20 – Seize Church Property

When I returned to Fairfax, I inspected the half-elf daughter of the king, also known as Tiffania, Matilda's friend. It appeared that she was actually still alive.

As Fairfax was a close confidante of Cromwell, I questioned him extensively regarding Tiffania. Although he did not know much about it, as it was a very secret operation, he did reveal a few important facts.

First was that there had indeed been a female secretary with exotic facial features that helped Cromwell, but nobody knew her whereabouts. They'd assumed that she died on board the Lexington, though I didn't buy that for a second.

Second, Fairfax was aware of the gargoyles that could pretend to be other people. But he also revealed that there were a number of Halkegenian spells that could accomplish much the same thing. A high level wind and water spell using blood could create an imposter as well, though it was less sturdy than the gargoyles. An advanced wind spell called "Split" could also create wind clones of mages that could even cast magic.

At the same time, there were counter spells which could check the identity of suspected frauds. These were commonly known. People just weren't in the habit of checking for imposters except when "lost" pretenders to the throne or a noble title suddenly appeared and their legitimacy had to be verified.

That was probably why the real Tiffania had been kept alive. The nobles could actually verify her identity pretty easily.

Then I interrogated Tiffania, and eventually discovered she was actually a Void mage capable of casting a memory erasure spell, but incapable of any elven spirit magics, except for the one that used her mother's ring to heal.

She had learned the memory erasure spell as a young child playing with the Founder's Music Box.

I didn't remember much of anything about her from the story except that she saved Saito after he stalled the huge army, and was an exceptionally naïve and kind person.

Nevertheless, I gave her the Music Box to try out. She couldn't get it to work though. That was when she mentioned that the first time it worked, she had also been wearing the Wind Ruby, which glowed when the Music Box started playing music.

Based on this, it seemed that the Founder's Rings were also required, possibly even a specific one for each treasure. I had then quickly sent out orders to find the Prince Wales, but he hadn't turned up yet.

As for the elvish healing ring, that turned out to be a gem enchanted with the "power of water".

That ring had a built-in spell to be activated, so Tiffania didn't know any real spirit magic. I ultimately let her keep it because I had no urgent need of the healing spell, and I would eventually have a better solution in the water stone once I mastered it.

But even if I did have need of it, I wouldn't have been able to use it anyway. Tiffania told me that the enchantment which allowed her to activate the spell was set up to only work for her.

That led me to the realization that perhaps there had actually been some built-in spells on the Ring of Andvari before I broke it. It was just that Myozunitonirun had locked them to Cromwell.

Because of her Void power and elven heritage, I decided to keep her around and assist her in learning Void spells if the opportunity arose.

But unlike with Louise, Tiffania could also serve as my political pawn.

I'd looked for candidates to appoint as the ruler, but no other person stood out to me. I could crown Fairfax, but I felt the man was more useful as a counterweight to whomever sat on the throne, being in control of the military.

Tiffania, despite the backlash she'd face for being a half-elf, was someone I could easily manipulate. Her personality was too kind, and she lacked any political power of her own, or even experience in court.

With her as a figurehead ruler, the country's administrative policies would still largely be in the hands of the executive council positions, which I intended to re-organize anyways.

In this way, I could get competent people to fill all the necessary roles, and leave Tiffania to work on charitable causes.

But rather than enthroning her immediately, I left the throne nominally vacant. An interregnum.

I didn't want a Regent to have too much influence over her while I was away, nor did I want to rock the boat too much by having a half-elf head of state before people got used to the idea of having a half-elf princess.

With an interregnum, the matter of succession remained theoretically open.

Later on, I would make an official announcement that I intended to appoint a worthy ruler after demonstrating their competency, faith, loyalty, and benevolence, and the same criteria would be applied to most government positions, while new assemblies, councils, and committees would be created.

These opportunities wouldn't just be limited to nobles either. Many meritocratic reforms would soon follow, allowing wealthy, educated commoners to participate in government and contribute to the treasury.

Many ambitious nobles and even commoners would then be distracted, competing to perform good deeds and seek my favor, instead of plotting to overthrow the new order.

Unfortunately, these remained only far off plans.

In the short-term there were far too many other problems to deal with.

Before the state could centralize and firmly come under my control through a new bureaucracy, the civil war needed to end.

While there were no more openly rebellious factions, this did not mean that there was no unrest, or that I had full control over the kingdom. The vast majority of the kingdom outside of the immediate area surrounding Londinium was liable to devolve back into rebellion at any time.

The fact of the matter was that the strength of arms from my explosives only achieved a temporary state of suppression, which would quickly evaporate if the men were not paid and fed properly.

A serious problem was the composition of the Reconquista army itself.

Firstly, it included the presence of demihuman troops, who began to desert en masse and even attack the other troops without whatever methods Cromwell had to keep them obedient.

Fairfax was forced to get rid of them before they seriously damaged the human forces.

