Masked Knight

The empire's eastern province, Rawles City.

Being the largest city in the eastern region of the empire and the capital of the eastern province, Rawles City's situation was very chaotic right now.

The Flaming Warriors of the church had taken control of the entire city a couple of days ago and drove off the empire's government officials here.

Originally, the garrison had thirty thousand locals stationed here, but the eastern province was indeed an area where the church had the most powerful influence. The entire eastern province had the highest number of devout followers. Even within the local garrison, this was the case.

Among the thirty thousand locals in the garrisons, there were five thousand devout followers. Part of the reason was the church had deliberately infiltrated the local garrison with a group of their own so as to strengthen the infiltration of power within the empire's strongholds in the eastern province. When large numbers of Flaming Warriors and magicians from the church suddenly rose in revolt, they rapidly seized control of the municipal government and then expelled the local garrison soldiers.

It could be said that in Rawles City where the church was deeply rooted, the government which was loyal to the empire's royal family was stunned by the attack. Before they could assemble the army, they were already defeated. The five thousand devout followers lurking in the army took the lead in mutiny. Under such circumstances, the local garrisons could not do anything at all.

Once the church took control of Rawles City, they immediately released the officials of the municipal government and several arrested aristocrats.

And now, this city had become the center of religious rebellion in the eastern region of the empire. These days, large numbers of Flaming Warriors kept heading towards Rawles City. According to preliminary estimates, the highest number of military force had once reached a hundred thousand. This did not include the devout followers, a portion of believers, and the mutiny soldiers of the empire who had formed a militia organization.

With Rawles City being the center, large numbers of Flaming Warriors spread out to light the fire of rebellion of the church everywhere in the eastern province. Within less than a week, half of the territories in the eastern province had fallen into the control of the church.

Now above the Rawles City walls, the thorn flower flags which were the symbol of the Radiant Empire, could not be seen anymore. The Governor Mansion which originally belonged to the province's governor had been burnt down, and the new central authority was set up within the original church. Militia wearing sleeve badges of the church could be seen walking on the streets. They wore long white robes and pointed hats, and in their hands were swords and weapons taken from the local garrison's military armory. They now acted as the security patrol soldiers.

From time to time, there were missionaries giving various fervent speeches and instigating the masses at the square in the center of Rawles City. Of course, in these speeches, the royal family of the Radiant Empire was accused without exception as the core of evil who blasphemed the gods and an evil organization that went against gods' will

Traces of destruction could be seen everywhere in the streets of the city. There were marks left behind by fires, collapsed houses, big piles of rubbish on the streets and people scurrying about.

It was apparent that the church was merely a religious organization. Although the church managed to seize control power due to its deep-rooted influence in the eastern province, they were not capable of managing a city. To be frank, they were excellent saboteurs. They had driven out the Empire's government officials, dissolved the institution, and disrupted the original system that kept the city running. However, no other effective mechanism was constructed.

A bunch of religious fanatics had transformed the whole city into a fanatical religious center. The huge statue of Abas the Emperor, which was erected in the middle of the city square, was demolished, and the stones were transported to the city walls as a military preparation for the upcoming holy war….

The church had even given out weapons publicly. They recruited devout followers of God among the ordinary civilians to take up arms and join in the armed rebellion against the Empire.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard the missionaries shouted at the point of weapon distribution, there were only a scarce few who responded. They had only managed to recruit less than three hundred people in a week, and half of these were street thugs who joined for the sake of the generous pay.

Anyhow, without a doubt, the whole of Rawles City was shrouded in a fanatical religious atmosphere. Militias wearing sleeve badges could be spotted around every corner of the city. Various slogans and piles of rubbish on the streets could be spotted too. This was because the original government was dissolved, and the new government formed by the church was busy with much more important matters such as the holy war. They did not have any energy to spare to take care of trivial matters such as rubbish on the streets.

The situation in all other cities of the eastern province where the church took control was almost similar to Rawles City.

