Here is the 10th chapter~
The year 963 passed…
At the end of the year, the last big thing that affected the future of the Roland Empire happened.
At a huge prayer ceremony in the Temple of Light held at the end of the year, Pope Paul XVI finally publicly announced his designated future temple heir, Archbishop Cardinal Maximus.
This designation did not cause any surprises. After all, as the chief cardinal, Maximus had already become the future pope candidate in people’s minds, but it was only a matter of time.
The Archbishop Maximus did something that surprised and admired everyone.
The empire’s most popular character, most appreciated by the Regent had many legendary stories and many glorious titles. For example, “Genius Junior Magician”, “Court Scholar”, “Duke Tulip” and so on… Some time ago, he generously donated money almost equal to one year of the Empire’s financial revenue to support the Empire’s military expenses. Thus people gave him a new nickname “the richest man on the continent”.
Almost everyone knew that this distinguished gentleman was not a devout believer and he had not been baptized. Because of his unbelief in the Goddess of Light, the clergy of the temples received some unfair treatment in his territory.
According to some gossip and even news from the Duke’s Mansion, it was said that the Lord Duke does did have much respect for the goddess. He even used some very impolite words to describe those priests in private places.
It was said that a wild horse that has always been out of the glory of the goddess had finally tamed by the great Archbishop Maximus.
Just on January 1st of the year. On the former square of the Governor’s Mansion in Loulan City, the provincial capital of Desa, the Duke of Tulips held an introductory ceremony of his own. In the presence of tens of thousands of onlookers, he received the baptism of the Archbishop of Maximus. Archbishop Maximus personally completed the ceremony to accept the Lord Duke Tulip and also awarded an “Outstanding Contribution Medal” to the duke who had just been enshrined. Generally, this badge was only awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to the church.
When the Duke received the medal, only five minutes had passed since he became a believer.
Du Wei then announced in a high profile that his territory, Desa, was officially open to the church. And the close friend of Archbishop Maximus, the former bishop of the North and Central Parish, Rams came to serve as the archbishop of Desa.
In addition, Du Wei stated that he would fully support the establishment of the parish in the Desa. He was also willing to become the Holy Knight of Desa and provide a good training ground. He also generously donated five hundred excellent horses.
On behalf of the church, Maximus announced a resolution. In order to express its sincere gratitude to Lord Duke Tulip, the church decided to exempt all religious taxes in the province of Desa for the next five years. At the same time, according to Du Wei’s huge popularity in Desa, the church’s Presbyterian Council made a decision saying that Du Wei would be awarded the title of “Honorary Bishop” in Desa.
The title of honorary bishop was more than just an “honour”. Legally speaking, due to his status as bishop of the church, Du Wei will have immunity to any law of the Empire in the future. Although Du Wei didn’t care much about this “legal immunity” because he already had the status of a magician, he was also of a legal privileged class.
However, the title of honorary bishop had more functions than a magician:
There was a function what Du Wei desired most. In order to show respect for the honorary bishop, the church made a resolution saying that church would grant status of “Holy Knight” to 500 soldiers of Du Wei! Moreover, this cavalry could only follow the command of the honorary bishop. Of course, the premise was that this cavalry must ensure that each of them was a believer of goddess.