Rody’s first thought was, ‘Does this old skeleton want to launch an invasion when he learned that I found the Staff of Moses?’

However, Rody then rejected this idea. That was impossible!

Without the G.o.d’s Smile mask, Andy would not be able to monitor his activities. It would be impossible for Andy to find out that he had the Staff of Moses.

Besides that, the Empire had fought against the Roland Continent and also the war at the Northwest within the last two years. We fought two major wars in these two years. These wars had drained the strength of the Empire. The Empire could not afford to provoke another large-scale war.

Although they had won the crusade, the Empire had also paid a heavy price. For the Empire, it was a very heavy drawdown on its resources.

'But what else could it be if not war? What are Andy’s intentions?' Rody looked at Andy skeptically as he thought of this.

Andy knew what Rody was thinking but did not speak. Instead, he gave the Marquis, Garoline, a meaningful glance.

Garoline gave Rody a scroll. Rody unrolled it open to look. On the thick, slightly yellowed paper was a long list of text written in the language of the Roland Continent.

On the lower right corner of the paper was the insignia of the Roland Temple. The hexagram insignia was obviously a sorcery stamp and was still dazzling.

"What is this?" Rody frowned. He could not understand the written language of the Roland Continent.

Garoline looked serious and said in a low voice, "A war proclamation. Or rather, it is a public announcement. It is an announcement from the Temple to the whole continent!"

"Public announcement? War proclamation?" Rody thought to himself and then said, "Are they mobilizing for war? The Temple could not accept their previous defeat and is provoking another war?"

Garoline laughed and said, "Rody, it is not what you think. In fact, the general contents of this doc.u.ment describe the incompetence of the various kingdoms on the Roland Continent for losing the war, causing the defeat of the Temple. The Temple then said that the Roland Continent was disunited and did not have a leader, and thus would be unable to defeat the heathens…So…" Garoline then gloomily sneered and slowly said, "So the Temple announced to the world that the Archbishop of the Temple would be crowned Pontiff!" Garoline said the last few words with a strange flash in his eyes.

"Pontiff!" Rody looked somber. "He wants to be a Pontiff?"

Rody looked at Garoline, then looked at Andy. Suddenly, he sneered and asked, "Are these people from the Roland Temple crazy? Pontiff? There was only one Pontiff throughout the history of the Church! That one person was Pontiff Moses! Later on, the Church was split into two. The two factions grew stronger, but they still did not dare to claim to be the ‘Emperors’ of the religion! Even the people from the Church of our Radiant Continent only dared to elect a Pope although we have conquered the entire continent. n.o.body dared to take the t.i.tle of Pontiff! Is the Elder from the Temple a madman? Moses became a Pontiff those days because of his contribution in conquering the Radiant Continent by splitting the Thunderous Straits. What achievement did this Temple Elder have? He is mad!"

Andy still did not speak and just looked at Garoline, who sighed and said, "Rody, I am afraid that that Elder from the Roland Temple is not mad! In fact, he has been plotting this for a very long time!" He smiled thoughtfully, looking at Rody.

A sudden realization struck Rody like lightning. "Was this the purpose of the war?"

Garoline nodded. He gathered his sleeves and laughed bitterly before saying, "We have always suspected something as we were unable to understand the reason for the war with the Roland Continent that had just ended. Although the Roland army made a huge move, no matter how we looked at it, they could never win the war. They sent eighty thousand soldiers…Hmph. Even if they sent one hundred and eighty thousand soldiers, it would be impossible to defeat us on land. Why did they start a war when they didn't have any confidence of winning? That is the only thing we couldn't understand."

Garoline then smiled a little and said, "Although the Temple has a strong influence in the Roland Continent, they are just spiritual leaders. The Saints in each Kingdom may be no less influential than the King, but the real power still belongs to the King. However, it seems now the Roland Temple has made a huge move. They are going to transform the entire Roland Continent into a religious empire."

Rody closed his eyes and carefully thought for a while. He then opened his eyes and said, "Hmm. That’s right! First, mobilize the soldiers from the dozen Kingdoms in the whole continent. More than half of these soldiers were then dispatched here to start a war. The war would then exhaust the military strength of the dozen Kingdoms! As a result, the power balance between the Roland Temple and the Kingdoms was broken! Although the Temple had also lost some Holy Knights in the war, they were still much better off than the Kingdoms which suffered greatly! Haha! Good! This is 'killing your enemy with a borrowed sword'1!"

Garoline laughed and said, "Earl Rody is right! When the power balance is broken, the Kingdoms in the Roland Continent no longer have the power to suppress the Temple. The Temple has gained the advantage! Now, the Chief Elder of the Temple wants to be crowned Pontiff…Rody, I believe you know what this means?"

Rody showed a complicated expression. He took a deep breath and replied, "I do!"

According to the history that Rody had learned, the only Pontiff in history, Pontiff Moses, was a leader of the people. He was a real leader. He had power and stood by his words. No one would disobey his orders. Basically, he was a dictator, an emperor!

Now, the Elder of the Roland Temple wanted to be crowned Pontiff. It was clear that his intentions were to unite the various Kingdoms on the Roland Continent and build a large religious empire that could rival the Radiant Empire.

Perhaps it would even be more powerful than the Radiant Empire as power in the Radiant Empire was still shared, with the Emperor and the Pope tying each other down. On the other hand, what the Temple wanted to achieve was an empire where the religious and national powers were integrated. There would be no separation between religious power and national power. The Pontiff would take both the authority of the Emperor and the Pope for himself.

