Archbishop Hadro of the Brilliant White Church had been observing from the shadows all along.
Well, it wasn't quite right to say that they were observing from the shadows. The Silver Eagle Duchy was a tiny duchy and legally a part of the Valla Empire. That was why it wasn't given much attention, and the Brilliant White Church's church in the Silver Eagle Duchy didn't have many powerful sacred troops.
After the sacred troops sent to Sotimi were wiped out by Undead Oak and his men, and he learned from the Temple of Glory about the zombie dragon, Hadro immediately ordered the remaining sacred troops to focus on defending Tunaya, emphasizing the word cowardly.
He didn't pay much attention when the Players appeared in Tunaya as reinforcements invited by Angora, heir to the Faust Family.
After all, their appearance was just too lowly.
Their varied equipment made it obvious that they weren't a proper army, but a ragtag mercenary force instead. Moreover, some of their equipment appeared to be defenseless.
Could it be that the idiotic Angler fish mask had other special abilities?
Archbishop Hadro had suspected that they were elite sacred troops from other churches, pretending to be a ragtag force so that he would be careless, and that their church could seize the opportunity to occupy the most inconspicuous city in Tunaya. In fact, there were many bishops in smaller cities who had saved their cities in times of crisis, gaining the support of the citizens and even nobles, and finally changing ownership from the hands of major churches like the Brilliant White Church and the Temple of Glory.
Still, the archbishop gave up on that idea after carefully observing them.
After all, their demeanor was completely different from a proper army, let alone elite members of a church. They were clearly amateurs who had never been professionally trained, and couldn't help laughing out loud at the confessions of their believers.
Comparing them to the elites of his own church was basically belittling the elites of the Brilliant White Church!
Angora probably wanted to use them as cannon fodder to delay the zombie dragon's assault on Tunaya as much as possible, so that the major churches could dispatch champions from other churches to save the day.
Archbishop Harold couldn't help but look at the future Duke in a different light.
To him, compared to a merciful but indecisive lord who could do nothing in the face of all sorts of terrifying disasters because he was worried about the lives of a few civilians, it was clear that a lord who could harden his heart and use the lives of mercenaries as cannon fodder was much better than a lord who could fight for more time and a higher chance of victory.
After all, unlike politicians, clergy had few paths to promotion. Harold, on the other hand, was probably tied to Tunaya for the rest of his life, or the Brilliant White Church's Holy City wouldn't have so easily given him the title of archbishop.
In the Brilliant White Church, it was an open secret that anyone who was appointed as an archbishop in another territory would never be able to return to the Holy City unless there were special circumstances.
Even in the Holy City, there weren't many archbishops. Hence, they couldn't possibly let outsiders like Harold return to the Holy City and cause trouble for the other archbishops.
After all, compared to other territories, living in the Holy City was much closer to the gods they believed in, and it was easier for them to receive the blessings of the gods …
That was why Hadro and Tunaya were now bound together for good or ill. And Angora's way of doing things suited the archbishop's taste. He even had the thought of persuading Angora to join the Brilliant White Church, and if need be, he could even take him in as his personal disciple!
Still, Angora's attitude was rather ambiguous at the moment. Harold believed that the Temple of Glory must have whispered evil into the future Silver Eagle Duke's ears, and it wasn't time yet. He had to spend some time to change Angora's mind, and show him the 'true face' of the Temple of Glory when the time comes. When that happens, it wouldn't be so difficult to recruit him.
Back to the comical ragtag army.
Harold did not know what Angora had promised these ragtag troops that they would be so happy and eager to fight even if they had to face the terrifying dragon (Harold felt that these ragtag troops were idiots with no vision), but he was certain that they would all die under the dragon's kiss.
He had thought that the ragtag army would be able to buy him half a day or so. After all, dragons were exceptional existences even among Extraordinary races. Even bone dragons, rotting dragons, and zombie dragons, which had been transformed from dragons into undead, were extremely powerful, and without the help of mages or hymns, the average elite army would be no match for them unless they had the same amount of numbers.
Moreover, the Kristoff Mountains were very close to Tunaya. For dragons that could fly, it would take them less than half an hour to get there.
But according to the information from the believers he had sent out as scouts, the seemingly weak, ragtag army had actually managed to keep a Dead Red Dragon at the Kristoff Mountains for an entire day. Even now, the Dead Red Dragon still hadn't left the Whistling Corridor!
Even the sacred corps sent by the Temple of Glory was no better than that!
In truth, he didn't know that the Temple of Glory's sacred corps were even worse. Caught unprepared, they didn't last long against the Dead Red Dragon before they were wiped out. Still, the Dead Red Dragon Sakasugi was still using its spell-like abilities to investigate the modern world and delayed its departure for Tunaya. Otherwise, the Players would have had to face the Dead Red Dragon in the city.
This kind of battle record confirmed Harold's previous guess.
It appeared that the ragtag troops were indeed the sacred army of another church, and the elites of the elites at that. If compared to the Brilliant White Church, they were probably on the same level as the Pure White Court's Obliteration Mechanism or the Heretic Tribunal on the thirteenth floor of the Underground Sanctuary. Naturally, the elites of the elites of a small church would never compare to the two supernatural organizations of the Brilliant White Church.
Be that as it may, those members should have been rare champions. It was a pity that the hierarchy of their church had made the wrong decision to bury every single one of them in the Kristoff Mountains for a bishop's seat in a small city like Tunaya.
Harold smirked coldly. Even if they succeeded in seizing the position of the Church in the end, without these strong people holding the line, the position of the Bishops Council would probably not be stable, right?
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Chapter 236
The Archbishop's Doubts
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