Law of the Devil

Du Wei did not order his forces to pursue, nor did Maximos give any indication of wanting to end the survivors, hence the reason the enemy was able to flee in a panic.

Then strangely, Maximos came to Du Wei with an odd request: he asked Du Wei to release the two captives in their possession.

Seemingly dissatisfied by this outcome, this vulgar old man, Vice-bishop Lamu, was the first to raise his complaints to Maximos: “My grace…. Why are you still being so kind? Don’t you see, they’ve decided to kill you! Aigh… Even if you’re not willing to do too much killing, don’t want to kill more, but at least keep the captives with us. If we can take them to the imperial capital and have them stand in front of the Pope, those guys won’t be able to shake off the blame during the confrontation.”

After listening, Maximos just smiled and patted Lamu on the shoulder: “My old friend, things aren’t so simple.”

Then he did not explain anymore, instead, he looks to Du Wei: “Duke, I’ve let you seen a joke today. But please, I implore you not to mistake the followers of the Temple to be so ugly. Most of the clergymen’s are still bathed in the glory of the goddess, they are still pure.”

Du Wei smiled indifferently: “I do not care too much about these things, but I am more inclined towards Vice-bishop Lamu’s position. Why did you let go of the surviving captives?”

Maximos’s expression went dim, and then his eyes moved to Old Smoke and the others behind Du Wei. Understanding, Du Wei had his men leave the room and asked a servant to bring in some tea.

Outside the deck there would naturally be sailors and soldiers to clean up the battlefield, and Rhine’s godlike strength can once again shine on this occasion. Towards this brave warrior, Du Wei’s admiration and fondness grew even more after what he witnessed today. Ordering some of his people to bring a new set of armor from the cabin, he gifts it to Rhine as a reward: “Knight Rhine, I admire your bravery very much, and to express my friendship, I want to give you a gift. Hmm, I see that you are using a battle axe as a weapon. Though sharp, it’s been damaged in the fight just now. To tell the truth, I personally feel your martial art is not suitable for this type of thing. So to remedy this, I want to give you a weapon of your choosing. This way, it will be more convenient for you to fight in the future.”

Rhine became very happy after listening to his compliment, but then he began scratching his hair in distress: “Duke, but … I’ve tried a lot of weapons and their weights are all too light. This axe here … Alas, it’s barely passable. If the weight of the new weapon can be double this axe then it will be about right.”

Du Wei makes a wide grinning smile: “You may not know this, but I have a shop in the imperial capital that specializes in manufacturing unique weapons. If you want to, you can go have a look once we return to the imperial capital. I promise they will ready something to your liking.”

Then Rhine also left the cabin, leaving only Du Wei and the two bishops in the room.

“Lord Maximos, I believe we need to have a good talk now.” Du Wei’s face turned serious as he sat down calmly: “I personally do not want to participate in the internal disputes of the Temple, but after today’s event, I believe I wouldn’t be able to dodge it even if I wanted to anymore, right? Now that things have come this far, I believe I have the right to know.”

Maximos’s face remains expressionless as he pondered Du Wei’s demand. Then exchanging a glance with his friend, Vice-bishop Lamu understood and nodded in return: “Duke, how much do you know of the Temple of Light’s history?” Lamu asks.

“History?” Du Wei frowned and thought: “I do know a little, but what I know is mostly from the history books. But then, to tell you the truth, I think the contents in the history books aren’t very reliable, mostly lies glorified by the historians.” Pausing, he and the two bishops shared a glance and all three men began to smile in understanding: “Hmm, the Temple’s history should be very long, but the official records only go as far back as nine hundred and sixty one years ago, the time of the Roland Empire’s founding by the great king Aragon. (When referring to Aragon and the word great, Du Wei could resisted adding in another ‘jerk’ word to the sentence in his heart) During that period, his highness unified the continent and founded the Roland Empire with much help from the religion of Light. In return for their aid, the religion of Light was recognized as the official religion on this land with legal legitimacy. In the same year as the Empire’s founding, the Temple of Light was official founded and the base of operation was established in the imperial capital, this remains unchanged to this day. Before then, though the religion of light had always existed…. But with all due respect, before the unification of the continent, the religion of light had no orthodox position on the mainland, and at that time, there were so many small countries with different pagan beliefs, am I right?”

Lamu nodded: “Duke has a very good understanding of history, and you are right, the books…. It’s true that’s how it was written. By helping his majesty unify the continent, the religion of light was able to gain the orthodox position on the mainland by the grace of his majesty, Aragon.”

“It’s a win-win situation.” Du Wei smiled.

“For outsiders, it’s already considered to be not easy to know all of this; after all, the books in circulation out there won’t have records of the things you mentioned. However, Duke, things are not so simple. If you are interested, maybe I could tell you a few stories from history.”

Du Wei made a laugh: “Story? Very good, my favorite pass time is to listen to stories.”

