Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 108 New Religious Advisors and New Sects

After announcing the great victory to the Goddess of the Fiery Sun and receiving her grace, Su Li could finally relax a little and start arranging the earthly affairs of the territory.

The joy of victory is reflected in all aspects. Not only can he, as the lord, enjoy Phyllis's peerless beauty at night, but the entire territory will also share the dividends of victory in the war.

From the privileged knights to the lowest-level soldiers and slaves, everyone gained huge profits and wealth because of the victory in the war.

If all this is not arranged properly, it will seriously shake the soldiers' faith in fighting bravely in the future and their pursuit of war and glory.

The most important thing after the war is undoubtedly the reward for meritorious soldiers and the compensation for the fallen soldiers.

So after Su Li left the monastery, he did not rush to take Phyllis back to the room and have fun immediately.

After returning to the castle, Su Li had Avril take Phyllis to prepare for the evening celebration. Phyllis needed to carefully wash up so that she could give him a joyful feast that night. Tonight, Su Li wanted to take the entire body of this peerless beauty and help her enlighten the path of knighthood at three times the speed.

He himself stayed in the castle hall and ordered the Chancellor of the House of Lords, the Military Commander, the Minister of Agriculture and others to come to the castle to start a meeting.

Minister of Seals, Lawn, watched the triumphal ceremony at the foot of the monastery and followed Su Li back to the castle. Everyone in the castle was waiting for Minister of Agriculture, Fandral, who did not participate in the worship of the Sun Goddess. Besides being a believer in the Church of the Dawn Goddess, the more important reason was that he was caring for the soldiers injured in the battle.

This noble duty made everyone wait for him without a single complaint.

Before he arrived, the castle had not yet entered into serious business, but the ministers started chatting casually.

Lao En spoke frankly and advised Su Li, "My Lord, your public confession today was inappropriate and beneath the honor and dignity of a noble. I know you've returned from a great victory, and you're excited and youthful, so some impulsive behavior is understandable. However, I hope you'll think more carefully before you act in the future. Otherwise, such behavior will easily lead to ridicule, and I worry that if word gets out, it will tarnish the glory of your victory."

"The nobles of other territories will laugh at you. After offering sacrifices to the goddess, you took a vulgar peasant woman as your courtier, bringing shame to her."

The people in the territory had seen Phyllis's stunning beauty, so they could naturally understand the lord's love of beauty as a man.

But other territories would not know such details. In order to make the story more interesting and full of twists and turns, the bards would only add fuel to the fire and spread it out in a vivid and colorful way.

Of course, Su Li didn't want to confess his feelings in public. He was a straight man and knew nothing about love.

I also fell in love with Hilda and Avril over time!
He was definitely a typical man in this respect. Unlike women who put love before sex, he always put sex before love. How could he not take care of and love a woman when they were so close and they were always together?
Falling in love over time is a true reflection of him, so he is determined not to have affairs with his subordinates and would rather cruelly reject the female knight's love confession.

He is the lord, almost the emperor of the territory. There are many women who like him and want to get into his bed. He can't care for all of them, right?

But there was no other way. The daily intelligence system reminded him that he had to confess his feelings to Phyllis in public, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet. Otherwise, according to his heart, at this beautiful moment, he could just carry Phyllis back to the castle. Once the matter was settled, he would naturally give her the status of a courtier.

So Su Li could only say seriously, "I think Phyllis's identity is not as simple as we see it, so I hope that each of you will give her enough respect and courtesy, and not discriminate against or insult her just because of her civilian status. If I hear of any such situation, don't blame me for punishing her."

Hearing Su Li's words, Lao En's wisdom immediately made some guesses. After all, everyone in the territory knew the Lord's abilities. He quickly promised, "I will guarantee her position as a female courtier and will not allow anyone to speak nonsense."

Su Li nodded with satisfaction. He was very confident in the ability of this Minister of the Seal. With Lao En in charge of the details, he didn't need to worry too much.

After this discussion, before the Minister of Agriculture, Vandal Oak, arrived at the castle, the military commander, Knight Orstein, solemnly raised the issue, saying, "My Lord, I think you should consider appointing a new Minister of Religion."

Su Li looked at Knight Orstein in surprise and asked, "My Lord Commander, what do you mean by this?"

Orstein said seriously, "I have no objection to Lord Fandral. Although he is old-fashioned, stubborn, and always mysterious, making people feel untrustworthy, his loyalty, dedication, and fanaticism to the territory are obvious to all and unanimously recognized."

"But he is, after all, a priest of the Church of the Dawn Goddess. The knights are disgusted by him serving as the religious minister of our territory, believing it is an affront to the majesty of the Goddess of the Blazing Sun. Especially since the Monastery of the Goddess of the Blazing Sun has already been built in our territory, the knights believe that the status of the Goddess of the Blazing Sun should be maintained. At this time, it is inappropriate to have a priest of the Church of the Dawn serve as the religious advisor of the territory. It could easily incite a riot among the knights."