Of course, there was another distinct characteristic in the eastern province. As this was the stronghold of the traditional influences of the church and also where the holy war erupted, the power of the vampire tribe in the entire eastern province became unprecedentedly weak. They had almost become extinct!

A carriage slowly exited from the west gate of Rawles City. The curtain was drawn at the corner of one window, and a pair of charming eyes appeared from behind, gazing at the bustling militias and recruited craftsmen.

"Sigh… these lunatics," a graceful voice sighed inside the carriage, "Do they think they can hold off the empire's elite troops with this chaotic rabble?"

A long queue was formed at the city gate as the tightly packed crowd awaited interrogation to enter or exit the city.

The church had set up a new surveillance system at the city gate, and a new city gate tax was also implemented.

When the church first expelled the Empire's officials, they had obtained a large amount of wealth. However, it was obvious that these religious charlatans did not know how to allocate the funds. They had spent large amounts of money to repair the city walls, recruit militias and also hoard military resources and weapons. Soon enough, they realized that their pockets had become empty!

In desperation, they began to levy taxes!

Not only did the traditional religious contribution tax increase by thirty percent, those entering and leaving the city had to pay a certain amount of fees too.

Apparently, judging from the expressions of those waiting to enter and leave the city gate, they were very unhappy about this.

Old Skeleton had said that religion was illusory. Once it involved actual survival interests, most people will abandon this empty devotion. After all, there were only very few religious fanatics in this world.

"A bunch of idiots!" the person in the carriage looked at the angry passersby and sighed from the bottom of her heart, "The first thing they should do after seizing control of a city and obtaining vast territories, is to win popular support in every possible way! Those fellows from the church, don't they even understand such simple truths?"

The carriage headed to the west slowly. When Rawles City was far behind, the person in the carriage opened the windows, revealing a beautiful face.

"How long do we need to move westward to reach the place?" a gentle and charming voice came from inside the carriage. The girl who spoke was Nedis, who had the vampire bloodline and had been missing for several days after she left Rody.

Nedis's hair was casually tied behind her head, and she was wearing simple clothes made from coarse materials. Her face seemed to have slimmed a bit, and her beautiful eyes looked weary, losing its usual sparkle.

The driver smiled and said, "Miss, we better go southward for half a day before heading to the west. Currently, there is chaos in the west. I've heard rumors that Panka City was struck by disaster the day before. Thunder fired down from the heavens and destroyed the entire city! Right now, large numbers of troops are rushing there! Sigh… Miss, you need to be extra careful now that the entire eastern province is in turmoil…"

Nedis smiled lightly and let out a soft sigh, "Turmoil? To me, this is the safest place as there are so many Flaming Warriors here… At least, those from the vampire tribe won't be coming after me."

She paused and laughed loudly, "You said Panka City was destroyed by some thunderbolts from the heavens? What was that all about?"

"Shhhh!" the driver was startled. He looked left and right cautiously before saying in a hushed voice, "Miss, you must not speak carelessly regarding this matter. I've only heard a little about this after overhearing the conversation of two men from the Flaming Warriors when I was changing the wheels at a workshop this morning. It seems that it is a bottled-up secret of the church, so we can't just simply talk about it!"

After pausing for a moment, the old driver sighed and continued, "Isn't the church representing the gods? How could thunderbolts descend from the heavens and destroy Panka City? Sigh, there are rumors saying that nothing was left of the city. It was all burnt down into ruins. Sigh… There were so many people there, and suddenly they were all dead. What a pity…"

When he finished speaking, he lashed his whip.

Nedis became curious after listening to him. She smiled and asked, "Oh? You've described it so vividly, did such a thing really happen?"

"Of course!" the driver lowered his voice as he said, "Don't you know? A lot of strange things has been happening in the eastern province these two days. I've heard that in many villages, many suddenly died overnight. And in some of the places, mountains which were previously present would suddenly vanish in one night. Nobody knows what the hell is going on. Those Flaming Warriors could not care less. The previous local garrison soldiers of the Empire would frequently go out and patrol, unlike these fellows from the church. They look glamorous during normal days, and each time they speak it's about the gods, but now they keep asking for money. I really don't understand, why would the gods need so much money?"

