Knight and Wand

Chapter 211 Holy Sun Church
We went downstairs to a dining room in the tower castle, where a beautiful woman with an awkward smile on her face brought us breakfast.

After a simple test to see if it was poisonous, Leon took a few sips. It was really not good. It was like someone who had never cooked before, fumbling around in a panic.

Fortunately, he had eaten even more unpalatable raw food during his escape, so he didn't care about the taste of this breakfast. After all, it was cooked.

Glancing at the woman's hurriedly leaving back, Leon remembered that she was among the four people rescued yesterday. Judging from her dress, she was a wealthy woman, not like a castle maid. However, Ivan's family seemed to dislike her and now treated her as a servant, ordering her around.

Not wanting to ask about other people's household gossip, Leon quickly filled his stomach with sausages and fried bread that tasted just fine. He asked the guard where Ivan was, and went to the lord's hall with Olivia.

The smell of iron lingered inside and outside the hall. The sunlight shone in through the window, making it bright. The collapsed lampstands and armor racks were rearranged and put back in place. The bodies had long been taken away by the soldiers, but there were still bloodstains on the floor that had not been washed away.

The lord's throne at the innermost side was still empty. Leon saw Ivan sitting on a chair at the bottom of the steps, surrounded by a crowd of people dressed as town officials.

They were probably reporting on the situation in the town, but Leon couldn't hear the content clearly because of the fast-paced Uriah language.

Seeing that the young knight was in a state of panic, he did not rush forward to disturb him. Instead, he turned around and saw another familiar figure there.

It was the man who claimed to be the leader of the refugees on the city wall yesterday.

The opponent's equipment was brand new than before. Not only was he equipped with leg armor and arm armor, but he was also holding a helmet. There were also several big men who were also fully armored around him.

Ron also noticed the two people coming in, and immediately took the initiative to lead his men forward, knelt on one knee, bowed his head and greeted: "Good day, honorable knight, beautiful and heroic lady knight, I didn't have time to thank you two for saving us yesterday, but we are all victims with nothing, and we have no money to repay you for the time being."

"No need to be so polite, get up. I have some information I need to ask you. Why not consider this as a reward?" Leon raised his hand and motioned for them to get up.

He found that Ron was followed by a young follower with a dagger. The boy stared at him secretly until his eyes met, then he lowered his head as if frightened and confused, and his breathing quickened rapidly, appearing very nervous and frightened.

? .Am I terrible?

Leon wondered.

"Please feel free to ask us. We will tell you everything we know." Ron promised respectfully.

Leon retracted his gaze and turned his attention back to the refugee leader, continuing to gather intelligence: "Do you know where the zombies that attacked the town came from?"

Several refugee men looked at each other, some scratched their heads, some shook their heads.

The heavy taxes, wars, looting and famine that the victims have experienced since last year are the most horrible nightmares they can imagine. But who knows where yesterday's doomsday nightmare came from.

Only Ron, the leader, hesitated for a moment, and finally answered: "Before the disaster yesterday, we heard some rumors that a disaster was coming in the east. Many refugees who tried to go to the border to join the army and survive have no news. I have always thought that the rumor was caused by the burning and killing of the Uriah people and mercenaries. Now, I don’t know if it is related to those evil spirits."

"The disaster in the east? Where exactly is it? Is it in the direction of Rolandar?" Leon asked with a serious expression.

When the other party mentioned the holy city of Serrian, Ron's face twitched, and the scene of hell on earth seemed to return to his mind.

Remembering what he found when he led his men to clean up the bodies yesterday, he expressed his speculation: "I don't know if the rumor refers to Rolandar, but when I led people to clean up the bodies yesterday, I did find some soldiers who belonged to the king in their lifetime. Judging from the emblems on their armor and robes, they should have been the troops attacking Rolandar in their lifetime.
Could it be that you mean that this is the punishment that the Serians prayed to their sun god for Kantadar who broke into the holy land?"

Listening to Ron's weird speculation, Leon frowned slightly, and suddenly realized that the other party claimed to be a deserter yesterday. His left hand holding the sword guard couldn't help but tighten.

The anger that seemed to come from the original owner's memory rushed into Leon's heart.

Olivia tilted her head and looked at her lover with her golden eyes that concealed her pupils. The girl couldn't hear the content of the series of conversations in Uriah, but she noticed the subtle changes in Leon's emotions.

"You are not a noble, but you can recognize the emblems of those soldiers? Have you joined the army that attacked Rolandar?" Leon asked calmly.

Although Ron didn't want to recall that experience, he still didn't hide it: "Yes, I was an officer under a nearby knight. My master died under the city when he was recruited by the king to attack Rolandar. Later, I was incorporated into the siege force until the city was captured. I escaped from the kingdom's army and returned to my hometown."

"Why did you desert?" Leon asked, "Are you afraid of fighting?"

Ron did not refute, but he also did not mention that he had to become a deserter because he killed the warlord and his entourage who wanted to force him to join the beastly crime.

"I was terrified, not by the mountains of corpses and seas of blood during the attack, but by the madness after the city was breached. Everyone went crazy. The miserable scene was even worse than the hell in Vinolis. I couldn't stop it, I could only flee in fear."

