Hyper-Dimensional Player

Chapter 380 - 12: Holy Grail Faction

The first order of business for Monotheism taking power.

First, collect the ’tithe’.

At this moment, history seemed to have welcomed a boomerang. Some historical developments had clearly been altered, yet certain events from the original history still occurred.

The tithe is the most obvious sign.

As Duncan quietly returned, the entire situation on the island of Great Britain was also undergoing dramatic changes. The Polytheism forces, previously suppressed by the church, suddenly became more assertive. This directly led to violent conflicts in certain areas, with the church’s proclamation of the ’tithe’ being the flashpoint. Many people in Britain refused to pay the tithe.

Night fell.

Under the dim moonlight in the pitch-black night, groups of figures in black robes entered a building beside the clock tower on the Thames. It is said that this clock tower was designed by the Legendary Wizard Merlin, taking decades to complete and being acclaimed as one of London’s iconic structures.

Creak!

The heavy door opened.

As the group of black-robed figures entered the hall, many people were already waiting inside. Among them were men and women dressed as magicians, as well as church priests wearing crosses. The leader of the black-robed group looked up, casually took off his hood, revealing a middle-aged face with a full beard. There was a tattoo on his neck. He nodded slightly to the others and intentionally sat on the right side of the long council table.

Behind him, more than a dozen black-robed individuals took their seats in order in the seats for council members below.

"Is everyone here?"

At the head of the long table sat an elderly man in a red robe. He was the Cardinal of the Britannia Province, Saint Jacob. The position of archbishop in the Britannia Province has always been sensitive, as it is considered one of the strongholds of Polytheism, and there is a special sovereign resting here.

No one knows if he might one day suddenly rise from his grave, as Immortals possess the power to break rules to some extent.

The entire council hall was distinctly divided.

On the right were mostly church believers, including magicians who had converted to the church’s faith. The front row was mainly composed of bishops from the Britannia Region, along with some unfamiliar faces who were emissaries sent from the Roman Papacy, coming from the French region.

The left side consisted mostly of Druids with Celtic beliefs. Nowadays, Druids have changed significantly, dressing more like scholars, but they mostly have one feature in common: a full beard. Their group included wizards, priests, Polytheism believers, etc., all of whom were indigenous forces of Britannia, including wizard families with a history of two to three hundred years. Their birth was due to the shackles of the world being broken, making it easier for wizards to produce offspring.

As for the center of the hall, there was an emerging faction known as the ’Holy Grail faction’.

These people originated from Great Germania, the Germany region, towards the end of the sixth century. They were a moderate faction who initially advocated for both laymen and clergy to partake of bread and wine during Mass, hence the name derived from the ’Holy Grail’ used for the wine.

The other layer of meaning behind this name isn’t something ordinary people can easily understand. Their spiritual leader was Pope Saint Patrick I.

These people were quite complex.

Among them were church believers, missionaries, priests, and even magicians who converted to the faith of the Lord of Heaven, and their numbers were considerable.

London was considered one of the strongholds of the Holy Grail faction.

The situation on the island of Great Britain has become increasingly tumultuous in recent years. The advent of the tithe brought war to the brink of eruption. The Britain Kingdom and the French Empire had already fought a war more than a decade ago. The outbreak of war in the Normandy region resulted in heavy casualties for both sides, and the war even spiraled out of control, involving supernatural wizards, Druids, magicians, priests, and church priests in the fighting.

The resulting casualty count reached nearly 120,000, forcing both sides to compromise and enjoy a brief period of peace.

Saint Jacob was a member of the Holy Grail faction.

This time, after considerable efforts from multiple parties, the tense factions finally sat down to reluctantly discuss matters. If today’s talks couldn’t reach an agreement, it’s feared that a second Anglo-French war would soon break out again.

A murmur of whispers ensued below.

On the right side, the Polytheism Great Druid, Audrey, unmistakably shook her head and said, "It is impossible to collect the tithe."

"This is not France. Your emperor cannot command us."

It was around the end of the sixth century when the church began levying this tax on its followers, using the Bible’s mention of one-tenth of agricultural and pastoral products belonging to God. Initially, it was only in the Frankish region, but later gradually spread to other places, eventually encompassing the European regions surrounding Italy.

After the empire’s collapse and the rise of the French Kingdom, they established Monotheism as the state religion and subsequently enacted a law, making the payment of the tithe an obligation for every French Kingdom resident.

As it developed to the present day, the tithe has become highly complex.

The items taxed are categorized based on the nature of the products, including the large tithe (grain), small tithe (vegetables and fruits), and blood tithe (livestock).

In the original history, England was the last country to abolish the tithe, continuing to collect it until 1936. But as for the current Britain Kingdom, to put it bluntly, if the pope wants to collect the tithe, the Britons would like to ask how many divisions they have.

The outbreak of the Hundred Years’ War was also partly because of the tithe, not just due to legitimacy issues.

At this moment.

From below in the council hall, a young man couldn’t help but speak up: "Today we compromised and agreed to collect the tithe."

"Tomorrow they will dare to sell absolution certificates."

Just as he finished speaking, an elder beside him tugged at him, pulling the young man to the back of the crowd.

However, his words still stirred much discussion among others, and many people agreed with his view.

The seated Great Druid Audrey couldn’t help but glance at the young man, softly asking, "Who is that person? I’ve never seen him before."

