Warhammer

"If it has come to this - get out or die."

The remaining hundred or so people still queuing were completely silent.

A famous female mercenary suddenly burst into tears. The sound of her crying was like a plague, and the people in front and behind her immediately subconsciously kept a distance from her.

A middle-aged man with a simple and honest face who was standing behind the young wanderer who was suddenly killed felt his legs go weak and he knelt down on the bridge.

This action immediately attracted countless eyes to stare at him, and even Rodrian felt a chill in his heart.

The middle-aged mercenary's upper and lower teeth were chattering. He trembled, his eyes moistened, and he was about to cry: "I, I once followed the Fate-Defying Man."

The Fate-Defying Man is the name given by gamblers to the god of thieves and deception, Lanold. They believe that "one can change one's fate through a big gamble -- and Lanold will favor his believers to win the game in this all-consuming gamble and reverse fate."

Lanolde showed his existence in the Great War, but there was no news of him after that. It was the last period when the gods continued to exert influence on the mortal world. The populist movement in the empire was in full swing at the time. The groups opposed to the current system used "Lanolde" as their slogan, demanding the abolition of the old system of hereditary electors and court positions passed down from generation to generation. Afterwards, the Grand Master closed the door and personally prayed to the God-Emperor for an oracle, and finally handed out a divine will that "Lanolde does not exist, and those who call this name are all rebels against the empire."

Several powerful populist groups were annihilated in one fell swoop, but people did not believe this very suspicious oracle, and then there was news of the mysterious disappearance of Larnord, which vaguely alluded to the God-Emperor Sigmar, and his followers believed that this turmoil and everything that followed might be a great game of deceivers, and insisted that Larnord, as the great deceiver, would eventually completely expose the ultimate liar who ruled the empire through lies and proclaimed himself the God-Emperor.

However, due to the attacks by the Empire and the loss of divine guidance, there are no orthodox priests and the Lanold faith is mixed with good and bad people. All kinds of criminals and villains are mixed in it. There are also many cultists who will disguise themselves as Lanold believers in places such as the New World where there are no direct restrictions on the Lanold faith.

A bad reputation makes men extremely afraid.

But the men of the Seven Shields seemed to have no intention of discussing or explaining with him, so Rodrian could only remain silent. In the end, the fear of the future was greater than the present. Or perhaps he was afraid that even if he chose to give up, he would be shot directly. The man still struggled to get up from the ground, gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and rushed behind the Silver Gate.

White light!

Many people breathed a sigh of relief. At least from what Rodrian observed, at the back of the team, a few players who were vaguely hesitant and wanted to withdraw seemed to have become much more obedient.

It seems that the inspection of this door is not strict... or is it really only for Chaos Corrosion?

Another half an hour later, the vast majority of the entire Veteran Mercenary Corps successfully passed the review and set foot on the land of the Seven Cities Fortress.

But a dozen people still remained on the bridge.

Some of them had been moving to the rear, and finally, after all those who had dared to "take the risk" to try the Silver Gate had left, they were the only ones left.

Rodrian knew that he needed to step up at this time, otherwise if something unexpected happened that was beyond his control, he would no longer be the leader.

He walked through the Silver Gate again alone and stood on the bridge again.

Rodrian said in a deep voice: "Have you thought it through?"

No one answered at first. After more than ten seconds of silence, a man standing behind a supply truck, half of his body hidden behind the truck, answered: "I don't want to let a door judge my fate and my actions. This is the end, Your Excellency, the Captain."

"How are you going to leave?" Rodion asked.

The man answered him, "I also believe in the defying fate, so I plan to gamble the way I came here."

The others remained silent, all of them seeming to share the same idea. After all, returning the original route still offered a glimmer of hope—even if the hope was slim, they would still fight for it.

As for being judged to pass through a door and fail to pass through, they will die, and their fate is completely controlled by others. These people who generally have a clear understanding of themselves, even if some of them know that they did not actively embrace Chaos Corrosion, cannot accept this situation.

Some people...

