Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 306: The Noble Candlestick
On the morning of September 17th, a large number of messengers set out from the Temple of Flame and rushed to the branch temples in various parts of the northern border.

The six flame archbishops jointly issued a statement after the 22nd Cardinals' Conference, saying that the Chief Archbishop, His Excellency Pirac, encountered an accident while practicing flame prayer, and cut off his own head with resolute determination before his death, in order to warn the younger monks to be vigilant against the flames that accompany them day and night, and not to fall into depravity in laxity and arrogance.

On the 18th, a letter of condolence signed jointly by the Eternal Queen Marika, the King of Elden Radagon, and the Golden Prince Godwin was delivered to the cathedral. The special envoy sent by the royal capital, Duke Harvey, one of the leaders of the Old Party, personally presided over the state funeral ceremony with the will of God and the King.

At the same time, the cathedral ordered skilled craftsmen to carve the dying face of the chief archbishop into a candlestick, on which burned the fire of faith gathered by the six archbishops. It was passed down from generation to generation as the most precious holy object of the cathedral to warn future generations.

However, the matter of the "spark" that really concerns the truth of Pelak's death was strictly limited to the six archbishops. Even Duke Harvey and the head of the monitors, Arganti, who was thousands of miles away, had no way of knowing the inside story.

A strange power that can greatly enhance the divine power and physique of a fire monk, and gradually transform him from the spirit to the body into a fire giant. Obviously, the fewer people who know about it, the safer it is, especially at this moment when no one knows the details of this power.

The six archbishops agreed that Hiron would temporarily replace Pilak in charge of the internal affairs of the temple, Juno would stay in the east and lead the monitors to closely monitor the unusual movements around the Giant Cemetery, and the other four archbishops would return to their respective jurisdictions and secretly launch an investigation into the fire.

On the other hand, in response to the fifteen clans of Samir declaring a full-scale war on the Flame Temple and the Northern Garrison, Shillen once again rejected the opposition and decided to postpone the dispatch of troops. He contacted the Northern Garrison Marquis Ossarion Ofnir and the leaders of the various clans of Samir to negotiate in the city of Sekhvenya, making a final effort for peace.

However, despite this, the situation in the North has indeed collapsed to a large extent, so the Holy Temple and the Northern Garrison have both activated the highest level of combat readiness. More than 5,000 martial artists and 30,000 Northern defenders have been mobilized, and the 10,000 garrison troops of Lord Fortress have also responded from afar, forming a siege on the Samir territory in the southwest of the snowfield.

On the 20th, the fifteen clans of Samir held a joint meeting and after a fierce debate, they passed a resolution to negotiate with humans by a narrow margin of eight to seven.

But in return, the Samir people also put forward a request - the negotiation location should be changed from the city of Sekhvenya to the frozen lake, and the peace talks should be conducted under the witness of the ice dragon god Borelius.

On the 22nd, the Holy Temple and the Northern Garrison agreed to the request, and the three parties agreed to hold talks in three days. The human side was represented by Xillen and Ossarion, while Samir sent the patriarchs Albert and Augustine and the new patriarch elected by the remnants of Kulros to negotiate.

Since the frozen lake is quite far away from the traditional Samir territory and is beyond the control of the Holy Temple and the Northern Garrison, both tribes have put a lot of effort in the guarding work at this time when both sides are highly nervous.

The Samir people brought with them a thousand elite soldiers and three hundred Samir knights. On the human side, the temple where Xiren was located was okay, and only brought a symbolic guard of about a hundred people. However, it was different for a certain lord who was famous for his bravery and fighting skills in the North. When Marquis Ossarion left the garrison, he almost emptied all the surrounding garrison troops and led a full five thousand cavalrymen to rush towards the frozen lake.

For a moment, the human team was in the north and the Samir team was in the south. The two teams were like two long black dragons galloping across the vast snowfield, stirring up countless snow fog and dust. They said they were going to negotiate, but they showed a tense momentum.

On a desolate snow hill, a man wearing a dark red hood and holding two long swords on his waist stared at the team winding forward in the distance with hawk-like eyes. After a long time, he turned over and went down the snow hill, and waved a gust of wind to flatten all the footprints behind him.

He ran all the way along a frozen river between many hills. His tall and heroic body was so fast that he seemed like a vague ghost. In a flash, he flew a thousand meters away and soon came to a low hill.

The man waved his hand to clear away the vines and hay that covered the surface of the rock, and then pushed aside a half-ton boulder, ducking into the hole that was obviously carved out with a sharp blade. "Mr. Oleg, you're back?"

Next to the burning fire, the pale-faced girl Samir asked in a low voice while holding her sister who had just fallen asleep.

"Ah."

The man nodded, glanced at the young man who was still unconscious in the corner, and when he turned back to the two girls, his eyes softened and he asked, "How is your sister?"

"Thanks to your timely use of divine power to protect Kularis's bones, blood vessels, and the healing prayer that Mr. Gontia released earlier, she was able to survive, but her leg was damaged."

Kurara gently stroked her sister's face, which was still frowned in pain even in her sleep. A trace of sadness flashed in her eyes, but in the end she just sighed inaudibly.

"I'm sorry," Oleg lowered his eyes and said, "Healing and saving lives is not my forte. Besides, even among the people I know, few people can perform the magic of regenerating severed limbs. In the future, I will definitely pay attention to any opportunity to heal this child's leg injury."

“Please don’t say that!” Kularis shook her head anxiously. “It’s a great blessing for us to be able to survive such a nightmare. If we hadn’t met you, Mr. Gantia and I would have become dried bones for wild dogs to gnaw on, right?”

After several days, Kulala still clearly remembered that Mr. Gantia - or Mr. Adam as the group called him, used up his last bit of willpower and strength to escort them for a long distance.

When she woke up, her sister had fainted from excessive blood loss, and Mr. Gantia's body was covered with hideous wounds. Snowflakes and ice had buried most of his body. He used his last bit of strength to hold them in his arms, and used the remaining warmth of his chest to shield them from the wind and snow before falling asleep.

But the wind and snow might be able to stop them, but not the wild beasts. Pairs of red eyes and low whimpers approached from a distance in the night before dawn, and soon surrounded the three of them.

Kurara struggled to break free from Mr. Gantia's arms, drew out the dragon arrow dagger and stood in front of the wolves. At this moment, the girl who had gritted her teeth and persevered until now in order to survive with her sister finally couldn't help crying in despair.

I haven't done anything bad, why am I being treated so cruelly?
I have already survived hell, so why should I die in the darkness before the end of the long night?
But this time, when the gods remained indifferent, someone finally responded to her prayers.

A cross of sword light as bright as starlight flashed by, and all the approaching beasts were swept away in an instant. When she opened her eyes wide in disbelief and looked at the back of the man who sheathed the sword, the man introduced himself like this:
"My name is Oleg, a man who has lost his homeland."

(End of this chapter)