I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

The procession, like a river of gold, silver, and steel, drove along the triumphal avenue toward the city gate. They consisted of three hundred vassals of the Orbis Empire, knights of the patron saints, and one hundred priests and bishops.

This Holy Army, jointly established by the Church and the Orbis Empire, did not have many Templar Knights. Even its commander, Richard, was a mediocre military man who was better at scheming and maneuvering.

However, judging from the results of past battles, this unit can be described as having achieved numerous military exploits.

Their strength was no less than that of any of the Knights Templar in the church.

As the procession drew closer, Regent Charles recognized many familiar faces. This secretly comforted Charles, as those powerful lords loyal to Orbis and involved in this damned mission were still alive.

The reason the Church did not send the Knights Templar to conquer the riverbank was due to a political victory for the emperor and the nobles.

With the church's compromise, the 'Holy Knights of the Apostolic,' led by the Orbis Empire, went to the riverbank.

They are more loyal to the Orbis family than to the church, so they will be able to help the new Earl Grey Falcon bring true peace to the riverbank after the war.

Or, to put it another way, take back what rightfully belongs to the nobles and the people from those riverside bishops. And let those greedy priests stop their relentless pursuit of profit, leaving a way for the nobles and commoners of the riverside to survive.

To this end, Prince Regent Charles even persuaded His Majesty to place his friend Richard in the position of commander-in-chief.

He knew that Richard was mediocre in military affairs, but he had outstanding political abilities and the support of many bishops in the church.

There are many military strategists with outstanding individual abilities, but there are very few politicians whose strength reaches the level of a demigod and who also understand military affairs.

Richard is one of them.

More importantly, he was a devout nobleman, not a believer.

The problem on the riverbank is not military, but political, and lies with those greedy priests.

Richard, a politician with considerable military capabilities, will surely handle the situation on the riverbank well, ensuring the Empire achieves its goals while also preventing the Church from being in such an embarrassing position.

As for fighting, the commander of this force didn't need to have outstanding military abilities at all. Moreover, they carried a great deal of equipment specifically targeting the Dracula cult.

As long as he can protect his own life and avoid being killed on the battlefield by that troublesome Count Bal, the Crusaders cannot possibly lose.

There's even a possibility that a war won't break out—as soon as the Crusader army besieges the city, the Draculas will cower in their castles, praying for their non-existent evil god to descend upon the castle and save the day.

Charles knew very well that those thousands of Draculas were not to be trifled with, but the other local nobles and priests of the parish did not support them at all.

The only people who could support them were the defenseless civilian cultists in Grey Falcon City who had been fooled by them.

Therefore, when this elite force of 70,000 men, along with local parish and noble troops, surrounded Greyfalcon City, the Draculas had no way to break the siege.

Even if that damned evil god were to actually descend, He might not be able to save Dracula.

According to intelligence, after those madmen completed their final sacrifice, there was indeed one more person in Grey Falcon City.

This person is probably not some kind of evil god, but he is worse than an evil god.

Because he is a wizard.

Based on the original situation, even if Richard made many wrong decisions, it wouldn't have much of an impact. As long as he could bring his troops to Greyfalcon City and manage his relationships with the local priests and nobles along the way, the Draculas would be finished.

Without Dracula's cultists, the local rebels (revolutionaries) ran out of food, and everything settled down.

As originally planned, the outcome would have been this—without the involvement of the wizards.

When the Crusaders set off, the wizards had not yet settled in Wilmick. Charles could never have imagined that the group of dark wizards would set their sights on the riverbank more than three thousand kilometers away.

Charles admitted that, given the wizards' trump card revealed during their southern campaign, the Crusaders were destined to fail in this battle on the riverbank, regardless of who led them.

However, if they had a more capable commander, the Crusaders wouldn't have been reduced to only three hundred men!

Unfortunately, this force of 78,000 men includes a large number of powerful elite lords loyal to the empire. If they were to die, Orbis would not only be plunged into a brief period of chaos at this critical moment, but it would also cause widespread panic among all the nobles.

Even more unfortunately, most of these people did not die, but became prisoners of war—it would have been better if they had died.

If these people were to die, the empire would indeed suffer a severe blow, but in the council of nobles, the lords would at least curse Alayer as an executioner.

Instead of what we are doing now, loudly proclaiming that we shouldn't provoke the new emperor who is about to be baptized by the gods.