Rodrian looked a little gloomy. He turned around and looked at the people behind the door, then turned back to look at them: "In that case, you can take two carts and leave. There are enough supplies. If you can't take them away, just throw them away."

Considering that these people are most likely not good people, hidden cultists and villains, it is unlikely that they will unite and cooperate. It is very likely that they will break up as soon as they leave the cliff and gamble their lives on their luck.

So a single person would have to travel light, carrying mainly supplies that would not affect their movements. Rodrian didn't want them to fight over this matter, so he simply gave them double or even triple the supplies, so that everyone would have enough supplies to avoid a fight as soon as they got off the bridge.

"I hope everything goes well for you. If I succeed, I will explain the situation to the Alliance when I return and ask them to send more reinforcements." The man nodded at Rodion, turned and walked to the end of the team, called two people at random, and began to turn the direction of the supply truck.

It didn't take long before those who refused to cross the threshold disappeared on the other side of the Bridge of Rebirth.

Rodrian sighed in his heart, and asked his companions to pull the supplies left on the bridge through the Silver Gate. Then, under the formal leadership of Claude and his party, he stepped into the gate of this "First Fortress".

Forts, ballistas, bunkers...

The entire fortress looks very tough and solemn from the outside, as if it was a building built entirely for war, but only after officially entering it will you find that it actually has a different look and is far less cold and severe than it appears.

There were houses on the streets, taverns in the markets, civilians coming and going, patrolling warriors in armor, and even children playing and young boys and girls strolling hand in hand in the streets. Everything was just like a normal city, no different from the other.

If it weren't for the fact that the place where it appeared was in the badlands.

Maybe Rodrian wouldn't care about it in any particular way.

"Your subordinates can go and settle down first. As for you, please follow us."

After entering the city, the golden-haired Claude met a child. The two exchanged a few words, then he turned around and waved to Roderion. Then he left the team and disappeared into the street. A female warrior in silver armor came over and said to Roderion.

"The priest and the guardian want to see you."

122: Kuroshio Preparation

The construction time of the Seven Cities Fortress is unknown. It may be a relic left by an ancient country that has been buried in the dust and not recorded in official historical chronicles.

The members of the Seven Shields Alliance come from all over the world and all races, including lost dwarf exploration teams and reclusive elven colonists, but the largest group is still humans.

Around 1,500 years into the Imperial calendar, the powerful Sultan from Araby conquered the Estalia Peninsula. Louis, the Knight King of Bretonnia, called for a chivalrous expedition to fight against the invasion. Many knightly orders in the Empire responded to the call and took the opportunity to escape from the chaos in the Empire.

This brutal war lasted for more than a century, during which many knightly orders were destroyed and newly established. Eventually, the Sultan was expelled by the combined forces of the Empire and Bretonnia.

Three years before the end of the war, in 1547, the Elector of Midden proclaimed himself emperor. Together with the previous emperors of Styria and Talabek, the empire entered the era of endless disputes among the Three Emperors, which made many knightly orders disappointed with the increasingly chaotic situation.

At this time, seven knights of great reputation and outstanding achievements were inspired. When they were clearing out the beastmen in the Inara Mountains, they were brought an oracle by a golden eagle, which came with a map pointing to a location.

The knights believed that this was the guidance of Myrmidia, so they announced this to their subordinates, and then recruited people and set out for the badlands. They marched all the way to the place marked in the oracle, which is the current location of the Seven Cities Fortress.

The architectural layout of this ancient fortress is unified yet relatively independent. There is a main building as a hub in each corner of the six directions, and a group of buildings expands around the center. The most central one is a magnificent temple, which is also the most important place among the seven cities, the "Seventh Fortress".

Seven knights, seven teams, seven fortresses, everything was so ingenious, so after a period of exploration, the expeditionary force found the ancient mechanism trigger, climbed up the isolated mountaintop fortress, and naturally settled in it.

They discovered the information left over from the ancient kingdom and the secrets behind the fortress. Feeling a great sense of responsibility, they led their followers to settle down here for a long time.

Each great knight has a group of followers. There is no obvious status among them, so they simply form an alliance in the name of Seven Shields and swear that their bloodline will always guard the Seven Cities and maintain order.

