"Captain, you are different from what I imagined. ”

Looking at the slightly weak 'woman' standing opposite him, Todd scratched his head, and for a moment he didn't know what to call the other party.

"Mr. Dieng?"

"Miss Dieng?"

After thinking for a while, Todd omitted the title, looked at the other party's women's simple clothes, and said hesitantly: "There is also a gap between you and what I thought......"

Glancing at the two of them with a headache, Tristan squeezed between them and said to Todd, "Find a place, I have something very important that we need to talk about individually." ”

The latter glanced at the knight dressed in women's clothes and nodded.

The two went to the church's expository hall and closed the door.

Tristan first asked a question: "On my way here, I heard that a few days ago, you contained the queen of the Silver Ring Kingdom and a renegade army?"

Todd admits it was.

Tristan lowered his chin and pondered for a moment, "If I had known about this earlier, maybe I would have brought some soldiers this time." ”

Todd listened to the other party's words, and asked a little strangely, "I see the entourage of the church mission, haven't you already brought a team of soldiers?"

Tristan pinched his eyebrows with a headache: "No, they're not soldiers......"

Afterwards, the man explained the incident of the "Plague of Truth" to the chief of the Knights.

Todd listened to the other party's introduction, his eyes widened wider and wider, and finally stammered, "You...... You're saying that the group of soldiers you brought with you are nothing more than a bunch of academy students?"

Tristan closed his eyes and nodded slightly.

Todd took a long breath, closed his eyes helplessly, and a wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Speaking of which, Twilight is on the verge of becoming a fugitive paradise......

Serfs fleeing the nobility, xenomorphs facing persecution, queens reviled and troubled waters, treasonous fleeing armies, and now a group of students defined as heretics have arrived. The most ironic thing is that these people actually live on the land of the Church and are under the protection of the Holy See Order.

Todd opened his eyes and said, "I saw your letter a few days ago, and I thought you had brought a reinforcement to Twilight......"

Then, he sat up straight, grimacing, and recounted the recent events in Twilight.

The young deacon touched his chin with his hand, and after thinking, he said, "That commander from the Southern Legion is right about one thing. Even if there were no defections, Twilight would have been attacked, but due to the lack of information he had obtained, the analysis may not have been sufficient. Next, I'm going to tell you some of the news I just learned, and they're very important!"

Tristan begins by explaining to Todd the situation around Twilight: "According to the Holy Pact of the Church with many secular nations, no kingdom shall engage in any form of trade with the barbarians of the North. However, according to the Church's investigation, the Kingdom of the Silver Ring secretly conducted many large-scale transactions with the barbarian tribes a few months ago, and they exchanged weapons and armor for a large amount of gems and gold dust from the barbarians. ”

"In the absence of valid evidence, the Church had to use the Holy Acropolis to exert military pressure on the Silver Ring, and at the same time send a mission to negotiate with them to demand that they immediately cease this behavior, both hard and soft. It was even said that if the Silver Ring continued like this, the Holy Acropolis would not hesitate to occupy the stronghold by going to war and destroy the trade routes to the north. Tristan tapped his knuckles on the table with a solemn expression: "At the same time, according to reliable sources, the barbarians have signed an armistice with the pirates of the Northern Isles, and it is possible to conclude a temporary alliance. ”

Tristan leaned closer to Todd and asked in a deep voice, "Do you know what that means?"

Todd digests the information in his brain.

1. In order to alleviate the domestic financial and tax crisis, the Silver Ring Kingdom began to trade with the northern barbarians.

2. The Church and the Holy Acropolis adopted a combination of hard and soft methods, forcing the Silver Ring to immediately suspend trade with the barbarians, and claiming that they would not hesitate to destroy the trade routes by means of war.

3. The northern barbarians concluded a temporary pact with the pirates of the northern islands, opening up the sea routes.

Then combining the above three, Todd came to a conclusion that made him sweat coldly.

As the trade routes between the Silver Ring and the northern barbarians could be interrupted by the Acropolis at any time, the former two needed to find a new, safer trade route away from the threat of war, and the temporary agreement between the barbarians and the pirates opened up a perfect passage for this trade route - the sea.

However, there is one biggest trouble to solve in this sea passage - Twilight Town.

Located at the throat of the West Coast, the town of Twilight is across the sea from Waiheke Island, surrounded by plains with a wide view, and only one cavalry unit needs to be stationed in the town, and no trading caravan can travel safely under the town's nose.

Therefore, for the Silver Ring City and the barbarians, the existence of Dusk West Town is like a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh, and it has to be removed.

