Assignment of Tasks

Before long, another, smaller group arrived outside the city gates.

After recognizing them, Jem Woz immediately welcomed them inside.

After some cordial greetings, Jem pointed at Shire beside him and said with a smile, "Bishop Safi, allow me to introduce my friend, Shire!

He specializes in suppressing Cultists in our Duchy of Maldon. His operations have always been rather secretive, so he is not widely known, but he is absolutely a genuine expert. His understanding of Cultists is unquestionably top-tier—he knows them almost as well as he knows himself!

I specifically brought him here this time so he could use the information from before to identify the places within the city where the Cultists were most likely hiding."

"Oh?"

After hearing Jem Woz's introduction, Safi, who had not paid much attention before, could not help but feel a flicker of curiosity. He turned his gaze toward Shire.

Meeting his gaze, Shire stepped forward and extended his hand to shake Safi's. Looking extremely excited, he said, "Y-you, Bishop Safi, I have long heard of your great name. I never imagined that I would live to see the day when I could meet you. This has truly caught me off guard!!"

He was as excited as though he had met his idol, to the point that he could barely speak properly.

Seeing how excited he was, Safi blanked for a moment before smiling. "Not at all, not at all. You are too kind. I never expected the Duchy of Maldon to have an expert like you to deal with Cultists. What a blessing for Maldon!"

Shire immediately revealed an embarrassed look. "I dare not accept such praise, I dare not. When it comes to dealing with Cultists, you, who command the Heretic Hunting Department, are the greatest authority. That I could earn Prince Jem's appreciation is truly my honor. How could I possibly..."

Listening to their mutual business flattery, which seemed poised to continue, Jem Woz, who knew exactly what the two of them were, felt his balls ache. A Cultist leader and an executioner responsible for purging heretics praising each other—was that interesting?

Unable to bear it any longer, he interrupted, "Gentlemen, let us leave the trivialities here for now. We should handle the important matters first. There will be plenty of time to chat afterward!"

The two exchanged a glance, then nodded in satisfaction. "Very well." x2

The way they both looked as though they greatly admired one another and would surely have a long heart-to-heart after the matter was settled sent a chill down Jem Woz's spine.

So he quickly waved at Shire and instructed, "Shire, give Bishop Safi a copy of the map."

"Alright."

Taking the map Shire handed him, Safi made no attempt to hide anything. He immediately unfolded it and began examining it with grave concentration.

The first thing he saw was circles of various colors and sizes. The most conspicuous was the Royal Palace, marked by a huge red circle in the center of the map!

Safi could not help but freeze. Judging from the colors of the circles, they likely represented difficulty. Three colors stood for three levels of difficulty, which was easy enough to understand.

But looking at that huge red circle over the Royal Palace, Safi still found it hard to believe. He had never expected Jem Woz to search even the Royal Palace. After all, he had not yet been crowned.

Although his father was dead, his Queen Mother was still alive, and she was the current administrator of the Royal Palace!

By custom, she would relinquish that authority only after the Crown Prince completed his coronation. Jem Woz's move to search the Royal Palace overnight was undoubtedly overstepping his bounds, carrying the faint air of forcing the palace to yield!

Doing something like this would undoubtedly have a tremendous impact on his reputation among the people!

It would be detrimental to his future development.

And give his brothers and sisters an excuse.

After hesitating for a moment, Safi still asked, "Um... There are certainly quite a few locations, but why is even the Royal Palace included?"

"There is no other way.

My Queen Mother is not particularly skilled at managing affairs, so the Royal Palace is somewhat unsettled at the moment. There is indeed a certain chance that Cultists may have infiltrated it, so it is necessary to search it while we are at it!

I will personally explain it to my Queen Mother afterward, so you need not worry about anything."

The implication was that even his own mother did not know he intended to search the Royal Palace.

Presumably, he suspected her to some degree as well.

Having caught the meaning behind his words, Safi could only conclude that Jem Woz was a ruthless character. When necessary, he did not even trust his own mother. And judging from the marked locations, quite a few nobles and influential figures were under suspicion. He was clearly the kind of person who feared offending no one as long as he could achieve his goal. He must have been confident he could suppress them all. Capable and decisive, no wonder he had completely crushed his brothers and sisters and firmly secured the position of Crown Prince.

However, such a person did not seem like the ideal partner the Church needed. At any time, he might turn hostile and kick the Church out of the game.

In Safi's mind, the ideal partner was someone of middling or lesser ability—someone capable of stabilizing the situation, yet with no great ambitions.

At that thought, Safi's eyes shifted. Finding no good solution in the short term, he ultimately decided to set the matter aside for now and make a decision later.

After all, only by resolving today's affairs could the Church's influence formally enter the Duchy of Maldon. If that failed, then nothing else would matter.

Thus, he asked with a puzzled expression, "In that case, how should we divide the targets?"

