Free Web NovelChapter 372 (1): The Oracle High Reverends Broke into a Fight. The Pope Suddenly Died. How Nice.
Seinube River.
A sightseeing ship slowly sailed along the river, all smooth curves with classical ornaments. Moonlight reflected off it and cut through the shimmering surface of the water. Elegant music accompanied the picturesque river banks, in chorus with the sounds of water lapping at the ship. All of it combined to create an artful presentation.
Wayne felt the urge to make a painting with ink, but alas, he wasn’t a good painter. He couldn’t draw anything realistic even if his life depended on it. Though abstract art was mainstream in this era, and there was never a shortage of auction houses that would interpret and defend an artist’s work post-mortem, this is Ostarrichi, Prussia’s back garden. Their mustached leader despised abstract art. If anyone dared do it, whipping would follow[1].
Wayne sat on the upper deck and enjoyed the breeze with a glass of juice in his hand. Glancing at his watch, he said, “It’s about time for them to show up.”
Senna’s meeting with High Prophet Tubert and Holy Maiden Desiree went smoothly. Both were willing, but on one condition: they wanted to meet the mastermind in charge. Fabricating oracles was risky. They didn’t want the mastermind to get rid of the tools after the plan succeeded, holding them accountable while taking care of the Pope.
They were cautious and reserved, unwilling to take risks.
Wayne considered them bad apples. The High Prophet and Holy Maiden didn’t know how to make sacrifices at all. They held undeniable responsibility for the church’s fall.
Since Tubert and Desiree weren’t easy to deceive, rejecting his empty promises and platitudes, Wayne had no choice but to agree to the meeting.
To avoid alerting the enemies, they agreed to meet on a sightseeing ship sailing the Seinube River. At the same time, Wayne had reached out to Vice Captain Garvin of the Order of Nature, showing him the endless list of undeniable evidence against the church’s leadership, promising to take care of the bad apples soon.
Garvin had been against those people for a long time. He distanced himself from the inner circle because he had limited power, but didn’t want to be in bed with the snakes.
He was glad to see the future Nature Knight being concerned with the church. The knight was like the sky, and his presence would bring peace to the church.
Still, Garvin had a question. The Nature Knight wasn’t supposed to interfere with the internal affairs of the church. Wayne held the status, but not the authority. Setting a precedent would lead to hidden risks.
That was why Wayne liked Garvin. Some would call him a stick in the mud, but that also meant he was a man of integrity and principles.
Wayne responded that he wouldn’t actively interfere with the church’s affairs and that Senna would present the evidence. He would only step up and take care of the troublemakers as the Nature Knight if the church leaders refused to admit their crimes. Wayne wasn’t the director or the script writer, but a helper Senna had invited to take care of the inhuman scoundrels.
It wasn’t very convincing and didn’t actually explain anything, like someone taking off their pants before farting. However, Garvin couldn’t say anything when the Nature Knight was the one taking off his pants. He reaffirmed his stance in standing with justice and fairness. He would maintain order with the Order of Nature that day.
Garvin was too righteous to attend the small meeting tonight, so Wayne didn’t invite him. The Vice Captain wouldn’t tolerate seeing the High Prophet, Holy Maiden, Oracle High Reverend, and Nature Knight discussing the interpretation of the goddess’s oracle.
Good news, the previous generation of vermin leaders would be replaced. Bad news, they would be replaced by other vermin, so the change might as well not have happened.
Senna sat across from Wayne in a white, form-fitted evening gown and a black fur coat, her long hair pinned up. She looked like an elegant woman from high society—well, her haughty, aggressive temperament made her seem more like a queen.
Behind Wayne was Ottilia, his succubus secretary. She was dressed in an understated suit, wearing glasses just like Mona.
Wayne had taken her to the meeting to give her more real-life experience and to introduce her to the Church of Nature's future leadership. Her boss was too busy to keep monitoring the church. Ottilia could alleviate the burden by assuming responsibility in the future.
That was the correct way of using a secretary.
There was another reason Wayne had brought Ottilia. According to Regina, Ottilia had been targeting Nilsson lately, manipulating the girl with techniques she had picked up somewhere. She was trying to form a clique for her own interests. Left unchecked, her influence would spread through the entire library, and consequences would be dire.
If she could recruit helpers today, she could be staging a coup tomorrow to get on top of her boss. Wayne had to deal with her seriously to warn off any copycats.
The fantasy she proposed was so vivid that Wayne couldn’t help but salivate a little, but that didn’t mean he would put it into action. Though he agreed that twins would look good in his basement, Nilsson was the young lady of an influential family with a clean background. There was no reason for him to let Ottilia drag Nilsson into this mess. Thus, he kept Ottilia around to keep her away from Nilsson. Then Regina wouldn’t have to be this worked up.
Putting everything aside, Regina was the hardest and most competent worker among Wayne’s subordinates. She didn’t need extra payment for working overtime and had been the model employee for several months in a row. Wayne shouldn’t sleep with her sister even if he slept with her. Turning her into a slacker would be bad for work. Where was he going to find a second model worker like her?
Rushing water fanned out on the surface of the river. A mandrake jumped onto the upper deck of the ship and came up to the meeting table. It was dressed in the High Prophet’s robe, holding itself like a human.
The High Prophet had sent his substitute in his stead.
