Ayrsianism, Mount of Light, Holy See.

Dressed in a white clergyman's robe, the Pope sat behind an oak desk, writing on a piece of letterhead with a quill in his hand, the hard tip of the pen rustling across the paper in the small reception room.

At this time, there was the sound of footsteps from far and near in the corridor outside the door, followed by the sound of slamming the door. Clement inserted the quill into the inkwell and said:

"Please come in. ”

The beech door was pushed open from the outside, and an old man in good spirits entered. He had a ruddy complexion, a straight back, and wore a cardinal's robe with a gorgeous and restrained shape, and a dark gold bishopric crown symbolizing a sixth-rank pastor.

Closing the heavy door with his hand, so that the movement of the Pope's private lounge was cut off from the outside, the old shepherd took off the dark gold crown, revealing his meticulously combed silver hair, and asked with a loud smile:

"Clement, what's the good thing, you're in a hurry to come over to me?"

Leaning back in his chair, the Pope pointed to the armchair across from the desk, and smiled softly: "Lazarus, sit down and talk...... You can't use me to move you a chair right now. ”

This old man, who was light and healthy, was none other than the former cardinal archbishop of Cambes, the current cardinal, Lazarus. A few years ago, he was still an old and frail appearance, but now he has been promoted to a sixth-level priest and has mastered the life delay technique, the furrows on his face and the scars on his skin have disappeared without a trace, and the long-lost energy has returned to his body, if it were not for the silver white beard, it would be difficult for people to imagine that he is an 80-year-old priest.

It is generally difficult for ordinary priests to live to this age, and the use of divine magic will deplete the spiritual power and vitality of priests to a certain extent, thereby shortening their lifespan, which is the price paid by mortals for using extraordinary powers. And the sixth-level divine art life delay can passively use the holy power to feed people's souls and bodies, as long as they usually pay attention to maintenance and use less divine arts, the theoretical lifespan of the sixth-level priest is comparable to that of the silver knight. They can even engrave the life delay magic into the Holy Power Crystal before they die, and make life-extending magic items that can be rewarded to holy warriors or ordinary nobles. It is actually a privileged magic given to Level 6 priests by Pope Enoch.

This is the reason why the social status and prestige of the priest is always higher than that of the paladin.

Who wants His Majesty the Great First Pope to be a priest?

Prolonging life can prolong life but not rejuvenate, Lazarus and Clement are about the same age, serving the same high-ranking pastor since childhood, and the appearance of the two looks twice as old. Clement is not only a level 6 priest, but also a beginner knight, his soul and body are far more powerful than ordinary people. Lazarus, on the other hand, was just an ordinary man, and after thirty years as a cardinal in the diocese of Cambes, he was promoted to the sixth rank of pastor, returned to the Holy See, and finally found a cardinal seat.

However, in order to alleviate the pressure on Clement in the College of Cardinals, he surrendered the painstakingly run diocese of Cambis to Patriarch Tamor. In terms of practical influence, Lazarus is now far inferior to other cardinals.

This shows how deep the relationship between Lazarus and Clement is.

Placing the crown on the desk, Lazarus pulled out a chair and sat down, picked up the letterhead written by Clement, and said "Huh".

"It's ...... Writing paper? White writing paper?"

Clement clasped his hands and placed them on the table, and said with a smile: "The Pilgan priest of the Grand Diocese of Seuss pulped the rhizomes of the demon grass of the Eastern Alliance and the white rock wood trunks of the Dusk Forest to make this white writing paper. Although it has a complex process and the raw materials are expensive, it is still cheaper than a sheepskin scroll. On top of that, the size of this writing paper can be adjusted at will, making it very convenient for drawing large maps, which is more advantageous than map paper stitched with animal skins. Moreover, it is thin and lightweight, foldable, and easy to store and transport. The only disadvantage is that the process is complex, there are too many residues, the output is limited, and it cannot replace the animal skin paper for the time being. ”

"If we give the process of making white writing paper to His Highness Randall of Centaur Hills, we can receive a bounty of 800 gold soles from him. Unfortunately, Pilgan categorically disagreed with the handover of the craft, saying that the paper was used exclusively for the issuance of mutual aid vouchers for the diocese of Seuss. ”

