Sakre, Penniless

Every major diocese on the Saint Cassis Continent received a handwritten letter jointly signed by a cardinal and the Pope. Its contents were concise: The Holy Father's blessings should be spread without prejudice. All gods were children of the Holy Father, and all bishops should treat them equally. The Supreme God's radiance was everywhere, yet people were too ignorant to see it. Only then could thunderous measures be taken again.

The hidden meaning was easy enough to understand: Keep fooling people, and by no means stop, but do not keep using the same old tricks. Keep up with the times and use new slogans. It did not matter if people worshipped False Gods, because those False Gods also worshipped the Holy Father. The Holy Father's radiance was everywhere. But if anyone still stubbornly refused to admit it, then they would keep taking up arms and beating the hell out of them.

Besides the letter, an important notice from Church headquarters was enclosed. It detailed how a barbarian woman stranded in Outpost County awakened her racial ability, became grateful to the Supreme God for granting her a carefree and happy second life, and resolutely threw herself into the Holy Father's embrace. She had since become a Papal Candidate Saintess—a textbook case of a poor girl rising to become a rich beauty.

The hidden meaning of this notice was equally simple. Everyone needed to memorize the script and use Dina as a brainwashing model. Look, even Dina, whom the gods of those savage barbarians valued so highly, had come to worship the Supreme God. What were all of you ordinary people waiting for? Hurry up and come into the Holy Father's bowl.

When the various powers received the news, they were all dumbfounded.

The headquarters of the Ice Goddess Cult, far in the extreme north.

"Utterly shameless!" Archbishop Ist's furious roar mixed with the raging snowstorm.

Inside the royal palace of the Duchy of Rothel.

King Gattlie III looked at Princess Hathaway beside him with a bitter smile.

The incomparably beautiful Hathaway held another letter and said with interest, "This Baron Allen... I seem to remember his daughter."

Gattlie took the letter from Hathaway's hand. After reading it, he did not know whether to laugh or cry. "He truly has the nerve!"

Hathaway burst into laughter, while the eyes of several elderly military ministers beside her went straight.

The Kingdom of Locke, Royal City palace.

King Manrosal sat boldly upon the throne. His crown, studded with diamonds and precious gems, sat crookedly on his head. He held the royal scepter, symbol of supreme authority, upside down and rubbed it continuously up and down inside the back of his clothes, muttering, "Why is it so itchy?"

Several ministers nearby could only smile bitterly.

Manrosadi turned a blind eye to it and looked at Grand Duke Claire. "Second brother, that brat Allen really cannot change his rotten habits."

Kerlai's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and he sighed again and again.

Manrosadi figured that if Allen were here, he would definitely receive a sound beating.

The Savage Ancient Plains, Great Chieftain Tribe tent.

Great Chieftain Gistain looked grimly at a Barbarian Chieftain sitting in the corner and said with obvious displeasure, "Old Zak, your Bloody Hoof Tribe truly is a tribe of disasters."

Old Zak's aged face was full of helplessness. He clenched his fists, rose to his feet, and said, "We will settle our tribe's affairs ourselves."

Grand Elder Rayne snorted disdainfully. "Your tribe can barely protect itself now, and one hundred thousand barbarians are about to go to war with the Earth Dragon Legion. How exactly do you intend to settle this?"

"You do not need to worry about it. I will take my tribal brothers to Outpost County and seize her back!" Old Zak said resolutely before leaving the tent.

Gistain watched Old Zak's departing back and said disdainfully, "Overestimating himself!"

After the Church Knight hurriedly placed the important Church notice into Wood's hands, he carefully presented a red envelope sealed with the Great Pope's personal seal.

Wood's hands trembled as he opened the red envelope. His face flushed as he read it word by word. Once he finished, he no longer possessed his usual composure. His old face bloomed like a chrysanthemum.

He waved over a priest and asked with a beaming smile, "Where is that barbarian serv—ah, no, Saintess Dina? Has she not arrived yet?"

The priest looked troubled and said softly, "The Saintess... the Saintess said that the jujube tree at the Old Castle had ripened, and if the jujubes were not knocked down..."

"If what?"

The priest twisted uncomfortably, as though he had eaten dung. "If they are not harvested today, the priests in our diocese will snatch them away under all sorts of pretexts."

"Absurd! How much can those things possibly be worth? Tell the priests that they are not to go freeloading at the Old Castle anymore." Wood said furiously, "The cardinal of the northwest diocese will arrive in Outpost County in a few days. That stupid maid has not learned anything. What will we do then?"

The priest lowered his head and did not dare respond, though he silently grumbled, Wasn't it you who told us to freeload by claiming the Holy Father needed all sorts of offerings...?

Wood snorted and walked out of the church, deciding to personally "educate" the master and servant at the Old Castle.

The Old Castle was no longer as peaceful as before. Its rusty iron gates stood wide open, while several clerks dressed in Kingdom of Locke administrative uniforms moved about inside.

Yorkshire bit on a quill pen as he handled official business with a grave expression.

The good-for-nothing Allen was arm-wrestling Sakre, while a group of the count's lackeys cheered noisily beside them and kept urging on their master.

