It's a shabby village, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with any intrigue or mystery from the outside, but if you think it's Transylvania, it doesn't seem to be as simple as it seems.

Alexander certainly doesn't think that there really is some kind of absurd legend about the ancestor of vampires, but the brutality of Vlad III's rule here has left a deep shadow on the locals that even generations will not be able to erase it.

So it is not at all strange to hear strange things here, and the shadow of the evil deeds left by this family is so profound that even if the heir of the family is no longer with the death of Tsepes, the people are still terrified at the mention of that terrible piercing duke.

Vateleetto seemed to have a great deal of power here, and anyone passing by would immediately bow their heads cautiously when they saw him, and that kind of flattering and awe-inspiring look was much more majestic than Alexander's in Montina.

The locals, by contrast, were less concerned with the strangers who had appeared with Vateretto, and they stood at their doorsteps and looked coldly at the army passing through the village, with neither fear nor curiosity in their eyes, but only a seemingly utterly unsympathetic indifference.

Vateretto stopped at the door of what looked like a town office, a small building, with an attic erected abruptly on a sloping roof, which looked like a man leaning out and looking around.

Vateretto walked up the steps, then stopped and turned to look at Alexander standing below.

"Duke, let me remind you that perhaps you are accustomed to the privileges of a noble position in your realm and in Bucharest, but not here, everything here belongs to the Order, and even when Vlad III was still alive, he had to show respect to his respected ancestors, so please pay attention to your manners and attitudes."

After Vateretto finished speaking, he made an inviting gesture to Alexander.

Two wooden doors opened, and a fat woman stood in the doorway, and if you only looked at her dress, it was just an ordinary peasant woman, but a dangling black cross in her robe caught Alexander's attention, for he found that the shape of the cross was very strangely oblique.

This made Alexander look deeply at the woman, although he had heard rumors about this symbol in some gossip before, but seeing this diagonal cross frame for the first time with his own eyes made Alexander suddenly feel as if he had fallen into a world where reality and legend were confused.

In the European era, which has lasted for more than ten centuries, there has always been a legend that both Catholic and Orthodox Christianity resolutely do not recognize, and this legend is related to the most special and most unignorable of the apostles of Jesus Christ.

Judas!

Even though he was later excommunicated as an apostle for betraying Jesus and later replaced by Matthias, the fact that Judas was the earliest follower of Jesus cannot be erased.

The question of Judas's role in the history of Christendom has always been one of the mysteries.

Even after these 1,500 years, the name Judas was seen throughout Christendom as synonymous with betrayal, and anyone who tried to explain Judas's betrayal, both in pure doctrine and in reality, would be branded heretical.

It can be said that a person may have reason to justify himself for hooking up with a heathen, but if he is regarded as a sympathizer of Judas, then the only thing that person faces is the worst punishment of capital punishment.

However, this is not to say that no one dares to challenge the biggest forbidden area in Christendom, at least the diagonal cross in front of us proves a mysterious legend that most people do not know even in this era.

Alexander followed Vateretto inside, and through a somewhat narrow walkway, they came to a room that looked a little dim, but had a very tall roof.

To Alexander's slight surprise, there were already several people waiting for him in the room, except for a pair of eyes that were exposed, and they all hid themselves in their mopping robes.

"Guys, let me introduce you, Duke of Romatesia from Rome."

Vateretto, who was walking in front, turned to look at Alexander, he opened his arms and shouted to the people in the room, at this moment Alexander found that the feeling he gave people had suddenly changed, and there was no longer the little person who seemed to be really just an errand boy when they first met, and in front of those who concealed his true colors, he looked like he was completely equal to them, and even more or less like their leader.

Alexander couldn't help but shake his head slightly, he admitted that this time he really lost his eyes, and it was clear that this Vateretto was not at all an insignificant little character as he himself said.

"I'm sorry Duke, I met you in this way, but I think you can understand that we need to protect ourselves."

Alexander nodded noncommittally, knowing that the protection that Vateretto wanted him to understand was probably not the same thing as what he was thinking, or that these people, whether or not they had anything to do with the legendary followers of Judah, as he had guessed, at least what they were doing now was not tolerable.

"And what do you want from me?" Alexander looked around, then walked over to a chair that was faintly enclosed in the middle and sat down, "I guess it's for me, right?" ”

"Duke, as I said to you before, this is a place in Bucharest that your Grand Duke is out of your control, and if you go out you will find that you will not get any help here, and it is impossible for you to even get even the slightest news from here, no one will want to talk to your people, even if you use your sword and gold to intimidate and lure, because this is Transylvania," Vateretto said, standing in front of Alexander, "believe me, this is not a threat but a fact, I think you've spotted some anomalies along the way, but you obviously don't know anything about it, and I can assure you that we can wipe out your army in the shortest possible time if we want, and although they do not seem to be easy to mess with, you have penetrated deep into enemy territory, and every village, every person, even every mountain or every stone is your enemy, and here you will not have the slightest respite, and you will face the threat of death at any time, Do you still think you can compete with us? ”

Alexander listened quietly, and the reason why he was willing to come with Vateretto to meet the so-called true rulers of the land was because what he said was true.

Alexander knew better what kind of trouble the Balkans were than these pretended mysteries, and the rolling Carpathians were a headache.

Alexander remembered that this was one of the most difficult areas in Europe to settle, and the disputes would continue centuries later, during which both Austria, which tried to occupy the area, and the Ottomans, who did rule for centuries, were left in a state of disarray because they could not effectively eradicate the various separatist forces in the area.

