Episode 268
: “All troops in the kingdom will be reorganized into five corps, and in every territory, troops from the local corps will reside in a dispatched form and maintain security with a vigilante group.”
– 1st corps including the central royal guard.
– The 2nd corps centered around the Grand Duchy of Esperanza in the northwest.
– 3rd corps centered around McLane territory in the southwest.
– 4th Corps in the Northeast.
– 5th Corps in the southeast.
Each legion consisted of about 1,500 knights and 40,000 to 50,000 regular soldiers, and its command ultimately rested with the king.
Except for the 1st corps, which was directly commanded by the king, the 2nd to 5th corps were appointed as corps commanders by Grand Duke Patrick McLane and Luther Kyle Wickencalia, respectively.
And Clayton’s magic corps, which now numbered close to 1,000 people, was composed of a separate unit that could support any corps directly under the royal family.
It was a reform that was tantamount to a declaration that all military power in the Kingdom of McLane was firmly concentrated in the king, but there was no backlash.
After Jacques Juan’s gang was purged, he was virtually in a state of absolute royal authority, and this was also thanks to Logan’s good comfort to each lord.
Of course, it resulted in the knights who had been dispatched to the royal family with a promise of three years being taken away entirely…
– I’m sorry, my lord.
This was somewhat predictable since there were already a lot of knights who had changed their affiliation from being dispatched to being directly under the royal family.
Moreover, since the situation in all territories was the same, there was no reason to feel relative deprivation.
– The lord saves the cost of maintaining troops and the country has a powerful army.
However, there was something strange that struck many people’s eyes…
“Isn’t the power focused too much on the West?”
“I know.”
“It’s like there’s going to be a war with the empire….”
“You’re talking about something big going on.”
“Oh, it must be because of Esperanza and McLane’s location. Coincidence, coincidence.”
Although they felt that the force concentrated on the 1st and 2nd Corps in the west was excessive, they tried to dismiss it as a coincidence.
“There are 15 legions like this in the empire.”
“That also excludes the imperial central army.”
“Unless His Majesty goes crazy…”
No matter how I thought about it, there was no reason for the kingdom to go to war with the empire.
Of course, the person who finally took control of all military power in the kingdom had completely different thoughts.
“Now the minimum preparations are complete.”
see.
Hope seems within reach.
Logan clenched his fists, enjoying the exhilarating feeling.
The five legions will now conduct joint training, and after two years, they will be reborn as elite soldiers comparable to any legion in the empire.
‘Knights armed with artifacts become qualitatively superior to knights of the empire.’
The rapid-fire crossbows, which are still being produced like crazy, will increase the combat power of hundreds of thousands of vigilantes to make up for the insufficient number of soldiers.
‘If we steadily supply Liberatio to each corps, then the minimum preparation will be complete.’
However, it is not yet a safe stage.
It was time for Logan to take a deep breath and force his excitement to calm down.
“Your Majesty. An official message has arrived from the temple.”
A tackle came from a completely unexpected place, as if to put him at ease.
* * * [The temple is concerned about the strange things happening in the Kingdom of Macraine and the worrying behavior of the royal family. Therefore, I would like to send heresy inquisitors to investigate throughout the kingdom, so I request permission.]
The sentence, delivered plainly without any significant rhetoric, made the viewer more frustrated.
This is a request for permission, but the Inquisitors are probably already on their way to the kingdom.
In this situation, it was obvious that if permission was not granted, the entire kingdom would be branded a heretic.
And at that time, not only the Inquisitor but also the Knights Templar of the Temple, which is notorious on the continent, will directly attack the kingdom.
Even if you were confident that you could overcome the temple’s attack, it was something you should not have done.
Because opposing the temple would shake the hearts of the people who have strong faith in the Nine Great Gods.
Above all….
‘As expected, this is something that never happened in my past life. ‘Is this also a derivative of what I did?’
Two tightly closed eyes and a complicated mind.
But of course there were no facts that could be guessed.
Rather than vaguely inferring that it happened due to regression, it seemed better to infer the incident from the situation seen before one’s eyes.
Logan sighed and calmly gathered his thoughts.
‘Children are being born who are incapable of divine power. Yeah, I heard that. But is that enough for Heresy Inquisitors to be dispatched? Or because of what happened during the plague?’
Heresy Questioner.
These priests have the authority to detect and summarily execute xie jiao that violate the doctrine of the Nine Great Gods, and are also called exorcism priests.
They were battle priests with above-average divine power and the power to chase away demons. Contrary to their sacred role, they were imprinted as beings of fear throughout the continent.
If a person was designated as a cultist, not only his family but also his neighbors and relatives were all accused of heresy and executed.
They said that it was a village where heresy had flourished, and they burned the entire village, which numbered up to a thousand houses, along with the people.
Moreover, they did not pay any attention to the lord or the royal family.
They only realized justice based on their own standards and were not interested in the lives sacrificed in the process of realizing that justice.
And it was seen by the people as a monster worse than a devil.
There was an incident from over a hundred years ago that clearly cemented the image of the Heretic Questioner.
Heretic Inquisitor Valama, nicknamed ‘The Devil of Blood’.
A murderer who crucified and burned over 10,000 people solely to satisfy his own desires, not for religious reasons.
