The First Vampire

While it may have seemed that Duke St. Chapman was assisting the Church in spreading the gospel by promoting the Holy Book of Glory and raising it to the highest authority, a deeper thought reveals that this move was actually aimed at weakening the Church’s influence and even commandeering its authority.

If the Empire’s citizenry can hear the good news from interpreters assigned by Lords, why should they specifically seek a priest?

If the path to redemption from the Lord of Glory is written in the Holy Book of Glory, why should they pray and confess in church?

If the Holy Book of Glory is the supreme authority, should one still comply when the Pope’s decrees contradict it?

Subtly, the influence of the Church in the people’s spiritual domain was steadily weakened.

Although Duke St. Chapman didn’t insert personal views in the process of advocating the Holy Book of Glory, he could do so as Lords increased their authority and control over the people.

The Holy Book of Glory is, after all, a static text, but its interpretation can be flexible and ever-changing.

The Church initially had a monopoly on the interpretation of the Holy Book of Glory, but now, this power is at risk of being seized by the nobles.

Moreover, the Church could only watch helplessly as nobles increasingly infiltrated the domain of faith which solely belonged to them, unable to openly stop them.

Because they couldn’t find any excuse.

There’s nothing wrong with promoting The Holy Book of Glory and spreading the gospel of the Lord of Glory.

The plan of Duke St. Chapman was a complete, blatant plot!

Lady Grace, looking at Colin’s varying expressions, laughed, “Have you figured out what’s going on?”

“Yes, Duke St. Chapman is indeed skillful!” Colin couldn’t help but admire, “By elevating the Holy Book of Glory to the highest position, the Church’s status naturally declines. Moreover, in the process, nobles have forcibly grabbed some of the authority from the Church.

What’s more ingenious is that the Church can’t stop the actions of the nobles, else they risk being attacked for obstructing the spread of the Lord’s gospel.”

“Correct.” Lady Grace showed appreciation in her face. She hadn’t expected Colin to catch onto Duke St. Chapman’s true intentions so quickly.

It should be noted that when Duke St. Chapman first implemented his policy, it took a couple of years for the Church to realize something was amiss.

Colin immediately expressed doubt, “If Duke St. Chapman merely wants to slowly weaken the Church’s position and authority, then the Church can’t find any excuse to deal with him, right? Could it be that the Pope has become so unrestrained that he could exterminate an entire Holy Knight Family without any reasonable justification?”

Lady Grace sighed, “No, the Church would never dare to do that if they didn’t want to be the Empire’s public enemy. However, a series of incidents eventually provided the Church with an excuse to take action against Duke St. Chapman.”

Colin’s interest was piqued, “Did Duke St. Chapman allow the nobles to insert personal interpretations while disseminating the Holy Book of Glory?”

“No. Such a far-sighted man as Duke St. Chapman would never act so impulsively for success. However, you’re not completely wrong.

Because the crime that the Church ultimately charged Duke St. Chapman with was deliberately distorting the Holy Book of Glory!”

Colin immediately understood, “It seems that some interpreters appointed by the nobles were bought off by the Church and took the liberty to make distorted interpretations while spreading the Holy Book of Glory.”

“Correct.” Lady Grace nodded affirmatively, “Over time, multiple instances of interpreters appointed by the nobility distorting the Holy Book of Glory occurred. Of course, Duke St. Chapman had anticipated this, argued that it was the personal behavior of the interpreters, and even penalized the local Lords, demanding strict management.

However, such incidents continued to occur. To frame Duke St. Chapman, the Church even let some deliberately distorted contents of the Holy Book of Glory spread widely.”

Colin sneered, “Has the Church stooped so low already? But even that wouldn’t have been enough to put the Chapman Family on trial, right?”

“Indeed it wouldn’t have been. But one day, a member of the Chapman Family was caught publicly promoting distorted content from the Holy Book of Glory in public!

“This event also sounded the death knell for the St. Chapman Family.”

Colin couldn’t help but exclaim, “The Church could actually scheme to make a member of the St. Chapman Family betray his own family. Doesn’t that person know that such a behavior is akin to suicide?”

Lady Grace scoffed and said, “Who knows? There are no records left of this incident; the identity and deeds of that member of the St. Chapman Family have been intentionally hidden.

But, there are always incomprehensible fools in this world that cannot be predicted by normal logic.

Latterly, the St. Chapman Family was judged, exterminated, and all traces of them were wiped out.”

At the same time, the propagation policy of ‘The Divine Book of Glory’ drawn up by Duke St. Chapman during his lifetime was also abolished by the Church using this as an excuse. Now, ‘The Divine Book of Glory’ can only be preached and interpreted by the priests, and no one else is allowed to own, copy, or disseminate it.”

The nobles were shocked by the cold and decisive will of the Church and their swift and decisive methods. By the time they reacted, the Church had already exterminated the St. Chapman Family.”

The Dark Emperor, whom Duke St. Chapman had loyally served, hated the Church to the bone. He absurdly shouted ‘The Divine Being is dead’, aiming to uncover the greatest secret that the Church tried its best to hide.”

You should know what happened next.

‘The Judge’ Duke St. Sean killed the ‘Dark Emperor’ with a single sword, and the Pope even used an oracle to whitewash Duke St. Sean’s act of betrayal.”

Of course, the Royal Family and nobles were not willing to be humiliated by the Church; therefore, the St. Sean Family also paid a heavy price for this.”

After hearing all this, Colin was silently sighing in his heart.

An aborted religious reform had caused two Holy Knight Families to step down from the political stage of the Empire.”

Could this be the untouchable forbidden area of the Glorious Empire?

Colin stilled his gaze on Lady Grace. He asked, “Lady Grace, why are you telling me all this?”

Lady Grace answered seriously,

“Count Angler, I just wanted to remind you not to underestimate the Church. Don’t easily touch their bottom line, because once they start their retaliation, it can be extremely ruthless.”

Colin frowned, saying, “Are you referring to my act of inciting the Eastern Lords to intercept the Tithe Tax?”

“Yes.”

Colin didn’t doubt Lady Grace’s intentions. Now the Morrison Family and he were in a shared prosperity and shared loss situation. The old lady’s reminder could also be considered as goodwill.

And truth be told, Colin had realized that his previous actions were somewhat reckless.

Although doing so could force the Eastern nobles to break away from the control of the Church, concurrently, Colin had also become a thorn in the side of the Church.

Originally, Colin did not feel that the threat of the Church was great, especially since he had just conquered the Eastern Territories and was in high spirits. But now, having calmed down, he realized that he had indeed underestimated the Church.

“Lady Grace, so what do you think I should do to mend my relationship with the Church?”

“You don’t need to mend your relationship with the Church.” Lady Grace smiled slightly and said, “You just need to keep your distance from the Royal Family and even deliberately create some gaps.”

Colin immediately understood Lady Grace’s meaning and applauded,

“Lady Grace, you’re truly a master!”

Both of them shared a knowing smile, looking just like two foxy thieves who had stolen some grapes, one old and one young.