Miss Witch, it's time to clean up the entries

Chapter 281 Meeting of the Seven Creed Families
Yalong City.

When the bell tower struck the twelfth note, golden sunlight leaped from the surface of the moat and climbed up the colorful silk hanging from the stone archway.

The blacksmith's apprentice stood on tiptoe and placed the last coat of arms flag on the flagpole. The wool fabric brushed against the back of the boy's sweaty neck. He grinned at the crowds of people on the street. The flags of the seven major families fluttered in the wind.

The sharp singing of bagpipes came from afar, and the crowd suddenly split open like the tide.

"I'm coming."

People were talking to each other excitedly.

Forty pure white war horses trampled the stagnant morning mist on the bluestone slabs. The knights in silver armor held high the flags with lions and shields painted on them. The light spots reflected from their breastplates danced on the wooden walls on both sides.

This is the Frank family's guard of honor, and also the highest standard guard of honor in the empire. At the front of the team is Seth Frank, the head of the Frank family.

Not long ago, he personally passed through the gate of hell and rescued the empire's youngest emperor, Auguras.

The man who had once walked through the gates of hell alone had his jaw set as hard as a knife, and beside him followed Mary, the unrivaled overlord of the South.

The Rose Army led by Mary joined forces with the Edward family army in the East, defeated the Burns Empire army and forced it to flee, successfully defending the empire's borders and making people forget her past crimes and only remember her glorious record.

Following closely behind the Frank family honor guard was the Hall family honor guard.

The pumpkin carriage rolled over the moss in the cracks of the stone slabs. Earl Hall stroked the rose emblem on the hilt of his sword, while the beautiful Imperial Rose Dorothy beside him lowered her eyes and adjusted the pleats of her skirt.

The Hall family has only 36 knights following them, and they cannot surpass the royal family, otherwise it will be regarded as disrespectful.

Then came the Guardians of the North, the Moria family's honor guard. Grand Duke Moria rode a huge white snow bear and walked in the front. The closest to him was Li En.

As the most outstanding descendant of the third generation of the Moria family, Li En, as a candidate for Pope, is the only person qualified to stand beside Grand Duke Moria on such an occasion.

The Moria family also has only 36 knights. Their shields are engraved with bears and snow shields, and they ride brown bears.

As Grand Duke Moria's snow bear spewed out frost mist, Li En calmly turned the holy emblem ring inward - the silver chain of the Pope candidate cast a slender shadow on his collarbone, trembling slightly with the snow bear's steps.

"Look! The giant's chains are bleeding!" The children's screams pierced the cheers.

The knights of the Simmons family raised their long whips studded with barbs. The flesh on the giant's back was torn apart under the iron chain, oozing blue blood, and dragged a strange totem on the stone slab.

The Simmons family in the south directly tamed the giants as mounts. They crawled on the ground with heavy shackles on their necks, hands and feet, making clanking sounds as they crawled, and on their backs were the proud Simmons people.

The honor guards of other Creed families also arrived one after another, and the royal capital of Yalong City welcomed a festival that was even more lively than the Harvest Festival, the Creed Festival.

The seven creed families met in the royal city, during which the whole nation celebrated. Everyone would have seven days off and could also receive subsidies from the government and free food and daily necessities.

The people who were immersed in the grief of the failure of the expedition and the loss of the Pope finally found spiritual comfort.

The status of the seven creed families in the empire is extremely respected, and they are the unshakable highest nobility.

When their team passed by, even the proud citizens of the royal capital became extremely enthusiastic and lined the streets to welcome them.

The children's smiling faces were filled with curiosity and admiration, and they followed the tracks of the wheels as if they were chasing legendary heroes.

The air was filled with the mixed aroma of vanilla and magic, and the eyes of passers-by were full of awe and anticipation.

In the distance, the bells of the bell tower continued to ring, deep and far-reaching, playing the prelude to this solemn moment.

Each creed family is worthy of a maximum of 12 bell tolls. When the 84 bells are rung, the parade is declared over, and what remains is people's own carnival.

The taverns and teahouses along the street were crowded with people, the food and drinks on the tables exuded an enticing aroma, and the air was filled with a joyful and warm atmosphere.

The vendors shouted their wares, their voices almost drowned out by the applause and cheers of welcome. Children waved colorful flags, and the elders expressed their respect for their families with prayers and blessings.

At this moment, a warm magical energy spread throughout the town, caressing the face of every resident and bringing an imperceptible throbbing.

This is a blessing from the Edward family. The main business of the Edward family is potions and imitations. One-fifth of the family elites are wise men and one-fifth are church members. The blessing is just a greeting gift.

The welcome ceremony continued, with satisfied smiles on everyone's faces and their hearts filled with hope for the future.

