Praise the Light (3)

Under the bright sunshine, Sven left the Baron territory, heading towards Morning Radiance Fortress, as he put it.

But in reality, he only told half the lie.

He went around in circles, not missing a single noble's territory.

They didn't interact with the noble lords there, but went directly to the Church of Morning Radiance of those noble territories. These churches were not large, with wooden structures that were only the size of three to five houses.

The church was not large, but the Church inside were quite ostentatious, living in a manner no different from that of nobles.

Sven's behavior made some clergy uneasy, and also caused some clergy to reject and be hostile towards him.

But that doesn't matter. Sven is good at using someone else's name to exaggerate. Archbishop Adriana holds a transcendent position in the Dawn Faith circle of the Sera Kingdom. Even now, many believers spontaneously provide supplies to Archbishop Adriana, who is in the Northlands.

In addition, there is the relationship with the Archangel Samir. If Adriana is still somewhere between a mortal and Deities, then the archangels are truly servants of the great Lord of Dawn, and they represent the will of the Lord of Dawn.

Therefore, no one dared to do anything to Sven; on the contrary, they had to take good care of this missionary.

When he arrived at Morning Radiance Fortress, the former fortress of the unicorn, he had already traversed most of the noble territories of the entire Sera Kingdom.

The Sera Kingdom was not large to begin with; it was a kingdom comprised of five large noble territories combined, and the number of nobles was less than half that of the Andara Kingdom.

It took about two months for Sven to arrive at Morning Radiance Fortress, which was during the warmest time of year on the Norris Continent.

"Praise the Dawn, for it gives us food to overcome hunger."

"Praise the Dawn, for it clothes us."

"Praise the Dawn..."

In this fortress bathed in the Dawn, the sound of believers praying can be heard from every corner. When Sven arrived here, it was like a fish entering the sea; wherever he went, everyone respectfully made way for him.

Even ordinary missionaries outnumber over 99% of the believers in the Church of Dawn.

"Mr. Sven, this way."

Someone greeted Sven, and Sven looked over and recognized the person as Pastor Quaid, a priest and minister in a Viscount's Territory. Sven remembered him well because when they first met, it was at night, and this man had invited him to participate in an ancient ceremony.

Sven was curious; what other stories did the Church of Dawn have that he didn't know about?

He went there and was deeply moved.

Because it was in Viscount's Territory, the church Viscount's Territory was larger and had more clergy.

During that ceremony, each of the clergy had one or two naked nuns beneath them, and the sounds they made were described as heavenly. The Pastor Quaid, loudly told the women that only the most devout voices could reach the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven, and the nuns who believed him so deeply kept calling out even when their voices were hoarse.

That ceremony was referred to by the clergy as Welcoming the Dawn.

Yes, the ceremony will continue until Dawn.

Sven remained aloof all night. He was not a true Ascetic Monk of the Church of Dawn, but for the sake of the Bard's beliefs and stories, he could not let his previous efforts be in vain.

It was precisely because of this that the clergy, including Quiedy, completely changed their attitude towards Sven, no longer looking at him with the same disdain they had for a missionary from a small town with no connections.

Before seeing Sven at Morning Radiance Fortress, Quiedy and his group were discussing which nun was better, with someone familiar with the area recommending a good one.

After seeing Sven, Quiedy decided to throw away all the trash.

Then he was surprised to find that these clergy from various territories all knew the missionary Sven.

"Sven priest."

"Sven priest."

Within the Church, people mostly refer to each other by their official titles. Sven refers to himself as an ordinary missionary, but these people are more likely to recognize him as a priest.

"A priest without a church is called a priest, Sven priest will eventually become a priest, or even a bishop."

Since that's their perspective, no one doubts it.

Sven's faith was so devout that even his mastery of Divine Art surpassed theirs; clearly, the great Lord had bestowed upon him greater power.

Sven greeted them one by one.

Why were these priests from various territories present at Morning Radiance Fortress? They arrived even before Sven.

The reason is still the same thing that Father Card mentioned back then.

Enraged by the murder of Father Sigurd, the Church dispatched a force to the Sera Kingdom, supposedly to confront the "Ivy" of the Andara Kingdom to the north.

The leaderless Church of Dawn branch of the Sera Kingdom thus gathered here.

Sven was very curious about who could give these the Church such confidence that they could deal with Ivy, one of the Empire's ten great magical masters.

Before coming here, he had inquired about Ivy from Lord Ryan.

After the War of the Deities Across Planes, Mages began to operate openly within the empire, thus enabling the spread and advancement of the empire's magical civilization.

Among these, Life Magic has gone the furthest, because the Empire's unwavering support necessitates the replacement of the Divine Art of the Church of Dawn priests with Life Magic.

Ivy, the founder of [Aven League], is one of the pioneers of this.

He can be considered the pioneer of the rise of Life Magic in the Florian Empire, and he enjoys the deep trust of the emperor and the great nobles.

His strength is beyond doubt.

Sven met the silent Ascetic Monk on his second day at Morning Radiance Fortress; he arrived just in time.