With all this in mind, Todd sat down in his chair, looked at the young deacon opposite, and suddenly said, "You mean that Twilight is in the midst of war? In wars between secular kingdoms, the Church only has the power to mediate, but it is inconvenient for them to participate directly in the war. But if Twilight, the land of the Church, is attacked, the Church will have a reason—the best reason for the Church army to set foot on the secular kingdom with all its might. So, the Church used Twilight as a decoy, an excuse to go to war. For the church, we are nothing more than dispensable outcasts in a plan. ”

Tristan heard this, with surprise on his face, and later he said to Todd in a praising tone: "That's right, Master Chief, it's really rare that you can think of this. ”

Todd leaned a little and looked at the other party in confusion, "I don't understand, why did you send those students here when you already know the future fate of Twilight?"

The young deacon said, "Chief Master, you may not know that the situation in the royal capital is getting worse and worse, and these students have nowhere else to go. My master and I have a suggestion about the town of Twilight and the Knights of Twilight. ”

Todd listened to the other party's words, and had an ominous premonition in his heart: "Suggestion?"

"Abandon Twilight Town, take your Twilight Knights and set off south!"

Todd stood up from his chair in shock, "What did you say?!Give up Twilight?!"

Tristan pulled out a large pile of paperwork from his bag: "These are all things that my master and I have spent a lot of effort to get. This one is the order for the Knights to move their defenses, this one is a permit through the pass, and this one is ......"

"Wait!"

Todd slammed his hands on the table and shouted, "Are you kidding?! There are more than a thousand people in the town! How can so many people say that they will move if they move?! And now that winter is about to begin, the heavy snow will soon block all the roads, and you won't even be able to get out, let alone move the whole town!"

"Chief, please note that I'm not talking about the entire town moving south, I'm talking about the Knights of the Twilight West......"

Seeing the man opposite say this sentence with a calm face, Todd gasped, and his head buzzed: "What do you mean...... It was the man who made me leave the whole town behind...... Escape?"

Tristan pursed his lips: "Chief Commander, this is not an escape, this is a temporary retreat, and you will have a chance to return to ...... in the future"

"You've asked me to leave the inhabitants of Dusk West to the pirates of the north and the brutal nobles?!"

Tristan's nails were deeply embedded in the palms of his hands, and he tried his best not to hear sadness and pain in his tone: "You can bring all the talents and items that you think are valuable, as for the inhabitants who remain, they were all children of the Silver Ring Kingdom in the past, and they should not suffer too much ......"

"What about the serfs who ran away, what about the merchants who evaded the harsh taxes, and what about the people who chose to move into Twilight because they trusted me?!"

Tristan, who was gradually losing patience, slammed the table with his fist, stood up and looked at Todd, and said coldly: "Chief Commander, in war, naïve people die the fastest! The necessary renunciation is to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, and only by living can there be hope for revenge!"

Todd's expression was calm and terrifying, and he grabbed the edge of the table and said in an unusually low tone, "Maybe you don't believe it, I once died. Death is not terrible, nor is it sad. The sad thing is that even though we live, life is better than death, and life is better than death. There are many things that can be escaped while alive, but there is no way to escape oneself. ”

Tristan froze.

In the impression of the young deacon, Todd was a gentle, humble, and courteous man. At this moment, he saw a side of this boy who was only 15 years old and had never seen before.

The young man put away the paperwork on the table, slowly walked to the door of the room, and turned his head to look at Todd: "Chief Chief, if you want to convince me, words are not enough. What I'd like to hear is how you plan to deal with the double trap of the Silverring Army and the North Island Pirates. Remember, it's the end of November and you're running out of time......"

Watching the deacon disappear to the other end of the door, Todd sat back in his chair and buried his face in his hands.

——————————————

Todd sat on a bench in the square in front of the church, watching the bustling crowd in front of him. The residents in front of him, no matter how busy they were, would always bend down and salute him when they passed by.

Just yesterday, Monk Joe and old Aiden finally succeeded in developing a new cement. The new cement is faster than the cement recorded in ancient books, and the hardness is higher and the cost is lower.

The old knight Cumberland was on the eastern plains of the town, teaching Huggins and his men how to charge and fight in groups, and ensure that these young men who had been away from their horses for too long would not be able to use even basic combat skills on the battlefield.

Under the collective watchful eyes of the townspeople, after several protests to no avail, the knight Dion finally changed into a neutral civilian clothes, and took a group of students to live in a hotel on the town's commercial street.

Todd looked at the ground, remembering Tristan's words yesterday and thinking about how to deal with it in the future. This aimless reflection lasted from noon until the sun set.