Kays Translations

Chapter 72: The Rise of the New Faction:

At first, the New Faction was not very powerful and faced severe suppression from the Old Faction.

To survive, members of the New Faction had to hide their identities and operate underground.

As the Church grew in influence, the Old Faction gradually became corrupted, showing early signs of human supremacy. They looked down on the so-called “barbaric and backward” demi-human races, considering them as filthy as the vampires.

Human nations launched military campaigns to wipe out most demi-human kingdoms, forcing many of these races into the wilderness or undeveloped lands.

All of this was secretly instigated by the Old Faction behind the scenes.

Though the New Faction advocated for racial equality, they had few high-ranking clergy in power, making them too weak to stop these wars.

Then, fifty years ago, Pope Laev XXII ascended to power.

He was a staunch supporter of the New Faction and promoted many of its members in an attempt to reform the Church.

Unfortunately, Laev XXII was too lenient—he only executed a few hardline Old Faction leaders who fiercely resisted reform.

As for the rest of the Old Faction leaders, the pope merely dismissed them from their positions and tried to educate them with New Faction ideals, hoping to gradually assimilate them.

The result was predictable: Laev XXII was assassinated by Old Faction members after just three years on the throne, and many newly promoted New Faction leaders were also targeted and killed.

The Old Faction’s counterattack was so swift and brutal that the New Faction, in its first attempt at power, suffered devastating losses.

Being merciful to your enemies is being cruel to yourself—this was the consequence of placing too much faith in the goodness of humanity while ignoring its darkness.

That said, Laev XXII’s efforts were not entirely in vain.

After retaking control, the Old Faction appointed a young rising star from within their ranks to the papacy—he became Pope Laev XXIII.

However, no one expected that this new pope had already embraced the New Faction’s ideals during Laev XXII’s reign. He had simply hidden it so well that none of the Old Faction members noticed.

Understanding well what had happened to his predecessor, Laev XXIII knew that to completely eradicate the Old Faction from the Church, he would need to be ruthless and cunning.

He secretly contacted New Faction members, built a loyal military force, and quietly prepared for a major operation.

Two years later, everything was in place. A sweeping revolution struck the Church. Clergy confirmed to be members of the Old Faction were arrested and publicly executed.

For a time, the ruling class of the Holy Caleb Theocracy was plunged into bloody chaos.

The Old Faction was dealt a devastating blow, while the New Faction quickly rose in power. The previously neutral middle faction also largely sided with the New Faction.

In the end, the New Faction gained absolute control over the Holy Caleb Theocracy.

Even so, caution was still necessary. Some Old Faction loyalists had gone deep into hiding, waiting for a chance to strike back.

After this great upheaval, the ruling class of the Holy Caleb Theocracy was almost completely replaced by new blood. However, since many talented individuals in the Old Faction were executed, the country’s overall strength declined to some extent.

There were also lingering dangers to deal with—many clergy stationed abroad were members of the Old Faction.

They would not be content with the downfall of their faction and would surely develop regional power in secret, waiting for the right moment to rebel against the central authority.

By the time that happened, dealing with them would be a major headache—perhaps even too late.

A civil war might erupt, and the Lumichael Church could even be forced to split into two separate religions.

To prevent this, Pope Laev XXIII had no choice but to implement a strategy of withdrawal: he recalled all the Holy Knights stationed in other countries, kept only the minimum number of clergy at each church, and strongly promoted the ideals of the new faction among the believers.

In other words, the Holy Caleb Church’s external influence had already declined significantly.

Even today, although the Holy Caleb Church is still led by the new faction, it no longer has the power to stop wars between nations.

For example, the fall of the Gurman Kingdom and the rise of a powerful empire in the West were major events that occurred during this period.

However, thanks to the new faction being in power, the handling of vampires changed—cases were now first judged by the Inquisition. Harmless vampires would be gathered and managed centrally in secure sanctuaries.

As for the demi-human races who had already lost their lands, there was simply no good solution.

There was no way to expect countries to return the land originally belonging to demi-humans. The nobles cherished their lands more than their own lives.

The only hope was for the ideals of the new faction to truly take root, so that humans would stop oppressing the demi-human races. But this was undoubtedly a very difficult road.

No wonder Bishop Flynn seemed so open-minded about the lizardmen—he was likely also part of the new faction.

“So that’s how it is—the conflict between the church’s new and old factions.”

After hearing Theresa’s explanation, Owen finally understood.

Euchina’s companions were most likely killed by members of the old faction. They discovered vampires but did not report it and blatantly violated church laws—only the old faction would dare act like that.

[Hmph, human supremacism. It’s no different from white supremacy back in our world. Both are ideologies of racial extremism, believing their own race is superior to others. That kind of thinking is just plain wrong.]
— Winston spoke in Owen’s mind.

[I agree. For example, lizardmen are generally physically stronger than humans. Every race has its own traits—there’s no absolute better or worse.]

After replying to Winston, Owen looked at Theresa curiously.

“You only went to the Holy City of Caleb for training. How do you know all this? No matter how outstanding you are, you’re still just a senior cleric.”

“During my three years of training, a cardinal looked after me.”

“Oh? Looked after you?”

Owen suddenly became alert, feeling a little bothered inside.

“Ah! Lord Owen, what are you thinking!” 

Theresa quickly clarified. 

“That cardinal is Lady Lutis, known as the Saint in the Holy City of Caleb. She’s about the same age as me, so we got along well. Everything I just told you came from her.”

“So she’s a saint, I see.”

After a brief pause, Owen continued,

“Theresa, I’d like you to keep Euchina’s situation a secret from Bishop Flynn. Just say we encountered fierce resistance from vampires and that you destroyed them with holy light.”

Since Euchina didn’t want to go to the Holy City of Caleb, Owen had to figure out a way to let her stay in Bianshu Town—for now, that meant hiding the truth from Bishop Flynn.

“I said I’d help you…” 

Theresa agreed.

“But I’ll need something to serve as proof.”

“Proof? What do you need?”

“That beast hide Euchina was wearing. You were going to throw it away anyway. Let me use it to complete the report.”

“No problem.”

The conversation ended, and the two of them stood up.

Theresa went to fetch the beast hide, while Owen planned to call Clive to the plaza to issue a public notice that the vampire threat had been eliminated—just to calm the people of Bianshu Town.

Woooo—

Suddenly, a horn blared from the north. It was the second wave of the undead assault! It had come earlier than expected.

Outside, Mapel flung the door open and shouted into the room, “Lord Owen!”

Theresa also wore a serious expression. It looked like retrieving Euchina’s beast hide would have to wait—they needed to get to the infirmary and prepare.

With a firm nod, Owen said gravely,

“Let’s go! To the northern wall!”

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