The Queen of Madara and a priest of the Goddess of the Dead Moon stood beside the podium. The priest was wearing a black and purple robe with a black cloak that was fastened with copper buckles on his shoulders. There was a black dragon pattern that extended to the bottom of the robe. Brando's pattern represented the status of the priests of the Goddess of the Dead Moon in the Holy Temple. The lower level priests usually wore purple moon patterns, while the higher level priests could use cats or skeletons — the difference between the ordinary priests and the executioners. The higher level priests and priests could use spiders, hydras, and waves (the undead worshipped the Sea of the Dead Moon). However, only one person in the entire Dead Moon Holy Temple could have a dragon pattern, and that was the Lord Officiant of the Dead Moon Holy Temple.
Brando squinted his eyes. He did not expect that the two most powerful figures in Madara would meet him at the same time. Although he could not remember who the Lord Officiant of the Dead Moon Holy Temple was, he at least understood that in this era, the Lord Officiant's authority was not below the Queen of Madara. He might even be more powerful. After all, before the birth of the Mercury Staff, the Dead Moon Holy Temple had enjoyed a transcendent status in the Kingdom of the Dead for thousands of years.
Seeing the two of them, Andrea naturally shut her mouth.
Brando bowed to the two of them. The Queen was indifferent, but the Lord Officiant of the Dead Moon Holy Temple returned the greeting. The etiquette of the undead was very special. They clenched their right fist and placed it on their chest, and lowered their head naturally as if they were mourning. This process lasted for two to three seconds, and was the highest etiquette for the undead to show their respect for the eternal death and rest.
The Lord Officiant was a human. As everyone knew, the Goddess of the Dead Moon, who represented eternal death and rest, could only be a human priest. There were no undead in the Dead Moon Holy Temple. Even the lowest level staff and apprentices in the Holy Temple were all humans. This was also a miracle in the Empire. But for the past thousand years, the Holy Temple had been operating according to this rule. The Goddess favored the kingdom of the dead, but she would not allow the dead to appear in her kingdom. The undead were well aware of this and adhered to this rule. Day after day, the clergy of the Holy Temple of the Dying Moon gradually became the majority of the human dark nobles in Madara.
However, although they were humans, Brando knew that this did not mean that they shared the same interests as most of the creatures on the continent. Just like most undead wizards were humans, they were also the enemies of Erouine, Saint-Ausol, and Cruz. Not only that, but they were also the leaders and decision-makers of all wars. they also happened to be the ones who caused the most disasters of the Kingdoms.
The Dead Moon Holy Temple played the same role. In Wohnde, every war had a religious background, and the undead were no exception. Before the Mercury Staff appeared, they were the ones who united the undead and launched an attack on Wohnde. After the Mercury Staff appeared, they once again stood behind the scenes. Brando knew that without the support of the Dead Moon Holy Temple, the Queen would not have been able to unify the Land of the Dead in such a short time and become the ruler of Madara in name.
In the following decades, the Dead Moon Holy Temple stood firmly behind her. They repeatedly sent down the Goddess of the Dead Moon's oracles to remove all obstacles for the Mercury Staff until this huge Empire was established.
After Brando bowed, he saw Delfien standing at the side. The Prime Minister's daughter noticed Brando's gaze and gave him a look, indicating that the negotiation was successful. Brendel heaved a sigh of relief. He was more afraid that the Queen would go back on her words. Even though the Mercury Staff was still in his hands and he still had the upper hand, who knew if this domineering woman would disregard everything and attack them after returning to her familiar territory?
In the past two months, he had been warned more than once by the Queen's actions, which told him what it meant to be unpredictable.
The Queen of Madara naturally noticed the subtle interaction between Brando and Delfien, but she did not care at all. "This is Archbishop Philip." She briefly introduced him to Brando. From the Queen's cold tone, Brando understood that the person in front of him was the 'Sincere' Philip.
The latter was the Archbishop of the Dead Moon Holy Temple from the end of the First Era to the first forty years of the Second Era. His greatest achievement was to support the Supreme of Madara to unify the Empire. However, Brando did not know when exactly he became the Archbishop of the Dead Moon Holy Temple, but he did not expect him to have already ascended to this position.
In history, Philip was a very low-key person. He was born in a dark noble family in the Realm of Eternal Death. He joined the Holy Temple at the age of twelve and became a clergy apprentice. After that, his path of promotion was not remarkable. He rarely made mistakes and was devout and deeply trusted by his mentors. His path of promotion was not smooth, but he did not encounter any major setbacks either. It was as if he was diligent and diligent all the way to the center of the Holy Temple.
