Garcia hurried back to the Embassy, his heart heavy with worry.
Annan held little hope of borrowing much fighting strength from the Church.
It wasn't that the Wealth Church had no fighters. Its forces were simply weaker than he had imagined.
As a neutral Church, neither the goddess nor her Believers were known for their strength. In the Year of Turmoil, the Priests, Nuns, and other clergy who relied on Divine Arts had become little more than empty shells. Archbishops, Saintesses, and Bishops could rally people, but the people they rallied were just more empty shells.
The Church had the most Believers and the widest reach, but they were self-interested to a fault. They showed up when money was handed out. Ask them to work, and half ran off. Ask them to risk their lives, and the rest vanished too.
The only ones who could fight were the Holy Army. Each soldier was an elite, and their leader, Commander Big Litt, was even a Legendary fighter. There just weren't enough of them.
Supposedly, the Holy City also had a Legendary Mage, but he had to remain stationed there. He was unlikely to come to Free City.
So Annan had only meant to use this to get the Church to loosen its restrictions, provide more aid, or turn a blind eye to the fund.
The Wealth Church was like Michael's time: there was always more to be found if you squeezed hard enough.
Annan had already sent someone to contact Little Bat, though he wasn't sure they could find her. With the Skeleton King tied up by the Princess, Free City currently had two Legendary fighters it could call on and one use of a Summoning Crystal from the Sorcerer Protection Association.
Together with the Five Legions and two allies, that