The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The old pope was not surprised by Lilith's outburst of emotion, because his own expression was even more exaggerated than Lilith's.

Upon hearing the old Pope's words, Lilith instantly understood many things. No matter what, even if you put it into words, this potion was not holy water, but rather the ancestral potion of the Governor of the North.

But Lilith still couldn't quite believe it and asked:

"How many of these 'Northern Governor's Hereditary Potions' do they have?"

"Your Majesty, you should have seen the battle report..."

Upon hearing this answer, Lilith, though incredulous, understood that the ancestral potion mentioned in the battle report was indeed holy water.

This is one of the few areas where Capela has an advantage over Anjou in terms of intelligence; at least the Church of the Goddess still has some foundation.

The old pope continued, “If it weren’t for this war in the North, we might not have been able to obtain this ancestral potion. This bottle isn’t the original either; it was collected from the battlefield with great effort, so the liquid is a bit cloudy and not pure enough. But the other party originally added some materials to the potion to make it look no different from an ordinary potion.”

Lilith finally understood what it felt like to gasp in shock in some novels. Not pure enough? To be honest, even if the potion in this simple bottle was collected from the battlefield and contained strange ingredients, its purity was already about the same as the ornately packaged holy water on the other side.

The purity is too high, almost like an industrially produced product.

With a long sigh, the old pope continued, "Unfortunately, we are now helpless against the North, and even the Church has been fragmented. If that governor wanted to, he could easily use this to seize believers—no... it wouldn't be seizure... that governor might actually be the true successor of the goddess..."

The old pope was right. If the governor wanted, he could easily turn the country into a theocratic regime. With all this holy water, the believers would only think that the goddess had abandoned the current papacy and that the goddess's religion under the governor of the North was the only legitimate one.

This is a miracle, a real miracle!

Once the North uses this news to create momentum, even the Papacy itself might have to question its legitimacy.

If it had been earlier, and if the Pope had known that the governor had the ability to mass-produce holy water, he probably would have directly dispatched the Crusades, sparing no expense, to "invite" the governor back.

This is a living saint! Why bother unifying the North? Just invite him over to restore the glory of the Papacy. If the Papacy had a saint with such abilities, let alone Lilith or Crane, even Augustine III would have to grovel at the feet of religion and become a devout believer.

Lilith's first thought was of the original heroine, Isa, but that didn't make sense either. Isa's skill in making holy water should have a very long cooldown period. Even if Isa had been making holy water since she went to the North, it still seemed impossible for her to support the amount of holy water used so freely in the battle reports.

Considering the various sci-fi weapons in the hands of that fellow countryman who had traveled through time, Lilith had a horrifying guess: the other party not only had the ability to mass-produce holy water, but had even begun to industrialize the process.

This left Lilith feeling somewhat desperate. What was the point of fighting? Her position as the Holy Maiden should have been held by that fellow countryman, and the gender of the Holy Maiden didn't need to be so strictly defined.

Seeing the subtle change in Lilith's expression, the Pope comforted her, "Your Majesty, there is no need to worry too much. The governor does not seem to have any intention of making a big fuss about this holy water, so it is safe for our Holy See at least."

The old pope then continued his analysis:

"That governor doesn't seem to want to rely too much on the power of religion to help him, lest the power of religion overshadow his own. So he probably won't use these potions until the power in the North continues to grow."

"Then Your Majesty, as long as the governor doesn't make a fuss, these potions are not holy water, but rather the governor's ancestral potions. We can even accept that he is a descendant of the old empire, or that these potions were made using the old empire's technology. As long as these potions are not holy water, I can even personally stand up for the governor and prove that he is indeed a descendant of the empire."

If the Oracle Lantern merely caused the Papacy to split and made the selection of a pope more complicated, then this secret could truly overturn the current Papacy. The other side possesses the miracle of being able to mass-produce holy water. So, is the Northern Church under their control the legitimate one, or is the central Papacy in the capital the legitimate one?

In the past, the Vatican could have suspected that the other party's holy water was produced using some evil method and demanded an investigation. If they did not cooperate, the Vatican could have simply sealed it off, for whatever reason.

For example, labeling someone as a heretic, claiming that using their products will incur a curse, or stating that the method of making them is blasphemous to a goddess.

In order to maintain its own status and uphold the dignity of the goddess, the Vatican has done similar things before.

But that won't work now. At least, this method won't work on the North. Unless the Tower removes the restrictions on the high-level powerhouses of the Holy See, the Holy See cannot guarantee that it can defeat the North.

Lilith nodded in agreement. Lilith is now deeply intertwined with the Holy See, and the Holy See cannot fall for the time being.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, I have decided to meet with this governor in person, and I will discuss this matter in detail with him."

It seems there's another matter to discuss with that fellow villager. If only I had known the secret of this so-called ancestral potion sooner. Now that Lilith and the Vatican know that this ancestral potion is holy water, they are actually helping the other side to cover it up.

Otherwise, the foundation of the Vatican's faith would be in danger of collapsing at any time.

Lilith gently grasped the old pope's trembling hand, and the old pope finally calmed down, nodding and saying, "That's good, Your Majesty, I entrust everything to you."

After leaving the church, Lilith thought for a moment and decided to discuss the matter with Nora first, because Lilith was actually very pessimistic about the holy water. Nora had not revealed any information about the holy water before, but after this war, it seemed that they had suddenly relaxed their intelligence control in this regard.

Besides the immense pressure from the demonic monsters that forced them to use large amounts of holy water, Lilith felt that the other side's decision to issue this order also stemmed from their growing disregard for the secret of the holy water being leaked. After all, given their current strength, they certainly didn't need to care about the Church's opinions anymore.

If that's the case, then other forces, including those in Anru, will gradually learn about this situation, and the Goddess Cult will likely be in a very passive position.

Fortunately, we learned of this news in advance. As long as the Goddess Cult and the Northern Territory insist that it is the ancestral potion of the old empire, there will be no problem.

Thinking of this, Lilith felt a pessimistic shadow fall over her mind as she faced the upcoming negotiations with the Governor of the North. Her side had not gained any bargaining chips, while the other side had gained one out of nowhere.