The process of him ascending to the position of Head Priest was even more lackluster, because in this era, the Undead Moon Temple could not find a more outstanding genius. His only advantage was that he was more suitable than the other competitors, and because of this, he obtained the most revered position in the Undead Moon Kingdom.
Logically speaking, such a person should lack the opportunistic nature of great people. To put it bluntly, he lacked the courage to stake everything on a single throw. He should be moderate and cautious, and like to stick to the old rules. However, such a person had stood firmly behind the Mercury Staff from the beginning. Even when the power of the Emperor of Madara had not yet emerged, he had never wavered. His whole life was to contribute to the Mercury Staff's efforts to unify the Dead Moon Empire. According to the joking words of many players, with the support of the 'good old man' Philip, even a pig should have become the Emperor of Madara.
This saying was not without reason. Before the rise of the Mercury Staff, the Dead Moon Holy Temple held almost all the power of speech in the Dark Kingdom. As the Archbishop of the Dead Moon Holy Temple, the only difference between him and the later Emperor of the Empire was that he did not have absolute control over the Undead Lords. Other than that, he was no different from the Supreme.
However, a person who held such power and influence had chosen to create a person who could stand above the Temple. It was as if he had taken the initiative to hand over the authority of the Temple to someone else. Some people believed that he did this to achieve the unification of the Empire, but there were also people who questioned whether he had such lofty ambitions. There were also people who believed that he had received an oracle from the Goddess of the Dead Moon. However, there were all kinds of theories that could not describe the Lord Officiator of the Dead Moon Temple. Until he stepped down from the position of Officiator of the Dead Moon Temple and gave it to someone else, all the legends about him seemed to be a confusing puzzle.
Speaking of which, this was the first time Brando had met this famous person in history. However, in this era, there were too many heroes and legends. At least compared to the woman beside him, Archbishop Philip was nothing. In his mind, this Archbishop's presence was exactly like that. His experience was like a legend, but it could not stand up to careful scrutiny. The feeling he gave people was that he was very ordinary. Compared to ordinary people, he was mysterious and unfathomable. However, compared to the real legendary heroes of this era, he was just so-so.
But no matter what, anyone who had heard of this person would more or less be curious about him. They were curious about what kind of belief he had in his heart at this moment, and what kind of belief supported him to stand firmly behind the Mercury Staff until the Dark Kingdom was unified.
At this moment, Brando looked at the Archbishop and could not help but have such a thought in his mind.
Philip seemed to be a little dull and did not notice his gaze. After returning the greeting to Brando, he took off the hat of his robe, revealing a somewhat pale face. It was the face of a middle-aged man without any distinguishing features. There were some grayish-brown patches on his cheeks, which looked like livor mortis. Due to the long-term erosion of dark magic, this was a prominent feature of the clergy of Kleis.
But it was this seemingly submissive middle-aged man. After Her Majesty the Queen of Madara introduced him to Brando, she turned her head and looked at him, as if she was asking for his opinion.
Brando noticed this strange scene. He could not help but look at the old man. He saw Philip nodding stiffly.
Only then did Her Majesty the Queen turn her head and looked at him. "Count, these days there have been too many troublemakers, so I can't spare time to receive you all. If there is any neglect, you won't blame me, will you?"
Brando naturally would not take Her Majesty's polite words seriously. He shook his head.
Her Majesty the Queen nodded with satisfaction. "That's very good. The promise I made to you on the battlefield that day has now been fulfilled. I believe Mr. Count will not turn a blind eye to the sincerity shown by Madara, will you?"
Brando nodded again.
"Now, the army of Madara has withdrawn from Erouine. Those sinners that Mr. Count wants to punish have now been handed over to you. I have also fulfilled all of your requests. I have made a huge concession, but I believe Mr. Count also understands that a deal is mutual, right?"
For this sentence, Brando could be said to have been waiting for a long time. He knew that Her Majesty the Queen was not a person who would always give in. She appeared to be weak on one side, which could only mean that she must have other plans on the other side. But these days, he had not figured out why Her Majesty made such a big concession.
Perhaps in the eyes of others, it was to get back the Mercury Staff. But as the person involved, Brando knew very well that the Mercury Staff was handed to him by Her Majesty the Queen herself.
If that was the case, then she needed another explanation for what she had done that day.
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