Chapter 78

For the clerics, everyone's feelings are a mix of love and hate.

Undoubtedly, when you fight alongside a cleric, you never have to worry about them fleeing, surrendering, messing up, or stabbing you in the back. Especially when you are in the same trench with a paladin, you can completely trust them, entrusting your back to them, and they will not let you down. Even if you both fall into a hopeless situation, the only reason you might die before them is that your combat ability is simply too weak.

On the battlefield, there is nothing more reassuring than fighting alongside a cleric.

But this does not mean that everyone likes them.

As mentioned earlier, necromancers and clerics are somewhat similar in a certain way, especially in their lack of tact. Practitioners of holy light strive for consistency between words and actions, while embracers of death disdain lying, which results in both having very poor language skills. Clerics, in particular, are not only tactless but also hate evil with a passion. The unique, idealistic energy of holy light determines their uncompromising and meddlesome nature. Whenever they encounter something they cannot accept, they first lecture and warn with righteous indignation, and if that doesn't work, they resort to violence. If they can't win, they go back to call for reinforcements. A seemingly absurd but entirely possible fable can illustrate this situation: a duke trampled the crops in a field, and the village priest demanded compensation. The arrogant duke refused to bow and insulted the agent of holy light. In the end, even the emperor could not stop it, and the duchy was destroyed.

It is unknown who concocted this clearly malicious fable, but it does reflect the love-hate relationship that secular authorities have with the church. Theoretically, a highly threatening and meddlesome force like the church would gradually disintegrate under the plots and enmity of the ruling class until it was completely eradicated. However, from the first pope to the present, after several hundred years, the clerics are still living comfortably. On one hand, this is due to their deep roots and formidable strength. On the other hand, it is because they are genuine idealists who have won the heartfelt recognition of many people.

Commoners take pride in hosting a cleric for a meal and dream of having a descendant who will become a servant of holy light. In Noren, where humanistic spirit is not well developed, the ruled class does not have the heretical idea of "commoners ruling themselves" or "we are also masters of the state." In their vulnerable position, they yearn for a tangible spiritual belief and support to protect them from being plundered too much by the nobles and bandits. Clearly, holy light and its followers have well met this need.

In the long term, the existence of clerics, who are willing to go to any lengths for holy light and their belief in justice, and the church, which can mobilize all its resources to seek justice for an innocent and wrongfully killed commoner, even to the last man, and the ever-present sword of judgment hanging over the heads of the powerful, forces the rulers and the powerful to restrain their evil intentions. The power structures of the Holy Empire and the Northern Dynasties have not rapidly corrupted like the First Empire, and they have not wasted valuable resources on endless internal conflicts and waste. Instead, they have steadily improved the country's overall strength in a relatively prosperous and clear manner—this is undoubtedly what the legends, who foresee the impending great calamity and are pleased to see the human race thrive, are happy to see.

Therefore, they are very pleased to see the church continue to exist, hoping that these clerics, with their meddlesome and tactless nature, will continue to scrutinize the politics and livelihood of the Holy Empire, annoy the noble class led by the emperor, and form an offensive and defensive alliance with the church. If the emperor's balance of church and royal power goes too far, they will all give him a sideways glance.

In short, people can deeply recognize the benefits and roles of the church and the clerics.

However, this does not prevent them from deeply disliking these meddlesome and tactless idealists.

Sigma is even more so. In his youth, he had contact with paladins. Back then, the young and brave Sigma was an idealistic young man, so he got along well with the church's "middle school syndrome" members. He had a natural fondness for the upright yet cheerful paladins. Clearly, compared to necromancers, he would rather become a brave and resilient paladin—though his ideals were as full as a saint, reality was as bony as a lich. He became the arch-nemesis and princess-kidnapper in a legendary novel, the one destined to be reduced to ashes under the holy light.

A necromancer who, despite his goal of seducing the princess and avenging society, kidnaps the princess but doesn't touch her, waits for the protagonist to come and fight, maybe beats the protagonist first to make the story more dramatic, but still lets the protagonist escape with a severe injury, only to be rescued by a beautiful village girl and start a harem, and in the end, can only shout empty villain lines while watching the protagonist and princess embrace, realizing too late that he could have seduced the princess to make the protagonist wear old shoes for life, but there is no regret pill, and he can only howl as he is burned to ashes by the holy light.

Well, the last paragraph was indeed not punctuated, but with some effort, it can be read in one breath. The reason for using such a large block of text is to fully express Sigma's "WTF" mood.

Because he was first betrayed by the necromancers without hesitation.

Then he was surrounded by a group of righteous and meddlesome clerics.

Not only that.

He was also called a shameless libertine by the cardinal, who dared to use sweet talk to seduce angels, with countless lovers from eight to eighty years old. Clearly, although clerics are tactless and annoying, they do not seem to be the type to fabricate such vicious rumors. It is evident that when Sargeras was boasting to the killers, he probably described Sigma in this manner. The term "love god" was just a deceptive embellishment by Sargeras.

In short, he was betrayed again.

Sigma is not a patient person.

"Take us to see the angel immediately!" The cardinal recalled Sigma's bad reputation and saw his previous furtive behavior, clearly believing that he had something to hide. He sternly said, "If the angel is harmed in any way, even you will not be spared!"

Faced with the hostility of a group of clerics and the stern questioning of a cardinal, Sigma's face turned ashen, and his good impression of the clerics immediately vanished. Although I know clerics are like this, what does it have to do with me? Why should I endure their bad temper?

He coldly said, "Go to hell, you stinking dog shit."

The necromancers chuckled and stared at the clerics, their faces full of anticipation, hoping they would attack Sigma. An attack by the clerics on the future leader of the necromancers in the capital of the Kingdom of Death could be considered a serious international incident. Regardless of how the Kingdom of Death and the church would handle it afterward, the necromancers present had ample reason and pretext to beat up these clerics and vent their anger. As for the beaten Sigma? Well, he can't be killed, and it's good for a young man to suffer a bit.

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