Throne of the North.

Chapter 569 The Earl of Clayton, who was held hostage, and the powerful figures of the Papacy

Unfortunately, despite Baron Ryan of the Empire's best efforts in launching an attack on the Kingdom of Sera, he was unable to save His Excellency Grand Duke Carlos.

The Baron expressed his deepest apologies, but the Carlos bloodline was too far from the light and too close to the dawn, so there was nothing he could do.

However, as a citizen of the Light and as a nobleman, Baron Ryan would never tolerate anyone carrying out a large-scale massacre of nobles in front of him, even if they were followers of the Lord of Dawn.

The Dawn Church must pay the price of killing members of the Carlos royal family.

The valiant Baron Ryan successfully avenged Grand Duke Carlos, leading the imperial army to victory and killing many clergy members of the Papacy's army, as a tribute to the noble members of the Carlos royal bloodline.

Considering that there were no more members of the Carlos bloodline, Baron Ryan voluntarily stayed behind as a junior to help the Carlos bloodline make arrangements for the funeral for three whole days. His attitude moved the nobles to tears.

Three whole days.

It took Ryan three whole days to barely finish tallying the wealth stored in the four noble territories of the Carlos bloodline.

"Before the arrival of the Kingdom of Sera, this land was the territory of nobles of the Carlos bloodline, and all the wealth was concentrated in their hands and the church."

"And now, everything belongs to us."

Baron Ryan plundered a large amount of wealth from the Carlos royal family, but due to transportation difficulties and the fierce attacks of the Sera Kingdom's Griffin Legion, the baron lost this wealth and was driven out of the kingdom's lands.

The Sera royal family's Griffin Legion was capable of capturing this Imperial Baron, but the Kingdom of Sera feared the Imperial's authority and therefore dared not.

After all, the Kingdom of Sera in the Northwind is now surrounded by the Empire's lackeys. If they were to aggressively oppose the Empire, they would likely incur its retaliation.

The Kingdom of Sera dared not do anything to Baron Ryan, so the baron was able to return to the empire without incident.

Praise the protection of the light, praise the majesty of His Majesty the Emperor.

Furthermore, the truth cannot be hidden forever; the valiant Baron Ryan and the noble lord Gerald were rewarded by the Emperor for their heavy defeat of the Dawn Church's competent army on the plains.

……

"Ryan!!!"

In the Kingdom of Carlos, King Olsen roared like a madman, his voice hoarse, and he fainted in his palace.

Upon waking, the king stared blankly at the magnificent palace above him. Gone, all gone. Carlos's bloodline was completely wiped out.

The army that had already arrived in the Kingdom of Carlos still had some nobles and knights with Carlos blood, but so what? The Carlos bloodline in the Kingdom of Sera was gone, and the total number of people with the Carlos royal bloodline now did not exceed one hundred.

"He did it on purpose, he must have done it on purpose!"

King Olsen angrily questioned the nobles of the empire, but who could possibly have any evidence of such a thing?
"Your Majesty, please calm down."

"After receiving the Emperor's order, Baron Ryan began to assemble his army and head to the Kingdom of Sera. It was not easy to get to the Kingdom of Sera from the Northwind Province, and there was also the obstruction of the Sera royal family."

The Emperor did not specify when Baron Ryan had to arrive at which place, and the foolishness of the Carlos bloodline in the Kingdom of Sera, which instigated internal strife against the Dawn Church, allowed the Church to prepare earlier.

Ryan went and did it, thus completing his execution of the emperor's order.

"impossible!"

“If he, Ryan, had arrived even a day earlier, the nobles of the Carlos bloodline would not have died at the hands of those clergymen! And why did Ryan kill those priests? If he hadn’t killed them, the believers of the Kingdom of Sera would not have been able to slaughter the Carlos bloodline!”

King Olsen roared in anger, but this time the nobles were even less willing to pay him any attention.

As a nobleman of the Empire, killing the enemies of the Dawn Church was politically correct in itself. The nobles might also think that Ryan was radical, but they couldn't say it out loud.

There are only two answers to this question: was killing clergy right or wrong?

From the empire's perspective, killing the enemy is never wrong.

the most important is……

Earl Clayton looked at King Olsen.

