The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

After a day of visits, Isa returned to her makeshift camp.

In addition to taking over the territories of these nobles, the Grey Collar now also needs to take over the churches in these territories.

Although the religious figures Isa and Flora are temporarily in charge, Flora's ideas are too radical and have been suppressed by Lind. For now, the nuns of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation can only assist Isa.

This left Isa completely bewildered as to why her sisters, who had once worked together to save the world, had become like this.

But Isa had not experienced their suffering, so she didn't say much.

Flora and her group's idea was to dissolve all churches, let all believers worship Goddess directly, no longer let priests and nuns play the role of guides, and abolish all the power of the churches.

Furthermore, all prayers and Masses must be organized and administered by the lord and his subordinate officials.

Return true faith to the people.

Such a radical approach naturally provoked strong opposition from churches in various places, and even Flora's former reputation could not suppress these dissenting voices.

This is just the most reasonable of the reform proposals put forward by Flora, in Isa's opinion.

The remaining proposals were even more radical, so radical that Isa dared not publish them.

Linde was also somewhat unsure after reviewing these plans.

To be honest, Flora's proposals are too tempting. If they can be implemented, then at least in the western part of the North, the church will be completely under the rule of the lord, and the lord's power may even surpass that of the goddess.

In Flora's reform plan, the goddess was reduced to a clay idol, while the lord became the spokesperson for faith and the son of the goddess, appointed by heaven.

Yes, literally the son of a goddess. Linde suspected that the nuns really did see him as the goddess's illegitimate son, which was too shocking, so Isha detained him.

Because it was too radical and impossible to implement, Linde did not adopt Flora's plan, but these plans were not without merit.

For example, abolishing some unnecessary privileges of the church must be carried out no matter what.

Lind had no interest in haggling with the nuns over the religious activities, but the church school either needed to be replaced by a new one in the area, or the textbooks and teachers had to be changed.

All clergy members, like the nobles, retained only their titles, their privileges revoked.

However, the clergy were still better off than the nobles, because they at least retained the right to conduct religious activities.

After being influenced by Flora's radical reform plan, many local churches chose to follow the less radical new plan that Isa later refined.

This is also because the Church of Light is currently weakening, and due to some of its previous actions, its control over the North is becoming increasingly weak, which is why some churches have chosen to surrender directly.

Of course, the main reason is that the central Papacy is now pursuing a contraction strategy, focusing on internal reforms, and has little energy left to deal with the problems in the North.

The western part of the North is sparsely populated and there were no major regional churches to begin with, so there was no need to kill off a group of them first, as was the case with the nobles.

Moreover, Linde did not restrict church members from taking the civil service exam; he only stipulated that those who passed could not preach in public. As a result, many church members, in order to secure a future for their churches and to increase the Papacy's influence in the new territories, began to lead their students to take the civil service exam and compete with the nobles.

Isa sat down wearily in the temporary camp, only to find Flora discussing something with the other nuns.

Although the religious reformation had strained Isa's relationship with the nuns, it was official business, and Flora quickly brought Isa into the discussion when she saw her return.

It turned out to be about the lantern dream that Linde had asked about before.

"Are there really cults claiming to be the true lineage of the goddess?"

Because she did not become a saint, Isa was not very familiar with this brief history of the Papacy.

"That's right, they did indeed split off from the church."

Based on her knowledge and the report sent by Lucanos, Flora described the Lantern Dream to Isa.

"They were the saints who started the war of faith two hundred years ago. They claimed that the goddess was the only God and that the other gods were nothing but false gods."

"Because it contradicted the Goddess's ideas of inclusivity and universal love, the Vatican at the time severed ties with these saints, and because their doctrines were too radical, these saints were labeled as a cult by all other religions."

Isa listened in stunned silence, but somehow, she found herself somewhat accepting this distorted doctrine.

Perhaps she was too tired from a day of visits, and Isa immediately shook her head to banish these outrageous thoughts from her mind.

