Any organization, when it grows large enough, will have various internal problems.
However, if the organization covers a wide area and the central government's control over the periphery is not strong enough, the division of power is almost inevitable.
The same is true for the Holy Royal Court.
Perhaps in that era when gods walked the earth, relying on the power of gods, the church's centripetal force and leadership were invincible.
But now, the gods are all asleep, and everything is naturally different.
There are many dioceses in the Holy Court, and conflicts are prone to arise when dividing interests.
To a greater or lesser extent, there are areas that require communication and reconciliation between dioceses and between dioceses and the theocracy.
In addition, in order to expand the influence of the Lord God, different dioceses of the Holy Royal Court often recruited different subordinate gods, which naturally led to greater differences and more conflicts.
Although the Holy Royal Court is still a force that any country needs to look up to due to its huge size and past accumulation, for the various countries, using the conflicts between different dioceses within the church to balance power or even demand more benefits has become a consensus among monarchs of various countries.
The same is true for the Crescent Kingdom.
The biggest reason why Louis V dared to challenge the church directly was that he was convinced that as long as he continued to support the Holy See as the state religion and paid religious taxes to the Theocracy on a regular basis, the Theocracy would not directly interfere in his conflict with the Crescent Diocese.
If it was just a diocese, although the Crescent Diocese was vast, it was responsible for more than just the Crescent Kingdom, and it was unable to concentrate all its strength to fight against Louis V.
As long as Louis V did not explicitly oppose the church, but instead used a blunt knife to cut the flesh and gradually replaced the church's influence in the kingdom, he would naturally be able to achieve his goal bit by bit.
After understanding the whole story, Charlotte felt a little emotional.
The political entities on the continent of Miria really like to create divisions.
This was the case with the former Yunite Empire.
The alliance-divided inheritance law caused the empire to split almost every time a generation changed. Later, it was even divided directly into east and west until its demise.
The same is true of the Western Yunite Empire, which has almost degenerated into a political alliance.
Almost all of the more than 200 lords, big and small, in the empire have semi-independent diplomacy. Although their territory is more than twice that of the Crescent Kingdom and their population is three times that of the Crescent Kingdom, they were suppressed by Louis V who defeated Fallen Star. It was not until they formed an alliance with Fallen Star that they were able to curb the expansion of the Crescent Kingdom.
Today, even the sacred royal court in the religious realm is not immune.
Under the theocracy, each diocese has become a religious vassal, and the influence of the chief high priest on the local area is far less than that of the diocesan high priest.
Of course, this is also true for the Crescent Kingdom and many other kingdoms and principalities.
Every country is filled with a bunch of lords, big and small. Although they are vassals, they are also very independent, and it is common for them to obey orders and not notices.
In such a large country, the core area controlled by the royal family may be just a small piece of territory in the center of the entire country. Similar things are a kind of "common sense" in many countries.
That is, Louis V emerged in the Crescent Kingdom and strengthened centralization.
Before the Star-Moon War, the Valva family faced a similar situation, and was even nicknamed "Earl Lutetia" because the royal family's control was only in the capital and a small area around it...
Even the earliest reason why the Valva family was able to become the royal family of the Crescent Peninsula was because the great nobles on the Crescent Peninsula believed that the Valva family had a small territory and was easier to manage, so they supported him to divide the land and become king.
After reading the history of Miria, even Charlotte couldn't help but sigh that the unified country like the Blue Star Empire in the previous life was an anomaly.
In the next few days, Charlotte finally became busy.
The news spread quickly in the palace, and the news that she had met with Louis V, renounced her religious vows and decided to formally pledge allegiance to the House of Valverde soon spread throughout the streets.
At first, it was just a rumor, but when the news came out that Louis V would hold a ceremony to enthronize the Castel family three days later, everyone was finally sure that the North had chosen the king in the end between the church and the king.
Before the enthronement ceremony began, nobles of all ranks had already come to visit and congratulate the Castel family on becoming direct vassals of the kingdom.
Of course, congratulations are one aspect, but the main purpose is to show goodwill and for trade.
The wealth of the North is well known, and the trade in the North is also well developed. Many merchants in the Crescent Moon want to trade with Falling Star, Luna Island, and the Grand Duchy of the North, and Castel Territory is a place they cannot avoid as it is a must-pass place.
