As the largest religious force in the Miria world, the Holy Royal Court has two extraordinary teams that are famous throughout the continent.
First, there are a large number of demon hunting lodges with bases spread across cities and even key towns and villages. They are managed by local churches and are responsible for clearing out evil demons and protecting ordinary people.
Its status among the countries that believe in the Holy Royal Court is somewhat similar to that of the police station in the Celestial Empire of the past.
Official members of the Demon Hunting Lodge are called Demon Hunting Knights.
Rather than being feared or terrified, Demon Hunters more often give ordinary people a feeling and impression of safety, justice, and reassurance.
Of course, the Knights of the Demon Hunt have a higher degree of freedom than the clergy of the church, and many of them also do private work like free mercenaries or wandering knights on weekdays, which is also tacitly approved by the church.
The second is an inquisition that is independent of the secular church of the Holy Royal Court and is directly managed by the Theocracy.
Unlike the Demon Hunt, the Inquisition has its own independent top-down management system, with bases in major cities in various countries. It is responsible for supervising the church branches in various dioceses and judging heresy and evil forces.
Its status in Miria is somewhat similar to the Jinyiwei in the history of the Celestial Empire.
The most famous of the Inquisition are the Knights of the Inquisition.
Compared to the Demon Hunter Knight, who is relatively more approachable and even regarded as one of the life ideals by many children who have a dream of being a knight, the reputation of the Judgement Knight is much worse in the secular world.
Even many clergy members of local churches are terrified by the mention of it.
The average strength of the Inquisition Knights is stronger than that of the Demon Hunter Knights. Although they are fewer in number, each of them is a fanatic and is merciless to sinners, heretics, and evil forces.
Religious madmen, psychopaths, bloodthirsty mad dogs, lackeys of theocracy, cruel, bloody, ruthless... these are the labels they are labeled in the eyes of the world.
The Knight of Judgment... only believes in faith!
The Inquisition does not normally go out and has a low presence.
But once they are deployed, it means something big is going to happen and someone is going to be in trouble.
The result each time was either the fall of a powerful priest, the annihilation of a noble family, or the complete annihilation of an underground secret cult group...
Charlotte, who had already made up for her lack of knowledge about the Holy Court, quickly remembered the relevant information about the Inquisition and stood up from her seat almost immediately.
"Don't panic. Tell me slowly. What happened? Why did the Rose Society get targeted by the Judgment? How many Judgment Knights were dispatched?"
Charlotte asked seriously.
"Not many. I took a look from afar and saw that there were about twenty or so Judgment Knights in red. Judging from the badges on their bodies, the highest-ranking one should be Silver Moon Level 2, and there were several of them."
Quasimodo said quickly.
There is no Blazing Sun Level 3
Charlotte was a little surprised.
It is recorded in the books that when the Knights of Judgment go out, they often come out in full force.
As far as she knew, the highest-ranking Inquisition Knights stationed in the Principality of Bolder were at the third level, the same level as the Duke and the High Priest.
"Not all the Judgment Knights have been dispatched... This means that things have not yet reached a point of no return..."
After that, she asked again:
"What on earth happened? Why did the Inquisition take action against the Rose Society? The Rose Society is just an underground gang, and the one who should be punished is the local leader!"
Only this time, Quasimodo looked somewhat at a loss, and it was obvious... he couldn't answer this question.
"No... I don't know... I just saw the Judgment Knights marching aggressively towards the outer city. On the way, they directly closed down a Rose Club store in the western city and arrested all the employees."
Quasimodo said.
After saying that, he gritted his teeth again:
Moreover... I also saw some people wearing gray clothes. They are probably the Inquisition troops!"
The Inquisition...
Charlotte paused slightly.
The Inquisition is a secular force directly under the Inquisition Knights, composed of extraordinary people and ordinary people.
According to church documents, it was an ancient tradition left over from the history of the Holy Court. When the Holy Court conquered the continent, it was the main force in the holy war.
At that time they had a resounding name, called the Holy Legion, with strict discipline and strong combat power.
Of course, now that the Holy Court is the undisputed overlord of the Miria world, the Holy Legion has no meaning to exist anymore, so it has been reorganized into a local religious inquisition force.
The local religious inquisition forces are nominally under the command of the Inquisition Knights and are responsible for assisting the Inquisition Knights in their work.
However, in reality, the Inquisition troops need the unanimous consent of the Inquisition Knights and the local church chief before they can be dispatched, and their presence is very low on weekdays.
In other words... the High Priest also agreed with the action against the Rose Society.
"Quasimodo, quickly contact Frank and the others and ask them to move to Castel Manor as soon as possible. If they are too far away, quickly find a place to hide and don't get caught in the crossfire!"
"Also... notify the Rose Club that those who can evacuate, evacuate as soon as possible!"
Charlotte said seriously.
Since even the Rose Society’s store has been sealed, this shows that the Court of Inquiry is likely planning to wipe out the Rose Society in one fell swoop.
For Old Frank and those peripheral personnel who were taken in by the Rose Society, it is very likely that they are also within the range of the attack!
