Throne of the North.

Chapter 627 A King's Spokesperson, Ideas on Splitting the Dawn Faith

Ryan was also incredibly shocked when he saw the contents of the letter.

The supreme ruler of the Dawn Church, His Holiness the incomparably noble Pope, the absolute servant of the Lord of Dawn, and His representative on earth, is actually a blasphemer.

This Pope of the Dawn, Solarion, is more powerful than any of the previous popes. Many clergy follow him fervently because they regard Pope Solarion as the first pope.

Only the very first Pope possessed unparalleled power, leading humanity to expand its vast territory, occupying the world's most fertile lands, and allowing human civilization to thrive under the oppression of other races.

Pope Solarion's immense power reminded the clergy of the first pope, which they saw as the highest level of recognition from the Lord of Dawn.

This is the Lord's approval, and naturally, these Dawn believers must strictly obey the Lord's will.

But who could have imagined that the reason the Pope of Dawn was so powerful was because he did something similar to the nobles of the empire: he was blasphemous.

The Dawn Church possesses a divine art called "Eat".

In the war of the Kingdom of Andara, the priest Soto used this divine spell against Hernan Andara, the crown prince of the Kingdom of Andara at the time. Hernan had already become the vessel of the Twilight God Surtur.

The divine art [Eat] is a taboo of the Dawn Church. This divine art was originally used to help the Lord of Dawn restore his divine origin.

The divine essence of the other great beings that were devoured will be transmitted to that eternal heaven, becoming nourishment for the Lord of Dawn, thus reducing the time the Lord of Dawn spends in slumber.

No believer can apply the divine essence of other gods to themselves.

This pope succeeded, because of this divine spell, His Holiness Pope Solarion became incredibly powerful, possessing demigod-level strength.

The truth was too terrifying, and Ryan understood why the King of Nantes was being hunted down. If this secret were exposed, the first to kill the Pope would be the countless Dawn Believers in the world.

Pope Solarion will lose all his due rights in an instant, and he will even lose the various divine spells and the divine power of the Dawn Lord that were bestowed upon him.

Everything he owns will be lost in an instant, including his life, and he will be imprisoned in the eternal kingdom of heaven, enduring endless torment and suffering.

Ordinary people who become heretics are burned at the stake; believers who become heretics are punished both physically and spiritually. So what about the Pope?

No one knows, because such a thing has never happened before, but everyone can imagine that the Lord of Dawn will inflict divine punishment that even the gods cannot bear.

"It's dark under the lamp. The Lord of Dawn has been asleep for over a hundred years, and Pope Solarion, right under the nose of the sleeping Dawn, has integrated the divine essence into his own soul."

"Tsk tsk, that's really scary. If the King of Nantes finds out and tells others, the continent of Norris might erupt into an unprecedented civil war and conflict within a day."

Ryan intends to keep this secret, but he wouldn't mind using it to his own advantage if the opportunity arises.

……

Ryan told the King of Nantes that he had prepared a letter for the Emperor, but he was really just trying to scare him.

But now, he really had to write a letter to the capital.

This letter was very important, and Ryan personally sent a knight squire to deliver it to the capital city, which took less than two days.

Baron Lane discovered the King of Nantes, who had fled to the North, a discovery that greatly delighted Columbus III.

"Baron Ryan truly lives up to his reputation as a rising star of the Empire; he keeps surprising me time and time again."

His Majesty the Emperor laughed heartily inside his palace, and then dispatched the most magnificent entourage and legendary forces to the province of Northwind to welcome the King of Nantes.

Ryan didn't pay much attention to or show much respect for the king's attitude. However, the King of Nantes was not comparable to the previous King Carlos. He was one of the ten most prestigious people in the world today. Even the four Grand Dukes of the Empire had to bow respectfully when they met the king.

Eight kings, one emperor, one pope—no one in the world was more noble than them.

It took nearly two days for Ryan's urgent letter to reach the capital, but the emperor's entourage only took six hours to arrive in the Frozen Territory and bring the King of Nantes to the capital.

"The expenses along the way will probably amount to at least 100,000 to 200,000 gold coins, right?"

Ryan sighed, it seemed the empire was indeed rolling in money from the war, and wondered if he could ask the emperor for more materials to build the fortress.
Ryan thought this way, and he did it this way.

