Throne of the North.

Chapter 244 Vatican Missionaries

Ryan returned to the Frozen Territory with a large amount of firewood and ordered it to be stored in the warehouse. Some of the firewood would be taken out and dried in the sun, waiting for the winter when they would be used.

Ryan's guess was correct. The firewood in the mountain forest world was very durable and generally speaking, it was of very high quality.

"Sir, this is the amount of farmland that several lords of the frozen land have reclaimed this month. Please take a look."

Looking at the table marked on it, Ryan praised Beard.

"Yes, tell them that if they can keep the cultivated land until next year, their debt of 500 gold coins will be forgiven."

Beard looked surprised, then said:

"You are so kind, sir."

"Let them pay off their debts sooner so they can reclaim wasteland at a faster rate than they are doing now."

Ryan put down the monthly report in his hand and asked:
"Lord Yazhe has given up on clearing the wasteland?"

"Yes, Lord Yazhe felt through Madam Sara that your trade route in the Frozen Territory will definitely make a fortune in the future, so he joined it in advance."

Sarah was the Viscountess's lady-in-waiting. When Ryan was in the Frozen Territory, she often knew about Ryan's plans for the Frozen Territory late at night.

"However, I heard from Lord Yazhe's wife that they haven't completely given up on land reclamation. Instead, they are waiting for Mage Yelena to complete her magic research before starting land reclamation. They believe that this will be faster than the current pace of land reclamation."

"I do have an idea."

Ryan nodded. Since Lord Yazhe had a plan, he would not force him to open up the wasteland.

Not long after, Brand came to the castle. He was very idle when he followed Ryan away, but after returning to the Frozen Territory, this young man who was about the same age as Ryan also became busy.

"Brand, you look good, but it doesn't seem to be because of your breakthrough in knighthood. Is it because you are getting along well with Etria?"

Brand blushed, which was rare for him, and handed over a list.

"Master, I have found all the people you need."

There are two hundred names on it, followed by their family relationships, addresses, and some simple descriptions, which is equivalent to a roster.

"Two hundred reservists, including the reinforcements we made earlier, I will have nine hundred soldiers in two months at most."

Ryan smiled with satisfaction. The quality of these new recruits was quite good. Nearly half of them were promoted from the militia.

He put the list down and looked at Brand.

"So, have you decided on the nine centurions?"

"Harrington..."

Brand mentioned four names, and he personally thought that these four people could become centurions.

After listening to this, Ryan nodded, because these four people were the four people who originally came to the Frozen Territory from the Earl of Clayton with his wealth, and they were all members of the Clayton family.

Of course, it is also because the four of them are indeed the four most powerful Silver Knights in the army today.

"For the remaining five centurions, I plan to select them from the army, and the strongest will receive the status of centurion."

"Decadians are also selected in this way, with the strongest warriors becoming the leaders of the soldiers."

"Okay, let's do as you say, but don't forget, all officers need to learn."

Brand couldn't help but nodded with a headache. There was no other way. This was the only requirement of Master Ryan, that every tenor and centurion must learn a certain level of knowledge.

Most people were very happy because this was a fortune that could be passed down from generation to generation. However, when they actually started to study, the wailing in the military camp made the people of the Frozen Land Territory think that they were attacked by demons.

But no one rejected it, and all the soldiers praised Master Ryan for his kindness. The lord's days were, of course, to command others. For several days in a row, Master Ryan was in the castle, commanding the entire frozen land, big and small, during the day, and at night he had the maids line up to check the progress of knowledge during this period.

His comfortable life made him extremely grateful that he had traveled through time and space to become a noble.

Gulu gulu~
As the fruit wine went down his throat, Ryan was intoxicated by the fragrance of the fruit. He became more and more certain that such fruit wine could be sold at a sky-high price in the South, especially on the West Coast. Now he just had to wait for his father-in-law, the Viscount Melendez family, to send the money for the previous batch of fruit wine to verify the truth.

However, there seemed to be no peace today, as birds were circling in the sky and the soldiers discovered a dead body.

"A missionary of the Church? Or a priest?"

Ryan was a little surprised that such a high-level talent from the Holy See would appear here.

The hierarchy within the Holy See is terrifyingly strict, but from the Pope to every monk, everyone can say that they are believers of the Lord of the Dawn.

However, the vast majority of believers in the Holy See are just monks or nuns.

A small number of people will stand out and become missionaries, and their words represent the will of the gods, or in other words, these people are qualified to interpret the thoughts of the gods.

At this time, ordinary monks and nuns could no longer say that they were missionaries.

Conversely, the Pope can also say that he is a missionary or a believer, which is a downwardly compatible identity hierarchy distinction.

In short, if you look at it simply, such a large church only has two sides of one group.

That is, everyone is a believer of the Lord, but some are monks and nuns, and some are missionaries.

Missionaries are the equivalent of the nobility of the empire, above countless monks and nuns. Of course, on the surface, they are not as extreme as the nobility and ordinary people.

On the basis of missionary work, some missionaries will get some rights.

For example, if a missionary serves as a priest in a church in a certain country, then he is a missionary with status, similar to a baron who owns territory.

Going further up, as the bishop of a region, his status is comparable to that of a viscount with a fiefdom.

Going up the levels, on the surface everyone in the Holy See seems to be a believer of the Lord and there is no difference, but in reality, the hierarchy is so strict that low-level monks simply cannot refute those clergy who hold power.

This is why Ryan was surprised. If a missionary died, it was just death. But if a missionary with the status of a priest died in the North, it was equivalent to the death of a baron of an imperial fiefdom.

This is no small matter.

A priest is a father in the church he presides over, and is also called a priest by people other than believers. When he leaves the church, he will walk as a priest of the Vatican.

Therefore, the priest who walks outside is the priest inside the church, the priest in the eyes of outsiders.

"Why would you die near my frozen land? That's not a good idea."

Ryan murmured, then waved.

"Throw it away from me. No, burn it directly. Find a place where no one is around and burn it."

If the relationship between the Empire and the Church was not what it is now, the first thing Ryan would do when he found the body would be to hand it over to the nearest church to avoid getting into trouble.

But now, he just wanted it to never happen.

What? You said a priest died near my territory? No, that didn't happen.

What? The priests of the Church are coming to judge me for the truth? What do you mean? You want to challenge all the nobles of the empire? !

The war has begun, no extra mercy is needed.

(End of this chapter)