Especially at this time point.

With the advent of Ragnarok, the Holy Light Church, as the most powerful church organization, will definitely not sit still.

They will try their best to acquire more resources to protect the rights and wealth currently held by the church.

Although Rudy is the Duke of Thorn Kingdom, and as King Karl III, he has always been firmly opposed to the Holy Light Church.

But this does not mean that Rudy and the Holy Light Church must become enemies.

On the contrary, when facing the coalition forces of the Hall Kingdom, Rudy will be able to breathe a sigh of relief if he gets help from the Holy Light Church when he is stretched thin.

But Rudy understands that there is no free lunch.

The Holy Light Church's help is even more unlikely to be voluntary labor. If he wants to gain the other party's support, he will inevitably pay a huge price.

Rudy has always had his own plan, and has never thought of relying on the power of the Holy Light Church.

However, this did not prevent him from meeting the visiting zonal bishop.

Of course, it was impossible for him to let people from the Holy Light Church enter this important strategic airship.

Rudy has always been very wary of these people from the Holy Light Church.

Half an hour later, in the reception room of the city hall.

Rudy wore a military uniform. After receiving the title of Duke and becoming the lord of West Rand Province, he naturally became the supreme commander of the armed forces of West Rand Province.

This commander, like the king, does not have the rank of general or marshal, but can wear special military uniforms.

This is almost the practice of all countries on the continent. Once there is a war, the king will wear a military uniform as the official dress for all occasions.

In the reception room, a middle-aged man wearing a white divine robe stood up, appeared polite, and after some greetings, introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, Your Excellency the District Bishop." Rudy smiled and looked at the middle-aged priest in front of him who called himself Silva.

"I am also honored, Your Majesty the Duke." Father Silva took out a scroll: "I heard that Your Majesty the Duke once obtained several artifacts from the God of Nature, but they were kept in a cabinet because they could not be used. Thanks to the favor of our Lord, he mastered some methods.

It can transform the artifact, I hope it will be helpful to the Duke."

Rudy was not surprised. The Holy Light Church was able to investigate and find out that it was not surprising that he obtained several artifacts under the Grand Theater.

If even this thing cannot be found out, it is not the Holy Light Church.

It's just that after using this kind of thing to bribe him, the Holy Light Church looked down upon him.

Rudy smiled, without even looking at the scroll, and said calmly: "No reward for no merit, I wonder what your Excellency, the district bishop, wants?"

Silva frowned, Rudy's reaction was completely different from what he expected.

He didn't seem to care about those artifacts at all.

Little did he know that Rudy's artifacts had already been used.

However, no one who can become a district bishop in Holy Light Church is a loser.

Silva quickly realized the problem. The stepping stone they thought was enough to impress Rudy seemed far from enough.

Rudy didn't even take a second look at the method he took out, which could transform the artifact, and put it aside directly, then looked at him with a deep look, half-smiling.

Silva remained calm, thinking quickly about how to deal with the situation now.

Based on his experience, if he didn't show enough sincerity now, it would be impossible to reach any agreement with the young Duke in front of him.

Although in his view, Rudy's current situation is very bad, and can even be said to be very difficult, and he has no chance of winning against the eagerly looking coalition forces of the Hall Kingdom.

He really didn't know where this young man Rudy got his confidence.

Could it be that when he took the initiative to come to the door on behalf of the Holy Light Church at this time, shouldn't he be trying every possible means to gain a favor?

But no matter what, he had to resolve the situation at hand, otherwise he would not be able to explain to the archbishop when he returned that the mission failed.

Silva was worried and simply played his trump card directly, saying frankly: "Your Majesty the Duke, I think your wisdom should be very clear about your current situation. Karl III has no spare power to help you, and our Holy Light Church is the only one

Those who can help you, if you need it, you can always get one hundred thousand of the most elite skitarii to help you repel any invading enemies."

Rudy was not surprised, nor did he show any excitement. He just smiled very calmly: "What's the price? What price do I need to pay? Your Excellency didn't say that the Holy Light Church wants to help for free, right?"

Silva was getting more and more troubled. In this situation, Rudy remained calm, even to the point where he didn't know how to speak.

Of course, the Holy Light Church cannot help in vain. On the contrary, the Holy Light Church charges a very high price.

But before coming, Silva and the senior leaders of the Holy Light Church were very optimistic.

According to their judgment, Rudy had no trump card at all, unless he was willing to give up his fiefdom and give away the West Rand province regardless of his reputation just after becoming a duke.

But now it seems that Rudy is not as anxious as they expected, and he seems to be hiding some unknown trump card.

The Holy Light Church doesn't seem to be the only option.

