Upheaval

The letter of inquiry from the "Expeditionary Crusaders" was like a thunderclap.

This strongly worded communication was sent in plain text, and although it eventually reached Saint Lan Cathedral, its contents were clearly visible to all the communication nodes it passed through.

A victorious army that had just defeated a powerful enemy and made great contributions on the front lines suddenly turned its spearhead against the Holy See. This event captured the attention of almost everyone and spread throughout the Temple of Light in a very short time, especially within the military system.

The events mentioned in the communication seemed unbelievable at first glance, but Havitron's heartfelt words resonated deeply with these soldiers.

Initially, everyone was waiting for the Pope and the Council of Cardinals to publicly clarify and strongly condemn and refute the letter of inquiry, but unexpectedly, ten minutes passed, then twenty minutes, and the Holy See remained completely silent!

Now, everyone realized that something was wrong.

Many departments possess investigative capabilities, and everyone engaged in intelligence verification and analysis. They privately coordinated and compiled information, quickly discovering that the content mentioned in the letter seemed to vaguely appear to be true.

There are simply too many relevant clues to corroborate this:

All the top courtesans from the Radiant Jurisdiction have mysteriously gathered in the Holy City, and their service prices have increased several times over.

The "Great Pill" supplied by the Gnome Chamber of Commerce were all centrally supplied to the Radiant Holy City a month ago, but they did not appear through any public channels. Now, even if the price is increased, they cannot be obtained. Instead, they can be purchased for ten times the price through "private" connections from families related to the Cardinal.

Furthermore, sources within the dwarf community revealed that the drug was developed and formulated by a necromancer within their tribe. The day before the "Spirit Cloud" warrant was lifted, a representative of the dwarfs met with Cardinal Chancellor Bulameike at the Saint Lan Cathedral.

Every single detail matches perfectly!

The military of the Temple of Light was immediately in an uproar. This was not just a personal grudge of the "Expeditionary Crusaders," but something that made all the troops feel uneasy. No soldier who made a living from the ranks could allow himself to be sold off cheaply for nothing, or accept being deceived by his superiors in this way.

Fighting the enemy, whether dead or wounded, is a soldier's destiny. But if everything is merely a sacrifice to the internal strife within the Holy See, a way to blindly pave the way for the selfish desires of the higher-ups, then every soldier will feel it's utterly worthless!

Immediately, there was widespread indignation and angry remarks within the military.

Fortunately, the commanders of the various units who learned of the situation reacted quickly, issuing gag orders and punishing those who "spread rumors," thus quelling the matter openly, leaving only some undercurrents surging silently.

****

The Radiant Holy City, the Saint Lan Cathedral.

The letter arrived at 8:30 a. m., an hour and a half before the Council of Cardinals officially began its work.

Pope Augustus hastily summoned the cardinals, and it took them a full half hour to arrive one by one. Many of them still bore the marks of their past affairs and the unique fragrance of high-class brothels.

Augustus cursed inwardly, "How old is he? It's been over a month and he's still doing this."

"That Havitron!" Cardinal Bulameike angrily exclaimed, "He's utterly audacious!"

"Marshal Havitron's elite troops suffered heavy losses in this battle," an officer explained. "Not only were the three warships that circled around completely wiped out, but those who were the first to land on the island and were caught in the explosion were all his men."

"If you want to steal credit, you have to take the corresponding risks," a cardinal scoffed. "As a marshal, you don't even have the guts to accept defeat!"

"Perhaps we should appease Havitron for now and offer him some compensation?" another cardinal suggested. "Let's calm things down first."

"Compensation my foot!" Bulameike retorted angrily. "He broke the rules first! What wrong have we done? ' Spirit Cloud ' never existed in the first place!"

"Exactly," another cardinal chimed in. "The nationwide manhunt for necromancers was already dead before we announced its cancellation; this whole affair has absolutely nothing to do with us."

Augustus closed his eyes in thought; the whole affair seemed eerily strange. It was reasonable that the Final Bone Mad Machines had been driven to the brink of despair on Brown Gold Island and had to resort to its trump card of magical tactics.

But why did they name this technology "Spirit Rain" and conveniently leave behind related materials? Wouldn't it have been better to use a more imposing name, such as "Giant God of the Underworld" or "Restoration of All Bones"?