Jem Woz had no idea that his plastic teammate before him had just been trying to plot against him, so he continued smiling. "We will handle the red ones together at the end. As for the other locations, let us split them down the middle. Would you prefer the left half or the right half?"

The moment Bishop Safi heard that he was expected to take on half the tasks, his brows rose, and he said with some displeasure, "Oh? But this is Your Highness's territory. We are merely here to help. Would that not be inappropriate? After all, the Church has only about one-tenth as many people as you do, yet we are expected to take responsibility for the same amount of territory."

Jem Woz explained with an earnest expression, "That is not how it should be seen. The Heretic Hunting Department was established specifically to deal with Cultists. You have an abundance of experience in this regard, and when it comes to the methods of those Cultists, you likely understand them better than they understand themselves. My Soldiers may be brave and fierce, but how could they possess that sort of experience? Their casualties would inevitably be far greater than yours."

Safi merely shook his head and firmly refused. "Even so, the Church should not bear such great risk. After all, I cannot treat the lives of my clergy as a joke!"

Faced with his decisive refusal, Jem Woz showed no surprise. He merely smiled faintly and said lightly, "Expand the diocese's territory by one-third, and the Duchy of Maldon will contribute six hundred thousand gold coins toward construction costs."

"Deal."

Safi's expression jolted. He reached out with both hands and pressed them onto Jem Woz's shoulders, saying with utter solemnity, "When it comes to striking against Cultists, we of the Church are quite responsible. We have never slackened over the years, because it is the sacred duty bestowed upon us by the Lord. Your Highness is truly being far too formal. My earlier refusal was merely something I said in passing. Why be so courteous?"

You old bastard, shameless as hell!

As though moved by the determination the other had displayed, Jem Woz's eyes reddened. Deeply touched, he embraced Safi. "Those words have moved this Crown Prince beyond measure. The Duchy of Maldon and the Church have always enjoyed warm relations, close as brothers. This is merely a small token of goodwill. Please, you must accept it!"

Safi refused with a stern expression. "How could that be? Such conduct does not conform to the rules of our Church!"

"No, you must accept!"

"No, our Church..."

"No, today you absolutely must..."

Watching the two men, both wearing expressions of lofty righteousness, Shire quietly spat on the ground while no one was looking.

Their heartfelt performance truly disgusted him.

Back when royal authority and divine authority had clashed, the Duchy of Maldon and the Church had crossed blades more than once, and many people had died.

If not for other forces restraining them, they would have been locked in a fight to the death centuries ago. Friendship, my ass.

As expected of people who play politics—their skins are thicker than each other's. Even I, a Warlock, could not say something that disgusting.

After another round of mutual refusals, Bishop Safi finally accepted Jem Woz's proposal with an ashamed expression and chose to clear the locations in the left half of the city. Jem Woz even thoughtfully assigned a squad of Soldiers to accompany them, ready to provide assistance at any time—and incidentally, to make sure they did not slack off.

Before they left, Jem Woz held Safi's hand with a serious expression and told them to take good care of themselves. The mission was precious, but life was more precious still!

Watching the Church's party depart into the distance, the smile on Jem Woz's face immediately vanished. He wiped his hands in disgust and spat on the ground.

He immediately took a bottle of liquor from one of his subordinates behind him, washed his hands with it, then rinsed out his mouth.

Even he found his own words disgusting.

If he had to do it again, he would probably throw up.

Surface-level allies! One day, I'll find an opportunity to scheme you to death, you old bastard!

He thought indignantly.

Seeing Bishop Safi writhing with discomfort, twisting about as though he had lice crawling all over him, the clergyman behind him immediately asked with concern, "Bishop, what is wrong? Are you feeling unwell??"

"It is nothing. I merely wish to change clothes."

Clearly, just like Jem Woz, he too had been disgusted.

But in the end, he endured it. He merely took off his outer garment, shook it out, and put it back on.

Once everything had returned to normal, he casually asked the clergymen beside him, "Have any of you heard of someone named Shire?"

"No."

"I have never heard of him."

"No..."

Looking at the clergymen before him as they exchanged blank glances, Safi stroked his chin.

He clearly remembered that several of the locations marked on the map were problem targets the Church had already investigated.

They had originally intended to use them as bargaining chips in a deal with the Kingdom of Maldon, only for someone to mark them out directly. Thus, they could only abandon the idea.

*This is not reasonable. If the targets on the map were truly inferred by that man alone based on a little information, then he must be exceptionally professional and extraordinarily experienced in dealing with Cultists. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to understand them so thoroughly.

No matter how carefully someone like that concealed information, there should have been some rumors, at least. Unless he could wipe out every Cultist without leaving a single survivor each time, word would inevitably leak...*

After thinking for a moment, he first glanced at the Soldier not far behind them, who had been following them all along, before ordering, "After today, I want every piece of information on the man named Shire. I believe both he and our Crown Prince Jem Woz have serious problems. What exactly are they hiding from us..."