Wizima, the headquarters of the Church of the Eternal Fire.
Several hours had passed since Priest Cyrus and Oga had left the city, yet they had been slow to bring back any news.
Sitting on his episcopal throne, Bishop Gladden frowned.
How long could it possibly take for fifty well-equipped knights to ambush a mere Wizard?
Honestly, they couldn't even handle such a simple task efficiently; they were all useless.
Over the past few days, Bishop Gladden had received astonishing news from his informants within the palace.
Prince Foltest shared an extremely intimate relationship with his own sister, the Jewel of Temeria, Princess Adda.
While a close sibling relationship was perfectly normal, palace attendants reported that Prince Foltest frequently stayed overnight in his sister's bedroom; no one knew what happened, but some had seen him leaving only the next morning.
That was not normal.
Committing incest with his own sister—there was no need to guess, the facts were obvious.
Upon learning this, Bishop Gladden initially found it absurd; it contradicted his conservative doctrines, violated the rules against premarital sex, familial ethics, and so on.
But in the next instant, he was overcome with ecstasy.
Old King Medell had only these two children, and Prince Foltest's future inheritance of the kingdom was a certainty, almost beyond doubt; therefore, other nobles dared not covet the throne.
But if this were a prince who engaged in lewd acts with his own sister, then secular morality would not allow such a person to inherit the throne. Although the old king had only this one heir, he had many brothers; they just weren't in the first line of succession.
By seizing such leverage and creating an opportunity, the Church of the Eternal Fire might usher in a new era of development!
Although the Church currently enjoyed the support of the kings of the Northern Kingdoms, in reality, it was merely a tool used by the kings to counter the Brotherhood of Sorcerers.
Not to mention, although Novigrad was the headquarters of the Church of the Eternal Fire and claimed to be a Free City, exempt from the jurisdiction of the two countries, in reality, the royal families of both Temeria and Redania influenced every aspect of Novigrad.
Both countries had their eyes on this wealthy land, and if the situation changed even slightly, Novigrad might lose its status as a free city-state.
The ambitions of the Church of the Eternal Fire did not stop there; rather than being a tool, the divine right of kings was their ultimate dream.
If they could establish a kingdom of God on earth, it might well begin with seizing hold of Prince Foltest's leverage.
At that moment, the temple doors were pushed open, sunlight streamed in from outside, and a tall figure approached, silhouetted against the light.
Bishop Gladden stood up, but due to the intense backlight, he was unable to see clearly for a moment.
"Who is it?"
Bishop Gladden shouted alertly.
"Are you the Bishop of the Eternal Fire?"
The voice carried undisguised malice; the visitor was none other than Asa.
When infiltrating Wizima this time, he hadn't brought Saskia, leaving her behind to watch over the two horses, while he used Transfiguration to turn into a raven and return to Wizima.
This trip was specifically to deal with the person who knew, and the organizer, the so-called Bishop Gladden.
"It's you?"
After Bishop Gladden's eyes adjusted to the outside light, he looked at the person in the temple, his face filled with shock.
It was the black-haired, black-eyed Wizard that Priest Cyrus had described in detail earlier.
But hadn't Priest Cyrus gone with Oga to surround and annihilate this Wizard? How could he appear here?
Before he could think about it, Bishop Gladden sensed the malice of the uninvited guest and instinctively wanted to flee.
"It is me; weren't you the one who wanted to capture me?"
Taking advantage of the other party's shock, he immediately cast Shadow Bind.
The shadow cast by the daylight outside onto the bluestone floor began to move.
The man tried to cry out to attract the attention of the temple guards, but discovered with horror that he was unable to move.
"What kind of sorcery is this? Where is Priest Cyrus? Where is Oga?"
"Don't worry, you will see them soon enough."
Asa said, walking closer, grabbing Bishop Gladden's body, and gagging him.
"I am here to see you off."
It was already afternoon, and the headquarters of the Order of the Flaming Rose was located near the Church of the Eternal Fire.
In Wizima, the Order of the Flaming Rose of the Church of the Eternal Fire also bore part of the responsibility for maintaining public order and fighting criminals.
Therefore, there were only forty or fifty knights training in the Order's headquarters at this time, with the rest scattered throughout Wizima and its suburbs, carrying out various tasks.
Inside the headquarters, the knights were talking loudly, discussing why those knights Priest Cyrus had taken out of the city hadn't returned yet.
But they didn't know that these people would never return.
In the middle of their conversation, one knight's expression suddenly shifted, and he looked up at the sky in disbelief:
"Look quickly, what is that in the sky?"
The knights looked up at the sky and realized that something seemed to be falling from the sky, rushing down from directly above the headquarters.
"Holy shit, what is that!"
"Get out of the way!"
"It's going to crash!"
The knights shouted in panic.
The object was descending at an extremely high speed and looked like it was about to crash into the headquarters, but just before it hit the ground, it was lifted high and placed down gently, with a sense of effortless grace.
Everyone looked at each other; the falling object hadn't caused any casualties, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
As the figure drifted gently to the ground, the knights dared to step forward to see who or what the figure was.
"Bishop? Why is it you?"
The knight who was closest gasped, realizing that the person who had fallen from the sky was none other than Bishop Gladden.
At this moment, the benevolent yet stern Bishop no longer possessed his usual composure; he was tied up with thick hemp rope, and his mouth was stuffed with a rag. As the knight approached, he could almost smell the foul odor wafting from him.
Looking at the suspicious stains on the rag, it was easy to imagine what the rag had been used for.
The Bishop's expression was more like he had suffered something; he was rolling his eyes, yet he couldn't say anything.
The incident in the training ground attracted the attention of all the knights, and hearing a knight shout "It's Bishop Gladden!", all the knights subconsciously moved towards the center of the field and gathered together.
In daily life, the Bishop was a high-and-mighty figure, second only to the Archbishop; how could they ever get this close to him like this?
For a long time, they had all wanted to pledge their loyalty to the Bishop, and wasn't now the perfect time?
The knight closest to him removed the rag from the Bishop's mouth, but he was not met with the Bishop's praise, but rather a beam of light that erupted from the other's mouth into the sky.
"What!"
The scene froze in the knight's terrified gaze.