Six Cardinals

Six Cardinals (6大神官長) are the highest-ranking priests in the Slane Theocracy.

Background
The Six Cardinals are the highest authority of the six sects in the nation. The rank of Cardinal is higher compared to a representative of governmental affairs; the vice is that a Cardinal receives no wages. This policy is so that people who aspire to become Cardinal would not be motivated to rise through the ranks by greed.

The Undead King Arc
During a special meeting in the Theocracy, one of the Six Cardinals issued an order to Nigun, commanding him to eliminate the strongest warrior of the Re-Estize Kingdom, Gazef Stronoff. That unnamed Cardinal would then hand over a treasured item that contains a miracle of the Gods to help him use it on his mission if a dire crisis arises.

The Lizard Man Heroes Arc
When the Black Scripture returned with numerous losses, the Six Cardinals held a conference with the Captain of the Black Scripture. Learning of the extremely powerful vampire they encountered, the Cardinals decided to place a standard observation team to monitor the vampire for the sake of maintaining the status quo.

The Cardinals figured that instead of suffering major losses from attacking the unknown vampire, it was better to let the monster be before gathering their forces. This was due to their idea that no other nations out there except the Slane Theocracy's God-Kins and Dragon Lords as the only two potential candidates who could stand a chance against that undead and defeating it.

Nevertheless, they speculated that if someone like that were to turn up, that meant someone they had to be wary of appeared, and they had to tighten their national defense first in response to the potential threat. However, it's unclear if they have really followed through with the idea of strengthening their national defense, since learning of the fact that it was Momon who killed the vampire.

The Ruler of Conspiracy Arc
The Cardinals attended a meeting of the highest authorities in the Slane Theocracy, the Supreme Council in response to the emergence of the Sorcerer Kingdom. While initially debating whether they should have intervened, after all, the Cardinals concluded that remaining neutral was the right decision upon learning about the Sorcerer Kingdom's military strength. Their despair only increased up learning that Ainz Ooal Gown wiped out most of the Kingdom's Army with a single spell. They were further shocked upon learning that E-Rantel was at peace despite being ruled by an undead.

Weighing their options, they and the Council decided how to proceed after learning about this report. The Theocracy would continue to focus on their war with the Elf Country while sending the Clearwater Scripture to E-Rantel to collect information. An envoy would be sent to the Empire to check if Emperor Jircniv is still loyal to humanity. They also wanted to bring former Black Scripture members out of retirement to have them aid the Dragon Kingdom against the Beastman Country.

The Witch of the Falling Kingdom Arc
After the Sorcerer Kingdom declared a war of retribution against the Re-Estize Kingdom for stealing their grain transports, the Slane Theocracy's higher ups, chose to instead take advantage of the situation to improve their military rather than offer aid to their fellow human nation. For that reason, the Six Cardinals deploy some members of the Black Scripture into the doomed kingdom to recruit their high level Adventurers into escaping the war and joining the Theocracy.

Later during their negotiations with Blue Roses and Azuth Aindra, the 11th Seat of the Black Scripture made constant reference on her superiors of how they praised her for her obedience on simply following orders. This implies that the Cardinals thought highly of her due to her choosing to follow their orders accordingly and not actually think for herself.

Strength
Besides holding great political power and influence over their specific sect, each of the Cardinals (aside from the one belonging to the same sect as the current Pontifex Maximus) was a potential candidate to be the next Pontifex Maximus.

The Cardinals' position and influence likely gives them immense personal power over the six religious sects of the Six Great Gods. Additionally, the six cardinals are also given the duty of being the primary commanders and superiors to the Six Scriptures and are charged with giving them missions. This includes finding new members and managing the six groups themselves. In other words, they have immense power to pull over the Theocracy's military and government.

Known Members

 * Berenice Nagua Santini, the Cardinal of Fire.
 * Zinedine Delan Guelfi, the Cardinal of Water.
 * Dominic Ihre Partouche, the Cardinal of Wind.
 * Raymond Zarg Lauransan, the Cardinal of Earth and commander of the Six Scriptures.
 * Yvon Jasna Delacroix, the Cardinal of Light.
 * Maximilian Oreio Lagier, the Cardinal of Darkness.

Trivia

 * The Six Cardinals are among the twelve people that sit on the council of the Slane Theocracy.
 * During her early childhood, Zesshi Zetsumei was stolen away from her mother's side by a Previous Generation of Cardinals in order to train and develop her powers as a God-kin for the Theocracy's military.
 * However due to the Cardinals raising her and snatching her away from her mother at such a young age, Zesshi ended up developing a very vicious and vengeful personality. It was the result of the Cardinals raising her to desire vengeance against the Elf King for his vile acts against her mother.


 * This eventually lead to the current Generation of Cardinals being put into a difficult position due to the previous generations actions. It was considered to be an active source of frustration for the current Cardinals due to how troublesome Zesshi's personality is and how difficult it is to keep her under control due to the terrible parenting of their predecessors.


 * The Cardinals made their Anime debut on September 29, 2015 and their official descriptions were released in the Volume 10 on May 30, 2016. Based on their characteristics from the Light Novel their Anime counterparts, from left to right they should correspond to the correct character: Raymond Zarg Lauransan, Dominoc Ihre Partouche, Zinedine Delan Guelfi, Yvon Jasna Delacroix, Berenice Nagua Santini, and Mazimilian Oreio Lagier.