In the restaurant.

"Why did you go to the toilet for so long?" Aske asked curiously.

"Upset stomach." Mi'er said with a grin, and there was nothing unusual on her face.

"What about the others?" She looked strangely at the empty seat.

"I kind of went back beforehand." Asker said, "I packed the cake from your table." ”

He picked up the bag and stood up, and Mi'er hurriedly followed him.

Outside the café, the vehicle arranged by the Licinius family was already waiting on the side of the road. Aske got into the car with Mier, and the car drove in the direction of the Lateran Palace.

“…… Recently, the army of the undead has crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and brazenly invaded the Iberian Peninsula, and His Highness the Holy See strongly condemned ...... "After a piece of music, the car radio suddenly began to play the news.

"Turn it off." Asker said.

The driver turned off the radio, and Mi'er hesitated for a moment and asked:

"The reason why they left has something to do with this?"

"Hmm." "During our time in the abyss, the undead army of the Hafs dynasty declared war on the Aragone-Castilian Empire in the Iberian Peninsula in the West. So just now, the people of Nola's family urgently came over and took everyone to the Lateran Palace in advance. ”

"Well, I guess the Holy See wants us to come to the rescue." Mi'er said.

"You guessed it." Aske said, "Actually, I don't really want to agree to this, because with the current Demon Tide Limit Lv.20, your main task is to become stronger as soon as possible, rather than rashly going to a strange continent and fighting a group of enemies that have never fought before. ”

"In other words, we have a reason to go, right?" Mi'er's instincts are very sharp.

"If Iberia falls." "The Holy See will lose a large diocese, and the Licinians will lose a dumping market," Aske said. The next step of the undead army will be to reach the Pyrenees and threaten the southwestern frontier of the West Francian Kingdom, or take control of the Balearic Islands as a springboard for further invasion of Sicily. ”

"The former is absolutely unacceptable to the Holy See, the latter ...... We are the ones who suffer. ”

"Sounds familiar." Mi'er thought for a moment, "I remembered. In history class, Sheila had said that the Punic Wars of the early Tertiary Period, the wars between the Carthaginians and the Solomons, seemed to be very similar to what it is today. ”

"That's right." "It depends on the geopolitical environment, so the current war situation is similar." ”

The car arrived at the Lateran Palace and stopped in front of a certain church.

When Asker walked into the church with Mier, he saw that behind the pulpit where Mass was held, a curtain had been lowered, on which the current situation in the Iberian Peninsula was projected.

Cardinal and Pope Innocent sat on the right, and members of the Licinius family, other Italian and Canadian families, and the girls of the Blue Sword sat on the left.

"Sorry, it's late." Asker walked in through the side door.

The cardinals turned their heads, but they didn't see any displeasure, and the Pope waved his hand and asked a guard soldier to lead the two to their seats.

“…… Andorra Valley. "The valley is located at the eastern foot of the Pyrenees, and is inhabited by the Catalanian people, who are brave and warlike, and who have the custom of cultivating transcendental beings," the bishop on the stage drew a circle of the Pyrenees on the screen. We can convince the West Frankish Empire to cede the frontier and establish a Duchy of Andora and a chartered diocese here. ”

"In this way, the Duchy of Andora can serve as a buffer state on the border between the Iberian Peninsula and the Kingdom of West Francia, and use the terrain to lock the route of the undead army to invade north."

The cardinals nodded in approval.

"So what about the kingdom of Aragone-Castile in Iberia? Did you give up? Nola's sister, Capacilleline, asked mockingly.

"Ahem." The cardinal on the stage coughed in embarrassment, and could only explain the international situation tactfully.

It's been almost half a year since the last magic tide, and the next round of magic tide may come at any time. Therefore, it is impossible for the Holy See to send troops to the Iberian Peninsula, otherwise the scientific and technological army will lie down halfway through the war, isn't it funny?

The Holy See could not send troops, so it could only demand that the Christian kingdoms send troops under the slogan of jihad. However, the Kingdom of West Francia was still making tentative contact and fighting with the Kingdom of Anjou across the Channel, around the Aquitaine region.

Both countries are too bad for Fira to be expected to contribute to the preservation of the Christian faith.

The Holy Solomon Empire was defeated in the last southern expedition and its vitality was greatly damaged, and it is said that the Chamber of Commerce alliance in the northern towns is in conflict and friction with the Kalmar Empire in the north, and it is estimated that it will not be able to support Iberia due to the long distance.

In other words, the countries of the mainland are already too busy to take care of themselves, let alone respond to the Holy See's holy war. The only way is probably to hire a team of mercenaries from the mainland.

Of course, in the world of A Song of Iron and Fire, mercenaries have always been one of the important military forces on the continent, especially after players get involved...... Even if there are no players in this world, a large number of mercenaries can easily defeat any small country.

As long as there is a super rich financier who throws a lot of money and gathers all these scattered little mercenary groups.

There is no doubt that the Holy See can only follow this path, and intends to "maintain quality" and "quantity" at the same time. The latter is to hire a large number of small mercenary groups to be stationed in the Andora Valley to help defend; The former is to hire elite mercenary groups from the continent to go deep into the Iberian Peninsula to assist the Christian kingdom of Aragone-Castia.

In the face of the undead, a large number of low-level transcendents are sent to death, and only high-level transcendents can exert their effectiveness.

After consulting with the Christian nations, most of the monarchs expressed strong support for the Holy See's hiring of their own grand mercenary regiments—as long as we don't ask us to contribute or pay for anything.

As for the reaction of the mercenary community, it has mixed reputations, both good and bad.

The joy is that there is money to take, there are battles, and after killing the dead soul, you can also gain extraordinary power and crippled extraordinary characteristics; The worry is that even a country can't withstand the invasion of the undead army, will our mercenaries be sent to the population in the past?

(The undead can resurrect new undead from the strengthened corpse of the transcendent, so it is commonly known as giving away the population)

"At present, we have contacted and promised to fight, there are five large mercenary groups in the Iron Cross, the Wind of Freedom, the Vikings, the Golden Bullet, and the Plantagenet, and the bull mercenary group has been hired in advance by the King of Aragon, so it is equivalent to saying that the top six large mercenary groups in the Northern Continent have all participated in the war."

At this point, the bishop on the stage paused subtly and looked at Asker, the leader of the Azure Sword, who had not been seated for a long time.

You see, the other seniors in the mercenary world have agreed to join the war, don't you think about making a lot of money too?

Following his gaze, the other bigwigs in the church also looked at Asker.

"I'm sorry." Asker shook his head, "We'll have to think about this. ”