Oh, the new king seems to be in this group. Charles has seen his picture in the newspaper; he can't be mistaken. Wait, how come he's in the group?
Regent Charles looked at his beloved niece, Brianna, with a puzzled expression.

Charles asked, "Damn, you were right."

What exactly does Her Highness Olivia mean? If she doesn't want to arrive tomorrow, fine, but why didn't she turn onto 'Divine Grace Avenue' halfway there, instead of following the Holy Army's 'Triumphal Avenue'?
Did the Church actually offer any reasonable advice to His Holiness Olivia in their prayers?

How exactly did His Highness respond?

Brianna shook her head and said, "There is no response. Divine grace is unpredictable, and the Throne of Olivia rarely responds to the Order."

I previously suggested that we wait at the city gate here, in case the deity had other plans.

After all, judging from the feedback from the Sun Knights, after getting off the train, the Throne of Olivia did not intend to go to the town to rest until tomorrow, but instead came directly with the main group.

The knights dared not question her decision, but could only silently follow behind and quietly inform us.

Charles said stiffly, "Luckily we waited here first. I originally thought that the Divine Throne might separate from the Holy Army halfway with the Prince, and then go to the Papacy's Old Palace of Alaye along the 'Avenue of Divine Grace' to settle down."

But unexpectedly, she actually followed the Crusaders all the way to the palace along the 'Triumphal Avenue'.

Brianna said with a solemn expression, "It seems that Her Majesty the Goddess of Olivia intends to bring the prince directly to meet His Majesty the Emperor and His Holiness the Pope."

Prince Regent Charles's expression stiffened.

His face grew increasingly grim as he looked at the grand welcoming procession outside the city gate.

Regardless of how the throne of Olivia is arranged, Orbis and Aleya will be in a bit of an awkward position.

After all, the afternoon was for welcoming the Crusaders back to the city—they would parade through the city along the 'Triumphal Avenue'.

The evening is when they will welcome Prince Alaye—they will travel along the 'Avenue of Grace' from the other side to the 'Old Palace of Alaye'.

Currently, the Old Palace of Alaye is still called the 'Holy Seat of the Order of Light and Shadow'. It seems the Pope has not yet vacated the area that should have been cleared.

Charles and Brianna both looked somewhat stiff.

On the other side, Roland's expression was also rather unpleasant.

They had agreed to enter the city discreetly today, but so many people were standing at the gate. What made Roland's face even uglier was that he had just secretly used the divination machine to predict the future, and the result indicated that he would have a talk with the Pope today.

Didn't you say there were no meetings scheduled for the near future?!
what's going on? !

Richard, who was standing nearby, suddenly whispered, "Your Highness, something seems amiss. This welcome is far too grand. Many imperial ministers and cardinals have come. We're likely to be passing through the Arc de Triomphe amidst a sea of ​​people, and then meeting the Emperor and the Pope!"

Roland was shocked to hear this and asked, "Didn't the Holy Crusade suffer a defeat? Why are they going through the Arc de Triomphe?"

Richard looked puzzled as well. He thought for a moment and said, "But you won the battle!"

The reason was incredibly absurd, but after witnessing the various bizarre actions of the Holy City along the way, Roland began to believe it somewhat.

However, that's not what he said.

“Bullshit! There must be some mistake! Richard, the Empire is welcoming you, so we won’t participate—Joan, go and tell people to take down all our flags.”

With that, Roland hurriedly kicked his horse's belly and hid behind the crowd.

It wasn't that Roland had some kind of premonition, but rather that he knew very well that he couldn't meet with the Pope today under any circumstances.

So he made up his mind that even if the Empire was specifically welcoming Alaye today, he would insist that they were welcoming the Crusaders.

After bringing Diana and the others to the back of the group, Roland put everyone into the Serpent Ring and then hid himself.

Seeing that their boss had made up his mind not to go into the city, Richard and the others had no choice but to bite the bullet and move forward to meet the welcoming party.

Roland's escape was also witnessed by many in the welcoming crowd.

The crowd, who had been struggling to figure out how to resolve the crisis, suddenly brightened up.

Brianna whispered to Regent Charles, "It seems there must be some mistake. Lord Olivia hasn't received the message. Cough, Prince Alaye, seeing our group, is probably just as confused as we are. He's unsure of the Church's specific arrangements, but he doesn't want to meet the Pope today."