Not to mention, the Castel family also controls the largest mithril mine in the entire Crescent Kingdom. Even though 70% of the mithril is controlled by the royal family, the Castel family, which has enjoyed 30% of the mithril since Boulder's independence, has become a hot commodity in the eyes of many lords.
Mithril is a good thing. It is not only a necessary material for the formation of magic arrays, but also a high-quality material for alchemy and magic arrays. It has a high price and a great demand, and can be called the hard currency in the extraordinary field.
Before, the various noble families could not accept the attitude of the royal family and were rather reserved and hesitant about trading with the Castel family. But now that it has been confirmed that the Castel family will become a direct vassal, naturally none of them can sit still.
For a while, the gate of Charlotte's rented manor was almost broken down by the nobles. In order to meet these nobles, her face, which was trying to maintain a smile, was almost stiff. Sebastian, who was responsible for signing the trade agreement, signed so many treaties that his hands were tired.
In less than three days, the Castel family had signed trade agreements with a total value of 8 million quintana, most of which were related to mithril and its associated minerals.
This is Castel's fiscal revenue for more than a year.
However, Charlotte knew that this was just the small part.
The real big bosses are the great nobles of the kingdom.
After the audience with Louis V, the invitation to the Duke of Yuehu's salon was also delivered. It was held the day after she was officially canonized, and all the participants were great nobles of the kingdom.
These great nobles are the focus of Charlotte's attention, because they control 90% of the extraordinary materials circulating in the Crescent Market!
By reaching an agreement with these people, the extraordinary trade in Castel Territory will be completely opened up in the future, and it will become history that even if you have money and mines, you cannot buy rare extraordinary resources.
Of course, not all nobles came for the Castel family's mithril.
During the three days of waiting for the coronation, Charlotte also received many invitations to banquets and salons from nobles, and their words were full of admiration for Charlotte.
This was when the news of her renunciation of religion and dedication of land spread, and many people mistakenly believed that her declaration of celibacy was gone as well.
She is extremely beautiful, the only child in her family, and she controls the largest silver mine in the Crescent Moon. She also owns a rich territory on the Crescent Peninsula second only to the Lutetia Region...
This is not a new lord of the kingdom, this is clearly a walking lottery ticket. As long as he is favored and wins the beauty, he can not only capture the most beautiful pearl of the Crescent Kingdom, but also obtain territory and wealth that is rich enough to rival a country, and become the lord of the entire Crescent second only to the Duke!
All of a sudden, Charlotte's suitors popped up like mushrooms after rain.
This left Charlotte speechless and headache-inducing.
She politely declined all invitations from those guys who coveted her body and property, but she still couldn't stop the invitations and love letters that came to her like snowflakes.
Until Charlotte released the news again, she was withdrawing her religious vows, but she also kept her declaration of celibacy. She had decided to devote her body and soul to God and would never get married in this life.
In this way, Charlotte finally had some peace and quiet.
Although there were still people who didn't believe it and some who were hoping for a lucky break, Charlotte ignored them all.
For a time, the noble circles in Lutetia were full of envy for the Valva family, and the Castel family and Charlotte became the must-talk topics in every salon and banquet.
Obviously, the biggest beneficiary of Charlotte's declaration of celibacy is the Valva family, which almost means that in the future, as long as Castel dies without an heir, the North will most likely be under the control of the royal family.
Even in the taverns on the streets, Charlotte of Castel became a topic of conversation among the common people after dinner.
However, what surprised Charlotte was that the church had no reaction to her giving up religion and donating land.
She was ready for the priest to visit her, but in fact, the only thing that came out of the Lutetia Cathedral about her giving up the soil donation was a sentence from the high priest to his fellow priest:
"The future of the North is in the hands of Her Highness the Saint. Whether it belongs to the church or the king is up to Her Highness the Saint as the lord to decide. The church does not need to, and should not, interfere."
When this news came out, the entire Lutetia aristocratic circle exploded again.
Saint!
The high priest of Crescent Parish actually called Charlotte of Castel a saint!
Although many commoners had called the mistress of the North a saint walking on the earth, most of the time the nobles believed that it was a rumor, or even a smokescreen put up by the young earl of the North himself.
However... now the highest priest of the New Moon has openly acknowledged this fact!
For a time, Charlotte once again became the center of public opinion in Lutetia, making headlines in aristocratic salons, aristocratic banquets, and civilian taverns...
