Charlotte withdrew her promise of "Ambratu governed by Ambratu people."
To this, the residents of Ambratu had absolutely no objections.
From the ruthless Jonathan Hackman to the weak and incompetent John Rice, the residents of Ambratu had finally seen the truth—the people of Ambratu simply couldn't damn well govern Ambratu!
The Administration Office, Court, and Patrol Team were officially established. Ambratu was thoroughly brought under Charlotte's control, with government decrees flowing smoothly and executed as easily as moving one's own arm.
This held considerable significance for Charlotte. The powers on the Soqya Peninsula were on the verge of a major reshuffle. If the Ivy Alliance were truly beaten down and the Delmore army attacked, Charlotte would at least have a bridgehead on the Soqya Peninsula to stand against the Delmore people.
Just as Charlotte was preparing for the great war with the Delmore people as if facing a formidable enemy, Wisdom Kiris, one of the Twin Kings of Delmore, ascended the steps to the Cathedral of Angels.
The Delmore City-State had quelled the rebellion within the Delmore Alliance in the shortest time possible and could finally turn back to continue attacking the Ivy Alliance.
Fedi was close at hand. Wisdom believed that the hundred-year war between the two alliances was about to come to an end.
However, before that, Wisdom needed to perform the routine worship of Ig.
The Delmore people believed in God to an inconceivable degree.
To give a simple example: Four years ago, the Ivy Alliance coalition forces launched an initiative-taking crusade against the Delmore Alliance. The invaded city-states hurriedly sent messages to the Delmore City-State asking for help. The Delmore City-State told its allies: "You guys fight first; I'll be there in a while."
So, the allies deployed their formations and fought fiercely against the Ivy Alliance coalition. However, the army of the Delmore City-State failed to arrive for a long time. The allies hurriedly went to the Delmore City-State to urge them on, only to discover that the Delmore City-State was celebrating the annual Festival of Holy Grace!
The Festival of Holy Grace—this was far too important!
The Delmore City-State had to celebrate it for seven days and seven nights!
We Delmore people would rather not fight a war than miss the opportunity to bathe in Holy Grace.
No matter how the allies urged them, the Delmore City-State simply refused to end their lengthy worship process early to dispatch troops to rescue their allies.
Just like that, the Delmore Alliance suffered a baffling and disastrous defeat.
The various city-states fighting the Ivy Alliance coalition suffered heavy losses—heavy losses. Therefore, they had many complaints against the Delmore City-State. These city-states had participated in the rebellion that had just been quelled.
It could be said that to celebrate a single Festival of Holy Grace, the Delmore City-State had fought at least three extra years of war.
Therefore, even though Wisdom believed he had a high probability of breaching Fedi this time, he still had to worship Ig before dispatching his troops and seek a highly auspicious oracle from My Lord.
The place where Wisdom's army was stationed was already not far from the Cathedral of Angels, so Wisdom simply chose the Cathedral of Angels as the location for this worship.
The Cathedral of Angels belonged to the Church and had always remained politically neutral, not interfering in the war between the Ivy Alliance and the Delmore Alliance. But in terms of territory, the Cathedral of Angels was located within the Ivy Alliance. Even if the Cathedral of Angels remained neutral, for the past hundred years, the Delmore people only dared to come for occasional worship during brief truces. Important figures like the Twin Kings of Delmore dared not set foot in this ancient temple even during truce periods.
Leading over a thousand generals and soldiers along the mountain path to the front of the Cathedral of Angels, Wisdom was blocked by two priests.
"Your Majesty the King," one of the priests bowed and said, "This is the place where God's messenger descended. Too many people must not disturb it."
Wisdom stopped in his tracks and turned to the commander of the guards beside him, saying, "Take the men and stay outside to wait for me to come out."
"Yes!" the guard commander responded.
After arranging the guards, the two priests still showed no intention of making way. Wisdom asked strangely, "Is there any other problem?"
"Weapons stained with blood cannot be brought into the Great Cathedral," the other priest said.
The Delmore generals about to follow Wisdom into the Great Cathedral looked at each other; they all carried weapons with them.
This was very normal; this was enemy territory, after all. One could never be too vigilant.
