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At Elizabeth’s dungeon.
“So, who’s the mastermind? Is it the new church or the old church? What exactly are they after? All right, I shall decide who I shall execute based on their goal.”
I placed an individual’s hand down. I just finished snapping all of his fingers. He passed out for the meantime due to pain. As such, I had the chance to ask for Mommy Elizabeth’s opinion.
Mom shook her head: “Frankly, Mommy is unsure now. It could be either faction. If it’s the work of the old church, it’s simple to explain and that is that the old church couldn’t appease their people’s anger. In turn, they took revenge. The old church stole the weapons the new church smuggled. After finding out, the new church’s pope fled. However, if it’s the new church’s scheme, then it could be explained, as well.
My guess is that the new church sent the weapons to the old church so that the old church could go on a killing spree. That way, the declaration of war between the two churches would officially be announced. That said, the old church at Hilles City doesn’t have weapons; therefore, the new church, which is located at Troy City, possesses supreme power. In fact, they could instigate a confrontation between the two of us. In that scenario, I either take the initiative to eliminate you, or the new church flawlessly subdues the old church and becomes the state religion.”
“However I look at it, it’s the new church’s scheme. There’d be no way to explain their pope’s departure, otherwise. Furthermore, I sent a letter to investigate my seal, but I haven’t received any response. My guess is that it’s most probably because Troy City is now under the new church’s control. That would explain why I have no clue about what happened. Mom, this is now a pressing matter. I have no time to calm down. I must immediately head to Troy City!”
“What are you going to do at Troy City? Son, whatever the case is, the new church now controls the city. You want to take on an entire city? I think that you’ll need an army backing you. Mommy won’t stop you. In saying that, Mommy has to go with you. Troy City is no longer what it once was. It may be named after you, but the city’s flag no longer has your name on it. Hence, Mommy shall bring Mommy’s armies that are best at sieging cities this time to assist you in taking back Troy City.”
“Mom…”
“Before that, nevertheless, Mommy needs to complete some tasks. Mommy, at the very least, needs to delegate the old church to traditional state religion. That way, the new church’s plot to have us fight each other will go down the drain. The old church will calm down and stop bothering with the new church once they’re declared state religion. After all, there’s no need for them to waste time with the loser when they’ve already won. By the same token, I’ll have a legitimate reason to intervene. A nation doesn’t require two religions, especially one that has no qualms with resorting to unscrupulous schemes. Thus, we can just eliminate them.”
Mom’s eyes showed that she was dead serious. In reality, we didn’t reach any conclusion since we lacked the most crucial piece of the puzzle; to be specific, we lacked evidence. We just felt that the new church’s motivation sounded more probable. Furthermore, I wanted to rip the new church, the people who forged an imperial decree. I just wanted a reason to slaughter the lot of them. I didn’t know what Mommy Elizabeth thought. I wasn’t sure if she thought the matter was at its final scene or if she, too, just needed an excuse to kill the new church. The two of us reached a mutual agreement this time, and for a rare moment, both want to kill. I wondered when I developed a violent tendency.
The riot ended half a day ago. A day had nearly passed. It was nearly noon by the time I left the interrogation room. Everybody caught was scheduled to be hung tomorrow. We needed to speak to the old church. The final step was to prepare the army.
Mom looked forward to fighting another war after a long layoff. To begin with, she prepared three main forces and two supporting armies. You could say the scale of the army was big. Nevertheless, I felt that it was unnecessary to take Troy City since Troy City didn’t have an army. If it did have one, it wouldn’t be beyond my control, yet.
I thought the free city had a decent reputation. I only just realised that it was completely beyond my control. The inhabitants were no longer loyal to me. In fact, they stole my property.
Elizabeth needed three days to prepare everything. The plan was to set out in three days and arrive at Troy City a week later to take it back. One, I couldn’t accept betrayal. Two, I couldn’t accept others hurting my family. For that reason, I was hesitant to hurt my citizens. Under normal circumstances, the people were innocent; however, they lived where the new church rooted themselves, so they had to be with the new church. As they were with the new church, I should kill them all. Subsequently, I was undecided as to what to do to them.
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Current time at the Imperial Palace in the North.
“Miss Ling Yue?!” exclaimed Freya. She got up from her brother’s bed in a flustered manner and explained, “I-I was just seeing if my brother’s room was tidy or not during his absence. I had to check if the mattress, in particular, was comfortable or not. If Brother suddenly returns…”
“We have situation at Troy City. I need backup. Please provide me with the best guard and general.”
Ling Yue ignored what Freya was doing in her husband’s room. Her fur was incredibly messy. There were even leaves, grass and branches in her fur. It was safe to assume she took a straight route to the North instead of taking the normal path in order to get to the North as fast as possible. That was how she managed to reach the North in half a day in her fox form.
“I think w-.”
“We’re out of time! My daughter is still at Troy City and could be in danger at any moment. Plus, my husband’s stuff has been stolen. The entire palace at Troy City is under someone else’s control! They’ve revolted! It’s a silent revolt! Freya, I need to protect my daughter and investigate what happened!”
Ling Yue’s fangs were partially visible. That was how Ling Yue behaved when she was worked up; it was in her wild beast nature. Freya immediately tidied herself up. She had a fundamental idea of what happened. She responded with a quick nod and then yanked out a sheet of paper from the desk. She quickly wrote something down then folded it and passed it to Ling Yue: “Take this to Miss Ying. Miss Ying should be in the camp. You may mobilise Brother’s guard unit as you see fit. Take as many men as you think you need, Shusia included. Shusia and Miss Ying are both trustworthy. I am sure you will find a use for them.”
“These two will do. I’m heading back now!”
“I will gather up our newly formed team and head to Troy City. Since they’ve revolted, we must take back Troy City for my brother!!”