When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

Horn's attention to the Saint Father's Association is not because he was idle, but because there was indeed a demand.

As the saying goes, "No destruction, no creation," not only does it speak of future plans to destroy the Thousand River Valley Church, just destroying the church in Langsande County would create a significant power vacuum.

In a power vacuum, if Horn doesn't send someone to take control, it would be other, unknown people who would take control.

Within the Empire, especially in Leia Kingdom's Thousand River Valley, entrusting grassroots governance to the church is a commonplace affair.

At the moment, Horn doesn't have enough intellectuals to help him manage these grassroots affairs.

So, either appoint members of the Saint Father's Association primarily, paired with some of the old priests to handle it, or assign people from the Saint Father's Association as an inspection team to oversee the actions of the old priests.

The saying "Prepare for a rainy day" holds true even for future matters. Horn has to start preparing now, not to mention they might also have to serve roles as military chaplains or even Hundred Households Priests.

With the arrangements for the Saint Father's Association settled, Horn's schedule shifted to practicing breathing techniques with Jeanne in the morning, handling political affairs in the mid-morning, visiting the Saint Father's Association to answer questions in the afternoon, and translating El Ancient Books from the Ethereal Tower with Hilov in the evening.

After a few busy days, Horn finally faced the first regular meeting of the Papal Country's council.

Since the main hall was the residence of Horn, Hilov, and Jeanne, with Hilov's significant machine tools inside, the real venue for the Cardinals' political discussions was the side hall of the Mechanical Palace.

Sitting in the council chamber named Stag Chamber but actually a bullpit, Horn wore a simple white robe, donned a short felt hat, and silently observed the bishops and elders before him.

Frankly, after six days of military training, the bishops and elders looked much more spirited, not only were their clothes tidy, they also stopped fidgeting, and even their postures straightened quite a lot.

After all, these few days they've been up at five in the morning and asleep by ten at night with the Child Soldiers, either training discipline and learning literacy, or on the way to training discipline and learning literacy.

Though only five days had passed, they still appeared lax, but much better than before, when they had no semblance of formality whatsoever.

This made Horn nod in satisfaction, even considering whether to make military training a required step to entering the Senate or becoming a bishop.

"Alright, everyone's gathered, right? If everyone is here, let's begin. Armand, you can read out the meeting agenda."

Currently, the Cardinal meeting consisted of three Cardinals, namely Chief Bishop Madlan, Bishop Chervis, and Bishop Grampwen.

The rest of the bishops had died, with casualty rates far higher than the official papal court.

Clearly, these three bishops were too few, so the first agenda item for Horn's meeting was to expand the Cardinal group and elect a Deputy Chief Bishop.

On this issue, naturally, there was no dissent, as everyone witnessed the qualifications of suitable candidates, quickly reaching consensus.

"So, the Cardinal group formally passed the item of appointing Chrispa as bishop, Busak as bishop, and elected Busak as Deputy Chief Bishop." Horn knocked his staff on the table, indicating for Armand to record the agenda results and sign off.

"Then the second issue is the formation of the Salvation War Group:

We propose to form the group with 3,000 Long Spearmen, 1,000 Holy Gunmen, 150 Musketeer cavalry, 200 Wagon Soldiers, 50 Cooks, 50 Medic Soldiers, along with 10 accountants, 20 Service Soldiers, 10 Military Judges, and 10 Military Chaplains, totaling 4,500 people.

The Salvation War Group will consist of 8 corps, recruiting new troops with veterans from the Black Hat Army and the Imperial Guard as the backbone, specific requirements are in the table below, distributed to all of you.

We anticipate recruitment will begin in ten days when ten street blocks are repaired, with the second regular meeting officially recruiting new soldiers.

The first batch recruitment is estimated to be 2,000 people, equivalent to four corps, completed within three days.

Once recruitment is completed, recruits will enter the training camp for fifteen days of intensive training before assignment. During this time, veterans will undergo officer training. I propose to appoint Hakuto as instructor for the recruit camp, Jeska as instructor for the veteran camp, does anyone have objections?"

