In the last days of the Frost Moon, the weather outside was cold enough to make one's teeth chatter, and the deciduous forests around Mintai and Shavrlund were bleak, the trunks of the trees began to turn bare, and the ground had fallen a thick layer of dead leaves since the twilight of autumn, like a carpet of gray color, which was layered among the trees. There were even a few light snowfalls in the slightly northerly areas, which were not yet covered in snow, but at least they were a harbinger of the arrival of winter in the Year of the Sword.

It's the least suitable month of the year to start a war, and yet it's the beginning of a holy war, and history is always so unreasonable, sometimes even more whimsical than the story depicts.

In the fir collar, in a solemn atmosphere of war, only the black pine forest outside the Baron's Castle is still tall and evergreen, but the canopy is oozing with faint ink, as if the entire shade is a ghost hovering overhead, and the cold wind whistles from the tip of the pine tree, making a strange whirring sound, which makes people's cold hair stand on end. Tonigel's guests stamped their feet and rubbed their hands together under the woods in the courtyard, and complained about the ghostly weather, most of them well-dressed and full of the habits of the big cities, and did not look like the natives of the place. More than a dozen carriages were parked side by side outside the courtyard, their black bodies painted with various insignia, each representing the glorious history of a family of nobles from all over Eruin, most of whom were visiting the backwoods of Tonigel for the first time.

They came here for one purpose, to envoy Cruz.

It's also a rare time of year for Fir Castle to come alive, though whether its owner wants to receive these guests or not.

Although the mission to the Cruz Empire was nominally headed by Brando, and the entourage could be chosen at will, an ancient tradition dictated that there must be some fixed seats within the legation, which Brando could not designate. One of the representatives of the royal family is one of them, and Prince Haruzer will represent the Kolkova family as this representative. In addition, he could choose two maids, a squire, and a knight who accompanied him, and on this original list were Lady Windsor and Lady Sigoney, the two nurses of the two princes when they were in Wintertalon Castle, but Haruzer temporarily asked Brando to replace Lady Windsor with Medusa Mecca, and made Brando wonder for a while if the prince was old and had a spring in his heart.

As for his squire, a young man from Corcova, Brando hadn't heard of it before. Presumably a member of the royal family, and the accompanying knight is naturally the most trusted candidate for Her Royal Highness the princess, Nimesis, and will not be considered as a second person.

In addition to the royal family of Corcova, according to the agreement of the Temple, the former royal family of Eruin, the royal family of Sifah, should also send a representative, but it is naturally impossible for this representative to travel all the way to Ampesel for a week or two to meet them here, and the brother of Her Royal Highness the princess has written to them before, and he has chosen the candidate, and the envoy and his entourage will meet them in the Ash Mountain. Therefore, please tell his sister and the Earl not to worry too much.

Subsequently, four dukes - Viero, Goran-Elsen, Lantonilán, and Carasu, and three counts - Earl Yanilasu, Count of Swallow Castle and Count of Grey Mountain, plus a Marquis de Balta, each with a representative. Originally, there were also representatives of Anlek and Jean Denel, but now these two territories have been cut off and merged into the crown and into Toniguel. The Anlek family was sparsely populated, and after the First World War in Ampesel, it was basically wiped out. And the Count of Denel and his family are still eating prison food in Magitan's dungeon, so naturally it is impossible to send any representatives.

Among the four dukes, the Grand Duke of Viero directly sent his youngest daughter, the envoys of the Grand Duke of Toranilan directly sent a meat ball directly by the Grand Duke Eco and the Grand Duke of Carasu, which is said to be his second son, and the Grand Duke of Goran-Elson also sent a daughter, but she was still a little Lori of seven or eight years old. Count Yanira Su is a believer in the Silver Lions. He did not have a wife, and naturally had no heirs, and he sent a non-commissioned officer whom he liked, a young man full of energy, and the envoys of the Earl of Grey Hill did not come to Tonigel. Naturally, he was also waiting with the envoys of Sifah to meet them in the Gray Mountain Territory.

In the end, there were some small twists and turns in the choice of envoys of the Earl of Yanbao, because the Earl of Yanbao had long been heard from for a long time, and in the middle of the frost year, Baron Dale himself sent an envoy, but he was directly driven back by the angry princess; In the end, Dilferry decided to serve as the envoy of Swallow Castle himself, so that the Temple of Fire could make an impression on her, the future successor of Swallow Castle, and second, to thwart Baron Dalle's plot, Brando took into account her physical factors and specially prepared a larger carriage for her.

