Chapter 389: Southern Sect
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
Say you were haggling with a jewelry merchant and said, “Would you be willing to sell this ring to me for one hundred gold coins?” Both you and the merchant were well aware that this ring was worth at least one thousand gold coins, but the merchant still said, “Sure, I’ll give it to you for a hundred, along with this additional gift.” What would you think?
Anyone normal with a brain would feel that something was wrong with either the ring or the merchant. Perhaps that merchant had a nefarious scheme targeted at you.
That was exactly how I felt. Apart from that, however, I also felt as if I had thrown a heavy punch yet hit nothing but soft cotton. I clearly prepared so many little tricks—why did Orloss give in so easily?
Dragon Berserkers were one of the best products that came out of the combination of alchemy and dragon studies—they were people with artificially created Dragon Bloodlines. They were, in essence, super warriors, but they wouldn’t possibly have existed if it weren’t for the Bardi Empire’s thousands of years of accumulated good relationship with the dragons.
Stories went that Dragon Berserkers naturally possessed great Strength that would always be 18 or higher. They would be capable of wearing heavy armor no ordinary person could wear, and their standard weaponry would be giant, three-meter long dragonspears and halberds. They were known to be unstoppable slaughter machines on the battlefield. Not only that, the Dragon Bloodline’s natural defensive dragon scales and regenerative abilities gave these slaughter machines powerful recovery abilities, and they were able to fight for extended periods of time. And whenever a Dragon Berserker was in danger, they could ask for even more power from their Dragon Bloodline, giving them limitless potential. They would transform into a more dragon-like state, giving them new powers and stronger basic stats.
Of course, forcibly and artificially adding a Dragon Bloodline to humans had its weaknesses. The “Berserker” part of Dragon Berserkers was to remind these fierce warriors that they could forever lose their human forms and hearts if they became addicted to slaughtering. Some Dragon Berserkers who returned from the cruelest battlefields would either become monsters unable to cancel their dragon transformation or go insane and lose all sense of reason.
Dragon Shield Guardians were the complete opposite. If Dragon Berserkers were analogous to the sharpest fire-enchanted spear, then Dragon Shield Guardians were the most solid shield of ice.
Unlike Dragon Berserkers, whose obviously strengthened bodies could be discerned with a glance, these heavily armored and well-shielded defenders would always be fully covered in armor. That was why there wasn’t as much public information about them. Still, any battle they participated in would be astonishingly successful. These Dragon Shield Guardians were highly skilled in group battles—just small teams of three to five had recorded achievements of slaying giants.
Their shields towered two meters tall. Simply placing the shields on the ground allowed them to erect a magical defense barrier. A small team would be capable of providing defense on par with a castle wall; hence, they were often called “living castle walls.”
But their high quality came at a price. It was said that their armor and magical shields were all top quality and hence top price. Every warrior would be fully outfitted and trained and needed to be Silver at the minimum. In the entirety of the Bardi Empire, there were only twenty squadrons consisting of eighty-thousand members.
This looked like a lot of members? If you considered the fact that the Bardi Empire was a super-powerful mega empire in Eich, these eighty thousand warriors were less than a typical Bardi domain lord’s private army.
That was why the Bardi Empire wouldn’t dare to use such expensive warriors in an ordinary conflict. In fact, this national treasure wouldn’t even be given over to a prince unless he was specifically designated as the crown prince.
Right now, I was looking through thick booklets on how to train them and the alchemic formulas for their equipment. Harloys told me “All of this looks real, or it’s similar-level research results” after I asked her to check its veracity. I felt like I was dreaming. Meanwhile, the tyrant who was earlier angrily roaring “Give it to him—I said give it to him” despite his officials’ pleas was all smiles, sitting at the table and looking at me.
“Being generous for no apparent reason means there’s either thievery or a scheme going on.”
All the unimportant, unrelated individuals had been ordered by Orloss to leave. There were now only five individuals in the room at the table—Glina, Orloss, Halent, an elderly royal steward and, of course, me.
Orloss was smiling ever so effusively, as if he was a classical wicked merchant who had just greatly profited. I reflexively increased my level of vigilance. I was in no way going to believe that a simple “Aso’s potion” would be enough for him to obediently give me so much and let me extort him as much as I pleased.
No matter what world it was, “never negotiate with terrorists” was an iron rule of governments. This wasn’t because major countries weren’t willing to pay but rather because greed was limitless. Who knew whether or not the terrorists would increase their price or be motivated to try another strike due to a previous short-term success? And any type of compromise made public would be a direct blow to that country’s authority as well as expose the country’s weakness and insufficiencies.
