The witch thought I am a Demon God
Chapter 912 - 471: Jalen at the End of His Rope_2

Chapter 912: Chapter 471: Jalen at the End of His Rope_2

Since Innocent II had defined the matter, it was difficult for others to express personal opinions, so they all followed the Pope’s intentions and continued the discussion.

While Ivita casually chatted with them, making friends, his gaze flickered, as these individuals were all within the Pope’s potential sphere of influence.

Befriending them, he could not escape the framework set by Innocent II.

It was said that Innocent II had recently forced the King of Champagne and Cognac Kingdom to kneel and apologize to the Pope because the King wanted a divorce.

The Church’s system does not recognize the concept of divorce; hence, the legitimate method of divorce was only to identify the problems in the marriage, seize upon these issues, and declare the marriage annulled.

Innocent II was too domineering.

But this approach had a flaw: after spending a long time with these adoptive sons and daughters, real emotional bonds formed.

Therefore, he could not be too harsh with these adoptive children in the future and decided he could only govern through conciliation.

’All within the Church are priests of the God of All Things.’ Ivita thought, ’These priests cannot extend their own lives. Innocent II is already of a high age; he has but a few more years to live before his passing.’

’Thus, he will not be my enemy but rather a friend who helps me initially.’

At the dinner table, Pope Innocent II suddenly interrupted everyone’s widespread topics and asked, "How do you all view the relationship between the Empire and the Church?"

Ivita knew that, though Innocent II was not looking at him, the question was directed at him.

Everyone began to boast how the Church had maintained the spiritual faith of the people of the Empire, the Church was the sacred endeavor of the God of All Things, the Empire was the faithful guardian that protected the Church, and the Pope’s divine rights were above those of the secular Monarchs.

Even above the Emperor.

A smile appeared on Innocent II’s face; he had spent his life striving to elevate the Church’s status and combat corruption within the Church, which led to the present circumstances.

The political capital he had accumulated was enough to keep the Church unusually dominant for decades after his death.

Innocent II gently reminded everyone, "The Pope and the Emperor are equal. The God of All Things has entrusted the people’s spirit to the Pope and their bodies to the Emperor to protect and maintain their purity. The title of Emperor carries a divine significance and is not the same as other secular Monarchs; you must remember this."

At the banquet, the young princes and princesses all nodded in agreement.

Innocent II then shifted the conversation, "But the spirit is more important to mankind than the body. Thus, the spirit is superior to the body, and the Church surpasses the Empire by half a level."

"Lord Ivita, what do you think?"

Ivita, with little interest in theological debates, replied, "Your Majesty is the person closest to the Lord of All Things in this era."

"Your view is, of course, absolutely correct."

Ivita took the opportunity to flatter Pope Innocent II, "According to some historical knowledge I’ve come to understand, I found that the Empire is protective of the Church, with the Church and the Empire being two sides of the same entity, mutually protective."

"In the early days of the Empire, when the tribal Duchies and various lords were unable to heed the Emperor’s decrees, it was the Church’s bishops and abbots who assumed the responsibilities of local administrative officers, acting as the Emperor’s emissaries."

"For instance, in the early days of the Kingdom of Frank, if it were not for the Church’s protection of the King, declaring that the King of Frank was above the lords, the King of Frank would have been torn apart by the lords long ago, as the local rulers of Frank at that time had no respect for their King, making the title of King merely a nominal one."

After speaking, Ivita mused silently that it was precisely because the Holy Empire was so reliant on the Church and had the Church act as local administrative officials that the Holy Empire was truly conjoined with the Church, just two sides of the same entity.

In the end, strictly speaking, the clerical class, which ostensibly could not marry, was akin to eunuchs, as they both could not reproduce—a fact that indeed made them the best tools for rulers.

Heretic States customarily used heretical slaves as core military forces and provincial governors because the monarchs of Heretic States needed a loyal group of slaves that ideally had no connections with local nobility and religious sects.

The deep integration of the Holy Empire and the Church was very similar to this process.

Innocent II’s gaze towards Ivita was filled with admiration and excitement, and what Ivita had said was indeed true, more importantly, he highly valued Ivita’s thoughts.

...

Two days later, Ivita’s pilgrimage activities came to a successful conclusion.

He was crowned with the Iron Crown at the Saint Sophia Cathedral, an act that granted him substantial legitimacy, leading to a rapid restoration of the Iron Crown Law.

Simultaneously, Ivita also received several requests from small city-states near Lombardy to join the Lombardy Duchy, which were once part of the fragmented Lombardy.

These measures greatly repaired the Iron Crown Law, enhancing its strength.

Unfortunately, a complete restoration of the Iron Crown Law proved to be difficult.

After the pilgrimage activities had ended, Ivita quickly had the Sea Goddess cease using Subspace power to harass Alsace since he no longer needed her to distract Alsace with her Subspace invasions.

Moreover, the Church had already declared him the legitimate King of Alsace.

Ivita returned to Lombardy, and at the Royal Capital, he gathered everyone to begin discussions for a final assault on Alsace Kingdom.

Now the Church stood by their side, the Three Republics stood by them, the Three Undead Kingdoms to the north stood by them, and the Pearl Tooth Kingdom also stood by them.

In contrast, the Alsace Kingdom, due to consecutive failures, had lost their head of the Imperial Guards, leaving the Imperial Guards in complete disarray.

Moreover, Henry VII was now paralyzed, and Jalen had ascended to power in an emergency, but before he could stabilize the situation, he faced challenges from the Pope and the Church regarding his legitimacy, and his greatest ally, Imperial Emperor Oyo III, was now entangled in a war against the Duchy of Huss, with no possibility of disengagement within a year.

Jalen had hoped to rely on Polito Kingdom to the east, but unluckily for him, the Tevryl Duchy had invaded Polito Kingdom at just that time.

The King of Polito died in battle, and the Law required an immediate election of a noble to become King.

The King’s death signaled a change in the political landscape of Polito Kingdom.

Inside the palace of Alsace, Jalen’s expression turned extremely grim upon hearing that several countries on Ivita’s side had begun assembling troops and resources. He became even more incensed when ministers informed him that three border armies had stopped obeying commands.

Now, the tide had turned between him and Ivita.

He could only defend now.

Jalen sneered at the ministers in the court meeting, who looked uneasy, and scoffed, "Most of you here were involved in the plan to betray Ivita’s father."

"If you now wish to switch sides, I truly pity you, it’s too late."

"You might as well follow me to the bitter end."

The ministers hurriedly expressed their loyalty to him, regardless of whether they harbored other intentions; at least, they could not openly show them now.

Jalen continued to sneer, saying, "Since the Church recognizes Ivita as the legitimate king, I’ve heard that nobles across the lands have already begun refusing to pay taxes and provide military service."

"This is bad. Call for a meeting of nobles throughout the lands to gather in the Royal Capital, and mobilize troops to enter the Royal Capital as well."

The ministers were startled.

It was true that Alsace had a tradition of summoning a meeting of all nobles during crises, but to mobilize the army into the Royal Capital at this time?

What was he planning?