"You thought of something?"
"No!"
Olmedo narrowed his blue eyes, sensing that Annan was hiding something.
But if Annan did not want to tell him, Olmedo would not press him.
"How do you plan to handle the Wealth Church?"
"Handle them?" Annan paused.
Olmedo sat opposite him and leaned forward. "You don't think the Wealth Church will come and go like the Imperial Delegation, do you?"
"Once they confirm you're the Holy Son, they'll either take you away..."
"I'm not going anywhere but Free City!" Annan loudly declared his loyalty.
Olmedo smiled. "Or they'll find a way to stay and turn this place into the Wealth Church's new Holy Land."
"They'll take over?"
"It won't come to that. You're the Holy Son. As long as you don't give in, they can't do anything to you."
The Wealth Church was powerful, certainly, but the Gods had been out of contact for five years now. However powerful and united the Church might be, even if it had not fallen apart, it was rife with conflict.
If Annan stood up right now and proclaimed that he represented the Lady and intended to establish a new faction, the Church itself would be thrown into disarray.
What Olmedo truly feared was that they would tempt Annan with rewards or plead with him. Annan's weakness happened to be that he responded to kindness, not force...
Fortunately, Seduction would not work on Annan for the time being.
"That's easy. I'll influence them before they influence me."
If anyone else had said that, Olmedo would have thought them hopelessly overconfident. But he remembered Annan with his arm around the Holy Crusade Commander's shoulders.
Could Annan really pull it off...?
"In any case, we'll be dealing with the Wealth Church for a long time. I'll find you some books