In this world, where the international situation followed the law of the jungle, the wolves drawn to the scent of weakness would be no ordinary terrorists.
Considering the fact that I just threatened Orloss with “pay me or I’ll bring Resident Evil to this world,” my actions were no different from that of a terrorist’s. This made the situation rather confusing. It wasn’t that he shouldn’t have compromised, but there was no reason for him to give in so easily when I was obviously just trying to extort an important national treasure.
If I were in Orloss’s position, even if I compromised in the end, I would first try various methods to eliminate the threat. If I was forced to compromise, I would never permit the other party to make additional conditions or requests and deal with everything in one go.
“I understand that you’re confused, but actually I’m thankful to you. I know you and your allies are quite accomplished in the field of alchemy and that you have many dragon friends. Just treat this information as a little gift.”
Orloss started off like this, but I already knew that since Evelyn had mentioned to me that he seemed to be quite grateful to me for helping him get rid of the threat of Aso. But what he said next was completely unexpected.
“I’m not only grateful to you about the undead. By the way, I was astonished to hear from Miss Evelyn that you lost your memory. Perhaps I should tell you about the seed planted back in the day—Amoya.”
The elderly steward wearing the royal palace attire had many wrinkles on his face and appeared physically old. However, he reached out his hand and gathered golden light, which gradually formed into a ball of Holy Light that illuminated the entire room.
“This… impossible!”
It was impossible to fake the purity of Holy Light—this elderly steward was indeed an excellent Holy Light user. However, what astonished me was that not only did this Amoya individual not utter the name of Holy Light out loud, but he didn’t even have the emblem of the God of Holy Light anywhere on his body. This was something that obviously went against the teachings of the God of Holy Light.
Whenever I used the power of Holy Light, I would always praise the Holy Light out loud or at least pretend to move my lips. This was simply to pretend that I was no different from other Holy Knights. This person before me, from a certain standpoint, had a method of using Holy Light incredibly similar to mine. He didn’t have to utter the name of Holy Light.
“Your Eminence and Forefather, your guess is absolutely on the mark. We members of the Southern Sect don’t believe in the God of Holy Light. Instead, we believe in the Holy Light itself. If only the Church of Holy Light knew—we’d become the biggest heretics they’d focus on eliminating first.”
Not only was I astonished at what I just heard, I was even more astonished to hear what he addressed me as.
“Lady Evelyn also mentioned to me that you lost your previous memories in Bardi. As the sixth leader of the Southern Sect as well as your disciple, I should inform you once more about the majestic achievements you had back in the day…”
As this elderly man named Amoya told me his story, this sealed bit of history was gradually unraveled.
The Southern Sect’s formal name was the “Church of Pure Holy Light.” The Holy Church’s higher-ups perceived them to be a branch sect which had a slight misunderstanding of the Holy Church’s teachings, but only the core members of the Holy Church knew that this was no small misunderstanding. Rather than worshiping the God of Holy Light, they worshiped the pure Holy Light itself.
They originated in the Bardi Empire’s capital, and this sect’s creator was Roland Blackhand, also known back then as “Baron Blackhand.” And the establishment of the Southern Sect church had been greatly supported by the Bardi royalty from that generation. Ever since the birth of this tiny church sect, its creator gave it a unique mission: to transmit the true teachings of the Holy Light to replace the rotten and decaying Holy Church.
“Currently, the Southern Sect has more than two hundred thousand believers spread throughout Bardi and the corners of various countries. They act as if they are members of the Holy Church but instead teach the purest teachings of the Holy Light. Actually, apart from our understanding of the Holy Light, there’s no obvious difference between us and Holy Light priests. I myself am the Bardi Empire’s Holy Church Cardinal from two generations ago. And that’s most likely why the current Pope Caloma was willing to start a new Holy War at any cost. In the Holy Church’s eyes, evil deserves to die, but heretics deserve to die even more.”
It didn’t seem like a big difference whether someone worshipped the God of Holy Light or Holy Light itself, you say? Actually, there was a huge difference. Those who worshipped the God of Holy Light would treat him and his teachings as a personified God capable of anything and everything, meaning the Holy Church also had his recognition. Those who only recognized the existence of the Holy Light itself, believing the Holy Light to be the source of its own power, practiced a non-personified type of worship—this meant the Holy Church would lose its divine authority from above, making them into nothing more than scammers fooling everyone. In fact, it could even be said that theywere the ones who falsely personified the God of Holy Light if that was the case.
