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He had no guards to protect him, nor Palios to advise him.

He realized that his status as a count’s son meant nothing in this situation.

He finally gave up resisting.

He knew he had no way to fight against them.

He sighed and asked Roan who they were.

“Who are you?”

“We are the Order. We serve the great one, and spread his will to the world.”

“The great one…?”

Rex frowned when he heard the name of the Order.

There were only six temples that were legally recognized by all countries in the continent.

And they were the ones that had been approved by the Holy Land.

The Holy Land’s Inquisition would hunt down any other religions that they considered heretics.

Rex thought that the Order that Roan mentioned was far from the six temples of the Holy Land.

Besides, there was no reason for the temples affiliated with the Holy Land to approach him in this way.

The Order was most likely a heretic group that had not been authorized by the Holy Land.

“Do you know about the great one?”

“I don’t think he is one of the six gods that I know.”

“You are quick to catch on. The great one is different from those fakes.”

Roan admitted that they were not part of the Holy Land, but rather a heretic group.

But like any other heretics, he was overly confident.

After all, if he wasn’t confident, he wouldn’t have done such a thing to a noble.

Especially when he had easily subdued Palios, who was one of the most skilled people in the count’s family.

It was proof that he had some strength.

“So, why did you people who serve the great one come looking for me?”

“Our reason for coming to see you today is simple.”

“What is it…?”

“Join the Order. And receive the protection of the Order.”

Rex’s face darkened when he heard the purpose of the Order’s visit.

He thought they would ask for money at most, but it was a more difficult request than he expected.

Joining the Order meant joining a heretic group.

Of course, the Inquisition of the Holy Land would not be able to punish a noble of the empire.

But it was obvious that he would have frequent conflicts with the Holy Land.

Especially, the count Mayer, who was a devout follower of the six temples, would not look kindly on Rex joining the Order.

“You want me to join the Order?”

“It’s not a hard thing to do.”

“It’s heresy! I will be branded as a heathen by the six temples! My father will look at me with strange eyes!”

Heresy.

Roan’s eyebrows twitched at the word that Rex uttered.

Rex realized that he had made a mistake.

The Order had the upper hand in this situation.

Provoking the Order would not do any good for Rex.

“That’s a disrespectful word.”

“No, I mean…”

“Since you have been brainwashed by the evil six temples, I will let it slide this time.”

“Oh, okay.”

Fortunately, it seemed that Roan was willing to overlook his slip of tongue, so Rex nodded along.

Roan corrected Rex’s words and then began to explain to him.

“I’m not asking you to openly declare your faith. I know that would cause trouble for you.”

“…”

“But if you sincerely decide to serve the Order, we will support you from our side.”

Roan did not want Rex to publicly show his support for the Order.

Rather, he promised to support Rex from the Order’s side.

But it did not seem like he was offering only financial support.

It was obvious what he meant by supporting Rex in this situation.

He wanted to interfere in the succession dispute of the count’s family.

“Support…?”

“You can keep your faith in your heart for now. After all, you will become the count someday.”

“Are you saying you will make me a count?”

“Of course. All you have to do is keep your promise with us after you become a count.”

The reason why Rex came here was to find allies who would support him.

He even tried to make a connection with a viscount from a neighboring country, Eysalia.

His situation was not good enough that he had to consider joining hands with foreign nobles.

It was because his younger brother’s faction had become too powerful for him.

His relationship with his brother Max was also at its worst.

If Max became the count, he would surely try to get rid of Rex, who was an eyesore to him.

He touched his chin and opened his mouth, looking at his pitiful self.

“What do you want from me?”

He was already thinking of bringing in foreign nobles.

Being a heretic doesn’t mean I can’t get involved in the dirty factional fights.

Even though I knew it was a foolish thing to do, I decided to listen to the church’s conditions.

Roan answered my question with a friendly smile.

“One. You will hand over the city’s death row inmates to the church.”

“Death row inmates?”

“They’re going to die anyway, so why do you care?”

“I guess you’re right. Fine.”

It wasn’t hard to hand over the death row inmates.

They were doomed to be executed anyway.

If I became an earl, I would even be willing to increase the number of death row inmates.

It was none of my business what happened to those who committed crimes and were dragged away by the heretics.

The only problem was the second condition.

“Two. You will not interfere with the church’s activities in the city.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“It’s exactly what I said. You will not hinder the church from proselytizing or performing rituals.”

“You want me to leave them alone no matter what they do?”

“I don’t expect that much. I just ask that you don’t get involved in the activities that are approved by the church’s leadership.”

Don’t interfere with the church’s activities.

It was a simple but difficult request.

If I let the church do whatever they wanted, my influence as an earl in the city would inevitably decline.

This could cause trouble for me in the future.

My troubled gaze turned to Roan.

Roan continued his proposal, as if he had something in mind for himself.

“Of course, we will also provide you with adequate support from our side.”

“What kind of support?”

“We will assign Evan, a knight, to escort you for the time being. In addition, we will grant you the honorary bishop position in the Order.”

“…Honorary bishop.”

