Religion and Royal Authority Collide (Part One)

The kings of the Holy War Coalition left Pope Rossa's tent one after another, heading off to mobilize troops and prepare their armies.

Although the coalition's forces were camped together, they remained clearly separated from one another. At the very least, that was true of the kings' armies.

As for the vassals, their camps were arranged much more casually. They either stationed themselves around the armies they had brought, or camped alongside the armies of neighboring countries.

There was no unified empire among the western nations. Since their ruling families were often related, it was common for neighboring countries to be bound by ties of kinship and friendship. It was even quite conceivable for a single lord to swear allegiance to two kings at once.

This created a major obstacle to mobilizing the Holy War Coalition. After a great deal of bickering and shouting, the kings finally gathered their vassals and mobilized their armies.

However, that was not the end of it. They still had major disputes among themselves over logistics and supplies.

To prepare for this eastern crusade, they had each gathered supplies and provisions within their own countries, but these were not enough to support large armies in the field for an extended period. For that reason, Pope Rossa also brought out a large quantity of supplies for the campaign.

Although the Church was wealthier than any nation, possessing vast assets and lands in many countries and collecting tithes, supporting the logistics of an army on such a scale was still an enormous burden.

As a result, the empire's western territories had now been almost completely plundered. Virtually all the lords there had either been forced to convert or had been killed, and all the supplies and provisions of the western territories had been gathered together.

Yet these