Most of these noble heirs had their own retinue, as little as one or as many as three, so that together they were a bloated army of twenty or so men and five or six wagons, but it would be a mistake to think that this team was large enough. Brando soon found out that there were some unexpected guests in this team, one of them was Princess Magdal, as the princess of Antobro, she naturally had to represent her principality to send an envoy to Cruz - originally the empire thought that she had died in the war of Ampesel, so the edict was also conveyed to the principality, hoping that the principality could send another envoy to Cruz, but the news somehow reached the ears of the nun princess, After she learned the news, she insisted on going to the empire as an envoy to Antobro, and also communicated with Antobro's royal family in private, so Brando naturally couldn't stop her.

After all, Her Royal Highness was recuperating from her injuries in Toniger, not under house arrest, and there was no reason for him to restrict her freedom of contact with the outside world.

And another uninvited guest is now in front of Brando.

At this moment, Brando was staring angrily at the merchant lady standing in front of her, wearing a thick fur coat, long boots, gloves, a scarf, a bearskin hat, and a small face that almost showed a pair of dark eyes, and looked at the large box she was dragging with her small hands to salute, and finally couldn't help but ask: "Okay, now you can sue me, what are you going to do here?" ”

"Go to the empire with Brando, I haven't been there yet." Little Roman lifted his chin. Sticking out his small mouth from under the scarf, he replied with a white mist.

Brando rolled his eyes: "Of course I understand this, but I have already said that there are no more places in the envoy corps, and besides." You don't seem to remember anymore, I told you to stay in Tonigel obediently, and store yourself in a safer place in Zài, don't worry me, understand? He couldn't help but hold his forehead, this guy obviously promised to do well yesterday, and told her that there was no place for the envoys, and let her stay in the territory obediently to assist Antitina. At that time, she clearly promised to swear that she would never occupy the quota of the envoy group.

Wait, Brando suddenly froze there, reacted, and glared at the eldest lady: "Oh damn it, you're playing word games with me again!" ”

"No," little Roman sighed into his hand. He replied with a smile, "I'm right." ”

"You're right," Brando grabbed her cheek, "you listen to me obediently." Stay in Tonigel, you are not allowed to go there. ”

"Woo woo wow wow wow," little Roman hadn't been pulled on the cheek like this by Brando for a long time, and he blinked in pain: "I, I, I'm real...... Brando, you let go of ......"

Brando pinched the merchant's face for a moment, but watched her wave vigorously. Trying to break free from his hand, his mouth never let go, and he couldn't help but be a little suspicious - this was not in line with the temperament of this eldest lady, he couldn't help but let go of his hand, and asked suspiciously, "Okay." Sue me, what are you going to do in the Empire? ”

Little Roman rubbed his reddened cheeks, revealing a fierce look: "I was invited by the Flame Temple, as the president of the Seven Seas Chamber of Commerce and an honored guest of the Flame Temple, to go to the Cruz Empire to participate in the Holy War ceremony. ”

She deliberately pronounced the word 'distinguished guest' with great weight, and then handed the invitation to Brando, who opened the parchment letter and almost fell to the ground in front of her eyes. It is true that the Temple of Fire invites some famous businessmen, poets, and even artists and scholars in various fields who work closely with them to attend the annual large-scale celebrations or commemorative ceremonies such as the opening of the holy war, but he never dreamed that there would be Roman in this list, his fiancée who seemed a little confused and unreliable.

He couldn't help but flip through the letter several times, and finally confirmed that the magic seal wax on the letter was genuine, and after confirming that it was correct, he had to admit that it didn't look like it was a forgery.

He looked up at Roman as if looking at an alien: "When did you get this big?" ”

"It's been a long time, the Temple of Fire invited me to this year's harvest festival, but at that time it was to Ampesel, and I had already been there, so I didn't want to go, it wasn't fun at all." Little Roman replied lightly, as if the invitation to the Temple of Fire seemed to invite her to travel, and whether to go or not was all up to her mood. Brando almost shouted directly Miss, I kneel for you, the tradition of inviting celebrities in the Temple of Fire has always existed in the game, at that time, there were some famous chambers of commerce among Eruin players, until the Second Age, those players who often have major sponsor backgrounds behind them will break their heads for such an invitation letter, and a few times even almost triggered a war between chambers of commerce, at least Brando has seen it several times.

This is really more human than human, Brando looked carefully at his powerful fiancée, and felt that there must be something like Martha's daughter or something at work in it.

However, in the end, Antitina on the side explained to him, it turned out that many materials produced in the Black Forest, including some precious magic materials and magic crystals, were strategic materials urgently needed by the Temple of Fire, especially in the period before the start of the Holy War. Tonigel's large exports over the past year had already made it an important partner in the eyes of the Flame Temple, so it was not surprising that Roman, the nominal president of the Seven Seas Chamber of Commerce, was valued in terms of the Temple.

