He changed Tiwat

Of course it's serious! Treason, blasphemy, collusion with foreign forces... that's basically the ceiling for Mondstadt people's crimes. Anything higher would just be treason like the Lawrence family... If it weren't that serious, how could a big shot like Calvin be "weighed"?

Qin quietly took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself to hear some shocking news.

"So, you must have corresponding evidence to support such a serious accusation, right?"

Han Fulai shook his head.

"I don't have any."

"This..." Qin choked. You're going to go this far without any evidence?

When Calvin heard that he had no evidence, a look of surprise flashed across his face, and he continued, "Behold, though the ships are great and driven by strong winds, they turn with only a small rudder, just as the captain commands. The tongue is the smallest of the parts of the body, yet it speaks great words. Behold, the smallest fire can set the greatest forest ablaze."

"The tongue is fire. Of all the parts of our body, the tongue is a world of evil, which defiles the whole body and sets the whole course of life on fire. It is set on fire from hell. All kinds of beasts, birds, insects and aquatic creatures can be tamed and have been tamed, but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

He was reciting the teachings of the Four Winds, a rare scripture written by an anonymous ancestor who believed in the wind. However, since the original text was lost in the war that overthrew the Church of the Wind God a thousand years ago, the contents of it could only be explained by the bishops who were responsible for debating the scriptures.

As for the meaning of that statement, it was undoubtedly a citation of so-called "divine teachings" to counter-accuse Han Fulai of making false accusations.

Han Fulai glanced at him and then said the second half of the sentence: "I don't have it on hand, but the church's relic vault has it."

“Chairman Qin, go find Miss Lisa now, or send someone to notify Captain Nimf, who is guarding the church’s basement, and ask them to investigate the leyline flow in the secret room where the ‘Sky Harp’ is stored, and see if there is a node there that can connect to the leyline network. That would be evidence of Bishop Calvin’s collusion with the Fools. A few months ago, the Fools used that node to teleport into the church and steal the ‘Sky Harp’.”

Qin's brows were furrowed.

Many details in Han Fulai's words match the theft of the "Sky Harp," perfectly explaining the theft of the sacred relic several months ago. Especially the matter of the Fools being infiltrated into the church—only those with inside knowledge could have fabricated such a story.

Without asking any further questions, she immediately thought of Kaiya.

At that time, Kaeya, as an investigator, had suggested to her that the church be thoroughly searched, but this would damage the relationship and reputation between the Knights of Favonius and the Church of Favonius, and could also affect the stability of Mondstadt, so she rejected Kaeya's suggestion. At that time, the Stormterror had brought disaster, and people were in a state of panic. The Fatui were also pressing her for help under the pretext of "helping to resolve the dragon's calamity," and Jean did not want to cause any further trouble, so she suppressed the matter.

Han Fulai and Kaiya are not the kind of people who make baseless accusations. The fact that they brought up this matter again means that the evidence is already conclusive. Now, it seems that it is indeed a good time to reopen the investigation.

The fact that the Fools could freely infiltrate the heavily guarded West Wind Church's reliquary was indeed a shocking event. With Jean's insight, she could naturally see how terrifying this technology was—if they could enter the church's basement, they could certainly enter the leader's office as well.

If Cardinal Calvin is indeed a "backdoor" planted by the Fools within Mondstadt, no one can sleep soundly until he is removed.

But then again, it's not like she can just investigate whenever she wants.

Upon hearing this, Cardinal Calvin exclaimed, "Master Qin, you must not desecrate the sacred abode of the wind god because of the slander of foreigners! If you do not trust me, you may ask Archbishop Simon and the College of Cardinals to initiate a trial. I am willing to accept the divine judgment—but before that, the reputation of the believer must not be slandered!"

—Yes, that's the problem.

The Church of the West Wind was the place where the people of Mondstadt entrusted their faith; they believed it to be a sacred abode of God, a spiritual home that could not be desecrated. The bishops, as representatives of God, were not to be trifled with; faith was their shield.

If the Knights of Faith hold the highest secular power, then the Church holds the highest spiritual power.

The shield emblem hanging on the wall of the Knights Commander's office and the heraldry engraved on the wall of the Church of the West Wind both have the same layout—the Knights' eagle shield has two greatswords stuck behind it, while the Church's wind emblem has two one-handed swords stuck behind it, both with the same meaning—"the doctrine of the two swords".

The Knights and the Church are the two swords of the Wind God, one a secular sword and the other a spiritual sword. They depend on each other, complement each other, and work together to help the Wind God manage human affairs.

Although the Church of the West Wind is nominally a subordinate organization of the Knights of the West, this subordinate organization, which controls its own personnel and economic power and can participate in diplomatic affairs, is actually a "state within a state" just like the Vatican – after all, a "divine state" is also a state.