Secondly, it was not a single organization, but consisted of numerous auxiliary armies contributed from various nobles and mercenary groups.

Of the remaining non-demihuman troops, only 30% were under Fairfax's direct command which Cromwell had paid and organized, but some 40% of the army consisted of noble levies, while the last 30% were mercenaries.

Because of Fairfax's quick maneuver to capture the court at the capital, we had effectively held a number of allied nobles hostage and maintained control of their levies.

But soon there wouldn't be any money left to pay the army, and many nobles faced funding shortages to maintain their levies too.

The royal treasury had already been seized and funds exhausted when Londinium was first conquered by Reconquista.

Already, the mercenaries had been disbanded as they were the largest expense, and we were still facing a financial crisis.

While Cromwell was in control, Reconquista had continuously received funds from various donors, including a large portion from Gallia.

These funds dried up once Cromwell was dead, and we were on the verge of bankruptcy.

The food shortage was no less a concern either because Albion had been in civil war for too long, so agricultural productivity had dropped to an all-time low. Imports from abroad had filled the gap, but Gallia shipping volume had suddenly dropped as well, creating another impending disaster.

We had perhaps one week of food left before facing the possibility of famine. The only reason this wasn't a bigger problem than our finances was because Germania had plenty of food to spare and was very willing to trade it if only we had money.

With modern economics, finance expertise, and access to many valuable inventions, I had many ways to strengthen the treasury, but it would take months at the least to institute the required reforms or develop the necessary businesses.

If I were able to freely travel between planes with no restrictions, then I could just ship over gold and other materials from the uninhabited worlds I controlled on Worm, especially the Earth M2 base where Offensive Bias produced the AAPV and all the equipment in it.

However, there was a price to shift planes.

Forming the tunnel through Kaleidoscape required a special form of energy that Agate passively collected from a plane's Creation Mystery using her path to the Root. We called this energy Primordial Grain—so named because it countered the Primordial Chaos, and Zelretch theorized that it was a higher order analog of the Grain that celestial bodies were composed of.

It took about a week to collect enough for one trip. There was no known way of speeding this up, or substituting it, so even though it wasn't difficult to acquire, it was an exceedingly limited resource. If one trip for one soul was approximately equal to one unit, then I had five units worth when I arrived in this world. This was a minimal level I kept in reserve to ensure I had enough to move several times in quick succession in case the need arose.

After a week and a half of being on this world, I now had six trip's worth, but even so, why waste any if I might have an actually pressing need to use them in the future? If I came across a situation that was actually time sensitive and required multiple trips to handle, or if I got chased across planes by something capable of following me, then I'd regret wasting them.

So I did not want to make a round trip to Worm and back just to get a small vehicle's worth of supplies, if there were other alternatives. For the same reason, I wouldn't go back and forth between planes to uplift one by bringing in a large amount of tech infrastructure without a very good reason.

In the end, I resorted to the sad medieval practice of nationalizing Church properties and seizing wealth from heretics to stay solvent. Fortunately, with my new religion, almost everyone had turned into a heretic so there was plenty of wealth to be confiscated, with an appropriate share redistributed to the new faithful.

Faith without a visible divine presence tended to follow material benefits, and with the identification of heretics becoming a lucrative business, there were many that became fervent 'believers' of the new religion.

Albion had only a single archbishopric based just east of Londinium at Canterbury, which was the first to be taken over, and it was necessary to make a public spectacle of it.

The archbishopric was subordinate to the Papacy in Romalia, even chosen by the Romalian Pope, and this was obviously not acceptable. It collected taxes on the surrounding lands and had its own levies, but paid more money to Romalia instead of the Crown.

Functionally, bishoprics and archbishoprics had rights similar to counts and dukes in terms of taxation, and because there was no inheritance system that split the wealth among many heirs, they tended to be rather wealthy, especially with the additional income from donations.

The archbishop of Canterbury predictably refused to acknowledge the new religion, but he was only a Triangle mage and easily defeated.

He was brought to Londinium in chains and a public trial was organized in front of the Londinium Cathedral, which was similarly taken over as was the bishopric of Londonium.

The bishop of London was intelligent enough to surrender, convert, and contribute funds to the new Church of Muurleth, having been a man that Cromwell had installed previously.

He therefore had the great honor of presiding over the trial of the heretical archbishop.

A great crowd of commoners had gathered to watch, and the court nobles were also in attendance, as were the top military leaders.

The former archbishop was tied up to a high stake on a platform and his mouth was gagged. Stripped of his clothes, only allowed to wear rags, and having been tortured repeatedly, he looked nothing like a priest anymore.

Several other priests were similarly tied up next to him.

"Former Archbishop Carlisle of Canterbury, you are accused of heresy, high treason, idolatry, devil worship, abuse of authority, embezzlement of church funds, forcing and coercing carnal relations on church attendants, including children, and fraudulently offering absolution in exchange for carnal favours!" The bishop Wellesley of Londonium read loudly from an official looking parchment, standing next to Carlisle.