Countless poor children of the same age as his own children emerged in his mind, their tragic final state, and the curses uttered by the Serrians in the name of God. Ron's face was filled with sadness and regret. "However, not long after I fled back to my hometown, my nightmare began. The Uriah people and mercenaries suddenly betrayed me and plundered all over this land. My master's territory was slaughtered before the king's army could protect it. My wife and children were almost reduced to slaves. This may be the retribution for blaspheming the Serrian sun god."

Ron patted the young follower on the shoulder and said with a wry smile, "If it wasn't for this kid saving me from death with a gold coin, I would have died with my family long ago."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone saw the boy who had been silent all the time suddenly rushed in front of Ron and knelt down on his knees as if he had mustered up his courage.

"Please! Sir Knight, spare Uncle Ron, please don't kill him! Uncle is not a bad man, please let him go." Brandon's voice was panicked and choked, he lowered his head deeply, and hit the floor with a heavy bang.

Everyone present was stunned by the boy's abrupt behavior.

Leon frowned. When he guessed Ron's identity just now, he did have a hint of murderous intent, but when he learned about the other party's experience, he gave up the idea.

But was my expression just now so revealing?

"Little gold coins? What are you doing?" Ron asked in surprise.

Several strong refugee men were suspicious, and their instinct for self-preservation made them touch the hilts of their swords. However, when they saw the mighty Griffin Knight and the petite Valkyrie yesterday, they quickly put their hands down as if waking up from a dream.

The commotion here alarmed Ivan and the town officials at the other end of the hall, and people in the distance looked over.

Leon bent down and forcibly helped the boy who was kneeling and begging to stand up.

"Why do you think I would hurt Ron?" he asked, curious about the boy's sudden reaction.

“I I.” Brandon tried to pull, but was unable to break free from the other person’s hand, so he could only raise his eyes with fear.

"I had a nightmare. I dreamed of you. No, not that. I dreamed of someone dressed like you, drawing a sword and killing Uncle Ron." Brandon's voice trembled.

He looked up at the knight. Although he said that he was just frightened by a nightmare last night, when he heard the conversation between the two people becoming more and more similar to the one in the dream, the boy could no longer bear it, fearing that if he hesitated any longer, the other party would make the nightmare come true.

The only difference is that the person who drew the sword and chopped off Uncle Ron's head in the dream was a more ordinary-looking man with brown hair. His eyebrows and eyes seemed to be only three-quarters similar to the black-haired knight.

Ron's heart skipped a beat when he heard Brandon's inexplicable words.

He once again looked at the griffin knight who spoke with a foreign accent, and recalled that the Serrian army did use griffin patterns as emblems on the battlefield.

"Sir, are you a knight from the Kingdom of Serrian?" Ron asked tentatively.

Leon let go of the boy's shoulder and looked up at the deserter who had escaped the massacre in Rolandar. Not wanting to argue with him about this issue, he did not reveal the original owner's origins: "No, I am a knight of Orland."

".This child is a 'prophet'."

Laura’s voice suddenly sounded in Leon’s mind.

“Can you speak now?” Hearing Laura’s voice again, Leon hurriedly asked: “Are you saying that this kid can predict the future?”

"It's just a prediction. It's not the prophetic ability to truly peek into the 'River of Time'. His brain can sense the subtle magic and elemental turbulence in the world, allowing his soul to have the opportunity to connect to the 'mass dream' of all living things in dreams, and peek into some incomplete evolutionary trends and tributaries of all things.

But more importantly, he has a talent for learning magic. This child, like Corvis, is an adaptor to chaos magic."

With the authoritative certification of Laura, the King of France, Leon immediately developed a strong interest in the young man in front of him.

According to the northern sorcerers, a person with magical talent can only be found in one out of a hundred thousand or even a million people.

"Don't panic, you know it's just a dream, don't take it seriously." Leon smiled and comforted the skeptical boy.

When Ron heard the Griffin Knight claiming to be from Orland, he secretly relaxed his tense body. He was indeed heartbroken when he lost his loved ones a few months ago, but now he has finally regained his spirits because of Brandon. Now he has the responsibility to keep so many people alive, and he doesn't want to die easily.

Then he shook his head again, secretly sighing at how he believed the kid's nonsense. He quickly pulled Brandon back and urged him, "Stop fooling around here. I told you not to follow me but you didn't listen."

If the child had not been clinging to him today, he would not have planned to bring him to discuss matters with Knight Ivan.

"Andre, take this kid back to rest." Ron ordered one of his men to drag the boy who still refused to give up out, and immediately apologized to the griffin knight: "Don't be offended, sir, he just had too many nightmares recently."

"Sir, what happened?" Ivan walked quickly towards Leon.

"It's just that the kid was frightened by what happened yesterday." Leon waved his hand, not wanting to reveal the boy's situation to outsiders. He accidentally found a rare card on the roadside, so he had to try it in private to see if the other party was willing to be taken home by him.

Putting this aside for the moment, he continued to verify the rumors he had heard from the noble prisoners with the refugee leader: "How much do you know about Rolandar in the previous question? When you heard the rumors about the disaster, were the Kantardar army still occupying the city? Or had it been repelled by the Serrian army?"