When Allen forcefully pressed Sakre's hand down, he shouted, "I won! Three Gold Coins."

Seeing their master lose, the lackeys happily clapped hands in celebration.

Sakre rushed over in fury, kicked each of them once, and roared, "You bet on him winning?"

The administrative clerks, who only looked as though they were working, appeared as mournful as if their parents had died.

Allen crossed his arms and laughed. "Let this teach you a lesson, hahaha."

Sakre pointed at Allen and roared furiously, "You cheated! You are utterly shameless!"

"I am vulgar too." Allen shrugged indifferently.

This was already their third contest.

The first wager had been five copper coins. Allen lost by an overwhelming margin.

The second wager had been ten copper coins. Allen lost again by an overwhelming margin.

The third wager had been three Gold Coins. Allen won with ease.

Old Butler sighed and patted Sakre on the shoulder, looking utterly helpless.

Seeing Allen's scoundrel-like expression, Sakre deflated like a punctured balloon. He sat helplessly on a stone bench, staring blankly at the three Gold Coins on the round table that had served as the wager.

When Wood arrived at the Old Castle, he saw Dina, the Church's newly appointed Candidate Saintess, holding a book in one hand and lazily knocking jujubes from the tree with a long thin stick in the other.

Wood tried his best to put on a kind and benevolent expression. He walked behind Dina and was just about to speak.

Dina turned around and swung her stick at him, shouting, "Old bastard, take this from me!"

Holding the children's book that her second young master had scribbled all over, Dina finally recognized the man with a huge lump on his head as Wood.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I did not mean to! I got too absorbed just now, I really did not mean to." Dina hurried over to apologize, fumbling as she pulled out the rag she used to wipe Allen's broken riding boots and wiped Wood's forehead with it.

"It's... fine!" Wood suppressed his anger and tried to ingratiate himself. "The treasure of the Outpost County Diocese, my Miss Dina, what are you doing?"

Dina handed him the book. "My second young master drew it. It is about a fire-element magical beast, a Vajra Scarlet Ape, accepting a bounty mission from the Church to escort the reincarnated Pope to obtain the handwritten manuscript from before the Supreme God became a god."

Wood's face darkened further. He felt that any random commoner outside the gates was far more devout than Allen.

"Take a look. It is very interesting." After saying that, Dina resumed knocking down jujubes with her stick.

Wood glanced at Allen, who was still arguing with Sakre in the distance, shook his head, and opened the children's book.

After reading only a few pages, however, he could not take his eyes off it. Several jujubes struck him on the head, but Wood did not care in the slightest.

Allen had spotted Wood long ago, but he could not be bothered to acknowledge him and continued berating Sakre.

After Xiulunte left, the Church issued an order for the Earth Dragon Legion to remain stationed outside Outpost County. They were forbidden from harassing the county's civilians or the Old Castle again. Until further orders arrived, they were to rest in place and not rush into the Savage Ancient Plains to launch a crusade against heretics.

Chief of Staff Sakre, who had already been sidelined, had nothing to do and simply moved into the Old Castle.

Unfortunately, after only a few days, Sakre, once a wealthy patron, had become utterly destitute and had to rely on Old Butler's shamelessness to mooch food and drink.

The daily rent for him and his lackeys to stay in the Old Castle's guest rooms was as high as ten copper coins, not including meals.

Then Allen began using all kinds of tricks to swindle money from him. Sakre was also a glutton for punishment and insisted on competing in everything.

At first, they compared Martial Skills. Then they compared archery. Later, Sakre wanted to compete in anything they could think of: who could eat more, who could piss farther, pull-ups, push-ups, who could hold their urine longer after drinking, and so on.

One was Baron Allen, who had been tormenting others since childhood and idling his life away for years, doing everything except proper work.

The other was Count Sakre, who had diligently trained in Martial Skills since childhood and honed his Battle Aura for years, doing nothing except proper work.

Then... there was no then. By now, aside from his underwear, even the armor Sakre wore no longer belonged to him. Allen had merely lent it to him temporarily to preserve his dignity.

Having long been corrupted by bad company, Sakre became very cunning. During the day, he acted rash and unwilling to accept defeat, but at night, after returning to his room, he constantly wrote and drew with a quill pen.

Sakre called over one of his lackeys in confusion, leaned wearily over the table, and said, "Starting tomorrow, train according to the Body Strengthening Finger Technique that Baron Allen discussed with me this morning. I want to see whether breaking through the limits of the human body is really as simple as he says. Also, do not forget to find some skilled craftsmen outside the Old Castle to make a sand table."

The lackey looked troubled. "But, my lord, we have no money left."

Sakre turned around, intending to speak, but the sight of the lackey standing bare-chested in only underwear startled him. He walked over, kicked him, and cursed, "Where is your armor?"

"M-My lord, did you forget? During the day, you competed with Baron Allen over whose was longer down there. In the end, you lost my armor."

Sakre slapped his forehead in anguish. After thinking about it, he still could not vent his frustration, so he went over and kicked the lackey again.