After successfully recruiting Albrecht, the dark apostle of the Blood Demon Cult, as her blood servant, Charlotte stopped making trouble and stayed quietly in the manor, waiting for the convening of the central meeting.
However, the aftermath of the legendary battle in the night sky of Lutetia has just begun.
That night, the city guards and demon hunters blocked the entire royal city and searched the entire night, capturing a large number of blood demon cultists throughout Lutetia and discovering several cult dens.
Especially after an in-depth investigation into the manor where the Dark Apostle appeared, a large-scale secret underground temple gradually emerged before the world.
According to news from within the church, the temple can probably be traced back to nearly two thousand years ago.
When this news came out, the entire capital was shocked.
Lutetia has a long history. Over the past two thousand years, the city has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. It is well known that many ruins of old cities are buried under the existing cities.
In fact, Lutetia's existing drainage system was built on the site of the previous old city.
That was the heyday of the Yunite Empire. The old empire, which was popular for building bathhouses, constructed an extremely large drainage system that crisscrossed the country. Even today's Lutetia has benefited greatly from it and is still in use.
However, the complex and ancient drainage system has made the underground part of Lutetia complex and mysterious, and the winding underground drainage system has also become a breeding ground for evil and darkness.
The ancient temple discovered is connected to the underground drainage system, but it is deeper and even below the drainage system.
After further identification by high-ranking clergymen of the Holy Royal Court, it was determined that this temple was most likely the temple left behind by the ancestor of the vampires in the era of vampires, and it is also the ninth ancient temple of the vampires discovered on the continent of Miria.
By the way, the temple discovered in Castel Territory a month ago was the eighth one, and the Holy Royal Court had already planned to send out clergy to conduct an in-depth investigation, but before they could set off, another one was discovered in Lutetia.
The God-suppressing Bell, the Legendary Blood Demon, the Ancient Temple...
Even the most insensitive people could sense that a storm was about to come.
As more and more news about the investigation of the ancient temple came out from the church, it caused a further earthquake in Lutetia.
This temple... turned out to be the base of the Blood Demon Cult a long time ago, and the Blood Demon Cult even built a huge sacrificial array in the temple, and its location was right below the Kingdom Parliament Hall!
After the identification by the church priests and the trial of the captured blood demon cultists by the trial knights of the Inquisition, the blood demon cult's plan in Lutetia gradually surfaced...
The ambitious Blood Demon Cult actually planned to take advantage of the Crescent Kingdom's central meeting to capture all the nobles of the kingdom and sacrifice all the nobles attending the meeting!
When the results of this investigation came out, the entire Crescent Kingdom was shocked, and the nobles were all horrified.
King Louis V was furious when he heard the news. He immediately dismissed the city defense commander and aldermen of Lutetia, and ordered the city guards, the Inquisition and the Demon Hunters to attack immediately and wipe out the blood demon forces entrenched in Lutetia.
Louis V personally met with Charles de Lorrain, the chief archdeacon of the Crescent Parish of the Holy Court. These two supreme secular and religious leaders of the Crescent Kingdom reached a rare consensus and decided to temporarily put aside their prejudices and unite to eradicate the evil forces in Lutetia.
Orders were issued one after another from the Crescent Palace and Lutetia Cathedral and quickly spread throughout the capital.
First, the central conference will be postponed for one week, depending on the specific situation.
Secondly, all gates of Lutetia were placed under martial law, and no one, including nobles, was allowed to leave the city. Except for the necessary transportation of daily necessities, all other items were prohibited from entering or leaving, and had to undergo strict inspection by the Inquisition.
Third, a comprehensive investigation of Lutetia will be conducted under the leadership of the Holy Court, King Louis V and High Priest Charles, and a review team consisting of the Kingdom's First Guard Knights, the Knights of Judgment, and the Knights of Demon Hunting will be formed. The subjects of the investigation will include nobles, priests, chambers of commerce, wizard associations, mercenary associations, and the general public in the inner and outer cities. All fallen people suspected of having any dealings with the Blood Demon Cult or even joining the Cult will be hunted down and tried.
The nobles, in particular, were listed as key targets of investigation, and those suspected of colluding with the Blood Demon Cult would be dealt with most severely.
When the news came out, the entire royal city was in an uproar.
