Directly in front of the Marlan Temple, there is a quaint square.

The stone slabs on the ground of the square were incomplete, only a thin layer of gravel, and in the center there was a stone fountain, but it had dried up for many, many years, and there was not a drop of water in the spring. In the distance, a few pedestrians stopped in the square, talking to each other and gesticulating. As far as the eye could see, worshippers dressed in grey cloth robes were lying on the steps of the temple, kissing the ground beneath Lady Marlan's feet.

It is a morning prayer, and the customs vary from place to place, and the Kaorin people like to sit in the tall and bright sanctuary and listen to the hadiths. The Orsyrians—known as the 'Voices of the Golden Night', the Ortecra Choir, whose singing is said to be like a heavenly sound in the clouds, like a kraken—and even the emperors of the empire only had the opportunity to enjoy the 'holy song' two or three times a year.

Among the faithful, Maihihir was preaching, dressed in robes, holding a book in one hand and a holy relic in the other, and the silver wolf of Marlan glittered in the sun.

When the old knight saw him, he paused for a moment, but he did not stop his work, and turned back and continued to give the teachings of the goddess to the devotees.

In addition to the believers, the largest number of guards were around. Detachments of men, dressed in armor, patrolled the square, and although the owner of the place was absent, the fortress remained the same as it had been in his time. The atmosphere seemed to be a little more tense than it had been two weeks ago, and it had been years since Istania had been at war, and the vigilance of Bein Fortress seemed to have some meaning—

Perhaps the Sand King Babaltan's plan has reached a certain stage, and even Bein is on guard.

For a moment, Fang Yu doubted his judgment again, but this thought quickly vanished in his mind.

With the sound of a bell, from above the quaint tower of the church, the time for morning prayer was over, and the devotees were leaving. Mai Yihil then walked down the stairs and walked in front of him:

"How did you go back to Bein and find your companions?"

"Yes."

The old knight looked at him and said, "Since you're here, come in and sit down." ”

Fang Yu only looked at the other party and nodded slightly.

The two men walked up the steps and into the temple.

Fang Yu looked around, and the furnishings in the hall hadn't changed much from when he left—as if everything was like that of Bein, and day after day, the fortress built out of the sand kept its ancient precepts. Just like the same stern and silent guard, guarding the gate to the north of the royal capital.

"I've seen people praying in the north, and it's not the same as here."

"The form of prayer is only a formality, as long as it is sufficient to show respect for the saints."

Mai Yihir said as he walked.

Gods need to establish faith connections with their followers so that they can guide them to the kingdom of God when their followers die. The soul of the believer is transformed into a pure astral body, a form between starlight and life, which flashes like a signpost in the dark world, guiding the gods in the kingdom of heaven to guide the lost dead.

Faith is a great event in Aitalia, and those who do not have faith are transformed into pure starlight when they die, half of them enter the kingdom of the dead, and the other half become part of the natural world.

But the Electors are different.

After the death of the Elector, the starlight is shared by the gods, as part of the 'Covenant of the Chosen One', which is where their name comes from. It was only later that Fang learned all this from Bishop Tirios, and until then, he had always thought that the 'Chosen One' of the aborigines meant the Chosen One.

But the so-called Chosen is the choice of all saints, and they do not belong to any one god, but to all gods. So it's no wonder that the Chosen One can be resurrected in any temple.

However, if the Chosen One declares to believe in a particular deity, most of the starlight he leaves this world will go to that deity, which is why the gods are willing to accept 'hypocrisy'. Of course, there are also some haughty gods like Lady Ameya, the powerful divine powers of the Forest Lady, who do not need these little hypocritical powers.

Fang Yu looked at the Marlan icon at the end of the hall, immersed in a beam of light on the zenith, and thought to himself, he should be on the lady's side, right?

Although he didn't think so, the rules between the gods were like this-

Mai Yihir poured him a cup of tea, just like last time.

Looking at the rising white mist, Fang Yu asked:

"Didn't cause you any trouble last time, did you?"

"No, the Count sent someone to ask about something."

"I reconciled with him."

Mai Yihil only nodded.

"I haven't had time to say thank you for what happened last time—"

"It's just a guide from the goddess."

"But you've also been a great help."

"You're welcome."

There was a moment of silence in the hall.

Fang Yu was also passing by this place and inadvertently wanted to come back to have a look. He had left in a hurry the last time, and indeed he had not been able to thank the old knight properly—

Although it was true that he had relied on Marlan's guidance in part for coming to this place, the old knight's calm response at that time also helped him a lot.

What's more, the goddess doesn't need his gratitude, but mortals are different.

When Mai Yihir saw him drinking tea, he asked:

"I received a letter from Bishop Faris and learned something about what was happening in the royal capital. But there must be a reason for returning to Bein this time, right? ”

Fang Yu nodded.

