Since there were soldiers of the First Army present in the church, he did not touch on the origin of the Battle of Divine Will, but simply told the history of transforming the Witch Empire into the church.
But these news alone were enough to make the High Priest stunned and unable to control himself. Whenever the internal secrets of the church were mentioned, Jacob's eyes would widen a little, and in the end it became almost like a lantern. He looked like he wanted to refute, but when the words came to him, there was only a hesitant voice. Obviously, some information was beyond his comprehension, but they coincided with various rumors in the church.
Looking at the out-of-breath appearance of the old priest, Roland stopped temporarily, not because he had nothing to say, but because he was worried that if he continued to talk like this, the other party would be directly suffocated here. Although that wasn't bad, he wasn't satisfied yet.
It wasn't until Jacob recovered his anger that he continued, "It seems that your understanding of the nature of the church is only that much, otherwise you shouldn't be so shocked, obviously wanting to reprimand me for talking nonsense, but find that there are unquestionable things before and after. The clues I think everything about the battle of the devil and the will of the gods has been passed down from generation to generation from the pope, so that this goal... or belief will not be forgotten. However, power grabbers are naturally afraid of witches, let alone The last wish of the first Pope, even the past 400 years, dare not mention it. He keeps claiming to fight for mankind, but how many believers in the entire Holy City of Hermes know about this?”
"It's a pity that Graycastle is different... In Neverwinter, this kind of news is not a secret, every minister of mine knows the existence of the devil, and the plan for the battle against the divine will is also written into the policy outline, from farmers to blacksmiths, All the territorial people are fighting for it, and this is also the biggest difference between me and you! It can be said that a few years ago, I was preparing to resist the end of mankind." Roland looked at the other party's iron blue with great interest. Face, "The church is the only savior of mankind? You are too high on yourself. Whether I can defeat this powerful enemy or not, at least one thing is certain."
He walked up to the old priest and said word by word, "The church can't even win against me, how can the confidence come from that it can save all mankind? Don't be delusional!"
"We..." Jacob's expression froze for a moment, and then the blood quickly faded, his face turned from blue to white in an instant, as if there were no words that could be lethal. Obviously he didn't think about such a problem, he was just deceiving himself. It was like pressing down in the bottom of his heart and turning a blind eye, and now he was suddenly exposed, and his last persistence was also declared to collapse.
The old priest slowly collapsed to the ground, and no longer had the solemnity and arrogance he had when he appeared on the stage.
"Take him back to the prison," Roland waved his hand, "it's useless to send him to the mine at his age, let him live well. When the red moon comes, let him see with his own eyes how the people of Greycastle fought against the devil. Hopefully, at that moment, he will remember how to repent to the gods."
"Yes, Your Majesty." The soldier forcibly lifted Jacob up and stepped back with his arms in between.
"Also, well done." Roland looked at Isabella, "If it weren't for you, the Holy City wouldn't have returned to order so quickly."
The latter rarely looked away and said a little hastily, "You... don't you mind at all? I issue an order in the name of the Pope's representative to unite those who have been abandoned."
He had learned from the reports of Edith, Falconface and Isabella herself about making up a new history, completely dividing the church in two, whom the Pearl of the North had greatly admired, and believed that it was Not only does it have the hope of bringing the old and new holy cities under the jurisdiction of Greycastle, but it can also fully absorb the influence accumulated by the church for hundreds of years. Even if the fugitives set up their own fire, facing Roland who actually controlled Hermes, even if it was true, it would be false.
Roland thought more realistically. This plateau is located in the middle of the Desolate Mountain Range, opposite the big gap, which is a strategic location that must be defended in the Battle of Divine Will. The original intention of attacking Hermes was to replace it. Now that the original human resources can be used to save the next part of the expenses, it is naturally a better thing.
"Why should I mind if it turns out to be effective?" he smiled, "but even so, the sentence to be served cannot be waived."
"I never thought about that..." Isabella said quickly.
"Of course, it can't be without any reward," he waved his hand. "If you need to appear as an agent in the future, you can enjoy the treatment that matches your status on that day, how about that?"
"The agent's... treatment?"
"In layman's terms, it should be regarded as the hand of the former prime minister or the king." Roland smiled, "Of course it does not include duties and powers, it is just simple food, accommodation and transportation. For example, the spacious luxury suite, the cuisine provided by the royal chef, and the There are all-you-can-eat Chaos drinks, etc. If you don't want these, you can also exchange for Golden Dragon rewards"
"No, Your Majesty," Isabella shook her head, "the first one is fine... I mean, do it your way."
"Well, then it's decided." He said happily.
…
As the main force of the First Army joined the search operation, the details of this strange city were also presented to Roland little by little.
He was surprised to find that the old priest's "untouched" is not an exaggeration. Except for the collapsed Hermes Cathedral, the other buildings are basically intact, and the broken part of the city wall has been repaired. The trebuchets are also preserved.
The large number of maddening pills mentioned by Isabella were also quietly stored in the underground cellar. Thinking that Zero planned to use millions of mad warriors to fight the devil to the death, Roland was glad that she was fortunate enough not to take this step.
After counting the number, a fire broke out on the Wanzhang city wall, burning all the pills, and all the remaining residues were pushed down the wall and solidified with the permafrost. At this point, the maddening army that worried him spread. The matter finally came to an end.
And the results of the search report are far more than that.
such as food.
such as weapons.
New supplies are discovered every day, and their numbers are enough to arm several Royal Capital Knights. It's no wonder that the Lord of Dawn, An Pein Moya, and his vassals couldn't hold back, and ran over thousands of miles to try to rob them. Roland found that, apart from the golden dragon and jewelry, the church's top management did not take any strategic materials with them when they evacuated collectively. This also confirmed the statement that they would not come back from this trip. Well.
The behemoth that was entrenched in the northwest of Graycastle has finally vanished and the dust has settled.
Roland also relaxed, and what he had to do after that was to wait for the iron axe to clear the eastern border, lead the army to gather on the border of the neighboring country, cooperate with the main force to launch a two-sided offensive, and attack the Kingdom of Dawn together.
Since it was rare to have time to relax, he planned to take a good tour of this territory that had been run by the church for hundreds of years. After all, the Holy City of Hermes was not complete in the fragments of memory.
And the place he wanted to go most was undoubtedly the Reflection Church in the Land of Illusions mentioned by Isabella. It was through the replay of the phantom that the legendary starfall queen Akalis realized the inheritance of beliefs spanning a hundred years; it was also there that Zero completed the transformation from the pure to the pope.