“Your Majesty King Carlos, you believe that Ryan killed your royal family members, but that was the Kingdom of Sera, a land ruled by the Dawn Church. Moreover, we have thought about it for a long time and still can’t figure out why Ryan would target the Carlos bloodline.”

"Is there some grudge between you two?"

"It was he who led the army of the Kingdom of Sera to attack our territory."

"The Earl of Olsen said loudly," and the Earl of Clayton frowned.

"You mean the war that founded the nation? Was Ryan really that important in that war?"

"As far as I know, Unicorn Fortress was the only fortress in your four great noble territories that resisted Grand Duke McCreynolds, but Unicorn Fortress had already fallen before Ryan got involved, and your Divine Wind Knights were also wiped out by the Elephant Legion."

"After that, the Carlos Noble Territory completely lost its military strength to face McCreynolds. Even without Ryan, you couldn't have stopped the Kingdom of Sera from establishing itself."

This is also what puzzles the nobles. If we're talking about grudges, the grudges between the nobles of the Carlos bloodline and the royal family of Sera are deeper, followed by the Elephant Legion led by Commander Farrell.

By any measure, it shouldn't be Baron Ryan's turn to ride the wave of opportunity.

What's the big deal about this little grudge? If that's the case, wouldn't the wars the nobles fought over land have already turned them into sworn enemies?
Leaving aside distant examples, let's talk about the nobles inside this palace. They have had many conflicts with each other throughout history, including encounters on the battlefield. But now they can still chat and laugh together at a banquet.
The traditions of the nobility have never led to irreconcilable conflicts over such matters.

"Other than that?"

Earl Sterling inquired, noting that within the empire's internal political factions, he was, of course, on Ryan's side.

Earl Olsen was stumped by the question. Yes, apart from that, he himself had not had much contact with Baron Ryan, except for the years he fled the Kingdom of Sera after Ryan's army captured the castle and he experienced a period of wandering.

He couldn't explain it, and seeing his state, the nobles could only helplessly say that they couldn't condemn Baron Ryan's actions to the Emperor on this basis.

Even Emperor Flor didn't care that Baron Ryan participated in the founding war of the Kingdom of Sera, so how much of an effect can it have if King Carlos of the Kingdom cares about this matter?

Inside the palace, King Olsen angrily smashed things. The departing nobles had no time to pay attention to the king's rage. The complete annihilation of the Carlos bloodline was indeed pitiful, so let the king calm down.

Earl Clayton's expression was grim. Others could not be sure whether Ryan intended to kill Carlos's bloodline, but he was certain that Ryan was involved in this matter.

That letter already explained a lot. It wasn't that King Olsen wanted to become enemies with Ryan, but rather that Ryan had long believed that King Carlos's coronation would make him his enemy. Strike first to gain the upper hand. However, Earl Clayton hadn't expected Ryan to be so ruthless, wiping out the entire Carlos-blooded noble army, leaving only a handful of less than a hundred Carlos-blooded soldiers in the army that arrived in the Kingdom of Carlos to quell the rebellion.

Those people didn't even come from the same noble family; they had only been away from the territory for a few days, and as a result, they lost their homes.

At this moment, Earl Clayton began to seriously consider the letter that Ryan had sent.

Kill King Olsen.

It wasn't that he wanted to do it, but rather that Ryan's actions had put Earl Clayton in a difficult position.

The nobles prioritize their own interests, and secondarily consider the interests of the empire.

For Lord Clayton, his relationship with Ryan was clearly more important than the interests between King Olson and Lord Clayton; blood ties are always the most secure form of alliance.

King Olsen was unaware of the situation before, but from now on he will undoubtedly become Ryan's enemy, which will naturally affect Earl Clayton's interests.

That letter wasn't necessarily meant to get his father, the Earl, to take action. More likely... it's possible that Ryan already had a plan to wipe out the entire Carlos bloodline when he wrote the letter, and that letter was meant to warn Earl Clayton not to be tricked by King Olsen.

Indeed, given what had happened and the existence of that letter, it would be difficult for Earl Clayton to trust King Olson again, whether he liked it or not. Not only him, but Earl Sterling, who was standing next to him, also looked hesitant and tried to persuade him.