Sven arrived uninvited; his name and identity weren't even on the roster of the Holy Mountain. But as Archbishop Adriana had said, no one could doubt Sven's identity Dawn Believers.

None of the clergy at the Church of Dawn had the time to investigate whether there was such a person as the Sven Missionary".

Perhaps they won't be able to find out that the Church of Dawn now too bloated.

The roster is probably not just one or two books; it would take many books to find all the clergy of the Church of Dawn.

Sven scurried in and stood at the front of the crowd, looking at the thirteen bald heads with shiny bald spots.

They are believers in the Dawn, fanatical warriors, and Ascetic Monk subjected to brutal training.

Some call them silent Ascetic Monk, because in their presence, most Mages are unable to cast spells, and even if they can, the power of their spells is greatly reduced. Wherever they appear, the Magic Factor in the void cease to be active.

Similarly, some people refer to these people as Holy Word Believers.

They are not incapable of speaking; every time they speak, it is as if a terrifying Divine Art descends, their words becoming law.

In the initial wars between the Empire and the Church, the nobles suffered heavy losses because of these Ascetic Monk.

Because they possess such powerful Divine Art, they should also be considered a threat to the Church, since the Divine Art wielded by those Cardinal Archbishop may not even be as powerful as that of certain powerful Mute Ascetics.

But they pose no threat because all they do is fight; perhaps the Church's higher-ups are intentionally pushing them toward this single path.

They looked ferocious, and the number of thirteen Ascetic Monk corresponded to the original Pope and the Thirteen Morning Radiance Knight. Legend has it that the Great Lord of Dawn also had thirteen powerful Deities followers.

"The light of Dawn will surely illuminate every dark corner of the land."

Accompanied by the Sven murmurs, all the clergy reacted and simultaneously invoked the teachings of Dawn.

The thirteen Mute Ascetics also opened their eyes. Beside them, the fourteenth person to arrive in the Sera Kingdom, a priest who was also the leader and mouth of the Mute Ascetics, spoke to everyone.

"The Pope needs war, a holy war. The evil heretics, the Florian Empire, are trying to steal the faith of the Lord. The Holy Son has already prophesied that the Florian Empire will be burned to ashes in the Sacred Fire of Dawn."

"His followers will also be punished severely. The Andara Kingdom will be punished most severely. The King of that land has usurped the throne that is not his. The justice of the Dawn must return it to its rightful place."

"The Dawn Believers will defend the glory of Dawn with their lives and even death!"

"Glory to My Lord!"

"Glory to My Lord!!!"

In fact, this is what the followers of Dawn should say, not the praise of Dawn from Sven's mouth; that is the statement of the followers of the Imperial Church of Light.

After the pastor finished speaking, he fell silent. He was a pastor, and the position of pastor in the Church was very special. They held almost no power. No, it should be said that pastors had no power at all.

The reason he shut up was quite simple.

The Sera Kingdom was leaderless, and no new Archbishop had come to the Sera Kingdom from the Holy Mountain. However, before the war could begin, a suitable person had to be chosen to lead the Dawn Believers of the Sera Kingdom.

The clergy members looked at each other in bewilderment.

Previously, the Sera Kingdom had two potential leaders. One was Archbishop Adriana, but she went to the Northlands and didn't even receive an order from the Pope to return.

Another one is the bishop who was killed by Ryan.

The Archbishop Sigurd, who came from the Church, was supposed to be the leader, but he too died.

The Sera Kingdom has no leader, and the Dawn Division here seems to be fraught with danger.

Without the Pope's order, who dares to step forward and decide on a holy war?

No one dared to speak up easily, but at this moment, Sven stepped forward.

"Everything is for the glory of my Lord. If the Lord punishes me, his sinful servant, it is my honor."

People around saw Sven; they were surprised, but they all knew Sven.

"Excellent, it's Sven priest!"

It was Father Card who shouted it out. In his opinion, there was no more suitable clergyman than Sven. He was well aware that the clergymen in the Sera Kingdom were all trash like him.

Those with ambition are all dead; those who remain in the Sera Kingdom are all scoundrels.

"He's Sven priest!"

"He's Sven, he can do it."

The clergy spoke in a cacophony of voices, their discussion chaotic and inconsistent, yet all expressing their approval of Sven.

This puzzled the priest who had accompanied the Mute Ascetics; the Sven priest did not recognize the other man.

However, as a priest, he knew he should keep quiet. Even a Legendary figure like the Pastor Soto was exiled to a remote place like the Andara Kingdom, which showed that the Church was very wary of the priests and their ability to control power within the Church.

Sven took over the management of the Dawn Believers in such an unbelievable and absurd way. Of course, Sven also understood that it would be difficult for him to truly control the interests in the hands of these clergy.

Can Commander of Winged Gorge command an army from Baron territory?

Without the Baron's order, Farrell, the Commander of Winged Gorge, really couldn't do it.

But at least he achieved his goal.

"The Andara Kingdom is a place where the glory of my Lord once shone. The Eternal Night briefly covered that land, but the glory of the Dawn will never fall. Servants of the Dawn should dedicate everything to restoring that land to the light of the Dawn."

