The Lich of Glory Knight Spirit: Moving towards Krimasha!
Chapter 115 - 02: Setting Out (2)

Chapter 115: Chapter 02: Setting Out (2)

The end of the Holy Knight era did not bring the results the clergy had hoped for, namely a complete return to normalcy. Or to be more accurate, the situation became worse than during the Holy Knight era.

Gray had almost completely lost the support of the Lion King City residents, but the residents of White City continued to support him, even more so than before.

Ever since the Battle of White City, the people of the Beisher Duchy had looked down on the residents of Lion King City, with an attitude of "if you oppose it, I will support it."

"You are our Beisher Duchy’s Holy Knight! We will always support you! To hell with Lion King City! They are a bunch of ungrateful fools!"

"Holy Knight, when are we going to fight Lion King City? I’ve already prepared my two sons to join the army and fight for you!"

"Long live the Holy Knight!"

"When will our Duke Beisher declare himself king? Clergy? Ha, who needs their confirmation?"

During his days back in White City, these were the words Gray heard the most.

As for the rumors that Shelley was a demon... oh, no one believed them. At least, no one in White City believed them because Shelley grew up in White City. The Gruglu family was famous for its stubbornness, and the people of White City knew her too well. Demons didn’t look like that.

Whether admitted or not, the Isaac Kingdom was effectively divided. Not only the Beisher Duchy, but even the territories of Duke Fernandes and Duke Tangjis, which still had complete combat strength, had utterly shaken off Lion King Palace’s control. Even some earls directly under the Royal Family had done the same.

It could be said that the Sharp Royal Family was now completely ruined.

Benedict II couldn’t even control the lands directly under the Royal Family, nor could he form a complete army. The rebellion against the nobles who had turned away from the Royal Family was a distant dream.

Of course, for the clergy, these were minor issues. The clergy didn’t have time to manage them.

In fact, as long as the three major dukes didn’t declare themselves kings, the division of the Isaac Kingdom wasn’t a concern for the clergy. They could ignore how many people starved by saying, "Suffering is to wash away the sins you’ve committed."

*You have to admit, professional cons always have a one-size-fits-all excuse to brush off reality.*

*And now, there was still some time before the real famine started.*

Now, what troubled the clergy were the southern nations.

Due to previous events, the clergy’s prestige in the southern nations rapidly declined. After Gray was forced to withdraw from Lion King City, the clergy thought their prestige would quickly restore. However, it wasn’t the case.

"A Holy Knight who poses a threat to us is certainly awful. But now he’s not a threat anymore. Why do you think we would need the clergy just because the Holy Knight is gone?"

The originally underground alliances quickly collapsed after Gray withdrew from this struggle, visible to the naked eye.

The nobles, including various royal families, who had been suppressed by the clergy, quickly seized the narrative that had once belonged to the clergy. They did not wish for a return to normalcy; they desired real royal power instead of royal power under clerical rule. Thus began a grand show of false loyalty and hidden dissent.

*Shelley’s transformation in front of Pearce Cathedral was witnessed by countless people, proving there was a demon at Gray’s side. This was supposed to be a fatal blow to Gray’s prestige, if the clergy had properly promoted it.*

*However, it resulted in a blow to the clergy’s authority because part of its propaganda machine had defected.*

*This matter became somewhat complicated.*

*Gray’s fiancée being a demon was irrefutable evidence that the Holy Knight had already fallen. While the clergy quietly promoted this point, the nobles who already harbored ill intent towards the clergy posed an unanswerable question: "So, why don’t you directly revoke his title as Holy Knight? If a Holy Knight has fallen, shouldn’t the clergy immediately rise and initiate a holy war? If the clergy doesn’t start a holy war, can we assume that the Pontiff has also fallen with the Holy Knight?"*

*One sentence was enough to silence all the clergy who had just been gleefully mocking Gray. Every slap they’d intended for Gray’s face landed on their own. The clergy’s prestige declined even further.*

*Who could have thought?*

*When the Holy Knight opposed them, their prestige waned. When the Holy Knight’s prestige declined, their prestige was again bound to his and continued waning.*

*Ultimately, the real issue was the ambiguous relationship: the clergy couldn’t acknowledge Gray’s actions yet couldn’t revoke his title as Holy Knight. Without the Holy Spirit’s decree, no one could do such a thing.*

The political network woven for thousands of years on the continent, separate from divine faith, suddenly became a rope tied around the clergy’s neck.

With the clergy’s suppression lifted, the royal families and nobles in various countries started their own maneuvers, keeping the clergy very busy. Meanwhile, the Beisher Duchy, which should have been at the center of the whirlpool, was inexplicably peaceful and harmonious.

After all, there was no clergy here, only the Holy Knight. And between the Holy Knight Gray representing divine power and Duke Beisher Yilin representing secular power, there was no conflict.

At the end of June, Gray returned to White City. In July, he reorganized internally and settled the troops loyal to him. Though White City’s finances were tight and couldn’t support so many troops long-term, as far as food went, the Beisher Duchy, situated further south than Lion King City and blessed with perennial good weather, was definitely more than sufficient.

