“Of course, this is the foundation of our cooperation,” the Queen smiled.
“What is your next task for the Black Sail Fleet?” Ryan asked.
“Let’s leave the discussion about the plans concerning the next step until later, for now, we should all take a look at a good show which is about to play out.” Garcia clapped her hands, instructing her personal guard, “Bring her in.”
Not long after, two armored guards led a woman with her hands tied at her back into the temple.
She was about thirty years old, had average looks, with messy brown hair scattered over her cheeks and wore the golden robe of the Church. It was of exquisite workmanship and was made out of materials which could generally only be worn by the Hermes’ Archbishops. However, right now, this gorgeous robe had been ripped in several places, and was stained with blood.
“This woman is an… Archbishop?”
“Yes,” the Queen of Clearwater raised the corner of her lips, “I have gone to several of the local nobility and made them confirm whether she was indeed one of the Church’s three Archbishops, Excellency Heather.” She looked at the other woman and asked, “How about it, am I telling the truth?”
“…” Heather did not answer, but Ryan could see a strong ridicule and disdain within her eyes.
Apparently, Garcia had also seen the expression within her eyes and thus chuckled twice, “I already knew that you wouldn’t surrender so easily, that’s also the reason why I was so kind and took you to the church. It was so that I could bring you back to your Kingdom of God. Here you may beg for God’s redemption as you beg me for forgiveness. First, I will slowly cut off your fingers. Then I will go on to your four limbs and then I will destroy all five of your senses. This way you will fully experience the suffering and helplessness of the citizens of the Port of Clearwater’s for yourself.”
“And afterward?” the female Archbishop suddenly asked, “What will you do when you are crushed by the Church’s army? Are you intending to drift across the sea for the rest of your life, never to come close to shore ever again?”
“It is needless for you to worry about this,” Garcia waved towards the guards. “In comparison, the Church’s Army is nowadays also attacking the walls of the Wolfsheart Kingdom, and in this way turning Hermes into an undefended city. This should be much more important for you to think about this than about my personal destiny. I might be unable to set foot on the land of the New Holy City. However, I should at least be able to reach the ruins of the Old Holy City at the foot of the plateau. You should already have heard that the water of the Styx’s River in Graycastle’s extreme south, it’s easy to light, but hard to extinguish. This time I’ve taken a whole shipload with me.”
One of the personal guards pulled out his dagger, approached the Bishop laying on the ground and cut off two of her fingers.
Heather, however, merely bite her teeth not releasing any shout.
Seeing this, the Queen of Clearwater climbed up the flight of steps, sat on the large throne, used her right hand to support her chin and showed an expression that was full of interest.
… soon three other fingers were cut off, in this way her left hand had now been turned into a bare meat palm which made beads of sweat appear over Heather’s forehead.
“Must you do this?” Kabala shook her head, “If you don’t want to intimidate the enemy or receive intelligence via torture, this kind of pure torment is unnecessary.”
“Unnecessary?” Garcia laughed coldly, “You should ask her what they do with all the witches who fall into the Church’s hands? But I guess you wouldn’t be interested in knowing this.”
“Hahaha…” At that time, Heater, having already lost all her fingers, suddenly began to laugh, “You’re simply unable to understand the greatness of the Church. And clearly, you will never understand how important the Holy City actually is. Ignorance is your lifelong companion, even on the eve of your destructing, you will still be unaware of it! Hermes will let you see what it means to wield true power — besides destruction, there is no other end for people who go against the Church!”
“Is that so…” Garcia raised her legs and smiled. “Then I will have to wait and see, won’t I?”
Until the Archbishop had died, she never cried out any plea for mercy. However, what surprised Ryan even more, was that she had never cried for God either, or begged for his salvation. At the end, when Heather was already losing her consciousness due to the excessive loss of blood, her expression turned from cold and detached to dreadful. As if she wasn’t suffering any punishment, but was rather standing at the sideline and looking at a farce which had nothing to do with her — within her two eyes, Ryan though he could already see his own doomed future.
Feeling this kind of indescribable oppressing feeling, almost made him feel breathless.
“Chop off her head and hang it over the church’s door.” After confirming the Bishop’s death, Garcia gave an order. She then looked to Ryan, “Now, we can begin to talk about the next step.”
“Yes, His Majesty,” he forcefully suppressed the discomfort within his chest. “Do you intend to attack Hermes?”
“Yes, but we won’t dispatch our whole army.” She spread out a portable leather map, “Taking with it the least required amount of sailors and the Eastern Region’s slaves, the Black Sail Fleet will follow the River westwards, and go to the Old Holy City. However, we will instead directly go south, crossing Eternal Winter’s border, with Wolfsheart Kingdom’s capital as our destination”.
“Wolfs… heart?” Ryan got started.
“Wolf King Woolf and I have already reached an agreement,” Garcia explained, “In case I help him ward off the Church, he will give me a hand in taking over the whole Kingdom of Eternal Winter. So if the Church does not recall their troops, the ships loaded with fierce Snow Powder and Styx river-water will turn the Old Holy City into a sea of flames — unlike the New Holy City, which is surrounding by high city walls, the old city does not have any walls. Thus, without enough manpower, they won’t be able to stop the slaves’ attack from all directions.”
“However if they retreat, the western border of the Wolfsheart Kingdom will be able to receive breathing room, and with the joined border of the two countries, we will also be able to work together against the Church in the future!”
“Indeed,” the Queen of Clearwater nodded, “We will also be able to obtain a firm grip over Endless Winter for ourselves.”
Chapter 250 End of Midsummer
Seeing that the second month of summer was coming to an end, Border Town was on the verge of greeting summer’s final month, which was also the hottest of all of the months, all the more leaving Roland in a mood where he didn’t wish to leave the castle.
Aside from using it to make gunpowder, the rest of the saltpeter brought in by Margaret had been used to lower the room’s temperature — nowadays a bucket of saltpeter with a kettle soaking in it had been arranged within almost all of the castle’s rooms. This way, not only were they able to show the effects of endothermic cooling, but it also allowed them some ice water which they could drink to quench their thirst. Only in this way was he able to keep from sweating as he sat in the office each day.
With the exception of Anna, he had called all of the other witches to stop their work. Outside of their daily practice and learning, they were mainly gathered in the hall of the first floor, either chatting or comparing their skills in Gwent against one another, displaying an appearance that was of both harmony and happiness. However, Anna… It wasn’t that Roland didn’t want her to rest, it was rather that she didn’t hate the heat at all. Compared to holding ingots which were still red from the fire directly in her hands, the hot temperature of summer was nothing to her. Even when standing next to the fireside and producing steel for the whole afternoon, she did not even shed one drop of sweat.