Black Hearted Mage

The Roland Empire's spy chief, the Jackal Carlos, now solemnly recounted the Saint Roland Empire's unusual actions in detail. The spy chief wore pitch-black leather armor and a black, hard leather visor, revealing only his eyes.

Many people in the meeting hall were whispering to each other, their faces filled with confusion and bewilderment. Anyone with a modicum of common sense about Saint Laurent would know that the Saint Laurent Church was no idiot. They wouldn't choose a skinny, underdeveloped teenager as a warrior apprentice for no apparent reason. There must be some hidden secret behind this.

"Carlos, your people found out about this. Tell me, what are the Saint Laurent Church's intentions?" The king frowned, a hint of doubt in his eyes. He thought to himself that if the Saint Laurent Church truly had some conspiracy, it would undoubtedly be a huge threat to the Roland Empire.

The old emperor frowned and looked at Carlos with a sharp gaze. He wondered what the Saint Laurent Church was up to. Was there some conspiracy?

"Your Majesty, and everyone present, you must remain calm. Please look at me. As an assassin, my physique should allow you to understand the intentions of the Saint Laurent Church!"

Carlos' voice was a little hoarse. He slowly stood up, straightened his chest, and showed off his body, which was not tall but agile and flexible.

Everyone looked at Carlos, carefully examining his figure. He was thin and sturdy, with well-defined muscles, but he didn't look bulky, instead he looked agile and flexible.

"hiss……"

The entire meeting hall was filled with deep breaths and gulps of air. The Church of Saint Laurent was recruiting assassin apprentices, and they wanted to recruit a full three thousand of them.

Everyone gasped, as if conjuring up a terrifying thought. They suddenly understood the true purpose of the Saint Laurent Church. These seemingly weak young men weren't warrior apprentices, but assassin apprentices. Their small stature allowed them to easily conceal themselves in the shadows and carry out assassination missions. If even a small number of these apprentices could become assassins, they would undoubtedly pose a formidable threat to the enemy.

"Damn Saint Laurent Church, what on earth do they want to do?"

The old emperor suddenly stood up and roared. The sickly old man suddenly became full of energy, a dramatic transformation that astonished many of the nobles. Their old emperor had always been a disguise.

The middle-aged eunuch holding the golden scepter coughed lightly. The old emperor immediately understood his hint and sat back on the golden chair with a trembling body.

"Your Majesty, assassins are meant to kill. The Church of Saint Laurent has recruited far too many assassin apprentices. Without any preventative measures, it would be difficult to prevent them from targeting the royal family, the imperial nobility, and officials in the future."

Carlos's few words were like a boulder dropped into a calm lake, stirring up a thousand ripples. The Church of Saint Laurent had trained so many assassin apprentices, and it was entirely possible that these assassins would turn their blades against them in the future. The Roland Empire's high-ranking officials didn't fear direct confrontation, but they held a deep fear of the blades lurking in the shadows. This kept them awake at night, even to nightmares.

"Your Majesty, we should immediately send troops to attack the Saint Laurent Empire and annihilate the Saint Laurent Church!"

An old noble stood up and passionately expressed his views, but the three Grand Dukes gave him only contempt. If the Saint Laurent Empire could have been destroyed directly, the Roland Empire wouldn't have dragged on until now. With the Violet Alliance to the south, the Roland Empire didn't dare to devote all its national strength to destroying Saint Laurent.

"Lord Garton, how many private troops are you planning to send?"

The old emperor asked softly, looking at the brainless Earl of Garden. The old emperor wanted to slap himself in the face. He was blind to promote this man to the Earl.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to provide a hundred knights!"

According to the laws of the Roland Empire, earls and marquises have the same number of private armies, which is 300 knights, and each knight can have two retainers.

Earl Garden spoke passionately, as if he was ready to sacrifice his life for his country, but in fact, he was only willing to contribute one-third of his private army and even wanted to get a share of the pie in this national war. It was simply wishful thinking!

The old emperor's expression grew increasingly gloomy. He looked at the spy chief, Carlos, and asked coldly, "Carlos, how much imperial tax did Earl Garton evade?"