Their followers include both men and women. Although women are few in number, most of the first generation of alliance members are chivalrous warriors who can curb their needs for abstinence and reproduction. As a result, the people of Seven Shields have lived and multiplied in this safe land for generation after generation. Soon after its establishment, a large elven colonist and a dwarf survey team arrived. After detailed exchanges between the three parties, they decided to move in and join this sacred alliance.

As a sign of respect for their allies, the knights gave control of the fourth fortress to the dwarves and the sixth fortress to the elves.

Of course, this was also done to maintain a superficial equality among the three races and to meet the demands of the immortals. Therefore, the dwarves joined to provide runes and technology to the seven cities; the elves brought superb martial arts and magic.

If all this is true, then the time the Seven Shields have held out here is a very exaggerated arc. This year is 2696, and more than a thousand years have passed since the victory of the jihad that expelled the Arabi Sultan in 1550, which is almost half the history of the empire.

Logically speaking, this time span is enough for a tribe to develop into a prosperous kingdom, but because the Seven Cities Fortress faces a harsh external environment and a lack of resources, their expansion is restricted. Therefore, the number of people in the Seven Shields is not too large, and each fortress has a scale of only more than 10,000 people.

Except for the physically disabled, all men were incorporated into the military sequence. Although they could protect themselves by just taking away the Seven Cities of the Bridge, the Seven Shields Alliance, as defenders of order, would not cower in fear. As long as they were strong enough and the opportunity permitted, they would try hard to wipe out the enemies of order such as the Beastmen and Undead active in the surrounding areas.

In the long years of the past, they also saved some adventurers who went deep into the badlands by chance. Without exception, only those who could pass the identification of the Silver Gate were allowed to enter. If they were identified as corrupt, they would all be eliminated.

Most of those who were allowed in were accepted into the Seven Cities Fortress. Although it was isolated from the outside world, it was at least safe enough. The people of the Seven Shields were very cautious, and their mastery of the surrounding geography over hundreds and thousands of years was enough to ensure that most of their battles ended in victory and their losses were within an acceptable range.

If they encounter a long-lasting black tide or a large green-skinned Waaaagh, the people of the Seven Cities will close themselves off to protect themselves and rest peacefully for several years or even more than ten years.

A few people insisted on leaving to fulfill their goals...but most of them probably didn't make it out. Before this, Roderion had never heard of the rumors about a mysterious fortress and a group of guardians in the badlands.

......

After reorganizing the intelligence system about the Seven Shields Alliance in his mind, Rodrian began to think about the communication between him and the "First Fortress Guardian" and the priestess he had seen not long ago:

"Outsiders, your arrival portends danger." The holy-looking priestess stood on the altar, holding a scepter in her hand. Two rows of silent warriors stood on both sides of the temple.

Rodrian was shocked, but the priestess did not say anything about it. She just said, "It also shows that drastic changes are about to happen in the world. Please stay for a while. We will go through tests next. We need all the help to protect order."

Rodrian could sense something about the priest's words, but he couldn't delve into it. At the same time, he complained in his heart:

What era is it now? People still use these mysterious ways to understand things. It is really hard to guess what the "oracle" is.

Then the priestess left silently without saying anything. The heroic commander of the First Fortress, Green Dale, a female knight of Bretonnian descent, was relatively enthusiastic and spoke more clearly: "The black tide is coming. The priests think it will be very dangerous this time, so we hope you can stay and help us fight the filth for a while."

"But this is not a mandatory requirement. You can still choose to leave or stay. Claude should have talked to you. If you want to leave, do it as soon as possible. We will provide a few barely safe passages. You can try your luck."

123: Celestine by the Lake

Altdorf.

The core center of this behemoth called "Empire", the seat of Reikland, has been directly governed by the emperor for hundreds of years.

It is a huge city with a population of over three million. In order to deal with the various domestic garbage and excrement generated in the city every day, the Aldous have formed a team of cleaners with up to three thousand people. Hundreds of road sweepers provide uninterrupted services to ensure the superficial cleanliness of the imperial capital.

