Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1418 1390. Two Views
Is the Church of Eternal Fire big?

It is very large, and can almost be said to be the most widely spread faith in the north besides the Meliteli faith.

And unlike the Meliteli faith, which broadly emphasizes maternal love, the Eternal Flame actually established a church with strong control and execution capabilities as an organizational structure.

In fact, any religious philosophy, no matter how laissez-faire it is, once the organizational structure is established and expanded to such a large scale, then this religion can no longer be just a religion.

The nature of organizations naturally tends to tend to possess greater power and strength.

So even now, the loose and broad faith of Meliteli remains a faith of maternal love.

However, the Eternal Flame that established the organizational structure became increasingly radical and xenophobic.

And because of this radicalism and xenophobia, it has developed more rapidly at the organizational level.

But it is precisely because of this radicalism and xenophobia that it is unlikely for them to obtain detailed information about the demon hunters.

Because this undoubtedly goes against their overall organizational style in recent years.

There are always pros and cons to everything. The style of Eternal Flame allows them to expand rapidly, but it also makes it impossible for them to adjust their attitude flexibly.

What would the extremists think if they knew you were looking for knowledge about the demon hunter?
Doesn't the Church actually believe that the power of the Eternal Fire is divine and supreme guidance?
As for those warlocks and demon hunters who were themselves targeted by the Church of the Eternal Fire, who would dare to seek cooperation with the church? To leak information?

Of course, the Church of the Eternal Fire has grown so large now, there must be people studying demon hunters or even other mystical sciences.

But this matter certainly cannot be brought to the table, nor can it be included in the cooperation with the White Rose Knights.

Although the White Rose Knights' belief in the Eternal Fire has become a popular belief, they are still an armed organization outside the church and are outsiders.

There is always struggle for power and profit within the church, so how can outsiders be trusted so much?
Therefore, the Eternal Flame and the Knights of the White Rose are unlikely to be the source of the investigation of the witcher's physical information.

But now, even Seaward doesn't get involved in this. So where do these news and knowledge come from?
And this teleportation array.
Lan En turned his head and looked at the collapsing wall that he had just smashed.

A corner of the magic circle that was submerged in blood was revealed in his field of vision.

From Lan En's point of view, this is a magic array with 'notification + positioning' functions.

In other words, if the recipient of the notification is not a warlock with the ability to open a portal, this thing is completely useless.

The Knights of the White Rose have a not-so-bad warlock friend, or at least a collaborator with a common interest.

But who could it be?
On a small hill outside the castle where the Knights of the White Rose were stationed, a man wearing the armor of the Knights of the White Rose with a small shield emblem of a blooming white rose hanging on his chest shook his hands.

He has a brown beard and looks about 40 years old. The beard is connected to the short brown hair on the side of his cheek. He has a square face and a serious temperament.

It would not be out of place for such a face to appear on the facade of the White Rose Knights.

Jacques of Edsberg is indeed a well-known figure in the White Rose Knights and a strong candidate for the position of leader.

As he swung his hand, the orderly chaotic magic light suddenly became scattered and finally disappeared into the night.

It is really ironic that a knight of the White Rose Knights has the glow of chaos magic in his hands.

But the knight himself didn't feel the slightest bit.

"The portal failed."

He looked at his hands without surprise.

The hand that failed to cast the spell was unharmed because he put all the cost and damage of the portal's failure on the people inside the portal.

"Of course, of course it will fail."

He also said it without surprise.

The square face that looked serious and righteous looked towards the garrison castle, as if he saw exactly what happened inside.

The first requirement for a military organization's base is that the interior cannot be directly observed from the outside, to prevent someone from seeing at a glance the number of personnel, warehouse distribution, patrol routes and other information inside.

Therefore, when setting up camp outdoors, one usually chooses the highest terrain around so that one can observe others from above. However, once the wall is erected, people outside cannot see inside.

The Knights' resident castle certainly also adheres to this.

But the man's sight made people doubt whether the wall could block his observation.

"The Lord Hunter, the defender of Cintra and Vergen, has always been so strong. How could a portal stop him from killing people?"

The man in his forties muttered in a deep voice, looked at the garrison castle with flickering fire, and turned to leave.

Lan En did not set the fire, but as the castle became more and more chaotic, more and more people were awakened from their sleep, and naturally more and more torches were lit.

"But it's just right. I was planning to let these rubbish die in the portal." "This way, the purge of the Knights will be complete."

