Chapter 475 — Dark Clouds Gather Over Frostgate

A perfectly reasonable arrangement. So Fran?ois Belland merely swept a swift glance over the pastries and tea, then came expressionlessly among the clerics: "How stands the city?"

One cleric rose: "No chaos. The Holy Church Army and those exiled knights who have come over to us are keeping up patrols. The common folk are mostly staying indoors."

Fran nodded and turned to another cleric: "And the Cecils' movements?"

"No change. They still have the city sealed, but they have made no further move."

"That devil-serving, conceited fool of a 'Duke'..." A middle-aged cleric could not restrain his indignation. "...His conduct is simply unreasonable! To treat the Radiant Dawn Church this way—does he think the Holy Frost Cathedral is the only one in all of Ansu?"

"Perhaps the bishops of the Plains of the Holy Spirit and the royal capital will come to our aid, but at this stage, at least, we are still at others' mercy." Fran?ois Belland glanced at the indignant middle-aged bishop and shook his head slightly. "Gao Yang Cecil's conduct is indeed no different from consorting with devils—but he is a devil with power."

The cleric who had spoken first wore a trace of worry: "Bishop, what do you suppose that Gao Yang Cecil actually wants?"

Fran?ois Belland pondered a moment, then said unhurriedly, "He wants to drive us out entirely. That much is obvious."

He went on: "Neither attacking nor withdrawing—holding the blockade, sitting back to wait for Frostgate to collapse on its own. His aim is perfectly clear: he wants us to submit of our own accord, wants us, the servants of the Lord, to walk out of Darkwall ourselves, so that he can take the city over as a matter of course, drive out the faith of the Holy Light entirely, and still avoid any moral censure. It is a typical piece of vicious trickery, full of cunning and utterly without honor—just as we judged at the very beginning: beneath the splendid, glorious surface of the founding hero, there is in truth only a willful and greedy man. Absolute power is all he wants, and this was laid bare for all to see when he used his schemes to destroy every noble house of the southern frontier."

"We are the servants of the Lord—how could we ever submit to such a man!" The hot-tempered middle-aged cleric spoke up at once. "All he can do is waste his effort—he does not understand the power of devotion!"

"Those devastating magical weapons have clouded his judgment. He thinks conquering the Frost Cathedral will be as easy as conquering Stonehold Fortress," Fran?ois Belland said with a shake of his head. But then his tone grew grave. "Still, Gao Yang Cecil is a very cunning man... The fact that he has not attacked the Frost Cathedral directly shows that he at least understands he stands at a moral disadvantage."

An elderly cleric who had not spoken all this while gave a slight nod, his tone tinged with a trace of pride and reserve: "Precisely. He has realized at least one thing—a direct assault on the Frost Cathedral would only turn us into martyred saints, while he would lose the people's support."

"Exactly. His stand against the Church can only push him into the wrong, all the more so at this moment," Fran?ois Belland said solemnly. His gaze swept over everyone present; his words were plain, yet they carried an unshakable conviction. "Our perseverance is the greatest counterattack we can make against him. His blockade of Frostgate cannot last forever; those clumsy pretexts of his will soon collapse under their own weight. And so long as we hold fast to the cathedral, the doubts of the Holy Light's faithful toward Gao Yang Cecil will gradually drown him...

"We may pay some sacrifices along the way; this trial may prove longer and harder than we imagine. But I trust that everyone present is prepared—prepared even for martyrdom.

"The God of Holy Light will bear witness to our devotion and our courage. We will prove by our deeds that Gao Yang Cecil's heresy and his blasphemies are unjust. We will never withdraw, never let the God of Holy Light be shamed. Perhaps we shall fall in the end—but when we fall, it will be with the name of saints. Gao Yang Cecil may in the end set foot in this place—but we swear he shall set foot here only as an executioner and a desecrator!"

Fran?ois Belland's voice was deep and powerful, stirring everyone present to the depths. They thought of the Frostpeak Church, already martyred; they thought of the peril Frostgate faced at this very moment; and above all they thought of the glory of sacrificing oneself for the Lord. And so every one of them rose to their feet and followed the voice of the interim bishop:

"We swear!" "We swear!"

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