In the early morning of the second day after the end of the Battle of Guyicheng, the fleet of ships in the harbor raised their iron anchors and raised their sails, and sailed out of the harbor one after another, slowly heading south.

Prior to their arrival, the combined fleet of Twilight and Froststone had 42 vessels, including 7 three-masted Shane freighters, 17 brigs of the Kraft, and 18 other smaller vessels.

By the time they left, the size of the fleet had expanded to 70 ships, and the extra ones were all captured in the port of Guyicheng.

In the Battle of Guwei City, on the premise that their own losses did not exceed 100, the Froststone Coalition liberated about 7,000 slaves in the city, eliminated 350 enemy troops, captured about 2,200 Ulster soldiers and civilians, and seized all kinds of property equivalent to 2.8 million gold coins.

In addition to this, the coalition forces also brought back some very special trophies - war beasts. This included forty giant wolves, six two-headed monster birds, and two gas crocodiles.

With the thick smoke billowing and the burning ancient city, the sight of everyone is getting farther and farther away, and the freed slaves and the tribesmen of the barbarian tribe stand on the bow of the ship with roars and shouts, to the most famous slave trading capital in the north, to vent their old grudges and the joy of victory for many years.

Todd stood on the side of the boat and watched it all quietly, with no emotion in his eyes.

When he turned around, the smiling face of Jerry, the deputy head of the North Island Knights, appeared in front of him.

Everything was just like the convent of San Sidro a few years ago, and the tall, thin and honest young man followed him silently.

Todd looked at the familiar, harmless face and smiled, "Let's go." ”

Faint cheers could still be heard in his ears, and Todd continued to walk into the cabin on the ground floor and saw Evie standing by the hatch.

The Valkyrie silently wiped her blade and said to Todd, "The man has been brought. ”

Todd threw a "wait here" sentence at Jerry behind him, and then pushed the door open, and a beaten face appeared in front of him.

A dying plainman, tied to a wooden frame, was tortured by two barbarian torturers.

The torturer first poured a scoop of seawater into the victim's mouth, and then slammed a fist into the opponent's lower abdomen, and pale yellow water accompanied by pale pink blood gushed out of the latter's mouth.

"Please...... Stop ......"

Ignoring the men, Todd found a chair, sat down at the table, and flipped through the ledgers and notes seized by the tribe.

"On May 7, 891 white cargo were loaded on the ship, including 230 adult men, 337 women, and a number of elderly and children. 』

"72 people were sick during the voyage (treated), 24 people were normally lost (including 16 women, 5 men and 3 children), and 37 people gave gifts (the list is in the appendix)."

"Market income: 735 people, 23,761 alloy asahi pieces. 』

"Note: Some goods are processed at low prices due to condition problems and are not counted. 』

Todd slowly closed the ledger and exhaled a heavy breath, his hands trembling slightly from the mood swings.

At this time, the torturer was pulling the other party's hair and shouting, "Tell us!

The tortured man opened the hematoma's eyes, looked at them, and said softly: "The fur merchant of the Duchy of Fenton." ”

A heavy punch directly to the opponent's chin.

Looking at the bloodied teeth rolling at his feet, Todd reached out and paused the torture.

He walked up to the victim and looked at the palms of the victims, then looked down at the knees and feet.

"Fur merchant?" Todd found a chair and sat down in front of the prisoner, "Think about it before you choose a fake identity." ”

"The crevices between your fingernails are the marks left by years of ink. I ask you, why would a person who does not know the written word, but only deals with furs and coins, come into contact with pen and ink for so long?"

Todd's questioning caused the Fur Merchant to bow his head.

"You have heavy calluses on your knees, but interestingly, there are no calluses on the soles of your feet. In other words, you use kneeling a lot, but you don't walk a lot. Todd smiled at the other and said, "Tell me, what fur merchant in the world usually kneels to talk to people about business, and doesn't have to travel around?"

The fur merchant's body began to tremble.

