Sure enough, after hearing what Erwin had to say, a faint smile appeared on Lia's face, and he cast a meaningful gaze toward Erwin as he asked, "From the sounds of it, you're from the south, is that correct?"

Erwin nodded in response, then asked, "Does that affect anything?"

Lia shook his head with a smile, then looked into Erwin's eyes as he asked, "Were you a part of the Battle of the Marrod Plain?"

He knew that he was potentially bringing up a sensitive topic for Erwin, but in his mind, this was an important question to ask.

However, Erwin displayed virtually no reaction to the question as he replied, "I was."

A hint of admiration flashed through Lia's eyes upon hearing this.

"Back in Belama, even though I only saw you from afar, I could immediately tell that you were no ordinary person."

"Oh? How so?" Erwin asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"On the surface, you seem to be just a handsome traveling artist, but in your eyes, I could see a sense of scorching and restless ambition," Lia replied with a smile. "I don't have any particularly remarkable talents, but I would say I'm quite adept when it comes to judging character."

"I'm not the type of person who's coming to you to propose a collaboration with nothing but empty ambition," Erwin said with a smile.

"Is that right? What else do you have to offer?"

"First, let's talk about organizing an army for the Universal Church. I'm sure that would stir up a great deal of unrest, but at the moment, it's the best course of action to take for the Universal Church," Erwin said.

An intrigued look appeared on Lia's face upon hearing this, and he waited quietly for Erwin to continue.

"It's important to realize that the most significant conflict in the north currently stems from the fact that the new nobles are holding an enormous amount of wealth, while the old nobles are still holding all the power. No matter how impoverished those old nobles are, the fact of the matter is that they're still holding all the power in their hands. No matter how much more wealth the new nobles accumulate, there's no changing that fundamental fact."

Erwin paused momentarily as he cast his gaze toward Lia, then continued, "Seeing as the Universal Church promotes the ideology that all men beneath the Universal Lord are made equal, then why shouldn't the Universal Church get involved in this power struggle and work with the wealthy new nobles to completely decimate the existing rotten social hierarchy, then split all of the land among the people?"

"Split all the land among the people?" Lia was astonished to hear such a radical idea.

"That's right. At the moment, the nobles are hoarding all of the land, and given the way that things are currently progressing, all of that land will eventually fall into the hands of the wealthy new nobles. After that, the new nobles will eventually fall into decline an indeterminate number of years into the future, and the land will change hands once again in a perpetually repeating cycle. What's the point of that? Instead, why don't we establish our own territory, then split all of the land in that territory among all of our citizens? Doesn't the Universal Church pride itself on regarding everyone as equals? This is how you achieve equality. Once this system is implemented, there will be no more division between nobles and commoners as everyone will be the same in social status," Erwin said with a faint smile.

"You're saying that you want to completely destroy the nobility system?" The more Lia listened to what Erwin had to say, the more astonished he became, and his hands were beginning to tremble slightly as he realized the full implications behind Erwin's words.

"If we don't do that, how will we be able to dethrone the Holy World Church?" Erwin asked as he took a glance at Lia. "This plan of mine should correspond perfectly with your ambitions."

Lia had been referring to Erwin's ambitions earlier, and Erwin was returning the favor here, exposing the fact that Lia was not just some unambitious retired pastor. When it came to ambition, both of them were in the same boat.

"But this is something that will fundamentally alter the state of the world," Lia sighed as he leaned back against his chair.

"Are you scared?" Erwin jibed as a faint smile appeared on his face.

Lia massaged his own eyes as a weary look appeared on his face. He then cast a calm gaze toward Erwin as he asked with a wry smile, "Have you thought about how many people will have to die in order to make your vision come true? Or are you not concerned about that at all?"

"A huge number of people die in every single war. We are talking about a revolution right now, one that is completely unprecedented. Which revolution in history wasn't built upon mountains of human bodies?" Erwin asked as his smile faded, and the cold look on his face was enough to send chills running down the beholder's spine.

Lia's mouth gaped open slightly in shock as he stared at Erwin after hearing what Erwin had to say.

Looking at Lia's astonished expression, a hint of undisguised derision flashed through Erwin's eyes. Just a moment ago, Lia had been denouncing the new nobles in Tellier for their inability to identify the crux of the matter. However, Erwin was now giving him a plan that would bring about the most fundamental changes that he wanted to see, yet he was beginning to hesitate.

It was no wonder that Lia was hesitating. Given his lofty status in the Universal Church, he had to consider far more factors than Erwin, whereas Erwin had no such qualms or responsibilities.

After pondering Erwin's proposal carefully for a long while, Lia finally looked back at Erwin as he said, "I'll have to discuss with the others the subject of organizing a church army."

He was naturally referring to the other elders of the Universal Church.

Erwin nodded in response. He was naturally also aware that Lia couldn't make a decision on such a significant matter right away.

"Ambition is something that has to be supported with power. I am aware that both you and your wife are extremely powerful magicians, but two people won't be enough to put together an army," Lia mused in an ambiguous voice right before Erwin was about to depart.

"Instead of worrying about me, I suggest you spend your time thinking about how you're going to convince the other elders," Erwin replied in an indifferent manner.

...

