Since it was inappropriate to go to his mistress during the time of a national funeral, he could only kill time by listening to 'Arcana Voice'. Also, he found many programs in the channel very interesting, sometimes even more interesting than spending time with his mistress.
In Holm, except for the most conservative n.o.bles and believers, it was a fas.h.i.+on to listen to the forbidden music radio station. The content in it was the topic in many parties of the liberals. Whoever did not listen to it would be considered outdated and rejected by their circle.
"… From today on, the program will change slightly. Next, you will hear 'Holm Observation' that is hosted by me. It will inform you of the major events in the kingdom."
"… I believe our dear audience have learnt that the beloved, respected Prince Patrick followed King Feltis due to grief after the king pa.s.sed away. However, what about the process and the details? This program will direct you towards the truth behind the case."
Austin had been leaning against the sofa casually, but he sat straight and became solemn after hearing the introduction.
Holm Observation's exploration on the matter was still in the phase of unproven speculations. It interviewed random eyewitnesses to prove that Prince Patrick was in good health during the few days prior and couldn't have collapsed all of a sudden.
Although Nightingale did not say it outright, she was clearly insinuating that the Church did not like the prince for his favor of magic and alchemy. Anyone could infer from her words that the Church had a.s.sa.s.sinated the prince.
Austin gasped hard. He recalled what the liberals in the Parliament of n.o.bles said. The more he thought, the more suspicious he became. A week ago, the prince had just hosted a gathering of the liberals. His body condition was exactly like before, and he was in such a terrible relations.h.i.+p with the king. How could he have died from grief?
"They are bold enough to kill the crown prince…" Austin put the wine cup back on the table and began to pace.
When his back was faced to the window, two shadows lunged in and attacked him who was only in the level of regular knight easily.
"Who are you? How dare you attack a n.o.ble… Night watchers?" Austin saw the black gloves that the two men wore. "You are bold enough to arrest a n.o.ble directly? You are breaking the agreement between the Church and the n.o.bles!"
Juliana flew in from the window and looked at Austin coldly, "The Church is too weak. Only we can defend the glory of the Lord."
"Are you going to divide the n.o.bles and the Church, weaken the Church, and make it impossible for the glory of the Lord to spread?" Austin was not an idiot. He realized that he had encountered one of those zealous, extreme night watchers. Therefore, he simply suggested that their doing was on the contrary of their purpose.
"The Lord is almighty. He did not stop you because it is a test for us. If purging the n.o.bles who have been inclined to the sorcerers like you raises the objection of the n.o.bles of Holm, it will mean that they are all corrupt and beyond rescue. The throne must kneel before the Lord." Juliana loathed sorcerers from the bottom of her heart. She extended her hand coldly and pressed Austin's forehead. "Repent in h.e.l.l!"
"How dare you…" Holy light glowed, and Austin's head was pierced through. The blood was all vaporized. Even the rug was not stained.
Juliane put her left hand on her right hand and said, "Write down why we purged him and what he committed, submit it to the inquisition, and forward it to the Parliament of n.o.bles."
"We punish sinners as representatives of the will of the Lord; we do not hide."
"Understood!" The other night watchers echoed simultaneously.
...
Inside the royal magic tower of Holm, Lucien reminded Natasha in the end. "Be wary of Sard. There's no telling what he is up to."
"If he is really influenced by the World of Souls, like the pontiff and the saints in the North Church, his purpose may be to separate the five parishes here from the Church and to make himself the pontiff…" Since she hadn't figured out her stance yet, she was not sure whether it was a good or bad result.
Lucien shook his head. "Don't blindly refer to history. Sard is too sophisticated for that. After all, the South Church cannot stand yet another division. Besides, he has been in office for only two months. I fear that he hasn't even won the cardinal of the Holm parish yet. What can he use to create division? Not to mention that there are parishes defended by other saint cardinals. Therefore, don't be fooled by his recent performance."
Natasha said softly, "All in all, I'll try to find out his purpose. You'd better be careful, too, because you are the easiest one to deal with among the high-ranking experts on the Cleansing List."
"Rest a.s.sured about that. I have the Congus Ring with me." Lucien looked at the iron ring on his left hand.
Because his left hand would nullify the supernatural powers, Lucien had moved the Holm Crown Rings to his right hand and only kept the legendary ring that remained unaffected on his left hand.
"Okay, everyone knows that you have a legendary item!" Natasha pretended to be jealous. "After I sort through my heart and advance into level eight, I will have one, too! I'll also bring the s.h.i.+eld of Truth over. In that case, I'll have the strongest defense and the strongest attack. Haha!"
She did not want Lucien to end the call depressed and therefore made fun of him.
...
When it was dawn, Duke Rex, president of the Parliament of n.o.bles, flew to the Radiance Church gloomily.
