Chapter 221: Surrendered!

Chapter 221: Surrendered!

His slumber had been brief. Karen felt as though his head had barely graced the pillow before Alfred’s knocking roused him.

A phone call had come through. The squad was assembling at the Ankara Hotel to resume their security detail.

Sitting upon the edge of the bed, Karen turned his gaze to the wall clock. It was a quarter to nine.

Thus, accounting for his shower, he had slept for a meager two hours.

Compared to the sheer grandeur of yesterday, a mere two hours of sleep was sorely insufficient.

After completing his morning ablutions, Karen changed into a fresh set of clothes and boarded Alfred’s carriage, bound for the Ankara Hotel.

Along the way, Alfred handed him the breakfast Hili had prepared. Karen looked at the meat pies and milk within, shaking his head.

"Eat it yourself later. I have no appetite."

When a man was starved of sleep, his stomach was often equally barren.

"Very well, Young Master."

At exactly ten o’clock, Alfred delivered Karen to the entrance of the Ankara Hotel.

"Phew..."

Alfred gazed out at the magnificent, solemn grand hotel before them, a spark of ambition shining in his eyes.

Seeing his expression, Karen smiled. "If the opportunity arises in the future, we shall open one ourselves."

Alfred smiled in return. "Very well, Young Master."

Alighting from the carriage, Karen bore his sword case on his back and pushed a small suitcase toward the hotel entrance. Had he known he would return today, he would not have bothered packing his belongings away yesterday.

Upon presenting his credentials, Karen was granted passage.

The number of guards at the main gatehouse remained unchanged, but as he ventured further inward, he could clearly perceive that the security forces within had tripled since yesterday. Every countenance bore a solemn expression.

Though the Senate would not formally proclaim the divine decree of war to all the churches until midday, it was evident that news of the Order declaring war upon Samsara had already spread. Everyone was tense regarding this conflict, yet beneath the anxiety, an overwhelming excitement prevailed.

Karen recalled the Captain mentioning yesterday that the earlier their own forces assembled, the better the tide of battle fared. Yet, even the Order Weekly could not possibly publish the progress of the war this early; everything suffered from an inevitable lag.

Stepping into the hotel lobby, Karen renewed his identification at the front desk and made his way to the elevators, pressing the call button.

Moments later, the doors parted.

To Karen's slight surprise, Richard was already standing inside.

To his greater astonishment, upon seeing him, Richard lunged forward with open arms, throwing his limbs around Karen in a fierce embrace. He rubbed Karen's back with desperate strength, his eyes brimming with hot tears.

Fortunately, few people frequented this particular elevator bank, otherwise the display would have been thoroughly embarrassing.

"Alright, alright," Karen comforted him.

"Thank you, Karen. Thank you, truly thank you."

"Alright, alright. Help me with my things."

"Right, of course!"

Richard reached for Karen's sword case, but Karen turned his body to shield it. Richard immediately laughed, shifting to hoist Karen’s suitcase instead, and the two stepped into the elevator.

The doors slid shut, and the carriage began its ascent.

"Mother said that if you hadn't appeared in time last night, she and Father wouldn't be here anymore. Thank you, Karen."

"It was merely my duty."

"Grandfather said that once the war is over, he wishes to invite you to our home as a guest. My grandmother will cook a feast herself to entertain you. You are the benefactor of our family."

"There is no need for such formality."

"Please, you must not refuse. Truly."

"Very well."

Karen gave his neck a gentle twist, resolving to treat it as a visit to see his own maternal grandmother.

He possessed little sentiment for the original "Karen"; after all, by the time he arrived, that Karen was already dead, which was the sole reason Dis had employed a forbidden, non-standard ritual of divine descent.

Yet, toward the woman who had once protected him, his heart maintained a quiet gratitude. He would go and see her mother.

"The war progresses smoothly. Three sacred grounds of the Samsara Religion have already been breached, and another two have chosen to surrender. That is what Grandfather told me when I received the mission notification to leave home. I suspect the Knights are assembling at this very moment, preparing to march upon Samsara Valley."

Karen shook his head. The more smoothly the war proceeded, the more the Church of Order would know when to quit while they were ahead. From the current state of affairs, the high echelons of the Church had no intention of utterly obliterating Samsara. Otherwise, their own factions would have been fully mobilized long ago, and the personnel within the Samsara Religious Affairs Building yesterday would not have accepted their surrender.

