Alien Knights

Todd, who walked towards the audience room of the palace, looked at Emerson and Moore who were sitting in the side hall waiting to be summoned, turned to Huggins and said, "Find me the person I want, and... have the servants deliver a snack and prepare some drinks."

Seeing the dignified Todd walk into the audience room, Emerson frowned and asked Huggins in a low voice: "Your Majesty seems to be in a bad mood?"

Huggins didn't speak, but gave the other party a very subtle gesture of "pay attention to your words".

Emerson and Moore looked at each other, and the two cheered up, knocked on the door and walked into the room.

"Don't be restrained, sit down." Todd opened a document on the table, and went straight to the point: "First, let's talk about the influence of the book "Justification by Faith"."

Moore, who had only one arm left, leaned over and sat down on the soft chair with difficulty. After hearing the king's question, he nodded to Emerson and spoke first: "According to people's feedback, the clergy in various kingdoms, including those monks, have a greater response to this book. Some people support the views in the book, while others refute it."

Todd asked again: "So what is the attitude of the kings?"

Emerson then replied: "The secular rulers don't seem to have much interest in this book. They regard this debate more as a word game among theologians. But there are also a few wise kings who have seen the mystery, but they all chose to remain silent."

Todd tapped the table lightly with his knuckles: "This is because the things described in this book do not involve their interests. Therefore, pretending to turn a blind eye and not expressing any opinions is the best choice for them to protect themselves wisely."

Moore leaned forward a little, looked into Todd's eyes, and said sincerely: "Your Majesty, if you agree, I would like to organize a doctrinal debate!"

"A doctrinal debate?"

"Only by maximizing the impact of this book can theologians and the Holy See pay attention to facts and truth!" Moore said firmly: "In the past, once there was a dispute over doctrine, the best way was to start a debate. Let priests and bishops sit together and everyone express their views. This method can quickly increase the influence of this book..."

Todd pondered for a while, then suddenly whispered: "It's too slow."

Both Emerson and Moore were taken aback, and the latter asked strangely: "Your Majesty, the word 'too slow' in your mouth refers to..."

Todd pursed his lips and thought for a moment, and said: "The way of debating the scriptures may increase the popularity of this book and make people in the theological field agree with us, but that's all. This approach fundamentally cannot shake the religious foundation of the church-believers, that is, the secular kings and people. Because what we do has nothing to do with their immediate interests, they will not care and will not support our approach. Therefore, the next step of the religious reformation should be to point the finger at the church's secular exploitation."

Emerson swallowed and asked cautiously, "Then what should we do according to Your Majesty?"

"Directly criticize all the tools that the church uses to amass wealth and power, such as tithes, indulgences, and even... the church-led divine grant ceremony!"

Both Emerson and Moore were taken aback by the king's words.

On the matter of religious reform, even Moore Rupert, who was as bold and crazy as Moore, was frightened by Todd's remarks at this time and didn't know what to do.

Todd stood up from his chair, walked around the room, and said while thinking: "The Bible mentions that one-tenth of the agricultural and animal husbandry products belong to God, but in actual collection, the in-kind items collected by the church are divided into big tithes (grain), small tithes (vegetables, fruits), blood tithes (livestock) and so on according to the nature of the products. The tax amount often greatly exceeds one-tenth of the taxpayer’s income. It will pull the group of farmers to our side."

"As for indulgences, this is even more absurd! It is said that sinful people can go to heaven after death as long as they spend money to buy indulgences? As long as people believe in God devoutly and are justified by faith, their souls can be saved after death! Therefore, such things as indulgences must also be abolished, which can help us win over most of the nobles and wealthy businessmen!"

"As for the divine conferring ceremony of kingship led by the church..." At this point, Todd paused for a rare moment, with a look of hesitation on his face.

After thinking twice, he finally said this: "Any king's enthronement ceremony needs to be attended and presided over by people from the church. Otherwise, the Holy See will call the new king a "false king who does not conform to the laws of God". Even if the enthronement ceremony is successfully passed, the church can still arbitrarily deprive a secular ruler of his power by excommunication."

"What we have to do is to weaken the relationship between the church and the royal power, and protect the power of those secular rulers in the religious reform, which can pull the group of kings to our camp..."

When Todd said this, he sighed and turned to look at Emerson and Moore: "What do you think?"

Moore suddenly jumped up from his chair and shouted with a flushed face, "Your Majesty! That's great! This is the religious reform in my mind!"

Compared to the priest's excitement and agitation, Emerson's face was full of worry. He looked at Todd and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the book 'Justification by Faith' is only a doctrinal debate. Even if the church is dissatisfied, it will not take much action. But what you just said has completely touched the foundation of the church. Do you know what it will lead to?"

Todd stared at Emerson, there was no hesitation or hesitation in his eyes, only endless perseverance and bravery remained: "Yes, I know! War, an all-out war!"

"Since you know...?"

"Like I said before, we're running out of time..."

Emerson stopped talking. He looked into Todd's eyes again, and finally nodded vigorously: "Your Majesty! Now that you have made your decision, I will not say anything anymore! I will make the entire kingdom run at full speed and make full preparations for the upcoming war!"

Todd nodded gratefully towards Emerson, then shifted his gaze to Moore Rupert.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured! I will write the most exciting article to thoroughly expose the face of those hypocrites in the church!"

Todd smiled and nodded, returned to his seat, and sat down.

A knock on the door interrupted the discussion in the room.

After obtaining permission, Huggins opened the door and leaned in: "Your Majesty, the person you are looking for has been brought."

Signaling Emerson and Moore to step back first, Todd said to Huggins, "Let her in."

A moment later, a handsome woman wearing tight leather armor, dark skin, and a pair of eyes of different colors walked into the king's audience room.

Watching Huggins behind him slowly close the door, Aisha found a chair randomly, sat down on it, and looked at the king on the other side of the table: "Are you looking for me?"

Todd smiled and looked at Aisha, and asked softly: "I heard that you have been in the kingdom, looking for that Mr. Derek?"

Aisha's pupils narrowed in an instant, and the expression on her face was also faintly guarded: "Your Majesty, do you know his whereabouts?"

Using the ability of "shaping", Todd changed his appearance into Derek's appearance under Aisha's horrified gaze.

"This...how is this possible?!"

Aisha stood up abruptly, accidentally knocked over the chair under her body, and pointed at Todd in front of her, her body trembling slightly.

Todd smiled and looked at each other: "Aisha, I need your help."