In this ancient land, magic and faith coexist, and the seven creed families are the most steadfast guardians of this land.

When the eighty-fourth bell rang out from under the dome of the palace, Li En's silver boots stepped over the star map inlaid on the floor of the meeting room.

Eight obsidian chairs surrounded the round table, and the rhythm of Augulas's knuckles tapping on the armrests revealed his anxiety - the emperor's eyes swept across Dorothy's hanging purple hair, and finally fixed on the Holy Thorn Ring worn by Li En.

There are a total of 8 seats in the Supreme Council Chamber. Emperor Augustus Dandu occupies one seat, and the heads of the seven creed families each have one seat.

The back of each chair is engraved with the emblem of the respective family.

In addition to the head of the family, the most outstanding young people in the family are also allowed to attend the meeting, but they can only stand next to the head of the family and listen, and have no right to speak.

Among the participants in this meeting, Li En and Dorothy finally saw Emma.

She came to the meeting with her grandfather.

Emma showed no expression when she saw the two of them, as if she was looking at strangers.

This was the highest-level round table meeting in the empire. Starting with Augustus, it was followed by Seth Frank, the head of the Frank family, and Mary Frank, the overlord of the South, standing next to him.

The head of the Hall family is Byrne Hall, and next to him stands the Imperial Rose, the legendary witch Dorothy Hall.

Alex Moriah, the head of the Moriah family, and next to him stood the youngest Pope candidate, Lee En Moriah.

Remus Burke, the head of the Burke family, and Emma Burke, the undead princess, standing next to him.

Charles Simmons, the head of the Simmons family, and next to him stood the 35-year-old six-star knight Val Simmons.

Locke Edward, the head of the Edward family, and next to him stood the 22-year-old wise man Orlando Edward.

The head of the Rhine family is Hughes Rhine, and next to him stands the 8-year-old Imperial Prophet Sera Rhine.

The people around them will undoubtedly be the next generation head of the family. Even if they are not the head of the family, they will definitely be the strongest young people in the family.

Augustus was very upset that Seth brought Mary with him to the meeting.

It was originally thought that with Randall's downfall, Mary would lose her backing, but unexpectedly, Seth actually recognized Mary and kept her by his side.

But what made Augustus even more depressed was the relationship between Li En and Dorothy.

He had learned about the relationship between the two through Randall, and he also knew that Li En had many gifts hidden on him.

Augulas discovered that Li En was his biggest threat.

The Azure Dragon Whip had already been on Li En's body.

And Dorothy was also taken away by Li En.

He secretly vowed to take back everything he had lost and destroy the traitor Li En.

After all the Creed families arrived, the eldest patriarch of the Creed family, Duke Simmons, took the lead in saluting Augustus.
"The Simmons family of the Southern Territory sends their greetings to His Majesty the Emperor and is willing to protect the Southern Territory forever for His Majesty the Emperor."

"The Bock family of the Western Territory sends their greetings to His Majesty the Emperor. We are willing to protect the Western Territory forever for His Majesty the Emperor."

"The Moriah family of the Northern Territory sends their greetings to His Majesty the Emperor. We are willing to forever protect the Northern Territory for His Majesty the Empire."

"The Edward family of the East Territory sends greetings to His Majesty the Emperor and is willing to forever protect the East Territory for the Empire."

"The Rhine family of the Archipelago sends greetings to His Majesty the Emperor and is willing to forever protect the Archipelago for the Empire."

"The Frank family sends greetings to His Majesty the Emperor, and may the imperial power last forever."

"The Hall family sends greetings to His Majesty the Emperor, and wishes the empire prosperity."

The family heads all saluted Augustus before taking their seats and the meeting officially began.

"Randall has escaped. We have lost three of our gifts: [Hand of God], [Ear of Ignorance], and [Gate]. This matter is extremely important. We must gather all our strength to capture Randall."

There was no small talk and the meeting got straight to the point.

Said Seth Frank, the handsome middle-aged head of the family.

Li En could tell from his tone that he was also quite eager for the gift.

He didn't know that the Ear of Ignorance was in Ophelia's hands, which meant that Ophelia hadn't betrayed him. She really hated the Frank family.

I don’t know what means Mary used to make the head of the Frank family, who has always favored boys over girls, recognize her.

Well, Mary is in a strange state.

Li En frowned, concentrated his attention, and observed Mary's entry. He found that she had regained her divinity, which was quite surprising.

Auglas neither agreed nor disagreed, and his attitude was even stranger.

Did he make some kind of deal with Randall inside the Gate of Hell?
Li En did not see any new attributes on Auglas, but it is normal that some transactions do not have attributes.

Judging from the fact that Augustus never looked at me once, and didn't even congratulate me on becoming a candidate for Pope, I guess he might have already known about my relationship with Dorothy.

