How to Live as a Wandering Knight

𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐃𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 (6)

“By the way, the bishops. . . are peculiar.”

Once they confirmed that they agree on the major part, it was time to discuss the details.

As the bishops started to explain the detailed plan to Johan, he felt it was odd.

This was because the bishops’ insights and abilities were too imbalanced.

The bishops were very adept in political justifications and situations. How to deprive Count Coolia of her position, how to check other nobles. . .

However, in military aspects and governance, they were almost at the level of fools.

One bishop even asked, ‘𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴?’ and another didn’t even think about dispersing and advancing. He just suggested it would be better to advance all together.

Bishop Lironero, feeling embarrassed for the other bishops, stopped them from speaking.

“Brothers. Leading soldiers and managing horses is a knight’s duty. Let Sir Johan take care of it, and trust him with it.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“But isn’t it stronger to gather and send the soldiers. . .?”

“Shh. That’s enough.”

The bishops of the Miracle Faction were basically ignorant about command. It might have been better if they were from the Nobility Faction. Or maybe a paladin who had served in the order.

However, such knights usually preferred to fight alongside their brothers in the battlefield or in the order for their entire lives, and it was common to leave the position of bishop to others.

In the end, the bishops who rose in the Miracle Faction were mostly theorists who had dedicated their lives to academia and faith, aspiring to ‘𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.’

At least Bishop Lironero, when he was young, had been to the battlefield a few times with his order brothers, so he knew how embarrassing what they were saying was.

“Should’ve asked the captain of the guard for advice.”

“The fewer people know about this, the better. Besides, the captain of the guard has his own duties.”

“I am aware.”

The order’s guard and the captain of the guard were under strict control. They were more like monks. Monitored in their contact with the outside world, they had to live a life dedicated solely to the order.

The order did not want them to have contact with the outside. The moment they are tainted by the secular world, desires emerge and betrayals occur.

‘𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.’

Johan could sense the atmosphere and direction of the order from the bishops’ conversation.

The current mainstream of the order were the bishops of the Miracle Faction and the Pope they supported. The Pope had a tremendous authority of miracles, influencing dioceses across the continent. . .

But the secular monarchs did not view this favorably. They continuously tried to undermine the rights of the order. Even Cardirian led his army to the front of the Cyrandel mountain, and other kings and nobles were no different in their intentions.

The most pure order constantly employing mercenaries and struggling to check the nobles above and below, was because it couldn’t exist otherwise.

“Anyway, brother. . . Do you understand a bit now?”

“Yes.”

The first thing we should target is Count Coolia.

This Count is currently in a very delicate position.

Originally, this county belonged to the Asada family, a pagan family from the east, who converted a few generations ago and became a vassal of the Emperor.

An elderly beastman from the Asada family married an elf from the Erlans Kingdom, and they had a child, but the beastman died suddenly.

The beastman’s siblings were excited to take over the county, petitioning for it, but the elf wife firmly refused.

She declared that the right to the county belongs to the child and she would rule as regent until the child came of age.

Of course, the siblings did not sit idly by. They accused the elf of ‘colluding with pagans to poison’ and reported her to the church. If the wife was stripped of her title, they could easily manipulate their young niece to take the county.

The church planned to use this situation.

They would call her for a trial at the church, strip her of her title if she came, and also if she didn’t, using that as a reason.

Next, they would accuse the siblings of the Asada family of pagan-related charges and excommunicate them.

It was a sophisticated justification that the church had worked on for a long time. The opponents wouldn’t realize what was wrong until the situation had progressed to a certain extent.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

𝚊𝚠ᴇ𝚋𝙨𝚝𝐨𝘳𝕚𝔢𝘴.ċ̇𝙤𝚖

“So? What’s the problem?”

Ignoring the oaths, Johan called Suetlg and Caenerna to discuss the events he had heard from the bishops.

“I think the justification we’ve prepared is sufficient. It’s not like they’re using you as a scapegoat. . .”

“It definitely wasn’t the look of someone intending to be used as a scapegoat.”

“Would they have gone to such lengths if they wanted to use me as a scapegoat?”

At the reactions of the two, Johan nodded and continued speaking.

“But isn’t the method after the justification a bit strange? To deprive a count of his position and then award it to me after I conquer it. Isn’t that too rough?”

The Asada family had been in power for several generations. There would be several lower nobility families that had built various relationships under that count.

Even if Johan had conquered with an army and the order praised him and granted him a position, how would they react to a sudden outsider ruling over them?

“I see two reasons for this.”

Caenerna said in a calm voice. She was better at this kind of political sense than Suetlg.

“One is, as you already mentioned, the bishops of the order are foolish. Everyone is mistaken, but the bishops of the order aren’t so intelligent to know everything in the world, right? It’s not like everything is solved just by conquering and attaching the name of the order.”

“And the other reason?”

“The second is, even if they vaguely suspect, it doesn’t really matter to the order. It’s your job to control those nobles. If you’re in need, you’ll have to rely more on the power of the order.”

“. . .!”