Chapter 659: The Conspiracy of the Holy Temple
"Isaac was originally an Investigator, but after the incident, he joined the Fire Moth. Meanwhile, Jules was originally a Mechanical Priest of the Mechanical Temple, but after the incident, he joined the Candlelight Society."
"By the way, both of them are dual-path, the only two dual-paths in the world."
"But that happened a long time ago and has nothing to do with the present. However, the last few days are the days when the Candlelight Society's [Investigators] are going to Dream City for a rotation."
"Change of guard? Oh, I heard there are many extraordinary people stationed there. This time..."
"Every three years, a new group of investigators will be stationed there. When they arrive, the previous investigators will return to calculate whether it's time for this group of investigators to depart."
"Are you saying Isaac might have gone to investigate the Dream City? Infiltrated among the investigators who were leaving for a shift change?"
"Given Mr. Isaac's cautious nature, this is the only thing that would make him risk his life. Unfortunately, I haven't found any trace of him."
Erwin shrugged.
"Ah!" Gaia suddenly screamed, scaring the two of them.
"What's wrong Gaia?"
Zoe and Erwin looked over with some concern, but Gaia didn't react and just stood there blankly.
After a while, she turned her head stiffly.
"You just said the [Investigator] has already set off?"
"right"
"We're leaving today and should be far away from Rhine by tomorrow. The investigators who are being replaced won't leave until they reach Dream City. In other words, there aren't many [Investigators] left in Rhine City right now?"
“And tomorrow.”
"It's the Mechanical Temple, a banquet with His Holiness the Pope."
All the anomalies seemed to have an explanation. The Mechanical Temple's wrangling was to delay time and force them to attend tomorrow's banquet.
The banquet was scheduled for tomorrow because the Candlelight Society would be least guarded tomorrow, and the Pope needed to attend the banquet due to his agreement with the Castel envoys.
Since the Pope is attending, other high-ranking church officials should also show up. It can be said that most of the Candlelight Club will appear in the banquet hall tomorrow.
The three of them broke out in cold sweats. They originally thought it was just a conflict between churches, but now it seems... could it be an armed seizure of power?
The Mechanical Temple is indeed much weaker than the Candlelight in terms of hard power, but if it is just a matter of carrying out beheadings, there are definitely enough people.
And if the top leaders of the Candlelight Society were wiped out, and the [Investigator], who was the backbone of the group, was not there, then as long as the Mechanical Temple acted quickly enough, it could really take over Rhine in the chaos.
If the Rhine, the heart of the empire, is controlled, the Mechanical Temple will be able to truly compete with the Candlelight Society.
Even if the [Investigators] abandoned the Dream City, the extraordinary people alone could not attack the city. They had to mobilize military forces from other areas of the Candlelight Society. The Mechanical Temple could take the opportunity to digest the entire Rhine and restart factories and production lines.
Then, relying on this tall and solid "miracle city", it may not be impossible to defend it.
No one in the room spoke, but the atmosphere became increasingly solemn.
"Mr. Erwin, this news."
"It was obtained by the Ash Alliance. They have an undercover agent in the Candlelight Society. The rotation of investigators is a highly confidential matter. Logically, the Mechanical Templar wouldn't know about it."
"Then the Ash Alliance can get it?" Zoe was a little confused.
"Have you forgotten where the members of the Ash Alliance come from?" Erwin gave a wry smile. "The Flame Moths excel at infiltration and concealment, and among these, they're best at infiltrating the Candlelight Society. They're their old rivals, so it's no surprise they've been able to get information from them."
“.”
"Then what should we do? Gaia, if you were from the Mechanical Templar, how would you carry out the decapitation plan?"
"Bury dozens of tons of explosives in the banquet hall and send the Pope, her guards and the entire church into heaven." Gaia said without hesitation.
Zoe's eye twitched.
"However, if the Mechanical Templar truly has an absolute advantage, they might be able to control the intensity of the conflict. A single volley of fire could actually resolve the issue. We've tested it in Castel, and the Investigators couldn't withstand the Dragon Breath Cannon, nor could they withstand a volley of high-caliber musket fire."
"So, we're going to expose this?"
It's a good thing that the candlelight will go to heaven, but they don't want to accompany them.
"No, this is an opportunity," Erwin suddenly interrupted. "If the Mechanical Templar truly takes control of the Rhine, the Empire will almost be divided again."
Indeed, the empire is now dominated by the Candlelight Society. If the Mechanical Templar succeeds in beheading and controlling the Rhine, then regardless of whether the Candlelight Society can recapture the Rhine later, the entire empire will be plunged into war and will be unable to take care of itself.
It would not be any harder for Caster to conquer the Empire than it was for him to conquer the North.
Gaia and Zoe were both interested after hearing this.
After all, what they need is the technology of the Mechanical Temple. They can exchange it for steam rifles or let the expeditionary force take it.
"So our best course of action is to pretend we don't know and wait and see what happens, but that will lead to a problem."
The three of them looked at each other.
"We'd be dangerous."
"No, Zoe and I are both extraordinary beings. Even if there is an explosion, we can escape if we prepare in advance. But you are a mortal. If a real battle breaks out, it will probably be difficult for you to survive." Gaia looked at Erwin.
Erwin smiled slightly and said, "That's not entirely true."
Castel's men readily accepted the Mechanical Temple's invitation to the banquet.
The people of Castel were flattered by Pope John's personal reception and decided to give him gifts as a gesture of friendship.
The gifts were quite substantial, with the list alone taking up several pages. Erwin personally directed the Crusaders to unload the goods from the airship, and was busy all day, not finishing until the banquet began.
Fortunately, he was just a military officer, so it was not considered rude not to show up at the banquet. Zoe and Gaia attended in their best attire.
Looking at the bright lights in the distance, Erwin narrowed his eyes.
"The airship should be parked on the ground. The steam engine should not be shut down. The fuel should be fully replenished. The machine spirit should be appeased in advance. If the situation becomes urgent, the airship should be able to be launched immediately!"
Erwin whispered to the stoker.
"What should we do with these gifts?" asked the Crusader next to him.
Erwin included almost all the goods brought on the airship in the gift list. Strictly speaking, their moving speed was not slow, and there was indeed a lot of goods to unload.
"Move! Unload everything. If the Mechanical Temple comes for inspection, have them haul it away. This will free up the airship's load. Prepare some extra sandbags for temporary support. If anything goes wrong, just throw them away and ascend quickly."
"Will there be any problems? Captain Erwin."
Erwin narrowed his eyes, looked at the brightly lit square in the distance, and did not answer.
Faintly, the singing of actors could be heard.
The banquet has begun.
(End of this chapter)
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