When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#217 - Your Majesty, I request a duel with Elder Sheamus!

Paying attention to the Holy Father's Society wasn't just because Horn had nothing better to do; it was a genuine need.

As the saying goes, 'No destruction, no construction.' Even if we don't talk about destroying the Church of the Thousand Rivers Valley in the future, just destroying the churches in Langsand County alone would create a large power vacuum.

If Horn didn't send people to occupy that power vacuum, someone else, who knows who, would come and take it.

In the Empire, especially in the Thousand Rivers Valley of the Kingdom of Leia, it's common practice to contract grassroots governance to the church.

Horn didn't have enough intellectuals on hand to help him manage these grassroots affairs.

So, either members of the Holy Father's Society would be primarily responsible, cooperating with some of the old clergy, or the Holy Father's Society would send inspection teams to monitor the actions of the old clergy.

As the saying goes, 'Forewarned is forearmed.' Even though it's a matter for the future, Horn needs to start preparing now, especially since they may also serve as chaplains or even centurion chaplains in the army.

With the affairs of the Holy Father's Society arranged, Horn's schedule became: practicing breathing techniques with Jeanna in the morning, handling government affairs in the morning, answering questions at the Holy Father's Society in the afternoon, and translating the Elven texts from the Aether Spire with Sylph in the evening.

After a few busy days, Horn finally welcomed the first regular meeting of the Papal State's Privy Council.

Since the main hall was Horn, Sylph, and Jeanna's bedroom, and also contained Sylph's important lathe machine, the actual place where the cardinals discussed politics was the side hall of the Mechanical Palace.

Sitting in the council hall, which was actually called the 'Dog Room' but named the 'Stag Room,' Horn, dressed in a simple white robe and wearing a short felt hat, silently looked at the bishops and elders before him.

It must be said that after six days of military training, the bishops and elders looked much more energetic. Not only were their clothes clean and they no longer moved around randomly, but even their posture was much straighter.

After all, these days they had been following the child soldiers, getting up at five in the morning and going to bed at ten at night, either training discipline and learning to read and write, or on the way to training discipline and learning to read and write.

Although they still looked undisciplined after five days, it was much better than having no proper appearance before.

This made Horn nod in satisfaction, and even consider making military training a prerequisite for entering the Senate or becoming a bishop.

"Alright, everyone's here, right? Let's start then. Armand, you read out the meeting agenda."

Currently, the College of Cardinals had three cardinals: Chief Bishop Madland, Bishop Kilvis, and Bishop Grampwen.

The remaining bishops were dead, with a casualty rate much higher than the official Papal Court.

These three bishops were clearly too few, so the first item on Horn's agenda for this meeting was to expand the College of Cardinals and elect a vice-chairman.

Naturally, everyone had no objections to this issue, as the qualified candidates were obvious, and a consensus was quickly reached.

"Then the proposal to admit Chrispa as bishop and Boussac as bishop to the College of Cardinals is officially passed. The proposal to elect Boussac as vice-chairman is passed." Horn tapped the table with his scepter, signaling Armand to record the meeting results and sign them.

"Then the second issue is the formation of the Salvation Warband.

We plan to form a warband of 4,500 people, consisting of 3,000 pikemen, 1,000 holy musketeers, 150 wheellock cavalry, 200 wagon soldiers, 50 cooks, 50 medics, plus 10 accountants, 20 quartermasters, 10 military judges, and 10 chaplains.

The Salvation Warband will have eight legions, recruiting new soldiers with the Black Hat Army and Guards veterans as the backbone. The specific requirements are as shown in the table, which has been distributed to everyone.

We expect to officially start recruiting new soldiers at the second regular meeting about ten days after the second batch of ten blocks is repaired.

The first batch of recruitment is expected to be 2,000 people, equivalent to four legions, to be completed within three days.

After the recruitment is completed, the new soldiers will enter the training camp, and will be assigned after fifteen days of training. During this period, the veterans will undergo officer training. I plan to appoint Hakuto as the training camp instructor for the new soldiers, and Jeshka as the training camp instructor for the veterans. Does anyone have any objections?"