“Mr. Wayne, didn’t expect you to actually show up.” The mandrake bowed in greeting. “I thought High Reverend Senna lied to me.”
Senna laughed faintly. “Tubert, sending your monkey instead of coming in person? Is that how you show your respect to the future Nature Knight?”
“Oh, no,” Tubert hurriedly explained. “My target is so formidable that I cannot leave the Prophet Sanctuary without a good reason, or I’d attract unwanted attention.”
Senna smiled derisively. The old man prioritized his own safety over the partnership.
Wayne didn’t expose the High Prophet. Welcoming Tubert’s arrival, he emphasized the High Prophet’s transcendent status and called him an indispensable member of the team. Flattery costs nothing; he didn’t mind offering a few more praises.
Before Wayne finished, another figure leaped out of the river onto the deck. It was Alex Lambiel, Holy Maiden Desiree’s older brother and retainer at the church’s headquarters. He was holding his younger sister in a bridal carry, only lowering her after boarding the ship.
The Holy Maiden had to maintain her purity and keep her distance from the opposite sex, but her biological brother wasn’t subject to the same restriction. No one had any objection, either.
The Lando family was an exception!
“We meet again, Mr. Wayne.”
The brother and sister greeted the Nature Knight to show their respect.
A sub-leader was still a leader. It was a universal truth before and after Wayne’s transmigration. The siblings treated Wayne like the Nature Knight rather than the Nature Knight’s successor.
The fact that Wayne was Moula’s successor wasn’t common knowledge, known only to the church’s leadership. As a powerless Holy Maiden who had only just taken on the mantle, Desiree hadn’t been privy to the secret. Senna told her during their discussion to resolve her concern, convincing her to falsify oracles.
It had been around a year since she last saw Wayne, during the Holy Maiden selection. Desiree was surprised that Wayne had become the Nature Knight’s successor in such a short time. She envied his luck.
In comparison, she had only become the Holy Maiden by giving it her all, and she still became a figurehead without real power...
It was an insult to Wayne to even compare the two of them.
“You’ve become even prettier, Desiree!”
Wayne went up to her, spreading his arms in a friendly manner. Desiree smiled and didn’t step back. She was certain that Wayne wouldn’t dare to hug the Holy Maiden.
Walking past Desiree, Wayne hugged Alex warmly. “You’ve become more handsome, too, almost catching up with me.”
“You jest.” Alex smiled wryly, looking as gloomy as ever. “I’m unlikely to catch up with you in looks and grace.”
Desiree took a seat with Alex standing behind her as her bodyguard and retainer, pretending that the Holy Maiden was someone important.
The siblings and Wayne all knew the truth: if the Holy Maiden had true power and an actual voice, she wouldn’t have gotten involved in this mess.
The participants of the meeting all had their own agendas.
Wayne wanted the Church of Nature to sever its partnership with Prussia to stop the other churches from getting involved in the world war, and his goal was Senna’s goal. For him, she was willing to give everything. After Wayne lifted the restrictions on her completely, taking over the Pope became another goal of hers. She would be fulfilling the dream she used to have.
Desiree’s goal was to become the real Holy Maiden, canceling the once-in-twenty-years selection so that she would have real power and a real voice among the church’s leadership.
High Prophet Tubert’s goal was the most straightforward: he was trying to get on the Nature Knight’s good side. He really wasn’t the mastermind behind his two students’ attack on Wayne.
Tubert was truly an unlucky soul. The High Prophet was a thankless job that involved relaying the Lark of Wisdom’s prophecies to the leadership to satisfy the gods or to correct the church’s directions.
With Pope Ludwig holding most of the authority, the Holy Maiden and the High Prophet were left with no breathing room. Tubert couldn’t outmaneuver Ludwig in politics and only ever wanted to get out of the church and head to the Divine Realm. Just when his disciples were about to become legendary mages, they met an untimely demise.
It wouldn’t be that bad if they had just died, but they had been killed in their assassination attempt of the Nature Knight’s successor, leaving Tubert with a mess to clean up. Even the thought of it made Tubert’s head hurt.
The four each expressed their needs and confirmed that they shared the same target and could work together. The conflicts of interest were resolved thanks to Senna’s compromise. That left the most critical question: who would be in charge?
If they were just going to falsify simple oracles, Tubert wouldn’t be worried. He had already made a fair number of misinterpretations in the past. Prophecies were vague to begin with. If someone criticized him for making a mistake in executing the gods’ good intention, he could just say that whoever thought they were so capable should take on the job themselves; if they couldn’t, they should shut up.
That was how prophecies worked. There was nothing others could do about him.
Similarly, the previous Holy Maidens often falsified divine oracles. Flora, for example, had taken on the blame while she was still under Ludwig’s control. She resigned and became a gardener because she resisted, and she ended up losing her status.
Desiree was new. She knew very well how powerless she was and didn’t even dare to give a false oracle. However, she wasn’t too cowardly to use the excuse of falsifying oracles to benefit herself.
It was because she knew how powerless she was and how easily she could be discarded as a pawn that she insisted on having someone lead the charge. If and when she was exposed, she would say that the leader had forced her to falsify the oracle.
Everyone fell silent. None volunteered for the role.
1. The Nazi party condemned the modern, more abstract art as degenerate art, imposing restrictions on artists they deemed degenerate and even forbidding them from making more art. ☜