Now it was Sophia, or rather him, who was facing this dilemma, much to Alexander's headache and a little glad.

It is obviously impossible for Sofia to solve these problems, these mysterious groups of local nobles and commoners have been entrenched here for too long, and they have penetrated into every corner of the land, so that any ruler who tries to purge them will have to run into a bloody outlet.

The reality is also that the Ottomans, although harsh, can sometimes turn a blind eye here, after all, they cannot kill or arrest all the locals, and as long as there is one person, there is no guarantee that he will not be a submissive citizen.

The fierceness of the Balkans had become annoying at this time, and Alexander believed that no army would want to fight in such a place, because the invisible enemy was the most troublesome and terrible.

But now these people are willing to show up, it shows that they don't really want to fight to the end, at least they now hope to solve the problem through some kind of negotiation, as this Vateretto said before, Prato's business in the Balkans seems to have affected them, and these people are obviously much more concerned about their financial losses than some seemingly ethereal religious beliefs, otherwise they should have already attacked Prato at this time, instead of looking for this opportunity to "complain" to him.

"So what do you want me to do?" Alexander asked, "I can assure you that you can get promises from me, but the final decision rests with Archduke Sophia Alexandra, so if you think that you will get what you want by threatening her with me, then you are wrong, at least not with me." ”

"Then you're useless to us, Duke!" Vateretto said viciously, "We know that you are the father of His Highness's child, and that is enough, you are our hostage. ”

Vateretto looked at the people as he spoke, and after seeing that they nodded silently and seemed to agree with something, he tried to suppress his emotions as much as possible, and then sat down in a chair opposite Alexander and said slowly: "Listen to the duke, I don't know why you passed through here, when we heard that you were going to enter Hungary through Transylvania, we thought it would be a good opportunity to talk to you, so please duke, don't let us all let this opportunity go in vain because of the slightest problem, You must know that it will be difficult for you to get out of this land again, and even if the Grand Duke wants to avenge you, she will soon find that it is completely worth the loss. ”

Alexander looked at the somewhat angry Vateretto, he could guess the man's thoughts, this man obviously thought that it would be easy to get him to submit, after all, they had treated Vlad III like this, perhaps in their eyes Vlad III was probably the most cruel ruler in the world, but even then he finally bowed his head to them.

"Duke, you probably can't imagine what it will be like to fall into the hands of the natives if you fail," Vateretto pointed to the door, "I can let you go now, but I promise you won't be able to get out of this mountain, and now if you are willing to accept our advice, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke in Bucharest will be able to see the father of her children again, but if you refuse I am sure that you will never have the opportunity to see your children grow up," Vatelletto said as if trying to calm himself down a little and wiped the sweat from his face before continuing: "Duke, we don't care how the Grand Duke Sophia Alexandra is in Bucharest and Bajah-Wallachia, but if she wants to get involved in Transylvania, it will be a different matter, she will suffer a greater defeat than the Ottomans brought her, and she may even lose the throne of the Grand Duke, do you think even this is okay?" ”

Alexander shook his head, but when Vateretto thought he had persuaded him, a smile crossed his face, Alexander asked, "Tell me what made you think you could be masters of Transylvania, I had heard of the Dragon Knights, and I knew that Vlad had to submit to you, but in my eyes you were just a bunch of poor knights who had fled to the backwoods because they had no ambition, and he was just a merchant who didn't even have a decent soldier under him, And you are still trying to threaten me, presumably when you think that all will be fine if you can take Transylvania, then let me tell you that I can accede to your demands, and I can guarantee even now that your little business territory will never be violated again, and that this is nothing to me, because my eyes are not on Transylvania, but on the whole of Greater Greece, Hungary, and even Bohemia, and even the Rus' principalities further east, but I can also assure you hereIf I want to do it, a single order can make your so-called business nothing, and you will find that soon no one will want to deal with you, even if it is Prague, which you think has many ways, I can give you people a taste of being turned away, and then you will find Transylvania to be your cage, because you will have nothing but the poor mountains and bad waters here, tell me do you think that at that time you will need to send an army to fight you, Believe me that when you get there, you will have to take your own initiative to get out of this completely blocked mountain, because you will get nothing by staying here, but once you get out of here, it will be time for your rule to come to an end, and I promise you that you will never want to stay in Sophia's hands, because compared to Vlad III, she is not a cruel person, but a completely freewheeling person, and she will punish you for using all the means she can think of because she is angry. Then you will regret that you offended her because of your greed. ”

Vateretto's face darkened, he looked at his companions, and saw that their eyes were looking at him outside the scarf, and he slowly stood up.

"Duke, it seems that this is your decision, in that case I think we have nothing to talk about, believe me this is the ending you chose for yourself, I hope you don't regret it," Vateretto said and glanced in the direction of the door, "You can leave, rest assured that no one will stop you, we are not stupid enough to kill you here, that will only drive those soldiers outside you crazy, which will not benefit all of us, but once you get out of here I can no longer guarantee that you and your people will be okay, so this is your last chance." ”

Vateretto looked at Alexander, and to his surprise, Alexander stood up without hesitation and turned to leave.

But when he was about to reach the door, Alexander suddenly said a strange thing without looking back: "The precious anointing oil is so cherished, and it is good to give it to the Lord, but is it not more merciful to give to the poor?" ”

Listening to Alexander's words, Vateretto's face, who was looking at his back, suddenly showed surprise.