Of course, this riot did not mean that they had any opinions about Su Li or wanted to threaten the rule of the Bauhinia family.

Instead, they might protest together against Fandral serving as the religious advisor to the realm.

If something like this were to happen, it would inevitably impact the lord's authority, so taking precautions is always a good idea. Su Li immediately approved the military commander's proposal and said, "I will discuss this matter with His Excellency Rong En of the Battle Pilgrims and ask him to serve as the priest of our territory's monastery and promote the teachings of the Fiery Sun Goddess."

Generally, the patriarch of a territory would serve as a religious advisor, which meant that this former chosen knight would receive high honor in the territory.

This, combined with the immigration agreement he had previously proposed, was undoubtedly very tempting to the leader of the pilgrimage group.

It was difficult for him to refuse the olive branch Su Li extended to him.

If he joined the territory and successfully gained the forgiveness of the two goddesses one day, perhaps he would have a chance to regain the strength of a knight chosen by God.

However, this was difficult. Most of the gods in this world were petty, or more precisely, vindictive and selfish. Even a god as generous as the Goddess of Dawn would unleash the Wrath of Rhea if someone accepted her favor but didn't return it with offerings, rendering vast tracts of land barren for ten years.

Without special means, the leader of the combat pilgrim group would probably find it difficult to recover his strength within ten years.

Su Li had the confidence to help him remove the curse placed on him by the deity because of his daily intelligence system. So, he asked, "I remember Lord Rong En said that the Cult of the Fiery Sun Goddess has a good relationship with the Cult of the Goddess of Medicine. Which other cults does your cult have special relationships with? This will affect which cults will be accepted into our territory in the future."

This is the purpose of religious advisors.

Although the gods of the empire have a good relationship on the surface, the empire is relatively tolerant and open, allowing various sects to coexist and develop together.

However, each god has his own preferences, and their churches have their own spheres of influence. For example, Ulric's church is more prominent in the north of the empire, the state religion Redmar Church occupies a dominant position in the heart of the empire, and Violet's Sun Goddess sect is very popular in the south of the empire.

Yurik's church can coexist with the state religion, the Church of Redmar, but it is almost impossible for it to coexist with the Church of the Sun Goddess.

After all, it is impossible for a believer to be both impulsive and rational, both manic and calm.

Hearing Su Li's question, Orstein immediately replied, "Your religious advisor will provide you with detailed answers in the future. My knowledge of religious history and religion is relatively limited, so I can only give you a brief introduction. Her Majesty Violet is very tolerant and generous. She is a calm and rational goddess. The teachings depict her as a tall, well-proportioned young woman carrying a shield and a long sword, and she sometimes appears as an eagle."

"She patronizes soldiers and tacticians, and is widely worshipped by all ranks of the military. Her followers attack only after thorough tactical analysis, and obey orders from their superiors unconditionally, unless they contradict the sect's philosophy."

"Her Majesty Violet has a rivalry with the God of War, Ulric, but it's usually only on the battlefield; in daily life, it's less intense. The Sun Goddess Cult has a good relationship with the Cult of Shalya, the God of Healing, but dislikes Ulric's followers and is hostile to those of Ranold. We believe Ranold, the fickle god of deception, lacks the solemnity, splendor, and majesty of other cults."

"His priests are thieves, swindlers, and gamblers, not the well-born and well-educated elite. His temples are gambling dens, brothels, taverns, and other dens of vice, not magnificent marble cathedrals."

"More importantly, Ranod didn't have godhood. He gained it by deceiving the goddess of medicine, Shaileya, and convincing her to let him drink a small bottle of her tears."

"So if we discover followers of the God of Trickster, there's a chance of a violent conflict. Even though the Empire strictly prohibits such behavior, countless conflicts have erupted across the country."

The God of Scams?
Su Li nodded, remembering this information. Since he was widely believed in the empire, he must not be as useless as Orstein disdainfully described.

However, since the followers of the Blazing Sun Goddess hated deception, Su Li had no choice but to respond. He said, "Our territory is always true to its word and honors its promises. My Lord Seal Keeper, please report on the pardons granted to the Convict Army in this battle. I intend to fulfill my promise made before the war and free those slaves who have rendered meritorious service."

Keeping one's word is a rare noble quality among nobles.

The main reason is that nobles rarely care about their promises to slaves, and there is no punishment for breaking their promises.

If it weren't for the God of Fraud, Su Li would have considered whether he should be like those feudal emperors and nobles, breaking his promise to the Xing Tu and throwing them into the construction projects after the war.

Of course, he quickly gave up this idea. Compared with other lords, he was more principled.

Now that the God of Fraud exists, it is even more impossible for him to withstand the anger of so many knights, break his promise and gain benefits, ignore the slaves' military achievements, and continue to drive them into the construction site.

(End of this chapter)