Carlos' heart tightened. He took out a small notebook and flipped through it, then quickly replied respectfully, "Your Majesty, Earl Garton cultivated 500 acres of land, but in the past 20 years, he hasn't paid a single copper coin in taxes. Furthermore, he recklessly cut down trees on his fiefdom and sold them to civilians in the imperial capital. Not only did he not pay any commercial taxes, he didn't even pay a single copper coin for the city entrance tax. In total, he evaded a staggering 120,000 gold coins in taxes. According to Imperial law, anyone who evades more than 100,000 gold coins in taxes shall be stripped of his title..."

The spy chief's account revealed that Count Garden not only evaded taxes but also accepted numerous bribes and even extorted money from ordinary citizens. Furthermore, the emperor was most wary of Count Garden's close ties with the Saint Laurent Chamber of Commerce. The emperor's eyelids twitched at this. He had always considered Count Garden a trusted confidant, but he had no idea he had become a serious threat.

"Carlos, why didn't you report this to me earlier?"

The old emperor frowned and looked at Carlos. It seemed that the other party knew the truth but kept it a secret. Earl Garden had been evading taxes for twenty years.

"Your Majesty, I reported this more than ten years ago, but you rejected it without even glancing at it. Earl Garton was a very popular figure back then!"

The old emperor's face flushed red. He had used Earl Garden to check and balance the three dukes, but he had never expected that he would become a big termite.

Earl Garden was so frightened that he was sweating profusely and his body was shaking. He looked at the spy chief, Carlos, with great anger. Carlos had been investigating him for twenty years, and he had investigated every detail.

"The case of Earl Garton will be jointly heard by the Administrative Council and the Court of Justice, with the Imperial Eagle Eyes supervising. I want to see the results within three days!"

Hawkeye was the spy organization controlled by Carlos, and they only took orders from the Emperor. He was also the old emperor's right-hand man. Carlos waved to the palace guards, and Earl Garton was dragged out amidst wailing.

"Carlos, how are you going to deal with the actions of the Church of Saint Laurent?" the old emperor asked.

"Your Majesty, there are so many people here. Who can guarantee that there are no spies from Saint Laurent here? Let the three dukes go with us to the small study and discuss this slowly!"

The old emperor looked around at the people in the hall and then nodded.

The old emperor's private study was elegant but not luxurious at all, and not many people could come here. The maid served tea and snacks and then left. The eunuch also left and closed the door.

"Your Majesty, I plan to disclose this matter regarding the Saint Laurent Church to the Violet Alliance and the surrounding kingdoms, so that they will be wary of the Saint Laurent Empire. At the same time, I plan to send people to assassinate some of the Saint Laurent Empire's people and disrupt the Saint Laurent Empire first. To do this, I need to purchase a batch of deadly venom!"

"Carlos, we have an alchemist, why do we need to buy it outside?"

The old emperor and the three dukes had no objection to Carlos's plan. There was an alchemist in the palace, but the spy chief wanted to buy one from outside.

"Your Majesty, three Dukes, what I need is a powerful and deadly venom, the kind that can kill people just by dropping it on the skin. We need to completely disrupt the Saint Laurent Empire, especially the Saint Laurent Church. We need to kill as many people as possible!"

Whether it was the old emperor or the three dukes, they all harbored a grudge against the Saint Laurent Empire. Over the past few hundred years, the Saint Laurent Empire's ambitions had grown, and various sinister tactics had emerged one after another, including the assassination of noble children. Among these were children of the royal family and the descendants of the three dukes.

"Carlos, are you going to the North Tower to buy poison?" Duke Solomon asked.

"There's only one golden-eyed black demon snake in the Northland Tower, and they don't even have enough venom themselves. This time we have to buy from the Thorn Flower Trading Company. The poison they refine is of better quality!"

The Thorn Flower Trading Company primarily sells alchemical potions, magical materials, herbs, perfumes, fine wines, and enchanted weapons. Their products are of excellent quality, but the prices are not low at all. The Thorn Flower Trading Company has a shop in the Violet Alliance, the only one in the entire Roland Continent.

"Carlos, can you bring back some magic bows?"

The magic bow used by the archers of the Thorn Flower Kingdom has a range of over sixty yards, while the range of magician spells is only thirty yards. Many people want to obtain a magic bow, but no one has yet obtained one.

"Duke Barton, forget it! The magic bow is not for sale. The Thorn Flower Trading Company is incredibly powerful. For thousands of years, many factions have attempted to capture the crater, only to find that they were pawned by the Black Thorns!"