Charlotte didn't know what was wrong with the high priest, or if it was just a reaction to her giving up her vows.
In other words, she had told Louis V in advance that she declined the position of saint. Otherwise, she would have been a thorn in the monarch's side.
However, the subsequent developments were beyond Charlotte's expectations.
Because New Moon High Priest Charles soon gave a new response:
"Charlotte de Castel is indeed the saint chosen by the Lord God, and possesses the power of the Lord God's protection."
"However, she declined the church's invitation and did not receive an official position in the church."
This response added fuel to Charlotte's popularity.
The nobles watched the fun, but the priests were furious.
The saint recognized by the Lord refuses to serve as the saint of the church
What the fuck is going on
High Priest, are you insane
You may say this statement is false, but it came from the mouth of the high priest, the highest priest of the Crescent Moon.
But if you're telling the truth, doesn't that mean God is dissatisfied with the church? !
This is questioning the authority of the church!
The priests were stunned, and each of them felt like they were going insane, until the high priest Charles issued an order that shocked the priests and surprised the nobles:
"The Holy Royal Court has spread the glory of the Lord God for thousands of years and protected all living beings. Now the Lord God is asleep, the Royal Court is corrupt, and the church is also deeply corrupted. The Lord God has sent the Saint to warn people..."
"From now on, the Crescent Diocese will initiate an internal review, with Grand Inquisitor Bernard de Champagne as the chief investigator and Joseph de Mazarin as the deputy chief investigator, to conduct a faith and discipline review of all clergy in the diocese!"
As soon as the news was announced, the entire Crescent Parish was shaken, and even Charlotte's popularity increased again, with a trend of moving from Lutetia's headlines to Crescent's headlines.
There is no way, even though the high priest said that her refusal was the trigger for the church's self-examination
He really influenced the policy of the entire diocese by himself.
After Charlotte learned about this, she finally realized what the high priest wanted to do.
There was no way to hide the fact that Charlotte declined the offer of marriage to the Saint, so it was better for the Church to expose it on its own initiative and use it as an excuse to reorganize the entire Crescent Diocese.
After realizing this, Charlotte also fell into deep thought.
Any major reorganization of an organization is always fraught with resistance, but the reason chosen by the high priest can shut up many priests.
At the same time, reorganizing the diocese is also a way to strengthen cohesion and reorganize strength. It may have an impact on the authority and power of the Crescent Diocese in the short term, but in the long run, it will be beneficial for the Crescent Diocese to strengthen its faith and religious power.
It’s just… isn’t it a bit hasty to choose this kind of comprehensive review method
Louis V used the Blood Demon Cult as an excuse to rectify the kingdom's nobles and further strengthen central power. Now even the High Priest of the Crescent Moon is conducting an internal review of the church despite the church's unstable family...
Why does it feel like... the king and the church seem to be in a hurry, as if they are preparing for something
Not only that, compared to the church's documents, the Blood Demon Cult's activities have been more frequent in the past year or two. The "God's Descent Ceremony" that might not have been encountered once in the past many years, Charlotte has encountered it three times since she traveled through time.
Even the Nice Clan of the Falling Star Kingdom is planning to launch a coup this year, and they seem to be in a hurry.
Paying attention to the news from the palace and the cathedral, and recalling the various movements of the Blood Demon Cult and the Ness Clan, Charlotte fell into deep thought.
"Something big is about to happen."
She murmured.
Charlotte didn't know the connection, but she had a feeling that something was about to happen.
Moreover, it is a major event that is known to the top leaders of these major forces.
"Is it something that all the top brass know about..."
Charlotte's eyes flickered as she thought of Albrecht, whom she had forced to become a blood servant.
Albrecht prepared the great sacrifice of Lutetia, and although it was ruined by Charlotte, the third apostle of the Bloodline Cult should know something.
Not only that, since it involves the Blood Demon Cult, it is most likely related to the Blood Descendants.
Thinking of this, Charlotte sank into consciousness and called up Albrecht's memory that had transformed into a library:
"Bring up the major events that are about to happen in the near future."
The illusory book flew up and landed in Charlotte's hands, and the memories that Albrecht had copied appeared in Charlotte's mind.
When Charlotte read the memory copied by the other party, her eyes quickly showed some doubt:
"Holy Advent Day?"