As the main area where the Blood Demon Cult is active, incidents of sacrifices by evil priests are not uncommon in the Crescent Kingdom. There will always be one or two cases in every place every year.
Even the Church of the Holy Royal Court has long been accustomed to this.
no way.
The world is so big, and although the church's control is relatively strong, it is far from being able to cover every corner. There are always people who will eventually choose to embrace darkness for one reason or another, and there will never be enough cultists to catch them.
This is also the consensus from the nobility to the church.
Of course, if we can’t catch them all, we will still have to crack down hard.
At least the church will never allow the core area under its control to become a place where cultists overflow, and every time a cultist appears, they will inevitably be violently attacked by the church.
The most recent incident involving the Blood Demon Cult in the royal capital of Lutesia occurred in the slums of the outer city.
Strictly speaking, this is not a very serious blood demon incident. It is just that ordinary people were bewitched by the blood demon cult and wanted to obtain extraordinary power through blood sacrifices.
The clerk at Castel's store was one of the members who was bewitched. In order to gain strength, he voluntarily believed in the Blood Demon Archduke and participated in the blood sacrifice.
The blood sacrifice should be said to be very successful. At least the cultists who participated in the blood sacrifice really gained strength and obtained extraordinary power from the evil god.
Of course, as a "quasi-evil god", Charlotte only needs to listen to Sebastian's description to know that the so-called gaining of extraordinary power was only given by some blood descendants of the Shedite clan.
, transformed into a descendant, and even said to be just a blood servant.
This sacrifice was quickly exposed.
Although the location chosen by the Blood Demon Cultists is a relatively chaotic slum, it is still the capital of Crescent Moon, where the number and quality of demon-hunting knights are highest.
The church didn't even dispatch a trial court; just the team of demon-hunting knights stationed on the corresponding street in the outer city solved the blood demon case.
Its intensity and difficulty are comparable to those in a previous life when a mountain village in Tianchao "proclaimed itself emperor" and then was "annihilated" by police officers from the police station overnight.
The key reason why this incident alarmed the king and caused a stir in the city was that the timing was too subtle.
This central meeting was aimed at the third prince Philip. The reason why the third prince Philip became the target of criticism by almost the entire noble council was that in addition to his blatant violation of the rules, another important reason was that he had contacts with the Blood Demon Order.
Not to mention how many families in the New Moon noble family dare to vouch for it, my family has absolutely no dealings with the Blood Demon Order. No matter how you put it, suppressing the Blood Demon Order is definitely the political correctness of the Crescent Kingdom.
Even Louis V, who disliked the interference of the religious authority in the royal power, was absolutely nonchalant in attacking the Blood Demon Order, and his methods were quite harsh.
Bringing it into the matter of the third prince, that is, as long as the Central Conference finally determines that the third prince does have contacts with the Blood Demon Order, he will be absolutely finished.
Of course, at the end of the Borde-Castels War, the political life of the third prince Philip was already over.
But after all, he is still of royal blood.
The fact that the third prince was finished by himself is two different things than the fact that he was found guilty of having an affair with the Blood Demon Order.
The latter can easily be thought that the royal family is also related to the Blood Demon Order, and this is absolutely unacceptable to the king, because it is almost shaking the foundation of the royal family's rule.
Charlotte could even imagine that the incident with the third prince definitely made Louis V furious.
Without him, this is no longer just handing a knife to the nobility, it is simply handing a knife to the nobility and the church.
Strengthening centralization and weakening the power of the nobility and the church is the pursuit of His Majesty the King, and this is not a secret among the nobility.
As for the third prince, it was simply to dismantle him.
Charlotte didn't even need to investigate to figure out that this central meeting might turn into a meeting where the nobles and the church united to put pressure on Louis V.
This is something that is easy to understand. Now His Majesty the King does not like the church. There are constant conflicts between royal power and religious power, and the king actually has the upper hand.
Under such circumstances, this central meeting is definitely a good opportunity for the nobles and the church to suppress the royal power, and will undoubtedly become the center of the conflict.
At this juncture, if the Blood Demon Order did something like this again, it would be very annoying to King Louis V, as disgusting as eating a fly.
It is normal for the king to be furious and want to conduct a thorough investigation of the entire royal capital.
With this thought, Charlotte recalled what she had experienced when she first entered the city.