The Pope sighed lightly, leaned back in his chair and said, "Can you believe it, old man? A few years ago, Victor offered a reward for the development of a paper-making process, not only to use wheat straw to solve the personal hygiene problems of the people, but also to invent cheap paper that could be written. From this it can be seen that he had a vision of a general school and a vocational school for a long time...... If I had been able to connect all his governance initiatives at that time, you would have seen a complete tenant system years in advance...... His gift for wisdom is like a miracle, and it's amazing. ”

"Fortunately, the three naturally wise men are all close to the Church, His Majesty Enoch and Pastor Arya are both servants of the Most High Lord, and His Highness Randall, although he is a secular lord, many of his initiatives are of great significance to the priest's mission, like a general school, and if he insists on running his own school, we will never tolerate it...... Essentially, the wise must be able to juggle the interests of the clergy, the knightly nobility, and the mortal devotees...... This will be the guidance of our Lord. Lazarus said as he read the contents of the paper.

"Praise be to my Lord. Clement bowed his head and said with a smile: "Victor's closeness to the church must have been inspired by Father Miller...... Indeed, this is the guidance of our Lord. ”

Bishop Lazarus raised his head, raised the writing paper in his hand, and said with a surprised expression: "These are all written on the knights of the Cambes who have been exiled for nearly 20 years. ”

Clement nodded, took a parchment scroll from a nearby drawer, pushed it to Lazarus, and raised his hand for him to look at it.

The letterhead, written by Bishop Pero himself, from the distant Centaur Hills, records two things: first, the Centaur Hills agreed that the missionaries sent by the Church would intervene in the day-to-day education of the artisan schools and the soldiers' schools, but would not allow the Church to interfere in the training camps, and second, Sylvia would like the Pope to help him persuade the exiled knights and nobles to adopt some noble children under the age of 15.

Efforts to expand the educational reach of missionaries were the main objectives of the College of Cardinals during this period, and Sylvia agreed that the involvement of missionaries in the day-to-day education of vocational colleges was of great importance to the Church.

The simplicity of children's minds makes it especially easy to shape their faith in the Lord of Light, and their hearts are pure and innocent, and the power of faith they provide is extremely pure. The missionaries of the General Studies College organized the children to sing hymns in the morning and evening, read and write in the morning, copy the church scriptures in the sand table, and exercise in the afternoon to learn basic martial arts. Even if the Liberal Arts Academy is not within the scope of the Circle of Faith, the priest can collect the Holy Power Crystals of exceptional quality from them every day.

It is rare for a lord to bring so many children together, how can a missionary educate them only for four years is enough? However, the cost of the general school was borne by the lords, and the church had a lower say in the education of young children than the lords. Many lords were reluctant to continue with vocational schools, and the priests who were stationed at this time always talked about the hills.

You look at the development results of the centaur hills in recent years. His Royal Highness Randall, a university scholar, insists on opening a vocational school, even if you are as stupid as a donkey, you will not be fooled by following the study. If you don't learn now, the other families will do the same, and there will be a time when you will regret it in the future.

The Centaur Hills became an object of emulation among the lords, and the opening of the vocational school to missionaries served as an example. Although it is a pity that the missionaries stop at the training camp, it is also reasonable, not to mention that the number of people in the training camp is not too large.

The second thing left Lazarus a little baffled.

Exiled knightly nobles, who were often the losers of family infighting or scapegoats sacrificed by their families, had to lead their families and vassals to the Twilight Forest defenses north of Seuss, where they served 10 to 20 years of hard labor to assist the Templars and Seuss Lords in defending themselves against the Twilight Gnolls. Accepting the solicitation of the Seuss Lord is their only way out, if the exiled knight dies in battle, and there is no naturally awakened knight among his blood relatives, this small family can only be exiled to the Eastern Alliance, and there is no possibility of turning over.

It seemed normal for Sylvia to pick some heirs with knightly blood among these hopeless exile families, but she was in the wrong place.

The Inquisition was responsible for enforcing the exile of the knightly nobles, and Sylvia asked the Trigovars for a few heirs of the exiled knights, who would not fail to give the god knights this face. But when the Pope intervened to arrange this, the Cardinal overstepped its powers, because the Inquisition was nominally accountable only to the Pope and did not accept the Cardinal's dispatch.