"I'll help Her Highness find someone."

"Does Her Royal Highness the Princess have people here?" Mai Yihil was a little surprised.

Fang Yu described the man he had met earlier. However, except for a scar on the left side of his face, the man was unremarkable in all aspects, and he belonged to the crowd, and it was difficult to distinguish the kind of passers-by at a glance. He simply answered the other party's questions, and didn't expect to get anything.

But after hearing this, Mai Yihil raised his eyebrows slightly: "I seem to have seen this person." ”

Fang Yu looked at the old knight with some surprise.

"Why did Her Royal Highness the Celestial Princess let you go to find a sand thief?"

"Sand Pirates?"

But Mai Yihir only muttered to himself.

Hearing Fang Yuan's question, he came back to his senses and replied, "I'm not sure about this, but I've seen that person more than once." ”

"He went to the temple to pray and asked me for atonement, saying he was praying for a friend. But on two or three occasions I saw him mingling with some people in the city, and the temple had its own channels of information, and those people, if I was not mistaken, were sand thieves outside the city. ”

Fang Yu was stunned.

But a dealer in intelligence may not be a big deal if he has a connection to the sand thieves outside the city.

It's just that he always feels that something is wrong, and he can't remember it for a while—the term sand thief is distant and unfamiliar, and he always feels that he has heard it somewhere, but for a while he can't remember what is important.

Maybe because the matter in Istania is over for him, everything is not so important.

He had not been in the temple long before he took his leave to Maihir - the two had only been friends before, and the old knight had helped him a lot, albeit under the guidance of the goddess. However, Fang Yu looked back at this quaint temple, reflecting the afterglow of the setting sun, and understood that he had another friend in this little-known fortress and in this world.

He wondered if he would remember what he had experienced in Aitalia years later.

With every name in this world.

……

Rupert looked at the note in front of him with a gloomy face, like a black cloud that crushed the city, and was being nurtured in this hall—

The note was no bigger than a palm, and it had been rolled, as if it had been rolled up and placed in the carrier pigeon's binding, and there were signs of bending on the paper.

The text above is very simple, with only a few words—the Istanian text is crooked, as if it were an imitation of fire, a transmission of ancient wisdom that is unique from the culture of Kaurin-Ihurian. The meaning of the words is even clearer:

"Verified."

An abnormal flush surged up on the face of Her Royal Highness the Princess, and it was the anger that she was trying to restrain that was gathering in the slightest. She clenched her fists tightly, her eyes were black, and she almost fainted, but she still endured the dizziness, raised her head to look at the middle-aged alchemist in front of her, and asked in a slightly trembling voice:

"Achilles, is this true?"

The latter raised his head, met the princess's gaze, and lowered his head again.

He hesitated slightly, and replied, "Maybe there are still some misunderstandings, Your Highness......"

"What I'm asking you is, is all this true?" Princess Rupert clenched her fists and said word by word: "Beside that Governor, there is really a 'A-Fei-Fa-Little-Sister'?" ”

"Maybe it's just the same name......"

"So a coincidence?" She laughed angrily.

"She's actually been with the Mystic all along."

"Does that make a difference?"

Achilles fell silent.

"So he's always been suspicious of my mother," Princess Rupert muffled, "what are I and Afifa, because I trust that man so much......"

"No wonder he grounded me in this place, is he so scared?"

She couldn't help but sneer.

Achilles reminded at this time: "Your Royal Highness, these two things may not be related, we have only verified one aspect......

There were some words later, but he thought about it for a moment and didn't say it.

But this sentence just right provoked the rebellion in the heart of Her Royal Highness the princess.

"Isn't that enough?" Her voice was as cold as ice: "The previous investigation has explained everything, why is he always secretive...... Don't I know that Seneman is the 'servant' of the blind followers? ”

"Because he is my father, I trust him unconditionally. But my father, who was behind the killing of my mother, has been kept in the dark for ten years...... He's been suspicious of my mother for a long time, and maybe he's been suspicious of me. No, Afifa is my sister, and I will never admit that an inexplicable person is my own sister-"

"Your Royal Highness, your mother'......"

"Shut up, Achilles."

With a bang, Her Royal Highness the princess pulled out her scimitar and pointed the bright snow blade at the middle-aged alchemist in front of her. "Shut up, what do you want to say!?"

Her voice echoed almost through the empty hall, as sharp as a banshee: "My mother would never betray him, I have been investigating all this for ten years, and you will only know better than I know the details." Are you going to betray me, Achilles!? ”

Achilles looked at the other with a blank expression, but did not speak.

But he didn't speak, but the eldest princess breathed a sigh of relief, and she sighed faintly, "I'm sorry, Achilles...... I didn't mean to target you. ”

"I understand your feelings," the latter replied lightly, "Your Highness the Princess." ”

"Thank you."