However, Brando shook his head, he still felt that the merchant lady had opened a cheat, you must know that to become a trader who can trade on the same level as the Temple of Fire, it is not only possible to have a source of goods, but also to have a fairly extensive network of contacts, he can guess without thinking about it Roman should have taken the relationship network of Ampessel's chambers of commerce, but as for how she did it. That's a bit outrageous.

Because this can only be explained by a miracle in the eyes of the staff lady.

"Can I go, Brando." Little Roman covered his face and asked pitifully, but there was a little pride in his voice.

"Whatever you want—" Brando replied angrily, feeling that his intelligence and sense of existence as Lord Earl had been belittled by Yan Zòng in front of this little fiancée. It hurt him very much.

"Brando, prepare a carriage for me, I want the one I usually use, with a stove for charcoal."

"No, get to my carriage obediently!"

"Oh!"

After sending Miss Roman, and the second son of Archduke Karasu, who was almost equal in length and in height, and had always wanted to come up close to him, Brando managed to get out of the circle of the sons and ladies of the boys, and he walked to the side of the convoy, just in time to see Flo walking out of the direction of the castle with a notepad in his hand. When he saw the elder sister of the wild elf sisters, he knew that the preparations she had gone to prepare had already been done, and hurriedly greeted her, "Flo! ”

"Your Lord."

"Are they ready, Brünnhilde?"

The older of the Wild Elf Sisters nodded.

"Very good," Brando finally breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, he didn't really take this group of eldest ladies and young masters out on a trip this time, it was just a superficial disguise. Moreover, Princess Griffiin appointed him as the head of the legation, and appointed him commander of the Southern Legion, which had arrived a little earlier, apparently in order to draw the elite from Tonigel's territory and form the entourage of the legation.

It's a tacit tradition.

Before the start of the jihad. It has been customary for the empire to summon envoys from its various kingdoms and principalities since the first holy war. Today, this is not only a means for the Flame Temple to confirm the confidence of the members participating in the war, or to mobilize for war, but also a way for the subordinate subjects to compare themselves with each other in order to seek a higher status among the members of the Flame Temple. In this legation, first and foremost the various noble families were represented by the supreme of the Empire, which in itself represented a form of deferential submission and a way for the subject states to swear allegiance to the Temple. Of course, this kind of diligence is not so naked after all, and it seems a little more subtle.

On the other hand, it was the guards who accompanied the legations, and the holy war was a war after all. Each nation will need to flex its power to the Sanctuary of Fire in order to gain a corresponding position in the middle of war and beyond. Generally speaking, the guards of the envoy corps are the most elite forces of each country, representing the highest level of these principalities and kingdoms, as well as the face of the nobility and the royal family. In order to maintain this face and glory, the guards of these envoys will even compete with each other in the Cruz Empire, and of course, this kind of conflict will rarely really cause bloodshed, but the disgraced side will not have a good time after returning home.

The strongest envoy guard in the previous holy wars should be the guard of the Principality of the Crows from the west of the empire, this principality is adjacent to the Hazel people and the Earth Temple at the same time, although the principality accepts the belief of the Temple of Fire, but most of the inhabitants of the territory are half-orcs and beasts, the people are fierce, and the nobility is also very martial, at that time they sent a guard composed of bear warriors, both in terms of quantity and quality, crushed the guards of various countries, but unfortunately, they ran into the Eruin of that era.

The envoys sent by the Eruins in that holy war were probably the most humiliating in the past, and in addition to the representatives of the nobles, the envoys consisted of the non-commissioned officers of the White Lion Legion, a total of less than twenty people. However, the problem is that this team of twenty guards, their guard captain is the Earth Sword Saint Darus, and the deputy leader is the scholar Tulaman of Mithril Castle, just these two people, they swept everyone including the Cruz.

As for how Brando's famous grandfather later became the marshal of the coalition forces, that's another story.

The envoy guard is the face of Eruin, and Tonigel is now a territory with the strongest combat effectiveness in the whole Eruin, so the princess chose Brando as the head of the envoy, although the royal party has objections, but they dare not oppose too much. As for Brando and Her Royal Highness the Princess, these two partners who have reached a tacit understanding with evil intentions are blatantly stuffing people into this so-called guard under this guise, as for what these people are going to Cruz to do in the end.

That's not easy to say.

Brando took the notebook from Flo's hand, glanced at it casually, then looked up at the entire convoy and said softly, "Then let's go, we'll see you in Cruz." ”

Finally, he added in a low voice:

"Holy war, I'm coming."

……

(PS: Said the second shift, by the way, ask for next month's monthly pass, students.) In addition, help the sunspot cast a monthly ticket and help him keep the sixth place in the next category. (To be continued......)