Chapter 347 : The Gods’ Revival

Chapter 347: The Gods’ Revival

Although Agamemnon intended that each great cathedral could have twenty knights, given Marl’s position in the Adrian Territory, if he wished, Richard Adrian could easily become one of those twenty. Naturally, “Oath Knights” and “the Adrian Cathedral’s knights” were only different names for the same thing.

Jeremiah listened to Marl’s words with some envy.

Although Marl kept calling Richard an idiot, everyone knew that Richard was not truly an idiot by nature, and to Jeremiah it was Gregor who was genuinely worrisome. Even within the Doyle Knight Order that Gregor had established, there were few knights whom Jeremiah truly approved of.

So the few knights in Jeremiah’s Doyle cathedral had been found through a great deal of his own effort.

After finishing the bishops’ council this time, Jeremiah planned to go to the Glory Knight Academy to see whether he could recruit some knights there.

Three years had passed; there should be some devout students by now. Even if they had not reached Tier Four and were only around Tier Three, Jeremiah had the patience to wait for them to grow.

Bishop Jeven was considering whether he should take some time to make a trip to the North; to the east of the North lay the frozen carcass of a great dragon, and Aen himself bore a dragon soul — perhaps they could breed some flying beasts such as drakes.

Olivia opened her mouth; she, too, wanted a Dragon-Eagle and a gryphon. Although she already had Big Gold, Big Gold was too large and awkward to ride.

Bishop Corleon glanced at Olivia and said, “Marquis Richard is a marquis of the Kingdom of Lundex. It is a cause for celebration that such magical beasts have been born within his domain. He ought to present a pair of these precious beasts to the kingdom’s king — even if the king has not yet taken the throne, he should already demonstrate his loyalty.”

Olivia’s eyes brightened and she bloomed a smile like a flower, standing up straight and obediently.

Marl looked at Olivia’s posture and understood Corleon’s meaning. He smiled at Olivia like a kind elder indulging the lively girl of the village.

Olivia had, in a sense, grown up under his watch.

He said, “I will have Richard send a pair each to Lundex Castle in York City. Then Dragon-Eagles and gryphons will fly above York City, and everyone will witness Marquis Richard Adrian’s loyalty to the king.”

Jeven widened his eyes and stared at Marl. Just a moment ago Marl had said Jeven should go to find Richard himself — and now Marl casually promised to have a pair sent for Olivia.

Marl glanced at Jeven, as if to say he had not lied: he had only told Jeven to go seek Richard himself. Or perhaps Jeven had wanted to hear Marl refuse without hesitation?

Their exchanged looks did not escape Corleon, and he could not help but smile.

No matter how aged Marl looked, no matter how frail Jeven seemed, and no matter how weary Jeremiah appeared, the oldest actual age among these bishops was only Jeven’s twenty-five years.

In the world before Corleon’s time, people of such age had only just left university and were receiving the first hardships of society with clear eyes.

But in this world, the three of them had already borne the lives and deaths of tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, before turning twenty.

From a broader perspective, they carried the future of the entire world, and in the eyes of everyone in this world, they were rightfully so.

Indeed, before the Church’s foundation — or rather before the New Testament Era began — the training for the upper ranks required children to pick up weapons at eight and learn how to kill by twelve.

Even in Corleon’s position, he did not believe that was right; that was why this world needed to heed the Lord’s teachings.

Pulling his thoughts back, Corleon said, “Oscar recently completed an entire magical combat system that is sufficiently practical for knights. He is a knight, a mage, and a scholar, so it took him three years to develop this system which is especially suited to knights.”

Marl bowed his head slightly and said, “I will go to Dean Oscar and request that magical combat system.”

Corleon said, “You need not seek him out. He will soon teach the entire system to Knight Borien and the others. It will become a required subject at the Glory Knight Academy.”

Marl hesitated, but still said, “I will do my best to persuade them to study at the Glory Knight Academy.”

Marl worried that the Oath Knights would consider this an insult.

Having a member of one of the three famed knight orders — the Oath Knights, whose fame was still being sung of now — go to a knight academy and study as an apprentice was not something proud knights would easily accept.

They were Oath Knights; even the weakest knight within the order could defeat the academy’s strongest knight.

Those knights respected Marl because of his contributions in the Adrian Territory, so they were willing to obey his command.