Nedis was unable to help herself from giggling as he was too funny.

When the driver saw his beautiful passenger's smile, he became excited and burst out cursing in a suppressed voice, "Damn it! I need to pay 5 bronze coins as tax just to exit the city gate. If it weren't because miss paid me a higher fare, I would have been at a loss for this ride. Sigh, how I wish the Duke of the Tulip Family would bring his men here soon and throw out this money greedy religious charlatans! They're nothing but bloodsuckers!"

Nedis's face dulled when she heard the word 'Tulip'. She then became silent and did not speak anymore.

Wheels rolled, and the carriage drove towards the west. After moving for a while, it took the fork towards the south.

As Nedis looked out from the carriage, she noticed that they were surrounded by wilderness, and there were only low hills in the distance. She smiled and asked, "Where are we now?"

"We will be there soon after turning around the small town in front." As the driver was speaking, his tone became anxious. He lowered his voice and said, "Miss, do you know, there were some paranormal activities going on here the day before? You see…" he pointed at a hill in front and continued, "Did you see those hills? It was originally connected together, but when you look at it now, it was disconnected in the middle right?"

Nedis eyes followed his finger and indeed, the supposedly connected hills seemed like it was dug out in the middle.

She laughed, "So what?"

The driver kept shaking his head and exclaimed, "It's not the same! It's not the same! Few days ago when I passed by this road, the hills were not like this! They were originally in one row, and I heard that on that night the day before, there were rumblings of thunder and flashes of lightning from the sky, but strangely it was quiet in other places. The rumblings thunder and lightning bolts only gathered here and struck down at this place continuously. In the end, a gap was formed between those hills. So, don't you think this place is haunted?"

"Oh?" Nedis frowned and her expression became grave.

The hills at the distance were not high, maybe about several dozens of meters. They were low hills, characteristic of the eastern region.

"Is it that the empire's armies had invaded here, and these were marks left behind by the fights between the magicians in the armies and the church?" Nedis mumbled to herself, but then she decided to let it go, "What has this got to do with me? I'm now just wandering around and need not worry about anything else. As long as I don't bump into the vampire tribe, who's fighting with who has nothing to do with me!"

Thinking of this, a smile reappeared on her face, "So you knew that this place was haunted a few nights ago, why did you dare take this road now?"

The driver laughed and said, "Miss, I'm an uneducated man. Although I don't know much, I still know that a good horse will not turn back to crop the old grass. Think about it, even animals like horses understand this principle, don't the supernatural beings know this too? Hehe… A good horse will not turn back to crop the old grass, so I guess supernatural beings will not turn back too? There were already hauntings here a few days ago, I suppose they will haunt some other places now. So, it's very safe for us to take this road today!"

Although the driver was rough in speech and manners, the way he talked was somewhat interesting. Nedis gossiped with him for some time until she felt tired. She then smiled and said, "Okay, I'm going to rest for a while. Wake me up when you've reached the town in front. I need to buy something there."

The driver laughed and replied, "Sure! The town is just after that hill ahead. Please rest, miss. I will wake you up in a little while."

Nedis nodded and retreated into the carriage. She lay down and tried to nap, but the driver's mention of 'Tulip' evoked feelings of sadness in her heart. Although she wanted to rest, her mind could not stop spinning. She would think about that guy's tall back, his brilliant smile and the scene where he burst in while she was bathing in the sea that night. She would smile one moment and then sigh the next.

Time passed, and just as Nedis was starting to feel drowsy, a shrill cry suddenly rang from outside!

Years of being hunted down had led Nedis to become extremely vigilant. She immediately sat up and her hands already reached for the dagger hidden in her boots. Holding the dagger in her hands, she pushed open the window and shouted, "What's going on!"

Right now, the carriage had halted. As Nedis pushed open the windows, she saw the driver sat there terrified, his eyes locked straight ahead…