"Rules must be obeyed!!"
As soon as the heavy door of the conference room opened, everyone heard a thunderous voice coming from inside. The voice was so loud that everyone felt their eardrums buzzing.
However, none of the archbishops were surprised by this. They just lowered their heads and walked slowly into the hall in two rows.
The meeting of the archbishops did not wait for all the archbishops to arrive before it began. Instead, the central bishops would first express their opinions and views, and then the formal meeting would begin.
To put it bluntly, the central bishops would first resolve their differences internally, and then discuss with the outside. But now it seemed that this process did not go so smoothly.
The central bishops were composed of a total of nine people, and these nine people were the supreme rulers of the nine temples.
Internally, they were called the Supreme Bishops, and the person who spoke was the Supreme Bishop of the Mona Shrine, the God of Harvest, Julian.
Unlike the god he believed in, this Supreme Bishop had a bad temper and a loud voice. To be honest, it was not unreasonable for people who did not know him to mistake him for a servant of the God of War.
After all, looking at him, he looked like a believer of a god who prayed for a good harvest and guaranteed a harvest.
"The practices of the Temple of the Eye of Truth have already deviated from the rules of the Church of Holy Light. Not only are they interfering in the mundane affairs of the mortal world, but they are even sinking deeper and deeper into it. This is wrong!
We must immediately make them stop this behavior and withdraw immediately!! "
Supreme Bishop Julian's voice shook the entire hall as if it was trembling slightly, and dust fell from time to time. Hearing his words, the other archbishops held their breath and did not say a word.
The Supreme Bishop's temper was famous for being irascible, and anyone who fell into his hands would be unlucky.
The entire council hall was semi-circular, looking like a planetarium. The ring of seats below belonged to the archbishops, and the Supreme Bishops stood at the top of the center of the ring.
At this moment, they were sitting on the nine chairs at the top of the ring, and Urhiya stood up agitatedly. Looking at his trembling body, one would really wonder if he would accidentally fall down and die.
"We did not violate the rules."
The Supreme Bishop of the Temple of the Eye of Truth, Murray, obviously would not accept the big hat that the other party had put on him.
"The truth is that the current Karkhalan region has indeed fallen into a state of vacuum, and someone must be in charge of protecting order.
The Soros Family is not to be trusted, and since the 'National Freedom Army' is willing to come to our doorstep, hoping that the Temple of Light will help them maintain order, then it is our duty.
No matter what, those people are rebels, after all. I think Bishop Urhiya knows very well that even if they wanted to, it would be difficult for them to manage a territory well.
Not to mention, the Holy Church has just suffered a series of hardships. If the Holy Church still doesn't stand out at this time, then where is our prestige? "
"Your actions have already shaken the Holy Church's reputation!"
Urhiya obviously disagreed with this. He snorted coldly and yelled.
He looked as if his beard was about to explode.
"During this period of time, we have continuously received inquiries from many nobles. They are worried that the Holy Church will change the current situation and become a threat to them!
If we continue like this, then those nobles might unite to resist the Holy Church! "
"Not only that …"
At this moment, the highest bishop of the Great Mother Chatti, Helena, who was sitting on the other side, also spoke worriedly.
As the spokesperson of the Great Mother, she looked different from Urhiya. She gave off the feeling of a plump middle-aged woman with beautiful eyebrows.
A khaki-colored robe wrapped around her "big and fat" body, making the highest bishop look a little more stout.
Her voice was not as loud as Urhiya's, but it was also filled with helplessness and a sigh.
"Some nobles have already begun to reduce their donations to the Temple of Light. If this continues, the expenses of the entire Temple of Light will become more and more difficult, and the Spring Festival next spring will also be difficult …"
That's right, the Holy Church was a huge organization, but unfortunately, they were not immortals who did not eat food. These priests also could not learn the Taoists' techniques of fasting.
It was the same for holy knights. They needed to maintain their weapons, raise their mounts, and buy equipment. Where would all this money come from?
Falling from the sky?
Digging it out from the ground?
That was naturally impossible. Begging for alms?
Begging?
Priests were not monks, and holy knights were not beggars.
Who had ever seen a holy knight holding a sword in one hand and a bowl in the other?
Where would the money come from?
By relying on the donations of the commoners?
Although the pious commoners were willing and willing to donate, the cruel reality was that their annual donations could not compare to the charity given by the nobles in a day.
If the Holy Church only relied on the commoners, they would probably have starved to death long ago.
Money was not everything, but it was impossible to not have money.
Even the Holy Church was unable to escape this iron law.
"That's not important!"
On the other side, a highest bishop snorted and reprimanded.
