When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist
Chapter 52: Yes, Your Grace

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Yes, Your Grace

The sun had already shone on the beast-faced gargoyles on the eaves of the Pope’s Palace, and according to the customs of the Thousand River Valley people, it was time for breakfast.

But for the upper-class nobles, this time around 10 o’clock was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch.

For them, having meals at the same time as the farmers was simply an insult.

But when entering the Stag Chamber for the second council meeting, Horn still nibbled two bites of dry bread to fill his stomach.

There was no other way; his biological clock couldn’t adjust immediately, and he didn’t want his stomach growling halfway through the meeting.

With a smile as warm as a spring breeze, Horn pushed open the blunt-angled door of the Stag Chamber and said, "Busy with affairs, sorry to keep everyone waiting."

The remaining Cardinals immediately stood up and bowed.

On one side were Grampwen and Chervis, on the other were Madlan with his head bandaged and Kosse, who had returned to his peak weight, while sitting facing north was Danji and Jeanne.

Without hesitation, Horn sat at the position facing south on the round table and said bluntly, "This council meeting has two agenda items: one on personnel matters and one on military matters.

The military issue is more burdensome, so for the personnel matter, let’s quickly vote according to church rules. Anyone have any objections?"

All the Cardinals shook their heads without a word.

"First item, restore Grampwen and Chervis to their positions as Cardinals."

The Cardinals remained motionless, all eyes fixed on Horn. Horn waited for a moment, seeing no one expressing an opinion, he raised his hand and said, "In favor."

"I am in favor."

"Then I am also in favor."

Seeing Horn raise his hand in support, the rest of the Cardinals immediately raised their hands in favor.

"The second item, promote Kosse to Chief Cardinal, and Madlan to Secondary Cardinal."

At this point, all eyes focused on Kosse, who immediately puffed up his chest.

The main reason Horn promoted Kosse to Chief Bishop was to insert his own people into the Red Cardinal Group.

Besides, Kosse was the archbishop of the Saint Old Bishop, the first to move forward and kiss the boots when the Holy Father descended.

In addition, he had many advantages, such as being highly adaptable, flexible and easy-going, lacking firm stances, non-prominent opinions, and possessing a high degree of ideological obedience and psychological controllability.

Specifically, he was easy to control and manage. Horn did not want an overly strong Chief Bishop, like Tommy, who was a negative example.

With several personnel changes, the current high-level structure of the Pope Country was as follows:

Pope Horn, an accounting apprentice, possessed the highest cultural papermaking in the Pope Country.

Chief Cardinal Kosse, a butcher from Red Mill Village, bought the holy office with money, couldn’t read a single word.

Secondary Cardinal Madlan, a bakery apprentice who went to prison for stealing from the master, later escaped, insisting that it was the judge who wronged him.

Cardinal Grampwen, a circus clown, could write his name, recognize a bunch of herbs, and even perform addition and subtraction within ten with no low cultural papermaking.

Cardinal Chervis, a drunkard selling fake wine, spent half of his day drunk.

Grand Master of the Holy Grail Knight Order Dangji Heide was a madman fooled by knight novels, and Knight Commander Jeanne was even weightier, a witch.

Maintaining the position of Pope was not because Horn was obsessed with power.

He had no choice but to act and had to make it convincing.

At least until he escaped from the great cage of Thousand River Valley, he had to obediently play the grandson.

And the rest could only accompany Horn in this play.

Among those present, besides the bemuddled Old Kosse, everyone else had more or less guessed Horn’s identity.

But they didn’t dare to point it out, especially with Tommy’s recent downfall as a reminder.

"As for the situation before I came, Grampwen had already explained everything to everyone.

Now we’re all on the same boat, sharing glory and loss.

So feel free to speak your mind on the issue of the High Castle Archbishop sending troops for an invasion."

Having defined High Castle Archbishop Banifus’s behavior as heretical, Horn closed the scroll in his hands, leaned his back against the seat, and spread his hands, smiling, "Let’s discuss it."

