When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1022 Grandiva is ready for battle

The glorious debate between the two popes has become the biggest topic of discussion in the empire's religious circles these past two days.

The Sixth Ecumenical Council, which was attached to this debate, in particular attracted the attention of a large number of monks.

In this era of crumbling faith, the clergy had extremely high expectations for this ecumenical council.

It is hoped that this grand council can open a new path for the Messiah Church, which has already reached a dead end.

Whether you choose to join the Divine Origin Sect or the Holy Path Sect, don't just hang around aimlessly like this anymore.

With St. Registra and Flowerhill City as its centers of influence, the news spread along rivers and roads, reaching all churches and monasteries in almost a month.

Such a life-or-death moment is something that any monk or priest who has the means will try every possible way to attend.

Under the arrangement of the Holy Alliance and Fran, monks from various places began to travel by car and boat to gather at Red Leaf Hill.

Both the Bear Fortress in the north, which was under reconstruction, and the Regent's Palace of the Kingdom of Leia in the south provided convenience for these monks heading to Red Leaf Hill.

This included food, lodging, and transportation, but most of it was borrowed from the church and monks' own property in various places.

As the time drew near, hotels, churches, and monasteries in various cities of Red Leaf Hill began to fill up.

Although the sixth ecumenical council would not be held until mid-September, the theological debates outside the assembly began the moment the monks met.

The monks were divided into two groups: those who favored the Shengdao sect and those who favored the Shenben sect. The total number of monks was roughly 30% and 70% respectively.

"The Holy Path Sect has already reached 30%?" Grandiva stopped in disbelief in the long corridor filled with all kinds of exquisite paintings and antiques.

"Yes, to be precise, many other small factions call themselves the Holy Path Sect."

Within the church and religious order system, not all non-theocentric theological schools are simply eliminated.

There are various theological schools with long histories in many local small religious orders and university seminaries.

The Juano Cult was one such example; because the monks possessed extraordinary powers, the Church turned a blind eye to it.

As long as they don't actively expand outwards, like Juano in the past, the church doesn't really interfere.

In this grand council, in addition to the Baptism Sect, the Compassionate Sect, and others that did indeed split off from the Holy Way Sect, there were also the Mathematical Sect and the Holy Glory Sect, which have a longer history.

The Noon sect, such as the St. Gethsemane, is a remnant of the Messianic personality sect and is related to the Thousand Rivers Valley folk personality sect.

They do not acknowledge the Trinity and love to talk about divine gifts, revelations, and auspicious omens.

Among the dozen or so sects in the Empire, the Saint Göttingen is the only one that recognizes the identity of the grandson of the Saint Horn.

“These heretics of the Holy Grimm sect!” Upon hearing the name of the Holy Grimm sect, Grandiva’s face darkened.

Because St. Georgy's Church sometimes treats this as divine revelation, and sometimes establishes that as a sacred icon, but it itself—

He, the highly respected Pope of the South who was supposed to be the reincarnation of an angel, was not recognized as such.

You all went out of your way to publish a statement admitting that Horn Galar's grandson is real, but you yourselves, the angels, have to publish a statement clarifying that it's not true.

Actually, Grandiva didn't care much; it was just a small, insignificant sect on the border.

The main issue is that Saint Gezong is genuinely putting on an act; it's not that he truly cares.

“No St. Georgy is allowed to reside in any church or monastery under our control.”

"Ah? Oh, yes, I'll arrange it right away." The aide following Grandiva turned and left.

"Wait a minute," Grandiva called out to him. "We can deal with this later. I want to ask you about the situation with the Holy Alliance."

"There's been no movement. It seems they've been discussing post-war reconstruction with Bear Fortress to the north recently."

"Didn't he try to win over those bishops?"

“Not exactly.” The aide flipped through his notebook. “He often receives letters from all over the country and then answers questions in Pravda.”

"Hey, getting ready to take the lower level route? This lower level route isn't so easy to navigate."

Normally, only bishops could speak at the Grand Council, but this time, due to the previous war and the special religious form of the Holy Alliance, a representative system was adopted.

In other words, in addition to the bishop and the abbot, each diocese must also elect representatives of monks and clergy from the religious order, and senior clergy are prohibited from participating.

“Those representatives are all underlings of the bishops, how could they dare to disobey the bishops’ wishes? Horn has miscalculated this time.”

“That Horn Galar really asked for trouble.” Grandiva said to his aides, rubbing his balding head.