"Write to Ryan and ask if he deliberately slowed down the army's march. Also, I will inform Klar that we cannot get too close to King Olson regarding the war in the south. He has the power to influence war decisions, so don't let him get us into trouble."

Earl Stirling reminds Earl Clayton that this has already happened, and since Earl Clayton is Baron Lane's father and Earl Stirling is Baron Lane's maternal grandfather, they must be wary of a possible war trap set for them by the King.

"Of course we'll be careful."

Earl Clayton had no time to ask Ryan why; he was now thinking about how to find a reasonable way that wouldn't negatively impact himself to get the Kingdom of Carlos to change its king.

Even if they couldn't be of Carlos blood, they would all inevitably see Ryan as an enemy under King Olsen's influence.

So……

"Ekdal?"

Clayton thought of someone like this.

Kaan Diaz's eldest son, the former crown prince of the Kingdom of Carlos, was released by the emperor after King Olsen paid a huge ransom to the empire following his coronation. He now leads the Carlos family...

To be precise, the Diaz family, who married into Carlos's family, went south. That's right, he is now the leader of the southern noble rebels in the land of Carlos. Those noble descendants who committed suicide swore allegiance to Ekdal Carlos and regarded him as the true king of this land.

"no……"

The Empire killed his father, and Ekdal's return to the throne of the Kingdom of Carlos was not a good thing for the Empire and its nobles. His best outcome was to remain mediocre in his betrayal until a successor with less extreme hatred for the Empire appeared.

"But what should we do?"

Earl Clayton was somewhat melancholy and angry. He had previously thought that Ryan was a very capable boy, but now he had caused such a big trouble.

This could kill an entire family! This hatred has already escalated to this point without any evidence. If it comes to light one day, it will be a huge problem.

……

"This is quite a problem, my father."

As expected, Ryan received the message from the south, but he ignored the inquiries from the southern nobles and put the message aside.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, those nobles will soon lose sight of the Baron of the North.

"With so many troops from the Papacy attacking the Kingdom of Carlos, why has there been no movement for over ten days?"

Ryan was puzzled. Was the Vatican really incapable?
In contrast to Ryan's worries, the imperial army on the land of Carlos had no such troubles; they were still immersed in their previous victories against the Papacy.

"Are the armies of the Holy See and the Iron Eagle Kingdom right across from us?"

The mage Lyman was in high spirits; he had already become a legend, and what lay next was to earn a resounding legendary title in this war.

His legendary gifts are unknown to anyone, which in itself is a secret and a trump card, and is the most powerful deterrent before they are revealed.

Legend is not the end of the extraordinary; on the contrary, for every extraordinary person who can become a legend, it is just another beginning.

Only those who have no hope of becoming legends in their lifetime would think of becoming legends and then give up. Master Lyman is now pursuing a higher truth.

So... he needed to gain more from the war. His gaze toward the mage Stuart changed; he wanted to replace an imperial magic priest.

"If we can win this war, then we can obtain that divine essence from the Emperor, right?"

Mage Lyman thought expectantly that his legendary gift was still a secret, and the revelation of this secret might be used to exchange for a resounding victory.

In contrast to the cheers and laughter on the Empire's side, the Dawn Church was shrouded in deathly silence.

Archbishop Doyle was draped in a magnificent morning robe, the heavy seven-layered robe trailing three meters on the ground, yet it seemed as light as a feather to the archbishop.

He was surrounded by several other archbishops and bishops, but none of them dared to breathe loudly in front of Archbishop Doyle.

If the Dawn Church were described in terms of noble lineage, then Archbishop Doyle would be like the heir of a great noble family, a direct descendant, with everyone else merely his subordinates.

"Failure, what a ridiculous word."

Doyle gently stroked the scepter in his hand, his eyes cold and filled with murderous intent.

"The Vatican has too much useless stuff."

"His Holiness the Pope has never been able to bring himself to kill those damned incompetents, and this war has made us all suffer the consequences of incompetents seizing power."

"And we will use real war to show His Holiness the Pope what is right."

"This war is the ladder that will allow me, Doyle, to don my red robe."

Archbishop Doyle raised his head; his pupils had disappeared, leaving only the brilliant light of dawn.

(End of this chapter)