Todd was stunned by what he saw, and by the time he could react, Huggins was being trampled on the ground by an old man in full armor rubbing it repeatedly.

Grabbing Edgar and Jerry, who were rolling up their sleeves and trying to step forward, Todd stepped forward, pointed to Huggins, who had given up the struggle, and said to the old man: "Sir, I don't know who you are or what happened, but this person is my guard, please let him go first." ”

The old man shook his beard, glanced at the man at his feet with amusement, and said in a deep voice, "Little bastard, why don't you tell Father Todd who I am!"

Huggins struggled to raise his head, and on his dirty face, a smile that was more ugly than crying appeared: "This is Baron Cumberland, my main knight (the master of the knight squire stage), the commander of the warband I used to be in......"

"Uh......" Todd froze in place, he looked back, and he didn't know when, those subordinates who were standing behind Huggins, all ran away.

After thinking for a while, Todd, who was trying to organize the language, said to Cumberland, "Lord Baron, Huggins has a last resort......

"A deserter is a deserter! Not to mention that I personally witnessed his knighthood ceremony, this bastard is the first knight I have ever seen in my life who has left his estate, his title, and even his honor!" Cumberland kicked Huggins hard and roared angrily, "Do you know that because of you, I have been ridiculed by my colleagues and friends for a whole year!"

Huggins was disgraced and self-conscious.

Todd felt that things were getting more and more troublesome, and quickly dissuaded the baron, "Lord Cumberland, please calm your anger. There are many complex reasons for this to happen, and no one wants to see it happen. But Huggins is now my follower, and as a master, I am willing to do everything possible to make up for his mistakes. ”

“...... Oh? That's fine. The anger on the old man's face disappeared without a trace in an instant, and he nodded calmly.

Well?

What's going on?

Todd looked at Cumberland, who was changing his face faster than the sky, and his brain was in a state of shutdown for a while.

The baron patted the dust on his trousers as if nothing had happened, and said, "Forget to get down to business, Father Todd, His Majesty the King and Queen have invited you to the palace for a meeting, I don't think you will refuse, right?"

The muscles on Todd's face twitched, and the corners of his mouth pulled out a smile forcefully: "Extremely happy......"

————————————

On the way to the palace, Todd and Baron Cumberland struck up a conversation.

The old man's temperament is completely different from the impression given by the first side, he is funny, talkative, and quick-witted. Todd vaguely understood who Huggins's personality was influenced by.

Cumberland came from a poor background, and at the age of fourteen he joined the war against the barbarians of the north as a peasant soldier. This fearless and heroic figure on the battlefield made the lord at that time notice him at a glance. Since then, there have been nearly 1,000 wars, large and small, and the triumphant return in the sea of corpses and blood again and again, so that the name "Cumberland" is remembered by every enemy. And he also relied on his military merits, from sergeant, knight squire, trainee knight, knight, and finally was made a non-hereditary baron for life.

"Your Excellency, may I ask His Majesty the King and His Majesty the Queen, what are you looking for me for?" Todd still has some psychological shadows about what happened to yesterday's banquet, if the royal family recruited him this time just to give the nobles a head, then it is better to plan to run away as soon as possible.

Cumberland looked at the priest and smiled, "I don't know. ”

Todd was speechless.

The meeting place was not in the audience room or the side hall, but in the main hall of the palace, which surprised Todd, because it was a bit unreasonable for the royal family to receive a small priest.

The moment Todd stepped into the temple door, the bustling crowd in the hall made him a little dizzy.

While he was observing the crowd in the hall, others were also observing him.

With an aura of mystery and glory, this priest, who was only fifteen years old, became tall and unpredictable in the eyes of everyone.

Todd found only two people he knew in the crowd, one was naturally Queen Mary, who sat high on the throne, and the other was Viscount Kennard, who was full of foreign appearance at yesterday's banquet.

Slowly pacing to the center of the hall, Todd held the cross on his chest in one hand and drew a cross in the air with the other, and recited a blessing prayer towards the king and queen, nodding slightly in respect.

Seeing the priest's actions, the people in the hall whispered, some louder, and faintly heard the words "Even the bishop would not dare to ...... like this."

Compared with the dissatisfaction and discussion of the others, Guy VI only frowned slightly, exchanged a look with Queen Mary beside him, and then said to Todd with a pleasant face: "Priest, do you know that the legend about you has spread in every corner of the Silver Ring City. ”

Todd shook his head and said, "People praise the power of the Father, and it has nothing to do with me. ”

The king was stunned for a moment, and then asked, "I heard that this time you brought a peculiar flower, but different varieties of moon flowers grow on a tree?"

"It is the flower of the gospel in the land of miracles, the town of Twilight, a gift from the Father. ”

Guy VI shifted his body and asked with interest, "Can you tell me more about what happened?"

"One day, a farmer in the town of Twilight planted the fallen moonflowers and roots together, buried them in the town's soil, and watered the well. The next day, the farmer found that the moon was growing on the roots of the tree......"