But these two priests blocked the door firmly, with a stubborn attitude of "If you don't disarm, we won't let you in."
Finally, a general could not hold back: "You people..."
"Cruz!" Wisdom shouted to stop his beloved general, then slowly unbuckled the sword from his waist.
"Your Majesty, this..." the general called Cruz wanted to dissuade him.
Wisdom, however, said in a deep voice, "I believe that in a place watched by God, there will be no conspiracies, right?"
The priest looked at Wisdom for a moment, lowered his head, and said, "Yes."
Wisdom took the lead in removing his sword, and the other generals successively followed suit, removing their portable weapons.
Only Cruz remained very dissatisfied with this. He stiffened his neck and argued, "My sword is new. It has never killed anyone, not even a chicken. I want to take it in!"
The priest did not argue with Cruz. He bowed his head slightly and said, "Since you say it has not been stained with blood, then take it in. But God will eventually know everything."
Cruz was initially a bit surprised, but then he couldn't help shrinking his neck. Obviously, as a Delmore person, the deterrence of God was something he could not ignore.
The Delmore group was finally able to enter the Cathedral of Angels. The moment he stepped over the threshold, Wisdom's breathing couldn't help but become a bit heavier.
He was the first King from the two Delmore royal families to enter the Cathedral of Angels in over a hundred years! What a great glory this was.
Every statue, every decoration, and every mural inside the Cathedral of Angels felt both strange and familiar to Wisdom.
Strange, naturally, because Wisdom had never been here before. Familiar, because since childhood, Wisdom had learned about this Great Cathedral from the mouths of countless people, in countless sketches, and in countless travelogues. This was the holy land for all believers of God on the Soqya Peninsula, and even more so the holy land in the hearts of the Delmore people.
Wisdom's father and grandfather had longed their entire lives to come to this Great Cathedral to listen to God's teachings once, but neither had succeeded.
And now, he had done it!
How could this not make Wisdom excited?
Under the guidance of the two priests, Wisdom and the hundred-odd generals under his command arrived at a magnificent, resplendent hall.
From the ceiling to the walls, to the statue of Ig, and down to the floor tiles, everything in this hall was glittering gold. Painted on the golden walls was a scene of an angel descending to the mortal world and stopping before a pool of clear spring water...
In the center of this golden hall, however, was a pool built of cobblestones. In the center of the pool was a spring, currently bubbling with water.
It was said that when the angel descended upon the Soqya Peninsula, they saw a pool of crystal-clear spring water on this mountain and bathed in it. Later, the Church built a small hut of gold to cover this spring and constructed the Cathedral of Angels around this hut. The surrounding murals depicted similar stories.
However, at this moment, there was no tall, handsome angel with a pair of wings on their back beside the spring. There was only a white-haired old man and a pot-bellied fat man.
After looking at the white-haired old man for a moment, Wisdom took the initiative to nod in respect. "Archbishop Merck, Inquisitor Borodin, we meet again."
Merck Sevani, the Archbishop of the Cathedral of Angels. Borodin, the Inquisitor of the Cathedral of Angels. This was not the first time Wisdom had met these two, especially Merck Sevani. When Wisdom was crowned, his crown had been placed upon his head by Merck Sevani.
Moreover, according to the records of the Delmore royal family, the crowns of Wisdom's father and grandfather had also been placed by Merck Sevani.
"I am very happy to see you again, Your Majesty," Merck Sevani bowed to Wisdom and said. "The last time I saw a King of the Delmore City-State in the Cathedral of Angels was already over a hundred years ago. I am very glad that before I die, I can see the next Delmore King come to the Cathedral of Angels."
"Yes, it has been over a hundred years. But..." Wisdom's eyes suddenly became sharp. "It won't be like that in the future. We are about to take Fedi. After this battle, the Ivy Alliance will no longer exist."
Merck Sevani nodded, seeming completely indifferent to these words of Wisdom's that were enough to stir the winds and clouds of the peninsula.
Seeing no unusual expression on Merck Sevani's face, Wisdom continued, "I have come for the war. I want to beg for God's protection for my warriors and ask God to bestow an oracle to guide our way forward. I hope you can provide some assistance."
"This is what I ought to do." Merck Sevani motioned for Wisdom to come into the spring water and kneel.