This was also why heretics would be considered far more dangerous than any source of evil as well as why my little show in the Northlands—the Humiliation of Soros—had caused so many Holy Light job class members to be shaken in or lose their beliefs.
This was an even scarier threat to the Holy Church than the Holy War itself, which was why, at that emergency Cardinal meeting, the entire Bardi Empire was treated as a heretic country. Since there was such a gigantic problematic sect headquartered here, Pope Caloma could only declare a Holy War against Bardi.
Since Bardi had now been declared as a heretic and was the source of this so-called heretical church, Bardi and the Southern Sect became natural allies. After Orloss broke with the Holy Church and exiled large numbers of Holy Light job class members from Bardi, Amoya, who remained behind for “personal reasons,” started constructing new Southern Sect churches on a large scale and openly began spreading the pure teachings of the Holy Light. The seed I planted back in the year had finally begun to sprout.
Even without any memories of doing this, just analyzing it made me feel like this was definitely something I would have done back then.
Back then, I was someone who had been betrayed by the Holy Light. I was filled with hatred and the desire for revenge. I was considered evil, with all glory and honor stripped from me. Yet I still possessed the abilities of a Holy Knight. Just this alone would be capable of shaking the entire Holy Church’s foundational authority.
It would be almost impossible to truly destroy an entire church from the outside with force—internal factions and heretics would be the most fatal of all. That was why I must have planted a seed here in Bardi. Although I didn’t know if it would sprout successfully or not, doing such a thing wouldn’t be a loss for me in any way.
“Every prophecy you left behind has come true. Since all the major events you spoke of in your Holy Codex has come true, our faith has only become more fervent, and those who doubted you have returned to us. When evil suppressed justice, we hid as you requested us to. Fortunately, just as you prophesized, misfortune was avoidable through our hard efforts. At the very least, we have all succeeded in avoiding the countless Undead Dimensional Doors that appeared and started spreading despair in Bardi.”
Since I had intended to spread my teachings, how could I possibly miss this excellent opportunity to utilize my “precognition?” It would be quite easy for me to write a bunch of prophecies and then obtain belief in my prophecies that I passed off as some Holy Codex. This would cause my own church to gradually strengthen, which was something the me from back in the day probably expected. Otherwise, there would be no need to pretend at prophesizing.
Actually, the current Roland was doing the exact same thing: spreading seeds everywhere. Even he himself didn’t know if the seeds would sprout successfully or not.
Right now, this particular seed was no longer an immature one. It had now sprouted into a robust, tall tree which had experienced over two hundred years of inclement weather to reach maturity.
When the undead were running rampant, the Southern Sect became one of Orloss’s hidden aces as well as the faction he trusted the most. The Southern Sect’s Holy Knights and Holy Light priests were the most elite soldiers against the undead. That was also the foundational reason why Orloss was so thankful to me.
Right now, Glina and Halent were looking at me as if I was some monster. Well, plans that took several hundred years to come to fruition along with prophecies that one hundred percent came true were things they were incapable of understanding. These tales they were hearing about my past legends sounded more like something in a fairy tale or myth. Yet the primary person involved was sitting right before them.
“We absolutely believe that Your Eminence is capable of defeating the evil which lurks behind the shadows. Actually, when Her Highness Glina was reporting your titles, she left out the most important one: The Establisher of the Southern Sect. We are your most loyal followers. What you performed in the Northlands not long ago strengthened our faith even further, and we began to openly spread our faith in Eich. Perhaps this is why that fake Holy Church, which is merely pretending to have divine authority, has been so enraged.”
Alright then. This elderly church leader’s eyes were filled with fervent belief in me, believing that this was all part of fate. He believed that the Armageddon that I prophesized would definitely arrive. He believed that hard work was all that was needed to overcome the misfortune. However, I was confident that Orloss believed something else entirely.
Looking at things from the angle of how “a good knife only required a master,” just my relationship with the Southern Sect alone seemed to make me something of an obstacle. Perhaps Orloss was truly being apologetic with his gift to me, or perhaps if I didn’t pass this little “test” he gave me, today might be the day I died.
At this moment, the host, Orloss, chuckled.
“Alright, let’s not talk about such abstract things. To show my sincerity in allying with you, let me introduce our Archduke Halent. …Actually, he should be called Halent Milan—my blood-related nephew, the recognized successor to the throne and crown prince of the Bardi Empire, the future Bardi Emperor.”