Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 476 Crusader King

On July [-], [-], Imperial Calendar, Schwanstein Castle.

Sindragosa had just finished his long journey of surveying the sky and looking at a thousand rivers, and landed in the center of the castle square with a roar.The wind pressure aroused by the giant steel wings blew the Igor family coat of arms flag hanging on the castle tower into the air, as if the whole castle was trembling due to the coming of the dragon.

Xia Houyan took off the dark crystal goggles and climbed down from the dragon's back.

A few Shuangfengling guards who had been waiting in the square for a long time hurried forward and wanted to give the lord a hand, but the latter waved his hand indifferently and refused——

Lord Shuangfengling's hot power and famous military exploits make it easy for people to forget that he is actually a healthy young man in his 20s.

This time, Sean Mountbatten flew with the lord on the dragon: Although the chief of staff of Frost Maple Ridge made a lot of rhetoric before departure, he still suffered from severe airsickness during the voyage... Uh, dizziness As a dragon, he had to be supported by three or four people to barely climb down the dragon's back. When he stood on the flat ground, he still wobbled like a tumbler, and his whole face kept the color of Laba Suan.

Knight Commander Cousins ​​gave Sean a contemptuous look while handing the lord a face towel.Master Laurie stood aside with his hands folded, and asked like a curious baby:
"My lord, what's the result of the investigation?"

"We rode a dragon around Thorn City—the whole city is extremely heavily defended, and the federal orcs seem to have moved all the troops they could mobilize." Xia Houyan wiped the pimples on his face with a towel soaked in warm water. Dust, a little depressed, said, "If the empire really wants to take down this city, it will take a lot of work..."

Master Laurie shrugged, obviously not surprised by this result.

Knight Commander Cousins ​​took the lord's towel, snapped his fingers at the maids in the distance, and signaled them to bring the clothes that the lord wanted to change quickly.

"These locally recruited girls are really not as sensible as our original maids in Eagle's Rest..." the knight commander complained.

"Let me tell you, we are here to go to war, so we shouldn't have recruited maids at all—when the time comes, there will be a real fight, and we will have to send people to protect them...it's so annoying!" Xia Houyan gave Knight Commander Cousins ​​a dissatisfied look. ——It was Cousins ​​who suggested at the beginning that a few homeless young girls were recruited from the occupied areas of the Eastern Border to serve the lord during the march of the Shuangfengling people.

Captain Cousins ​​smiled and said:
"Hey...you are a majestic Duke of the Empire. Even at this time, you must have proper manners! On the entire eastern front, how many imperial nobles and observers from many countries are staring at us! Besides, It’s nothing to you, I heard that Marquis Liam, the deputy commander of the Central Army, searched for dozens of beautiful girls along the way..."

Xia Houyan gave him a hard look, and took his Duke's costume from the flustered maid:

"Why do those idiots in the empire have anything to do with me? Besides, a few maids can support Shuangfengling's face? Didn't the face be earned by us on the battlefield?"

Cavalier Commander Cousins ​​was speechless and could only nod and laugh.

Xia Houyan took off the leather breastplate on his body, put on the Duke's robe, reached out and patted Sindragosa's steel leg armor twice.Then, the undead dragon flapped its wings and disappeared into the sky of Schwanstein Castle.

Speaking of which, this time he rode a dragon to the frontline to detect the enemy's situation, and he was entrusted by Grand Duke Rosario: the main force of the empire, the air-armed Griffin Air Cavalry, is not flying high enough, and once it approaches Thorn City, it will be shot down by the orc's anti-aircraft firepower , and several high-level magicians in the army are busy welcoming the newly appointed acting commander of the Central Army, so the work of investigating the enemy situation in Thorn City can only be entrusted to the Shuangfengling troops stationed in Swan Castle.

In fact, taking a dragon to go to Thorn City to investigate such a task, just send a few scouts, but Xia Houyan was worried, and finally ignored the objections of Master Laurie and others, and took Xiao En to take a look.

The result was as expected: the entire Thorn City was as unbreakable as a steel vat.

"During the time Xiao En and I flew to Thorn City, nothing happened here, right?" Xia Houyan glanced sympathetically at his chief of staff who was still retching in place, together with Master Laurie and Knight Commander Cousins Go to the main building of Swan Castle.

"It's nothing serious. The soldiers are training as usual. Master Nicholson and the dwarf master Henkel led the team and overhauled all the equipment we have. There is no problem." Knight Commander Cousins ​​shrugged, "The two of them Staying together all day discussing some technical issues like 'pistons' and 'connecting rods' is like going on a fucking trip to Brokeback Mountain..."

"Brokeback Mountain" is a famous savage settlement in the northern part of the empire. The folk customs here are said to be somewhat... unique.

"It's good for them to discuss more. The dwarves' engineering skills are very high. Master Henkel can come to our territory, which is considered a strong support. Maybe we can come up with something good." Xia Houyan glared at Cousins. The knight took a long look.