So he cheated and hid.

Even if the Pope insisted on seeing him today, he would not.

As expected of Brianna, she understands Roland perfectly. She guessed his intentions immediately after seeing his actions.

Prince Regent Charles nodded and said, “Bryan is bold and quick-witted. It seems that the Alayes intend to set aside some time before their formal meeting with the Pope to have private contact with the bishops and us.”

After the formal meeting, both parties will face the issue of choosing sides and making things clear.

Given the current tense situation between the two sides, if they were to confront each other immediately, it would immediately lead to a fight to the death.

Orbis and the Alayes do indeed have irreconcilable conflicts, but neither side is ready to confront each other so quickly.

They might both want to eliminate each other, but neither wants to pay too high a price or take too much risk.

At least you should get to know each other's backgrounds.

Brianna said, "What do we do now? How do we arrange this welcome?"

Charles said, "The people behind us don't have the same eyesight as us. Even the bishops who see what's happening will pretend they didn't."

The procession is almost here. Prepare to welcome the Holy Knights of the Faith who will help Dracula and his followers slay the evil god, eradicate the cult, and quell the internal strife.

Richard did indeed suffer a major defeat, but he could also win a major victory.

He and Dracula and his ilk eradicated the cult and destroyed a non-existent evil god. They also quelled the civil unrest on the riverbank.

Due to the strong intervention of the Holy See, the Dawn New Society stopped its southward advance and initiated peace negotiations.

What's even more commendable is that the negotiations concluded perfectly.

However, thanks to the correct decision made by Richard and others, the Archangel Olivia personally descended and explained the reason for the matter—it turned out that the wizards had long since submitted to the Kingdom of Heaven, but due to the bewitching of the evil god and their misunderstanding of the old scriptures, they launched a campaign against the Orbis Empire.

The Church of Light and Shadow, unaware of the wizards' allegiance, turned its sword against these Protestants.

The Crusaders' intimidation halted the Dawnbringer's advance on the riverbank. Richard's compassion also allowed him to listen to the wizards' voices.

With the help of the archangel, both sides discovered the culprit and together defeated the evil god in Greyfalcon City. The misunderstanding was thus resolved.

Otherwise, if the Crusader army continues its northward march, the evil god who bewitched the wizards will succeed in his plot, and the Protestants (wizards) of the Dawn Society will face a terrible tragedy.

As the empire's invincible blade, and as a compassionate and wise paladin, Richard's actions in this calamity caused by the evil god deserve the highest honor.

He naturally wanted to walk through the Arc de Triomphe.

When Richard arrived at the city gate and heard the loud announcements of his achievements from the welcoming crowd, his expression was incredibly complex.

He was increasingly grateful for his participation in the riverside peace talks, because his achievements were all based on the success of the talks, on the gods accepting the wizard, and on the premise that Alaye would take power.

It was thanks to this peace talk that he achieved these accomplishments.

Without this peace talks, he would have been a defeated general.

The Church has consistently mythologized the fighting prowess of the Knights Templar and the Knights of the Faith, while simultaneously downplaying the fighting abilities of wizards.

Therefore, this defeated general will be infamous for eternity.

Brianna and the Regent, accompanied by numerous ministers and bishops, welcomed the Crusaders, but made no mention of Alaye, Olivia, or others.

Amidst the singing of the crowd, numerous bishops, ministers, and clergy slowly drove into the city gates.

More than an hour later, Brianna, dressed in a different outfit, and Regent Charles, leading a small entourage, walked out of the city gate and headed west out of the city.

After some time, they arrived at the fork in the road between 'Divine Grace Avenue' and 'Triumphant Avenue'.

A caravan of a dozen or so people was waiting alone at the crossroads.

The leader was Roland, who had been leading everyone on a fast run to the town twenty kilometers away. But halfway there, he received a 'Divine Seal Communication' from Brianna.

As fellow patients in Wilmick's hospital, the two naturally had a way to contact each other—Brianna contacted 'Lorens' through the church's communication system, and Roland returned after receiving the message.

Seeing that Brianna and the Regent were dressed very modestly, Roland secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He thought to himself, 'Looks like I won't be seeing the Pope today. It must be Lady Luck's blessing.' (End of Chapter)