Chief Bishop Madland raised his hand.

"Speak." Seeing him raise his hand before speaking, Horn felt that the military training these days hadn't been in vain.

"Ten days later, we will have thirteen blocks repaired. If we recruit from the centurion, the ratio of militia is about seven to one or eight to one. Isn't this ratio too high?"

"No, no, no, I mean to recruit from all the citizens of the Papal State."

"But in that case, our subsequent reconstruction work will fall into a situation of insufficient manpower. After all, drawing 2,000 young adults at once..."

Horn turned to a page in the agenda in his hand and handed it to Madland: "This is the issue we will talk about later, transferring 1,000 North Ze beastmen laborers and detaining 1,000 South Ze beastmen slave laborers to the island to assist in construction."

"Oh, oh, oh, then it's okay." Madland obediently put down his hand.

"Then the preparations for the conscription are as follows..." Horn thoughtfully compiled the work to be done into booklets and distributed them to everyone present.

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

The Holy Treasury Department is headed by Madland, who serves as the Holy Treasurer, responsible for financial budget allocation, cost accounting, logistics support, and material allocation.

The Ministry of Truth is currently headed by Armand, who serves as the Minister of Truth, responsible for preaching, explaining the gospel, and psychological counseling, and is also responsible for liaison and management with local centurions.

The Holy Foundry Department is headed by Chrispa, who serves as the Holy Foundry Master, assisted by Lecto and Brock, responsible for supervising the manufacture of weapons, armor, textiles, alchemy, and a series of other matters.

The Gospel Department is headed by Boussac, who serves as the Gospel Master, assisted by Harkin, and is currently mainly responsible for liaison with the beastmen and contact with Joan of Arc, as well as some etiquette and supervision matters.

The General Staff Department has been temporarily canceled and replaced by the Secretariat, which is temporarily headed by Sylph as the Secretary-General.

Since there is only one small town at present, matters such as the Chief of Security are directly managed by Horn himself.

"Alright, I've said everything I need to say, now it's your turn to report."

A elder immediately raised his hand, and Horn signaled him to speak.

"Your Majesty, I report that the donkey faction elders, led by Satchis, named the town 'Holy Capital,' which sounds like the Elven word for 'nerve,' implying that Your Holiness is a nerve."

"Bullshit!"

"Your Majesty, I report that Simus of the dog faction said you are a nerve."

"You're playing word games with me, aren't you? You're just jealous that our dog faction's Thomas became the chief deputy speaker, aren't you?"

Within the Papal State Senate, Horn serves as the Holy Speaker, but of course, in most cases, he does not participate in Senate affairs.

So the person who actually presides over the work of the Senate is Thomas, their great-great-grandson. Their daily work is to decide what name to give to which block.

In fact, the name of this town has not yet been determined because the donkey faction, elephant faction, and dog faction elders in the Senate are arguing.

"What do you mean we're jealous!" The elder named Satchis slammed the table and stood up. "Your Majesty, I request a one-on-one duel with Simus!"

"A duel it is! Your Majesty, I request to accept his duel." Elder Simus also slammed the table and stood up, pointing at Satchis and shouting at Horn.

Seeing the elders arguing like a pot of porridge in front of him, and the dog faction that popped up from nowhere, Horn didn't know how to answer.

If he said their military training was good, they still had to apply for a duel. If he said their military training wasn't good, they still applied for a duel.

"Your Majesty, I request a one-on-one man battle!"

"Your Majesty, I request a team battle..."

"Alright, let's put the name of the town aside for now. If you can't decide, I'll decide." Seeing the elders about to start a group fight in the Stag Room, Horn waved his hand irritably. "You guys should put the country first during this time, promote the conscription, investigate the situation, and then summarize it.

If you really want to fight, I'll give you a chance in the future to fight to your heart's content."

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

They still haven't trained enough.