Published: March 12, 2025
Chapter 373: Not Investigating is Not Knowing, Investigating is Startling
Louis had never doubted the authenticity of this list. He was very clear that when it came to who hated the Church of Light the most on this continent, it wasn’t the ruling class, but the Karlqi Family.
The Karlqi Family was a dark mage family, known for producing many dark mages, and the Church of Light specialized in hunting dark mages. If the Church of Light were to grow powerful, the first ones to suffer would be the Karlqi Family.
Louis also didn’t think that the Karlqi Family might take this opportunity to seize territory, because the list didn’t contain any well-known nobles, just some small factions. Even if they killed all of them, the Karlqi Family wouldn’t gain anything significant, so Louis believed the list was real.
The more he believed this list was true, the more alarmed he became. Louis understood the Church of Light very well, especially how effective they were in brainwashing people. Although there were only slightly over ten thousand names on the list, it was hard to say how many loyal servants of the Church of Light had been developed from this group.
After seeing the list, Louis immediately ordered his death warriors to mobilize and monitor all these people, but he didn’t allow them to act just yet.
Louis was very aware that these people had been lurking in the Roson Empire for an unknown duration, and the number of followers they had developed was incalculable. He needed to find those followers; even if he couldn't kill them all, he had to control them and prevent them from spreading their teachings.
At the same time, the undercover agents of the Church of Light realized that they might have been exposed. They quickly prepared to withdraw from the Roson Empire. Fortunately, Louis reacted quickly and caught all of them off guard, making his plan to trace the source impossible.
Without options, Louis had to change his strategy and began directly arresting people, framing them with false charges, and detaining them. He then conducted thorough investigations on everyone who had been in contact with those individuals to see if they were followers of the Church of Light.
This investigation proved to be significant; they discovered that through these undercover agents, the Church of Light had developed hundreds of thousands of followers in the Roson Empire. Some had just joined, while others were long-time staunch adherents. These individuals even conspired to rescue those who had been arrested, but they were all caught in the end.
Louis's actions also alerted the major nobles. The Church of Light had been quite courteous to these nobles, but they feared being undermined by the Church, which led them to respond vigorously. As a result, a wave of investigations into the Church of Light's undercover agents swept through the entire Roson Empire, with all major nobles beginning rigorous checks on their own territories to see if there were any followers of the Church of Light.
This investigation yielded results, as they found that there were, to varying degrees, followers of the Church of Light within their territories. The only family that had no followers of the Church of Light was the Karlqi Family, which clearly indicated that the Church was very wary of this dark mage family, as they hadn’t sent any agents to their domain.
In the end, the nobles computed that there were actually no fewer than two million followers of the Church of Light throughout the Roson Empire, a number that shocked everyone.
This caused a wave of anxiety throughout the Roson Empire. Those followers of the Church of Light who were caught underwent thorough investigations to identify the hardline loyalists, who were directly executed, while the newer and lighter cases were punished and then released.
Of course, this investigation was not merely about uncovering followers; they used excuses like investigating spies and traitors.
After this incident, the nobles of the Roson Empire grew increasingly wary of the Church of Light. They hadn't previously offended the Church, yet they realized that even if they didn’t harm the tiger, the tiger could still harm them. The Church of Light had audaciously operated in their territory without even notifying them, which infuriated the nobles. In a short time, a resistance against the Church of Light began to emerge in the Roson Empire, albeit in secret. This made the Karlqi Family particularly important, as those nobles seeking counsel flocked to them, seeing that only the Karlqi Family had no followers of the Church of Light.