Lazarus scratched his neat silver hair, looked at the list in his hand again, knocked on the table, leaned forward, stared at Clement's warm light blue eyes, and said in a low voice:

"This is not a persuasion to adopt, this is a hostage! Queen Rose wants to meddle in the Eastern Alliance?"

The Abbey of the United Sacred Mountain in Trigovar made the Eastern Alliance its own backyard, and every year it made a fortune from the trade of people and swamp products, and they did not allow forces other than Seuss and Borry to interfere in the Eastern Alliance. Ordinary exile groups can't even bubble up when they enter the East, only the exiled nobles are protected by the Radiant Code and the Bright New Testament, and can gain a foothold in the Eastern Alliance, but they will also be slowly concocted by the Inquisition and the Holy Mountain Priests.

Sylvia avoided Trigovar and went directly to the Pope's dignitaries, apparently planning to secretly lay out the Eastern Alliance and stick a few nails in it first.

Clement shook his head and said with a smile, "It's not Queen Rose, it's His Highness Randall." ”

Lazarus thought for a moment, then bowed his head and said, "You're right, it's not Sylvia's style. The Divine Knight only becomes aggressive and irresistible when he is about to fall. Prior to this, they were generally more restrained and did not easily make enemies for the younger generations of the family. ”

"Then why is His Highness Randall now laying out the Eastern Alliance?"

"If I could read his thoughts, I would either have the same rare gift of wisdom or be a top-notch god. Clement said with a clear gaze: "But I believe that His Highness Randall has seen that we are ready to attack the Inquisition." ”

Lazarus was silent, it was his habit to remain silent about things he couldn't understand.

Clement shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Old man, you're not good at this...... Tournans asked if he didn't understand, but he couldn't stop him. If you don't ask, I don't know where to start. ”

Lazarus said with a straight face: "From the beginning. ”

Clement pondered for a moment before speaking, "You know, I designed Kent and Wallace to guard Raven Town, but Sylvia took my favor. So, I owe Rel a favor...... Vera Relgarel and Neowest were secretly married, and her father asked me to arrange for Neowest and Victor to meet. The reason for this incident was that Nakhtigar instigated the royal family of the Rand Empire to join the Eastern Alliance, and Trigovar was anxious, and they secretly united the six families of Seuss, Borui, Patriarch Tamor and Paladins, trying to draw Neowest's attention to the Southern Continent. ”

Lazarus nodded and said: "This may be in the hands of Nakhtigar, although we don't want to see the Bright Iron Guard develop worldly power, but Nakhtigar and Neowest have been married for more than three hundred years, how can they be so easily separated? ”

"That's right. In a hurry, Trigovar fell into Nahtigar's trap and exposed his own weakness. Clement continued: "I still can't figure out the reason why His Highness Randall laid out the Eastern Alliance, but he obviously smelled a different smell, saw the flaws in the Eastern Alliance, and thought that there was an opportunity. Because after a brief contact with Neowest, he neither agreed to Vera's proposal nor explicitly rejected it, but deliberately shelved the relevant issues. He was watching the situation unfold, waiting for an opportunity to make a move. ”

"Some time ago, Pero asked Ron to test His Highness Randall about the children of vassals enrolling in general schools. In such a simple conversation, His Royal Highness Randall actually asked Ron, what if the general education school found a young wizard? Ron told him truthfully that the young wizard was dealt with by the Inquisition...... Today, he offered me to help him plant a nail in the Eastern Conference. ”

Lazarus took a deep breath and said in disbelief, "Ron doesn't even know that you have any intention of putting the Inquisition under the Cardinals...... His Highness Randall can see it so easily?"

He clearly saw it. ”

Lazarus shook his head and said, "Clement, I can't support you on this issue...... We're losing two games with Trigovar, and we're only going to get the Tamor side to the bottom of it. Don't forget, behind the Inquisition are the Knights of Radiance and Friedes. ”

Clement said gently, "Old man, I didn't make it clear...... The 'we' that His Highness Randall saw meant everyone except Trigovar and the Priest of the Holy Mountain. ”

"Including me, Tamor, Fleets, Nakhtigarh, and...... The five paladin families of the Radiant Knights. "Mobile phone users look at the extraordinary aristocracy, please browse, a better user experience.