"Hall, Randall is your friend, so he didn't come looking for you?"

Locke Edward, the head of the Edward family, who has always been at odds with the Hall family, asked.

Earl Hall shook his head. "He didn't come to see me. We have different positions. I won't protect him."

"Hall, I hope what you said is true. Otherwise, with Dorothy's ability, it should be very easy to hide him, right?"

Locke Edward asked.

Earl Hall frowned slightly, "The Hall family will not protect Randall."

"Since Hall has said so, Edward, you don't need to continue forcing him to express his opinion."

Grand Duke Moria said.

The other families looked at Grand Duke Moria in surprise. Normally, he and Hall had the most intense arguments, so what was going on now? He actually took the initiative to speak up for Hall.

"I suggest that the seven creed families join forces to form a hunting team to arrest Randall."

Grand Duke Moria ignored everyone's surprised looks and continued.

A hint of gloom flashed in Augulas' eyes. Is he not going to pretend anymore?

"Okay, then the Frank family will take the lead, and all the descendants of the family present here will form a capture team."

Seth Frank said, "Is that okay, Mary?"

"Everything is arranged by the head of the family."

It's the way to go.

Seth Frank wants Mary to draw a line between herself and Randall.

It seems that the camp has indeed changed.

"Are there any objections from other families?"

Seth Frank looked at everyone.

"The Moria family has no objection."

"The Edward family has no objection."

"I agree."

"I agree."

"agree."

"agree."

Seth Frank looked at Augustus, "What does the Emperor think?"

"No objection, but the gift must be returned to the empire."

Augulas' meaning was very clear. You can capture Randall, but the three gifts must belong to the emperor.

Except for the Frank family, the heads of other Creed families had obvious flickering eyes, and they all had their own thoughts.

Hall had no desire for gifts before, but now for the future of his children, he has to participate in the competition for gifts.

"I'm afraid this distribution is inappropriate. Everyone knows that using gifts comes at a price. If one family bears the burden alone, it might even weaken. How can we allow the royal family to bear such pressure?"

Charles Simmons said.

"Simons is right. We can't let the royal family bear the consequences alone."

Remus Bock said.

Other families also expressed their views.

"Even if it belongs to the Creed family, it essentially belongs to the Empire."

"Every time, the Creed family will always be loyal to the Empire and will never betray it."

Augulas narrowed his eyes, knowing that these were a group of old foxes that were not easy to deal with.

"Then according to everyone's opinion, how should the gift be handled?"

Auglas asked.

"The Hand of God must belong to the Church. I think everyone agrees on this, right?"

Patriarch Edward said.

"The Church has held the Hand of God for too long. Randall, due to his excessive power, has done something like this. Isn't this a warning to us? The Hand of God should not belong to the Church but to our Creed family."

Said Hughes Rhine, the young head of the Rhine family.

"That's right, the gift should belong to the Creed family."

"The Hand of God is of great significance. It concerns the future of the entire empire and must not be controlled by those with ill intentions."

Except for the Edward family and the Moria family, other families unanimously agreed that the gift should belong to the Creed family.

Grand Duke Moria believes that it is okay for the Hand of God to continue to be in the hands of the Holy See because Li En is a candidate for Pope.

After some discussion, everyone finally reached a decision.

The gift controlled by Randall must be guarded by the seven major families in turn, with a cycle of four years.

The family that first obtained the [Hand of God] was the first family to find Randall.

A team composed of the heirs of the seven creed families is responsible for hunting down Randall.

This cooperation is also to enable the younger generations of the seven creed families to enhance their feelings and form a sense of cooperation.

Lee En, Dorothy and Mary were among them, and the team was led by the oldest, Val Simmons.

Val Simmons is 35 years old. He was originally proud of being a six-star shining knight, but when he saw the younger generations of the Creed family, he realized that their achievements were far higher than his, which made him feel inferior. This time, being the captain made him feel very pressured.

Val Simmons had participated in the engagement ceremony of Li En and Catherine. He remembered that the last time he saw Li En, he seemed to be just a three-star knight. He didn't expect that Li En had grown so fast and had now become a candidate for Pope. This caused him to have a deep psychological gap.

After this topic ended, the Creed family began to discuss the next topic, which was to amend the Creed Covenant and abolish the rule that families could not marry each other.

Hundreds of years ago, when the Holy Empire was founded, the seven creed families refused to allow intermarriage in order to balance power. But now, all the major families believe that marriage is the best way to stabilize the relationship, and they urgently demand the abolition of this rule.

The vote to repeal the agreement was almost unanimous.

Then, Duke Burke looked at Auglas and asked,

"My granddaughter, Emma, ​​has grown up with His Majesty the Emperor. She is now of marriageable age. Your Majesty, are you willing to marry her?"

(End of this chapter)