Chapter 272: Chapter 259 This is all that person’s plan
The jubilant and lively royal banquet in the capital ca to a hurried end amid Joyce’s interference and the tumult over crowning a successor. However, for most nobles, the dispute had only just begun.
As the leading supporter of Prince Harold, Duke Rickman boldly announced after the banquet that he would heed the call of the gods and personally lead his troops to the Earl Joyce’s territory to suppress the rebellious miners!
The other nobles who supported Harold also responded in kind, and in order to save ti and avoid being preempted by Prince Hattar’s n, more than a dozen major nobles decided to assemble their private soldiers. By adding conscripted serf soldiers from the southern part of the kingdom, within a week, they could muster an army of fifteen thousand strong.
An army large enough to crush the rebelling miners into dust!
What surprised everyone, though, was that Hattar, a strong contender for the heir, didn’t make any significant moves.
Indeed, after returning from the royal palace, Hattar also imdiately gathered the nobles who supported him, preparing to quickly muster an army to suppress the rebellion in the south of the kingdom.
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But before he could start, he was stopped by Anthony.
“Since Harold is so eager, let them handle it; those miners are not so easy to deal with…” Anthony said with a sneer.
“Master, could it be that the miners’ rebellion has sothing to do with Wizards?” Hattar hesitated for a mont, then asked with so incomprehension. He didn’t think these people had the capability to cause any real trouble.
Though Earl Joyce had boasted about that supposed miner leader, in Hattar’s opinion, they were rely clever, nothing more. They had simply taken advantage of Joyce’s unpreparedness, using despicable tactics to catch him off guard.
The untrained poor had no chance of withstanding a battle, even with Wizard assistance!
After all, the miners’ act of blowing up the goddess statue had infuriated the Church. Archbishop Anluoke had even stated at the banquet that he would send several Archbishops and a team of Priests to join the effort!
Unless… Anthony, as a great Wizard, was willing to take action himself!
Anthony neither confird nor denied, preferring to speak ambiguously for now. It wasn’t ti to expose the Secret Magic Society and Wizard Land,
“If the kingdom remains stable, you are unlikely to gain any advantage. Even disregarding the Church’s interference, Harold’s supporters are more robust than yours. Only an appropriate crisis could reverse your current disadvantage,” he hinted.
“In any case, you just need to do as told, and in ti you can naturally ascend the throne.”
Although Anthony didn’t know much about the miners, he was aware this was orchestrated by that one distinguished person. The troops hastily assembled would not be able to exterminate them.
Hattar took Anthony’s words as a silent agreent, feeling considerably less urgency. Still, the re thought of Duke Rickman and others heading to Earl Joyce’s territory without additional precautions made him feel insecure.
His father, King Basel, had ntioned the appointnt of a successor so explicitly for the first ti and in front of the entire empire’s nobility, no less. And given that Archbishop Anluoke himself had brought it up, it ant whoever resolved the miner situation, even if the choice displeased both n, they couldn’t easily retract it.
If Harold managed to succeed, that would pose a problem!
Hattar hesitated, wondering whether to organize an army to follow the others, pretending to join in the suppression of the rebellion. Then, if the opportunity arose, he could turn on them, working with the miners and Wizards inside and out, annihilating the private forces of the ten or so nobles who had gone to the earl’s territory to crush the uprising!
Anthony was also stunned by Hattar’s ruthlessness. After pondering for a mont, he did not agree with Hattar’s risky move, unless he could guarantee the annihilation of the entire legion. Otherwise, it would only give others a handle to exploit.
“You can send a team to scout the situation. There’s no need to rush the decision!” Anthony tentatively suggested.
…
anwhile, within the domain of Earl Joyce, the final battle was underway!
Ryder, who had easily seized the castle with a diversionary tactic, faced the biggest challenge since the rebellion—dismantling the local church!
Unlike baronial lands guarded by just one priest, the church housed a bishop and five priests. Plus, the commotion they had caused while dealing with the guards had already alerted the church, so the possibility of a surprise attack was gone, leaving them with no choice but a full-force battle!
It was a battle between the poor and the Transcendents!
In the pouring rain, a thousand miners surrounded the church, wielding bows, spears, and daggers they had acquired. Dozens of crossbows fired simultaneously, and the storm of arrows fell like a deluge.
However, the bishop rely raised his hand, and an invisible barrier deflected the sky-full of arrows, causing ripples on its surface but unable to breach it in a short ti.
Although a well-crafted compound crossbow was not inferior to a matchlock in power, that was based on breakthroughs in materials science and the invention of pulley systems. The ‘strong crossbows’ crafted by the empire’s artisans left much to be desired. A single round of crossbow arrows couldn’t break the Second Ring Divine Art “Holy Light Shield”.
On the contrary, the following “Holy Light Shock” from the enemy would claim the lives of more than a dozen people!
As for those miners who charged forward hoping to overwhelm the enemy, they fell to their knees under the illumination of Divine Art “Confession of Sins”, crying out and devoutly confessing their sins of smashing statues and desecrating the divine.
Such a terrifying scene caused the overwhelmingly larger number of miners to retreat in fear, not daring to step forward, only willing to retaliate with crossbows from a distance.
The gap between the Transcendents and the poor was clear to see!
“Is this what true clergyn are like?” Ryder, witnessing the bishop deftly handling their siege within the church and then looking at the dozens of bodies on the ground, gripped his longknife tighter and tighter.
He desperately wanted to join the fight with others, but he was acutely aware that it would be of no help at all.
“Exactly, which is why I told you, the real difficulty has only just begun,” Lynn’s voice rang in his ear. “The bishop stationed in the earldom must be a Second Ring clergyman.”
“Is there any way to kill him?” Ryder urgently asked.
“Two thods. First, you wait until his power is completely drained,” Lynn said offhandedly. Whether wizard or clergyman, casting spells inevitably consus spiritual power.
However, it seed that within the church, the enemy could receive a certain boost, so even while protecting the other priests, their power did not deplete for a long ti.
“And the second thod?” Ryder rejected the first thod without a second thought, knowing that with every mont they waited, more miners would die…
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