No one, including the nobles and priests, expected the king and the church to be so decisive and act so quickly.
You know, the entire Lutetia has a population of nearly one million. For such a large city, directly issuing an order to seal off the city and conducting a comprehensive search would cause quite a stir.
Not to mention that Lutetia's power is complex and the power of the nobles is quite large. Even the king's suppression of the nobles is mostly based on the checks and balances within the nobles. The king's own power is also composed of nobles of all sizes.
The balance of power on a daily basis is fine, but if one wants to conduct a thorough investigation and trial, the difficulty will be far greater than Charlotte's review of the North.
And many nobles themselves do have some dealings with the Blood Demon Cult...
In this situation, the opposition of the nobles was almost obvious.
This is exactly the case.
Soon after the order was issued, the nobles of the kingdom gathered in Lutetia to protest, believing that such strict scrutiny was a violation of the "Royalty Contract", an act of a tyrant, a violation of the contract and "illegal". Some great nobles even openly refused to allow the Royal Guards and Church Knights to enter their families.
The central meeting has not yet started, but the royal family and the aristocracy have already started to confront each other.
In particular, the Gaston family, a large family known for its neutral attitude in the kingdom, this time lodged a strong protest against the investigation of the royal family and the church. The head of the family, Duke Gaston, became the leader of the opposition with his powerful strength that was close to that of a legend.
In the words of Duke Gaston, while judging evil is important, the rights of the nobility are also protected by the Royal Contract and the Sacred Code and are sacred and inviolable.
Even the church could not conduct such strict scrutiny on the nobility without any reason or based solely on hearsay.
When Duke Gaston's words spread, they were agreed by the vast majority of nobles. For a while... the atmosphere in Lutetia became even more subtle.
From the time the royal family and the church announced the lockdown and investigation, to the time the nobles expressed dissatisfaction and chose to protest, it took less than a day.
All of a sudden, all kinds of rumors spread in Lutetia...
Some said that the royal family betrayed the nobles and sided with the church; some said that this central meeting was a conspiracy by the king against the nobles. There were all kinds of rumors.
Panic spread in the capital and soon turned into anger.
The nobles refused to cooperate and tended to unite to fight the investigation.
However, the subsequent development of the matter exceeded many people's expectations...
The legend... strikes again.
Bernard, the Grand Inquisitor of the Holy Court, and Joseph, the Demon Hunter Cardinal, personally led a team to investigate the Gaston family.
On the night that the investigation order was issued, the inner city of Lutetia once again erupted with terrifying energy fluctuations, or more accurately, battle fluctuations.
The magical fluctuations that erupted in this battle were far less than those in the legendary battle of the previous day, but its range also covered a small half of the sky in the inner city.
This involves a battle at the Blazing Sun level.
The battle came and went quickly. Although the magic power was as strong as the blazing sun, the battle was quickly over when the dazzling holy light descended like the wrath of a god.
As the battle ended, there was more detailed news that shocked the nobles—
Duke Gaston, one of the nine dukes of the Crescent Kingdom and the next high-level transcendent who had the greatest hope of becoming a legend, had died.
The person who killed him was none other than Bernard, the Grand Inquisitor of the Crescent Parish of the Holy Royal Court.
Immediately afterwards, the Inquisition quickly investigated the Gaston family, uncovered a large amount of evidence of collusion with the Blood Demon Cult, and arrested more than a dozen Gaston family members who had become Blood Demon Cultists.
This even includes Richard, the direct heir of the Gaston family.
When this news spread, all the nobles in the capital became obedient.
No one expected that the legendary priest of the church would actually take action, and no one expected that he would show no mercy when he took action.
At the same time, such precise investigation and trial also made the nobles realize one thing, that is, the royal family and the church... have already mastered a lot of information.
This is a well-prepared review!
Many people seem to have realized something.
For a time, the number of nobles who resisted dropped rapidly, and some families even took the initiative to admit their mistakes and provided the church with a lot of information about the Blood Demon Cult.
The review team composed of the church and the royal family was also not idle, but continued to investigate, and each time they found something accurate.
As if they had been targeted in advance, the noble families that had colluded with the Blood Demon Cult were dug out one after another and suppressed with lightning speed.
Even within the Holy Royal Court, more than a dozen priests were arrested and taken to the Inquisition on charges of corruption.
