three years to make a comeback. If we let them control the believers in the Blackwater Swamp again, the Church will become a tool used by the Central Church to restrain us.”
“This Holy Spirits Church in the Blackwater Swamp will have nothing to do with the Central Church of Platinum Province,” William replied calmly.
He continued, “And this is also the second thing I want to mention. Other than figuring out the principles behind the Eighth Holy Spirit’s figurine blessings during my trip to the Sealing Temple, I also learned plenty. One of them is that the Holy Spirits Church in the Blackwater Swamp has been abandoned by the Church. Or rather, the entire Blackwater Swamp has been abandoned by the Empire. Do you understand what this means?”
William’s gaze sent a chill down Vincent’s spine.
“What do you mean?” Vincent asked uneasily.
“When I went to the Sealing Temple in Red Spring Town, I discovered that it had been wrecked by the Bloated Church. Many Lunar Monsters even appeared there. I interrogated their leader—they had summoned those Lunar Monsters recently, not on the Lady of Starvation’s summoning day.”
This meant that the Lady of Starvation could now project her strength into Currere without any obstruction.
It was even possible that the Lady of Starvation wasn’t the only one who could project power into Currere.
On second thought, it made sense. Previously, the three Moon Realm goddesses had chosen Simon Walde as their spokesperson to control the entire Blackwater Province. The problem was if this agent was killed, would They pretend that nothing had happened and give up?
No, They will only choose to find a new spokesperson or take a more direct approach.
Especially when They knew that the former Calamity had returned, Their choosing to participate directly was highly likely.
“An even larger invasion is brewing, Vincent. Moreover, the upper echelons of the Empire are certainly well aware of all of this. The evidence is that after you announced that you would take over the Blackwater Swamp, the few armies the Empire had previously held back at the border haven’t done anything. This is because they aren’t used to guard against you, but against the Lunar Monsters that will descend in the future.”
William even felt that the upper echelons of the Empire might know about Simon’s plan for the independence of the Blackwater Kingdom that had been brewing for so many years. However, they didn’t interfere because it didn’t affect the overall situation.
After all, in their opinion, there wouldn’t be much difference whether the Blackwater Province was directly controlled by the Moon Realm or a puppet that had submitted to the Moon Realm.
“It’s also because of this that the members of the Holy Spirits Church who are still in the Blackwater Swamp have definitely been abandoned by the Church. Therefore, you don’t have to worry too much. Even if they still have fantasies about the Platinum Province’s Central Church, they will naturally understand their situation when the Moon Realm begins a full-scale invasion of the Blackwater Swamp in the future. Therefore, we can just use them at this stage. In the future, they will become the backbone force I will use to replace the Central Church.”
Vincent felt a chill down his spine when he heard William’s words.
Was this the time to discuss how the Holy Spirits Church’s Central Church was to be replaced? Wasn’t resolving the imminent Moon Realm invasion the most important problem?