After emerging from Lia's room, Erwin carefully thought back over his conversation with this hidden elder of the Universal Church, and he felt it to be quite an interesting one. In the beginning, the two of them were speaking quite politely and amicably with one another, but once their true colors began to show, the tone of the conversation became a lot colder and more hostile.

He had read in a book in the past that no matter who the participants in a battle were, at the closing stages of the battle, all involved parties would be reduced to wild beasts that instinctively tore away at one another. No matter how refined or elegant one appeared to be, the primal instincts were still lurking just beneath the surface. Unless one discovered a higher purpose than self-preservation someday, no one would be able to completely cut off their primal instincts.

However, Erwin wasn't worried in the slightest that Lia would fail to convince the other elders. The temptation was so clear, and it was constantly dangling before his eyes. Erwin was certain that the seed that he had planted in Lia's mind would be constantly nagging at him every single second of every day. No matter what he was doing, the idea proposed by Erwin would always be occupying his mind, forcing him to set things into motion.

Erwin knew just how dangerous and terrifying it was to sow a seed of hope into one's heart.

For someone like Lia, who was a devout follower of religion, the prospect of changing the world and creating absolute equality was far too alluring to pass up.

However, Erwin knew that even if the nobility system were to be abolished, social hierarchies would still continue to exist. Such a thing had existed since the beginning of time, and it wasn't something that could be abolished by a single revolution.

There was no way to enforce true absolute equality in the world. Some people were born smart, while others were born dull. Some were born with stunning beauty, while others were born hideous and unsightly. Life was fundamentally unequal, and there was no way to change that.

Absolute equality was only possible in an ideal world, but Erwin wasn't so naive as to believe in such a thing.

However, someone like Lia would believe such a concept, and that was perhaps the difference between people with and without religious beliefs.

After the conversation with Lia, it was already close to dusk.

Erwin turned back to glance at the regal and majestic Holy Jade Cathedral. The light of the dying sun basked the dome ceiling of the cathedral in a warm orange glow, and it was a very peaceful and tranquil sight to behold.

Erwin couldn't help but think to himself that this had been a very long day.

Unbeknownst to Erwin at this moment, the two conversations that he had engaged in earlier on this day were going to be catalysts that would bring about dramatic changes across the entire world.

...

By the time Erwin returned to the hotel on Flying Deer Street, there were already people waiting for him in the guest hall.

Even though they had already heard from Christine that Erwin was still alive and well, Sherry, Lanyon, and Georgina still couldn't help but choke up slightly after seeing him in the flesh.

They were so ecstatic that they were brought to the verge of tears, and none of them were saying anything for fear of embarrassing themselves with their trembling voices.

Erwin was also feeling the exact same way.

However, men were still men, and they couldn't allow themselves to huddle together and bawl their eyes out over a reunion. Even though tears had already welled up in everyone's eyes, they were doing everything in their power not to shed them.

Friendships between men were very simple. Sometimes, all it took to convey their emotions was a single look.

Erwin cast his gaze toward his three companions with a gratified expression, and there were countless emotions surging through his heart, but he didn't articulate any of them.

"What are you all looking at me like that for? I'm still alive and well, aren't I?" Erwin jibed with an amused smile, then sat down onto the sofa. "Take a seat."

The emotional atmosphere in the room was alleviated slightly by Erwin's words, and Lanyon and the others sat down as well.

"I'm not going to make a whole speech on surviving a near-death ordeal. I asked you three to come here because I have something serious to discuss with you," he said with a serious expression. "By the way, where's Christine?"

"She told us that she was going to look after the airship over at Lomu, so she decided not to come with us," Lanyon replied.

Erwin nodded in response. There were still some Loonies and stock on the ship, so it made sense that Christine had decided to stay behind.

"Let me assign you a task: start recruiting mercenaries in Lomu," Erwin instructed.

"Is our Four Winds mercenary legion about to make a resurgence?" Sherry asked with an elated expression.

"Why else did I take you three to the north with me? To teach you oil painting?" Erwin said with a roll of his eyes.

"Speaking of that, we had no idea that you were such a brilliant painter!" Lanyon chuckled. "No wonder all of the women flock to you en masse. If we had known this earlier, we would've asked you to teach us some of your skills."

As soon as these words slipped out of Lanyon's mouth, he immediately realized his own mistake. Onean was still in her room, and she certainly wouldn't be pleased to hear that.

Erwin reacted faster than Lanyon, and he quickly glared at Lanyon to make him stop talking. Under normal circumstances, Lanyon was very intelligent and had a good grasp of what to say and what not to say, but he was so excited from this reunion that his mental filter had been deactivated.

Georgina couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this, and his amusement was further fueled by the sight of the awkward look on Erwin's face.

Erwin knew that Onean had been in a rather foul mood ever since they had met Faya, and earlier this morning, she had been insulted by the mercenaries of the Monge Riders mercenary legion in that pub. That was why she had made such an uncharacteristically brutal display of killing those mercenaries. After that, they ran into Christine, who directly professed her feelings toward Erwin in front of Onean, and Erwin could only imagine the rage that was building in Onean's heart.

It doesn't like there's any noise coming from her room. I can only hope she didn't hear that, Erwin prayed to himself.