"What's more, a group of priests and monks from the church came to Swan Castle this morning, saying that they are willing to provide religious assistance for us in Shuangfengling." Knight Commander Cousins ​​smacked his lips, "Let me send you away. "

"People from the church?" Xia Houyan blinked.

In the regular battle sequence of the empire, in addition to magicians, the providers of elemental power also include religious figures of the Supreme Church—different from mages who use magic to use elemental power, these priests and monks use The so-called "divine spells" and chants of power.Although the attack power is far inferior to magicians, church priests are quite unique in healing, blessing, and exorcising evil, which can be regarded as the characteristic power of the human empire.

Logically speaking, in addition to deploying magicians, each imperial army and each noble territory should also recruit a certain amount of priests to make up for the shortcomings of elemental power. The patriarch of the local church is also an important member of the cabinet meetings of the major noble lords;
However, in view of the many "unorthodox" places in Frost Maple Ridge, this wasteland territory has always been insensitive to the forces from the Supreme Church, and the Land of Cracked Soul is currently the only "dark area" in the entire empire where there is no church organization.

Since Frost Maple Ridge has flourished, Patriarch De Ligt III of the Southern Patriarchate of the Empire has made more than one request to establish a church and church organization in the Land of Cracked Soul, and to aid a group of senior priests in Frost Maple Ridge , but all of them were rejected by the lord with a swipe of a pen:
Letting a group of clerics infiltrate the private land of Shuangfengling is something that the Xiahou officials who have received a red education since childhood will never allow - not to mention the troublesome things such as necromancy that must not be discovered by outsiders.

Pastors of the church who fanatically believe in the Holy Spirit are not as easy to accept political education and brainwash as others.

But what really puzzled Xia Houyan at this time was that it was not enough to reject the olive branch of the church in his hometown, the land of broken souls. How could this group of lingering fanatics come to him on the front line of the eastern border?

As if seeing the lord's confusion, Master Laurie spread his hands and explained:

"Your lord, you don't know yet, this time the attack on Thorn City, the Empire's Supreme Church is fully mobilized! A week ago, besides the entire 'Vengeance Laurel' Knights, there was Li His Majesty Seliu sent a group of nearly a thousand priests! Looking back on previous wars, the Supreme Church has never sent so many priests to the battlefield, let alone this time it is an overseas battle to attack the enemy's city!"

"So, those pastors came to the door?" Xia Houyan suddenly realized.

"Yeah, it's not just us here. Now there are a large number of church priests stationed in every imperial division's residence." Captain Cousins ​​nodded and said, "Although we don't need priests in Frost Maple Ridge, for ordinary imperial troops In terms of people, these clergymen are valuable elemental power users who are enough to fight against the orc shaman..."

"It seems that the empire is determined to take down Thorn City..." Xia Houyan smiled wryly: The Supreme Church can be regarded as having lost all its capital by sending so many priests to the battlefield—in other words, once these priests accidentally die on the front line I'm afraid His Majesty Richelieu has the heart to hit the wall to see the Holy Spirit...

Master Laurie shrugged:

"After all, Thorn City is the 'holy city' of the empire that retains the relics of the Supreme Holy God! If it were replaced by another city, the church would definitely not be able to mobilize so many priests..."

"So, this is a holy crusade!" Xia Houyan said with a chuckle.

—Of course, this metaphor seems a bit unlucky...

"In addition, I also heard that not only priests, but also people from the Supreme Church and the Inquisition have been sent to the front line of Thorn City!" Master Laurie stretched out his fist and made an exaggerated hammering movement, "This time, the Holy Spirit The sledgehammer of judgment is about to smash down on the orcs and heretics!"

"Even the Inquisition is involved?!" Xia Houyan was really surprised and raised his eyebrows.

If we say that most of the priests in the Supreme Church are auxiliary personnel who are skilled in healing and blessing, the "inquisition" that is nominally subordinate to the church but dissociated from the church is a real hard-working force:

This group of mysterious guests wearing red and black hooded robes are all extremely powerful men who have vowed to dedicate their lives to the Holy God and have excellent actual combat capabilities. An eighth-rank archmage, and a past champion swordsman of the Imperial Swordsmanship Competition.

Coupled with the fanatic soldiers under the command of the Inquisition, this relatively small religious group is actually one of the most powerful organizations on the continent, even enough to compete with some small countries and free cities.Even in the mage school city, where there are many magicians and the elemental power is unmatched in the mainland, it will be cautious when dealing with matters related to the Inquisition.

However, in a sense, the Inquisition, like the Mages Academy City, is not too interested in secular matters such as the Continental War, and has never provided any large-scale support to the Imperial Army before: the highest-ranking magicians in the Academy City They all huddled in their mage towers to study the mysteries of the elements, while the zealots of the tribunal were busy searching for, burning and killing heretics in the empire.