"The Holy Church fights for the gods, and we must follow the will of the gods!
The holy knights once swore in front of the statues of the nine saints to protect the weak, promote justice, and protect the good.
And what the Church of True Eye is doing is correct!
Without them, it was very likely that Karkhalan would be plunged into the endless flames of war and disasters!
All of this is for justice, and I think there is no problem with what the Church of True Eye is doing! "
The one who refuted Helena was the highest bishop of the Church of the God of War, Carl. He was also the only bishop who wore armor and looked more like a holy knight than a bishop.
Being exposed to the sun and wind all year round had caused his skin to be tanned. As a believer of the gods who lived and died for war, he was obviously dissatisfied with the other two's worries.
This was not surprising. The Church of the God of War had been desolate for a long time, and they had relied on self-sufficiency to get to where they were now. Naturally, they did not need to care about anyone's feelings. As for the nobles, they did not even care.
Not to mention that the Church of the God of War had a rather bad relationship with the Valkyrie Duchy. They did not care about offending even more nobles.
"But, I think this method is inappropriate …"
Sitting on another chair, an old man wearing a dark blue robe shook his head slightly.
"Now is not the time to discuss legitimacy. We must think of a way to dispel the worries of the nobles and ensure that the Church of Holy Church will still adhere to the creed of not interfering in power struggles under any circumstances …"
"But, I don't think this is a good idea."
The half-elf woman sitting opposite the old man did not seem to agree. She wore a green robe and held a silver cup in her hand. It was filled with clear spring water. If one looked closely, they would see that the water seemed to be constantly flowing out, but miraculously, the cup did not overflow at all.
"Power struggles will always involve the commoners. How can we let evil spread like this?
What happened in Tarkus City is too crazy. This is not the result of the Church of Holy Church's intervention, but the result of the Church of Holy Church not intervening.
If we had intervened earlier, the nobles would not have been so presumptuous and brazenly colluded with the undead to do such evil things … "
Hearing this, the archbishops did not say anything. Instead, they exchanged glances with each other.
No one who could sit in this position was an idiot.
They quickly learned from the debate above that the Central Bishops were having a very sharp conflict of opinion.
Among them, the God of War and the Green Goddess were obviously in favor of intervening.
This was not surprising. This matter was first promised by the Temple of Eye of Truth, so they naturally would not go back on their words.
The God of War had been declining for so many years and no longer relied on the nobles to make a living. Moreover, the God of War was also the temple that produced the most Holy Knights. Naturally, they were disgusted by this kind of evil and couldn't wait to destroy it with their own hands.
As for the Green Goddess, as the Temple of Nature of the Elves and half-elves, she had no interest in the twists and turns between humans. Therefore, it was easy for her to express her support.
Anyway, to the Green Goddess, those who believed in her were basically in the forest, and the nobles would not come to her. Therefore, the Green Goddess naturally did not need to listen to the nobles.
Naturally, they would say what they wanted to say. Moreover, the Nature Gods themselves loved life and had an innate hatred towards the undead. With such a thing happening, it was impossible for them to stand on the opposite side of Eye of Truth.
On the other hand, the God of Harvest, the Great Mother, and the Silver Saintess objected because of this.
These three temples were closely related to human activities, and because of the attributes of these temples, they were inextricably linked to the rulers of various places.
Therefore, they were more worried about the nobles.
To put it bluntly, all of this was because of benefits.
It was three against three, but that wasn't the main point.
Thinking until here, almost everyone turned their gaze to the owners of the three chairs at the highest point.
The Sun God, the highest bishop of the Goddess of Forest and the Goddess of Water.
Only they could put an end to this dispute.
As though sensing everyone's gazes, the three highest-ranking bishops exchanged glances with one another. Then, an old man in a white robe with a sun emblem sewn on it stood up. He glanced at the crowd and spoke.
"I understand what all of you are thinking. In fact, what all of you said makes sense.
However, this is only our guess, after all. For such matters, I think it's better to let those who experienced it speak for themselves. "
As he spoke, the old man raised his hand.
Shortly after, the sound of the door opening was heard. Then, a tall, heavy wooden door opened slowly, and a young lady in a holy knight's armor walked out.
She walked quickly to the altar of the Holy Temple and bowed respectfully to the people in front of her.
"Now, the nine holy servants are here, my child."
Looking at the holy knight, the old man's smile became much gentler.
"Can you tell us your name?"
"Of course, Your Excellency."
Hearing the old man's words, the holy knight lifted her head, looked forward, and said.
"I am a holy knight belonging to the Church of the Eye of Truth … Nadia Irene Sophie."