Chapter 462 — The Church's Plan

The agitated holy light swiftly settled and once more fell into unified step. The murmuring of the bishopric ceased, and one bishop stepped forward as though chosen to speak for them all: "Your Holiness, after the Eastern bishopric is withdrawn... what further arrangements do you have?"

"This war... is bringing suffering to the innocent," the Pope lowered his eyelids. The holy light wreathed about him rose upward and merged into one with the sea of holy light upon the ceiling of the Great Hall of Light, so that each of his words seemed to contain inexhaustible power. "Only a unified faith can dispel these blind and foolish divisions. To that end, it is necessary that we strike at the heretics by more direct means... The Holy Legion will join this war."

The bishops stirred once again, but this time their discussion was shorter, for they had already vaguely anticipated such a development the moment they heard the Pope speak of withdrawing the Eastern bishopric.

A bishop with hair and beard all white stepped forward: "Your Holiness, are we to support the Royal Army?"

"The Eastern rebels have expelled our clerics—they are already enemies of the Holy Light," the old Pope said in a low, majestic voice. "For the Lord's cause, it is necessary that we end our neutrality and join the ranks of the Royal Army."

You could have heard a pin drop in the Great Hall of Light.

Ever since Ansu was founded, religious neutrality had been one of the fundamental rules by which the nation operated.

What belongs to the king belongs to the king; what belongs to the Pope belongs to the Pope. The royal house had no right to command the operation of the Church, and the Church could not influence the rule of the royal house. This was a promise jointly made, after the age of exploration ended, by the leaders of the pioneer army—who had cut through thorn and bramble and emerged together from the wasteland—and the leaders of the various churches.

And now this rule was about to be broken—the Netherlight Church, possessed of the strongest military might among all the sects, would take part in this civil war within the kingdom. The Holy Legion's entry into the war meant that the Church was no longer an organization wholly neutral and uninvolved in royal power.

After this, regardless of how the war finally ended, the Church's standing and influence in Ansu would be utterly transformed.

Had this been before the civil war, the Ansu royal house would never have permitted any of it—even if the Holy Legion entered the war under the banner of "supporting the royal house"—for it meant the Church was reaching its hand into places it should not reach. But under the present circumstances... the Royal Army was showing signs of defeat under the heavy pressure of the Eastern rebels, and word had recently come from the south that troubled the royal house even more: the two regent dukes in Silverhold and the realm's nominal heir would have no choice at all.

Verodai stood without betraying anything beside Saint Ivan III. The expression on her face did not change in the slightest; the bishops had no way of reading her attitude toward this matter from the face of this "Saint Princess," nor could they guess whether the royal house had a hand behind it. But they could at least be certain of one thing:

The royal house did not oppose any of it.

"Your Holiness, your considerations are profound," the tall, powerfully built Bishop Megor said in a loud voice. "For the Lord's cause, it is time for the Holy Legion to spread the faith by the sword."

Another bishop, with a trace of worry: "But if we do this, I fear the clerics and faithful in the Eastern Diocese whom we have no time to withdraw will face retribution from the Eastern rebels."

"While the bishopric is withdrawn, arrange as well for the evacuation of ordinary clerics and missionaries—Edmund Moen is hostile to the Church, and that is the best reason for us to withdraw our clerics," the old Pope said quietly. "As for the faithful... the Lord will watch over their souls."

...

The meeting in the Great Hall of Light had ended.

The bishops departed in order, and soon only the aged Saint Ivan III was left in that vast hall, together with Viroday Morn, standing in quiet attendance beside the papal throne.

After a brief silence, the Pope's aged voice reached Viroday's ears: "Viroday, do you too hold that the Holy Army's entry into the war is a challenge to the traditional order of Ansu?"

The Saint Princess was silent for two seconds, then answered calmly: "It benefits both sides—the Church will gain room to grow, the royal army will have its chance to turn the tide on the battlefield, and the two regent dukes will make the right judgment. And as I see it... the times have changed, Your Holiness. When an age turns, the traditional order is not something that cannot be made to yield."

"Yes, the times have changed, and a new age brings new threats... yet the threats are far from being in one place alone," the Pope sighed, his tone holding nothing but lament. "How do matters stand in the south?"

"Thick with fog."