Her heart moved, she looked at Sebastian and asked:
"So...did you originally arrange for Lutecia's city guards to greet us on your behalf?"
"Yes, Master, I have to cooperate with the inspection of the store. I can't get away for the time being, so I asked them to pick you up, but...it seems they didn't do it."
Sebastian said.
Charlotte chuckled lightly and said:
"Oh, that's not just a failure..."
"Huh? Master, did something else happen?"
Sebastian's heart moved slightly.
Charlotte nodded slightly and briefly told what happened when her team entered the city. After hearing this, Sebastian quickly frowned:
"Didn't recognize your identity? This is impossible! I have already reported the information to the royal capital officials. There is no way that the city gate guards cannot recognize your badge!"
As he said that, he couldn't help but ask:
"Master, are you sure that the city guards really did not recognize your identity when you entered the city, and were not deliberately making things difficult for you?"
Charlotte recalled the details at that time and shook her head:
"They probably didn't recognize it."
"In that case, I'm afraid the city gate guards have been temporarily changed, and it is very likely that they are targeting us deliberately."
Sebastian frowned and said.
After saying that, he was a little puzzled:
"Strange...is there any benefit to doing this? Apart from embarrassing us..."
Charlotte clicked her tongue and said:
"In the end, they let us in. If they had not recognized our identity, I don't know how things would have developed. The conspiracies are all connected one after another, and it may affect the subsequent Central Committee meeting.
Woolen cloth."
After hearing her words, Sebastian's heart moved:
"Master, what do you mean, someone finally helped me?"
Charlotte nodded slightly:
"probably."
As she said that, she looked at Sebastian again:
"Sebas, how much do you know about the Duke of Gaston's family?"
"Duke Gaston? I only know that Duke Gaston's family is one of the nine major ducal families in the kingdom, and is also a well-known neutral noble..."
Sebastian said.
After saying that, something moved in his mind:
"Master, is it the Duke of Gaston's family who came to help?"
Charlotte nodded slightly, acquiescing.
She was certain that the change in attitude of the guards as they entered the city was due to the Gaston family's motorcade.
Although the Gaston family's carriage was moving very fast, she still noticed with her pilot-like spiritual sense that the young noble threw a bounty bag to the guard the moment it passed by.
The guard later identified the Castel family based on what was in the bag.
Although Charlotte didn't know what was inside, she could figure out after a little thought that it probably reminded the city gate guards of the identity of the Castel family.
In other words, without the secret intervention of the Gaston family, entering the city might not have been that simple.
However, Charlotte didn't pay too much attention.
As the main attendee of the Central Committee meeting, she could not really be refused entry to the royal capital.
Some disturbances are just farces at best.
Of course, we should not underestimate farce. Sometimes conflicts are accumulated in farce.
A quarrel may turn into a pair of enemies, let alone a noble who always takes honor very seriously.
However, no matter what, there is one thing Charlotte is sure of.
That is, even if she had no idea, in fact, from the moment she entered the gate of the royal capital, she had essentially entered the vortex of power disputes in the Crescent Kingdom.
"Master, do we need to change our next plan?"
Sebastian asked.
"Change? Why change? We are still proceeding according to the original plan. We are attending the meeting this time to show our loyalty, expand business routes, and expand our contacts. By the way, we will add more soil to the third prince's grave. I will not offend anyone unless they offend me.
As long as it’s not too much, you don’t need to worry about anything else.”
Charlotte shook her head and said.
Sebastian's heart moved slightly:
"You mean... to remain neutral at the central meeting?"
Charlotte smiled:
"To be more precise, on the basis of crushing the third prince to death, I maintain neutrality among the nobility, royal family and church. I have no intention of wading into the murky waters of the new moon, at least not now."
"Master, with all due respect... this is not easy to do. From the moment we plan to trample the third prince to death, I am afraid we are destined to be remembered by the king, not to mention that you have a church background...
"
"Well, how will you know if you don't try it?"
Charlotte said with a smile.
After saying that, she looked at the sky again and said:
"Okay, it's almost time. Let's make some arrangements. I want to go to bed early tonight."
"There are still four days left before the meeting. The news of our arrival in the royal capital has probably spread. I think we will start to get busy tomorrow..."
…
Charlotte miscalculated this time.
On the second day of staying in the royal capital, there were no visitors to the manor.
Everyone... seems to have forgotten about the Castel family.