Chapter 342: Chapter 291: Seeing the Slightest Clue, Aunt and Nephew Join Hands
The Governor of Havana, Fox, watched the unruly crowd before him disperse and reassemble like the wind, laughing heartily in his mind:
Hahaha, Castilia is the strongest defender of Church authority and possesses the most devout and steadfast believers of the Traditional Faction.
Hasn’t everyone started from a position of weakness and worked their way up to the present? Do you really think Castilia’s dominance was just picked up for free?
In the decades since the dawn of the Age of Exploration, it is our mutual achievements with the Traditional Faction that have made Castilia what it is today.
The Archbishop and Saints of the Traditional Faction naturally want to protect Castilian interests. Only if we are stronger can we help them suppress the restless Protestant Doctrine.
Exchanging a covert glance with the Cardinal Archbishop, the annoyance that Byron had invisibly imposed on him was instantly swept away.
We feast on meat. By carelessly tossing out a couple of leftover bones, we can easily incite these hyenas to fight over scraps and even betray each other by backstabbing, feasting on each other’s innards.
Even if the two most powerful nations receive exemptions, so what?
Once the alliance collapses, we’ll just wait to slowly deal with those minor players before converging our forces to deal with you.
By setting up checkpoints on the main shipping routes, we’ll collect the eleventh tax to the last copper coin and bleed you dry!
Anyone who dares to resist will be condemned as a heretic, hahaha...
That nations seek or fear the Right to Protect essentially boils down to a powerful country wielding "faith" as a Cross, interfering wantonly in the internal affairs of other countries’ colonies in the name of the Church.
Relying on their authority over religious affairs—such as personnel appointments, law enforcement, and taxation powers—they effortlessly achieve what Firearm and steel swords cannot.
It’s like holding the moral high ground in the Eastern world and swinging a big stick with impunity, easily striking wherever they please, with undeniable advantage.
Anyone with discernment knows that the New World is within reach.
The People of Castilia have gone to great lengths for the foreseeable, immense interest in that New World.
Clearly, their dominance over the seas is not only due to their head start and possession of numerous pioneering Sacred Relics but also remarkable wisdom.
These two fellows are up to something fishy!
Byron didn’t need to read minds. A glance at the microexpressions of the Cardinal Archbishop and the Governor of Havana told him that the two might have already made some secret agreement.
Perhaps during the nations’ high-level efforts to secure interests, they might have feigned weakness and "reluctantly" offered two exemptions, but in truth, everything was within their scheming.
It seems my expectations must be adjusted accordingly.
Once the mission accomplishment conditions allow for subjective assessment, the room for maneuver becomes too large, and securing first place becomes much harder.
For both me and the initial intentions of the Kingdom of Hightins, the goal is simply to avoid the Right to Protect’s big stick falling on our own heads.
After all, even if we obtain the Right to Protect, without sufficient power to exercise long-arm jurisdiction, enforce laws cross-border, and inspect the world, it would just be a clownish joke.
For all countries, being ranked second or third is more attractive than the Right to Protect.
Byron glanced at the governors opposite him, who had suddenly become wary of each other. They were clearly of the same opinion.
By simply changing a rule, the potential allies had suddenly turned into competitors.
He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly:
As long as the Church holds the power of setting the rules, how can we outplay them by following their rules?
You know, the ’Silver Code’ has seven levels.
Whether it’s the Royal Iron Law or Kingly Title of the various nations, at most they reach the Fifth Order.
Aside from the one at the very top of the legal hierarchy, the Seventh Order creator.
Adorned with the Papal Tiara and wielding the triple power over Hell, the Mortal World, Heaven, legislation, judiciary, and administration, the Pope, as the Proxy of God, controls the lower-level permissions of the Silver Law.
This is key to why the Church has been able to firmly suppress royal Authority during a millennium of the Dark Ages, ensuring that the Sacred Silver Empire Emperor must be crowned under their auspices.
Relying on the Silver Law, the truly ’divine right of kings’ of the various nations was held tightly in their grip.
The Old Continent has its own set of conditions, which I cannot change for now. I can only practice Incandescent Dust.
But there is much truth in a saying from my previous life: ’If you wish to achieve a medium goal, you must strive for a higher one; and to reach that higher one, aim for the highest.’
I must prepare as if striving for first place; otherwise, I might not even get second or third.
I must find a way to directly kill the key target—the ’May Wind’!
As long as the killing achievement is met, no matter what the criteria for judgment are, no one will be able to erase the feat.
Especially since he has Violet, this prospective Witch, to help. Her Curse Seal ’Profane,’ engraved with the blood of the octopus Warship, allows her to sense the opponent’s precise location within a certain range.
In a situation where she is influenced by the Old God [Sleeping God Kraken] and cannot use Divination to lock onto the target, this is an unbeatable advantage.
Seizing the opportunity to strike directly at the heart is the most straightforward, direct, and efficient way.
The Cardinal Archbishop saw the expressions of the various governors, his face full of compassion:
"Such arrangements are made without any personal interest. Everything is for unifying everyone’s strength to quickly mitigate disaster and also for allowing more countries to bathe in the grace of the Lord.
"Now onto the second point.
"Surely those of you who have returned from the ’World Serpent · Celestial Circumfluence’ are aware."