—3rd Person POV—
"Men, let me start off by apologizing to each of you…I know you have been telling me to act for many years now. There is no excuse for not heeding your warnings, and I have paid dearly for it.", the King said before telling them what Kessler had told him the night before.
Listening to their brother in arms speak, all of them were shocked to hear that the Church and Malty had orchestrated the death of his son. Seeing the look of pain on the King's face, they knew he took his son's death personally more than ever now.
"Not only have they robbed me of my son, but they have also slowly been usurping the Crown's authority away from my wife and myself. Creating tension among our citizens, paying off noblemen to join their cause, and even infiltrating our military to weaken our might…this cannot continue!", the King proclaimed slamming his fist on the desk, "I have called you all here today to start preparations for removing the Church's influence and authority in one fell swoop."
"If I may…the Church's reach is great, nearly half of our troops are followers of the Three Hero's Church. How do you intend to do this without upsetting them?", one of his generals asked, "I assume you have an ace up your sleeve for dealing with them, like maybe one or two of the Heroes?"
"We know how the Church will act, and in doing so they will step on a Dragon's Tail…like I unfortunately did last night.", the King said rubbing his throat, "As all of you are aware, the Upper Ranks of the Church despise the Shield Hero with a burning passion. Given the opportunity, they would readily execute him without a second thought. Fortunately for Sir Naofumi, he has a very powerful ally in his corner…the S-Ranked Adventurer Kessler. You may have not heard this yet, but Kessler defeated the Bow, Spear, and Sword Heroes last night without breaking a sweat."
Seeing the shocked expressions on their faces, the King couldn't blame them for being surprised. All of them had been brought up hearing about the power of the Heroes, to hear now that a single Adventurer defeated three of them…that was a lot to take in. Admittedly he found it difficult to swallow, and he had witnessed it with his own eyes. Remembering how Kessler treated them like children…his spine shivered with fear at how deadly he'd be if he were actually serious.
"When they make their initial move against Sir Naofumi, they will run headlong into Kessler who will not show them any mercy. While they are focused on him, we can use the opportunity to slip spies among their ranks to learn who the traitors are among our own ranks. The devoted followers are the ones we need to take out, the pretenders will likely side with us when it comes time to rein them in so they can be left alone.", the King said, wanting to keep the casualty numbers low.
"How can you be sure this Kessler fellow will fight the Church?", one of the men asked, "Surely he knows that they aren't pushovers, or can be threatened into submission. No one is bold enough to challenge them so easily."
"Simple…he almost killed Malty, the Three Heroes, and myself last night without any hesitation. If I had pushed him further, I wouldn't be standing here in front of you right now.", he replied showing them the bruising Kessler left around his throat, "That man doesn't care about hierarchy, he will kill whoever gets in his path. I suggest never insulting his family either…in fact, I am ordering you never to mention his family in his presence!"
The tone of his voice told the men all they needed to know, Kessler wasn't someone to be trifled with. Acknowledging the order, they assure the King that the troops would be notified as well. They didn't want to set this Adventurer off, he was bold enough to almost kill two members of the Royal Family so the Church's people were chop liver to him.
"Now then, I suspect the Church will make a move in a few days to a week from now. With Kessler's help, Sir Naofumi and his party should reach the Level 40 cap in that time frame. The Church will likely turn him away when his party goes for a Class-Up, their request will alert the Upper Ranks to the danger they pose forcing them to move quickly before Sir Naofumi can go elsewhere to Class-Up.", the King told them, "I want our best people watching the Church's movements closely…the Church will use their Noble pawns to hinder Sir Naofumi. Any nobleman that offers assistance to the Church will need to be quietly removed, and replaced with loyalists to the Crown."
"I understand, the Church will be pressured to act rashly after their initial encounter with Kessler. While they are scrambling to deal with him, they will show their cards to us without realizing it.", a Knight said, understanding the plan, "What about the Relic the Church has in its possession? I heard a rumor they somehow located a long-lost weapon from Faubrey. From what I hear, it has similar powers to that of the Hero's weapons."
"Really?! Where did you hear that from?", the King inquired.
"As all of us are aware…women gossip in the market.", he chuckled, "My wife heard from one of the priestesses that they dug up an ancient weapon recently from the grave of a past hero. Up till now, I wasn't certain if it was true but given the circumstances…I think it is likely correct. The Church will want to rid themselves of the Heroes now that an Adventurer has defeated them so easily."
Taking this information into consideration, the King decided to accept they had an ancient weapon in their possession. While it did make things a bit more difficult, it didn't change the core of his plans.