"Father, do you mean the runaway serfs who have broken their sacred covenants?"

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was shocked.

Todd, who had been interrupted, looked to the place where the voice had come from.

Several well-dressed nobles stood together and threw a malicious look at him.

Todd said in a questioning tone, "I think there is something strange about what you said, these farmers who have broken their 'sacred' covenants deserve to be punished by God, but why does Heavenly Father want to perform miracles by their hands?"

After a pause in the nobles' speech, Todd continued, "I think these farmers were inspired to come to Twilight......

"What nonsense!" Several nobles were furious, and when they were about to refute it, the king, who saw that the situation was not right, quickly changed the topic: "Priest, I heard that you won 30 million silver moons through gambling at the banquet yesterday?"

As soon as they heard this, everyone in the hall immediately became energetic, and yesterday's crazy gambling game had spread all over the streets.

Todd still looked unfazed, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, that is also the Heavenly Father's holy judgment, and it has nothing to do with me. ”

Viscount Kennard suddenly shouted, "You were cheating yesterday!"

Todd gave him a funny look, the skills at the card table are not good, and the thief's ability to catch the thief is first-class.

Standing beside the young viscount, a chubby middle-aged bald man stood up and said, "Priest, I think that the gamble between you and my son is unfair, and there has never been a reason to change the rules at will in the game. ”

Todd pursed his lips, sneered in his heart, and made a fuss for a long time, it turned out to be "my son is angry, and Lao Tzu picks the bag".

"Count Kennard has a point. The king smiled and said, "Otherwise, how about everyone give way?"

Todd looked at Kennard and his son calmly, paused for a moment, and suddenly said something that puzzled everyone: "The royal guards who escorted me yesterday were the most disciplined and well-groomed army I have ever seen. ”

Although Guy VI didn't understand why the priest mentioned this, after all, the other party praised his own guard, and a proud smile appeared on his face.

Queen Mary, who was sitting next to him, frowned instead. She looked at Todd's mouth, her body tensing.

"But to my sigh was that their saddles were polished, the undersides of their scabbards were rusted, and even for dinner they shared a bowl of porridge. ”

The smile on the king's face suddenly disappeared.

The reason for these situations, he could not understand better, because of the lack of money.

Some people may find it strange that as the richest country in the Western Continent, the royal family will also have no money?

But this is the case, at the beginning of the establishment of the Silver Ring Kingdom, it still adhered to the medieval law of "the king should support himself", but with the frequent wars and the expansion of palace expenses, the real estate income, sovereign income and judicial income of the royal domain are far from covering the royal family's expenses.

Taxing the subjects became the only option, and the tax rates and taxes became more and more stringent with the needs of the monarch, and the people of Silver Ring City even began to spread the saying - "Taxes are like rats, and they are fattened to the detriment of the people".

But what the high king did not know was that most of these huge taxes went into the hands of the nobles who held the power of taxation.

Seeing that Guy VI's face became solemn, Todd suddenly said: "I voluntarily give up the right to recover the Viscount's gambling chips......"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's hearts were reassured, but what they didn't expect was that the priest's words were not finished.

He continued: "If it weren't for the all-night guard of the royal guards, I don't even doubt that I would have been able to sleep peacefully last night. Therefore, I hope that Lord Kennard and the Viscount will donate a little money to improve their equipment and food for the sake of the Guards' dedication to the Kingdom. ”

As soon as the speech ended, everyone in the hall had different expressions.

The guards standing inside and outside the hall threw grateful glances at Todd. Not only because the priests fought for their interests, but more importantly, the royal family and nobles always asked them to do this and that, but few people paid attention to the toil and dedication of the guards.

The nobles did not object, but nodded one after another. On the one hand, Todd voluntarily gave up the right to recover the astronomical gambling debt, and on the other hand, the royal guards did keep him safe day and night, and it was perfectly reasonable for the priest to get a little reward for them.

Guy VI couldn't help but smile overjoyed. First, after listening to his own advice, Todd immediately gave up the right to recover gambling debts, whether it was face or lining, it was really enough for himself; second, it was said that it was a reward for the royal guards, and first of all, it had to fall into his own pocket before he could divide it again, and when the time came, he would take the big head and the guards take the small head, wouldn't he make another profit.

Queen Mary's expression was probably the strangest in the hall. She stood up, first looked at Todd with round eyes, and then saw her husband's happy face, and she wanted to say something when she opened her lips, but she didn't know how to say it, and the expression on her face became more and more panicked and helpless.

"Father, your heart, your character, is truly the best and the most true. Guy VI coughed and looked at Kennard and his son expectantly: "What do you think, my two beloved ministers?"

The Earl and his eldest son discussed for a while with embarrassed faces, and finally raised a trembling finger: "One...... One hundred silver moons?"

The king's face fell instantly.

Todd lowered his head and almost burst out laughing.