"Your Excellency Saint Sard, I need an explanation. Why did the night watchers eliminate a baron and official knight without the approval of Her Majesty and the Parliament of n.o.bles?" Rex spoke to Sard in the library angrily, "It will dishearten all the n.o.bles? How can they trust the Church and contribute to it later?"
Sard replied peacefully, "I only just learnt of the matter. I'll ask the inquisition to deal with the few night watchers. An explanation will be given. Rex, you know that there are a lot of extremists among the night watchers. You cannot let the friends.h.i.+p between the n.o.bles and the Church be sabotaged by a few rabid dogs, right?"
Rex was more or less appeased by Sard's att.i.tude. "If it was the personal operation of few night watchers, and they are punished rigorously, I'm confident to pacify the n.o.bles who favor the Church, but it's hard to say the n.o.bles who favor the Congress of Magic. Also, the queen will reject the Church and us if she runs into such things when she is just crowned. I hope that Your Excellency Saint Sard can control the Church well in case of other extreme cases."
"I'll try to get the Holm parish under control in two years. In the meantime, I hope that n.o.bles can pay attention to what they say and do and inform me in time if they are noticed by the extremists of the Church." Sard replied friendly, "Right, write the n.o.bles' reactions to the matter into a doc.u.ment. I'll report it to the pope. In any case, the extremists are devout night watchers. The pope has to approve it before they are punished."
Rex nodded. "Alright, I'll have someone write it. Now, I'm going to the Nekso Palace and explain it to the queen face to face, in fact she is infuriated by the incident."
Watching Rex leave, Sard picked up the paper on the desk, which was the list of the few rogue night watchers.
Reading it with a smile, Sard brushed it with his thumb, and Juliana's name was immediately gone. Then, he picked up his quill and wrote, "… Because of the long suppression from the Congress of Magic and the consecutive holy light cases, many extremists have appeared in the clergy and night watchers in the Holm parish. Some of them believe that they have to eliminate the blasphemers within us to be united against the Congress of Magic. Some are similar to them. They believe that the Church is too weak and the n.o.bles are too arrogant. Only by being radical can they wake up the numb people.
While others doubt the necessity to resist the Congress of Magic and believe that we can live in peace if we both make compromises."
"The incident this time was caused by the second type of extremists. I admit that my control over the parish is not good enough. I ask Your Holiness to send my previous a.s.sistants, Vera Amelton and other people from the Violet parish, to help me, so that I can settle down the issue and contain the extremists, and the n.o.bles will not be pushed to the side of the Congress of Magic again."
"As for the punishment, I believe Octave, the cardinal in charge of the inquisition of the parish, holds full responsibility for the matter. Cardinal Amelton will replace him. However, in light of the complexities in the parish, he will still serve here…"
...
Reading the doc.u.ment submitted by the night watchers and listening to Rex's defense, Natasha was emotionless.
It was not until he spoke of the Church's decision that Natasha nodded and said, "Extreme lunatics are everywhere. The relation between n.o.bles and the Church is not to be affected by them. I believe that most n.o.bles will accept it as long as the Church shows sincerity."
Rex was relieved. It was indeed as expected of a queen from the City of Psalm to be inclined to the Church. "It's very wise of you, Your Majesty."
Right when he was about to leave, Natasha suddenly asked, "According to the night watchers' report, Baron Austin was listening to 'Arcana Voice' when he was arrested and executed, and the radio station was playing the content that implied Duke Rex a.s.sa.s.sinated my uncle Patrick. What's your take on that?"
"It is without a doubt the slander of the Congress of Magic that tries to sow discord between Your Majesty and the Church! They do not have any proof. It's just random talk." Rex defended himself solemnly.
Natasha raised her eyebrow. "You listened to the program?"
"The intelligence workers listened and reported the content to me." Rex explained.
Natasha nodded and didn't pursue it further. "Submit the intelligence to me earlier next time."
It was not until then that Rex realized he had misspoken. He hurried to say, "Because you were occupied by too many affairs recently, Your Majesty, I filtered the intelligence first and only submitted the important information. In the future, it will be directly submitted to you."
"It's alright. I understand your kindness. You may leave now." Natasha asked Rex to leave, as casual as before.
It was not until Rex was out of the palace that Natasha suddenly turned solemn.
...
Lucien reached the 33rd floor of Allyn magic tower through a lift and entered 'Thunder h.e.l.l', Fernando's demiplane, through the Portal to Alternate Realm in the library.
Fernando's hair was more or less messy. It seemed that reverse engineering of fusion and fission was more difficult than Lucien imagined when a lot of knowledge and discoveries were missing.
"Right on time. Describe your feelings when you performed 'Eternal Blaze' again." Fernando raised his bloodshot eyes and looked at Lucien. Then, his face became rather complicated, "You have new papers again?"
Lucien was holding a pile of papers in his hands.