The elevator doors opened. Karen waved a hand dismissively at Richard, then stepped into his own room. Setting down his luggage and sword case, he let out a yawn. He noticed fresh cigarette butts in the coffee table ashtray, which meant Peggy and Fannie had already arrived, though they were not presently in the room.

Leaning back against the bed, Karen closed his eyes to steal a brief nap until the telephone rang.

Rising from the bed, he lifted the receiver. Fannie’s voice drifted from the other end. "Come down to the first floor. We are preparing to receive the targets."

"Understood."

Karen rubbed his neck, stepped out of his room, took the elevator down, and arrived on the first floor.

Fannie and Peggy stood by the entrance. Seeing Karen approach, they greeted him. Fannie in particular appeared quite spirited today, despite having been beaten by Karen until she spat blood yesterday.

"Did you not sleep well?" Fannie inquired.

"Mmh," Karen nodded.

"Then you ought to catch up on your sleep this afternoon."

"Mmh, alright." Karen rubbed his eyes, masking another yawn with the back of his hand.

Just then, at the hotel gates, a succession of large buses rolled in. Groups of Pamires followers, who had originally been swept away as prisoners of war by the garrison forces, were being released.

A solitary sedan drove up directly before the trio. Shaking off his lethargy, Karen stepped forward to open the door. The first to alight was not Delius, but Bishop Berne, who had been riding in the passenger seat.

Delius followed shortly after. Looking at his face, Karen saw a mirror of his own current state; everyone was thoroughly exhausted.

"You have worked hard, sir," Karen greeted.

Delius smiled and shook his head.

Karen had initially assumed that since the captives were being released today, they would at least be granted a day of rest, allowing him to use the opportunity to reclaim his lost sleep. Yet, upon entering the elevator, he discovered their destination was the conference hall floor.

Well, such was the nature of work. It mattered little where one slept, so long as one slept.

Entering the conference hall, the negotiation tables that had previously faced each other had been rearranged into an L-shape, presenting a united front to the outside world.

Once Karen took his seat, Peggy patted him, gesturing that he could lean against her shoulder to sleep. Karen shook his head and murmured, "Let us wait a moment longer."

This was not a rejection, but rather a consequence of the sparse attendance. Only the three of them sat below, while Bishop Berne and Delius—father and son—sat above.

Soon, more and more people began filing into the hall, all of whom had participated in the previous meetings.

The seats at and below the negotiation table gradually filled, but Karen noticed that two rows of garrison soldiers still stood guard by the doors.

Just as Karen felt the timing was right to borrow Peggy’s shoulder for another brief doze, he saw Leon and Laure catching his eye from afar, gesturing for him to come out.

Karen desperately wished to ignore them both, but he felt it unwise to offend these two young gentlemen merely for the sake of a nap. Left with no choice, he rose reluctantly and exited the conference hall. At the washbasin near the restroom entrance, he splashed water over his face before stepping into the storage room.

Leon and Laure sat within, eating bread and drinking milk. Karen sat down beside them, tore open a carton of milk with his teeth, and began to drink.

"What a dreadful business this is," Laure grumbled.

"But what has happened, has happened." Leon shook his head.

"Does your grandfather know?" Lore asked.

"He is putting on a calm front, but I don't think he knows."

"My grandfather is the same. He acted like everything was under control last night in front of me and my father, but the old man wasn't very convincing."

"So, this was an operation orchestrated and arranged by the Senate."

"Yeah, probably to maintain secrecy."

Karen simply sipped his milk, listening to the two young lords chat.

"But I heard the war is progressing very smoothly," Lore cleared his throat. "Those fellows from the Church of Samsara can't even put up a fight."

"Yes, they've lived in peace for too long. They've probably forgotten the horror of war. At this rate, I think if we concentrate our forces and redeploy them, we can officially launch an attack on Samsara Valley."

"Indeed, it feels close. It's just a pity that we didn't get a chance to go to the front lines."

Leon glanced at Karen and said, "Even if we were to go to the battlefield, he should be ahead of us."

The active knights, the local garrisons, and after that, the Whip of Order. Only after the Whip of Order come the personnel from the various church departments.

Lore looked at Karen and asked, "Are you disappointed that you couldn't go to the battlefield?"

Karen smiled and said, "Not really, because this war will be over soon."

"Over soon?" Lore frowned slightly. "What makes you say that?"

"It's just my guess. I feel the objective of this war has already been achieved. If nothing unexpected happens, we will soon receive a request for peace talks from the Church of Samsara."

