Although he knew in his heart that Duke's words could be a pretext, there was one point that Duke accurately hit the key point in Leonard's heart, that is, whether it was Ore, Ryder, or even Will and Uther in Alpine City, this group of people did not take themselves as cardinals seriously, and unanimously obeyed Ore's orders and disobeyed the decree of his cardinal.

This is undoubtedly a very humiliating thing for an archbishop of the diocese of the French Empire. Compared with his own prestige and status, a small person like Duke of Storm Castle is not a matter at all, maybe this is the current view of the powerful people in the Holy See or the mainland, Duke is a little strong, but they have never put this strength in their eyes.

"I'm sorry, Cardinal, but I didn't restrain the Storm Lord's slanderous words for a moment. ”

Ryder quickly apologized at this time, even if they all thought in their hearts that Leonard had entered the twilight of his clergy, but as long as he was still in the position of cardinal for one day, he still had absolute rights.

"Hmph, I can't see it. ”

Leonard said coldly, this sentence shocked the clergy, including Ore, it seems that Leonard is indeed very angry and dissatisfied with the disobedience.

However, now that the Lord of the Fran Empire is here, it is not easy for Leonard to openly stir up internal affairs in the Holy See, so he held back the anger in his heart and looked at Duke and said: "Although you obeyed Carsmail's orders, your storm army is still against the Holy See, so it must be severely punished." ”

"As a devout believer, I always obey the decrees of Your Archbishop, and I am willing to accept punishment for my actions. ”

Duke admitted his mistake without saying a word, which was also discussed with Carsmail, because even if it was all the Holy See's mistake, it was impossible to make the Holy See admit his mistake, this is the rule on the mainland.

Therefore, the more pious and obedient Duke becomes, the more beneficial it is to Stormcastle and the easier it is to gain Leonard's trust.

Sure enough, hearing Duke's answer made Leonard feel very comfortable in his heart, compared with these subordinates, Duke's respect for his authority was a very satisfactory performance for Leonard.

At the same time, Kasmai also began to add to the fire and said: "Cardinal, although the Storm Lord made a mistake against the Holy See army, but I think the bigger mistake was the disobedience of the Orelord to the fatwa, which led to such a misunderstanding. ”

"Misunderstanding?Carsmail, is it a misunderstanding to attack the Papal Knights?Since this is under your orders, then both you and Duke must be judged!"

Ole finally couldn't help but say coldly, judging from this posture, Carsmai and Duke were about to clean up this matter, and an attack on the Holy See was actually a misunderstanding.

"I said that the misunderstanding is already to take care of your face, archbishop, do you want me to say that you mobilized the papal army privately, and I obeyed the decree of the cardinal, so I resisted? Archbishop Ore, do you really want to label the Teutonic knights a rebel?"

If these words had been put in the past, Kasmai would not have dared to speak to the archbishop in such a tone. But now that he has understood, he will be offended anyway, or he will cling to Leonard's thigh and climb up, or if he can't climb, he will hug Duke's thigh, at least he can ensure safety, and he will simply turn his face.

"Kasmai, you're a bloody squirt!"

Ole was completely speechless at this point, because he had the wrong starting point, and he had not yet seized evidence of Stormcastle's collusion with the Dark Witch Society. Now, apart from talking about Storm Castle's attack on the Holy See Army, there is no way to convict Duke of the crime!

"Well, we'll talk about the fatwa later. ”

Leonard came out to interrupt at this time, and it was really detrimental to the face of the Holy See to let the bishop-level clergy argue like this.

After saying this, he looked at Duke and said, "Duke, although you obeyed Carsmail's orders, you did fight against the Teutonic knights. Well, Stormcastle will double its tithes this year, and at the same time pay 50,000 gold coins to the Teutonic knights, and you will personally go to the church to atone for three days, overseen by Kasmai. ”

In Leonard's opinion, doubling the tithes and 50,000 gold coins in a small place like Stormcastle can almost drain the entire Stormcastle finances, and he will not have the extra financial resources to maintain the lord's army.

The so-called church atonement is actually kneeling in front of the church statue for three days to apologize, which is also a very humiliating way on the mainland, because the aristocracy of this era cares about etiquette and face, even more than their own lives, just like a knight can give his life, but he can't abandon his chivalry.

At the beginning, Henry IV, the emperor of the French Empire, made his image plummet because of his kneeling outside Windsor Castle, and the great lords of the empire fell to the Holy See one after another, laying the beginning of the decline of the French Empire.

Even to a certain extent, the French Empire is about to fall apart, if it weren't for the struggle between Henry VII, who was still the crown prince, and Otto, who was still an earl, maybe it would be a problem whether the French Empire is still alive today.

"Your Excellency, I am willing to accept the punishment. ”

Duke accepted the punishment without the slightest resistance, and Stormcastle didn't have much tithes in the first place, and there was no problem with doubling it. The only pain in the flesh is 50,000 gold coins, which is indeed equivalent to bloodletting, but it is still the old saying, what can be settled with money is not a big deal, and 50,000 gold coins Storm Castle can still be taken out by the province now.

As for the atonement of the Holy See, this is the last thing Duke cares about, the churches in Storm Fort have been converted into hospitals, where to atone for his sins? As for the overseer of Kasmai, Duke almost laughed, doesn't this mean that there is no overseer?

However, from this incident, it can also be seen that Leonard still trusts Kasmai very much. In fact, this is also a normal thing, because no one on this continent can imagine that the bishop of a city has actually succumbed to secular power, which is also Duke's biggest advantage, that is, the Holy See is still immersed in a state of self-confidence that commands the world and does not dare to disobey.

As for Leonard's low-key punishment, another reason is that he can't afford to lose this person, after all, once the Holy See trials, then this matter will be heard. This is a very big blow to the myth of force in the Holy See.

Because ordinary people, they don't care how many people the Storm Army has, what equipment, whether it is strong or not. They only knew that the Teutonic Knights, one of the three major knights, had not won against a small lord who had never heard of them, so in order to maintain the face of the Holy See, this matter could only be handled in a low-key manner.