A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 250 The Strange Church Procession

Other passersby who received the leaflets were also shocked, some fearful: "If the court loses His Majesty the King's support, will its judgment still be valid?"

In the hearts of the farmers and common people of the Holy Kingdom, the most powerful and just judgment comes from the Lord of Divine Order, followed by His designated landlord on this land—the King. If they suffer a great injustice, they will inevitably have one wish: to plead their case to His Majesty the King.

Most of the kingdom's commoners still believed that the king was wise and devoted to his people, and that the problems lay with his ministers and tax farmers. To this, Rorschach could only say, "Different worlds, same illusions."

However, with so many citizens in the kingdom, and everyone having a grievance, if everyone were to plead their cases to Charles XVI, even if His Majesty only had to listen to each person's complaints for five minutes, he wouldn't have time to do anything else. Therefore, the royal court was appointed to act on behalf of the king and make the judgment.

Not only the Supreme Court in the capital, but also the royal courts in the provinces, served to convey the royal will in the judicial system and restrain the local nobles before the "treasonous" ideas of natural law became rampant.

Until the genius among the kings, Charles XVI, fell out with these disobedient judges and, in a fit of anger, signed an order to dissolve the Royal Court.

With this incident in front of the Magic Guild, the already congested roads were made even worse by the "Wandering Court" propaganda vehicle. Just then, the sound of brass instruments rang out from the other end of the road.

Leading the way were those carrying red banners with white borders, painted with holy light—the visitors were none other than the Church of Order! A group of monks, led by a chief priest, walked slowly forward, accompanied by a band playing and four paladins escorting them. In the center, a carriage carried something covered in velvet and flowers, its contents obscured.

Why would the church come to the entrance of the Magic Guild with such a show of force? Is it a provocation? Rorschach and the guild staff were all surprised. Rorschach thought the procession was carrying a coffin, but under [Arcane Vision], the inside of the box was filled with a dim aura.

At this point, the roads were no longer divided into lanes or directions, and the two sides completely blocked the entrance to the guild building.

Compared to the church procession, the mobile court's preaching vehicle was rather shabby, but these progressive lawyers refused to back down, even going so far as to say that "God only accepts offerings from the rich, ignores the suffering of the poor, and His servants use God's name to intimidate the ignorant and amass wealth."

Such blasphemous words sent shivers down the spines of the merchants. The paladin, under the blazing sun, his armor gleaming with golden light, stood at the head of the procession, raising his greatsword. To the onlookers who expected the crazed lawyer to be killed on the spot, even the paladin himself straightened his chest, poised to bravely face his death at any moment.

No one was injured, but the preacher, finding himself silenced, blushed and couldn't utter a single word. From an onlooker's perspective, a beam of light descended upon the lawyer, and he ceased uttering his heretical teachings, causing the ordinary people to praise God's mercy and power in fear.

The leading priest explained to the other party, and also to the magic guild, "We have no intention of provoking anyone; we are simply passing through this area to shorten our journey. We have urgent business to attend to, so please make way." His tone surprisingly carried an urgency and a hint of pleading.

The priest was responsible for saying good things, while the paladin rode his horse close behind the court's preaching carriage. In the end, the coachman, overshadowed by the knight, was forced to give way, and the other carriages and horses cooperated as well.

How bizarre! How incredibly bizarre!

Rorschach's Arcane Vision was not turned off. With his purple proficiency, the longer he stared, the clearer the aura he saw became, and he could even decipher some information.

"Ah!" Rorschach exclaimed, but to people in reality, the mage merely froze, his mouth slightly open, without making a sound.

The shout came from Rorschach's soul, his consciousness being extracted as if to crash straight into the "coffin" and be sucked into the dim spiritual light.

Just as he was about to be sucked in, Rorschach regained the familiar sensation of ascent, piercing through layers of chaos and being forced to rise to the infinitely high astral plane.

In the highest heavens, the space was no longer empty; something was present. Rorschach's vision was limited to a giant hand formed from nebulae, grasping a sliver of starlight.

That should be a star. Luo Xia was a little unsure. At the tip of the giant hand, the star was only the size of a mung bean. However, the giant hand flicked away, and the star rushed towards Luo Xia!

Like a point of light expanding, everything that the eyes could see was nothing but cold white light.

Rorschach seemed to read from the light alone that it was a dying star.

The white light engulfed him.

"Master Mage? Master Mage?" A passerby saw Luo Xia's unfocused pupils and tears streaming down his face and instinctively called out.

"Ah, excuse me." Rorschach snapped out of his daze and quickly wiped away his tears. His eyes were burning and stinging, but he didn't care and hurriedly tried to catch up with the church's procession.

The signing of the royal decree could bypass the prime minister. Although Deplesi had been urging His Majesty the King to reconsider for the past few days, the judges' provocations were becoming increasingly outrageous, and the King's anger was growing stronger accordingly.

The order to dissolve the court was issued from the hunting grounds, and Charles XVI began hunting more and more frequently, a hobby that was starting to replace watchmaking. Duplesci knew this was His Majesty's way of venting his discontent, and that he himself was a cripple and unable to participate in the hunting!

Thus, even without the presence of the prime minister in red, the king issued the order and quickly relayed it to the local authorities via telegram.

In an instant, all the courts lost their legitimacy! At least that's what Charles XVI thought. He wanted those ignorant judges to know who the true ruler of the kingdom was and who granted them their power.

Charlie XVI also had a plan for the next move: arrest a few extremists and throw them into Basti prison, recruit the rest, and replace some with new people. However, the reorganization of the court would have to wait, to teach these people a lesson.

"Stupid! Stupid!" Deplecy roared, but his last restraint was not to directly call anyone stupid.

However, this matter did not completely lead to the loss of control in the local area. The prime minister established the system of imperial envoys and auditors, who had the power to supervise all local government affairs. This system had evolved into the highest local officials directly managed and appointed by the court. If Luo Xia were to translate, he might directly refer to them as "prefects".

"Sir, telegrams have arrived from the three northern regions, all reporting that judges and lawyers are inciting the public, causing unrest, and requesting permission to deploy troops if necessary."

Duplesci rejected the request before his secretary could finish reading the telegram: "If troops are mobilized, it will inevitably cause panic and completely worsen the current situation. Don't they want a court?"

The reply was as follows: To stabilize public sentiment, the Auditor General was instructed to oversee the process, requesting the local legal community to publicly elect a provisional Chief Justice and organize a provisional court. The public was informed that the King would issue an order to establish a new Royal Court as soon as possible.

"Those who incite the people can be contacted to arrest the ringleaders, but the arrests must not be expanded."

"Temporarily shut down all newspapers and printing plants, prohibit the publication of news related to the Royal Court, prohibit all public speeches, and ensure that all related information comes from the authorities."

"If public sentiment is unsettled after implementation, a three-level meeting can be convened in advance to elect representatives of the third tier, ensuring that the public believes the process is open and transparent."

"Have you memorized it? Repeat it to me."

"Yes!" After the secretary confirmed the reply with the prime minister, Deplesie thought of something: "There's one more thing. Before the telegraph office becomes independent of the magic guild, official correspondence cannot be transmitted in plain text." This directness was sure to please those mages!

"And your reply?"

"The situation is urgent, so let's just issue it directly." The prime minister was also helpless.

(End of this chapter)