A Polytheism attendant beside him whispered, "His name is Huss. He’s from the Germany region."

"He’s here for clerical studies."

Audrey’s expression showed a bit of regret; it would have been great if he were a Polytheism believer. With the mysterious forces waning further, Great Germania has already become church territory, and the Germany Kingdom is in a state of extreme religious division. Although Scandinavia still holds Nordic beliefs, the areas around Great Germania have been replaced by the church.

The promise that Emperor Duncan made when he conquered Scandinavia was to grant the Vikings autonomy and allow them to retain their Norse faith.

For a moment.

The entire council hall was in chaos, almost on the verge of drawing swords. If the faction leaders weren’t present, a war among the transcendents might have erupted right then and there.

However, some wizards quietly chanted spells, and at some point, the floor was crawling with venomous snakes.

"Lord!"

"Please rain down the fire of chastisement."

Amidst the crowd, a church hermit prayed softly, and in an instant, flames rose, burning a cross pattern onto the ground, incinerating hundreds of snakes cleanly.

"Enough!"

Above the council long table, Saint Jacob, the Archbishop of the Britannia Province, slammed the table and stood up. Although he was a moderate centrist, he had a fiery temper and had once participated in the Crusades. He glared at the radical factions secretly clashing below and said in a deep voice, "According to the tradition left by Saint Patrick I, we will use the Holy Grail ritual to decide the execution of tithing."

His gaze turned sinister as he said, "If you are still not satisfied!"

"Then prepare to face worldly war."

He was not Saint Patrick I, after all. Few in the church could maneuver among various forces as Saint Patrick did and still keep Emperor Duncan at bay.

Saint Jacob was famously fiery-tempered. Before becoming a saint, his most adept skill was cutting people down.

His stance was indeed centrist, but his method was to beat up the extremists on both sides, forcing them to sit down and talk. If he was driven to anger, he would support whoever opposed him.

Saint Jacob was one of the saints strongly promoted by Ireland.

With the lone saint on the scene flying into a rage, others couldn’t help but calm down a bit. To put it bluntly, none of them could outmatch the centrist mediator before them, because after Saint Patrick I became Pope, he distributed several sacred relics of the church to the Britannia Island’s province.

Saint Jacob held both the Scarab Beetle and a fragment of the True Cross.

Unless the master behind the Wizard Academy came forward, even in the Roman Curia, the Archbishop of Britannia could still stand tall, blustering with rage.

The gathered resumed their discussions.

Ultimately, everyone left in displeasure, with no results from the first religious council under the London Bell Tower.

But as a neutral faction, the moderate Holy Grail faction still worked diligently in the shadows, hoping to avoid a large-scale war and seeking instead to resolve issues through minor clashes.

As they would say internally, avoid the deaths of tens of thousands by resolving it with a ’Holy Grail War.’

This appeasement approach might not tackle the root of the problem, but historically, the Holy Grail faction indeed prevented numerous religious wars. Whether it was the Great Germania region’s faith alignment, Romania’s religious conflicts, or even Italy’s Renaissance, traces of decisions made through Holy Grail rituals were evident.

When no agreement could be reached through negotiations, it had to be settled with a fight!

But how intense should the fight be?

Should transcendents in the background have secret skirmishes, or should secular forces launch wars, causing tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths before stopping?

This was how the Holy Grail faction slowly grew stronger.

Moreover, this faction had many mages who converted to monotheistic faith. Its early prototype was a secret organization directly under Pope Saint Patrick I. Subsequent Holy Grail rituals were relatively small in scale; only once was there a truly large-scale Holy Grail ritual for the faith alignment of Great Germania.

Several church saints secretly participated in the battle against Beowulf, a legendary hero of the North.

After the battle, many church saints perished.

Beowulf soon perished as well.

In the eyes of the Holy Grail faction, the Holy Grail ritual essentially was a legendary magic.

Its full name was ’Summoning Ceremony - Heroic Spirit Summoning,’ an engraving in the long river of human history, a powerful magic intended to save the world. If a world-threatening catastrophe occurred, the most powerful heroic spirit would be summoned to eliminate the threat early.

Later, for humanity’s convenience, this legendary magic was downgraded to a summoning ceremony.

The largest scale was the first one.

Subsequent Romanian and Italian rituals were smaller; Italy’s was limited to the surrounding peninsula and was not large in scale. Ultimately, it was a man named Dante who emerged victorious, marking the start of the Renaissance.

If the Holy Grail ritual cannot mediate the conflicts in the supernatural world, then secular wars would ensue.

This time, the ’tithing’ is an additional pressure the church is placing on Britannia Island.

If enforced, the church would have the power to directly impose taxes on secular matters.

Several days quickly passed.

With mediation by the Holy Grail faction, the radical forces within both factions finally compromised, agreeing to use the Holy Grail ritual to decide tithing’s execution. However, many were still dissatisfied; they didn’t believe such a matter could be settled by a Holy Grail ritual and thought only a fierce war could utterly defeat their opponents.

At this moment.

As Britannia Island became a vortex of strife, in the backdrop of Great Germania, German peasants, artisans, small landowners, and others were brewing a large-scale religious upheaval.

More and more people were now calling for the abolition of the ’Absolution Certificate.’

.........