"The church's frequent probing must mean they're becoming suspicious, right?" Vittorio said, frowning.
Two months had passed since they had defeated the imperial forces, and the fact that there was no further onslaught undoubtedly raised suspicions.
"Then we should give them something memorable!" Lynn volunteered eagerly.
Harrov and the others were shocked; they all understood that 'something memorable' naturally meant using nuclear magic again!
"You don't mean to attack the Holy City directly, do you?" Aurora asked with evident interest.
That would indeed leave a 'lasting impression' on those bishops!
Lynn rolled his eyes; to blow up the land of faith would provoke the church into a fight to the death with them!
An incarnation sent down by [Aira] could hang each of them up and beat them; it was better to tread carefully.
"Where do you plan to use it then?" Aurora asked, puzzled. Using it on other cities of the empire wouldn't be effective and would affect a large number of the poor.
It wouldn't do to just find an empty place to explode it, right?
Lynn shook his head and said with amusement, "Haven't those Elemental Wizards been worried about how to eliminate the radiation problem? This time we can solve it all together!"
How to efficiently resolve the spread of nuclear radiation?
That, of course, is to detonate a larger thermonuclear bomb on site, a proper cleansing!
After ten days of purge operations, the rollercoaster-like grain prices gradually stabilized.
The council finally began to buy back the surplus wheat in the market at one copper per kilogram, just half the price before the food war, but at least it left a lifeline for some grain merchants, preventing them from going bankrupt.
Most importantly, selling the grain on the spot to the council was more cost-effective for the grain merchants than risk being caught smuggling the grain into the empire.
As for the surplus wheat, it was fed into newly established workshops, transformed into spirits and maltose, enriching the commoners' diet, a win-win situation!
But sadness and joy are relative; they usually just shift from one person's face to another's!
The one to bear the suffering for the kingdom's citizens was, of course, Monroe!
Seeing the sky-high grain prices a few days ago, Monroe was eagerly anticipating his famine plot to plunge the whole kingdom into famine and chaos, which would earn him the greatest credit for the church to eliminate the wizards and recover the kingdom!
However, heaven and hell are just a moment apart, and the wizards seemed to have an endless supply of grain. In one month, they released hundreds of thousands of tons with no signs of running out, even converting the workshops' three meals a day to four!
It was as if they were mocking the food war he had provoked...
Monroe was filled with confusion and incomprehension until Ivina brought back a copy of the Magic Daily, and he realized the wizards had been using magic to create bread all along!
When he got the news, Monroe was stunned and almost thought it could be another false message from the wizards.
Creating food out of thin air with magic sounded implausible, but the goods piled on several train carriages couldn't be faked, and so was the massive amount of wheat the wizards had previously released. Reluctantly, he had to admit that the wizards might actually have a way to magically produce edible food.
It is said the council is considering spreading this [Bread Making Magic], and in the future, all official wizards could learn it...
So Monroe spent several days mired in endless anxiety and panic until the day finally arrived when the Communication Crystal Ball was fully charged.
Although he was very clear that he would face the harshest punishment, based on the sincerest faith in his heart for the Lord, Monroe still did not hesitate to initiate the communication and recounted the whole event from the beginning to end.
The more Monroe spoke, the more agitated he became, and finally he ended up sobbing bitterly as he accused the Wizards of their sinister deceit, as well as that inexplicable magic bread-making technique.
In summary, it was one phrase—The enemy is extremely cunning, with cheats; it truly wasn't a fault of warfare!
Gazing at Monroe, who was kneeling on the ground weeping bitterly, Pope Alvis found himself with his full fury somewhat having nowhere to vent.
For Monroe's kingdom collapse plan, they had mobilized countless personnel and even exposed the nobility of the kingdom they had just turned.
Originally, this force could have been used when the Empire launched a large-scale war, to incite rebellion in the western and northern frontiers of the kingdom and thus form a pincer attack, preventing the Wizards from looking after both the front and rear.
Now everything was completely destroyed!
However, Alvis was very clear that the failure of this plan couldn't be entirely blamed on Monroe, after all, making bread with magic was completely beyond common sense!
Let alone Monroe, even Alvis himself couldn't believe it was real to this day!
But whether it was from the spies in Fire Oil City or from all over the kingdom, the confirmed news had been relayed back.
Many people had seen trains carrying boxes of wheat flour and bread entering cities of the kingdom, some even purchased a few pieces of so-called magic bread, which indeed was very special, softer than regular bread, and tastier; if it could be paired with a dish of beans, that would be a rare delicacy!
Considering this point, Alvis didn't erupt in his wrath easily, excessively punishing an agent in the midst of an infiltration mission was not a wise move.
Alvis directly passed over this topic, and instead began to inquire about the remaining intelligence, such as the location where Judgement Chief Joshua was detained.
"I have not found the exact location yet, but I've confirmed that Lord Joshua is bound within Fire Oil City, as the council has put the vast majority of their forces here; they wouldn't dare to transfer the Judgement Chief Lord to other places…" Monroe hastily relayed all the intelligence he had gathered these past days.
Inside Fire Oil City, there were several places that were suspect, with extremely tight security; he suspected that Joshua was detained at one of those locations...
But clearly this information was not enough to satisfy Pope Alvis, and couldn't make up for the blow of losing the important chess piece of the kingdom's nobility, Monroe bit his teeth and decided to make one more big gamble to prove his worth!
"Your Holiness Pope, I have discovered an important piece of intelligence; I had not been completely sure of it before, but now I dare to confirm it."
"Let's hear it," Alvis mustered a sliver of interest.
Monroe spoke confidently. "Throughout this past month, I've met with a dozen Wizards from the council and learned quite a bit about the deeds of the 'Star of Magic' from them!"
"Years ago, he and another witch named Johnny arrived together on a boat from the port town to Eyeta; after evaluation by the council, he was only a third-ring Wizard at that time!"
"A third-ring Wizard could kill thousands of elite guards and destroy half a port city?" Alvis couldn't help but interrupt Monroe's speech.
"According to rumors, he used a special powder that could trigger explosions, and now the Wizards are using this technology on their airships," Monroe quickly explained.
Alvis nodded his head in acknowledgement; he had indeed received intelligence that the Wizards' sky airships could drop a large amount of 'Hellfire' from their bottoms, so that could also be explained.
"Furthermore, I've investigated and found that the 'Star of Magic' had only just broken through to become a Great Wizard a year ago; every single Wizard from the council is very clear about this, and their descriptions do not have the slightest error, it is not made up!" Monroe declared with certainty.
Which is to say, the 'Star of Magic' is now merely a fourth-ring Great Wizard, how could he possibly wield a magic so terrifying that it could in an instant erase a mountain peak, rendering the area for tens of kilometers around into apocalyptic wasteland?
That must be a Heavenly Disaster!
It is possible that the Wizards merely guided, utilized this power; otherwise if a fourth-ring Great Wizard could wield such magic, the entire Empire would have been leveled by the council long ago!