Chapter 579

After leaving the refugee camp, Rowen headed to the temple of Tu'an in the outskirts of the Hwangdo region. She explained to Ludwig that she doesn't have a fixed place to stay and rests at the nearest temple to her destination. Ludwig agreed to meet her at the temple the next day. The temple was in a state of decline, with graffiti and damage to the walls. Rowen explained that some people even try to set fire to the temple. The priests were tense when they saw Ludwig, but greeted him as the archbishop. Rowen had not mentioned her position as a priestess before, but Ludwig realized her true power when he saw her praying. "The fact that the archbishop is wandering around the refugee camp alone without even the protection of the knights, does it mean that the archbishop is a great person? Or does it mean that the Tu'an sect has declined to such an extent? When Ludwig found out that the priest he had been walking with all day was the archbishop of the Tu'an sect, whom he would not have met under normal circumstances, he was stunned. He even asked her why the gods chose the demon king in front of the archbishop. Rowen was not an ordinary priestess, she was a priestess of a very high rank. However, Ludwig was clueless about how high her position was. At the temple magic university, I found out what research they were doing and even saw it with my own eyes. It was not just about resurrecting a dead magician as a lich, but something beyond that. To put it another way, it was a half-resurrection that restored the abilities of the deceased but not their memories or consciousness. It was a completely different level from liches or death knights. I relayed what I had learned to Sarkergar. We couldn't find any immediate connection to the Black Order, and even if there was, we decided to ignore it for now. If ending the Gate incident is the only good thing in this world, then ending it a little faster would be a better thing. So I will ignore and watch what the Empire is doing. The situation was such that I had no choice but to leave Sarkergar and meet Berthus in person, but the results were not bad. I don't know what will happen to this matter and the conversation I had with Berthus in the future, but this was all I could think of for now. I didn't go back to Edina right away. Honestly, if Ellen doesn't go back to the alliance camp leaving me here, I have no choice but to stay here. It's better not to cause any incidents that could affect Ellen's mental state over the missing cat. If there is an urgent matter, I could leave Sarkergar behind. Anyway, I have no choice but to stay at the temple for a while. In the late evening banquet, those who came back late were having dinner. Although dinner time was over, there was a preserved meal prepared for those who came back late, so they could have a meal even if it wasn't a proper one. Ellen and Heinrich, who patrolled Hwangdo today, seemed to have no unusual incidents. They seem to be dealing with monster problems quite well, at least. In the first place, there can't be any more monster problems. The extermination forces in the outskirts of Hwangdo are not just guards or knights, but resurrected war heroes." "The exact mission is not to exterminate monsters, but to confirm that they are well-controlled enough for practical deployment. Ellen and Heinrich have nothing to do because it's like using a missile instead of a knife to catch a chicken. Ludwig joins them for a late evening banquet where Ellen and Heinrich report no unusual incidents while patrolling Hwangdo. The extermination forces in the outskirts of Hwangdo are made up of resurrected war heroes, indicating that there should not be any more monster problems. They discuss the rank of the archbishop and the different roles of the priests in charge of managing the temples." "If you think of a bishop as a lord, then the archbishop is like a grand lord," Ellen explained, greatly abbreviated but easy for Ludwig to understand. "So, they're really high-ranking priests?" "Yes, the only higher ranks are cardinal and pope." "But do the archbishops have different ranks among themselves?" Heinrich's pointless question piqued Ludwig's curiosity. Ellen remained silent, munching on a biscuit before finally taking a sip of water and speaking. "The archbishop who manages all the temples in Hwangdo." "Sarandia, which we occupied this time, was also a major city, so there must have been an archbishop who managed all the temples in Sarandia." "The archbishops of both Hwangdo and Sarandia." "Both are archbishops, but who is higher in rank?" At Ellen's question, Ludwig nodded with an "Ah!" feeling. "The archbishop of Hwangdo, I guess?" "That's right." Ellen nodded her head, having understood quite accurately. "But is there an archbishop who manages all of Hwangdo?" "...I don't know because I'm not a member of the Holy Order or the Five Great Temples. But Hwangdo has the most temples on the entire continent, so the dioceses are probably more detailed. There may be larger dioceses, or the archbishop of Hwangdo may have a completely different rank..." Ellen tried to explain but looked at Ludwig. "I don't know." "Don't explain it. He won't understand anyway. Just understand that archbishops are high-ranking, but there are different ranks among them." However, Ludwig's expression showed that he had more questions. "Anyway, the cardinal and pope are higher ranks than the archbishop, right?" "Yes." "Then what rank is the commander of the Holy Order?" "Above cardinal, below pope." Ellen replied briefly. "It's actually a non-existent rank, so the position of the commander of the Holy Order is ambiguous. In reality, it's below the pope, but it has more power than the pope. So, you could say it's almost equal to the pope." "I see..." "But why the archbishop all of a sudden?" Heinrich's question made me wonder too. Why is he curious about this? Ludwig explained what happened today. The area where the epidemic is rampant and the task of escorting one priest. And then, after everything was over, he found out that the priest he thought was just an ordinary priest was actually an archbishop. "The archbishop is doing that job himself? Without even the escort of the Holy Knights?" "The situation must be very serious." Both Heinrich and Ellen seemed shocked by the story of the archbishop running on foot. Well, if there are any remaining clerics, they should be split up and sent to the entire refugee camp. It's better to get help from the guards for the escort. "I guess we'll be escorting him from tomorrow." "That's good." "It seemed quite rewarding to see Ellen's expression improve after looking so confused earlier. It's not dangerous and it's something that people need. But to say the least, it's an endless task. The epidemic will continue to break out everywhere, so the task will not end until the hunger problem in Hwangdo disappears. It's a never-ending cycle of evil. Today, nothing happened, but there's no guarantee that nothing will happen in the future. 'But come to think of it, it might not be such a strange thing,' said Heinrich. 'Not strange?' 'It's about a high-ranking priest moving alone.' 'Ah... I heard that priests have a lot of work to do.' 'No, it might be that there are many archbishops. So, he might be moving alone.' 'What?' 'Almost all the places that can be called dioceses have been destroyed. So, there might be a lot of archbishops in the Union Army's garrison, the Holy Order, and Hwangdo.' 'That might be possible.' Can a lord who has lost his territory still be called a lord? Then, a high-ranking priest who has lost his diocese can still be called an archbishop. So, Heinrich's words were that it might not be a strange thing for a priest of that level to move alone because many high-ranking priests are concentrated in Hwangdo. There is no safe place in the world, so high-ranking priests have gathered in Hwangdo. So, in normal times, it is even more difficult to see high-ranking priests like archbishops. Most of these people are probably serving in the Union Army, and those who are not may be wandering the streets to purify the epidemic. The power of these high-ranking priests is concentrated. But it is still an unfortunate situation where there is a shortage of personnel. In fact, it's only natural. There are more survivors concentrated in Hwangdo than there are priests gathered there. Still, an archbishop... -Meow. 'Why?' This is a bit strange. It's suffocating."