But Flora continued, "We don't think it's impossible. After all, we've only ever seen the goddess's son, and there's never been any record of other gods having a true son descend to earth. There are only so-called saints chosen by the gods."

Issa, who had just taken a sip of water, almost spat it out. Suddenly, she seemed to understand why Flora's reform ideas were so radical.

"The lord wanted to contact them, but for some reason, all the spies that these people had planted in some local churches disappeared overnight."

Flora spoke while stroking the ray gun in her hand.

Even through the mask, one could feel Flora's regret, and Isa sighed along with her, knowing that her gentle and kind sister Flora would never come back.

Inside a solemn church that does not exist in reality, several figures whose outlines are barely visible are forming a circle.

"Let's begin. Play the dream that Sister Bernice the Lamp had experienced."

After the leading nun finished speaking, the surrounding scene immediately changed. Several figures, starting from the airport, experienced Lind's dream from Bernice's first-person perspective.

When they saw the enormous space station, all the phantoms became somewhat unstable.

The silhouette of the leading nun froze the dream in the background of that enormous space station and asked, "Can we switch to a free-view perspective?"

The voice in the void replied, "We can try, but since the parts that are not visible can only be reconstructed through calculation, it will probably consume a large number of brain servants."

"These are all necessary sacrifices to get closer to the goddess."

"Understood, a shift to a free perspective is underway."

As the voice from the void faded, the surrounding scenery began to change continuously. The silhouette of the leading nun pulled back the timeline to before the space elevator took off, allowing for a complete free-view observation. Then, she pulled back again to carefully observe the city and staff around the elevator.

"Humans cannot imagine things they have never seen."

The silhouette of the leading nun murmured to herself.

"They really are descendants of the golden age."

The other figures were also constantly observing the magnificent city in the distance, but unfortunately, this place on the edge of a dream could not be fully restored no matter how many brain servants were sacrificed.

"So, should the assassination plan against Lindroll still proceed?"

The figure shook its head, holding its own head, as if it also felt that its question was somewhat foolish.

“Since they have already issued a warning, we can’t keep entangled with them. After all, they are descendants of the Golden Age, and we need their technology and knowledge.”

Another silhouette added, "Approach cautiously, try to cooperate, and if they are remnants of the Golden Age, perhaps..."

The silhouette paused for a moment.

"I really have seen the goddess."

The dream fell into a brief, eerie silence.

"If you are descendants of the Golden Age, why don't you stand up and denounce those false gods' churches?" A figure with righteous indignation stepped forward and questioned.

The lead nun explained, “In the Golden Age, the title of goddess might not have been the same as it is now. They might not even have had the concept of gods. For them, the goddess might have been viewed much like we view elves today.”

"This is way too outrageous..."

The figures couldn't help but take a step back, but seeing the magnificent city below and the Tower of Babel reaching to the sky, they realized it wasn't impossible.

"Of course, all of this is speculation. The Golden Age is too ancient. Even during the old empire period, the Golden Age was already an unverifiable ancient legend."

"I will show our sincerity to Lindroll. It would be best if he agrees to cooperate. Even if he refuses, we must not provoke him. This matter must not be spread, and we are forbidden from contacting Lindroll privately. That's all, meeting adjourned."

After the nun finished speaking, she waved the lantern in her hand, and all the other figures turned into black mist and disappeared, leaving only the nun in the dream of the Golden Age.

The scene shifts, and the nun's silhouette rewinds time to the beginning, focusing on the girl who calls Lindroll "brother."

According to intelligence, no girl resembling Lindroll has ever appeared in Lindroll's life, meaning she is very likely a relative of Lindroll's from the Golden Age.

But why does this girl look somewhat similar to the current saintess, Lilith Dorian?

The nun's silhouette shook her head to herself, and the dream began to gradually collapse and dissipate.

They are only somewhat similar; their temperament is far removed from that of Lilith Dorian.