By now, Silva has realized that it may be impossible to complete his mission this time.

Silva also made a decision immediately, shook his head and smiled bitterly.

He did not tell the Holy Light Church's request, but stood up directly and saluted appropriately: "Your Excellency, it seems that we don't have many topics in common, and you are not aware of what kind of situation you are about to face.

It is currently impossible to agree to our request for help."

Rudy smiled noncommittally, stood up as well, and said calmly: "Of course my territory needs help. This is obvious, but..." Rudy looked at Silva and smiled: "Some people are here to help.

People have the intention of occupying the magpie's nest, so they have to be careful. What's more, after all, I am also the Duke of the Kingdom of Thorne, a vassal of His Majesty Karl III, and His Majesty is also the father of my fiancée. Stand

From my standpoint, West Rand must be an integral part of the Kingdom of Thorne, past and present."

Rudy said it with great justice.

With the intelligence capabilities of the Thorn Kingdom, he was very sure that these words would reach the ears of Karl III verbatim in the near future. This was a good opportunity for him to take the opportunity to show his loyalty.

Silva was noncommittal, still nodded politely, then said goodbye and left.

Rudy sent him to the door of the reception room, and then closed the door. Judy had already appeared in the room, and said in a deep voice: "Sir, do you need me to send someone to follow you?"

Rudy shook his head: "Forget it, this man is the district bishop of the Holy Light Church. You can't keep up with such a person with the manpower you have."

Judy remained silent. Just as Rudy said, although Rudy spent huge sums of money to establish an intelligence department after becoming a duke, the time was too short after all. It was just a pretense without any foundation.

If it weren't for the help of Audrey, a senior intelligence dealer, Judy wouldn't even be able to build a framework based on her ability alone.

Fortunately, Rudy didn't have high requirements for these and gave Judy enough trust and time.

"Ignore the people from the Holy Light Church." Rudy said calmly: "We should prepare at our own pace. The Holy Light Church is a group of speculators who want to get the maximum benefit at the minimum price. Unfortunately, they misjudged the situation this time.

They also overestimated their influence."

Judy also didn't have a good impression of the Holy Light Church.

When she was captured from the Elf Forest by a slave team, the real boss behind those slave traders was a high-status Holy Light Bishop.

On the surface, they are advising people to do good in the church, but in reality they are carrying out the most bloody and dirty slave trade.

But today, as Ragnarok approaches, the decline of the church's power and divine authority is inevitable.

After losing the halo of gods, those churches that occupy huge resources and wealth are bound to be liquidated and plundered by the secular kingdom.

At present, the Yinying Empire, which represents the strongest secular power, has not yet expressed its stance, but there are already signs that many countries are ready to make a move.

If there are only one or two countries, with the strength of the Holy Light Church, there is no need to worry at all.

But if many countries unite to launch a war of annihilation against the Holy Light Church, even a powerful one like the Holy Light Church will have little chance of winning.

At this time, how could Rudy bind himself to the Holy Light Church?

What's more, letting the Holy Light Church help resist the Hall Kingdom would have to pay a very heavy price.

It is conceivable that once the Holy Light Church intervenes, even if the coalition forces of the Hall Kingdom are finally defeated, the West Rand Province will no longer be in Rudy's hands.

Therefore, even if the West Rand Province is completely destroyed!

Even if he was defeated in the end and gave up the West Rand Province, Rudy would not hesitate.

At least until then, Thorne Kingdom still has a way out for him.

With his current strength, he will still be the Duke of Thorne Kingdom at that stage.

When facing this problem, Rudy considered the pros and cons of advancing and retreating very clearly, so he could not waver when faced with the temptation of the Holy Light Church.

After leaving, Silva's face became very ugly.

His entourage was waiting outside the city hall, and upon meeting they could tell that things were not going well.

The two of them got into the carriage and asked: "Master Silva, how is the situation?"

Silva's face was as dark as water, and he said in a deep voice: "Report to the Archbishop, he has rejected us, activate the backup plan, and let those fools in the Hall Kingdom speed up!"

Silva gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "I want that boy who doesn't know the heights of the sky to know that rejecting the olive branch of the Holy Light Church will cost you blood!"

It turns out that this time the Hall Kingdom suddenly organized a coalition to attack the West Rand Province, and the Holy Light Church was secretly fueling the attack.

If Rudy didn't know what was going on and agreed to their help, he would be really losing money.

Time flies so fast, and half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

The mobilization speed of the Hall Kingdom coalition forces was faster than Rudy expected.

Especially after the visit of the Bishop of the Silva Division last time, the Hall Kingdom has obviously accelerated its progress.
To be continued...