Walking down the stone steps of the sinkhole underground, Teflon felt an inexplicable chill. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

At the bottom of this secluded and deep church lies the most important secret of the church, the Hermes Institution.

It was the first time he had set foot in the area.

"Did His Majesty really ask me to come here to meet him?" As is customary, only the one of the archbishops who is considered to be the successor of the Pope is eligible to enter the Privy Council, and he is too old to take Mayne's place.

"You've been in the church for so many years, you've worked together, and Your Majesty has a lot of trust in you," Isabella laughed, "and the rules of the past are not suitable for the coming war, and the divine will should not be buried underneath, it needs to be revealed to all the confused believers to lead us to the ultimate challenge." ”

"It's ...... What does the crown mean?"

"That's right. She said softly.

After entering the institution, two Inquisitors greeted him, "Lord Bishop, His Majesty is presiding over the magic stone test, if you have any of you with the Divine Punishment Stone, please leave it to me for the time being—it may affect the operation of the magic power." ”

Teflon nodded, handing over a string of divine stone necklaces to the other party.

"Your Majesty is here, please come with me. ”

Isabella swerved into a long passageway and pushed open the iron door at the end, and with a screeching sound, Teflon saw another masked Pure. She was like a ghost behind the door, and her white skin could be seen under the black veil that enveloped her body, as if there was nothing left on her except this tulle. The most striking thing is the witch's eyes, different from ordinary people's pupils, her eyes are dull silver-gray, as if there is a whirlpool in them, and after looking at it for a long time, it seems as if she is about to be sucked in.

Teflon subconsciously lowered his head.

Only then did he notice that the other party was not wearing shoes, but his feet were naked, and his well-proportioned toes were covered with a little bright red.

The bishop couldn't help but think of the taste of witches, which was not comparable to the words of ordinary women.

Hell, are these witches all goblins?

The slender feet quickly moved out of position, and Isabella heard a reminder in her ear, "My lord?"

"Ahem," Teflon gathered his thoughts and walked inside.

The room was small, and the pine resin torches hanging from the four walls were burning vigorously, but he didn't smell the familiar sweet fragrance.

Four Purifiers sat around a stone table, fiddling with a pile of crystal clear stones, and standing at the stone table was the current Pope, His Majesty Mayne.

Teflon was about to bow down when Mayne's arm was grabbed.

"There are no outsiders here, so there is no need to pay attention to these false courtesies. He smiled, "We're old acquaintances, Master Teflon. ”

I hadn't seen her for two months, and Mayne had already had a few more wrinkles on her forehead, and a few silver strands had popped out of her hair, but her tone was still as familiar as ever, and there was no such thing as a high shelf.

"You can't do that...... Teflon suddenly felt a warm current in his heart, "Even if there are no other believers, the order of the church must be observed." ”

"And what I'm talking about is order," the Pope smiled disapprovingly, "and I won't talk about that...... I was going to ask Isabella to relay your news, but since you're here, tell me about it. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. Teflon nodded. After recounting the current situation of the church, he talked about Isabella's last order, "Now that the resources we are preparing are all aimed at the Dawn Kingdom, it will probably take a lot of effort to remobilize, why did you suddenly decide to attack the Grey Keep first?"

"That's the main reason I summoned you," Mayne sighed, "The Grey Ciep is now in decline, the Battleing Order and the Mad Pill have had the desired effect, and the Dawn Kingdom is full of civil strife, and their demise is only a matter of time, so it doesn't make much difference who comes first and who comes last." ”

"I think so too, but ...... The Grey Keep is still a massive adversary. ”

"There are two main reasons why I decided to adjust the attack plan," the Pope said slowly with his hands behind his back, "The first point is basically the same as the reason for your fear: the kingdom of the Grey Keep is the most extensive and resourceful, and it is a huge enemy, but it also means a high reward. If it can be converted into church territory as soon as possible, the benefits will be much greater than the occupation of Dawn. If there were ten years left, I would have followed the plan set by Lord Oberline, but we were running out of time. The appearance of the Helldread means that the Red Moon may be much closer than the date mentioned in the Holy Book. At times like these, it's worth taking some risks and making more sacrifices. ”

Teflon nodded slightly, this reason is indeed very good, but the question is ...... Not quite like Mayne's style, "Then your second reason is ......"

"Roland Wimbledon of the West. The Pope said categorically.

"You mean...... The Fourth Prince of Grey Castle?" he couldn't help but be stunned.

"Synthesizing the intelligence of the last year, I have found an incredible thing," Mayne patted the bishop on the shoulder, "whether it is the Church's actions against him, or the Greycastle Kingdom's actions against him, they have all failed. The first defeat can be traced back to the Duke of the West's assault on his territory, when Roland owned nothing more than a ruined town. Outsiders thought that he had taken refuge in the devil to defeat the Duke's Knights, but we all knew that one or two witches were no threat to a knight who was heavily armed and equipped with a Divine Punishment Stone, except for the transcendent. ”

"And then the information became more and more bizarre, for example, in the secret letter sent to the Holy City two months ago, it was mentioned that the new king Tifeko had sent a mad army of nearly 2,000 men to attack the western border, but he was defeated in one face, what does it mean?"

Teflon couldn't help but take a breath, two thousand mad troops! Even in Hermes, it is a force that should not be underestimated.

"If you look at the news separately, you may not find anything, but when you put it together, it is very striking—Roland Wimbledon has not lost a single war!" said the Pope in a deep voice, "and it is evident from the intelligence that his power is growing at an astonishing rate, and that he has a tendency to expand outward. If it drags on for another year, the entire Grey Keep may fall into his hands, and the price to pay to annex this vast land at that time is probably much greater than it is now. He paused and looked at Teflon, "There are so many things that need to be dealt with in the agency, and I don't have time to take care of the operation and expansion of the upper echelons of the church, so I can only entrust it to you." ”

After the archbishop left, the appearance of the room changed.

The torches on the walls are gone, the Purity and the Stone Table who studied the magic stone are gone, and the Pope fades away, leaving only Isabella, Jero, and the Black Veil Woman.

"Don't you say I don't know that the fourth prince of Greycastle is such an interesting person," Isabella smacked her lips, "why do I think he has more hope of defeating the devil than the church?"

"What do you mean by that," the woman in black veil frowned, "you want to betray the Church?"

"Betrayal, don't say it so badly," Isabella shrugged, "wasn't the purpose of the church to ensure that humanity survived the battle of divine will, and if anyone else could do that, I wouldn't mind who I was working for." ”

"You're ......!"

"There's no need to fight," Jero stopped, "Isabella is not wrong, in the so-called battle of divine will, only the one who wins in the end is the darling of the gods." She looked at the two of them expressionlessly, "As for who the gods will smile at - whether it's the Federation or a Prince of the Greykeep, I think this war will give us the answer." (To be continued.) )