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IBHJ Chapter 576
🕑 Added 2023-11-17 00:46:58 +0000 UTCMordred had suffered losses from religion before, so she deeply understood how it operated and spread. Most importantly, though no one knew, she had infiltrated the position of bishop in the past.
And this was Mordred's most lethal weapon in playing this game.
She unified the missionaries within Arthur's territory, proclaiming herself the human incarnation of God, the Holy Spirit, declaring herself Pope, and turned Camelot into the Divine Camelot Theocracy. She implemented theocracy, tampered with doctrine to serve her, and began exporting religion outward.
Through religious propagation, she controlled the citizens of the southern Irish kingdoms, dividing their countries over differing beliefs, forcing their kings to bow to her and accept her coronation.
In an instant, she had propelled her own country into a medieval theocracy.
And without her arrangement, those fanatic missionaries began spontaneously preaching in Shirou's country.
When those missionaries came to spread their teachings, Shirou was shocked.
He had not expected Mordred to implement theocracy and religious propagation.
Religion - this could be called the ideological virus that had shackled human development throughout history. The best weapon to divide countries and control citizens.
To counter religion, aside from promoting scientific concepts, only religious war could be waged. But promoting science in the classical era was wishful thinking, and waging religious war...
Forget it. Modifying doctrine was still acceptable, but waging religious war...Shirou did not know how to do this.
Therefore, when Mordred's missionaries came to preach, Shirou originally wanted to intimidate and entice them over. But these fanatics lived only in a spiritual world. Neither material temptation nor threats could sway them.
Left with no choice, he slaughtered the missionaries.
A monarch could only rule over the flesh and will of citizens, but not their thoughts.
Yet religion attacked thoughts directly.
Once thinking was infected by religious ideology, it would spread faster and wider than any flu virus.
This was why modern countries severely cracked down on emerging cults, yet allowed established religions to exist.
It had to be said, Mordred's tactic of theocracy and religious transformation had caught him off guard.
Left with no choice, he directly went to war.
He mobilized troops from his subject states, directly invading Wales. While he himself led troops, invading southward from the border.
"War has finally begun?" the observing Sisigou said with interest, watching on the sidelines.
The previous developments had been boring, he had almost fallen asleep.
But seeing this war, Saber frowned. She did not understand why when Mordred's side first called for people to believe in God, Shirou's side started attacking. Wasn't believing in God very normal?
"Hmph," Mordred snorted upon receiving the military report. "So he's seen through the stakes?"
She calmly began deploying defenses. At this time, Shirou's national power was stronger than hers - both militarily and in domestic productivity. He could clash with her head-on.
Mordred lost a city, but was not discouraged. She had expected a full invasion, so she decentralized her troops for guerrilla warfare.
But what surprised Mordred was that Shirou did not massively invade. After taking a city, he began governing it.
"Not good!" Mordred's heart shook. She knew things had gone bad.
Religious propagation had not caused Shirou to panic and attack. Rather, he chose the most rational path - steady advance, invading while governing at the same time.
This was not looking good. The core of guerrilla warfare was that the enemy could not gain a foothold. Yet Shirou had clearly seen through this, choosing the inefficient but steady method of gradual advance!
In simple terms, it was like a slow knife, cutting bit by bit - slow yet steady.
Seeing this, Mordred was anxious, though she remained calm on the surface.
The power of religion lay in ideological invasion, which took time.
However, Shirou saw through this essence and gave Mordred no time at all. He struck like lightning and saw through her tricks.
He turned the war into a complete war of attrition based on national power.
Shirou's supply lines were intact and abundant, his advance steady. Many cheering Irish vassal states also took the lead in battle for him, forming an unstoppable momentum crushing everything before it.
At this moment, Shirou's domestic development was complete. He just needed to stall Mordred's development, keeping her in a constant state of military readiness without time to produce or develop. Meanwhile, he could continue strengthening domestic production and construction.
Mordred wanted to resolve this situation, but she had no effective means.
Faced with the majesty of royal power, all conspiracies and tricks lost their usefulness.
Such was royal power – utilizing national advantage to openly and justly crush everything before it. All conspiracies were like dirt falling into the sun, instantly crumbling away.
In other words, in the face of absolute power, all tricks were worthless.