But only received the Cardinals’ bewildered glances back.

They weren’t legendary Great Knights or Blessed Bishops who could sweep through hundreds of people with a few individuals.

The real task of resisting the invading church army, Horn estimated, would ultimately fall on the villagers.

How to motivate the refugees to help them resist the church’s army became the top priority.

"I have some words..."

"Chervis!" Before Danji could finish, Horn pointed at Chervis, "What do you think?"

"Your Holiness, if you ask me, to get someone to do something, it’s basically just about money, women, and land," Chervis said with drunken red eyes, but his mind was quite clear.

"Giving money doesn’t necessarily give them combat strength," Madlan countered, "Even with ten thousand gold pounds, a farmer couldn’t defeat a penniless wandering knight."

"So what do you think?" Horn interlaced his fingers, resting them under his chin, looking at Madlan with an encouraging gaze.

Madlan puffed his chest: "In a lifetime, money can’t be taken to the Celestial Fire Prison. What they want most is their fate after death and honor in this life.

Only titles and solemnity can give them the courage to go to the battlefield."

"Honor, can honor be eaten?" Grampwen opposed, "Whether it’s money or honor, it can only ignite their ’I have the courage’ courage."

Standing up, Grampwen said firmly, "Your Holiness, I believe the most important thing is weapons, armor, and training.

With armor and weapons, they gain confidence; after training and experience, courage naturally follows."

"But even with weapons and armor, money and rank, do they truly dare to confront an army of over two hundred?"

Having heard their responses, Horn asked leisurely.

Refugees and Public Register Farmers feared knights and battles, while Armed Farmers feared the church.

The lower-class villagers had a natural fear of the church and knights.

Removing this natural fear was quite difficult, as the oppression from knights and the church over time had many villagers shivering at the mere thought of war and the church.

These present, none of whom hadn’t risen from the bottom like a rocket, genuinely going from peasant to the Pope’s Palace in a day.

They were quite clear about matters at the bottom.

Everyone was at a loss, the others were not like Horn or Grampwen, without alternative, forced to oppose the church.

When the church and army arrived, they might just abandon Horn and choose to surrender directly.

"Ah!" Chervis’s eyes lit up, raising a finger, "I do have an idea for you all."

"What is it?"

"According to Sister Diya’s statement, this army does not involve knights, only armored soldiers and Night Guards; we can simply avoid calling them the ’church,’ don’t call it ’war,’ right?"

With Chervis’s words, silence fell inside the Stag Chamber, and Horn frowned, lost in thought.

With others silent, Kosse cleared his throat: "Ahem, let this sinner Old Kosse say something impartial, the commoners, though foolish, are devout believers...

Swaying them onto the battlefield violates doctrine and commandments; Old Kosse still advocates for the righteous path..."

"That’s indeed a good idea." After thinking for a long time, Horn decided, eagerly saying.

"...from the righteous path, if a well-intentioned lie can alleviate the inner guilt of the commoners, then it’s worth doing."

With unchanged expression, Old Kosse finished his sentence and nodded in agreement towards Horn with a smile.

"What should we call them then? If we call them demons, villagers will still fear, and if we call them bandits, they’ll remain afraid.

No matter what we call it, as long as it’s tied to war, they will be afraid." Grampwen raised his hand to ask.

This question stumped once more, and everyone present bowed their heads, scribbling on paper, unable to think of a fitting ruse.

"Let’s do it this way." Horn seeing that the time was getting late, stood up from his seat, "During lunch, think it over well; when the sun reaches that branch, let’s finalize a scheme."

"What about the ruse?"

"Let’s call the church army ’foreign forces,’ even though it’s merely a roundabout term, it can erase a lot of the fear. As for the war, call it the ’Special Knight Jousting Action.’

The Cardinals exchanged glances with each other, stood up in unison, and replied together, "Yes, Your Holiness."