Chapter 273 - Fourteen: Wind Rises
Torres slightly furrowed his brow. The death of Malone had always been a controversial topic within the Church of Light. While his murder was confirmed long ago, the true identity and motive of the poisoner remained an unsolved mystery.
Many were inclined to believe that it was a conspiracy orchestrated by the Nicosia Court rather than an assassination by so-called Dark Mages, because Malone had never been particularly popular in the Kingdom Court. He not only openly criticized the Kingdom’s policy of being overly indulgent to religions other than the Church of Light but also directly made some threatening statements. For example, he suggested that if the Kingdom did not adjust its religious policies, the mages of the Church of Light should withdraw from the Kingdom Court Mage Corps as a form of protest. Although he could not represent the official opinion of the Church of Light on this matter, it still greatly enraged the Kingdom of Nicosia, which believed that the Church had violated the agreement they had reached and was blatantly interfering in the internal politics of the kingdom. There was a strong demand for the removal of Malone, but the Church, for various reasons, denied that his views represented the Church’s official stance. However, during private talks, they also expressed the Church’s concerns about this issue. Despite that, Malone did not adjust his position and continued to hold a stable place within the Kingdom Court Mage Corps.
The main reason was that, at the time, not only were there several Light Mages stationed in Versailles, but also the defensive forces of Versailles were strong, and many Kingdom Court knights were in Versailles as well. It was simply not possible for Dark Mages to choose such a place and time to assassinate Malone—an experienced and combative mage whose status was not particularly significant—to provoke the Church of Light. This motive just did not exist, and on this point, those who held the view of an assassination by Dark Mages could not justify their theory. Even Torres, who knew some insider information, did not believe that the despicable Baron Mage possessed such ability. In his mind, comparing a cultivator with only a smattering of magic skills to a combative and experienced mage like Malone was simply preposterous. Under those circumstances, perhaps the knights of the Nicosia Court should be considered the real murderers. The Myles Silver arrowhead was clear evidence that no mage, not even a Dark Mage, would use such a weapon. Though it was also a stretch to say that the knights of the Nicosia Court would use weapons, they were, at least, more likely suspects than mages, who never used weapons.
"What’s wrong, Torres? It seems you have a different opinion?" Frenster acutely noticed something amiss with his capable subordinate.
"Archbishop, Galian’s last mission was to assist the Church Tribunal’s bunch of lunatics in executing an execution order. Since the area of jurisdiction belonged to the scope of the Archbishop’s duties, and the Tribunal was worried about resistance, they requested our support. So, I dispatched Galian to assist with the execution. But Galian disappeared without a trace, and before that, Galian had never disobeyed any orders or had any accidents. So, it makes me wonder if the people from the Tribunal could possibly—"
Before Torres could finish his thought, Frenster furrowed his brow. Even though his relationship with the people at the Tribunal was not cordial, apart from His Holiness the Pope and their own people within the Tribunal, there was almost no one they could get along with well. His relationship with Vazinsky seemed to be even worse, as it had escalated several times to the point of reaching His Holiness the Pope. Frenster always suspected that a significant reason why the Pope restrained the external law enforcement activities of the Tribunal, yet allowed their internal arrogance, was to use the Tribunal’s power to balance the factional strife within the Holy Teaching. The Tribunal seemed to be perfectly suited as a double-edged sword for that role.
"Enough, Torres. Don’t mention such things again. The people from the Tribunal may be excessively fanatical, but they are definitely not real madmen. What motive would they have against Galian? Moreover, the Jade Ring has already shown that Galian’s predicament should be related to those associated with the dark faction. It’s just that we’re currently unable to grasp the specifics," Frenster decisively interrupted his subordinate. Such talk, if spread, would only add to the chaos and was of no help in addressing the problem. Although Frenster also harbored doubts about whether the Tribunal was involved, perhaps using their own people as a vanguard, and then taking the opportunity to step in when the situation worsened—both to expand their influence and to strike at his own prestige—if that was their scheme, Noyola’s cunning would be terrifying. Perhaps he needed to be more proactive in his own actions, since His Holiness the Pope had already pointed out the expansion of dark forces, didn’t that imply that the Church of Light should also adopt a more active attitude in facing potential calamities?