He was wearing a full set of plate armor, but walking steadily and easily on the mountain road, casually removing the small white rose shield emblem hanging on the chest of his armor.

Jacques nonchalantly threw the small shield emblem, which symbolized the identity and honor of the Knights Templar, into the wild grass on the hill and disappeared.

But the paranoid flame in this man's eyes almost burned up in an instant!
"The corrupt and powerless white rose has been purged. Next, it will become a burning flaming rose!"
-
Lan En realized that there seemed to be someone else behind this action of the White Rose Knights.

But there are very few clues left in this place, no traces of letters or documents.

Lan En suspected that the connection between the White Rose Knights and the hidden guy was probably entirely transmitted verbally.

And the Grand Master of the Knights, Rudolf, himself was turned into a literal puddle of powder.

In addition, the meeting date on Sennide Island was approaching, and there was really no time left for a thorough investigation.

So Lan could only frown and put the matter aside for the time being, preparing to head to Gos Velen according to the schedule agreed upon with Geralt and the others.

But before leaving the castle which was in complete chaos, Lan En had a 'cordial' conversation with the dwarf captain of the guards.

Dwarves do have stubborn tempers, but fortunately, the dwarves in the magical Middle Ages were not as stubborn as the dwarves in the World of Arda.

Although there are no major conflicts between us, as long as you want to force me, even if you put a knife to my neck, I will not give in.

Before Lan took a crossbow with a magic-blocking gold arrowhead and gently "placed" it into the rock wall of the secret room with a light gesture that was almost like tapping his fingers -

"I have never admitted who I am, Captain Kramer. We conquered this castle and killed all the White Rose Knights inside. It was all because of our concerted efforts and our skillful skills."

"I didn't see your face clearly, but you didn't even use a curse word, and you wanted me to believe that you were a bandit? What nonsense are you bragging about? Anyway, I am the captain of the guard of Prince Heward. I say what I see, without making up or lying. That's it."

And then——

"Well, then. Now, tell me again what you saw, Sir Captain of the Guards?"

In response to Lan's soft and even very polite question, Sir Dennis Kramer first looked at the arrow that was pushed hard into the rock, and then looked at the shadow under the hood.

The dwarf's stubborn and hard face was very calm.

"I saw Rudolf and his men scramble to enter a portal to escape, but the wall suddenly collapsed, and a crossbow with a blue arrowhead was inserted into the wall. Then the portal suddenly became unstable and collapsed."

"Besides, after I came here on the orders of Prince Seaward, I have been staying at the top level and have not had the opportunity to look down, so I didn't see what happened down there."

It's all truth, no lies.

When the portal was opened, a magic-blocking gold crossbow arrow flew by and caused the portal to collapse, which is completely logical and realistic.

So with a friendly nod, Lan turned and left the castle.

Dennis Kramer remained expressionless as he watched the extraordinarily tall figure gradually move away until it disappeared into the stairwell.

It was not until two minutes later that a crack appeared on his lips among his beard, which was caked with vomit.

"call!"

He let out a long sigh, and at the same time, a layer of white sweat almost instantly appeared on the skin of his forehead, back, and neck.

The dwarf gritted his teeth, as if he had just fought a very exhausting battle.

He looked up at the stairwell where Lan En walked down, his expression complicated.

He would still report everything he saw to Duke Seaward of Elland, because that was his duty, and he was definitely not someone who would neglect his duty.

Not only did he know about this, Lan En also knew about it.

They both knew at the same time that even if they told the news to Heward exactly as it was, he would definitely use Dennis Kramer's later statement to make the external announcement.

The situation is different now.

As Siward is the Duke of the Duchy in Temeria, the dwarves serving beside him are even more aware of this. The storm is about to come!
And at this juncture, it doesn’t matter that this group of knights were killed by that [Lord Hunt].

Compared with this, the most important thing is to make sure that the position of the Lord Hunter is still with the North, not Nilfgaard.

The second most important thing is who is involved in this action of the White Rose Knights, and who instigated or controlled them to do such a thing.

Are there more knights who have been instigated and controlled, but have not yet taken action, waiting for a more critical moment to take action?
The survival of the knightly order itself is even ranked third in importance.

Dennis Kramer and Lan also knew that Seaward would still tell the truth when reporting to Foltest, but when the King of Temeria announced the results of the investigation, he would still use the second statement.

(End of this chapter)