Such a huge city is the undisputed number one in the entire Western Continent of the Old World. There are academic cities, factories, military camps, shopping streets, government buildings and elite garrisons. Warships and countless merchant ships travel on the Rick River...

This is also where there are the most rich people, high-ranking officials... and the poor.

In the Great War, the "Savior Karl Franz" who carried the will of God in a mortal body and became the incarnation of Sigmar stayed on the throne for a short period of time after the war, and then left the mortal world at the call of the wind of heaven. Legend has it that the current Savior himself is the champion warrior of the Emperor in heaven, and is fighting his great war in a higher dimension to protect the mortal world...

As a result, the status of the Elector of Reikland officially rose to the most honorable level in the empire.

Karl Franz, the Elector of Reikland, had inherited the throne from then on. Sigmar was assassinated by his brother-in-law at his wedding, and his wife died as a result. Since then, he has remained unmarried and has not passed down his bloodline. The descendants of Karl Franz, who had been possessed by the God-Emperor, seemed to have some kind of divinity. Although there was no explicit legislation that only Franz's line could ascend to the throne, this has been the case for four consecutive generations of emperors since the war.

Nowadays, except for special occasions such as war cries and diplomacy, only the emperor can call himself "Son of Sigmar" in state edicts.

......

In the southwestern suburbs of Aldorf lies the largest villa complex besides Osuen and Zhendan Dynasty. Countless prominent families or individuals would buy a house for themselves and their families here to show off their status.

Because the private residence of the emperor's family was also here, later prominent figures were rewarded with surrounding land. In order to show their appreciation for the emperor's reward, they built large-scale projects. Therefore, within a hundred years, a "new city" rose outside the city of Altdorf.

Out of respect for the royal family and for privacy reasons, there is a large circle of land around the emperor's private residence that is not used by outsiders. There are only a few mansions as a reward from the emperor for his favorite ministers.

The distance from the royal private residence is also a symbol of the prominence of a family.

And in the area "closest to the emperor" is a villa exclusively for the so-called "inner circle ministers".

Celestine had just put away the sword in her hand and lowered the arm that was against Rhine's throat.

It was a fight, and as expected, Celestine won.

"You've made some progress." Celestine patted her cousin on the shoulder, turned around to pick up Rhine's knocked-down training sword from the ground, put it away, then took two kettles from the servant and handed one to her cousin.

Rhine was stubborn and defended himself, "What I did just now doesn't count. Being too close to the enemy would also put me at great risk on the battlefield."

"Then your sword has fallen too." Celestine added. Rhine could only spread his hands helplessly and smiled: "But it is an honor to be able to hold out for so long under the hands of a God-Emperor's choice."

The brother and sister smiled at each other.

Everyone knew that Celestine was not using her full strength, but was fighting Rhine with her skills alone, otherwise ten of them would not be enough for her to defeat.

After a short fight, the two left the grassland and came to a lake.

Celestine took the fishing rod from the servant, skillfully put bait on the hook and cast it out. After ripples appeared on the lake, Sigmar and the Chosen One of the Two Gods of Myrmidia sat down calmly by the lake.

The servants set up parasols and lounge chairs for them, prepared food and drinks, and stood quietly not far away like puppets, ensuring that they could respond to orders at any time while also taking into account the privacy of their masters.

Rhine also picked up a fishing rod in his hand, but did not put it down. Unlike his cousin, he did not like this kind of activity that would take up a lot of time. If it were normal times, it would be fine for him to accompany Celestine leisurely, but at the moment he had more important matters to attend to and he did not have the leisure time to do so.

He sat for a while, and when he saw that the noise on the lake had calmed down, he said, "The Ecumenical Council has been a big fuss recently. The returnist priests have publicly accused the church of dereliction of duty and even directed their attacks at the archbishop..." Rhine looked a little worried, and he was also paying attention to his cousin's expression.

There was nothing unusual on Celestine's face, and she didn't seem to care.

Rhine was a little hesitant, but Celestine seemed to see through his thoughts. She put the fishing rod on the hook and turned to look at him: "Are you wondering if those people are still in contact with me?" Rhine nodded, agreeing with her meaning.

