Silent Crown

Westminster Church.

Mephistopheles sat on his chair, holding the tea cup of his afternoon tea, eyes

closed as if lost in thought.

In the dark light of the lamp, Bishop Lehman sat on the other side of the desk,

silent. Norman became restless in the heavy atmosphere.

After a long while, Mephistopheles heaved a sigh. He put down the cup,

obviously worried about something. “What you ask me to do is really difficult.”

Lehman seemed to be expecting this. He nodded his head. “We understand

the position of the Anglo Division. We only need you to provide any help you

can.”

“This is not a matter of position.” Mephistopheles sighed again, his eyes full of

helplessness. “To be honest, you are late. If you had come a few days earlier,

I could introduce to you someone who might be of help. But now, I cannot

help you at all. You know, the hand of god came back to Anglo. He must have

heard something.”

Lehman narrowed his eyes into a slit and looked at Mephistopheles. “Nothing

you can do at all?”

“Nothing I can do at all.” Mephistopheles was firm.

His face was grim and heavy. Yet behind the desk where Lehman could not

see, he was leisurely shaking his legs. He didn’t care about the business of

the two in his office.

To be frank, if it were not that the request was from the Church,

Mephistopheles would not let them get into his office at all.

What they had come for was too troublesome. If he was not careful,

Westminster Church would fell into a dilemma between Anglo and the Holy

City.

Mephistopheles had sacrificed his whole life and work for this church. He had

been a moral saint for his whole life and cherish his hard-earned reputation

very much. He now was half-retired and he didn’t want to make any mistake in

his late years. That would be too miserable.

Especially after Ye Qingxuan had established himself in Anglo and the whole

world. Anyone who had some brain would not fight against a man of Ye

Qingxuan’s status and fame.

The Church had much to spare and could just walk away if their conspiracy

failed. But Mephistopheles couldn’t afford to lose.

Mephistopheles had lived his whole life between Anglo and the Church. He

could earn the trust and support of the royal family of Anglo only because he

was smart and cunning. He had been working for this all his life and had

smuggled firearms with Maxwell to raise fund. In his heart, the Westminster

Church was more his own property than a division of the Church.

Therefore, he didn’t want to interfere with their business at all. They would

only bring him bad luck. He didn’t care at all.

That was the real attitude of Mephistopheles.

Yet, he could not say that. He needed to find himself sufficient excuses for him

to refuse the order from the Church and keep the neutral position of the

Westminster Church. But he could not offend them as the Holy City would

doubt his competence. This was the problem.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but heaved a sigh again and patted himself

on his thigh. “This is really difficult!”

“Even you could do nothing to help?” Lehman stared at him.

Lehman was an ascetic. He worked in the sacrament Department all his life

and was praised for his sincerity. He was quite capable with his work and was

firmly with the Holy City.

Mephistopheles knew this guy. In Lehman’s mind, the divisions should carry

out whatever the Holy City commands at whatever cost and even be glad to

die for the Holy City. Mephistopheles’ reluctance had already made him

unhappy.

But what could he do?

Mephistopheles spread his hands, showing that he was also desperate. His

expression was sad and helpless, as if he was full of sorrow and pain.

“You may have noticed now.” He said, “honestly speaking, I don’t have any

power now in Westminster Church. Didn’t you notice that when you come?”

Lehman was surprised. He and Norman looked at each other. They didn’t

expect Mephistopheles to say that.

“You noticed when you come here, right?” Mephistopheles went to the window

and drew the curtain. He peered out the window through the gap of the curtain

edge as if he could see something. “the knights guarding the church, and

those people in the church who are in no way missionaries.

Lehman frowned. “They are all sent by the Religious Court of Inquisitors?”

“Exactly.” Mephistopheles nodded grimly. “I have to get their permission even

to go out, not to mention speaking to them. And all my meals and guests are

under their surveillance.”

“What? This is house-arrest!” Norman exclaimed.

Mephistopheles was a little shocked by his reactions, but he suffocated his

laughter and nodded. “Exactly. This is house-arrest!” He looked around

carefully and locked the door. Then he turned to the two and, with a sad face,

he said, “Ye Qingxuan’s ambition was wild! He took over the church by force

when he arrived in Avalon. And he sent his men here to guard the church. We

are all under house-arrest. A man named Shi Dong would follow me

everywhere, even to the toilet.”

If Ye Qingxuan had been there, he must have spat on his face.

Take over the church by force? It was you that asked me to take the ring of

authority! It was you that begged the men from the Religious Court of

Inquisitors to guard the church for you!

