Silent Crown

"That was excellent preaching just now," Shi Dong told Ye Qingxuan on the stage. "You are gifted as a bishop. You really don't want to join the Church? I can guarantee that you will be the one that will probably sit on the throne of the Pope among all cardinal bishops by the time when you are 50. You may be the one to provide the flesh body of the next King Red." 𝐟re𝐞w𝐞𝒃𝓃𝒐𝐯𝚎𝒍.c૦𝚖

"Spare me. I'm not interested in digging out my brain and soaking it in a jar." Ye Qingxuan shook his head. "Is it really possible to finish with a month?"

"Yes, if we build a simple one. We can upgrade it in the future," Shi Dong answered. "We lack too many instruments here. That will save us a lot of trouble. And I think there was something you didn't tell him: without maintenance and upgrading after it's built, what he'll have will be the shell of a ship with the main artillery." 𝗳r𝗲𝙚w𝐞𝚋𝘯𝚘ѵ𝗲l.𝑐oｍ

"We'll have them, all of them." Ye Qingxuan smiled. "What's more, we are a family now that you've signed the contract, so you may save those fake manners. There should be no one who will question the validity of the contract of the Religious Court of Inquisitors, right?"

"Ehhh… I can picture now in my head what you will turn the Religious Court into." Heaving a sigh, Shi Dong turned around. "Please follow me. There's much for you to learn."

-

Ten minutes later, in the dungeon.

Sitting behind the huge desk piled with books and files and staring at the mountains of documents and files, Ye Qingxuan was shocked.

"Wait, what're all those things about?" asked Ye Qingxuan.

"Besides the abilities of a musician, it requires a lot more skill and ability to be a qualified Grand Inquisitor."

An old man in a wheelchair came forward and said, "We'll conduct special training for you next. The training covers, besides basic skills to handle official documents and files, the common strategies to handle things and codes, the hidden agents and information channels in other countries."

A young-looking man who smelt like corpse came up to him and said, "I will teach you the 147 special music movements of the Religious Court of Inquisitors, from the basic level to the Saint level, and special skills and techniques of the purifying musicians."

A bald man who had more than half of his body turned into iron, and, judging from the fleshy part of his body, was a little more than 40 years old, came forward and said, "I'm the leader of the fourth generation of the Knights of the Witch's Hammer. I'll teach you the art of fencing. You will have one class lasting one hour every day. After the training, you may have some fighting skills which you don't have now."

"Ehh…"Ye Qingxuan wanted to say something, but more old men came up.

"I'm the third intelligence officer of the Religious Court of Inquisitors. I'll…"

"I'm…"

"I'm…"

A crowd of old men came to him and introduced themselves. Ye Qingxuan almost fainted. "Wait for a moment! The schedule is filled with more than 20 hours of training classes every day! When do I sleep?"

Bang! A bottle of crystal green alchemy medication was put on the desk.

"The Dream of Emerald, the best reviving medication ever." Another big-nosed old man with an odd smell gave a weird smile and said, "It's also the alchemy product I'm most proud of. One bottle of this will save you a week of sleep."

"What about after one week?"

"Have another bottle of it," the big-nosed old man said gently. "I'm the private medical officer of the six generation knights. I'll be responsible for your health in the following period of time.

"Musicians of the Master's level barely need any sleep. The maximum dose of the Dream of Emerald one can take is six bottles in a row. Considering your aether tolerance, I think you can take ten bottles without a problem.

"So, don't worry, and enjoy your learning time."

"…" Almost petrified, Ye Qingxuan said to Shi Dong, who was the last one to step up, "What about you then?"

"Everything related to war." Shi Dong smiled. "But don't worry. I won't take much time as I have only three hours a day when I'm fully energetic."

"Then I should be thankful." Ye Qingxuan said coldly, "You leave me one hour to eat my meals, shower, and use the toilet."

"No. The last hour is also occupied." Shi Dong took out a full schedule. "That is our discussion time."

"…" Ye Qingxuan felt like he was being choked and wanted to pass out.

"You sure that I can be the most powerful Grand Inquisitor in just a few days?" Ye Qingxuan asked. "Excluding other things, learning the techniques to command a war alone would take a man's whole life, right?"

"Actually, it's our job to study wars, the government's job to prepare for wars, the general's job to command wars, and the soldiers' job to fight wars. You need only to watch."

"Then why should I learn it?"

"You need to understand it, at least." Shi Dong answered, "You need to know what can be done, what is forbidden, and what must be done. You don't want to be the kind of guy who knows nothing at all but always pokes his nose into everything, do you? It's the virtue of an officer not to make trouble for his subordinates at a critical moment. And it's the duty of a senior official to eliminate a trouble-making subordinate through suicide squads. I'll teach you everything about it."

"Are those the right things to teach me?" Ye Qingxuan was shocked again.

"Don't worry. You are the most talented young man I've seen." Shi Dong said with a smile, "You will be a Grand Inquisitor. What's more, besides the compilation of war records, we've also prepared many textbooks…" While saying that, he pointed at the corner. Drawing the curtain up, a huge pile of moldy files appeared around Shi Dong's wheelchair.

These were the summaries and files produced by the old men when they were simulating wars. The old men got delighted when talking about their fruits of "gameplay."

"We have been playing the game of war simulation for more than 80 years, about 40,000 times in total. From the past until modern times, from the East to the West, all the wars we simulated were carefully documented. Sometimes we play the Immortal Army, sometimes the Asgardian squares, sometimes the Knights Templar, and more often, we play ourselves. Annihilation, fortress besieging, fortress attacking, surprise attack, retreat…

"In the boring days, we fought against all the possible imagined enemies throughout history and all over the world. We racked our brains to fight against them.

"Now, the 40,000 war strategies are all here. No matter who your enemies are, there is always one strategy against him."

In the dead silence, Ye Qingxuan looked at the old men who were all smiling oddly and the file, piled as high as a grave, feeling the temptation to kill himself.

Shi Dong smiled heartedly and put the first file in front of him, declaring the coming of a hard time. "So, please show us the legendary learning abilities you claimed to have," he said confidently. "I assure you, you will have a period of time which will be 'extremely fruitful'."