The "courtship" farce in Twilight Town took a week to slowly come to an end.

People slowly came to their senses from their frenzy, some were embarrassed by the strange words and actions they had made during this time, some gave up their pursuits but declared that the past few days had been a 'good' experience, and some men and women were still barricade at the door of the tribunal just to see Dieng again.

When Todd successfully captured the North Stone Fortress and returned to Twilight, the first official document on his desk that needed to be dealt with urgently was Knight Dion's advice on handling and punishment.

He has been dissolute in public places, wantonly slandering the Church and the Holy Son, provoking duels without authorization, disturbing public order, causing unrest among the residents, and destroying the holy marriage.

Looking at this long list of charges, Todd's head grew for a while, and his mind recalled Tristan's unnatural look when he introduced the knight Dion, which always made him feel that something was wrong.

Todd spent ten minutes carefully watching the duel, then approached Alfonso and asked, "What about the parties?"

"In order not to interfere with the normal work of the arbitral tribunal, Knight Dieng has voluntarily applied for suspension and handed over the matter at hand to others. By the way, he wants to meet you. ”

Todd nodded and said, "Temporarily remove him from his position and prepare for the review." As for the meeting, let's wait. ”

Putting the matter behind him for now, Todd began to deal with the backlog of other affairs.

For the renovation of the church, Queen Mary submitted a very professional engineering drawing. This design is completely different from the ancient Romanesque style of the religious architecture of the current era, which is a cathedral that is more inclined to the Gothic style.

Todd went to Mary and pointed to the drawings to discuss with her. This woman is obsessed with luxurious and noble senses, with unforgettable abilities and excellent artistic touches, integrating the characteristics of the northern highland culture, the ancient culture of Tairo and the decoration of the silver ring royal family, creating a precedent for Gothic religious architecture.

Todd pointed to the religious motifs on the stained glass in the drawings and asked with a frown, "Can you buy these in Twilighttown?"

Mary lifted the hair hanging down from her forehead with her hands, propped up her upper body with her elbows, looked at the drawings and said, "You are talking about colored crystals, right? There is a craftsman in the town who once burned iron with a 'fire gas bottle' (methane bottle), and accidentally burned a reddish crystal. Later, he experimented with silver and copper, and fired silver and brown crystals. Although these crystals are not as clear and transparent as the crystal relics sold by churches, they are enough to be used as windows in churches. ”

Todd listened to Mary's introduction, and shrugged helplessly, at first he thought that someone had leaked the recipe for the glass, so it seemed that with the advancement of technology, the manufacture of glass was only a matter of time.

Agreeing to the construction of the cathedral, Todd turned his attention to the next report.

Kendi, a scholar from the South, led students, monks, and xenomorph assistants to examine water, soil, and fossils brought from the North Island ruins using electron microscopy. Samples found underneath the North Island Ruins contain strange mineral powders that glow in the dark of night and affect the current beam in the air.

Todd's heart tightened when he saw this, it sounded a bit like a radioactive element.

Luckily, Kendi was cautious enough about the unknown, and only sealed the minions and didn't study them.

Todd immediately wrote a warrant demanding that the lab cease research on the fines and perform a radiation cleanup.

Todd breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the herald take the warrant away, and while glad that the radioactive material had not caused a serious accident, he also became more and more curious about the truth about the North Island ruins.

After a brief lunch in the chief's room, Todd asked Alfonso to bring Dieng over.

Half an hour later, flipping through the town's most recent financial and population reports, Todd heard a knock on the door and signaled for someone outside the door to come in.

Led Dion into the room, dressed in a hunting suit, Alfonso saluted Todd, then turned back and closed the door, standing in a corner of the room, looking at the former with wariness.

Todd felt the tense atmosphere in the room, shook his head helplessly, and said to Dion: "I have just heard about the heresy trial in the Papal States, and I deeply regret this tragedy. ”

Dion pursed his lips and raised his head: "Lord Todd, their sacrifice is not meaningless, at least let the world see the true face of the church clearly! What I am really worried about is you, are you greedy for the power given by the church, or are you willing to stand by the side of the truth?!"

Todd glanced at Alfonso, who was not squinting, sighed, and smiled bitterly at Dion: "Doesn't my actions speak for itself? If I really choose to stand with the church, why should I accept those students who have taken refuge, and why should I provide shelter for the aliens?"

