Clatter, clatter, clatter...
Accompanied by the sound of hooves striking the road, a fully armed group of knights clad in ornate plate armor slowly advanced along the highway.
Whether merchants, mercenaries, or travelers, everyone who saw their banner revealed looks of surprise and awe.
That was because these knights belonged neither to any noble lord nor king, but to the Holy See, which represented divine authority.
Like the Papal States of medieval Europe on Earth, the Holy See's military strength was hardly worth mentioning, but its political influence was terrifyingly immense.
From ordinary people's spiritual beliefs to marriages and funerals, all the way to a king's coronation, everything required their recognition and endorsement. Otherwise, all sorts of trouble and complications could arise.
More importantly, nobles could use this as an excuse to launch justified and lawful rebellions, expanding their families' influence while weakening the royal family's prestige.
Thus, although the doctrine of the divine right of kings helped rulers establish authority quickly and discouraged commoners from resisting lightly, it also placed rulers beneath the supreme authority of the religious system.
Anything that might come into conflict with religion became exceptionally troublesome.
Therefore, most commoners held the Holy See in both reverence and fear.
They revered it because it represented the only true god in this world. Anyone who did not wish to descend into Nine Hells after death and suffer eternal torment and torture had to offer up their faith.
What they feared, meanwhile, was the religious tithe paid in addition to the share owed to noble lords, as well as the possibility of being branded a heathen, heretic, witch, or something similar and subjected to religious persecution.
After all, the power of interpretation rested in the hands of priests, and priests were people too, with their own greed and