As the deputy director of the first-generation Witch’s Hammer, Shi Dong

follows you to the toilet? How shameless you are! Why don’t you tell them the

secret deals you’ve made with Shi Dong? Why don’t you tell them the

Westminster Church and the Religious Court of Inquisitors have been as

close as brothers? And how shameless of you to accuse me of all this shit!

It had to be admitted that the reputation as a moral saint really worked.

Especially when you accuse someone of bullying you. Considering Ye

Qingxuan’s reputation of blood-thirstiness, such accusations were quickly

believed by everyone.

Besides Mephistopheles and Shi Dong, no one knew about their deals. And

only those who were trusted by him knew the face that the Westminster

Church and the Religious Court of Inquisitors were close.

Therefore, when Mephistopheles said that, Lehman and Norman didn’t doubt

him at all but grew grim-looking.

Bishop Lehman thought for a long while and heaved a sigh. “Ye Qingxuan

may have bigger ambitions than we thought. The Church help him, yet he

may bring other disasters later.”

“Can we strip him of his title of Hand of God?” Norman asked in a low voice.

“Remove him from the position of Bishop and dissolve the Religious Court of

Inquisitors.”

“That’s not even possible.” Lehman smiled bitterly. “The Religious Court of

Inquisitors is too big an organization to dissolve in a short time. The Church

cannot change its orders frequently. About the title of God of Man, I’m afraid,

there was nothing we could do, either. With the staff of fate and the support

from the first-generation Religious Court of Inquisitors, he deserves the title.

Things will only get worse if we act without a detailed plan.

Norman was surprised. He said, without much confidence, “we need a

detailed plan?”

“We cannot postpone it either. He didn’t give us any time to make

preparations.” Lehman said. “Considering that he had come back to Avalon

earlier, I’m afraid he was crystal clear about what we have come for. It’s

useless to prepare anything. Let’s just meet him.” He couldn’t help but heaved

a sigh.

Meetings and negotiations were useless. According their original plan, they

would bypass Ye Qingxuan and seek support from Anglo. They would begin

the negotiation after they’ve gotten the support of the majority. In that way,

they would settle the whole matter once and for all.

However, judged from what they saw, Anglo was totally under Ye Qingxuan’s

control and could not be separated. The aristocrats used to take a majority of

seats in the lower house, yet many of them were dead after the war. No body

knew what really happened, but those who were still alive were all supporters

of this Hand of God.

The secret emissary was really a bad move. The emissary achieved nothing,

but instead alerted Ye Qingxuan. Ye Qingxuan came back early and their plan

was totally useless.

The new queen Mary trusted Ye Qingxuan very much. She didn’t doubt him at

all, and didn’t want to weaken his power.

What sort of a queen she is that she willingly shares her power with another

man? Thinking of this, Lehman shook his head. It seems the rumor is true:

The Hand of God had planned for all this and had make all the preparations

needed. He is really a horrible enemy!

He not only had the whole lower city district of Anglo under control through

Maxwell, but all got the trust of the new queen even before she was crowned!

Maybe he even had gotten her love, too!

Women in love were hardly sensible. She would say yes to whatever her lover

says, even to give the whole Anglo to him!

He controlled the Westminster Church through the Religious Court of

Inquisitors, thus to earn the support of the people.

He established his glorious reputation as the savior of the country by

defeating the catastrophe. Then, he killed his uncle and seized the position of

the Round table knight leader to have the army under his control.

In just a matter of months, he had had the whole country under his control. He

had gotten the support of the queen, the church, the politicians and the army,

and he had the Fifth Department to feed him with intelligence.

Just one year, he, a vagrant in the street, became the actual ruler of Anglo.

Maxwell, Lancelot and the old King, they might all be killed by him.

How cunning he is! How ruthless he is! How frightening he is!

Thinking of this, Lehman felt lucky that Ye Qingxuan didn’t stay in the Holy

City. Otherwise, no one knew what he would do to obtain power for himself.

“Considering the current situation, it would only make them laugh at us if we

continue with our plan.” Lehman heaved a sigh and then he became

determined. “Bishop Mephistopheles, please lead me to see the Hand of God.

You can do this, of course?”

“Sure.” Mephistopheles nodded his head and escorted them out of the door.

Then he came back to his office and watched them going. He couldn’t help

laughing at them.

Though knowing not what they would do, Mephistopheles was sure that they

would be very unlucky if they do things as in the Holy City.