Chapter 143 The Church
Chapter 143 The Church
After a heart-to-heart talk with the female counselor, Paul asks her to go back to rest first.
He and Austin were the only ones left in the room.
Paul turned to the Admiral, “What are your thoughts on witches and magic?”
Austin answered honestly, “I didn’t think they were all that bad before, but I thought they were all at least the condescending, icy, disdainful of ordinary people kind. But seeing as how it seems from the way Ms. Lardy acted, our inherent impression of them was wrong, at least part of them weren’t. According to you, she volunteered to travel with you in anticipation of danger, and after the attack, she didn’t run away alone when the assassins were clearly targeting you, but stayed behind to fight with you.”
“I wish the others thought as you do.”
“Your Excellency need not worry too much, in fact, compared to the south, where there is a strong religious atmosphere, we in the north are considered relatively ‘tolerant’ of these things of legend. “
“Oh? Tell me specifically.”
“According to the old people, even when the witch-hunting movement was being carried out, it was based on the principle of ‘presumption of innocence’, so if a person is accused of witchcraft activities, until direct evidence is found that the person is actually acting against others, even if the magistrate’s court finds that the person is a witch, it is still not possible to burn the person. sorcerer, one cannot be burned to death; it cannot be said that there are no cases of injustice, but they are few and far between compared to the South.”
“What about those who are suspected but not proven?”
“I don’t know about other places, but on our side, we are locking them up for 30 years for long term observation before releasing them after confirming that there is no suspicion of using magic to save themselves.”
Paul cried and laughed, “Our people’s here are really ‘merciful’!”
Nowadays, it was unknown if the average age of people was 30 years old or not, this was good, after being accused, their whole life was basically all riding on it.
“The truth is no witch hunt lasts as long as 30 years, basically after a few years of incarceration they’re all released.”
“And has there ever been a record of a real witch being caught before?”
“The public records all say it’s true of course, as for the truth, who knows.”
Paul wondered, “I don’t understand why it’s all about the church and how the South and North handle it so much.”
Austin took a sip of his water and slowly and methodically corroborated for Paul.
“First of all, the church as a huge entity, the internal messy things are also quite a lot, the contradiction between the central church and the local churches, the contradiction between the various sects with different philosophies, intricate and complicated, it is impossible to explain without a few days and nights, historically different sects have fought a number of civil wars, and the local churches openly defying the headquarters of the Holy See has also happened repeatedly, the local churches and local churches don’t exactly agree with each other’s practices either.”
“Secondly, the Church’s ruling power is strongest in the Sacred Capital region, and radiates its influence to the entire continent from there; by the time it reaches the fringes of a shithole of a civilization such as our Northwest Gulf, its influence has been greatly diminished. And our lords here are brutal and cross, with religious piety just above the pass mark – sorry I wasn’t talking about you.”
“Isn’t that what they say, you have to look at the master to beat the dog, and they don’t want their subjects to be casually tied up by a bunch of outsiders for a barbecue, not so much out of love for their subjects, but more out of a desire to assert their own authority – I’m sorry I wasn’t talking about you, either, so, after a couple of ‘friendly and cordial’ negotiations, the power to adjudicate rests with the Church, but the power to enforce is firmly in the hands of the lords.”
Paul asked, “Is the ecclesiastical headquarters just going to sit back and do nothing? Won’t they send an army to conquer us?”
“This is legally the territory of the Kingdom of Aldo, they have to go through His Majesty the King first, and for the same reason as the lords, His Majesty the King always protects his own bannermen, and for great monarchs like the King of Aldo and Emperor Gabella, the Pontifical HQ has always had enough sense and tolerance, you’ve heard of the Archbishop’s Dispute during Rodney XV’s reign when the You have heard of the Archbishop’s dispute during Rodney XV’s reign, when things got so heated, but in the end it was still a compromise. And even if His Majesty the King had left us to our own devices, the winters around the northwest are a nightmare for all armies.”
Paul asked again, “But I’ve heard that the Holy See once punished a certain country’s monarch for standing barefoot in the freezing snow for three days and three nights.”
Austin replied, “That was the monarch of a small country in the south, the southern part of the continent is full of small countries and conflicts, the Holy See doesn’t even need to take action itself, it can mess up a country’s royal family by stirring up trouble.”
Paul held his chin in thought, “According to you, I suddenly feel that the Church is quite weak.” He suddenly became indignant: “When I just built muskets and cannons, Dean Leonard and Father Anderson came over to investigate if I was researching witchcraft, and actually threatened me with some kind of inquisition, I was surprisingly scared by them, and even showed them military secrets like muskets.”
“Ahem!” Austin coughed, “Lord Earl, with all due respect, given the strength of the Greiman family at that time, their threat was really not an empty word, and your retreat at that time was wise.”
Paul agreed with him, “That’s right too, we only had a mere few hundred men and a dozen guns at that time.”
Austin continued, “All the respect and forbearance were exchanged by His Majesty the King and the major lords with their strength, this world, in the end, we still have to rely on our fists to speak, so ……”
“So what?”
“Please allocate us more military spending!”
……
Early the next morning, Paul, accompanied by Austin and Lardy, went to the shipyard to inspect the newly built sailing ships, chatting along the way.
“I say, Ms. Lardy, do your former fellow adventurers know about your other identity?”
“They do know.”
Saying this, a touched look appeared on the female advisor’s face.
“But not only did they not turn me in, they continued to take care of me like a family member, and I owe them for the rest of my life.”
Alas, it was unthinkable that this female scholar, who usually had an unperturbed appearance, was so soft inside.
“Then how did they find out?”
“It was also during an unexpected accident where I used magic and was judged by them on the spot.”
Austin, who was at the side, praised, “Willingly risking the exposure of your identity in order to save your companion, who wouldn’t want such a companion?”
“Lord Commander is too kind.”
Paul slapped his head, “I suddenly remembered, did you do something to me during that …… time in the Fulan Harbor church?”
Lardy’s face reddened, “I am very sorry, my lord, but that was because you yourself had a good heart and thought of rescuing the then unconscious mayor of the town, that’s why you fell prey to my suggestive technique, otherwise I would not have succeeded.”
“Haha!” Paul rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, “I didn’t realize I was such a good person.”
The group walked into the shipyard area as they talked, the tall masts of the two sailing ships were already visible in the harbor in the distance.
According to the readers’ suggestions, a book group has been opened: 689596595, welcome to it.
(End of chapter)