"I'm sorry, sir. After I fled back to my hometown, I knew nothing about what happened in Rolandal." Ron shook his head.

"Sir, do you want to know about the war in the east a few months ago?" Ivan heard the conversation between the two and came to the front of the crowd and asked.

Leon nodded at him.

Ivan then answered frankly: "I have been in Shatai City and don't know much, but it is no secret that the Kingdom's Eastern Expedition Army has long since withdrawn from the territory of Serian. However, the army was very chaotic and hasty when crossing the border, and many flags were missing.

In our county, most of the lords and troops did not return, which gave those untrained Uriah dogs and mercenary bastards the opportunity to plunder everywhere."

Ron, who was standing by, couldn't help but glance at Ivan as he listened, feeling absurd and ironic.

After experiencing the apocalyptic darkness and the tide of zombies, he estimated that the lords who did not return after invading Serian were now in great danger.

Even if they can come back in the future, they may be in a more terrifying appearance.

However, it was the Baron Shatai, the villain who shamelessly betrayed the alliance at the beginning of the war, the coward who fled first because of fear of fighting, who let his eldest son lead the army and ran back to his territory himself. Now it seems that he saved his life by his cowardice.

This joke is really unfunny.

Holy Kingdom.

Dineshion.

In the capital city where the church's headquarters is located, the temple standing on the top of the mountain reflects a silver light under the sunlight.

Several Holy Sun Guards, wearing ancient magic-forbidden heavy armor and holding flaming halberds tightly, stood guard in front of the palace. They were as silent as the Holy Sun symbolized by the sun behind their helmets and watched every visitor who came to meet them.

This is the place where the prophet Ilaril saved the world thousands of years ago in mythology.

Today, this land is ruled by the Holy Sun Church and is also the seat of the church leader, the "Oracle".

Since the church moved its core from Rolandar, the place where the prophet ascended, to the territory of the Kingdom of Dinethin in the east, the power of this country has gradually been transferred from the inside to the outside and has been firmly controlled by the church.

The royal family of Dineshien still exists today, but now they are just a group of believers with a more noble and prominent status, without any real power.

The white-robed high-ranking priest, second only to one man in power in the kingdom, walked up the stairs holding a long staff and walked slowly into the Pope's Palace.

The echo of footsteps broke the emptiness and loneliness of the huge space.

He looked up at the old man on the throne.

I saw an old man on the throne holding a golden staff. His hair and beard were all white, and his pupils were as sacred as shining gold, but I couldn't see his breathing and movements, just like a lifeless sculpture.

".Your Holiness, the rebellion started by the Serrian royal family has been suppressed by 'Arch Priest Alek'. He promised that he would immediately lead his army to retake the Holy Land City from the Kantardars.

But Lord Alec's crusader army suffered heavy losses in the civil war, and he requested the Holy See to send troops for support.

As for the foolish king of Serrian, he finally ran away. He and some nobles are suspected to have fled to Dramia via Ymir. Once Lord Alec goes west to fight against Kantardar, he may not be able to prevent the escaped king from making a comeback. "

After reporting the outcome of the civil war in Serrian, the high priest continued, "In addition, the high priests of the dioceses of Aurelia and Solis also sent news that the Atias people are making more frequent attempts. The two kingdoms have already deployed troops on the border, and they have also requested support from the Holy See."

The troubles of this troubled time were presented one by one, and the high-ranking priest himself felt a headache listening to them.

It's not just the tension between the church forces in the east and west thousands of miles away.

At this moment, the Holy Court Kingdom itself still has to face the harassment of the barbarian tribe alliance in the northern "Hektova" plain. It is rumored that the barbarian tribes that have been silent for many years are being unified by a powerful leader.

The Dramias in the south of the Holy See were equally restless, and their influence was behind the civil strife among the secular nobles of the Kingdom of Serrian.

At a time when threats are growing day by day, the Holy See has to divide its forces elsewhere. The eight kingdoms and eight dioceses each have their own troubles. It is truly a year of chaos and turmoil.

When the priest's voice finally quieted down, he lowered his head and waited silently for the Pope to make a decision.

"I hear echoes of pain from the west. Shadows are sweeping across the land, scars of curse that can never be healed because of greed."

The old man did not open his mouth, but his old voice still echoed ethereally in the hall.

The priest was not surprised; this was just the smallest price to pay for the role of oracle.

"Tell Alec that all the pure monks in the Serian Circle must be sent to Dinethen, away from the shadow of the Holy Land, and send 60,000 cathars to Serian to fight against our ancient enemies."

Ancient enemy?

The high priest looked up.

The Kantardars are far from being worthy of such a title.

But if it was those 60,000 enemy crusaders, to what scale and situation would they have evolved to force the Holy See to ignore the threats from the north and the south and withdraw more than half of the country's church troops to deal with them?
The prophet's resting place is obviously the most solid "barrier" on this land. Even if the holy land falls, mortals cannot come into contact with the true remains of the prophet. What did those Kantadars do?
(End of this chapter)