In the capital city, Emperor Flor, upon meeting King of Nantes, had no reason to refuse and readily agreed.

The capital city, the emperor's palace.

Today, His Majesty the Emperor is hosting a grand banquet for the King of Nantes and many nobles of the Empire.

Of course, only the emperor and the king sat at the table; no one else was qualified, nor could they hear what the two sirs were talking about.

They seemed to see the king handing something to the emperor.

"Your Majesty Emperor Flor, as the King of the Kingdom of Nantes, I thank you for your invitation and hereby recount the despicable disrespect shown to the King by the Dawn Church."

The King of Nantes handed the envelope to the Emperor, and then, under the latter's puzzled gaze, gestured for the Emperor to use a fire to make the writing on it visible.

"Your father... doesn't write very well."

The emperor commented, then became engrossed in the information above, his eyes growing brighter and brighter until the flames burned his fingers. At that moment, Columbus III burst into laughter at the banquet.

"Hahahahaha!"

"Solarion, I never knew you had this side to you. How could you have fallen so low!"

Columbus III’s joy at this moment was greater than that of the victory in the war.

"I'm already looking forward to how you'll face me when you come to the capital next year for the Festival of Divine Grace, my Your Holiness the Pope."

Emperor Columbus III laughed heartily, and then his gaze toward the King of Nantes became kind and respectful.

"Your Majesty the King of Nantes, thank you for bringing me this news. You will always be my friend. The friendship between the Empire and the Kingdom is witnessed by the immortal light."

Early the next morning, the Emperor of the Flor Empire publicly declared that the King of Nantes was the Empire's eternal friend, and anyone who opposed him would be considered an enemy of the Empire.

The emperor led the king on a tour of every corner of the capital, allowing everyone to witness the friendship between the emperor and the king.

"Your Majesty, some people say that you fled your kingdom after the war ended. Is that true?"

"The King of Nantes would never abandon the lands of his kingdom. I did leave my kingdom, but I was definitely not fleeing."

"Everyone knows that my royal city, the royal city of the Kingdom of Nantes, which stood in the center of the southern land for hundreds of years, was destroyed in the war and turned into ruins."

"Therefore, as the king, I bear the responsibility of rebuilding the royal city."

"So I went to the North. Everyone knows that the royal family of my Kingdom of Nantes comes from the northern lands. I went to the North to bring back the wealth that once belonged to the Kingdom of Nantes from the snow and wind."

"These riches will help me rebuild the new capital of the Kingdom of Nantes."

"Therefore, as the king, I would not hesitate to personally venture into the extremely dangerous northern border!"

"This is the honor I bear, and it is also the responsibility I bear."

The King of Nantes recounted his glorious and imposing experiences in the imperial capital, and the emperor endorsed these experiences. The nobles were astonished that the king had such courage and boldness to personally travel to the North and bring back his former wealth.

"Our noble bloodline originates from this."

A few days later, the eyes and ears of the nobles throughout the southern lands in the capital city saw the King of Nantes leave the capital city with hundreds of carriages carrying 'the wealth brought back from the north' and return to his kingdom of Nantes.

"There's so much wealth in the Northern Territory?"

Many people have raised this question.

"Of course, humanity now only occupies one-third of the land, while the once most prosperous two-thirds are buried by the northern snows, including the wealth accumulated over countless years." In Zero Crossing City, adventurers gradually learned that the king had returned to his kingdom with his wealth.

Everyone was filled with regret and sighed deeply. So much wealth had slipped through their fingers; they had almost gotten even a tiny fraction of it.

"No, there must be even greater wealth waiting for me in the North. I must go to the North!"

Free men and nobles alike went mad; the experience of one king had shown them that the North truly held immense wealth.

Zero Crossing City was unusually deserted, because a large number of adventurers were there for the wealth that was being unearthed.

However, Zero Crossing City will not remain empty forever. In the south of this world, more and more adventurers from the North are beginning to join the ranks of those digging for the North's treasures.

They will all come to this city.

Ryan was very satisfied with the result.

His Majesty the Emperor of Flor has obtained evidence to attack the Pope.

The king of Nantes was no longer in danger; he no longer needed to flee, and he received a great deal of wealth for free.

Baron Ryan has a king as the representative of the Northern Heroes Guild, which will bring him a large influx of people.