Because of this, the Inquisition actually sent people to the front line of Thorn City. This is explosive news: Could it be that this group of "Holy Swords" in red and black robes finally couldn't hold back their fanatical flames of faith? Not only do you want to eliminate dissidents in the country, but you are also preparing to stab those orcs and heretics who worship the god of war abroad?
"Thorn City... seems to be getting lively..." Xia Houyan murmured.

……

Tens of miles south of Swan Castle, another imperial fortress on the bloody front.

"For Your Majesty! For the Empire! For Victory!"

Marquis Liam raised his red wine glass high and drank the bloody wine in one gulp.

"For the sake of the Holy Spirit." The man sitting opposite him laughed and followed, taking a sip of the red wine in his glass.

Unlike the greasy steak in front of Marquis Liam, there were only two pieces of dry unleavened bread lying on the white porcelain plate in front of this man.However, he still stretched out his fingers contentedly, carefully arranged the bread into small pieces with great interest, and then dipped it in red wine and chewed it slowly in his mouth.

The man wore the black linen robes of ascetics, with a red cloak at the back, and a small, almost inconspicuous gold cross hung on his chest.

In stark contrast to his simple attire, is the two-handed giant sword he leans against the dining table: the silver hilt is carved into the shape of intertwined thorns, and the silver thorns circle all the way, and finally extend out to an extremely sharp tip The first sword square and the second sword square.The body of the two-handed sword was shiny and shiny, with a layer of blood faintly faint, which contrasted nicely with the blood ruby ​​adorning the top of the hilt.

No matter how you look at it, this is a legendary weapon that is priceless and bloody.But only those who are most familiar with the history of the empire know that the real name of this two-handed sword is "Heart of the Holy Blood": it is said that it was reforged from the twelve holy nails that were once nailed into the body of the Holy God. The strong desire hidden in the blade is like a hunger to taste the blood of the god again.

And the owner of this famous sword is no one else, but the big apprentice of "Brontosaurus" Samuel, the famous "Slayer" Estevel, the former champion of the Imperial Swordsmanship Tournament. A generation of sword masters with equal fame as masters.

But now, few people can find clues that once belonged to the sword master Estevel from the every move of this black-clothed friar who is slowly eating bread with a calm expression—only when he holds When the hilt of the "Heart of Sacred Blood" was lifted, the ambition that had been firmly imprisoned by oaths and beliefs disappeared in a flash.

"With the great help of the adults of the Inquisition, we will be able to eradicate the orcs and heretics this time, and bring the glory of the Holy Spirit back to the Holy City!" Prime Minister Guillaume Gunter, sitting next to Marquis Liam, said enthusiastically. , "Master Liam came with His Majesty Basil's blessing and mission, and he is destined to scare the orcs!"

The entire face of Marquis Liam, acting commander of the Imperial Central Army, was slightly flushed. This man was completely immersed in the flames of pride and glory.Estevel, across the table, looked at him with interest.

Beside Estewell was a woman with short hair.Her attire is exactly the same as that of Estevel, but the most striking thing is the horrible scar that runs through her cheek from the bottom left to the top right: this scar splits her originally beautiful face in two, beheading her. All the youthfulness left over from her girlhood was broken, leaving only irreparable anger and pain that became heavier with the passage of time.

This is the "Blade of Londo" Urna, one of the Supreme Seven of the Inquisition along with Estewell.She did not maintain a polite smile like Estewell, but looked at Marquis Liam coldly with a serious expression.

Sometimes, Prime Minister Guillaume Gaunt even wondered for no reason whether Miss Urna had completely lost the ability to smile because of killing heretics for a long time.

"Speaking of which, we don't seem to have seen the Duke Elliot Igor who has been in the limelight recently..." Estewell finished the first unleavened cake on the plate slowly, and then He lifted the napkin restrainedly and wiped his mouth, "Isn't he here?"

"Ah, the people from Frost Maple Ridge are now stationed at Swan Castle in the north." Prime Minister Gunter said with some embarrassment, "If you want to see Mr. Igor, I'm afraid you have to go to Swan Castle in person—you know, like Igor We're afraid we won't be able to invite someone like Lord Gore here..."

"Ah, I understand, it's okay." Estewell showed a considerate smile, "It's okay, since everyone is on the front line of the empire, I think fate will always allow me to meet Lord Igor one day , isn't it?"

"In addition to Lord Igor, the two of you can also go to see Lord Grim Rosario." Prime Minister Gunter said cautiously.

Estewell smiled and did not speak, but Miss Urna beside him had already spoken.

Prime Minister Gaunt was a little surprised, but also a little satisfied to hear that the "Blade of Londo" of the Inquisition used her cracked lips to spit out a contemptuous assertion:

"Rosario? A poor fool..."

(End of this chapter)