The Grand Master looked troubled, and could only give Cardinal Calvin a reassuring glance, while replying to Han Fulai, "I will write to the Grand Master to report this matter, and I believe they will give a fair judgment..."

Han Fulai waved his hand and smiled slightly at Qin, saying, "There's no need for that trouble."

Chapter 361 Gunnhildr's "Glorious Revolution" [4k5]

"Does Deputy Minister Han have any other proposals?"

Honestly, Qin didn't want to ask that question at all, because she didn't want to hear any other proposals, but she still had to ask.

Han Fulai appeared confident about this.

For him, everything except Calvin's spilled teacup and soiled his pants was within his calculations, including the bandleader's reaction at this moment.

Kaia had already made it very clear to him that Calvin wasn't unable to find the problem, but rather that he was forbidden from doing so by his superiors.

So the key to the problem is to "reopen the investigation," or to put it more bluntly, to get Captain Jean to make up her mind to kill Cardinal Calvin.

This sounds simple, but it's not so simple in practice.

Even now, with him providing crucial clues, Commander Qin still cannot make the decision.

This is not because the leader of the harem cannot see the pros and cons, nor because the leader of the harem is biased... As Kaia said, it is all because Calvin is the acting archbishop of the Church of the West Wind.

His repeated pronouncements in the church that he wanted to "seek an explanation from the bandleader" were a ploy to provoke Calvin into meeting the bandleader with him.

The reason doesn't matter; the key is to drag the person to the Grand Master's office and force Grand Master Qin to give an answer in person.

Moreover, this was done suddenly and quickly enough, leaving Calvin and Jean no room to avoid it.

If you send a "whistleblower letter" to your mailbox, your boss might be too busy to see it. But if you shove the "whistleblower letter" in front of your boss, even if he doesn't want to investigate, he'll have to show that he will investigate thoroughly. This is how "reporting to the emperor" has always worked throughout history. The key is not to be killed as an assassin before you meet the emperor.

Clearly, Qin could not possibly mistake Han Fulai for an assassin. She didn't even know that Han Fulai had come to "report to the emperor" today—otherwise, Commander Qin would have had other important tasks that kept her occupied, such as catching Klee, who was fishing with explosives, at Starfall Lake.

Qin has now given her stance: this matter should be investigated, this matter must be investigated, but she cannot be the one to investigate it now.

Well, to put it bluntly, it means providing all kinds of help except for taking concrete actions.

But this didn't stump him.

Han Fulai spoke up, “My proposal is that we can change the charges. The charges of ‘treason’ and ‘blasphemy’ are indeed serious matters and must be decided by the Grand Masters who are on expeditions abroad. Calvin’s collusion with the Fools will also naturally require time to investigate in detail. But some ‘minor crimes’ can be investigated now… for example, extortion and murder.”

"Today, while traveling on the outskirts of Mondstadt, I happened to witness a group of thieves, acting on Calvin's orders, committing murder, extortion, and extortion of a nun from the Church of Favonius who knew about the crime. Captain Yura and I witnessed these events firsthand. The victim is currently available for summons within the Church of Favonius, and Captain Kaia is in charge of arresting the perpetrators. He should already be at the group's hideout searching for any remaining members."

"Shouldn't this evidence be enough for the Knights to detain this criminal disguised as a bishop?"

—Although strictly speaking, Calvin didn't actually want to silence Gigliana, if Kaeya wanted to, he could have used a physical "Great Memory Restoration" spell to make Sgroch and the others change their statements to this.

The reason why Kaiya proposed the "three-pronged approach" to him and Yura, and to act separately, was because Kaiya had already accurately predicted Calvin's excuse and Jean's reaction.

The three of them were in charge of investigating three different levels of crimes.

The charges against the acting archbishop of the West Wind Church—treason, blasphemy, colluding with the Fools to set up a teleportation portal in the church's basement—sound too horrifying. We should definitely ask our superiors to investigate thoroughly and slowly. Leader Qin, you should be cautious. —Then let's not make it too big of a deal. Extortion and murder are on our minds, and we've already found witnesses for you. This is a small matter; we can handle it, right?

Anyway, there are plenty of murderers in this world who are arrested for theft, and of course there are also traitors who are arrested for murder.

In the words of Yue Haiting's secretary, this is called "you have to demolish the house before you can open a window".

It's one thing if you won't let me demolish the house, but you won't even let me open the window. That shows a problem with your attitude. Commander Qin, you can't just protect a murderer like this in front of me, can you?

Calvin's face turned ashen after hearing Han Fulai's words, and he couldn't even utter a word of rebuttal. The treasure-hunting group was the very weakness he was eager to eliminate, but he never expected that this weakness had already been spotted by someone.