Wisdom had learned something about the process of the highest-level worship at the Cathedral of Angels. He had his adjutant help him remove all his clothes, trousers, and shoes, and then walked naked into the spring water.
The cobblestones lining the spring were truly uncomfortable to kneel on, but Wisdom knelt down without any hesitation.
The Delmore generals also knelt, but they knelt on the golden floor tiles outside the spring. Even if they wanted to kneel on the cobblestones and suffer, they did not have the qualification.
Archbishop Sevani prayed to the statue for a while, then took a rattan cane from the altar. He came to Wisdom's side, raised the cane, and snap—whipped Wisdom on the back while chanting scriptures in a low voice.
Archbishop Sevani was old and frail, with limited arm strength, so the first lash on the back wasn't particularly painful. But he wasn't going to strike just once.
Archbishop Sevani whipped him almost every time he recited a verse of scripture. Soon, Wisdom's back was whipped until the skin broke and the flesh split. Wisdom gritted his teeth and endured it. He knew Sevani wasn't deliberately making things difficult for him; the path Sevani followed was to use this method, akin to self-torture, to feel God's presence and listen to God's teachings.
Suddenly, a vast, radiant power rippled out within this magnificent room, sprinkling over everyone's bodies like the warm sun of winter.
The Delmore generals raised their heads in confusion, only to see the golden statue emitting a faint golden light.
"God, oh God..."
A commotion stirred among the generals.
Archbishop Sevani swept them with a furious glare. The generals immediately shut their mouths again and knelt to pray, but their expressions became even more agitated and fanatical.
Archbishop Sevani also knelt before the statue, listening earnestly to God's teachings. His expression was solemn one moment, grave the next, then seemingly enlightened, and then as if facing a formidable enemy...
Wisdom watched from the side with his heart in his throat. It wasn't until Archbishop Sevani's expression calmed down and he reopened his eyes that Wisdom asked impatiently, "Archbishop Sevani, what revelation has God given us?"
Archbishop Sevani looked at Wisdom, then swept a glance at the elite soldiers behind Wisdom. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and said, "The oracle says: Delmore should not attack Fedi."
"What!" Wisdom heard this oracle like a bolt from the blue.
The Delmore generals were also dumbfounded. They didn't understand why God would send down such an oracle.
The Twin Kings of Delmore were less like kings and more like bishops and priests. The administrative power of the City-State was controlled by the Senate and the Magistrates, while the two Kings were the spokespersons of God.
During his military campaigns, Wisdom needed to pray before almost every major battle, begging for the protection and oracles bestowed by God. He himself was the one who presided over the prayer ceremonies. And every time, Wisdom could give everyone a beautiful oracle, saying that everyone would surely win the first battle and return in triumph.
To directly say an oracle like "should not attack Fedi"—this was truly the first time anyone had heard of it.
"We are about to attack Fedi right now! And you give me this kind of oracle? Did you take money from the Fedi people?"
Wisdom grabbed Sevani, clenched his fist, and stared into the other's eyes, questioning him.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
"Calm down, Your Majesty!"
"This is the Great Cathedral..."
The generals hurriedly pulled Wisdom away, persuading him not to be impulsive.
Archbishop Sevani, who had almost taken a beating, remained calm in face: "You should not attack Fedi. This is the oracle."
"What if I insist on attacking Fedi?" Wisdom asked with a cold sneer.
"If you wish to do so, then do so. In short, God will eventually know everything," Sevani said.
Wisdom wanted to mock him with a few more sentences, but before he could speak, he noticed that his generals all wore expressions of hesitation and doubt. He stopped himself, and finally flicked his sleeves and left.
"Your Majesty!"
Cruz and the other generals hurriedly chased after him.
Following Wisdom out of the Cathedral of Angels, Cruz couldn't help but say, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty!"
Wisdom's face was gloomy, but hearing Cruz's words, he still asked back strangely, "Sorry for what?"
"This blade of mine has killed many people. Perhaps I angered the Lord God," Cruz said with immense apology.
Wisdom stopped in his tracks. He stared at Cruz for a while, and realizing the apologetic look on his face didn't seem feigned, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh. He shook his head and continued down the mountain.