It has been more than a month since the Provisional Regime of the Sanctuary in the Endless Mountains to the west of the fortress of Coron has announced that their 'King of Light' Pelus has unfortunately contracted the disease.

Over the course of more than a month, the people in the shelter spontaneously prayed for their 'king' countless times.

After the New Year's rally, more than 100,000 people in the shelter organized themselves to gather in the walled city where their 'king' was located to pray for their 'king'.

In the invisible walled city covered by the vast mountains and dense forests, countless ragged people knelt in the cold and biting snow, pleading with the goddess to bless their 'king'.

Perus stood at the door of his lodgings and was speechless as he watched the scene before him, and it took him a long time before he took a step. "Crunch" Perus walked briskly in the snow in front of the door barefoot, and walked in front of several of the men that the farmer had defeated, staring at them with an indescribable expression, his body trembling with excitement or thin clothing.

When a nearby farmer saw the appearance of their king, he immediately took off his sheepskin boots, which had been torn several holes, and stepped forward with a few steps in his hands, and said, "Your Majesty, you..."

"No, I don't. Perus sternly refused, and stopped a herdsman next to him who was about to take off his woolen coat, "My... My illness is cured, and the Holy Force will protect me from the cold. As he spoke, the holy power in his body was slowly flowing.

Perus's words stunned the people around him, and after a short silence, a sharp voice shouted excitedly: "Your Majesty's illness is cured!"

"Goddess bless!"

"The gods are protecting us!"

"May His Majesty live long and be well-end!"

"Your Majesty has the blessings of the gods. ”

The crowd of people gathered was constantly offering their most sincere blessings, and they expressed their feelings in what they thought was the best words.

Judith then stepped forward with a stained sheepskin fleece coat and draped it over Pelus's shoulders.

But Perus felt nothing, his eyes were attracted by the bright eyes in the snow, those dirty faces, and the concerned expressions on their faces, the chaotic blessings in their mouths, and all of these things shook Perus's heart.

The concern of the people made Perus feel embarrassed, and he wanted to flee from here, but those bright eyes fixed his feet on the ground, and he could not move the slightest.

"I'm all right!" Perus whispered dreamily.

"Your Majesty, your people have been standing in the snow for a long time. Judith reminded Perus realistically.

...

Two hours later,

In the meeting hall of the walled city, the cold wind blew the surrounding windows, and three people sat next to a small square wooden table next to the only wall fire in the room.

With his back to the fire, with a grief-stricken self-reproach on his face, Perus wrote a list of more than a hundred people in the most charcoal pen on a piece of yellow paper on the edge of the table below his eyelids...

And the people on the list are dead,

was frozen to death,

It was to pray for their king to recover, and he froze to death in the snow!

"Remember these people!" said Judith coldly, "I am so unworthy of their deaths, and even more disgusted by your hypocrisy. ”

"Ahem!" a soft cough came from across from across from Judith, a middle-aged man with a well-groomed cheek in the dim light, with the pointed nose characteristic of the Clanns. This man's name was Grim Ward, who was originally a merchant who bought furs in the mountains of the Crane Territory, and held the title of baron, and he had a wealth that could have avoided having to follow Perus and others to suffer here, but he still followed.

Grim was clearly unhappy with what Judith said, and he wasn't even happy with the list being made public. But Judith insisted that Peruz needed to recognize his mistake.

"Knight Judith, you should respect your king. ”

"I think that only by saying what is in my heart can I truly respect my king. Judith's piercing gaze looked straight at Grim, "In a country that doesn't even have a national name, what is needed is mutual honesty, not lies intertwined between you and me. ”

"It was my mistake!" Perlus said with a certain determination, "I admit my mistake and I will not run away from it again." He and Judith looked at each other, "I will not let cowardice defeat me again, I will take my responsibility and face the reality that should be faced." ”

"So let's talk about the reality you have to face. Judith opened a stack of fishy sheepskins, looked at the text of the record on it, and said, "At present, we only guarantee the food of hundreds of thousands of people in the shelter, and we owe the northern barbarians an astronomical amount of gold coins. ”

"The resources in the mountains are enough to feed hundreds of thousands of us, right?" Perus didn't understand this at all, he looked at Grim, "I remember you said at the beginning, we only need to get through the difficulties in the early stage, and we can rely on the resources in the mountains to be self-sufficient later. ”

Grim looked embarrassed, "Yes, in fact, we have relied on the resources of the mountains for a long time, as well as the cattle and sheep brought by the mountain people, but I did not expect that the winter in the mountains would be so difficult. ”

"We're dying almost every day, and they're all freezing to death!" said Judith, whose face was ugly, "but the situation of people freezing to death has improved recently, thanks to the inexhaustible charcoal resources around us. ”

"But at the same time, our fur business had to be stopped, because most of the soldiers we had to send out for the winter were now used to burn charcoal, which meant that there were no people to hunt. "Our people only need to hide in their houses for more than 13 hours a day to avoid freezing to death!"

