Chapter 100: The Split of the Empire
Beyond the most eastern part of the Kingdom of Helius, even further east than the Valley of Broken Armies, was a once a powerful empire that was bordered by the Crusader Gateway.
During the time of the Empire, its relations with the Kingdom was intense. Many wars were waged between the Empire and the Kingdom on the name of religious inquisition. The Church wanted to spread its beliefs far and wide but the Empire resisted, in fear the monarchy would fall to the divine power.
More than ten years ago, tension was brewing between the two nations. To address the situation, the Kingdom even launched a huge scale war education. This was how the “mock tactical games” came to be.
Nevertheless, the confrontation did not last. One night eight years ago, things took a turn for the worse when the King of the Empire suddenly died.
The whole Empire fell into chaos.
The King had three offspring: Wwo princes and a princess. The Empire was rattled when the two princes battled out to ascend the throne. In a dramatic twist, just as the two princes were occupied with their internal battle, the reticent princess arose and brought her army to claim most of the Empire’s territories in the west.
The whole nation was flabbergasted by the turn of events. Both princes were not willing to back down just yet and each conquered the south and north of the Empire respectively. The once powerful Empire was now split into three and no longer had its former glory.
The three nations that was once the Empire were now known as Ferelden, Icor and Carretas.
When Benjamin read that line of words on the envelope, he remembered the history lessons that the System made him catch up on.
To His Majesty the King of Carretas…
If he were to recall correctly, Carretas was in the north of the Empire where the first son had conquered and built his nation. His Majesty the King of Carretas was the one who suffered the most losses from the power tussle.
Although the Empire was split into three, their attitude towards the Church remained the same. Even if the Church had used a softer approach to spread their religion, the three Kingdoms, especially the neighboring Kingdom of Icor that was built by the princess; were firmly against the Church. The spread of religion was still progressing rather slowly.
One could say that the three Kingdoms were definitely not allies.
His thoughts turned to the letter he held in his hand.
A priest who was highly regarded by the Church had written a letter to the enemy…
At that very moment, Benjamin felt he just came in contact with a great conspiracy.
If this were to happen to someone else, they would probably think twice before opening the letter in fear that they may be dragged into the dirt. But this letter had fallen into Benjamin’s hands …
He couldn’t help but get carried away with excitement.
Oh, what fun! Please count him in!
And just like that, he couldn’t contain himself as he tore open the envelope.
He unfolded the letter and sighed: It was a lengthily letter. Well, he had to read carefully what the letter contained even if he was excited. Benjamin took a deep breath and started to read line by line.
It was close to sunset and the day has yet to darken. He was still able to make out the content of the letter.
He studied the letter completely in about ten minutes or so.
He laid the letter down after he was done reading. His earlier enthusiasm has dissipated.
He had originally figured that the letter would be evidence that the priest was betraying the Church and that he was pledging allegiance to the enemy. This, of course, would cause Benjamin, who was a Mage, to gloat. However, the truth was that there was indeed a pledge of allegiance — it was just that it was the other way round.
Carretas was prepared to come under the wing of the Church.
How could Benjamin tell?
The letter mostly contained details about the crowning ceremony. It detailed how the Pope would assist in crowning the King and how a King should be devoted to God. The detailed accounts in the letter showed that Carretas and the Church had been secretly communicating for a while now.
This was definitely a headliner that would shock any nation.
Rumour has it that a few months ago, Carretas had a missionary publicly executed to defy the Church. Who would have thought that Carretas and the Church were already in it together?
What a play they put on.
Benjamin let out a sigh.
This matter alone was shocking enough. There was one more piece of information that was even more shocking — The Church’s promise to Carretas.
According to the letter, the Church will be sending out troops to fight Icor and Ferelden. As long as Carretas seized the moment to turn on them and crush the other two Kingdoms, the Church will award the two territories to the first prince so that he may reunite the Empire and become the one true King.
It was indeed a grand plan.
Now Benjamin understood why Carretas pledged allegiance to the Church.
No matter in which world, the eldest would always be the successor. As the eldest son to the old King of the Empire, His Royal Highness the Prince did not inherit the throne.
Benjamin did not understand what had happened in the past. However, if the second son was able to compete for the throne with the eldest son, the second son must have possessed better qualities than the eldest.
If having an outstanding younger brother was bad enough, try having a younger sister who quietly obtained troops to conquer the widest amount of land. The princess was definitely way ahead of the princes.
It was not hard to understand why the eldest prince, who was pushed to the corner by his younger siblings and parted from land that should have been his, would decide to join forces with the Church.
Obviously, this was not a grudge that could be overlooked.
That being said…
After reading this letter, Benjamin felt like the Church would only be handing the prince a bounced cheque.
If the Church really would send out troops to defeat these two Kingdoms, would they really simply hand the land over to the prince? The Church could easily vanquish the Carretas without the interference of the two other Kingdoms.
In addition, could the Church spare any troops for war not? Even if the army was deployed, the Church had to first settle the aristocrats.
This would probably have to be delayed.
If the eldest prince is pinning all his hope on the Church, he would be dreadfully disappointed.
After reading the letter, Benjamin thought for a while. He finally decided to tear the letter to bits and bury it. It was a matter between nations and beyond his control. If he were to reveal even the slightest bit of knowledge on this matter, he may be placing himself in grave danger.
He did not intend to warn the Queen of Icor or the King of Ferelden. It would be too risky and he could easily expose himself.
Moreover, what was the point of his action then? Who would believe a foreign hedonist? They might even mistake him for a spy.
It would be troublesome too when the Church finds out the letter had gone missing. The Church would be after him at any cost, to the extent of tightening the security of the whole city to prevent him from exposing such a secret. They would be more inclined to search for him than Michelle.
If he was with the Church, he would definitely not let this information be leaked.
Now that he thought about it, even if he felt he had taken steps to prevent himself from being tracked, he still could not relax from the whole ordeal.
He just dug himself a deeper hole.
He thought that the Prison Ruins was quite the safe place to be. Now he was thinking otherwise. If the Church were to discover the secret tunnel and made their way here, that would be the end.
If they were to realise the letter had gone missing, they would be searching the place with a fine-toothed comb and it would not be long until they discover the hidden entrance.
It was better not to stay here any longer.
He realised the severity of the situation and quickly got up to wipe away traces of his trail. Then, he promptly left the Prison Ruins.
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