"I suppose he's become so arrogant because he thinks he's destined for greatness after winning so many battles since the Holy Alliance was founded." The advisor next to him naturally flattered him.

However, upon hearing this, Grandiva paused in his tracks.

He stared ahead, his brows furrowed, and his chin unconsciously shifted from side to side.

Those familiar with Grandiva's staff naturally knew that this was Grandiva thinking things through.

"Where exactly is his trump card?" Grandiva asked again, surprisingly circling back to the original topic. "No, we still need to continue investigating."

The aide wanted to slap himself a few times; he should have known better than to engage in that conversation. Although Grandiva had a gut feeling that Horn might not be very capable, long-standing experience proved that caution was always the best policy.

“I’ll give you a direction; you might have been thinking in the wrong direction before.” Grandiva glanced at his aides and continued walking forward.

The aide immediately pulled out a small notebook he had bought at the market, along with a charcoal pencil wrapped in bandages, and began taking notes.

"The Holy Alliance is like an ironclad fortress, and recently, because of that idiot Labang, a large number of Kingdom spies were arrested, so it's very difficult for you to find out anything."

Therefore, my suggestion is to start from the outside, by investigating within the Holy Path sects throughout Leia.

In addition, those El people who are on good terms with the Holy Path Sect, and highly respected monks, etc., all need to be investigated.

I suspect that Horn's confidence stems from the fact that the Els are about to defect...

Has the Council of El turned against the Holy Alliance?
The staff member almost broke the quill in his hand. What's the story behind that?

"What? You don't believe me? Look at those Larkin family members, they practically have me written all over their faces as a traitor to France."

Armand, the bandit leader of the Holy Path Sect in Windmill Land, is even the son-in-law of the Larkin family. Doesn't that say something?

Grandiva has remained a political figure for thirty years thanks to his keen political acumen.

In the politics of the Kingdom of Fran, if there was an opposition party, then the landed nobles of the Larkin family were the opposition party.

Places like Lilac Corridor, Red Leaf Hill, and Storm Cape are all within the sphere of influence of the landed nobles.

Despite Charles VIII and Lorenzo's repeated attempts to purge these nobles, the landed nobles were always able to survive.

After all, nobles are all relatives. If you really want to exterminate them all, you'll end up killing them in your own backyard.

Who doesn't have a bunch of distant relatives?

No need, harmony is paramount in France.

"Anyway, you don't need to worry about anything else. Just do the investigation as I say and that's it."

After dismissing his staff, Grandiva took a few more steps and came to the door of a room.

Even standing outside the door, you could hear the scratching sound of pens slicing across paper.

While Horn and Bearhold were discussing money and worldly matters, I, Grandiva, was still studying theology!

Upon opening the door, hundreds of top scholars and monks stood with their heads bowed amidst a mountain of piled-up papers and books.

This is preparation for the Grand Council meeting. As long as I cite more than you and the classics I reveal are more obscure than yours, I will win.

That's why hundreds of top scholars and monks worked day and night to build up ammunition depots for Grandiva.

"Grandiwa".

Upon hearing this voice, Grandiva, who had been all smiles, shuddered.

He turned around and saw an old man with white hair and beard standing in front of him.

Even though the old man called Grandiva by his name, he still didn't sense anything was wrong.

Although Grandiva was the Pope, he was not the most powerful bishop in France.

In France, whether religious or secular nobles, all power rested with the king.

Grandiva initially rose to power through superstition and skillful political maneuvering.

By the time he met Charles VIII, Charles VIII had already come of age.

Therefore, Charles VIII did not have enough trust in Grandiva; he simply had no other candidates to compete with.

The religious figure most trusted by this young king was none other than Archbishop Campbell of Flowerhill.

The elderly archbishop wore crystal glasses, and his narrow eyes were like those of a viper, always making Grandiva feel uncomfortable.

“Archbishop Campbell.” Grandiva nodded slightly as a gesture of respect.

“Here’s what you wanted.” Campbell handed Grandiva a thick manuscript. “This is the first draft.”

Grandiva opened it with delight, quickly flipped through it, and exclaimed in admiration, "Fantastic! It was actually completed before the Grand Council began!"

"What are your chances of winning?"

"Before this manuscript, it was only 70% complete; after this manuscript, it is 90% complete."

"Ninety percent?"

"Nine percent!"

Campbell's suspicious gaze swept over him before he stood up and looked Grandiva straight in the eye.

“Grandiva, you know how important this is. Don’t let His Highness down.”

(End of this chapter)