But to send them to learn from knights they considered weaker...

Humility was not part of Richard’s fixed and upheld oath.

Corleon said, “You should learn to trust Richard and his knights. They are the children of your diocese; you must instruct them as a father, but they are still knights with their own thoughts.”

“Mana was gradually filling the world, and Crulud could already create Dragon-Eagles and gryphons. More and more magical beasts would traverse this world. Human knights would discover the power of mana, and in the future the use of mana would even become a criterion in the Warrior Guild’s rank evaluations. Knights who fought with mana would, of course, be stronger than those who did not.”

“Therefore embracing the gift of mana that the world offers everyone was inevitable. They would merely be apprentices in the realm of mana — how could an apprentice view learning from a master as shameful?”

Marl bowed his head deeply and said, “I will listen to your teachings and engrave them upon my heart.”

Corleon then turned his gaze toward Jeremiah.

Jeremiah straightened and temporarily suppressed his thoughts about mana. He said, “There were no major changes in the Doyle territory last year, only that Gregor married Camilla, a union with the Marquis of the Woodlands’ bloodline.”

“But by coincidence, Camilla carried the blood of the Grand Duke of Valorian, so the Doyle territory has now completed its claim over the Woodlands. Aside from Gregor, many of his knights and dependent nobles have also formed marriages with some of the Woodlands’ nobles.”

“Some of the Woodlands nobles who could see Doyle’s moves and Greenwood’s changes have already expressed their willingness to attach themselves to the Doyle territory. Some even secretly came to the Doyle cathedral to devoutly clean the church, pray for a day, and recite the New Testament Scriptures. They were willing to abandon the Woodlands’ old forest faith and devoutly believe in the Lord.”

“So in July last year, the Doyle territory completed the thorough occupation of the Woodlands within three months, and they guaranteed that afterward no rebellion would exceed a hundred people. The Woodlands could peacefully join the Doyle territory in greeting the New Year’s bells.”

“At that time Gregor proposed that we take action against the Woodlands, but I restrained him because the North was in front of us. I was uncertain how the Church would handle the Woodlands, especially since the throne of Lundex remained vacant.”

After speaking, Jeremiah bowed slightly to Olivia. Olivia hastened to stiffen her expression and returned the courtesy.

His words caused the other three bishops to glance at him in surprise.

Counting the time, it had been only four years since Agamemnon had relocated the Doyle territory adjacent to the Woodlands, yet within those four years Jeremiah had, without large-scale bloodshed, already completed such deep control of the Woodlands.

They did not attribute this achievement to Gregor’s involvement; Marl already understood Gregor’s level.

With Gregor’s intelligence at best, he could only follow Jeremiah’s direction; after all, Gregor had still not firmly established the Oath that would bind the Doyle Knight Order.

He first declared “Fearless Charge” as the oath, but after the Eastern Expedition he felt that “Fearless” overlapped with Richard’s knightly oath of valor, so he changed it to “Loyalty and Valiant.” But Gregor was a marquis — to whom should he be loyal?

There was no one on the throne. Moreover, as a high noble marquis, whether he would sincerely pledge loyalty even when a king sat on the throne was uncertain.

So Gregor kept changing his oath, and because of this volatility, at the bishops’ council the year before last his pledged quota had been revoked.

Even Jeremiah did not know how to plead his case.

This had caused the Doyle Knight Order to rely purely on numbers to rank among the three great knight orders.

Of course, no one would inform Doyle of the revoked oath quota — it was a reward granted by the Church to the glorious, and when glory was spent, it was naturally withdrawn.

Because of this, Jeven had comforted Jeremiah the year before last.

Marl had not comforted him; after all, Richard had stood firm in his knightly oath from the start. To heap misplaced consolation upon Jeremiah would only deepen his sorrow.

Corleon said to Jeremiah, “Since the Woodlands were willing to draw near, there was no reason to push them away. But the Woodlands must not be entirely occupied by the Doyle territory; the Kingdom of Lundex must not allow the emergence of a duke.”

Jeremiah said, “Then that will require a war. Only war can distribute the merits.”

Corleon replied, “Isn’t Marl already troubled by that Hobert? Send him to the battlefield as well. In truth, Marl, you could not find a reason to execute him only because of the deity behind that relic in his hands. That deity has been revived through the relic and is using its power to influence you.”