The witch thought I am a Demon God
Chapter 796 - 419: The Empire that is about to Unify the Universal Law_1

Chapter 796: Chapter 419: The Empire that is about to Unify the Universal Law_1

Inside the castle, Archbishop Anke and Ivita were having a conversation in the upstairs corridor, each trailed by a crowd of people.

The Archbishop was considered just an ordinary old man, over 80 years old, without a professional rank, and with only a few years left to live.

Yet, he held onto considerable power and had an unchallengeable moral authority. Even Ivita had to weigh his words carefully with him, out of respect for his moral authority.

Ivita thanked the Church for their support, and Archbishop Anke responded with a smile, "This is what we should be doing. The Church will help every monarch selected by the Lord of All Things to claim and consolidate the responsibility that belongs to them."

"Lord Ivita, every independent state usually has more than one cathedral."

"Given your current situation, you might not be able to establish a diocese to aid the Church in Lombardy."

"That’s alright. The Pope has activated the Holy Gold to allow us to build our diocese here at our expense."

Ivita was taken aback, looking at the appointment document in his hand, which named him Ambros Grand Viscount, bestowed by the Pope, along with the golden seal on the document.

No wonder the Church bestowed such a great gift upon him.

They had their own expectations of him.

Indeed, in every independent state, the Church has its branches and establishes a completely independent diocese system that collects taxes.

In essence, it is only through power that the sanctity can be protected.

And wealth is needed to sustain that power.

One major source of wealth for the Church comes from the tithe.

Although the Holy Church only has a small part of the Papal Country, it has set up dioceses in all countries throughout the Magic Black Forest, collecting taxes.

This explains why the Church is so powerful, and yet so gentle in its attitude.

The Church has become a behemoth.

It has no need to bear its claws towards challengers anymore.

After considering his options, Ivita saw that every independent state has a branch of the Church, thus it wasn’t anything exceptional on his part.

Next, although the Church could collect some taxes here, he could also receive the Church’s support in return.

Until a monarch’s power reaches its peak and the aristocratic class is eliminated, the Church and the king are usually on the same side.

Only after the aristocratic class has completely been eradicated will the clergy class become a rival to the monarch.

In other words, in the early and mid-stages, he can rely on the Church for centralization of power.

Therefore, there’s no need to fall out with the Church over this issue.

Besides, Ivita noticed something off in his conversation with the Red Archbishop Anke. Normally, the leader of the Church’s branch serves lifelong and administers the entire branch independently.

This means, if he could control this Red Archbishop Anke, the entire branch could turn into his own power base.

He had already asked Tartax about this.

The Church within the Frankish territory could no longer control the Frankish people, they had become independent and only paid lip service to the authority of the Church.

After all, branches of the Church and the Papal authority were at odds with each other.

The Papal authority wanted to collect taxes from branches of the Church, but the branches would not stand for it. Why should they hand over the hard-earned tax revenue to the Papal authority?

Each local branch of the Church was hiding and holding back part of the tithe they should have handed over to the Church, with the Frankish branch of the Church simply claiming insolvency. Not only did they not pay taxes, they even attempted to ask for a tax refund from the Church every year.

As long as he could exploit the conflict between the branches and the Papal authority, Ivita could convert a branch of the Church into his country’s Church.

After realizing this, Ivita tentatively said to Archbishop Anke, "Archbishop Anke, my original plan was to give a 10-year tax exemption to the people of Lombardy who have suffered. Furthermore, they are currently in the process of reclaiming land which uses up resources."

Archbishop Anke burst into laughter, understanding Ivita’s hint. "After such a catastrophe, it’s quite normal to exempt taxes for a few years. And, typically, we don’t impose taxes on farmers reclaiming barren land. They can’t afford to pay taxes anyway. Therefore, the branch of the Church under my administration will follow in your footsteps and exempt them from taxes."

"Besides, our branch of the Church can bring you a massive population."

Archbishop Anke’s expression turned serious, "The heretical empire, Selzhu-Rome Empire, has broken through the Raven Kingdom. Even the homeland of the Vampires, the Wallachia Duchy, has fallen under the influence of Selzhu-Rome Empire."

"Those vampires cannot be trusted. They were in a grey area to begin with, and now it’s even more unclear where their allegiances lie."

"After the Raven Rules were taken away by the Selzhu-Rome Empire, many Raven People lost their homes. I can use the name of the Church to direct them to your territory."

Ivita could also sense the dark clouds on the horizon.

"Thank you, Archbishop." Ivita expressed his gratitude towards Archbishop Anke; he had sensed that Archbishop Anke was not a dogmatic fanatic, and furthermore, he had his own ideas.

The fact that this old man came to Ivita’s kingdom to build a branch of the Church showed that there were opportunities to seize.

To Ivita, both the territory and population were equally valuable.