More than 100 years ago, St. Philan I issued an edict requiring the identification of weapons materials and the imposition of additional taxes.

The order was not imposed without reason, but found a sufficient, even sufficient, justification, for secular nations to follow suit and begin to impose additional taxes on weapons.

This decree is considered to be a continuation of another, even though the Academy of Magic had just been built, and the population of the academy was still small, so in order to be able to hoard enough gold, St. Philan I even decreed that any gold that entered the city would become the gold blessed by the gods, and the price of gold would be twice as high as before entering the city. When these words reached the ears of the merchants, they became the direct purchase of land in the city with gold, and the price of land would be twice as cheap as anywhere else on the mainland.

Merchants and gold flocked to the school, and the college town prospered.

About ten years later, St. Philan I suddenly issued an order to strictly inspect the gates and borders.

The requirement to identify materials for weapons entering the city and the imposition of an additional weapons tax were one of a series of strict inspection orders.

The reason for his order was that there were often adventurers who mixed precious metals such as gold and silver with their weapons and equipment when they entered the city, and then refined them in the city, and when they left the city, they had already changed into a set of equipment with similar but completely different materials, and they could make huge profits by using this process.

This is indeed the case, but no one knows how he knew it so clearly, and he also checked and recorded the list of so many people involved in smuggling in the past ten years.

He caught a group of adventurers involved in smuggling, and involved a cardinal in the Holy See. Coincidentally, the hapless bishop happened to be at odds with the 'Merchant Pope' St. Philan I, and the anti-smuggling campaign immediately turned into an operation to eradicate a large heretical smuggling network spread across half the continent.

The Knights of Punishment, who had just been formed for more than ten years, set out like vultures, and with the cooperation of the secular kingdom, they shook half the continent, and thousands of people were hanged or burned to death.

There are also countless adventurer squads and mercenary groups that have been turned over and may or may not exist "old accounts", the larger adventurers or mercenary groups have shed a lot of blood, and the smaller ones have been disbanded directly.

St. Philan I used the means of pushing up the price of gold to give the collegiate city an early prosperity, and this abnormal prosperity was accompanied by a huge bubble. And the Pope weighed the pros and cons and chose to find a good reason to use violent means to forcibly let the scattered adventurers take over, which was also the first large-scale military operation of the Punishment Knights.

It's just that at that time, Pope St. Phelan I himself may not have expected that his successors would also carry forward his cruel and cruel style, and make full use of the holy decree he left behind, using the current huge influence of the Holy See to interfere with the rise and fall of the price of weapons and materials, and make a profit from it.

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Little Raymond, the trainee garrison officer at the gate of the academy city, is now writing a list of goods entering the city and stamping them, which is the position of the censor of the gate of the academy city, and the little Raymond, who has only one month of work experience, takes this job very seriously.

He felt that he had earned this position because of the good fortune he had accumulated in his previous life, and his father was just a small grocery store owner. But last month, his father accidentally rescued a priest and reversed the priest's fate when his head was smashed by bricks falling in the wind.

With the help of that priest, little Raymond was able to get this stable and well-paid job, so he cherished it very much, and not only that, but he also respected several seniors in the work very much, and often listened to their opinions.

Overall, Little Raymond is a very good grassroots worker.

But now, his motivation to stay serious about his work has been challenged a bit.

It's really just a little bit of a challenge. Because he only understands today that the "demons" in history who can induce war may really exist, such as the one who is standing against the door frame six or seven meters away.

Except for the loss of a little charm on the chest, the face of that beauty is simply a perfect woman's face, wearing men's clothes, but the close-fitting men's clothes add to her charm.

It's no wonder that the seniors who brag about how strict their inspections are on weekdays and how many smugglers they have caught all go up to talk to each other.

What a review process, so-so go through it.

She was a little shy and said that her name was Harona Vasa.

With tears in her eyes, she said the tragic story of her parents who died early, and now she is fortunate to live with her two younger sisters, and today she helped her uncle transport some timber into the city to sell and subsidize the family.

And she said, "Look, the two families in the carriage.... The girl is my sister.

Little Raymond also looked out the window, and a tall, slender girl with chestnut hair was looking blank and staring blankly. Another blonde girl with an oval face and golden eyes was smiling with excitement on her face.

She gave a brief introduction to her two younger sisters.

That chestnut hair. Oh! That's right, it's the one with very long legs, who ran to the grass to play when he was a child, got drenched in the rain, and had a high fever, so his head was a little uncomfortable.

The censors of the city gates were all about persuasion, and their tones were full of sympathy.

The blond-haired, holding the birdcage. Yes! Ah, she! is a little girl in the countryside, she has never left the village, and the only thing she lives with is a little parrot she raises. So she looks happy now, doesn't she? This is the first time I have had time to take her out to see the city, and it is the first time she has seen the city, so she is very happy and excited.

The eyes of the city gate censors were a little sympathetic, and little Raymond suddenly felt sour in his heart.

So in this inspection, the weight was measured casually, and even a small amount of taxes and fees were put on the pads by several city gate inspectors.

Together, they helped to carry the goods and parcels onto the carriage, and little Raymond watched the scene with his eyes and did the work of stamping.

At this time, the beauty who called herself Hrona suddenly turned her eyes to little Raymond, who was stamping, and saw her walk to her desk in three steps and two steps, and asked in a whisper if she could get a newspaper.