"The Samsara Valley is giving up the fight?" Lore said quite displeased, "I am sick to death of these negotiations, sigh."

Leon, however, asked Karen, "What is your basis for that?"

"The basis is that we can still sit here eating bread and drinking milk. If this war were to continue expanding with the goal of breaching Samsara Valley, I don't know where you two would be, but I should already be with my captain and teammates preparing to march out as reserves."

"That does make sense." Leon nodded and looked at Lore. "And have you noticed? After both sides entered, they didn't resume the negotiations immediately. Instead, they seem to be sitting there waiting. I believe the communications room will receive the latest battle reports from the front very soon."

Lore curled his lip and said, "I'm going to apply to my grandfather to transfer into the knights."

Leon teased, "Is it the First Knights?"

"Get lost!"

Seeing that they were nearly finished eating, the three of them stood up and walked out of the storage room.

Karen knew that the two of them had only asked him along to eat out of habit, a way to relive their camaraderie as cellmates.

Returning to his seat, Karen's sleepiness was actually less intense than before, though his head still felt a bit heavy. Scanning his surroundings, Karen noticed he wasn't the only one feeling dazed, but they weren't dazed from exhaustion.

It was because just yesterday, they were sitting here, one side flaunting its might while the other slumped in dejection; yet today, when gathered together, they were inexplicably united against an external foe.

The upper echelons had reached a tacit understanding long ago, and in the end, the folks below were just dragged along to experience the dramatic twists and turns.

This feeling of being "played with," although making people uncomfortable, was something no one dared to show dissatisfaction about.

Karen noticed that quite a few attendants had walked in carrying tea. This time, the representatives of the negotiating teams from both sides sitting below also received the treatment of drinking tea and eating pastries;

This was not because the leaders sitting above had experienced a "sudden awakening of conscience," but because the meeting's security level had been downgraded.

During the process of pouring tea, someone did not receive a cup. The attendant whispered something in his ear, and that person could only stand up with a terrified expression and walk to the door of the conference room. The soldiers clad in black armor standing at the door handcuffed them. They were almost all personnel from the Church of Order; every single person in the Pamires Church delegation received tea.

This was a purge of traitors.

Soon, more than a dozen priests from the Church of Order failed to receive tea and were subsequently "invited" out. Throughout this process, no one argued and no one resisted, because they knew all too well how terrifying the price of disobedience would be.

When the attendants reached Karen's row, they served tea to Karen, Peige, and Fanni.

Disregarding the heat, Peige took a large gulp, and then excitedly rubbed her hands against Karen's leg repeatedly. If Karen hadn't beaten her yesterday, she would probably be walking out right now too.

Karen smiled and said, "In the future, do less of this kind of side income."

"No more, no more. It's truly not worth taking this kind of risk for a bit of hush money. I really didn't expect the Church to suddenly clamp down on this."

Fanni spoke up, "From now on, it will only get stricter."

"Yes," Karen echoed. "The good old days of laxity are gone, never to return."

Karen checked the time; it was already eleven fifty.

"BZZZ... BZZZ..."

The speakers hanging on the walls of the conference hall began to emit a string of static, followed by the sound of footsteps, signifying that the official divine decree of war was about to be broadcast. This feeling was akin to a representative of the supreme authority preparing to deliver a nationwide radio address.

Some matters could be treated casually, but there were others that absolutely had to go through the proper procedures. Otherwise, no matter how much information leaked, even if everyone knew about it, as long as the procedure was incorrect, it remained unlawful.

Take, for example, the divine decree declaring war on the Pamires Church announced here yesterday. Karen believed that when Leon's grandfather recited that divine decree, he certainly believed it to be real. In fact, it should have been real, truly originating from the Senate, and everyone present believed it to be real as well. This news of the declaration of war leaked out immediately following the conclusion of the meeting.

But its true taking of effect should be when the Senate officially broadcasts it at noon today. Of course, what was to be broadcast today would definitely not be a divine decree declaring war on the Pamires Church.

It was amusing to think about. The person who formulated this battle plan had even utilized the traitors within their own ranks, which sufficiently showed how clearly the upper echelons perceived the degree to which they had been penetrated.

If the people attending yesterday's meeting had all been fiercely loyal to Order, this smokescreen wouldn't have worked at all.

Karen took a sip of tea and waited patiently.

Everyone present, regardless of whether they were on or off the stage, was also waiting.

Sitting on the stage, the Chief Bishop of the York City Archdiocese, Volvren, spoke:

"Silence, everyone. Next, His Eminence the High Priest of our Church of Order will read our Church's divine decree to all churches throughout the entire world."