“It’s the second highest rank in the Order, after me. Do you not like it?”

“Does that mean the Order will take responsibility for me if something goes wrong?”

“Of course. And as long as it doesn’t interfere with the Order’s affairs, you can move the believers as you please.”

He could move the Order’s believers.

This meant that Lex had gained his own power base that he could control.

It was a good offer for Lex.

Also, it opened up a way for Lex to escape to the Order if something went wrong.

If he hid in the Order, even Max, who had become an earl, would have a hard time killing Lex.

It was a fairly attractive option.

“One last thing. I will make you an earl within a year at the latest.”

“A year? You think that’s possible in just a year?”

“Do you think it’s impossible?”

He said he would make him an earl in just a year.

It seemed impossible to Lex.

But from the moment he heard that from Roan, Lex’s heart started to beat wildly.

How long had he dreamed of becoming an earl himself?

Even though the succession was already heavily tilted towards Max, Lex had not given up and held on.

Lex Meyer wanted to become an earl.

If possible, he wanted to sell his soul to the devil and become the next Meyer earl.

“I…”

He didn’t want to end up like the firstborn of a noble family who only cared about the family’s reputation and was killed by his younger brother.

As if he could read Lex’s mind, Roan lightly tapped his shoulder.

It was not the way to treat the eldest son of an earl.

He looked at Lex with a compassionate gaze, as if he was the archbishop looking at a believer of the Order.

“Don’t worry too much. The Great One will be with you.”

“Ha…”

“So, Lex. Come with us.”

Roan extended his hand to Lex.

Blink. Blink.

Lex’s eyes stared at Roan’s palm.

It was a palm that contained a lot of meaning.

Maybe it was like shaking hands with the devil from hell, as he had expected.

But even so, Lex couldn’t refuse the palm in front of him.

“Fine. I’ll join the Order. I get it all… Now give me back Pallios.”

With a weak voice, Lex grabbed Roan’s hand.

Lex Meyer.

He wanted to become an earl.

He wanted to inherit his father’s will and become a great lord who ruled over the earldom.

That’s why he joined hands with the Order.

Even though he knew it was wrong.

***

Cloud, Centurion branch.

Agent, a first-class investigator, looked at the report with a dark expression.

Usually, Cloud’s reports would only contain relatively common incidents like robbery or theft.

But today’s report that the Agent received was not like that.

It was full of things that required more attention than usual.

The first incident on the report was like that.

On that page, there was a cooperation request from Crossbridge to Cloud’s headquarters.

“The Inquisitor of the Holy Land went missing here?”

The Inquisitor of Crossbridge went missing while he was on vacation in the Centurion region.

The Inquisitor’s name was Evan Allemier.

He was a knight who was famous for his devout faith in the Holy Land.

He was also the brother of Hus Allemier, a second-class investigator who had left Cloud a while ago.

That meant they wanted Cloud’s Centurion branch to take charge of searching for the Inquisitor.

Agent turned the page with a troubled expression and muttered to himself.

“Why did he have to disappear here and cause trouble? As if I didn’t have enough complicated things to deal with.”

Hus Allemier, the second-class investigator who quit Cloud, had a very awkward relationship with Agent, the branch chief.

He had argued with the Agent until the day he quit.

It was not a pleasant thing for the Agent to have to look for the family of such a colleague.

Besides, the Inquisitors were among the important forces in the Holy Land.

It was not a matter of sending a mediocre investigator if one of them suddenly disappeared.

Agent himself was likely to have to step in.

“Hoo.”

He sighed and looked at the next page.

The next page also contained information from Cloud’s headquarters.

Abyssal Beast, Couverg.

A monster had appeared in the southeast of the empire.

The monster had a level of intelligence that allowed it to communicate, and it introduced itself as Couverg.

“Couverg…”

Couverg was as notorious as its grandiose name.

More than 10 villages had already been destroyed by Couverg.

And because of its nature of crushing everything in its path, a small castle on Couverg’s route was in danger.

The moment Couverg reached the castle, the empire would lose an earl and a castle.

That’s why Cloud’s headquarters wanted the nearby branches to send out hunting teams as soon as possible.

Agent pondered while holding his chin as he read about Couverg.

“If Hus was here, I would have sent him to the hunting team.”

Now that Hus Allemier had left, there was no one in the Centurion branch who could replace him.

For anything less than that, the Agent had to fill in the gap himself.

But the Agent couldn’t handle both cases at the same time.

Both were urgent matters, so the Agent had to make a decision himself.

Would he search for Evan Allemier?

Or would he join the hunt for Couverg?

Agent got up from his seat, alternating between the reports.

“Damn it…”

He crumpled up one of the reports on his desk and threw it away.

It was a report about the hunting team for Couverg.

The crumpled paper left his hand and rolled on the floor.

Thud.

After throwing away the report on the hunting team, Agent gave a hollow laugh and looked at the first report.

“…Hus Allemier. I’ll make sure to thank you for this.”

The search for the missing Inquisitor, Evan Allemier.

That was the Agent’s decision.