Byrne, Bloodkeep.

There are still five days left before the agreed celebration banquet and the "mysterious wedding".

Despite this, the Red Blood Castle was already bustling with activity, as if countless banquets had already been going on.

From the court to outside the city walls, there was a lot of buzz - from planning to official publicity, Charlotte, with the help of the power of the Byrne Church, spread the celebration to the ears of every Byrne!

The wandering knights who traveled with swords, the traders who traded petty trades, the peasants who almost never left their land, the nobles who were related to the Thirteen Earls, the dwarves of the south, the horseback people of the great green sea......

Relying on the prestige won by Loren at the Battle of Ebolden, Byrne, who had been silent for a hundred years, finally became the home of knights in the eyes of the Empire once again - countless outsiders, either because they admired the prestige of the black-haired wizard, or because they were pure curiosity, or simply wanted to challenge the Duke, and see what great the Duke had to offer......

Regardless of the reason, the cause, or the purpose, an unprecedented flow of people from all directions converged on the Red Blood Castle, making the entire Red Blood Castle and even the entire Byrne never as lively as it is now.

The number of outsiders gathered in the villages and towns inside and outside the city alone was three times the number of the castle - and looking at the road that flowed day and night, I am afraid that in five days that number would have to be doubled!

At this time, the thirteen earls gathered in the Round Table Council were all happy, if they hadn't concentrated their troops in the Red Blood Castle in advance, they would not have been able to raise enough manpower to maintain such a large flow of people for a while.

Even more fortunate was the Duchy's tax collector, Yode the Younger, because of the arrival of these men, the black bread that had been accumulated in the warehouse was finally able to appear on the tavern table, and the puree of the grapes, which had been spoiled and turned into vinegar, could be sold as real wine......

When a group of people walk on the road, they are moving wallets, and they are business with long legs - although the Byrians are not very good at business, when they see that the tavern and innkeeper have tripled the price of the house, the "kind and hospitable" Byron people have also used the extra space in their homes to entertain guests.

Of course, there is definitely a fee.

The nobles of Byrne, especially the Council of the Round Table, immediately recognized the significance of these crowds - no matter what the final outcome was, Byrne and this Byrne celebration would follow in their footsteps throughout the empire.

Host a legendary celebration and banquet that will make the Knight's Land famous for the next 100 years... It immediately became the consensus in everyone's mind.

The counts, who realized that this was not just a celebration of the Midsummer Festival, immediately began to mobilize their families in their respective territories, sponsoring the Turin family, and holding their own family banquets in the city, and entertaining the knights from all over the world for free.

And for Bishop Webb of the Byrne Church, this will also be his only chance to say a word—whether he succeeds or fails, his teachings will be sent to the Empire with these returning knights.

This would be Weber's first step against the Church of the Holy Cross!

After establishing his goal, Weber even gave up his church work and took the priests to the streets to promote his "new doctrine" to the outsiders.

The pious but not fanatical clergyman, the shaman who coexisted peacefully with the Church, the hospitable nobleman, the great variety of goods, the rich land and the people......

The nobles, merchants, and travelers from all corners of the empire saw, heard, and came into contact with a new "Duchy of Byrne" that they had never been exposed to before, completely different from what they had imagined, and even more completely different from what they had remembered in the past.

Only by really seeing it with their own eyes can they truly understand why Byrne, who has lived in the past fourteen generations, has always had the courage and strength to stand up to the Empire.

The Red Blood Fort alone is so rich, with thirteen realms and a blood connection with the Duchy of Boy, the empire can not compete with it at all with the manpower and material resources of the eastern and western Saklan realms!

Of course, they didn't know that Byrne had completely defeated the dwarves in the Southern Civil War after the Centaur War, and that several dwarven city-states on the border had become de facto vassals of Byrne, and that the Ebolden wizards who had lost their territory had joined Byrne's wizarding guild under the persuasion of Master Harlem Van Ashamai.

Today, Byrne is a principality on the surface, but in fact it already has the financial resources of the three principalities, the military strength of the two principalities, and the strong allies of two or three outer ones;

Add to this the fact that the Byrne Church has been completely severed from the Holy Cross Church, and Byrne... It already has absolute control over the southern part of the empire and part of the eastern part of the empire, and has reached a level that is essentially competing with the Heavenly Dome Palace!

Without this strength, even if there was still an alliance of dragons, Charlotte would never dare to imagine being able to take away the legal principles of ruling the empire from the hands of the De Salion family, and Conrad would not agree to Lena de Salion's marriage to Isaac and compromise with Byrne.

Conod was a very practical man, and after the complete failure of the "Imperial Governor Policy" led by him, he understood that Byrne's rise was inevitable, and since it was inevitable, it should be used to make Byrne take more responsibility in this elven war.

The same is true of Brandon, the "soon-to-be-deserved" Prince of East Sakland, whose purpose is simple and clear, whether it is Brandon who wants to seize power or Byrne who wants to rise, they must unite under the empire and win the Elven War, otherwise everything they have worked for will be in vain.

Because of this consensus, the two sides were able to compromise and make concessions to each other, and to target a common enemy—a question that he should consider now as to how the empire would regain or maintain its power.

The empire still exists, and everything has a basis for discussion, otherwise it is meaningless.

It is my mission as the fourteenth generation emperor to maintain the legal principles and rule of the empire, to win the invasion of the Azorean elves and all possible invasions, and to ensure that the empire can be smoothly handed over to the next generation of emperors in the context of the best possible integrity.

That's what Conod thought.

But that doesn't mean everyone thinks the same way.

At least Sylvik doesn't think so at all.

The deacon of the Holy Cross Church, with a gloomy face, sat alone in a corner of the banquet hall, indifferently looking at the elated and different people in the hall, with endless anger suppressed in his pupils.

