Dream Life Vol II Chapter 76.2: “Distilled Rhapsody (Scotch Capriccio): Part 2”

“Light God Church is indeed foolish. But fools don’t always get punished. As for me, I want to take all possible precautions.” (Zack)

　Wagman nodded at my words.

　I continued.

“In my name, Zacharias Lockhart, please inform the nations involved with the Light God Church that we may not sell any of the long-aged liquors from the ‘Zack Collection’ to any country that is a supporter of the Light God Church.” (Zack)

　Wagman didn’t understand what I meant by that and asked me, tilting his head slightly, “How would that work?”

　I only chuckled and did not give a clear reason, but simply said, “You’ll just have to ask the dwarves.”

　The next day, the Magician’s Guild immediately complied with my request.

　Furthermore, each country that received a message from the Magician’s Guild issued the same statement as the next Magician’s Guild one after another.

　According to the information Sai had gathered, at first, the meaning of the words “Zack Collection” was not understood, and each country seemed to be at a loss. When Wagman asked a dwarf blacksmith to confirm the meaning, the dwarven blacksmith blurted out,

“Do as the Magicians’ Guild say immediately! If you refuse, we, dwarves, will return to Ars!” (Dwarf)

　He checked with other dwarven blacksmiths, and they all said the same thing, and the governments were very upset. If the dwarven blacksmiths were to leave, it would mean that their country would fall into the same situation as Lux Holy Kingdom, namely that the supply of weapons, the key to national defense, would be disrupted.

　I decided to act in my own name this time.

　The cause of this disturbance is directly attributable to Light God Church. However, I believed that I was the remote or indirect cause.

　There is no doubt that my method of protecting Scott, who was responsible for the distillation, namely, to move the dwarves, was the beginning of the current disturbance.

　That is why I put my name out there as proof that a line has been crossed.

　My name is already known to some extent. I am the top student at the Tyria Magic Academy, and even though I am a student, everyone with a sharp eye knows my name because I am an assistant to Professor Ruspede, a renowned researcher. This story would only strengthen the interest of the powers that be in me.

　For my own safety and the safety of my friends, I did not want to put my name out there. But more than that, I felt that I needed to make up for the trouble I had caused my family and the Blacksmith’s Guild.

　The Kingdom of Caum, as well as the Kingdoms of Lacus and Saltus, and other major countries issued statements condemning the Light God Church. Therefore, the Holy Kingdom of Lux and the headquarters of the Light God Church summoned the bishop in question. Furthermore, various measures were taken to settle the situation.

　First, they declared that the bishop who had been directly responsible for the incident would be given a strict trial, and the trial was actually held in public. The bishop, in his own belief, claimed that the Lockhart family was a divine enemy who had connections with the demon folks. However, he had no evidence of any kind, and finally, he began to claim that he had received an oracle from Lucidus, the god of light.

　Even the archbishops who had defended him at the headquarters of the Church were dismayed by this, and the voices defending him gradually faded away. He was stripped of all positions as a bishop and excommunicated by the Church for such crimes as disobeying the order of the Archbishop of Ars, disturbing the order of the Church, recognizing a divine enemy based on his own subjective opinion without any evidence, and using the name of the Church without permission.

　The pope, who was related to him, announced his own retirement, claiming that his family members had dishonored the name of God. It is said that Cardinal Bernardino Rolfo, an anti-pope figure, was behind this.

　It seems that Cardinal Rolfo threatened the pope and took his place. There is too little information in this area for precise information but judging from the totality of the information gathered by Sai and through Chairman Wagman, that is the most likely inference.

　As for the Light God Church, it did not end there.

　The Kingdom of Caum expressed its dissatisfaction with Light God Church’s response this time. The Kingdom of Caum formally protested against Light God Church for the fact that the riots that even broke out in the country were triggered by the ridiculous actions of a single bishop and that the bishop was not given strict disciplinary measures.

　At the Caum headquarters of Light God Church, the archbishop in charge explained that “the resignation of His Eminence the Pope and the excommunication of a bishop is the harshest punishments ever seen in our Church,” but the Kingdom brushed off this claim.

“Even though the bishop has become a religious exile, I hear that he has enough wealth to live a life of leisure. In our country, innocent people have died in riots. In contrast, the Church has no intention of showing any sincerity. As proof of this, they have not given even one Eere (ten yen) as restitution. Does the phrase, ‘to shine a light on the world’ mean to light the inside of the church’s treasury with gold and silver?”

　The Kingdom of Caum ordered the archbishop to make satisfactory action.

　The archbishop communicated this to the main headquarter of the Light God Church, but the headquarter was slow to act. This coincided with the time of the selection of the Pope, and there was no one available to make decisions, but the upper echelons of the Church had already inflicted a punishment that could not have been worse, and they thought lightly that additional punishment would be unnecessary.

　In the end, after six months, the additional punishment desired by the Kingdom of Caum was not carried out. After further independent investigation, I obtained information that the bishop was touring around Lux country with a beautiful woman in his presence.

　In fact, he was not traveling, but was simply moving from place to place because there was no place, including his parents’ home, that would accept him. Furthermore, the story about the beautiful woman was about a female slave he had acquired on the slave market to take care of his wife, who was unable to provide for herself.

　However, when word spread to the Royal Capital of Ars that the bishop was living a life of debauchery, the voices of anti-Light God Church rose up at once.

　The government of the Kingdom of Caum could not ignore these voices, and the Blacksmiths’ Guild also voiced their protest, so the government resorted to strong measures.

　The government banned the activities of the Light God Church in Caum and ordered the deportation of those involved. Until this decision was made, the people involved in the Light God Church did not feel that much of a sense of urgency.

　This is because the Light Gods Church manages the “Church of Light,” and if those involved with the Light Gods Church were expelled, the church would not be able to maintain its functions.

　In response, the Caum Kingdom seems to have prepared meticulously.

　Originally, there were many clergymen who had doubts about the state of the Church. In particular, many of the local clergymen were poor but sincere, faithful to the original teachings, and the Kingdom government had secretly approached them about managing the Church of Light.

　The archbishop of Ars was unaware of this until just before the deadline for eviction, apparently believing that Caum’s side would fold in the end.

　Therefore, when the knights of the Kingdom of Caum first came to seize the Church’s buildings, he was relaxed about the situation.

“If you drive us out, the Church of Light won’t work, but what do you think your country will do?” (Archbishop)

　In response to the archbishop’s question, one of the knights silently signaled to his squire. Then, behind the knights, the local bishops appeared.

　The archbishop was startled by the sight of them and began to denounce them, revealing his emotions.

“You have betrayed the Church! The divine punishment of Lucidus, God of Light, is upon you!” (Archbishop)

　The elderly bishop replied quietly.

“The Church has made a mistake. If this continues, faith in our God itself will be lost. You know that.” (Old Bishop)

“The mission of our Order is to spread God’s will to the world. There may be some excesses before that mission. But that is a small matter before the greater good. You know that much. ” (Archbishop)

　The knights of Caum are astonished by his brazen words, but the elderly bishop quietly refutes them.

“This is no small matter. You have falsified the word of God. Don’t you understand the gravity of it?” (Old Bishop)