"Carlos, it's just a small business. I didn't ask you to attack the crater!"

"Duke Barton, you really don't know how powerful the Thorn Flower Trading Company is? The Magic Guild once coveted the magic bows and did indeed snatch two, but no one left Violet City alive!"

The three dukes suddenly remembered something. The previous chief elder of the Magic Guild died suddenly, and it seemed that it was in Violet City.

"Can they kill the Grand Mage?"

"It was an easy kill. Backstabbing and throat slitting. The great magician didn't even resist until his death. That assassin was stronger than me. I can't sneak in the sunlight!"

The old emperor felt a little chill on the back of his chest, and the three grand dukes felt as if something was squeezing their hearts, and their beating was not strong enough.

The old emperor took a deep breath, and the three dukes also tried to calm themselves. They realized the mystery of the Thorn Flower Trading Company. Being able to assassinate the great magician silently meant that their assassin possessed great strength and superb skills. It was best not to provoke such a force, lest they bring disaster upon themselves.

A few days later, the news that the Saint Laurent Church was recruiting 3,000 assassin apprentices had spread all over the Roland Continent.

The Violet Alliance began to strictly interrogate the people of the Saint Laurent Empire, even searching their storage rings. Those who disobeyed would be forcibly searched and then directly expelled.

Other kingdoms also stepped up their inspections, especially of people from the Saint Laurent Empire.

The people of the Saint Laurent Empire began to blame the Church, especially the merchants, who were denied entry by other kingdoms. Even the Church's own Saint Laurent Trading Company was blocked at the border by the Violet Alliance.

In the church's temple, the Pope also received questions from the royal family. The royal family could understand the church recruiting warrior apprentices, but recruiting 3,000 assassin apprentices made the Saint Laurent Church's intentions intriguing.

"Depero, what's your plan? It's causing unrest throughout the Saint Laurent Empire. The royal family, the nobility, the business houses, they're all questioning the church!"

The old Pope looked at Depero, feeling angry but unable to vent it.

"Your Majesty, this matter cannot be blamed on me. I only said that we would train assassins, and I never said that we would recruit 3,000 assassin apprentices. Your Majesty, please think carefully. Even the Assassin's Guild may not have 3,000 assassins!"

Depero came in a hurry today, wearing an ordinary snow-white priest robe, without even the sash that represented his status.

"Who wants to recruit three thousand assassin apprentices?"

The Pope looked around at the people in the hall and understood the reason. Three thousand assassins was too many, keeping everyone in the palace awake at night. The countries surrounding the Saint Laurent Empire were already on guard.

The hall was silent, but behind a certain high priest, several hands pointed at him. The Pope's dim eyes turned to the high priest, the person he least wanted to see: Floyd of the Hall of Discipline.

After Paul, the High Priest of the Judgment Hall, died in the ruins of Ludwig Castle, Freud's power reached its peak. The Hall of Discipline completely suppressed the Hall of Judgment, and he possessed the power to rival the Pope.

The Hall of Discipline held internal law enforcement authority within the church, responsible for supervising and disciplining all church personnel. The Hall of Judgment dealt with external matters, eliminating any hidden dangers within the church. Now that Floyd had taken control of the Hall of Judgment, he had essentially taken control of the majority of the power within the Saint Laurent Church.

"Floyd, stop interfering in the affairs of the Judgment Hall immediately. You've caused endless trouble for the Church of Saint Laurent. Perhaps from today on, the decline of the Church of Saint Laurent will begin!"

The old Pope knew Freud very well. The other party's ambition and ruthless methods had always been eyeing the Pope's crown and scepter.

"Your Holiness, this is impossible, isn't it? I only asked them to recruit 3,000 warrior apprentices. How can this be linked to the rise and fall of the church?"

Floyd looked at the golden chair. He didn't even look at the Pope. That was the position he had coveted for a long time, but it was now occupied by an old man.

"The Saint Laurent Empire's businesses, large and small, have suffered an unprecedented blow, leading to a sharp drop in the Empire's tax revenue. The Empire is lucky to provide the Church with half of its gold coins this year. With three thousand warrior apprentices, the Church's people are barely able to make ends meet. Floyd, you're asking for trouble. It's all right to covet the position of Pope, but you can't lead the Holy Church into decline!"

The Pope's roar echoed in the temple, and it seemed that the Church of St. Laurent was in big trouble.