Celestine sighed, "Even in front of His Majesty and the Archbishop, I will not deny it. If I have to choose between the current church and the returnists, I do prefer the latter." After that, her eyes flashed with dissatisfaction, and she recalled a very bad impression: "At least they preside over public masses and will not collect donations from the poor who have nothing."

Rhine smiled bitterly: "It is because of this that the church is troubled by you now because you did not hide this fact."

"You should have been in the Great Temple of Sigmar, Jillia, where you would have commanded the most elite paladin order of the church; or you should have gone to Mordheim, where the nuns would have regarded you as their commander..."

"What's the point, Rhine?" Celestine's light question made her cousin choke for a moment, and he didn't know how to respond. Celestine continued: "Faith is not divided by high and low, place, even... In Altdorf, 'If you want to find piety, you must go to poverty'..." She said a sarcastic proverb widely circulated in the empire.

It means that if you want to find devout faith and believers, go to poor places. The poorer the people, the more devout they are...and vice versa!

Rhine had no way to respond. He knew that his cousin had been very pious since she was a child, but perhaps because she came from a branch family that had fallen on hard times and had seen more of the lower classes, she had never had a good impression of the church.

After arriving at Lord Julius's house, Celestine had a good relationship with Rhine and shared a lot of things about herself with him, even some childhood secrets. Celestine was sent to the church by her very devout mother for a period of time, where she and some nuns of the same age received church training, which was originally a very sacred and blessed thing. However, an outstanding civilian girl in the same batch as Celestine was privately molested by the seemingly kind and amiable priest, which made her very angry.

So Celestine ran over and poured a basin of water on the priest's head, then ran out of the church with the girl...Afterwards, because Celestine's family had a certain status, the matter was let go. How could the words of two little girls accuse a respected priest?

The matter ended up being left unresolved. The molested girl was taken away by her family to another place, and Celestine soon followed her family to Altdorf and took refuge with Julius.

This incident left a deep impression on the young Celestine, making her realize that the church is not as glamorous as it seems. After gradually becoming the leader of the new generation of the Julius family and the emperor's favorite, in order to verify the matter, Rhine privately investigated the priest based on her cousin's description and discovered that the priest had indeed caused a scandal of "molesting young children", but he himself was a disciple of the former Bishop Ehrhart and a fellow disciple of the current bishop, and these scandals were ultimately just "rumors."

But the fact that such negative news appeared for a clergyman whose past had not caused any major conflicts of interest with the outside world, so that the enemy would use this method to attack him, is very telling of the situation.

Rhine knew Celestine well in the past, but he had to admit that his cousin had changed a lot after that ordeal.

Celestine, who returned to the empire with the remnants of the expeditionary force, was highly valued by the empire because of her status. The Hammer Wielder had not performed such miracles for a long time, and He chose a champion warrior in the far south, together with another "Strategic Goddess" Myrmidia, who still retains considerable influence in the empire... This caused quite a stir on the religious level.

After all, the Church of Sigmar has been adhering to "monopolism" for a long time, believing that at least within the empire, only Sigmar can be respected as the only one, and the extreme radicals among them simply expanded this uniqueness to the scope of "all mankind". They are the kind of fanatics who have no brains at all, and one fan is as good as ten haters.

Now, a man chosen by the Emperor of God and a champion warrior actually also holds the gift of the "pagan gods" and is surrounded by a group of followers from the south - a group of stray dogs. This makes the state religion have to comment on this.

Celestine hasn't returned yet, and the Ecclesiastic Council has been arguing over this. It was originally a quarrel between the Uniqueness faction and the Inclusiveness faction. The former demanded that the Mark of Myrmidia on Celestine be denied, and it would be best if she herself came out to announce that she is "the Chosen One who belongs only to the God-Emperor, the Hammer Bearer." The latter believed that there was no need to provoke her too much because Myrmidia was very sensitive about the loss of contact, and the War Church regarded Celestine's appearance as hope.

After all, the latter still controls a powerful elite force and has always had considerable influence in the military.