Priests were few in Fiveria, they had been for a long time now. But their small numbers did not mean that their influence was small. Anything but. With the exception of the guilds in Wathamalin, the clergy were the only ones who had managed to keep a large influence in Fiveria in spite of the great power that the nobles held. It was in part due to their prevalence across Ezaes, just trying to go against them would antagonise a lot of other countries. Though they had made sure that that was not the only thing keeping them influential.

That included a monopoly over education of none nobles. It did not mean that they educated everybody, but that others were not allowed to educate people with the exception of artisan trades. The church had managed this over the course of several centuries if increasing and decreasing influence. Once they held a privilege, it was unlikely for the priesthood to let it go. The only place Braydon knew that the church held almost no influence was the Barakhil Empire, it was tradition that no earthly power had authority over the emperor, even if that was only de jure. There had been many times over the past few emperors that they had sought the help of the church. It had only returned to the old system under the previous emperor as he rebuilt the empire.

The problem was, this was not the  empire. The clergy held a significant voice at court and in local proceedings, even if they did not speak most of the time. The great wealth and number of followers ensured that. And now, Nela was saying that he should go against that?

“You do know the implications of what you have just said right?” Braydon had to make sure. If she knew what she was talking about, then he did not know if he could call her sane anymore. 

“Of course I do. And I am not trying to start a crusade against us either.” Nela had realised that her comments had scared Braydon and Steven more than she had anticipated. ‘Do you know that little about me after all this time?’ He should have known that she liked to start her ideas with provocative openers by now.

“Then what idea do you have in mind? I cannot exactly afford to hire one on one clerical tutors for everybody that looks promising. There aren't that many self-effacing priests, nor do I have the money for that.”  Braydon did not see how that could work, at most he could afford to hire a tutor for ten or so commoners. Even if all of them turned out to be perfect fits for the roles he needed filling, there would be way more jobs than clerks to fill them. Most noble families built these kinds of things up over the generations, but he had to start from scratch. All of his father’s administrative people had been set up in Heimron. There was no way he was ever going to get anyone from there, lest George started a civil war.

“What I have in mind will mean that you only have to hire one. They can act as the head of a school, and leave most of the teaching to other people. Those people will also be ‘students’, there is nothing in church teachings about fellow students helping each other learn. They will just be staying on a bit longer than everybody else.” Nela’s plan sounded almost too good to be true. But the more Braydon thought about it, the more feasible it became.

The big problem was that he would need a priest who would happily go along with that. And there were not many priests in Fiveria to begin with, most stayed in major cities. The few that had stayed in Fiveria held great individual influence, the rest had moved to more prosperous lands when the nobles started taking power. There were fewer ‘donations and offerings’ to be taken now that Fiveria was much poorer than it had been in the past.

“And where would I find such a man? There are not exactly many priests who are looking for a new home in Fiveria.”

“And who said you had to look for one in Fiveria?” Nela asked back.

“You don’t mean?” Braydon finally understood where she was thinking of recruiting a priest from. With the exception of Ciai there was only one place in Ezaes more chaotic than Fiveria. And it just so happened to be his next door neighbour, Shuluk. 

“Oh, I do. The civil war is a relatively new thing, I am sure that there are some clergy willing to jump ship. It is not like the empire is going to be taking them in either. That leaves us or the Republic of Serhesh. I am sure you could at least find one priest willing to join us.” Nela reasoned. He now saw that she did not want him to step on the toes of the church but step on the toes of Shuluk instead. It was a much easier proposition but easier was a relative term. Just because provoking Shuluk was easier than the church, did not mean that he was keen on doing the former. He controlled all of two viscounties, against an entire country. That was not a fight he could win even when he factored in the civil war.

“And how do you suppose I do that? I do not want to wake up to an angry earl with his armies on my doorstep.” 

“All we need to do is make sure that one just so happens to visit Fiveria. It is not our fault if he never ends up returning, is it?” He was sure Nela loved living life dangerously, why else would she come up with such daring strategies? Though he noted that she had made perfect use of a priest’s ability to cross even a completely closed border without hassle. It was one of the perks of being part of the church. There were a lot of perks of being part of the church.

Darkwood

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