"Let the witnesses come forth!" He shouted and gestured.

A procession of various witnesses came forth, including nobles and commoners and other lower ranking priests.

Each one had been paid for their courage in speaking out, and promised reparations for the archbishop's crimes if the trial was successful.

As they described in detail the evidence against the archbishop, the crowd gasped and looked revolted.

Carlisle moaned and grunted, trying to speak, but was unable to with the rag in his mouth.

"As you have heard, this man is a Papist dog, a traitor to Albion, and a corrupt devil worshipper! He has stolen a hundred thousand écus to give to his masters in Romalia, and damned the souls of hundreds of unknowing innocents who were deceived into worshipping fake idols and paying for absolution with carnal acts! He has corrupted and traumatized children and led a cult of evil by abusing his authority as the Archbishop!"

Planted people within the crowd started to shout angry curses at the archbishop, which led to the rest of the crown quickly following suit.

Wellesley pulled the rag off Carlisle's mouth. "What have you to say for yourself? Will you not recant and repent even with the clear evidence?!"

"N-no! These are fabrications, lies!" Carlisle shouted. "These witnesses are fake!"

Wellesley pulled out several documents and shoved them in front of Carlisle's face. "You still deny it? We have documents here clearly showing the monies you paid to the Papacy, which you stole from the Albion people!"

"Those were rightfully paid taxes, not stolen!"

Wellesley smacked Carlisle as if in rage. Then he stuffed the gag back on.

He turned and walked around, holding up the documents in the air. "Did you hear that, good people of Albion?! This man dares to steal from Albion and claims it to be rightful! He has betrayed his kingdom and sold out to a foreign power, while you have suffered without bread, toiling away under the sun for a measly few coins each day! While you were starving, the money that should have been yours was used to let him live in a sinful life of debauchery and pampering his foreign masters! It is people like this who have made Albion weak and caused hardship for all of you!"

The crowd was visibly angered now and many looked like they wanted to execute the archbishop with their own hands.

But Wellesley raised his hands and asked for calm. After a few moments, the angry cries died down.

"But let it be known that the Church of Muurleth is fair and just, we shall now hear from the archbishop's own subordinates!" He then ungagged one of the other tied up priests. "Tell us of the crimes that the archbishop is accused of! What he bid you do, and the sins you have committed!"

The severely tortured priest was quick to confess and sob as he admitted to everything and then some, begging for a quick death.

The crowd was again enraged, and they started throwing things at the evil men in front of them.

"Look, archbishop Carlisle, even your own subordinates have confessed their sins! It is too late for you sinners to escape punishment in this life, but you shall have one last chance to save your soul! I, Bishop Wellesley of Londinium, by the authority vested in me as Inquisitor of the Church, hereby declare that your punishment shall be burning at the stake! You will experience a taste of what awaits you in hell, and I implore you to repent to save your soul before you leave your mortal coil!"

He ripped off the gags on all of the accused heretics. Carlisle protested and cursed him, but was ignored.

An executioner casted a fire spell and began burning all of the accused.

The screams and wails of those being burned were drowned out by the crowd's cheers.

Wellesley looked pleased and took the opportunity to direct the crowd's cheers.

"Praise His Divine Greatness, Muurleth, God of Albion, He Who Sees Beyond, for exposing this evil and rescuing the kingdom from these traitors and devil worshippers! All hail God Muurleth!"

"All hail God Muurleth!" They shouted exuberantly.

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[Agate]

Agate reporting in!

I tried to create a simple mental compulsion spell, but it was a complete failure! Even flies refused to go away!

Then I tried warding, starting with the most basic of the basic, just something like a Bounded Field that gave us an alarm. I successfully made the water spirits in the stone warn us when humidity is low!

In other words, aren't they just complaining that there's not enough water nearby?

Argh! This is too hard. Maybe we'd have better luck starting with something more obviously water related. It seems that mental influence and warding are more advanced conceptual uses of the water element, or maybe something to do with the spirits themselves. But it's only been a few days, I shouldn't expect too much anyways.

Should I keep trying, or work on something else? Kaleidus is almost done with managing the kingdom, so we'll both be able to work on this soon. Two minds are better than one, as they say, so maybe we'll get better results.

A/N: For the time being, there's going to be an Agate training segment every time we're in MC POV, there's a reasonable expectation that there is time to actually experiment (a few days), and if Agate is not away from the MC. If there isn't a few days between chapters, it will just progress according to the previous vote. The progress will also change significantly according to some catalysts in the story itself, and longer periods of experimentation.

Also, the MC has finally learned why Myoz was unconcerned about losing the ring. Objects enchanted with spirit magic or otherwise hosting spirits can choose who they will work for to a degree.

Again, just a reminder that votes happen on the Sufficient Velocity thread.

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