After completing his prayers in the main hall of the temple, Leilin was finally led by several handmaidens to meet Bishop Tabris.
"My child, it seems you've run into trouble!"
Tabris's opening words were remarkably blunt.
"Yes, Your Excellency the Bishop. I urgently need the Knowledge God's teachings and guidance..."
Just seeing the other party's attitude put Leilin considerably at ease. Tabris was exactly as he had guessed — he merely intended to use this matter to put pressure on their family, with no real plan to actually replace the Farolan family.
If that were the case, then sacrificing some gains in exchange for the other party's assistance was not something difficult to bring up.
Seeing Leilin's response, Bishop Tabris also nodded inwardly with approval.
As the heir of the Farolan family, Leilin's commitments were ones that even Baron Jonas had to uphold — let alone a pledge made to the temple, with a deity bearing witness to it.
"It seems Baron Jonas has a rather outstanding heir!"
Tabris thought to himself slowly, then looked at Leilin again. "Dear young Leilin, have you heard of Viscount Dimm?"
"Viscount Dimm?" Leilin's voice carried a note of confusion. After Anthony's tutoring, he certainly knew of the upper nobility within the Danbres Kingdom, but he did not seem to have heard of this viscount's deeds.
"Oh! Look at me! Viscount Dimm's enfeoffment ceremony was only held last month — it's perfectly normal that you haven't heard of him. But you've certainly heard of his father — Marquis Lewis!"
Tabris watched Leilin's expression with a degree of anticipation.
"Marquis Lewis? The king's own brother!" Leilin drew in a sharp breath. Though he had known this matter would not be simple, he had not expected it to involve the royal-lineage nobles directly.
The nobility were never a monolithic bloc, and the power struggle between regional and central nobles had never ceased for a single moment. While they might unite against the authority of the church, once external pressure diminished, competing for interests became second nature to them once more.
And among these factions, the central nobility and the regional nobility were the two most fiercely opposed camps.
"Yes, that Viscount Dimm has come of age. Though he is merely a second son, Marquis Lewis dotes on him greatly — even hoping to secure a fief for him..."
Tabris stopped at that point, leaving the rest for Leilin to figure out on his own.
"So that's how it is!" Leilin nodded gravely.
Though the royal line was the sovereign of the entire Danbres Kingdom, it was impossible for them to own all the land. Through generations of fief grants and the rise of other nobles, the crown's directly held territory had dwindled considerably by now.
At present, virtually all the kingdom's lands had been carved up. Even princes and princesses, if they were not in favor, might fail to secure a hereditary title — left with nothing but a courtesy count or marquis rank and perhaps a handful of large estates at best.
As a brother of the current king, Marquis Lewis had still managed to secure quite a few benefits. His fief was the Bodie Archipelago — a chain of overseas islands whose combined area far exceeded the Faolan territory. It even boasted several excellent deepwater harbors.
To put it bluntly, even the Faolan family was merely profiting off the massive trade flowing through the Bodie Archipelago, doing the hard work on Marquis Lewis's behalf for a meager cut.
But Lewis had a legitimate heir and could not very well split his fief — that would be an act of spectacular foolishness. So he had to look elsewhere.
Perhaps, this time, his gaze had fallen upon the Faolan territory.
Depriving a hereditary noble of his fief without cause would undoubtedly send shockwaves through aristocratic circles. But if the family's line happened to be extinguished first, and then Marquis Lewis ordered Dimm to inherit the family name, things would be far easier to manage. With the marquis's influence, the fallout from such a move could be kept to a minimum.
"Thank you for your candor, Your Excellency. From this day forward, the Faolan territory will be fully opened to the Temple of Knowledge. Furthermore, after the matter is settled, a separate tract of land will be designated on the eastern side of the island as an offering to the Church..."
Leilin rose and expressed his gratitude.
Though all of this was simply information the other party had laid out, he felt it was entirely plausible.
One key point was that the Faolan territory was in fact cutting into their profits — even if only by a small margin, it was enough to displease Marquis Lewis.
The second was that the Faolan family was merely a newly risen noble house, without a deep web of entanglements and alliances. Moving against them would cause minimal ripple effects.
"Could it be... that this is also part of the struggle between the regional faction and the central faction?"