483. Apostolic Nuncio

Chapter 483 – Apostle of the Holy See

After the first large-scale riot against the Church in Messiah, the Horned Bay Church headquarters in Collins reacted quickly and immediately drew armed forces from all over the country to form the Protectorate of the Church to go to Messiah to suppress it.

At that time, the coastal countries were not yet officially hostile to the Church, and the Church’s troops could move freely among them.

So the Church’s army easily reached the main city of Messiah, and the people of Messiah hurried out of the city to fight against the Church’s army.

However, at this time, the armed forces that Messiah could send out were only a small number of dissatisfied knights as the core, and most of the people were conscripted militia.

Sir Richardson, the most powerful anti-Church knight, became the backbone of the Messianic side.

The lord of the Messiah’s independent territory, because on one side there were the people who were angry to the point of losing control, and on the other side there was the Church who was so tough that they directly sent troops, he felt that it was not good to offend both sides and he ran away with his inner circle to take refuge elsewhere.

But how can a temporary army be built up to fight against the church army that is always used to round up witches, not to mention that the military forces of the coastal countries are longer at fighting on the water, while most of the church army’s personnel come from the inland countries of Corinthian, and are proficient at fighting on the land.

Outside the main city of Messiah, the two armies were separated after two hours of fighting, with the Messianic side defeated and hastily retreating towards the city.

However, due to the low degree of organization, the retreat quickly turned into a rout, and the routed soldiers who were so panicked that they had completely disobeyed the command even blocked the entrance to the city.

Seeing such a scene, the church army risked being ambushed and ordered the whole army to press on.

He gambled correctly, this was either a ploy by the Messiahs or a real defeat.

The gates of the Messianic city were captured by the church army before they could even be closed.

In this day and age, the gates changing hands basically announced that the siege was nearing its end, and Messiah quickly fell all the way into the hands of the Church’s army.

The church army conducted a major manhunt throughout the city, arrested a large number of people involved in the riot, and then dragged them down to the square for public execution.

In particular, Sir Richardson, who commanded the army, had his head chopped off and hung on a pillar in the square until it was dried out.

Even the Lords of Messaiaen wrote letters to the powers that be in the neighboring countries to plead for mercy, but to no avail.

The day of the mass execution was the 19th day of the 7th month of the Horn’s calendar, hence the name of the 19th day of the 7th month massacre.

The hearts of the Messianic people were dealt a severe blow.

Although the first fire was extinguished, the embers harbored a little spark that would be rekindled once the right circumstances were present.

Under high pressure, the dark currents in Kokan are surging, and all kinds of dissident organizations dissatisfied with the Church have sprung up.

Sir Richardson, who was no longer alive, became the common spiritual leader of these organizations.

“Remember Richardson, remember July 19th!”

This phrase also became their common slogan.

In this situation, the Church’s original witch hunts had completely lost their popular base, and with the pushback from the Chronicle of Grievances, more and more people were convinced that the Church was simply trying to fight dissent and seize the wealth of innocent people through the so-called witch hunts.

The Duchy of Eton was the first to come forward, stating that any action of the Church within its territory had to be approved and supervised by the Grand Duke’s government, or else it would be illegal, and this included a series of activities such as investigating, judging, and punishing witches as well as heretics!

Archbishop Elvis was furious, and immediately stated that he would mobilize his army to repeat the actions in the Messiah against the Duchy of Eton.

However the second and third countries also made consecutive statements that they would take the same measures as the Duchy of Eton. In the end, even the most powerful nation in Horned Bay, the Horned Bay Alliance, took the side of the Duchy of Eaton.

The huge contradiction even caused a split within the church, as a large number of clergymen originating from the coastal countries began to break with the church, openly stating that they would no longer obey the instructions of the Horned Bay Church.

They conspired with each other, supported each other, and re-established their organization according to the internal form of the original church, calling themselves the Protestant Church externally, and calling the original church the Old Church to indicate that the two sides had broken.

The head of this new sect was Angelo, Bishop of Nisborough in the Corner Bay Confederacy, who had been the central figure at the time of the first throw-out-the-window incident.

On that occasion it was the clergy of Nisborough, represented by him, who objected to the shipment of ninety per cent of the tithes to Corinth, and when the churchwardens decided to arrest him and send him to Corinth to be punished, the enraged people of Nisborough rushed into the cathedral and threw the churchwardens out of the window.

This situation was unexpected by Elvis, who thought that there were only individual pricks stirring up trouble, but did not realize that so many countries were united against the Church, and even a large number of clergymen stood against him.

Of course, in the view of His Grace the Bishop, what the hell is a Protestant denomination, all of them are heretics, all of them are filthy existences.

But whether or not to use troops against Eton, Elvis was caught in a dilemma of choice.

It was at this time, too, that the Holy See once again sent a messenger to arrive at the Bay of Horns.

……

“Heavy Fist! Against this group of heretics who have deviated from the teachings of the Heavenly Father, a heavy blow must be struck before the foolish people of the coast can return to the right path.”

“Lord Elvis, please lead us to war against these heretics!”

In the council hall of the Horned Bay Church, a man with a crown on his head sitting on Elvis’ right hand side yelled out.

He was Segovia II, the king of Collins.

Corinth was the most in favor of taking strong measures against the coastal countries among the landlocked countries in the Gulf of Horns, and the willingness to go to war was quite strong in the country, from the nobles down to the commoners.

As the headquarters of the Church of Corner Bay, everyone in Corinth is proud to live in a place where the glory of the Heavenly Father shines directly. However, due to geographical constraints, Collins is not as rich as the coastal countries.

Spiritual superiority and material backwardness led to a strong heart dislocation among the people of Collins, who viewed the coastal inhabitants as vulgar riff-raff, but secretly coveted their immense wealth.

“Your Majesty, please be at ease.”

One of the clergymen sitting to Elvis’ left stood up.

He had a loyal face with gray hair, wrinkles, and a somewhat thin beard.

“The very reason the Holy See sent Anthony and I to Horn Bay was to make one last effort. War – is something no one wants to happen. Once war breaks out, how many mothers will lose their sons, how many wives will lose their husbands, how many children will lose their fathers.”

The ecclesiastical emissary who had just arrived in Collins – Liberte – looked around the crowd while slowly voicing his opinion.

“How much more needless suffering and tragedy will be added to the world, and I think this is something that the merciful Father does not want to see.”

“Therefore, I will join Anthony in traveling to the coastal countries to pray for the continuation of peace and to stop the outbreak of war.”

(End of chapter)