For a time, the whole of Lutetia was in turmoil.
In the inner city, Charlotte's estate also came under scrutiny, but the conditions were relatively relaxed.
Only the Castel family's shop was subject to strict inspection because of its precedent involving the Blood Demon Cult.
Of course, after review, there were no problems, and all possible exposure points were easily resolved by Charlotte's magic counterattack.
Charlotte didn't take the church's review seriously. As the instigator, she knew that the review of her family was probably just a formality.
The church conducted such a targeted investigation, and it should have obtained the list she left behind.
Charlotte specifically asked around and found out that it matched the list she had written down...
Obviously, the investigation was exploratory at the beginning, but after confirming that the list was true, it was no longer just an investigation, but direct arrests and trials based on the list.
However, Charlotte also noticed that the nobles who were arrested on charges of colluding with the Blood Demon Cult were not only those recorded on the list, but also some that even Charlotte had heard of. They were well-known oppositionists among the nobles who had always been at odds with King Louis V.
Watching everything from a bystander's perspective and thinking about it based on her own intelligence, Charlotte quickly came to her senses.
Thanks to the Blood Demon Cult, the royal family and the church have indeed united this time.
The royal family supported the church's investigation and arrest of nobles who had dealings with the Blood Demon Cult, and the church acquiesced in the royal family's suppression of opposition nobles.
Although the Crescent Royal Family and the Church had always been at odds, they unexpectedly reached a tacit understanding at this time.
Charlotte clicked her tongue.
Speaking of which, this kind of tacit understanding was fanned by her, this little butterfly.
However, based on what she had seen and heard since arriving in the capital, and the church's undercover agents within the Blood Demon Cult, she probably guessed that the royal family and the church might have plans to cooperate.
The third prince Philip... must have been abandoned by the royal family a long time ago.
The real purpose of this meeting...is probably not for the nobles and the church to unite to weaken the royal power, but for the royal family and the church to unite to suppress the nobles and strengthen centralization and religious beliefs!
However, perhaps the royal family and the church originally planned to take action when the Blood Demon Cult made a big move, or more precisely, when the Central Council was convened. However, her actions exposed Albrecht and stripped the Blood Demon Cult of its underwear, bringing everything forward...
It can be predicted that after this storm, King Louis V's centralization of power will be further strengthened, and the Holy Court will have stronger control over the faith of the Crescent Diocese.
The only ones who were injured should be the nobles of the Crescent Moon and the Blood Demon Cult that caused the trouble.
Of course, this has little to do with Charlotte.
As an emerging noble in the kingdom, Charlotte's interests have not yet come into direct conflict with the royal family.
She did not show any hostility towards the royal family. Under the premise that the royal family had clearly given up on the third prince, as long as she did not make the royal family feel threatened, she would not be suppressed for the time being.
As for Albrecht's subordinates, they were all wiped out after this incident...
Honestly, Charlotte didn't care at all.
She knew very well what kind of people the Blood Demon Cultists were. Even if she allowed Albrecht to infiltrate the Blood Demon Cult, she would not be willing to accept any monster.
Those evil and chaotic scum will be judged, and it is just the right time to use the church’s hand to “clean up the house.”
The joint investigation by the royal family and the church is expected to continue for a few more days, and the chaos in Lutetia may not be resolved in the short term.
However, this has nothing to do with Charlotte anymore.
Her goal had been achieved, and all that remained was to attend the meeting after the storm was over, then pack up and go home.
If her prediction was correct, this central meeting was probably just a formality. Since the church and the royal family were cooperating, the fate of the third prince was probably already determined, which was nothing more than dethronement and house arrest.
And what Charlotte really has to do is probably only to meet the king and talk business with other nobles.
It's not a bad thing.
After this cleanup, the aristocratic power in the kingdom will inevitably change, and as some power grows and some declines, there will be a lot of power vacuums left.
Perhaps... this also makes it easier for emerging kingdom nobles like Charlotte to expand their influence.
After figuring everything out, Charlotte no longer paid personal attention to the investigation. She only asked Sebastian to collect relevant information and just watch the fun every day.
On the fourth day of this investigation, which could be called the "Great Purge", Charlotte finally received a call from Albrecht.
More precisely, it was a sacrifice.