The girl paced in the study, thinking, and continued:
"There has been no news about Sebastian... I wonder if this is related."
"Fortunately, the Knights of Inquisition will only target extraordinary beings. Frank and his men should only face arrest by the Inquisition..."
"Bring more of our family uniforms! Let them change into them! Now everyone in Boulder knows that we are protected by the church. Even the Inquisition troops dare not mess around!"
Charlotte thought for a moment and said.
However, after hearing the girl's words, Quasimodo's face turned a little pale.
He gritted his teeth and said:
"No... We can't bring the family uniforms with us. We can only transfer them here as quietly as possible..."
"If the Inquisition sees our uniforms, I'm afraid our family will be in trouble!"
Charlotte frowned.
"Why? Do they still dare to attack the nobles who are protected by the church? Even if they have been reformed, they were once a disciplined holy legion!"
Quasimodo hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to explain to the girl. Suddenly, the black cat Nice jumped in from the window and said seriously:
"Of course they dare."
"Because... they are no longer the principled and disciplined holy legions you know from church texts."
"Rather... the reputation of the Inquisition is much worse than that of the Tribunal. It can even be said that the reputation of the Tribunal and the Knights of Trial was ruined by them."
Charlotte was slightly stunned, and then her expression became serious:
"How do you say it?"
Nice sighed:
"Everything will eventually fall into corruption, including the Holy Legion..."
"They were once the most proud holy war corps of the Holy Court, but after being reorganized into a local trial corps, many people lost their former goals and motivation and chose to leave the corps, causing the number of casualties in the trial corps to become increasingly serious..."
"Later, in order to maintain combat effectiveness, Nero IV, the 13th chief archdeacon of the Holy Court, reformed the local trial forces and announced that sinners willing to atone for their sins could be recruited into the forces."
"They are a group of people without freedom. They have signed a soul contract and are also a group of cannon fodder. They are prisoners, criminals and even former cultists who voluntarily became members of the Inquisition in order to escape it!"
"Their joining greatly increased the combat effectiveness of the Inquisition, even surpassing that of the Holy Legion at one point, but what followed was a deterioration in discipline..."
"The local trial army is like a group of religious slaves. In the eyes of the trial knights, they have no human rights. The final outcome is to die in religious trials again and again..."
"When they go crazy, no one can control them except the Knights of Judgment. They are a group of unscrupulous lunatics who are even more disgusting than the Knights of Judgment!"
After hearing what Nice said, Charlotte's expression changed.
The boys and girls have not returned yet, and they may have encountered the local religious inquisition troops.
"Please prepare the carriage for me. I want to go to the cathedral to meet the high priest immediately!"
The girl made a decision immediately.
"Yes, sir..."
Quasimodo bowed and hurried out of the study.
"I thought you would decide to head to the outer city right away."
Hey Xiu jumped to Charlotte's side and said Nice unexpectedly.
"I'm not that stupid."
Charlotte glanced at it, and rang the bell for the maid to change her travelling clothes.
Of course, she was extremely worried about the boys and girls as well as Frank and others.
However, she knew that the more this happened, the calmer she should be.
If she rashly went to the outer city area without figuring out anything now, not only would she fail to solve the problem, but she might also put herself in danger.
To untie the bell, one must find the person who tied it, so she had to start with the church.
Although the High Priest has no direct jurisdiction over the Knights of Inquisition, as the highest clergyman of the Holy Court in the Principality of Bolder, he still has a say in the sacred judgments of local groups.
Not to mention, the high priest also has certain control over the local religious inquisition forces!
The high priest still needs Castel's help to compete for the position of high priest. It's just a matter of spending more quintana. As long as Charlotte is willing to spend the money, she is confident that she can convince him to stop the sacred judgment of the Inquisition.
After thinking for a while, she took out another stack of parchment from the desk and put it in her arms.
"What's this?"
Black cat Nice peeks out.
Charlotte glanced at it.
"I prepared the information to whitewash the Rose Society. I wanted to use it more fully later, but it seems... I have to use it now."
Since she had decided to take Sebastian in as her butler, Charlotte had of course already considered how to whitewash the underground gang, the Rose Society.
After all, she is a noble, and the Rose Society is a gang. It is not justifiable to mix them together in public, and it may become a handle for other nobles to attack her.
These days she has been sorting these things out in her spare time. Fortunately, the Rose Club is doing well. Although there is a lot of shit behind its butt, it has also done a lot of good things. It is what is called both good and evil.
It is not difficult for the keyboard warriors in the previous life to whitewash the Rose Society using the Spring and Autumn style of writing.
This time, I go to pay a visit to the high priest, and I can deal with this matter and solve it once and for all!
With the help of her maid, Charlotte changed into clothes suitable for traveling and specially selected a holy white dress.
Then she got on the prepared carriage.
"Meow! I'm coming too!"
Nice shouted and also jumped into the carriage.
Charlotte glanced at it but didn't stop it.
Although this guy is unreliable, no one in the entire manor can compare to him in terms of understanding the church. Taking him along might bring unexpected gains.
The carriage, carrying a man and a cat, was moving quickly towards the cathedral in the eastern city...