When Sven said this, all the clergy erupted in cheers. Their devout and resolute tone made Sven wonder if what he had seen of them over the past two months was an act.

But the answer is obvious: if these clergy were truly like this, they would have already pulled the faith of the Andara Kingdom back into the embrace of the Dawn long ago, thanks to the terrifying power of faith to brainwash people.

Therefore, their current impassioned demeanor is just an act.

They really are very aristocratic.

Sven thought to himself that he could probably add some more words to his own story to describe these degenerate the Church.

Sven began discussing the holy war that belonged to Dawn with these clergymen.

Everyone was talking at once, none of them seemed to be cut out for war, but that was one thing. The real problem was that a large number of Griffin appeared in the sky Morning Radiance Fortress.

In the Sera Kingdom, the Griffin are not without masters; they belong to His Majesty the His Majesty King Sera. Their appearance signifies only one thing: the arrival of the Griffin Legion.

The Sera Kingdom handed over Morning Radiance Fortress to the hundreds of thousands of Dawn Believers to house the believers the Church had bought from Ryan. However, the importance of Morning Radiance Fortress was self-evident, especially since it was personally conquered by the Sera King.

Therefore, the military defense here remains in the hands of Sera King.

Prince Sera, the Crown Prince of the kingdom, Otto MacReynolds himself appeared in the sky. The intimidating presence of the Griffin Legion made many clergymen shrink back, while the believers around the fortress showed their dissatisfaction, as if they felt that the Griffin were blocking the light of Dawn.

"What are you trying to do?"

Otto shouted loudly as he landed in the palace, where the clergy of Dawn held their council.

"For the Faith of Dawn, for the holy war, we share a common goal with the Sera Kingdom. The Andara Kingdom must return to the embrace of the Dawn Faith."

Sven said devoutly, and at this moment he was still praying to the Dawn.

"I see. There's no problem then. We've already dispatched our troops to the the North as ordered by His Holiness the Pope."

"But what does this have to do with you?"

"Don't forget, the war should be left to the Sera Kingdom, not to your the Church to command the army."

"You've already forgotten what you promised?"

Otto reminded them, watching as the clergy sneered.

"We signed a covenant back then, witnessed by the Lord of Dawn, stipulating that the Church personnel have no right to interfere in the war between the Sera Kingdom and the nobles, not even in the war for the sake of Dawn."

Ryan took away the military power of the Dawn branch of the Sera Kingdom and gave them the wealth of tax revenue in exchange. Because of this tax revenue, the clergy here are all rolling in money, and their enjoyment is in no way inferior to that of the noble lords of the territory.

Sven looked at the clergy around him and asked:

"Is that so?"

No one responded until much later, when someone finally spoke:

"The followers of Dawn will participate in the war of the Sera Kingdom by providing assistance, rather than by directly entering the war, which would lead to the death of many innocent lives, something the Lord does not want to see."

Some say that the reason Sven wasn't told the truth was because Sven wasn't a beneficiary when the agreement was signed; he didn't receive any benefits beyond taxes, nor was he qualified to directly participate in tax collection.

In other words, missionary Sven did not get a share of the pie.

At the same time, based on their understanding of Sven over this period, these clergy members could see that Sven was a Dawn Ascetic Monk who could not be swayed by wealth, and that they could not turn Sven into one of their corrupt associates.

Therefore, they certainly cannot reveal the true facts.

Even now, after Otto reminded them of this, the clergy present unanimously and tacitly began to reject the missionary Sven; they were not on the same side.

Differences in interests created a rift between the clergy and the Sven.

But... isn't this exactly what I wanted?

Sven has only just become the person in charge, and he has already fallen out with the other clergy. So, the next time the Church of Dawn sends other officials to the Sera Kingdom, these clergy will still fall out with them.

The relationship between a powerful dragon and a local bully.

The best thing about the Dawn Division of the Sera Kingdom is that it never has a leader.

Sven smiled inwardly. He had done this on purpose. His performance over the past two months had finally paid off at this moment. Prince Otto had really cooperated smoothly.

What does it matter to Sven how he becomes? He's not a servant of the Dawn. He's loyal to Lord Ryan, and even if it's faith, it's under the name of the God of Light.

Praise the light.

Sven smiled and then looked at Otto.

"Your Highness Otto, how would you like us to help in the war between the Sera Kingdom and the Andara Kingdom?"

"Send all your priests over here. The Andara Kingdom now has Mages to provide life-restoring magic for the soldiers. Damn it, also send a force of about 10,000 people as logistics personnel to transport supplies."

When the war truly arrived, Otto finally discovered a problem: as an old and established kingdom, the Andara Kingdom still had a stronger foundation Sera Kingdom to sustain the war.

In contrast, the warehouses throughout the Sera Kingdom were completely empty.

Count Merses of the Andara Kingdom is more capable than the logistics nobles of the Sera Kingdom, and the Andara Kingdom has the support of more powerful nobles.

(End of this chapter)