"You're raising them like this?" Perus frowned.

"I'm not that stupid yet. Judith explains: "We're expanding the city and clearing the woodland for planting next spring, which requires a lot of labor. ”

Grim continued: "But soon the jobs we can provide will dry up, and we have to come up with a workable solution to this problem as soon as possible." He looked at Perus, "The most important problem is that we don't have money now! If we continue to rely on the northern barbarians, I fear that we will gradually become their vassals." ”

"The barbarians planned to annex us from the beginning. Judith, as an imperial nobleman, cannot accept this disgrace, "We must get rid of their control." ”

"There's a chance now," said Grim and Judith as they looked at Perus, "Andy Barrett of Twak has defeated the rebel forces of Cize Devin and regained control of Twak City, and their army is closing in on Sharptown... And yesterday, Duke Andy's messenger told us that he wanted to talk to us. ”

"Wait!" Perus looked at Judith, "Duke Andy has defeated the rebels?"

"Yes, this war happened very suddenly, and it ended even more suddenly. Judith had a look of incredulity on her face, "On New Year's Day, Duke Andy's army recaptured Twak City, and I heard that Nishizawa Dewen's head is now hanging on the west gate of Twak City. ”

"Does Duke Andy want us to help him attack Fortress of Coron or Sharptown?" Perus stood up, "Also, what do the people of the Sanctuary think, do they want to stay here or move to Twak Territory?"

"In my estimation, Duke Andy will have us attack the fortress of Coron to contain the rebels in Sharptown and test the reaction of the Orc garrison in Klan. "But in that sense, it's good for us, at least we can get through to the outside world." ”

"The battle of Twak Territory is still under wraps for the time being, and the people in the shelter don't know about it. Judith explained.

"They should be told!" said Perus without hesitation, "They have the right to know the truth, and they have the right to choose whether to stay or go to Tkava, and besides, sooner or later, the news will come in, and then what will the people of the shelter think of us?"

"The news will definitely be announced, but not now!" Grim said, "Do we need to send someone to talk to Duke Andy?" he leaned back in his chair and frowned, "Just last night, news came from the northern barbarians that the messenger sent by King Saktor regretted arriving for three days... Obviously, Duke Andy didn't just want to talk to us. ”

"If we could own this area near the Fortress of Cologne..."

"Let's get the news out of Duke Andy's defeat of the rebels first. Perus interrupted Grim, "Look at the other people's reactions." ”

"What about Duke Andy's side, are they going to send someone to us, do you want to agree with them?" Judith was not surprised by Peruth's decision.

Perlus half-squinted and thought for a few seconds before his gaze fell on Grim, "Go to their territory and talk, you go and talk to them personally, if Duke Andy is interested in recovering the Coron fortress area, I am more than happy to help him... My request is very simple, you can ask him what he wants what we lack most now!"

"I see. Grim's eyes lit up.

"Go and prepare, I want to know Duke Andy's plans as soon as possible. "Remember, we represent a group of homeless refugees, not a country, and you can't call yourself a diplomat of the kingdom. ”

Grim was stunned when he heard this, his eyes swept over Judith's face next to him, and then he whispered, "I'm just an ordinary businessman, this is who I am." With that, he slowly exited the somewhat gloomy room under the satisfied gaze of Perus.

Judith looked at Grim's departing figure and whispered: "There are two thousand orc garrisons in Koren Fortress, and there are many orc patrols around the mountains, although the orcs are now mainly focused on the war in the Western Continent, but it is impossible for us to challenge the existing garrison of their Coron Fortress with our strength. ”

"But reality requires us to take that step. "It has been proven that even the most basic of life is not sustainable with our power alone," Perus said. ”

"I'm glad you have such an idea. Judith didn't retort, she approached the wallfire and let the heat of the flames envelop her body and said, "But I have to warn you that you can't fail now, and the Lord of Light will lose all honor after defeat." ”

"I'm not the King of Light, I'm just an ordinary paladin. Perus stressed.

"Okay. Judith nodded, not intending to argue over the issue.

"But we really can't afford to fail. Perus looked at Judith and ordered, "Help me contact Prince Meru of the Kingdom of Baru, and say that I want to talk to him." ”