Lamu coughed once to clear his throat, then slowly began to give the details:

“The history of the Temple of Light is nine hundred and sixty one years old, there’s no lie in this truth. But the Temple’s existence is far more than that. As to the specifics of when it was founded, there’s no way to investigate now. However, before the founding of the Empire and the unification of the mainland, there are indeed other religions besides that of the religion of light with many deities….. Oh, may the great goddess forgive them, those poor heathen. All right, let’s get back on topic. Hmm…. In fact, the history of the Temple of Light is long and old, and when it came to assisting his majesty Aragon in unifying the mainland, we have to mention someone of great importance. This man is our first leader in history, his majesty Muyaba Huxie. Oh, the name is a little awkward to say, but whenever the future generations mentioned this great majesty, they would always call him using a very intimate nickname: intelligent Muyaba or prophet Muyaba.”

Before the Roland Empire unified the mainland, there are many religions on the continent, but the religion of light remains one of the biggest. Sadly though, we may have been one of the biggest, but we most certainly weren’t one of the most powerful because at that time, the structure within our ranks weren’t unified and even had dangerous signs of division. Ultimately, it came down to our beliefs. Although everyone believed in the Goddess of Light, but there are many different takes in the view of our teachings, and there is a great deal of ambiguity on how to spread the teachings of the Goddess ….”

Speaking up to here, Du Wei’s heart laughed: What ambiguity, what different views in the teaching? In the end it’s nothing more than self-interest and uneven distribution of power.

At that time, there were three schools within the religion of light, namely the Xieni faction, Mosa faction, and Heishan faction. Among them, the Xieni faction advocates the cruel treatment of the infidels, and that they also believe the Temple’s power should preside over the king and all secular powers of this world. To them, the divine is the one and true master, nothing stands above this authority. Anyone or anything who dares challenge this belief, they will use any means to eliminate their existence… Umm, I personally find their methods to be too brutal. By the way, I and lord Maximos is part of the Mosa faction. What we advocate is the improvement of one’s self through cultivation and self-enlightenment. By influencing others with our teachings, we believe it will teach everyone around us the greatness of the goddess. Also, we firmly believe there should be no intermingling of worldly powers with the goddess’s will.”

Listening up to here, Du Wei cursed inside: what Xeini faction and Mosa faction, just doves and hawks of the same roost.

Thinking of it, he asked again, “Then, what about the Heishan faction?”

“The Heishan faction was at that time a relatively small group of people among the three factions, but don’t be mistaken, their strength is the most powerful. The reasoning for this is because the Heishan faction focuses on enduring harsh training and strives to improve their understanding of the goddess’s teaching while keeping a distinct line between themselves and the outside world. As such, they are also known as the ‘harsh training faction’, or ‘hidden faction’. Although their numbers are small, but because of their intense focus on cultivation, their average level of strength is among the highest. They are generally aloof. As long as you don’t go interfering with their practices, these people will not get involve with anything unrelated, the only exception being the Temple of light. If anyone threatens the existence of the Temple of Light, these hermit like beings will come out in force, decimating any obstacles that gets in their way of protecting their faith. Therefore, the Heishan faction can also be considered the guardian power of the Temple. As long as this power remains, no threat will be able to touch the core values of the Temple.”

“The three schools competed for hundreds of years, but the dispute mainly revolves around the Xieni faction and the Mosa faction, while the Heishan faction stood neutral. But a thousand years ago, things changed following the appearance of ‘intelligent Muyaba’.

Du Wei nodded: “I think I understand. This Muyaba, also known as the first Pope, resolved the internal disputes of the three factions, and then he formed an alliance with his highness Aragon.”

“Presumably so. His Majesty is exceedingly clever, and his divine powers are mighty, plus he’s a natural born leader with a charismatic personality. According to legends, he unified the scattered followers across the land, and through helping Aragon in his conquest of the mainland, Mayuba was able to convince his highness to proclaim the religion of light as the only orthodox religion and all other religions are nothing but evil pagans.”

Du Wei couldn’t resist and butted in with a question: “Then… what faction is this Mayuba part of? Xieni, or Mosa?”

As soon as this question was put forward, both Lamu and Maximos shared a face of bitterness.

“No one knows.” Maximos that had been quiet up till now suddenly interjected: “This is the question that has caused the Temple’s inner quarrel to last over nine hundred years!”

Somewhat surprised, Du Wei pushes for more: “Why?”

“Because until now, it is impossible to confirm which faction his majesty Mayuba was a part of.” Lamu also sighed: “According to the records, in those years his Majesty Mayuba never once openly admitted to being a part of any schools. He remained silent all his life, and others cannot press him to answer either.”

“If we can ascertain his majesty’s school, then the internal strife within the Temple wouldn’t have lasted over nine hundred years. In the midst of the infighting, it’s not known how much blood has been shed, and who knows how many of those so called ‘heretics’ have been burned at the fire pillar…. Aigh….’ Maximos made a heavy sigh, his face shamefully sad.