Chief Bishop Madlan raised his hand.

"Speak." Seeing him raise his hand before speaking, Horn felt this past military training wasn't in vain.

"By ten days later, we'll have thirteen blocks repaired and arranged recruitment among the Hundred Households, with roughly a 7-to-1 to 8-to-1 militia ratio. Isn't this ratio too large?"

"No, no, I mean recruitment from all the people of the Papal Country."

"But if we do that, our subsequent reconstruction work will be handicapped due to manpower shortage, after all, we're drawing 2,000 able-bodied men."

Horn flipped to a page in the agenda he held, handing it to Madlan: "This is an issue we'll discuss later, mobilizing 1,000 Northern Beastman laborers and detaining 1,000 Southern Beastman slaves to assist construction on the island."

"Oh, oh, then fine." Madlan obediently put his hand down.

"The preparation tasks for recruitment are as follows..." Horn thoughtfully compiled the tasks into a booklet, distributed to those present.

According to this booklet, Horn assigned positions to most people present.

The Holy Treasury Department was led by Madlan as Saint Vault Master, responsible for fiscal budgeting, cost accounting, logistical support, and resource allocation.

The Truth Department was now led by Armand as Truth Elder, responsible for evangelism, explaining the gospel and psychological counseling, also managing communications and management with local Hundreds.

The Holy Casting Department was led by Chrispa as Saint Foundry Master, assisted by Rekado and Brock, overseeing weapon forging, armor crafting, textiles, alchemy, and a series of matters.

The Evangelism Department was led by Busak as Evangelist, assisted by Harbin, currently focusing on Beastman communication and liaison with Joan of Arc Castle, along with some ceremonial and oversight affairs.

Staff Department temporarily canceled, becoming the Secretariat, temporarily led by Hilov as Secretary General.

Since there was only a small town at present, roles like Chief of Security were directly managed by Horn himself.

"Alright, I've said my piece, now those who have reports, please report."

An elder immediately raised his hand, with Horn gesturing for him to speak.

"Your Holiness, I report that Elder Sachis of the donkey faction proposed naming the town Holy Capital, which sounds like 'nerve' in El language, implying that Your Holiness, you are insane."

"Nonsense!"

"Your Holiness, I report that Ximus of the dog faction said you are insane."

"Playing word games with me, are you? You're just jealous that our dog faction's Thomas became the Chief Deputy Speaker, aren't you?"

In the Papal Country's Senate, Horn served as Holy Speaker, though most of the time Wanpiao did not participate in Senate matters.

Thus, the person truly managing Senate affairs was Thomas, the Saint's Great-Grandson, whose daily tasks included deciding names for street blocks.

In fact, what this small town was called remained undecided due to the donkey faction, elephant faction, and dog faction elders within the Senate being unable to settle.

"What do you mean we're jealous!" The elder named Sachis slammed the table, "Your Holiness, I request to challenge Ximus to a duel!"

"A duel it is, Your Holiness, I request to accept his duel." Elder Ximus similarly slammed the table, pointing at Sachis and shouting to Horn.

Seeing the elders before him turned into chaos, along with the uninvited surprise of the dog faction, Horn was somewhat at a loss for how to respond.

If they were well-trained, they would first apply before dueling, if not trained well, yet they still apply for confrontations.

"Your Holiness, I request a one-on-one duel between men!"

"Your Holiness, I request group combat…"

"Enough, we'll set aside the town's name, if nothing works, I'll decide." Seeing the elders ready to arrange a brawl in the Stag Chamber, Horn irritably waved his hand, "For this period, endure for the kingdom, get recruitment in motion, investigate current affairs, and report back.

If you truly want to fight, I'll give you opportunities in the future to fight to your heart's content."

Watching the elders baring their teeth at each other, Horn sighed deeply.

They haven't trained enough after all.