In the depths of the cathedral, Archbishop Maxim wore a serious expression as he gazed at the two individuals in front of him.
Just a few minutes earlier, Tine and her friend Nune had been persistently asking about the residence of the Paladins.
Unlike their earlier disappointed and disgruntled expressions, they now appeared confident as they made a proposition to him, to which Maxim raised an eyebrow with slight intrigue and asked,
“So… you two are planning to catch Santana yourselves?”
“Yes, that’s correct, Archbishop. That guy Santana is a wicked traitor who betrayed our Paladin Order and stabbed you in the back.”
“As you know, we possess the strongest military power among the Paladins here in Milano. Capturing that scoundrel would be a piece of cake for us!”
“Hmm…”
Though Nune and Tine had shown a lack of reliability in past tasks, Archbishop Maxim was considering their proposal positively for various reasons at this moment.
“…Alright, I’ll give you an answer as soon as possible, so just wait for a bit.”
“Yes, Archbishop!”
“I’ll be waiting for your order, Archbishop!”
With a slight pause for thought, Maxim initially offered a positive gesture to the two. After they left, he began calculating the pros and cons of this situation more seriously.
‘They’re asking for support to catch Santana… No doubt with their skills, it’s not entirely impossible.’
Even though they had their shortcomings in terms of intelligence and their rather fickle personalities, Maxim could acknowledge Nune and Tine’s fighting capabilities.
Among the Paladins in Milano, they were undoubtedly top-notch. In fact, he was aware that their combat strength didn’t differ much compared to the strongest Paladin factions guarding the sacred Saint Rome.
However, Maxim was not merely considering this aspect when thinking of assigning this task to them.
‘Honestly speaking, even if they catch Santana, there isn’t much use beyond just taking revenge.’
Despite their competent skills, he had no desire to assign a task to someone he had previously exiled himself. In reality, even if they successfully brought Santana back, it wouldn’t restore the Paladins to their former comfortable lives.
But…
Despite the absence of significant gains, the Archbishop was mulling over this task optimistically. The reason was not solely the expectation of revenge against Santana.
‘Honestly, Santana can end up however he wants. The real problem is those two… and the Paladins themselves.’
The biggest reason he permitted this task.
That was because… at this moment, if he gave a reasonable amount of support in exchange for capturing Santana, he could send the troublesome Nune and Tine far away to a foreign land.
‘While others are a problem too, especially those two are strong and impatient. If the Paladins were to stir up trouble, they would definitely be at the forefront!’
Even now, the Paladins were languishing inside the cathedral. Typically, it would be right for an Archbishop like her to prepare new accommodations for the Paladins in such dire situations and adjust their salaries so that they wouldn’t be dissatisfied, even if it wasn’t as generous as what Santana provided.
However, in this moment, Archbishop Maxim had no intention of fulfilling such obligations whatsoever.
‘Of course… I should offer some sort of support. But that doesn’t mean I can just throw money around like that scoundrel Santana.’
It wasn’t that she didn’t have funds. Originally, the Paladins were under the Holy See located in Saint Rome, which meant a steady flow of funding would come from the Holy See to her each month, and additionally, the Lord was supposed to allocate a certain budget to the Paladins, serving as a robust ally in emergencies.
If she just managed those funds well enough, the situation wouldn’t have deteriorated to one where the Paladins were sleeping on blankets in the cathedral.
Yet, the reason things had come to such hardship was none other than Archbishop Maxim herself.
Year after year, she had secretly siphoned about 40% of the funds allocated for the Paladins, resulting in them struggling through adverse conditions financially.
The process had been so discreet and meticulously executed that none of the Paladins had ever suspected a thing. Consequently, they lived with the understanding that this was just how a Paladin’s life was meant to be.
But… after Santana started “working,” the Paladins, who had gotten used to such a harsh environment, began to experience a change in their financial situation.
With salaries nearly doubling, external support pouring in, and proper accommodations being set up, the Paladins, who had known only poverty and struggle, learned what it meant to live abundantly, gradually growing accustomed to that lifestyle.
And the result…
Having lost Santana and being forced back into their previous impoverished lives, they were no longer willing to accept the same situation as easily as before.
Unlike when they passively accepted poverty from the start, they were now voicing their dissatisfaction with their circumstances.
At this very moment, the reason they were living in the cathedral, merely because they had nowhere else to go, was not the sole cause.
Had it been in the past, they would have each sought jobs and managed to secure their own places to live, but currently, their actions could be seen as a kind of protest.
Due to Archbishop Maxim’s mismanagement, things had come to this, and they were silently protesting to return everything to how it used to be.
To stop such behavior, Maxim would need to normalize the funds she had embezzled and give the Paladins proper support, but at present, she had no desire to do that at all.
If she had successfully seized Santana’s assets, she would have willingly normalized the support for the Paladins even before anyone else could.
However, given the bomb Santana left behind, turning everything to dust, she couldn’t relinquish one of her main sources of funding, the support for the Paladins, due to the lingering feelings of taint.
More than anything, she had learned very well how to manage her subordinates once she rose to the rank of Archbishop.
‘There’s no need to be overly generous to the subordinates; if you over-extend, they might just start climbing over you at some point.’
The best approach was to soothe them just enough so their dissatisfaction didn’t overflow while maximizing her own profit from the situation.
Thus, she concluded that showing just enough pretense to avoid irritation while providing some salary increase would be the best way to resolve the issue effectively.
‘By sending Nune and Tine out like this… and if I just raise their salaries a bit, the Paladins lounging around the cathedral won’t have any objections anymore. With this, I can control their dissatisfaction and, if luck is on my side, maybe even catch that scoundrel Santana…’
Feeling a small thrill at the realization that she could ensure her own benefits in any situation, a greedy smile began to bloom on Archbishop Maxim’s face.
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