"How could this be? How could this be …"
In the past 15 minutes, Elwood kept repeating this sentence. At this moment, he was no longer as high-spirited as when he first took over as pope. It was as if he had aged 40 years overnight, and the wrinkles on his face were knitted together like a wrinkled orange peel.
Elwood had enough reasons to feel aggrieved. He clearly didn't do anything, but bad news came one after another. The incident with Dinah was not over yet, and now the board of the Magic Association had successfully slain a god under the leadership of Da Vinci.
Moreover, those lunatics had recorded the entire process with magic crystals. Now, the entire Dawn Continent was filled with the images of Pargos' fall.
It was impossible for Elwood to block the news even if he wanted to. These days, not only believers from all over the world, but even the middle and high-level members of the church were clamoring for him to come forward and explain. This was because there were experts from the church in the images, and Venner the Fifth, who was supposed to be enjoying his old age and had just gone out to visit friends some time ago, was among them.
What kind of role did the Church play in this matter? This was what everyone was eager to know now, and this question naturally fell on him, the pope.
However, at this moment, Elwood almost burst into tears. He, the nominal ruler of the Holy Alliance, actually got the news from the magic crystals of the Magic Association. He was even one step later than the residents of New Tylte.
In fact, after watching the images, Elwood was completely dumbfounded. The god's corpse in the Endless Forest Sea was a secret of the Magic Association, so in the eyes of most people, Pargos, the god of war who had died in Setta City, was the only god who had fallen in the mortal world.
Could those high and mighty eternal existences with endless life be killed by weak and insignificant humans who only had a lifespan of 100 years? How should one interpret the records in the Grimoire about the immortality and invincibility of the gods?
There were also the increasing number of Abyssal Cracks all over the world. Were they really the means that the gods used to destroy the human world as the Magic Association said? Where was the boundary between justice and evil?
People were eager for someone to stand up and give them an answer.
Elwood also wanted an answer.
The Pope looked at the emissary in front of him. He still remembered this young man named Horton. He was originally the child of the leader of a merchant group that did business between the Free city-state and the Holy Alliance. Unfortunately, they encountered pirates, and he was the only survivor of the entire merchant ship. The others, including his parents, were all killed by the pirates. Later, Horton was rescued by a temple frigate that passed by for a drill. At that time, he was only four and a half years old. The paladin on the ship originally planned to send him to the orphanage in Setevia, but in the end, Van 'er the Fifth decided to adopt him. This matter became a legend among the believers, and Elwood also knew about it.
All in all, Horton had been following the old pope since then. More than four years ago, Venner the Fifth resigned from his post and moved out of the Palace of Charity. Everyone had left him … well, at least it seemed so on the surface. Only Horton was still by his side, taking care of his daily life.
This young man did not have any position in the temple, but everyone knew that sometimes his words were more effective than a cardinal's, because in a sense, he represented the attitude of Venner the Fifth.
But this time, Elwood did not buy it. He snorted coldly. "Where's Venner the Fifth? Why didn't he come to me himself? Such a big thing happened, and he didn't even tell me in advance. Does he still have me, the pope, in his eyes?! " The more Elwood spoke, the angrier he became. In the past, he needed to use Venner the Fifth's prestige and connections to help him stabilize his position, but now he found that he was likely to have made a wrong judgment. Over the years, Venner the Fifth had brought him far more trouble than he had helped him.
Elwood somewhat regretted that he had boarded the pirate ship. He said angrily, "And at the end, why didn't you stop them and let them go just like that? Even if you couldn't do it, you could have at least put on an act … Listen, son, I've been through a lot of bad things, so I have enough experience. The situation now looks bad, there's no doubt, but it's not hopeless. The Magic Association can reveal their truth, and we can also change the story. The church has hundreds of millions of believers. We will eventually win this war, as long as we can unite. But the key is that you can't do this anymore. Every time, you wait until something happens before you come to me."
Horton stood aside and listened quietly, not interrupting Elwood's words until the latter stopped to catch his breath. Then he said, "It's too late. It's all over."
"What do you mean?" Elwood's face darkened. "Don't forget who made this mess. Do you think I'm willing to face this mess? I'm cleaning up your mess now!"
"Teacher, thank you very much for everything you've done for us."
Elwood grabbed Horton's collar and said, "Don't play this game anymore. Where's Van 'er the Fifth? I want to see him, now, immediately, right now."
His Holiness the Pope deliberately emphasized the last few words, but the young man in front of him did not change his expression.
"I'm sorry, but teacher has left."
"Left? Where did he go? How long will he be back? "
"Teacher left by ship three days ago from Setevia to the Elf World. I'm afraid … he won't come back," Horton said softly. "As I said before, it's over. We lost, Your Majesty."
"No, not yet. Even without you, I may not lose to those mages," Elwood said coldly.
"I'm not talking about the war between the church and the Magic Association." Horton shook his head.
"Then what is it? The Lionheart Empire? Given that your monster killed the son of Reinhardt the Seventh, it's indeed possible that he will hit us when we're down. "
"Your Majesty, don't you understand? From now on, there's only one war." The young man looked into the old man's eyes. "The war between mortals and gods, and this war has already begun. It's in Setta City. It's personally provoked by the Magic Association. We can't win at all."
Elwood opened his mouth wide and looked horrified. "What nonsense are you talking about? Isn't the incident in Setta City the fault of those mages? What does it have to do with others? The church has been faithfully carrying out the will of the gods … Impossible. They need us. They need us to help them collect faith and manage believers. "
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