Judging from Han Fulai's words, they not only captured the members of the treasure-stealing gang and obtained their confessions, but they also stumbled upon Gilliana's affair... There's really nothing more to say about that.

In theory, Qin would not be able to refuse under such circumstances.

However, reality is not theory.

Qin tilted her head and thought for a moment, then said, “In that case, I will personally take charge of the investigation. The clues you provided, Deputy Minister Han, are very important. Once Kaia returns, I will investigate this matter thoroughly, ensuring that no innocent person is wronged and no guilty person is let off the hook. However, as you can see, Secretary Calvin is currently only ‘suspected.’ Before I obtain conclusive evidence, it is not permissible to restrict Secretary Calvin’s personal freedom. I hope you understand.”

Han Fulai was stunned, a rare occurrence.

He has already revealed all his cards and provided all the necessary evidence. Under these circumstances, why is Qin still making excuses?

Unbeknownst to her, there were Fools' diplomats in the city watching, who could discover at any moment that Calvin had been exposed.

And if we let Calvin go back now, are we just letting him destroy evidence? Why did I disregard martial ethics and ambush this old man to bring him here? Wasn't it to prevent him from having a chance to deny it?

What exactly is going on with Qin?

Qin also had her own reasons.

She didn't mean to cover for someone; she was genuinely in a difficult position.

Even Kaiya was unaware that the Church of the West Wind was actually hiding a scheme that the Gunnhild family had been planning for over twenty years.

Throughout Mondstadt's history, the clergy held a status equivalent to that of the royal nobility for a long period.

This is certainly because the people of Mondstadt have a strong faith and great respect for the church, but an even more important reason is that the nobles usually practiced a system of inheritance based on the eldest son/daughter.

Rituals like the "Festival Dance" are only performed by the eldest sons and daughters of the three founding families. Yura can learn the "Festival Dance," but her uncle Schubert is not qualified to learn it. For example, although Kaia is the second young master of the Legonfinde family and is also favored by Lord Kripps, none of the vast "Dawn Winery" property belongs to Kaia... The reason for this is the aristocratic inheritance system.

Of course, there is no such thing as a "decree of grace" in Mondstadt. The nobles do not need to read any history books. They only need to use their basic arithmetic skills and some practical experience of their ancestors to come to the conclusion: Suppose you have three children to divide the inheritance, and each of the three children gives you three grandchildren, then your inheritance will be divided into nine parts... If this is divided generation after generation, no matter how big your manor or how vast your land is, it will eventually be divided up.

The best way to ensure that one's family wealth is not lost is to concentrate all the wealth in the possession of one child, namely the eldest son.

But nobles don't practice the one-child policy; it's common for families to have seven or eight children, plus a bunch of illegitimate offspring. What happens to these extra children? Surely we, the noble blood of Mondstadt, can't be reduced to commoners just because we don't get a share of the inheritance?

The answer lies in the Knights and the Church.

Therefore, the Knights of the Stars and the Church of the Wind God during the royal era were filled with the descendants of nobles, and the secular and religious powers of Mondstadt were both in the hands of the same group of nobles.

For example, the book "Mondstadt Tower," which recounts the royal era, uses the "Tower," a symbol of the former "Lone King in the Tower," to refer to the "Church of the Wind God" of that time, accusing the priests of debauchery and cruelty... After all, those priests were essentially nobles.

Although the Church of the West Wind has made many improvements compared to the royal era, such as using the College of Cardinals to elect archbishops and employing devout lay believers as clergy, some traditions are still preserved—the upper echelons of the church come from those "renowned families" in Mondstadt.

Examples include Calvin of the Old Mondstadt Upper Three Banners, and Simon, the son-in-law of the Gunnhilds...

Of course, this is understandable. Mondstadt has such a large number of nobles left behind that if you can't just remove them all from the government, you have to find them a place to go.

If you don't let them go to church to read scriptures, they might start some other arts and culture associations, form some vibrant grassroots organizations, and read other scriptures...

Compared to that, it's clearly better to have them recite the scriptures of the West Wind Church.

Vanessa's strategy back then indeed ensured the stability of the newly established Mondstadt to the greatest extent, and left behind a reputation for "benevolent governance".

But a thousand years later, the descendants of the old Mondstadt Three Banners, intertwined with each other, eventually nurtured a vast "state within a state".

If the Knights of Favonius wield the "critique of weapons," then the Church of Favonius holds the "weapon of criticism."

People know that "the weapon of criticism" cannot replace "the criticism of weapons" because material force can only be destroyed by material force—but there is a second half to this statement—"Once a theory is grasped by the masses, it also becomes a material force."

