The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

After the meeting, Lilith went straight to the Central Church.

During the meeting, the Vatican had already invited Lilith to speak with the Pope after the meeting.

Lilith could sense that the potion that turned the tide of the battle in the North was definitely not as simple as it seemed.

The old pope had just finished his sermon while sitting in his wheelchair, and the believers were leaving in an orderly fashion.

Seeing this, Lilith was not in a hurry. Instead, she waited for the believers to leave before leading her guards into the central church from a short distance away.

Upon seeing Lilith arrive, the old pope's face broke into a kind smile. The old pope's health was deteriorating day by day, whether due to the numerous affairs of the religious reformation or simply because he was getting old, he did not know. However, there was still no suitable successor within the papacy.

"His Majesty."

With the priest's help, the old pope tried to get up to bow to Lilith, but Lilith quickly waved her hand. Although the pope's status was not what it used to be, Lilith still felt unworthy to have an old and frail pope bow to her.

As winter approached, the old pope's health continued to decline. Although he was not yet nearing his end, he had begun to need divine intervention to recuperate.

Unfortunately, the current Church of Goddess has yet to produce the successor that the old pope envisioned.

In fact, Lilith was always the old pope's ideal successor. She was not very devout to the goddess, would not be influenced by the oracle lantern, and was very intelligent. She could also support the papacy in continuing to promote secularization. But unfortunately, Lilith's identity was too complicated, and it was impossible for her to become the old pope's successor.

At least not now. Becoming a saint again is already touching a nerve with some people. When Lilith truly gains complete control of the capital in the future, she might actually create a theocratic system, or like the Gray and White Collar, directly incorporate religious management into the monarchy.

But now it seems that even if this future could be realized, it would take a very long time, and the old Pope probably wouldn't live to see it.

It's not surprising that the Papacy is facing a talent shortage. Since the Papacy split, there has been a significant gap in the number of people in the Goddess Church. Moreover, the position of Pope must be carefully considered. In order to avoid becoming a heretic like the Lantern Dream, the Pope himself cannot be too devout to the Goddess.

Therefore, the old pope always kept the lantern on Lilith. As a light source, the lantern symbolizes warmth and hope, and it can also illuminate the way. Originally, the church made the goddess's last oracle into a lantern to express this idea. The goddess's oracle is like a beacon in the dark ages, guiding believers forward.

Even in various faiths today, holding a candle or lamp in the church still represents certain important positions. The image of the lamp, which brings light, is very important even outside of the Catholic Church.

But no one expected that the lanterns made from the two oracles left by the goddess would directly cause a split in the church.

As for what the saint heard and saw while holding the lantern, the old pope dared not and could not think about it.

The best course of action now is to leave the oracle lantern with Lilith and find a cardinal who is devout enough and supports religious reform to succeed her as pope.

Of course, the position of Pope could remain vacant, with the duties of the Pope shared by the thirteen cardinals, but in that case, the situation within the Papacy might become even more chaotic than that of the nobles in the capital.

After letting out a long sigh, the old pope said, "I have something very important to report to Your Majesty regarding the North. Please come with me, Your Majesty."

After speaking, the old pope looked toward the central chapel. Lilith took the wheelchair handle from the priest and personally pushed the old pope toward the chapel.

Lilith noticed that the old pope's security arrangements this time were similar to those when he gave her the oracle with a lantern, indicating that he was going to discuss some secrets that could overthrow the church. But how were these secrets related to the North?

The old pope took two bottles of potion from his pocket, placed them on the table, and said, "Your Majesty, do you still remember what the holy water looks like?"

One of the bottles of medicine is like a work of art in itself. The bottle is carved from transparent crystal, with a slender and elegant neck surrounded by delicate gold and silver carvings. There are also symbols on the bottle that symbolize goddesses, which shimmer with a faint glow under the light.

In addition, there are complex inscriptions on the bottle, but these inscriptions have no practical use. Instead, they are used to record which monks continuously prayed to produce this bottle of holy water.

Even if you poured cool boiled water into this bottle, people would believe it was holy water, let alone the fact that the bottle actually contained holy water that emitted a faint holy light.

The other potion was much more plain and unpretentious. Even the bottle itself looked like a mass-produced item that you could easily find anywhere else. It didn't even have the North Wind Bear logo that's most common on cheap potion bottles these days. Although the quality was good, it looked more like something produced by an unlicensed pharmacist or something a novice pharmacist would use to practice. It didn't even have a label.

Lilith was somewhat confused, but the old Pope continued, "Your Majesty, please take a look at these two bottles and see which one contains the holy water."

"Is that even a question?" Lilith picked up the ornate bottle with a puzzled look and examined it closely against the light. The liquid inside emitted a faint holy light, confirming that it was indeed holy water. Lilith even carefully read the inscription on the bottle, confirming that the monk who made the potion was correct, and that the inscription even included the name of the newly appointed saintess.

Although it was a little strange, Lilith put down the ornate bottle and said, "This bottle contains holy water, there's no doubt about it."

"What about the other bottle?"

As the old Pope posed this question, Lilith picked up another rather unassuming bottle of potion.

The liquid in the potion was a little cloudy and looked to be of good quality, but other than that, it didn't seem to have anything special about it, like a novice pharmacist's trial work.

But looking at the old Pope's expression, Lilith could guess that there was something wrong with the potion, so she continued to observe it carefully. After observing for a while, Lilith suddenly noticed that the liquid in the bottle emitted faint holy light for a very short time.

Even Lilith, who had been watching closely, would have thought she was mistaken if she hadn't firmly believed there was something wrong with the potion.

As if making a connection, Lilith quickly uncorked the bottle, poured a drop of the potion into her hand, and felt the cool touch.

"Holy water..."

Lilith looked at the old pope in shock and said, "This bottle is also holy water."

"No, Your Majesty."

The old pope's aged face suddenly turned serious as he said, "This is the ancestral potion of Governor Lind of the North."