"On the surface, we'll feign appeasement towards Havitron," Bulameike quickly devised his strategy, his tone cold and hard. "Secretly, we'll instruct the other officers to strip him of his power!"

The "Expeditionary Crusaders" was a coalition of multiple forces. Marshal Havitron's core forces were severely weakened, and it was very easy and natural for him to be marginalized by officers from other units and have his command power taken away.

The cardinals readily agreed.

"Besides, someone on our side needs to step up and take the blame!" Bulameike's face was gloomy, and his tone was full of displeasure. "This time, it's a bargain for those soldiers in the military. We have to hand over several High Rank positions in various departments."

Cardinals are adept at handling these kinds of situations involving the redistribution of interests and sacrificing pawns to save the king.

Moreover, the management team was so tightly controlled that it was like an ironclad fortress, with more than half of the senior officers being relatives or associates. In particular, the military commanders of various units were almost all members of the major families of the Divine Covenant Faction.

If it weren't for the actual military needs for people to do the work, and the Final Bone Mad Machines, people like Havitron and Feimaina, who rose to their positions solely based on their military achievements, would never have had the opportunity to take charge; at best, they could only serve as deputies.

"The soldiers' emotions still need to be calmed down; we can't ignore them," Augustus couldn't help but say.

"Each family will issue orders to keep their own clansmen serving in the military in check," Bulameike said. "There won't be any problems."

"I'm talking about the lower-ranking soldiers," Augustus said, emphasizing, "This incident has had a huge impact on morale!"

Bulameike was aware of this problem; if handled improperly, it could seriously affect the combat morale of lower-ranking non-commissioned officers.

"Then let's arrange for a dozen or so archbishops to personally go down to each unit and hold prayer meetings for divine grace," he suggested after a moment's thought.

Although it was conducted in the name of religious activities, the lower-ranking soldiers received some actual rewards during the process, and their faith was instilled through divine grace and holy words. This was an effective means for the Temple of Light to consolidate morale.

"Arrange for the nuns to go down as well; their hymn performances are a popular activity among the soldiers," an officer added.

"Sigh, this is another considerable expense," the cardinal in charge of logistics sighed.

"Don't be so stingy about things that can be solved with money!" Augustus said impatiently. "Get to work on it immediately. We have a formidable enemy at hand, and we can't afford to be careless!"

Soon, the members of the Council of Cardinals finalized a general framework for their response. The cardinals each took on their respective roles and acted separately.

The communication array of Saint Lan Cathedral quickly became busy, with magical messages shuttling back and forth. Some were instructions from various cardinal families to relatives holding important military positions, while others were official documents issued in the name of the Holy See to reassure the military and stabilize the situation.

The "Spirit Rain" incident during the Battle of Brown Gold Island was officially defined as a vicious divisive scheme meticulously planned by the Final Bone Mad Machines, with the aim of tarnishing the majestic image of the Temple of Light and shaking the morale of the valiant expeditionary force.

Several cardinals were fined a year's stipend as punishment for "negligence" in related matters.

With the back-and-forth of correspondence, things quickly calmed down. After his initial rage subsided, Havitron realized that his actions had been too rash. Coupled with the "repeated persuasion" and obstruction from the other officers, the marshal also lost his edge in frustration.

After receiving a promise to rebuild the three warships, Havitron chose to back down.

With the "Spirit Rain" incident concluded, the Temple of Light military began investigating the fact that the Goblin Dragon -Dragon-Breaking Cone had been rendered useless as scrap metal during the Battle of Brown Gold Island.

****

"The effect of this system is even better than expected!" Katharine couldn't stop smiling as she looked at the feedback coming from the Temple of Light's internal communication system.

At noon, the Expeditionary Crusaders held a large-scale meeting where the accompanying priests read aloud the highest instructions from the Council of Cardinals and the divine decree. At the same time, they distributed supplies to the troops and gave victory rewards to the lower-ranking soldiers.

All units of the Temple of Light have been given a strict order: no officer may spread this matter further, or it will be considered defamation of the Divine Covenant Faction and will be severely punished.

In no time, the "Great Pill" incident, which swept in like a storm, subsided as if it had never happened.

But Katharine was laughing hysterically, clutching her stomach. She founded the Star Sand organization and knew very well what the anger flowing from the bottom was like, and she also knew best what kind of power was hidden behind the "silent masses".

