When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

Looking at these members of the Holy Father Association exchanging glances, Horn felt equally conflicted.

The Holy Father Association, in essence, is a radical nationalist group cloaked under the guise of religion.

While nationalism can be beneficial, for the Thousand River Valley, which has a population of only four to six million, it is a poison.

Because their main ethnic group is too few, and their ethnic history and culture are not only shallow but also have gaps.

The forceful promotion of nationalism results in the emergence of two cancerous issues: the invention of history and the prevalence of populism.

Once the above two situations occur, they inevitably lead to government policies being hijacked by public sentiment, ultimately leading to self-destruction and even the "Thousand River Valley powder keg" situation.

However, Horn cannot completely deny the claims of the Holy Father Association, as the imagined community of the nation does indeed have its progressiveness.

Moreover, their intentions are good, just somewhat overzealous. Compared to other aimless vagrants, this group is basically among those who "open their eyes to the world."

If Horn wanted to establish an association that aligns with his ideas, he would still recruit this group of people.

Thus, Horn is so hesitant about their existence.

"Does Your Highness not think we should expel the church and foreigners?" asked a rather straightforward member of the association.

"Replacing the church with the Kush nation is certainly a good idea, but it's not applicable. Instead of using the Kush nation, it's better to use the Thousand River Valley nation."

Horn beckoned them, asking those in the back to come forward and sit with him, trying to make sure they could hear him clearly.

"Suppose you use the Kush nation to replace the church — are you as pure as the Kush people?

Judging by bloodline alone, you must know that the original Kush characteristics were short stature, black hair, long eyebrows, and sloping shoulders.

Among the thirty-odd of you, let alone the unique feature of long eyebrows and sloping shoulders, even black hair is scarce, with only one or two having it.

As for claiming pure bloodline, it's actually those Kush nobility who marry internally that have the purest bloodline.

Yet Dane of Joan of Arc Castle, representing the Kush people, betrayed them, so what use is pure bloodline?

If it's a matter of spirit, using Kush culture to replace the church's culture, then what are the traditions of the Kush people? What are the festivals of the Kush people? Who are the ancestors of the Kush people? Where do the Kush people come from?

These things were lost entirely in the process of interbreeding and proselytizing, and no one remembers them anymore."

Horn's combination of spiritual and practical arguments left the members of the Holy Father Association speechless. They wanted to speak but didn't know how to respond and looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

"Does a Falan farmer have less in common with a Kush farmer than a Kush noble with a Kush farmer?

Among the vagrants roaming around, there are also Falan and Norn people who have also been farming in the Thousand River Valley for hundreds of years.

But according to the Kush national division, Langsande County wouldn't largely belong to the Thousand River Valley, and upon closer inspection, probably only the mountainous areas would fully belong to the Kush people.

Using the Kush nation to divide enemies and allies is no different than pushing those who need to overthrow the church and the empire onto the opposing side.

Such an outcome ultimately strengthens the enemy's power while weakening ours. It's utterly foolish."

"So what?" stood up a hot-tempered member, reddened with anger at Horn's statements, no longer caring about propriety, "Your Highness, the Thousand River Valley is our Thousand River Valley. This is our homeland. They should get out. How they are to us is irrelevant."

"Do you think just overthrowing the church and empire rule over the Thousand River Valley is enough?" Horn's voice gradually turned somber, "Do you think the church and empire will just sit by and watch us gain independence from the empire?

The greedy nobles who would wage war over a pond, over a beehive, those who treat the Thousand River Valley as a retirement home, would they just idly watch the Thousand River Valley?

The reason I tell you that our current goal is just to overthrow the Thousand River Valley church is because before that, setting up other targets is meaningless.

From the moment the Thousand River Valley becomes independent, we will face pressure from all corners of the empire!

Compared to the Thousand River Valley District, the entire empire and church are our true enemies!"

This was not Horn fearmongering. Compared to his hometown, the empire, because of the existence of the extraordinary society, has a stability in its feudal system beyond imagination.

Under the banner of the empire, the kingdoms might be in constant conflict over territorial disputes, but that's a dispute within noble society.

Faced with the potential overthrow of the entire noble society, they would immediately unite, electing an Imperial Emperor, a position vacant for decades.

Then, under the authority of the emperor and the pope, they would jointly resist external enemies.

Throughout the centennial war and millennium dispute with the Blood and Flesh Royal Court, this feudal system has been honed to perfection, and it has proved its high efficiency.

Even when the Falan Royal Capital fell into enemy hands, the empire could still counterattack and by the way, reclaim the lost Xilan Islands.

Although over a hundred years have passed, this system is still far from decayed.

In the three knight orders defending against the Blood and Flesh Royal Court, there are still many Great Knights, who are at the pinnacle above the Nine-Section Breathing Technique as extraordinary knights, capable of bearing five, even four blessings.

These Great Knights have lifespans comparable to witches. Some Great Knights who fought in the Hundred Years' War are even still alive.

It is said that Prince Kongdai's teacher is a Great Knight; otherwise, how could he earn the favor of the church?

Composing himself, Horn took a sip from a water pouch, giving the members present a moment to digest.

Seeing they had digested the information, Horn continued:

"Calculating by territory, the Thousand River Valley covers roughly over twenty million hectares, but it is just a domain of the Armored Wood Province.

Among the ten provinces of the empire, the church has one province, the Leia Kingdom has two provinces, and the Falan Kingdom has three provinces.

The three provinces belonging to the Norn Kingdom occupy more than half of the empire's territory.

Calculating by manpower alone, the Thousand River Valley has four to six million people. According to your classifications, the real Thousand River Valley people probably number around three million.

Is three million a lot?

The entire empire has eighty to one hundred twenty million people. Calculating by eighty million, we Thousand River Valley people make up only 3.75%. Calculating by a hundred and twenty million, we have only 2.5% of the power.

Even if they undermine each other, only deploying a third of their strength to deal with us, that's ten times the power we possess.

How many farmers and civilians does the empire have? At least seventy million.

If we could win their support, even if only one-tenth of them supported us, the gap between us and the empire would narrow to just twice…"

Considering these people, despite being quite open-minded, have relatively low cultural literacy, Horn did not use overly complex comparisons but adopted more common language.

This political analysis class lasted from noon to evening, until Horn's throat turned hoarse, finally persuading the members of the Holy Father Monastery.

However, Horn had not yet determined the status of the Holy Father Monastery and instead took out a booklet.

"This booklet is called 'Holy Path to Salvaging Lehring.' "Horn spoke earnestly with his raspy voice, "It proposes two main objectives: anti-church and anti-empire, as well as three main tenets: civilization, freedom, equality. Take it and read.

Cough, cough—if you can't understand it, it's okay. I'll be here every day to answer questions. If you don't agree with it, it's fine; you may leave directly.

There's no need to worry. Before formally joining, the Holy Father Association is free to come and go."