Mordred wanted to create a plague, but Shirou had sanitation and control locked down, giving her no chances.
Moreover, being on constant military readiness led to internal conflicts emerging within Mordred's domain.
Although she used public opinion to control the masses, many generals with their own forces had their own ideas.
Shirou sent spies that had not been caught to contact these generals, secretly supporting these rebellious elements with their own ambitions, preparing to split Mordred's domain!
Once a disadvantaged country falls into turmoil, all kinds of monsters and demons emerge.
Unnoticed by Mordred's spies, Shirou began secretly contacting generals holding military power, supporting warlord forces within Mordred's territory.
Countries with unified religious and political power, though monarchs have supreme authority and strong control, also breed ambitious individuals.
Humans are like this - give them power and influence, give them opportunity, and greater ambitions arise.
Therefore, being a monarch, especially a qualified one, requires very high skill.
Otherwise, they may be assassinated, killed by enemies, betrayed by people, or overthrown in coups...
Shirou supported these ambitious individuals, making grand promises to them.
Especially those generals guarding the mountain passes - the promises made to them were even greater, making them happily open the passes to him.
Moreover, some arrogant generals simply became independent warlords under Shirou's support, acting as independent armed forces.
This made Mordred stomp her feet in anger.
"This is..."
Seeing this scene, Saber felt a burst of excitement she couldn't stop. Because...wasn't this the scene where Mordred had killed her?
The only difference was that now it was not Mordred destroying Saber, but Shirou destroying Mordred!
Previously as an insider, Saber had been clueless about the situation. And now, witnessing as an outsider how Shirou won over the generals and split Mordred's forces, she felt both thrilled to learn something new and grief over the fall of an opponent.
...
Mordred gritted her teeth, racking her brains for a way to turn the situation around.
She now faced inner discord from split military factions, and the outward threat of Shirou's massive army - besieged by troubles both within and without.
To resolve this, the only way was to seek foreign aid. But Ireland could no longer be relied on. Her only option left was Europe. However, conjuring up the entire British Isles was already an impressive feat - how could she possibly simulate Europe too?
Was this a dead end then?
Could she only await death?
Through acquired learning, she had picked up many fine qualities. But there was one that was innate to her nature - her unrelenting stubbornness in the face of defeat!
In this situation, others might have already given up hope in desperation. But Mordred was different - she was still thinking of ways to turn things around.
However, the gap between her and Shirou was too great now. Within this illusion, there was no chance left.
After pondering repeatedly, she gritted her teeth and decided on the risky move of assassination.
She sent her trusted general outwards, attracting Shirou's spies to make contact and pretend to defect to Shirou's side, gaining Shirou's covert support in the process of "defecting".
Then Mordred installed a confidant as her body double, while she herself disguised as a village girl and infiltrated the camp of her trusted general.
She had precautions in case Shirou managed to turn her general, but with things as they were, she could only take the risk.
Fortunately, Shirou did not seem to see through the authenticity of this general, and had not managed to buy him over.
This made Mordred breathe a sigh of relief. Using this general, she penetrated deep into Shirou's camp and met with him.
She concealed herself well, and the assassination dagger was hidden even more meticulously.
The dagger she prepared was very short, able to be hidden in the belly of a fish during a banquet meal.
Mordred would use this fish-concealed dagger to assassinate Shirou.
Comments
JeanMartin Freites
At least Saber is enjoying things.
Lucas
É eu querendo admitir ou não quando a fé é moldada em fanatismo realmente se torna uma doença
Lucas
Não é? Ele é muito bom.
Hiram Resendez
Really? Thank you for clarifying that, I'm a little bit new in the nasuverse, I didn't know that haha
Duck
Looking at it from the perspective of Fate, the way it’s depicted makes sense. Yes, I don’t agree with this stance and neither should you, but in the world of fate this is actually the truth. The gods abandoned humanity and the few that remained either died or were met with a worse fate than that. In stories like this, you gotta have a certain level of detachment from personal and religious belief in order to fully enjoy the setting.
Hiram Resendez
Well done, wordsmith
Hiram Resendez
I gotta be honest, I don't like this chapter in some parts because of how religion is treated, but your writing... I cannot stop thinking that you are very talented of how you treated Shiro and his relationship with deities haha.
