Chapter 163: Entering Winter

It was already the winter season, and the entire York Territory had turned into a vast white land.

The branches of the oak trees looked as though they had blossomed with white flowers, reflecting a dazzling light under the glow of the Morning Star.

Although the Church area had been meticulously built like a garden, it was not forbidden for commoners to enter. However, since only important figures frequented the area, very few commoners dared to walk through it.

For this reason, Cicero had especially constructed a small church for distributing the Sacrament outside the designated zone.

And after this small church was built, the commoners gradually gathered there and formed a marketplace called Kaslote.

They gathered here to trade and sell surplus grain, beast hides, handicrafts, or specialties brought back by merchant caravans from other territories.

Most of them simply spread out their goods on the ground, setting up street stalls. The few actual shops were all backed by powerful individuals.

For example, the clothing store of the Adams Family, the tavern of the Morgan Family, the pottery products of the Newman Family, the blacksmith shop opened by the most skilled blacksmith under Piero, and the oddly-named general store opened by the Church’s Monastery, among others.

Of course, aside from the Monastery’s general store, all the other shops backed by nobles naturally donated a sum of funds to the Church in order to set up shop in this marketplace.

However, business in the marketplace had not been very good lately.

With the clattering of hooves, Knight Wolf rode his horse past the road in front of the marketplace, heading toward the Church.

And within the marketplace, some young men who were buying weapons from the blacksmith shop seemed to sense something, their eyes brimming with excitement.

Even now, the scene of the Church’s army returning from the expedition against the Werewolves was still being sung in the York Territory.

Although the story had now been constantly modified by certain people to the point where even the original participants wondered if it was a tale from somewhere else.

But who cared about the original participants? These hot-blooded young men only wanted to insert themselves as the protagonists of that tale.

…

The Church location was not far from the marketplace, and Knight Wolf quickly came to a stop.

He handed the reins to a squire, who led the horse to the stables.

Cicero had already dismantled that small stable.

He had now constructed the Glory Fortress, which would teach swordsmanship, horsemanship, archery, and all other combat skills.

For that reason, the Glory Fortress had a dedicated stable to centrally care for these horses.

Since there was no need to spend extra money, Melia naturally pretended not to see Cicero dismantling the stable in the middle of the night.

And the squires brought in were not only responsible for leading horses and guiding the way but were also assigned by Cicero to clean the Church grounds and tend to the plants and trees.

Maintaining beauty and grandeur naturally came with a cost.

Cicero was very satisfied with this, but Melia, who had to deal with the added work and expense, had grown increasingly irritable.

The squire led the horse away, and Wolf headed toward the Great Church. As he walked, he lifted his eyes to glance at the clock tower behind the Great Church.

The clock tower was the center of the Church grounds and also the tallest building. It was entirely built from stone. After nearly half a year, the main structure had basically been completed, with only the symbolic clock yet to be finalized.

Before allowing Cicero to construct the clock tower, the Bishop had requested that the Monastery set the calendar and timekeeping system, and that a large clock be crafted and installed on the clock tower.

The calendar and time system were easy to resolve, as the scholars had previously researched them, and thus quickly settled on the four seasons, twelve months, and twenty-four hours. But the clock’s creation was still incomplete even now.

The theory for making the clock had been completed, but the manufacturing process was stalled due to technical difficulties.

However, Wolf had heard that a breakthrough had been made in the process. Perhaps in a while, the space at the top of the clock tower would be fitted with a clock.

Only, if one wished to find the Bishop by then, they would have to go to the clock tower.

Thinking this, Wolf entered the Great Church.

It was cold and solemn—just stepping inside made one instinctively lighten their footsteps and lower their voice.

As always, only Corleon sat alone in the front row.

“Bishop, the southern Parker Territory has already been completely divided up by them. They have conscripted the strong men and the elderly of Parker Territory as slaves, forcing them to build a great wall, severing the connection between York Territory and the south,” Wolf said.

He brought unwelcome news.

Previously, Corleon had shot and killed the coalition of nobles with a single arrow, making them aware of York Territory’s terrifying power. Under this external pressure, the nobles of that region instinctively united to resist York Territory’s influence.

They no longer dared to attack—at least, not until they had the confidence to withstand that single arrow. They dared not step foot on York Territory’s land.

So they pulled the border back by several kilometers and built a great wall.

In the current northern chaos, where trade was impossible, this wall completely choked off York Territory’s access to external resources.

“Moreover, Rat Path has completely left York Territory. Our channels for gathering intelligence from the south have vanished entirely,” he continued.

Before Rat Path left, he had paid a high price to probe the reason behind their departure.

Fear, terror, and the temptation of the nobles.

Fear of the Church’s Faith—it was contrary to the nobles’ own. Moreover, the Theocracy, now like a mad dog biting anyone in sight, made Rat Path have no choice but to distance themselves from the Church’s Faith.

Fear of the Church’s rapid erosion of Holy Relics—only the unknown Mystery could achieve such a feat.

At the same time, the nobles had paid a hefty price to ensure that Rat Path no longer traded with York Territory—they had a reputation to uphold.

Now, the Kaslote Marketplace had entirely replaced Rat Path’s function in selling certain gray-market goods.

“Truly bad news,” Corleon sighed.

These developments were mostly negative repercussions of his arrow.

Corleon had attempted to trace Rat Path’s sources of information, but was eventually blocked by a certain power. However, he could guess that some Mystery was involved, allowing Rat Path’s intel to circulate so swiftly.

The moment he had obtained the Hunting Fang, he had drawn the bow and fully liberated the Holy Relic. Such an odd event had terrified those in Rat Path.

They relied on Mystery to survive, and so they feared Corleon would erode their own Mystery.

When Corleon had used the Slumbering Horn, it had wiped out all the Dark Creatures. But since Rat Path had no dealings with Dark Creatures, the impact was minimal.

But under that single arrow from the Hunting Fang, there had been survivors—one of them being Viscount Youn, who knew the Hunting Fang inside out.

So when Viscount Youn confirmed that York Territory could easily control a Holy Relic that had been passed down in his family for over a century, the members of Rat Path immediately chose to abandon York Territory.

Rat Path was afraid. With their access to information, they were able to uncover even more secrets.

Rat Path had no strength to attack York Territory, but their departure would leave York Territory blind.

“Yes, they are isolating us and blocking our resources,” Wolf said.

If it were only food, York Territory could remain self-sufficient. But what about other resources?

Minerals, Icing Sugar, coarse salt—although York Territory did produce these, the amounts were too little, requiring trade with the outside world to make up the difference.

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