Chapter 380 — Stirrings

"...She has that accomplishment to her name as well?" Gaoyang stared in astonishment for a moment, then hastily shook his head. "Ahem, these are mere details. You've only noticed their unreliable side—but don't forget their matchless abilities."

Gaoyang turned serious and looked into Heidi's eyes: "Amber may be unreliable, but she is a shadow master beyond question. In the specialty of shadow, at least, she is as powerful as an elemental creature in its own elemental plane. The 'Shadow Proving Ground' Suojilin discovered could prove extremely perilous for ordinary people—that is why we need Amber's power. And Tiel is an expert at contending with divine power. Others may not know it, but you do: those sirens grew up eating gods raw, and their resistance to divinity is terrifyingly high. The Defiance Fortress is a place for studying divine power, and the Shadow Proving Ground may well be connected to the Shadow Goddess. Tiel's presence is a safeguard. If there truly are remnants of a god there, only Tiel can safely dispose of them."

"...It is indeed as you say," Heidi considered, and could only concede that Gaodai had a point. "Let's hope they don't stir up any trouble."

"More to the point—is there anything important to report?" Gaoyang studied Heidi's expression; he had noticed a certain gravity on her face the moment she entered the study. "Has something gone wrong at one of the factories?"

"I'm afraid it's more serious than that, Ancestor," Heidi said gravely. "A report just came in from the Military Intelligence Bureau. Our agents planted in Count Horsman's domain and Viscount Carol's domain have found that the Southern Frontier nobles have been acting strangely of late. The various landed nobles are holding frequent gatherings, and the leading figure is Count Horsman. Word is circulating among the knights on the various domains..."

"What word?"

"...Gaoyang? Duke Cecil is greedy and mad; to plunder wealth he has stripped all the knights on his lands of their authority and fiefs, and is wantonly destroying Ansu's traditional order—and that destruction is spreading outward. The Kant domain is already a casualty. Many 'glorious and honored names are gathering dust on Cecil soil.' Those are the very words circulating among the knights and petty nobles of those domains, and the phrasing is uncannily uniform. Clearly someone is deliberately spreading them."

Gaoyang listened silently with a faint, amused smile; the corner of his mouth curved upward. "Interesting... someone's finally saying I've destroyed Ansu's traditions. I'd thought they could at least hold out until Francis II returned home."

"You're not angry?" Heidi looked at Gaoyang in surprise. "When you're the very architect of Ansu's traditions—those people have practically forgotten who their forefather is!"

"They haven't forgotten, and they're not fools. They've simply seen a greater profit," Gaoyang said, shaking his head. "Besides this, is there anything more?"

"A group of Holy Light missionaries has entered the Southern Frontier from Carol's domain in the north and is in frequent contact with the high leadership of the Southern Frontier's Dark Sun Church. Those missionaries are loudly proclaiming among the knightly class that Cecil has taken in worshippers of foreign gods—of course, they don't use the neutral term 'worshippers of foreign gods.' They say outright that we are harboring heretics and evil gods."

Gaoyang lifted his eyelids and asked the only question that concerned him: "Do the local noble lords tacitly permit these missionaries to act?"

"I'm afraid it's more than tacit permission," Heidi said, shaking her head. "Without the covert help of the local noble lords, the missionaries would find it very hard to assemble knights—who are nobles themselves—for this sort of 'preaching.' The knightly class is not a crowd of commoners you can summon by ringing a bell at a church door."

Gao Yiwei nodded slightly. "So it seems the Southern Frontier nobles have roped in the Yaochen Church as well. To snatch a profit while the opportunity lasts, there is truly nothing they dare not do. Still, this works in our favor..."

Hedy looked at Gao Yang in surprise. "In our favor? How on earth does this work in our favor?"

Gao Yiwei smiled. "We only need to strike once, rather than striking each of them separately."