His Eminence the High Priest?

Rasma?

Had he emerged from the church on Mink Street?

Karen turned his head to look at Fanni and asked, "Is the High Priest of our Church Lord Rasma?"

"Didn't you know that Lord Rasma stepped down months ago? The current High Priest is Lord Norton. The reason for Lord Rasma's resignation was also stated in the *Order Weekly* at the time; it was because Lord Rasma sensed the calling of the God of Order and is making final preparations to enter the Temple of Order to become a Temple Elder."

"Oh, so that's how it is."

Rasma was really pushing himself to condense the fragments of divinity, even stepping down from the position of High Priest.

Just then, two communication priests hurriedly ran into the conference hall holding letters. Everyone present immediately craned their necks. A message sent at this time was undoubtedly about the battle situation at the front.

Bishop Volvren opened the letter. After reading it, while passing the letter to the person beside him, he smiled slightly at the crowd below who had all turned into giraffes, and pressed his hands down.

Karen heard a collective sigh of relief. Clearly, everyone had received positive feedback from the Lord Bishop. The battle situation was excellent, and nothing unexpected had occurred.

At this moment, the minds of the people from the Pamires Church and the Church of Order were in perfect harmony.

They already knew about their own upper echelons reaching a cooperation agreement with the Church of Order, so they could only pray for Order's smooth war. For the Pamires Church, the Church of Order was a majestic lion, but wasn't the Church of Samsara also a ferocious wild wolf?

In any case, the Pamires Church would always be that little white rabbit—pitiful and helpless.

"Whew..."

A succession of hurried footsteps came through the speakers, followed by the sound of pages turning.

Everyone was holding their breath in anticipation. Karen believed that at this moment, the entire church circle was waiting for the noon announcement of the Church of Order's divine decree.

Although the war had already begun ahead of time, the church world, which had enjoyed peace for so long, still felt a sense of unreality regarding a war breaking out between two orthodox churches. This included Lore and Leon from before; Karen could feel that they were also somewhat dazed.

Finally,

The hour of twelve arrived.

Bishop Wolfrun produced a black gemstone the size of a pebble and tossed it forward; the jewel suspended itself in midair, instantly projecting the imposing figure of a man clad in black sacrificial robes.

Ah, so it was not merely a broadcast; it seemed that in places with better amenities, a projection was also provided.

Immediately following this, an identical, overlapping voice began to emanate from both the speakers and the projection:

"I am Norton, High Priest of the Church of Order."

Within the conference hall, every bishop upon the stage rose to their feet, and below them, the personnel of both the Church of Order and the Pamires religion stood up as well.

Those of the Church of Order crossed their hands over their chests, while the members of the Pamires religion traced a gesture against their bosoms.

In unison, the crowd chanted:

"We pay our respects to the High Priest!"

Though the High Priest could neither hear nor see them there, the requisite respect had to be maintained in public spaces.

Karen felt that the High Priest, after finishing his self-introduction, paused for a full minute, likely to grant his believers the time to pay their respects.

It turned out that Rasma used to command such a grand presence; back when Karen was by his grandfather's side, he really could not tell.

At last, High Priest Norton uttered his second sentence:

"We have just received news from the front lines. Before the divine decree is issued, I shall first provide you all with a temporary briefing:

The Church of Samsara has submitted a document of defeat to our vanguard knight-errants, requesting negotiations for surrender."

Samsara had surrendered?

Only a single day had passed, and Samsara had already surrendered.

Within the conference hall, everyone wore a look of astonishment, including the various bishops upon the stage.

Below them, the members of both delegations broke into cheers simultaneously; regardless of the procedures or the righteousness of the war, people were always delighted by a victory.

Paige and Fanny were also cheering by Karen's side, celebrating the victory, whereas Karen, having long anticipated this, appeared much more composed.

Nevertheless, this piece of news had likely spread across the entire ecclesiastical world by now; the Church of Order, in just one day, had beaten the Church of Samsara into choosing surrender.

"Mmh..."

High Priest Norton made a sound.

The conference hall fell silent in an instant, everyone maintaining a posture of respectful listening.

In the projection, High Priest Norton's gaze was majestic:

"I now announce the divine decree of Order originally scheduled to be issued at noon today:

Because the existence of the Church of Samsara has disrupted the order that should inherently exist between life and death, we, the Church of Order, declare war upon Samsara!"

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