In early August, Gray set out to seek support from other countries. His first stop was the Fides Kingdom to the west.

"The Fides Kingdom has the best relationship with us. Of course, the main reason is that we’ve never fought them. However, to get there, we must cross the Casesis Mountains," Yilin explained.

Thus, Gray now wandered the Casesis Mountains with his knight squad, carrying gifts for King Fides.

"Actually, I have a simpler solution," said Andrew, irritated by the mosquitoes in the mountain forests, "We don’t have to bring anything. Just you and I go. We sneak into the Fides Palace at midnight and shave the sleeping king’s head. The next day, he’ll agree to anything. He’ll worry that if he doesn’t, it’ll be his entire head missing next time."

"But that’s a threat, we can’t do that," Gray said seriously.

"If you can’t do it, I can. I can do it alone. In fact, sometimes the Pontiff asks me to do such things. Otherwise, how could a Blood Elf like me become the Chief Mage of the Mage Alliance? Divine faith, isn’t that what it’s all about?"

"That’s his divine faith, not mine. We must make them willingly offer food through exchange or promises. The people who help us out of good intentions shouldn’t suffer losses. Otherwise, we are encouraging malice," Gray said solemnly.

*Helpless, Andrew could only shrug and say,* "Alright, suit yourself. I don’t mind, but your bride may suffer."

Gray turned to see Shelley lagging behind.

"Wow! I got bitten again! This is outrageous!" Shelley was nearly collapsing from the mosquitoes’ harassment.

There’s no denying that the southern jungle was a nightmare for ordinary people, especially nobles.

Gray turned his horse and headed to the rear, quietly releasing some of his lich aura.

"Huh? What’s going on?" Shelley saw the mosquitoes that had been swarming around her scatter all of a sudden, looking astonished, "Why did they all fly away?"

"Because I’m near you," Gray said.

"Because you’re near me? Is it because you have the Holy Spirit’s blessing?" Shelley exclaimed, "That’s wonderful!"

A lich wasn’t something normal creatures would want to provoke.

Of course, the abnormal creatures were another matter. The Dwarf Bandits were still following closely behind.

"Boss, when are we going to make a move? We’ve been tailing them all day."

"Wait. With such big clients, we must be patient."

"So, Boss, when are we going to use our wits to take action?"

"Wait until I figure out how to use our wits!"

"Got it, Boss!"

The journey was monotonous and tedious, so boring that even Shelley began to yawn once there were no mosquitoes to bother her.

Gray, on the other hand, was not bored at all because Vivian and Catherine always had endless topics to argue about.

One step at a time, they had to walk the path regardless.

After a full day of walking, the sun finally began to set. They walked a bit further before preparing to camp for the night, primarily because Shelley was truly exhausted.

"My... my butt hurts." She said miserably, "It’s so uncomfortable. Day after day of riding, I feel like my butt isn’t even mine anymore."

"Is that something a lady should say?" Black Cat commented sarcastically.

"Why don’t you ride in the carriage tomorrow? We have a carriage," Gray suggested.

"No! I want to walk beside you!"

Those watching sighed helplessly.

"So why bring her along? She’s just slowing down the entire team," Andrew rolled his eyes.

"You should be grateful she’s here," Jones whispered, "If she weren’t here, you’d be the one slowing down the team. If you weren’t here, it would be me slowing down the team."

Humans required more sleep each day than elves did, and elves needed more sleep than the Blood Clan.

As for the undead, they didn’t need to rest at all.

Eventually, they started to set up camp, and the dwarf bandits trailing them finally breathed a sigh of relief, their lips curling into a manic smile.

"Damn, I thought they didn’t need to sleep! Great! Once night falls, it’ll be our world!"

"Hahaha! Our world! Our world!" The dwarf minions gathered excitedly, listening to their boss’s instructions.

"First, we wait for them to set up camp! Then!"

"Rob them all!" the minions roared, interrupting him.

"No!" the leader stopped them, "We wait until they finish eating! Then!"

"Rob them all!" the minions roared again, interrupting him a second time.

"No!" the leader pressed on, "We wait until they sing around the campfire! Humans always do that! Then!"

"Rob them all!"

The leader grabbed the nearest bandit, slammed his head into the bandit’s face, and instantaneously, blood sprayed from the bandit’s nose. The bandit twitched twice and passed out.

The others were stunned.

Shoving aside the unconscious bandit and wiping the blood splattered on his face, the leader growled, "All right, the fool is out. Now, does anyone else want to interrupt me?"

The dwarves hastily shook their heads.

With a sinister smile reappearing on his face, the leader whispered slyly, "When they fall asleep, we’ll rush in and rob them all! That’s how we use our wits! Wits! They won’t expect to be attacked while sleeping! That’s dwarf intelligence!"

"Rob them all!" the dwarves shouted excitedly, their memories lasting only about seven seconds.

"Hey, what are they cheering about?" Gray stretched his neck to look in the direction of the dwarves.

"Probably preparing for a campfire party." Black Cat replied lazily.