But Princess Rupert seemed to be very tired, and she waved her hand weakly: "Stand down, Achilles, and leave me alone." ”

"I want to think about it......"

Achilles bowed slightly, bowed back.

However, before leaving the door, he turned around again and asked, "Your Royal Highness Princess, what are the preparations ......?" ”

"I understand."

She nodded.

In my heart, I couldn't help but think of what happened to Bein before.

……

"Who are they?"

The tall alchemist looked at the group of centaurs who had entered the outside of the Kashan Palace in the distance, and turned his head to Ye Hua on the side and asked.

The Ranger King leaned on his Elven King's bow with his back and crossed his hands, looking in that direction - the people who entered the Kasan Palace were obviously not native to Astanya. They wore northern attire that was very rare in the region, but the north was not Kapka, Rodell, and the Coast of the Scepter, where there were only two or three months of summer a year.

In the minds of the Istanians, Kaulin in the north and Ishurian in the east, is a very simple geographical concept.

Those people are people from the Kaolin Kingdom, and they are not ordinary people.

"It's from the royal family of Kaulin." Ye Hua replied lightly.

As the former president of the Southern Alliance, he has also seen the envoys of the royal family of Cowlin more than once, and those 'angels' who are dressed in angry horses and have high spirits have caused public anger in the Elffindor Council more than once.

However, the northerners have always been like this, they boast of the orthodoxy of the kingdom, not to mention that they are also envoys of the royal family, most of them come from a certain noble family, and they are even more indispensable.

But with the stability and growing strength of Istania, the scenes of intimidation in the past are now very rare in this country on the sea of sand; To be exact, it has been many years since the Kaolin royal family has sent such a large-scale envoy here, Ye Hua looked over there and counted carefully, not to mention hundreds of people.

There are also quite a few knights among them.

Knight of the Dawn.

"That's a lot." The alchemist also said a word.

"Not a lot, indeed."

The scale of this legation is rare in the history of Aitalia.

"But it's not that there are more knights," said the former, suspiciously, "it's not so much an army as an envoy." ”

Ye Hua also felt this way in his heart, but he didn't know the establishment of the Kaolin-Ishurian envoys in the past dynasties, so he could only suppress the doubts in his heart. "One hundred and forty-two," he counted the last man, "this is the size of the Ottorian Empire, and I remember that it was about the same as the last one. ”

"What are they doing here?"

The alchemist asked.

Ye Hua shook his head, how could he be clear.

"I have a feeling that something big might happen." The Ranger King replied only quietly.

"I feel the same way."

"Speaking of which, I remembered something," Ye Hua suddenly turned around and said.

The alchemist looked at him with some surprise.

But the former pondered for a moment before he said, "Not long ago, the spies of the royal family of Korin had an accident here, and it seems to have happened in Tansnir...... I remember that Her Royal Highness the Celestial Princess protested to the King of Sand about this, and this protest was conveyed to the Kaurin-Ishurian side. ”

"I know about it, too," replied the alchemist, "and I happened to be near Tansnir at that time. ”

"But that's been almost two months, isn't it?"

"Don't forget the sandstorm."

The alchemist was a little surprised: "They don't come here for that little thing, do they?" ”

Ye Hua shook his head again:

"It's just a speculation."

……

The edge of the desert is like a silver line in the sun.

But in the steaming water, the silver thread twisted slightly, and in turn, it turned into a shimmering white wall, as small as a line, or a string of pearls scattered in the sky.

The caravan stopped.

Luo Hao stood in the scorching sand, looking at the looming city walls, almost crying without tears - they had been stranded in the vast desert for nearly half a month, almost annihilated, and now they had finally returned to the civilized world, and their hearts were suddenly filled with a feeling of the aftermath of the catastrophe.

Behind this fat man from the military, Kita, Luo Yu, the box and the others also seemed very excited, and the little fat man of the Shield of Lu Fu fell to his knees at once, almost crying with joy, and couldn't help but follow the example of the aborigines, kiss the land, the sand, and pray to Andama or Marlan, or Lady Roman, and thank the saints for taking him out of the desperate situation.

Although there is still starlight and a chance to be resurrected, after such an experience, everyone has a sense of happiness.

They more or less understood, what is risk-taking -

It is not only the poetry and the treasures hidden in the dungeon, but also the dangers and hardships, and the thorough preparation to avoid falling into such a desperate situation next time.

However, Luo Hao turned his head and looked at the girl standing at the end of the line.

Afifa was also a little excited—the mystical girl had lost a lot of weight and suffered a lot these days, but she still looked very clean and tidy, and the Sky Knight seemed to have the power to do so. Her eyes lit up, and she looked at the city on the horizon motionlessly, not because she was saved.

It's because this is the first time she has come to this legendary royal capital, a pearl in the sea of sand.

……