By the time they started to move in the central temple, feeling uncomfortable with the excessive number, they had already been caught by the empire’s inspectors and their infamous name became known to the world.
At that time, the temple’s authority was rapidly declining, so the temple had no choice but to adopt extreme policies.
All the heresy inquisitors who had been dispatched across the continent were gathered at the central temple, and the conduct of heresy inquisitions by individual priests was strictly prohibited.
Therefore, to date, heresy inquisitors have come forward only at the request of a lord or kingdom and after traces of a suspicious cult have been discovered.
“But why…?”
No matter how hard we tried, there were bound to be limits to our guesses unless we knew the location of the temple.
“I need to see Bishop Ilya to find out what’s going on.”
“Yes. I will send you my message.”
It seemed that only by listening to the context of the temple’s official document could we come up with a solution.
But the intention was wrong from the beginning.
“It is said that Bishop Ilia has been summoned to the central temple.”
“what?”
“It’s an interrogation for violating a taboo…”
“What kind of bullshit is that!?”
bang!
The armrests of the throne were unable to withstand Logan’s strength and shattered.
“Is it because of work during the plague?”
“I don’t know for sure, but maybe… Due to its nature, it was difficult to plant an informant in the temple. I’m sorry.”
Logan’s face became even more distorted at Damian’s answer.
“I’m going to the temple. I need to meet the archbishop.”
In the end, Logan took the next best option and met the Archbishop in person, and the answer he received was even more absurd.
“It is an order given directly by His Holiness, so there is nothing I can do about it.”
Pamiel Gernheim.
Priest Noh, who is also the Archbishop of the God of Water and Agriculture and the head of the McLane Diocese, expressed his displeasure and refused.
“Please at least explain why this happened. Don’t we need to prepare too?”
“I’m sorry. It’s the Pope’s order…”
No matter how I asked, Pamiel just repeated the same thing.
The sorry expression on his wrinkled and unsightly face seemed sincere, but the greed behind it was clearly visible in Logan’s eyes.
The amount of money I received when the establishment of the new dynasty was recognized and invited to the coronation ceremony was enough to make me gnash my teeth, but I couldn’t show that feeling now.
“I will donate 10 million gold to the Temple of Aion. Please lend me your wisdom.”
“Oh, thank you, but that’s all I can say.”
…There’s no way the interest rate is like this?
Logan, who was looking at him with a suspicious expression, soon realized his mistake and corrected himself.
“Ah, since I’m trying to borrow the Archbishop’s wisdom, I should donate ‘directly’ to the Archbishop rather than to the temple. Is that okay?”
“Heh heh. Since you asked so earnestly, I guess this old man has no choice but to comply with your Majesty’s wishes. Heh heh.”
For the first time in a long time, Logan felt the urge to rip someone’s mouth off, but fortunately he didn’t show it.
“First of all, I want to know why we ended up in this situation. What happened to Bishop Ilya?”
“Ah, it’s a pity. First, let me tell you about the tragedy that occurred in this kingdom before Bishop Ilia’s incident.”
“What happened?”
“A few years ago, children began to be born in this land who were unable to access divine power. Do you know this fact? The same was true for the daughter of His Excellency the Sword Master whom I consecrated.”
How could I forget?
The child he named Stella.
Now, the face of a laughing child, calling him ‘Uncle, Your Majesty’ quite clearly, flashed through Logan’s mind.
A cute child that I wish would grow up just like that when I have a child someday. “Originally, it was a very rare case
,
so the church formally invited us to conduct various studies…”
“I’ve heard it before, Archbishop. I’m more curious about the present than about history.”
Suddenly, a sound of teeth grinding came out of Logan’s mouth.
Because of the circumstances, the word “research” sounded even more frightening than when I heard it in the empire.
Did he feel the murder in Logan’s eyes? Pamiel cleared his throat and began to explain the situation.
“A constitution that was originally discovered in about one person every few hundred years has begun to be discovered in large numbers here in Grandia, or in McLane. Recently, the number of ‘children’ directly identified by our diocese has exceeded 1,000.”
“A thousand people… or more children? Is it just children?”
“Yes. In reality, I think it is several times that number. Most of them were born in the last 6 to 7 years.”
“Huh…”
6-7 years. For some reason, it was a number that made me feel very uncomfortable, but right now, rather than finding the reason for the unknown discomfort, the immediate difficulty took priority.
“What does the fact that I have a constitution that does not allow for divine power have anything to do with the Inquisition?”
“…There can be many interpretations of a constitution that is impermeable to divine power. First of all…” “
Archbishop. I did not come to listen to a theology lecture.”
A low voice.
However, within it was the energy of an Auror user that made Pamiel wake up.
“Umm… oh my…”
“Please, ‘simply!’ “Please tell me. I am asking about the connection between that constitution and the current Inquisition.”
“Hehe…”
“To put it more bluntly, I am curious about the intentions of the central temple. Please understand.”
At that direct question, Pamiel laughed and continued speaking again.
“Huh huh. Yes, that’s right. To put it briefly as your Majesty wishes, the temple, no, the Pope is currently suspecting that the land of this kingdom has been ‘forsaken by God.’”
Those words easily surpassed the limits of Logan’s imagination.