Dion looked directly into Todd's eyes, who was surprised by the other man's eyes, he had never thought that such a 'delicate' looking person would bring so much pressure to himself.

"Lord Todd, did you ever think that sooner or later the Church would discover the secrets of Twilight, and if these despicable bastards used religious legitimacy and disenfranchisement to force you to exorcise or even arrest heretics, you would make such a choice then?!"

Listening to Dion's words, Todd was stunned.

This is indeed an issue that he has chosen to ignore in the past.

The ownership of the territory of Twilight, the legitimacy of the Knights of Twilight, the catechesis of the Son of Todd, all of this is built on a foundation - the recognition of the Pope of the Church of the Father.

If the church threatens itself with this, handing over the students and xenomorphs, can it do it on its own? If not, is it ready to compete with the church? Is it possible that the church has already known everything that is happening in Dusk, and is now only forced by the attack of the barbarians and the kingdom, so it chooses to let itself go, so that the Dusk Knights continue to exist as pawns in the charge?

Looking at the head of the group's uncertain face, Dieng continued: "Lord Todd, you are betting on both sides now. But have you ever thought that sooner or later you will have to make a choice, and what will happen to the Knights of the Twilight West and you, who have lost their usefulness, you should be able to think of it. ”

Todd looked at Dieng, and a smile slowly appeared on his face: "Who said these words to you?"

Dion was stunned for a moment, and his voice lowered: "No one ......"

Todd smiled and shook his head, "No, these shouldn't be what you thought of. ”

Dieng added, "It's Tristan......"

Todd shook his head again: "No, it's not like him. ”

Dion glanced at the other party, and finally said, "It's Tristan's master, Lord Abrauer, who wrote a letter for Tristan to pass on to me, and asked me to advise ......you at the right time."

Lord Abrauth, Tristan's master, the master alchemist, the builder of the monastery's underground laboratory?

Dion's words still seem unfinished: "Lord Arborough's letter has a proposal for the future of the Knights of the Twilight and you. ”

Todd leaned forward a bit, "Proposal?"

"Reformation!"

Todd repeated the word.

Dieng pointed to the cross in the room and impassionedly: "The Church should not be centered on the popes and cardinals, but on the whole elect of God. The only leader of the church should be Christ, not the Pope! The Pope should be judged by the standards of church leadership required by the Bible. That is, the Pope must be as simple, religious and hardworking as a saint, and not keen on power and wealth!"

Todd's eyes widened, he understood what the gang was trying to do, because he had heard these words in his previous life: "You want to start a new sect outside of the Church of the Heavenly Father and the Most Orthodox Church?!"

Dion nodded and said, "Yes, Lord Todd, Lord Aarrover wants to return the interpretation of the Bible to the beginnings of the ancient Taylor era. I think this idea is common sense, from the point of view of legal reason, and from the point of view of Tristan's philosophy of religion. ”

"Now is not the time to ......"

When Dion heard Todd's words, he rushed to the table and asked loudly, "Lord Todd, why is it not the time now, the Knights of the Twilight West have enough strength to challenge this dark age! Are you afraid? Are you afraid? Do you want to sit back and watch more innocent people die at the stake?"

"Don't be rude to the Commander!" Alfonso drew his sword and pressed it against Dion's chest.

Todd motioned for Alfonso to put away his weapon, looked at Dion with a full face of indignation, and said calmly: "I only ask you one thing, if I choose to break with the church now and carry out the religious reform, how many kingdoms will support me, and how many armies will support the church?"

Dieng was silent.

"I'll admit that the Knights of the Twilight West may have some strength now, but it's definitely not invincible when they look at the world. Todd looked at the 'umbrella' banner on the wall, "Maybe there is no need for the Church's army to intervene, and the habits and obedience hidden in people's hearts will plunge the Knights of Twilight into a place of despair." That's why I said now is not the time. ”

Dieng's hands gripped the edge of the table tightly: "So when exactly is the time?!"

Todd leaned back, looked at the ceiling and said, "Wait, wait, wait for the time when the contradiction between the secular kingdom and the church will become irreconcilable, wait for the time when the church's army will be weakened to the point where it is unable to fight, wait for the hearts of the people of the world to recognize themselves and give up their ignorance......"

Todd rubbed his forehead with his hand, watched as tears gradually gathered in Dion's eyes, and sighed deeply: "Let's change the subject, Dieng, as far as I guess, you should be a xenomorph, right? Can you tell me about your abilities?"