The Divine Covenant Faction can silence those who try to speak and suppress their protests, but they cannot eradicate the resentment in their hearts. When Dawn breaks and opportunity arrives, this suppressed silence will surely transform into the most intense flames of backlash!

"By the way, the work of ideological enlightenment must also keep up." Katharine's smile faded as she instructed Ge'enda'er beside her, handing him a small booklet. "This is nighttime reading material we've prepared for the soldiers of the Temple of Light. Infiltrate them as quickly as possible; the more they spread, the better."

Ge'enda'er reached out and took the booklet, glancing at the title. His eyelids twitched. "My Father-in-Law Is a Cardinal?"

Katharine abruptly reached out, quickly snatched the booklet back, and haphazardly stuffed it into the drawer.

She coughed a few times, then picked out the correct one again. "I picked up the wrong one, this is the one."

"The Knight Abin." Ge'enda'er took the booklet and flipped through it.

He discovered that this booklet, while masquerading as a "borderline" story, was actually packed with valuable information. Through the joys and sorrows of the characters, the story tore away the hypocritical veil of the Divine Covenant Faction.

The problem is, this "sheep's head" is actually quite good-looking; just a few lines of text caught Ge'enda'er's attention. If it weren't for Katharine's presence, he really would have been unable to resist flipping through it all in one go.

Ge'enda'er coughed a few times and quickly put the booklet away.

Katharine said curiously, "You can just go to the warehouse to get the thousands of books that need to be distributed. Why are you taking this one? I haven't even read it yet."

Ge'enda'er awkwardly took the booklet out again and handed it back to her.

"Where did Su Ming get so many... strange and bizarre story picture books?" He thought for a long time but couldn't find a suitable adjective.

Katharine glanced at her drawer, which was crammed full of books like "The Priest Teacher Tried to Imprison Me Every Day" and "After I Resigned, the Priest Begged Me to Come Back."

"His world must be incredibly colorful," she sighed.

Katharine that, Catherine began to arrange military affairs.

"All forces advancing towards the Northern Continent Jurisdiction, withdraw immediately," she ordered. "The ships in the port no longer need to pretend to unload; begin loading the supplies we need to take!"

The offensive launched by Dawn Territory was nothing more than a feint. Now that Brown Gold Island, their "supply hub," has been destroyed by the Temple of Light's task force, they can justifiably withdraw and retreat.

"Understood!" Ge'enda'er replied, turning to relay the order.

****

Following the turmoil, the Temple of Light quickly took its next step.

On one hand, the "Expeditionary Crusaders" dispatched reconnaissance ships to the eastern sea area to search for Su Ming's escape route. According to the analysis and simulation of the General Staff, there are not many areas around Brown Gold Island suitable for Su Ming's escape, among which Silver Island is the most suspicious.

On the other hand, the military's investigation has reached a conclusion. The goblins tampered with all the Dragon-Breaking Cone Brown Gold Island provided, rendering these weapons ineffective in actual combat. The Temple of Light immediately launched a strong accountability investigation, seemingly determined to pin all the losses suffered in the Battle of Browngold Island on the goblins!

The goblins, whose reputation in the market had just begun to improve, quickly retorted, and this matter didn't even require much guidance from the oracle.

"You only paid half the price, so naturally you can only get a weapon with half the functionality!" The Goblin King Nilunke personally intervened, issuing a strong reply via public communications. "Goblins conduct business honestly and fairly; you get what you pay for—that's only fair!"

According to the evidence presented by Nilunke, this transaction involving the Dragon-Breaking Cone comprised 400 firing systems and 5,000 rounds of ammunition, totaling 9 million gold coins. However, during the transaction, the person in charge demanded a kickback of 4 million gold coins worth of goods.

"Nonsense!" The cardinal in charge of the arms procurement was furious, his face turning ashen. He retorted sharply, "I only received 2 million!"

Augustus, enraged, slammed his fist on the table, shattering it. "If you're going to line your own pockets, why don't you think of something else? Why do you have to reach for arms? Is this something to be laughed at?!"

"This isn't his fault," Cardinal Bulameike said calmly. "The total amount agreed upon with the goblins was 7 million." He explained, "We added an extra 2 million as usual, and then divided the money among ourselves—200,000 of that was yours."