This is a win-win situation; the only loser is His Holiness Pope Solarion.

In the days following the departure of the King of Nantes from the imperial capital, the Emperor of the Empire began a frenzied campaign of condemnation throughout the world against Pope Solarion of the Dawn Church for his despicable actions.

"He is no longer the Pope we respect; he should have been the Lord's most devout servant."

“His soul has been corrupted, his body is no longer holy, he has even betrayed the oath of the Dawn Church, and he has betrayed the favor shown to him by the Lord of Dawn.”

"The Holy Son? That's the Pope's child. He has absolutely no right to be the Holy Son of the Dawn Faith!"

holy mountain.

All the clergy and the lower-level believers fell into an eerie calm. They continued with their own affairs, but their gazes would occasionally drift toward the summit of the holy mountain.

The glory of the Lord always shines upon the Highest Church there.

No one doubted the Emperor's condemnation, because he was the Emperor and could not possibly use lies to attack others. Moreover, such a matter could not be completely covered up if someone with ulterior motives investigated it.

Pope Solarion was not particularly angry when he heard the condemnation from the Emperor of the Flor Empire; instead, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"He knew about this?"

All the heaviness in Pope Saint Solarian's heart disappeared. Fortunately, the king had not discovered his truly important secret.

In that case, he hasn't lost yet; he's just temporarily at a disadvantage in his confrontation with Emperor Flor.

Pope Dawn proclaims atonement.

He knelt and prayed in the highest church until the third day, when the Lord of Dawn descended upon him.

The Great Lord of Dawn forgave the Pope for some of his sins, but Pope Solarion still felt guilty about it. He announced that he would enter the Abyss and fight on the front lines against the monsters of the Abyss as a believer.

“I hope to cleanse myself of sin through heresy in the abyss; this is a believer’s self-redemption.”

The Pope went to the abyss that very day.

Many people were shocked and then followed it fervently, but since this has already happened, its impact is inevitable.

A pope must be filled with all the fine virtues contained in his devout vows.

He devoted everything he had to the Lord of Dawn.

But now, the Pope is leading the way in committing crimes?
Many people can sense that the Dawn Church has fallen, but not a single believer in the Dawn Church will admit it.

They themselves believe that the Papacy is no longer the Papacy it once was, but they would never admit it.

But what about now? Countless believers are filled with bewilderment and confusion.

They didn't know how to refute it.

"The Vatican has fallen."

"No, that's not true!"

"But your pope has committed crimes; he is not a pure believer."

The believers could not refute this; in their hearts, the Lord of Dawn was too far away, so the Pope became the Lord they worshipped. However, the Pope was not perfect.
The faith in countless people has collapsed, they don't know what to do, and some even feel they have no will to live.

After the Pope's heinous acts were exposed, tens of thousands of believers around the world committed suicide.

This horrific phenomenon of suicide as a means of proving one's faith even occurred in many parts of the empire.

This scene left Ryan speechless.

He looked up at the sun in the sky and felt the terrifying influence of divine faith on believers.

He truly exists.

"Perhaps I shouldn't ignore the existence of religious beliefs."

"In the war between the Empire and the Papacy, the Dawn Papacy was actually always in an invincible position."

"Because of this faith, the Dawn Church will never suffer a complete defeat."

Ryan witnessed the power of faith, and at that moment, he made up his mind.

"I need to have the final say in the interpretation of faith."

"Whether it is light or dawn."

Ryan raised his head, his body radiating a dazzling, holy light of dawn. He possessed eternal divinity (Tai Su), a divine gift bestowed upon him by Archbishop Adriana.

"In this land of the North, even the divine right of faith should be named after Ryan."

Ryan turned his gaze eastward, for the faith in this world might not be limited to light and dawn.

It should be divided into three parts.

The war between the Empire and the Papacy stretched from the Kingdom of Carlos to the Iron Eagle Kingdom in the south, forming a continuous line.

To the north of this line lies the Flor Empire, and to the west, the Dawn Church.

To the east of this line lies the land of the Dawn Faith, which the Dawn Church can no longer easily cross.

However, due to the Pope's influence, the Dawn Faith in the East has suffered severe fluctuations, and the Vatican is powerless to control it.

Let Ryan handle it then.

"Send a message to Sven, and tell him to come back."

(End of this chapter)