After receiving an affirmative answer, she picked up a newspaper and hurried out the door, outside which the carriage had been reloaded.

She was halfway there, and suddenly turned back, and by this time the sun had set, and she looked beautiful against the orange sunset line.

She waved to the gate censors.

"Everybody's a good person, thank you. We will live well. ”

She shouted.

A little tears of emotion oozed from the corners of Little Raymond's eyes. He thought to himself: What a beautiful sister, what a beautiful day.

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Fifteen minutes later, some voices were heard in a remote alley some distance from the city gates, which read as follows.

"Don't, don't, don't be angry! I'm here to get down to business. ”

"Bastards, dead people, stupid people! We don't care what you do, but you just spread a rumor that someone was drenched in the rain when he was a child and had a high fever and his head failed. Freeze it, freeze you! ”

"Lilina, persuade her."

"Hmm..... Although it was fun to watch the predecessors sell cuteness before, it reminded me of the cats I used to raise when they were hungry and asked me for food. However, I was very unhappy when my predecessor said that I was a village girl, and this time I want to stand Sister Edith, so I can accept the baptism of thunder and lightning with peace of mind! Senior, this is your fate that you can't escape! ”

Then, the sound of freezing ice and the sound of thunder and lightning flowing through the air could be heard in the alley.

After a short while, the three of them finally breathed a sigh of relief, Harold had just broken free from the hell of thunder and lightning and ice. His face was in close contact with the ice cube for a while, and his whole body was numb from electricity.

This time against Harold's punishment play, the two girls still carefully controlled the intensity of the damage.

"It's time to go, are you two finally satisfied?" Harold rolled his eyes at the two of them.

"Hah, hey, hey. Not satisfied, the seniors are more flexible than cats, and they are not good at electricity. Lilina gasped as she spoke.

Edith added, "That's right, we should find a way to tie him up." ”

"Good way!"

The more the two girls talked, the more outrageous and bad they became, and Harold walked to the alley and stood beside the carriage.

He shouted into the alley, "You two get in the car, it's still a long way from the academy, and you'll have to climb over the wall to get in if you get back late." ”

Lilina and Edith ended their dangerous discussion, slipped out of the alley, and jumped into the carriage.

Harold stooped down to untie the horse's reins from the lamppost.

"By the way, Senior Harold, why are you still holding that newspaper from the city gate checkpoint to now?"

Harold quickly untied the reins, and without further explanation, handed Lilina the newspaper that had been tucked under his armpit.

Lilina unfolded the newspaper and looked at it with Edith, their first glance drawn to the most striking headline of the paper.

This is the "College City Post" published today, which has been dried before, and the ink on it will not stick to your hands.

"International Express, on the evening of November 16, 1132, Baird Bart, the 42nd emperor of the Sarga Empire, confirmed that he had died of a long lung disease." Lilina whispered the first paragraph under the heading.

"That's not when we just entered that tunnel." Edith muttered.

Lilina continued: "Although Emperor Baird Barth had two princes, he had not yet established an heir during his lifetime, and it is unclear whether he left an edict or not. As a result, the next generation of de facto heirs to the throne may be challenged in terms of legitimacy. ”

Harold got into the driver's seat of the carriage and drove steadily in the direction of St. Phelan College.

By this time it was already dark, the streetlights on the side of the road began to turn on, and a thin night fog rose on the streets.

Edith used a small spell called "Magic Light", and a ball of light appeared on her fingertips to illuminate Lilina.

"Will there be a civil war in the Western Empire?" Edith didn't interrupt Lilina's reading, but whispered to Harold.

Harold's tone was flat, and he replied, "Possibly." But regardless of our business, although the northern part of the Papal Territory and the Western Empire are separated by a snow-capped mountain of St. Limos, the Knights of Punishment who protect the Papal Territory are not for nothing. ”

At this time, Lilina, who had been looking at the article in the newspaper, suddenly looked up, and she said, "I originally thought that my seniors probably wouldn't care about things that have nothing to do with me. ”

"Who knows, maybe it's a sudden whim."

Lilina narrowed her eyes, and she examined Harold's back again with her golden eyes, but only for a few seconds.

The carriage turned the next intersection, and the two girls read the newspaper by the light of the magic light.

"There's a garbage can on the side of the road in front of you, you can throw it in after you see it."

"Okay."

The carriage slowed down beside the garbage can, and the girl tossed the newspaper into it, and continued on its way, Lilina and Edith chatting about what they had just read from the newspaper.

Harold also drove normally, not fluctuating on the surface, but there were still a little ripples in his heart.

Just over a year ago, he had this conversation with another man on the northern pass of the Snow-Capped Mountains of St. Maurice, on the plain near the pass on the southern border of the Western Empire.

"Lanna, I respect your judgment and will not interfere or participate in your plans. However, you also have to tell me about the approximate time of your actions, so that I can know the bottom of my heart. ”

"We will pick a suitable time for action shortly after the death of the emperor of the Western Empire."

"Well, don't. Lanna Darker. Be sure to err on the side of caution. ”

"Farewell, Harold Vasa."

Two horses, one south into the Papal Territory and one north into the territory of the Western Empire.

Suddenly, the horse heading north stopped, and the rider turned back to Harold and shouted.

"You promised me that the next time we meet, you will tell me in detail about your previous life. Don't forget that promise. ”

Harold didn't stop his horse or look back, just raised his left fist to the sky.

It's another promise.