After his "reasonable" request was rejected by Loren, and even humiliated in person, Sylvik had completely abandoned the idea of "compromise" and was determined to fight this "arrogant wizard" until the last moment.

But the gap between the goal and the reality is an invisible gulf.

In the space of a month, the Turin family had shown a level of financial, human and material resources that frightened him - Sylvik, who was in charge of some of the real power of the church, especially the financial power, knew very well how much it would cost to maintain order and stability in order to hold such a grand celebration.

But Byrne succeeded, not only did he succeed, but the crowded Crimson Blood Castle remained stable at least on the surface, and the bazaar, though chaotic, was not exaggerated in terms of price fluctuations.

What this means means that the financial resources and materials in the hands of the Turin family are simply astronomical, and it means that they can easily concentrate the financial and material resources of the entire Byrne in their own hands.

In Sylvik's memory, only the empire represented by the Sky Dome Palace should be able to do this!

What really frightened him was that the attitude of the Byrne Church towards the Holy Cross Church had changed from the original "try to cooperate" to the present one, and that Bishop Weber's understanding of the doctrine could be called heretical!

Strong financial power, efficient execution, not inferior to the military power of the empire ... Coupled with the local church, which was very uncooperative with the church, Deacon Sylvik was shocked to find that he could not come up with any effective means to curb the arrogant Duke of Byrne.

Just when he was at a loss and had nothing to do, a person he had never imagined came to the door.

........................

"Grand Duke of Arles?"

Resisting his astonishment, Deacon Sylvik stared at the young man in front of him, dressed in black robes and dressed like an ordinary clergyman.

"That's right, Duke Nolan Ode has ordered me to come and offer my help to the esteemed Lord Sylvik, the representative of the Holy Cross. Under a black robe, the thin and small young man looked very indifferent:

"The Duke believes that we have a common enemy, and that is the increasingly powerful House of Byrne and Turin. ”

Sylvik raised an eyebrow, which was not surprising to him.

Arles is close to Byrne, barren and cold, except for the trolls, which are bigger than ogres, there is no "specialty" at all, and the Arles people want to live in addition to doing business, that is, robbing and doing business.

In the eyes of the Holy Cross Church, even these so-called "Arles nobles" are basically no different from robbers and bandits - from the Erde family down, basically "big robbers" to "little robbers", each of them is insatiable and has no loyalty and integrity at all, and betrayal and rebellion are just a blink of an eyelid.

Under such a premise, a strong and united Byrne is a natural threat to the people of Arles - if the Thirteen Lords of Byrne are united under the House of Turin, it is pure wishful thinking to rob this wealthy neighbor.

But understanding is one thing, agreeing is another.

"As far as I know, Duke Nolan Ode and Archduke Lothair are very good friends, and Duke Byrne has a close relationship with Archduke Lothair. Sylvik sneered:

"With such a premise, you want me to believe that the Duke of Arles is going to be against Byrne?"

"The friendship between private individuals is nothing compared to the interests of two families or even between principalities. The young man's indifferent attitude made Sylvik tremble:

"The mighty Byrne is the end of Arles, as the Black Duke's time has proven. ”

Looking at the young man's emotionless face, Sylvik twitched the corners of his mouth.

It's not like a child would say.

"So, what does the Grand Duke of Arles want to do?"

"What you do has nothing to do with our Lord Duke, it should be you, Lord Sylvik... And what the Holy Cross Church behind you does. The young man shook his head:

"According to the Imperial Code, principalities are not allowed to interfere with each other unless they have the permission of the Heavenly Dome Palace. ”

Of course, otherwise, what would the Heavenly Dome Palace do.

But Sylvik knew better that this was the other party's shirking of responsibility - it was obvious that although Duke Nolan Ode of Arles wanted to target Byrne, he would not offend the Turin family head-on, so he would never take the initiative to come forward, and could only encourage himself.

This is not surprising to Sylvik, even Byrne during the divided period is not something that a poor country like Arles can provoke at will, let alone now.

But that alone wasn't enough to move Sylvik.

"Even if so, why should I trust you?" Sylvik asked, "Even if I can trust the sincerity of Duke Nolan Ode, how can I believe that you are a man he sent and not a trap prepared for me by others?"

Suspicious, the young man was still not in a hurry, not even the slightest annoyance, as if he didn't mind.

This indifferent and calm attitude made Sylvik a little nervous, but he also had some convincing thoughts.

Those who desperately want to prove themselves when they hear doubts are either stupid or have ghosts.

"Lord Sylvik, the Duke wants to cooperate with you for a common interest - we all want to see the destruction of House Turin, but neither of us wants to see the destruction of Byrne. The young man said softly:

"A rich but not powerful Byrne is something we all want to see, so our goal is only to eradicate Loren Turin, not to destroy Byrne completely. ”

"As for trusting us in our help, that's your problem, Lord Nolan doesn't care - of course he wants to fight Byrne and the Turin family, but not as urgently as you and the Holy Cross Church behind you. ”

Sylvik sneered again.

If they were not urgent enough, why would they be so anxious to find themselves, and if they were not urgent enough, why would they know that they and the Holy Cross Church were trying in every possible way to oppose Duke Byrne?

It is clear that you yourself are already panicking, but you still want to keep yourself out of the matter and encourage the Holy Cross Church to do this - hmph, dream!

Sylvik didn't think about it at all, and what he was thinking now was exactly the same as when he had egged on Loren.

"But if you really need proof......" When he said this, the young man who had always been indifferent finally smiled, but the smile looked creepy to Sylvik:

"We can give you a very crucial piece of information, one that can ruin Loren Turin in an instant!"