"I want you to see what you can find on ancient relics the Church has in their possession, we will need all the information we can get.", the King ordered, "Once our enemies have been made clear, we will wait for them to push all their resources into attacking Sir Naofumi and Kessler. When they move forward with this, I want our military ready to seize the Church while their main forces are away. Not one of those bastards is allowed to flee from justice!"
Seeing the man they respected returning to the way he once was, all the men rose up and saluted the King. Telling him they'd start working on his orders immediately, the King told them to keep a low profile to prevent any information from getting out. Accepting their orders, the men filed out of the room to prepare for a culling.
—Cole POV, Several Hours Later—
Finding the next three locations stripped of all resources, it was clear the Gods I was after had looted them. No one in this world was strong enough to open and then reseal those portals, it had to be them. Escorting Naofumi and company back to the Adventurer's Guild to sell off parts of the Dragon, I sensed that one of the Shadows had been waiting for our arrival across the street from the Guild.
"Alright Naofumi, I will be back in two days' time. Try not to do anything reckless while I am away.", I teased him as I shook his hand.
Casting a spell on him, to alert me if he was in any danger, I couldn't risk the Church trying to pick him off tomorrow when he went for the Class-Up. Thanking me again for my assistance today, we parted ways for now. Leaving the Guild Hall, I walked across the street with my wives to a beggar who was a Shadow Agent in disguise.
"I presume you need something from us.", I said telepathically as I sat nearby, "What do you need from me?"
"Her Majesty wants to confirm if what you said last night is accurate.", the agent replied.
"Everything I said is truthful, Malty killed her brother in cold blood to gain the Church's trust. As for Melty, her plan was to push the Shield Hero towards her and kill her when they met. She would then blame him for her death causing a nationwide manhunt for Naofumi.", I answered truthfully, "The Queen needs to hurry up and resolve the diplomatic issues over there. Unfortunately, the three idiot Heroes are going to make her life harder here soon if she doesn't rein them in."
"How so?", the agent inquired.
Telling her about the Cursed Seed, the Rebellion, and the Undead Dragon events that would happen over the next few weeks, I warned her that they would only make things worse. Asking me how I knew all of this, I told her to just accept what I was saying as the truth.
"I have no need to lie to you, I could have killed the King, First Princess, and the Three Heroes last night if I wanted to. What reason would I have to lie to you for?", I reminded her.
"Very well, I will pass along this information to Her Majesty.", the agent advised.
"Two more things you should know…first, the Church is likely going to off Malty to cover their tracks. Even though she was a moron for working with them, she is smart enough to keep evidence of their misdeeds in the event she needed to save herself.", I warned the agent, "The second thing is, they have an Ancient Replica Weapon in their possession. Those grave robbers stole it from the tomb of an Ancient Hero and they intend to use it on the Shield Hero. My suggestion is to remove it from their hands before I have to ram it down their throats."
Looking over at me to see if I was exaggerating, she saw the serious look on my face. Asking me why I was so quick to be violent with them, I said that some people only learn through physical force. The Royal Family and the Upper Ranks of the Church lived in a fantasy land that wasn't realistic, all I was doing was showing them they weren't really all that special to begin with.
"Give my regards to the Queen.", I said before teleporting my group home.
—Earth, Cole's Home—
Walking into the kitchen to get something to drink, I saw Eri working with Gearnia, Clover, and Venom on her costume. Realizing that she was going to play a sheep, I was a bit disappointed they didn't cast Eri as an angel. To me, she was the only one fit for the part…especially with that bright smile of hers.
"Is this your costume?", I questioned as I approached them, "What are you going to be in the play?"
"I am going to be a Sheepy!!", Eri proclaimed bouncing around in her seat.
Congratulating her, I told her she would be the cutest sheep in the flock. Giggling at my comment, she thanked me and gave me a big hug.
"You promise to be there tomorrow? Kota and I picked out seats for everyone.", Eri informed me.
"Of course I will, I am going to record the entire play for us.", I assured her, "I am sure Kota and you will be the stars of the play!"
Offering to help finish the costume, Eri told me that she want to finish it with her mommies. Watching the three women smile with pride, I was certain she'd have the best sheep costume ever. Going upstairs to check on Kota, I asked if he needed help making his costume.
"No, I need to make a Christmas Tree…", he said showing me a very rough cutout, "It isn't going well."
"Let's do this together.", I said offering my hand, "Let's go buy some cardboard and make a proper-looking tree."
Running over to grab his coat, he was eager to go out to the Store with me. Telling the family that we'd be back later, I teleported us to a recycling center to pick up a large number of cardboard sheets to use.