Todd reached out and slowly rubbed the silver cross on the other's chest: "Christian...... For those of you who are there, I have a hundred ways to get you to tell the truth. ”

Drawing a square shape with his hand, Todd said to the person in front of him in a very gentle tone: "There is a simplest and most common way, we will use stone and cement to build a fully enclosed stone house seventy centimeters square and one hundred and thirty centimeters high. Make an opening in the top of the stone house, throw you in, and close the opening. ”

"In that airtight, dark hut, you can't lie down and sleep, and you can't get up and move. There, you will lose your grasp of time and at the same time lose control of your vision. Your hearing and senses will become extremely sensitive, and even the sound of falling dust can lead those irrepressible fears and nightmares from the depths of your heart and erode your soul little by little......"

Todd's words were like a rusty saw, slowly cutting the nerves of those present, and even the barbarian torturers, who were accustomed to seeing blood, shivered unconsciously.

"Do you think that's the end of it? No, it's just the beginning. On the third day in the stone house, we will send you two things. Todd flicked the cross on the other's chest: "A dagger and a basin of human blood." ”

"There will be two paths before you. 1. Commit suicide with a dagger, and according to the doctrine, you will go to hell forever, and 2. Drink human blood and become an unclean person despised by the Holy Spirit. (In Christianity, suicide is murder, a felony against God's creation, and will go to hell after death; blood symbolizes Christ's redemption, and those who devour it are considered unclean beings and will be forever spurned by believers.) ）

"Heavenly Father is above! I will say everything!" The "fur merchant", whose psychological defenses had completely collapsed, raised his bloody head and cried out: "I am Felichild, a deacon of the center of the Holy See!"

"Holy See center?" Todd asked, "which church department do you belong to?"

"No, no, we are not part of a single administration of the Church, we are directly under the orders of Pope Alexander!"

"Pope, then this fleet of slaves also belongs to the Pope?"

"It nominally belongs to a charity organized by the papal knights themselves, dedicated to relieving religious persecution, or refugees seeking asylum. ”

"Charity?!" Todd snorted coldly, "What about the wealth of the slave trade?"

The money will be added to the coffers of the Holy See in the form of donations or indulgences. ”

Todd said in a disdainful tone, "It's not so much the treasury of the Holy See as it is into the pockets of some people." ”

After a pause, he turned to Felichild and asked, "How long has the church been in business for the slave trade?"

The latter swallowed: "I didn't know before, but it's been more than a year since I took over this matter." I've heard that the original destination of the fleet was the Southern Empire, but the war between the Abbasid and Ayyubid empires forced the slave trade to change the place of slave trading to the ancient city. ”

When Todd heard this, he suddenly remembered something: "Let me ask you, where did these slaves you transport come from?"

"There were wars between the diocesan kingdoms, and when the victors disposed of the captives, the Holy See would first intervene to rescue the captives, then send them to cargo ships in the form of charitable aid, and finally sell them to the Southern Empire or the northern kingdoms. ”

Todd's heart was vaguely uncertain, and he continued to ask, "Where did your last batch of slaves come from?"

Felichild hesitated for a moment, and finally whispered, "Holy Acropolis ......"

Angry, Todd gritted his teeth, grabbed the other party's collar, and carried him into the air: "Let me guess, the Holy Acropolis is currently divided into three forces. One was the royalists who defended the king, the other was the liberals who fought for independence, and the other was the church faction who were willing to be lackeys. So, you're colluding with those ecclesiastical bastards to sell the people of the Holy Acropolis like livestock?!"

Felichild, hanging in mid-air, fluttered his hands and feet, shouting that I don't know, but there was a suspicious panic in his eyes.

Todd looked at the expression on the other man's face, frowned, let go of his hands, and let Felichild fall to the ground.

"There are some things, it seems that you won't tell the truth......" Todd's right hand evolved into a tyrant form, and the sharp iron claws turned into sharp long needles, stabbing Felichild's forehead: "Very good, I've lost my patience anyway, instead of waiting for you to tell me slowly one by one, let me open your mind and find out for myself what you know!"

This terrifying and cruel scene in front of him made the barbarian torturers kneel down one after another. They watched in horror as Felichild, who had been pierced into the head with a sharp needle, his eyes white, his whole body convulsed, and the corners of his mouth drooling.

After a few seconds, he said unconsciously: "The person behind the slave trade with the Church is the leader of the liberal faction of the Holy Acropolis, the eldest son of the King of the Holy Guard, His Royal Highness Sinclair. ”