Swords can destroy the body, but they cannot destroy the spirit.

The "lone king in a high tower" cannot do it, nor can the royal family and nobles.

Mondstadt's 2,600-year history has proven to the world that the power of the spirit can be transformed into the power of matter.

With the belief in the wind god deeply ingrained in people's hearts, the power of faith held by the priests was their greatest reliance and their privilege of being unrestrained.

Church bishops are certainly not gods, and they don't even deliberately claim to be God's representatives—but that doesn't stop the people from treating them as God's representatives.

A typical Mondstadt resident's life begins with baptism at the church and ends with burial in the church cemetery. While alive, they give thanks for the protection of the Anemo Archon; in death, their souls return to the wind. Adventurers from Mondstadt even have an unwritten rule: "One cannot die in a windless land," because then their souls cannot return to the Anemo Archon.

Ordinary Mondstadt residents certainly didn't think they could actually come into contact with Barbatos, the wind god; everyone knew that the free spirit had been gone for a long time. The only way for them to gain the wind god's favor was to attend church services and receive a "blessing" from the bishop.

As the spiritual anchor for the people of Mondstadt and the only bridge connecting ordinary people with the divine, the Church was essentially in a position of "sacred inviolability".

For a self-taught singer and dancer like Barbara to become a "Mondstadt idol," her idol skills can only account for half the credit. The main reason is her identity as a "nun serving the wind god"—many of Barbara's fans probably buy handshake tickets with the same mindset as buying "indulgence tickets"...

That's how powerful faith is.

The first generation of Wind God priests, the Gunnhild family, understood these things better than anyone else—even now that they have taken over the Knights Order and control of secular power, they have never given up their roots in the church—after all, they know best how the "Church of the Wind God" fell into corruption, and have been actively preventing the Church of the West Wind from falling into corruption.

Correspondingly, the Gunnhildr family was most concerned about how others perceived them for simultaneously wielding both political and religious power. Although they consistently sent family members into the Church of Favonius to uphold its principles, they never dared to truly allow Mondstadt to achieve a "theocracy," fearing that people would see them as an ambitious family like the Lawrence family.

Ultimately, the Gunnhildr family is just a family. Their ideal of "protecting Mondstadt forever" is respectable, but it also makes people keep their distance. Just like what Han Fulai and Kaia said to Jean that day, those who work with her all say that Captain Jean is a good person, but "it's just not easy."

After all, for most ordinary people, being a knight or a priest is just a job.

The Gunnhilds, who demanded such saintly moral standards of themselves and their descendants, were naturally not a large and prosperous family, and they also lacked assistants who could truly implement their ideals.

Fortunately, Gunnhilds, as an ancient family with a history of nearly three thousand years, had no shortage of patience and time, and they waited for someone with the courage to solve this problem.

The Gunnhilds of this generation are both outstanding individuals. The most ambitious female head of the Gunnhilds family and the S-rank adventurer renowned throughout the continent join forces to usher in a new era of reform regarding the Mondstadt regime and the Church.

They wanted to carry out a glorious revolution, a bloodless reform.

It is widely rumored that Simon Page joined the Church of the West Wind because of love, and that it was this devotion that moved Frederica—but this romantic love story is merely the least significant part of Simon's reasons for joining the church.

As a former adventurer with rich combat experience and superb martial arts skills, joining the Knights is actually a more suitable job for Simon. He will become a clergyman, all for Frederica's reform plan.

This decades-long plan was launched the moment she recruited Simon, a foreign son-in-law.

Simon's entry into the Church of the West Wind, and his use of all available resources and means to obtain the position of archbishop, was aimed at creating an environment in which the church could be reformed.

After becoming archbishop, he boldly appointed a group of young clergy from commoner backgrounds, including Sister Victoria and Sister Grace, which brought a breath of fresh air to the church and paved the way for young people to hold high positions in the church.

Next, he followed his plan and divorced Frederica, making it seem as if their relationship had broken down and they would never speak to each other again.

At the same time, he kept his second daughter, Barbara, at the church from a young age, changed her surname to Page, and declared that she did not belong to the Gunnhild family.

If it weren't for this expedition, the divorced couple wouldn't have had any contact in private for nearly ten years.

As a result, Qin kept her distance from the church and her younger sister from a young age. No matter how much she wanted to protect her sister, all she could do was watch from afar...

According to Frederica:

"The church has become like this because the leadership lacks true faith, so I will replace the entire top leadership with people who truly have faith."

“If we can’t make any major changes to the church, then we’ll leave it alone and slowly rejuvenate it.”

“They’re afraid that the Knights and the Church will both be named Gunnhildr, so let’s not be named Gunnhildr.”

"It's just that our children are suffering."