"Truly insane! Insane idea! Insane act!" Rody tone was somewhat bitter.

Garoline shook his head and replied, "I am afraid it is not just insane. When we carefully thought about it, although this plan is insane, it is undeniable that right now is the best timing for them!"

Garoline sounded helpless. "Due to the Thunderous Straits, we cannot take advantage of them even if they have a civil strife. After all, the Roland Navy is still around. They would not give us the opportunity to go over and fight. Besides that, we do not have the strength to attack them after the war! We have also suffered heavy losses to obtain that victory. Earl Rody, you probably do not know this, but the Empire is in deep financial trouble. The war in the North itself has cost the Empire tens of millions of gold coins. This does not include the expenditure in the Northwest war..."

'Killing your enemy with a borrowed sword.'

'Truly, killing your enemy with a borrowed sword!'

'The so-called crusade was a cover for the Roland Temple using the Radiant Empire to greatly reduce the strength of the Kingdoms and then...'

Rody thought about this and then asked, "So what is the reason for sending me to the Roland Continent?"

Andy then finally spoke. He still had the dignified expression of an Emperor. He said softly, "To negotiate for peace."

Negotiate for peace? Rody furrowed his eyebrows. Garoline smiled and said, "The Roland Continent’s King Sauron is a very clever person. The Sauron Kingdom is the most powerful kingdom on the Roland Continent. Naturally, they would be very unwilling to be annexed by the Temple. If the Temple has a falling out with the Kingdoms, there would definitely be a war! However, they had already lost a lot of soldiers in the crusade and are anxious they might not be able to contend with the Temple…"

Rody finally understood and said, "So the Sauron Kingdom asked for peace? Or does the Sauron Kingdom want our soldiers to help them stop the Temple?"

"On the contrary." Garoline smiled and replied, "Did you forget that we have hundreds and thousands of prisoners in our hands?"

Rody's eyes lit up.

The prisoners of war!

During the crusade, the Empire had captured five hundred thousand soldiers. Under the care of General Sieg, they were now slaves in the North. These five hundred thousand soldiers were elite soldiers of the various Kingdoms. This was especially true for the Royal Knights of the Sauron Kingdom and their powerful chariot troops.

Garoline then continued, "A secret envoy arrived from the Sauron Kingdom. He came to me and asked for permission to see His Majesty so that he could convey King Sauron’s intentions. King Sauron had requested that we return the captured prisoners so that they could oppose the Temple."

Rody pondered for a moment and asked, "Should we actually agree to return the captured prisoners? After all, there are no benefits for us in doing this."

Garoline also sighed and said, "Of course nothing good will come out of it. After all, they were captured by the Duke of the Tulip Family and the warriors of the Empire after the loss of a lot of lives and blood. We are unwilling to return the prisoners too...but Rody, I believe the Temple could easily defeat these Kingdoms if we do not return these prisoners. Very soon, they would unify the Roland Continent! At that time, a strong and unified Empire would appear in the north and they would then be an even greater threat to the Empire!"

Rody nodded and smiled. However, his smile made Garoline's heart feel cold. Rody said, "I understand! For the future of the Radiant Empire, the people of the Roland Continent must remain divided. We must not allow them to form a unified empire."

Garoline gathered his sleeves and walked to Andy and bowed. He then softly said, "So, His Majesty wants you to go to the Roland Continent as an envoy to represent the Empire in negotiations."

Now that everything was clear, what remained were the pretense ...

Rody immediately put on a respectful expression. He then gently bowed to the Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, please give the order!"

Andy laughed and said, "Although it is decided that we have a peace negotiation with the Sauron Kingdom, we are still talking about several hundred thousand prisoners. No matter what, the people from the Roland Continent would need to pay a price."

Subsequently, they discussed the conditions of the peace negotiations. Andy did not have to speak much as Garoline came prepared. The old fox was really a master in politics. Although his normal behavior was nothing great, he was truly a capable minister. Right from the start, he had already thought out a complete plan with a long list of conditions.

Rody did not interrupt. He stood on the sidelines as he watched Andy and Garoline—two foxes, one old and one young (as Andy was over two hundred years old, Garoline had to be ‘young’)—schemed to extort the Roland people.

Rody secretly frowned but then he saw that Sky, now an Imperial Guard, was fascinated too as he listened to them with an expression that seemed to say, ‘That's the way’.

Rody could only smile wryly. He knew that these old fellows in the room were born schemers. He did not need to worry or interfere in the discussion about the conditions of the peace negotiations. They would definitely be able to draft the most demanding conditions for peace from the Roland people.

'Haha. I heard that the Sauron Kingdom is quite rich.'

'Roland Continent...Sigh…Roland Continent.'

Rody remembered that night when he was standing on the wall of Thunderous City and saw the magical flame sprouting a blooming tulip flower in the sky. Rody could not help but feel silly.

'Black Veil…Mouse…I am going to the Roland Continent!'

Thinking of this, Rody instinctively touched his chest. The ring she had presented to him was hanging on his chest. He felt the hard and cold metal on his chest, giving him a strange feeling. A warm feeling that seemed to surge from his heart.

'Mouse, you must also be looking forward to our reunion...'

Translator's Notes:

1 'Killing your enemy with a borrowed sword' was one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems attributed to Sun Tzu.