Theodore I Lascaris, founder and emperor of the Empire of Nicaea. He was also the son-in-law of the Byzantine Emperor Alexei III. Janice said, glancing at Constend, "Do you know his story?" ”

Constant, of course, is not a computer or an encyclopedia. But he did know Theodore, because he had some connection to the Crusades. Before coming to Europe to investigate Janice's father, Constance happened to be exposed to this information.

In 1198, Theodore I married Anna Angelos and became the son-in-law of the then Byzantine Emperor Alexei III.

Six years later, in 1204, the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople.

Theodore had to withdraw from Constantinople and settled in Nicaea with the support of the Turkic sultans, who feared the eastward expansion of the Latins. After that, Theodore built a new Greek empire, the Empire of Nicaea, centered on this prosperous city.

The Nicaean Empire openly declared its succession to the legitimacy of the Byzantine Empire. At the beginning of its founding, it was encircled and pursued by the Latin Empire, and at the same time it was pursued by Western European knights.

Among them, since the beginning of the Byzantine Empire, Theodore has been fighting against the knightly legions. And this so-called knightly legion also has to start with the Fourth Crusade.

The purpose of the Fourth Crusade was the same as before, to recover the lands occupied by the pagans and to spread Christianity to the east. This time, they set their sights on Egypt! But the crusaders at that time consisted mainly of French and Italian nobility. Unable to pay the Venetians enough money to cross the sea to Egypt, the Crusaders followed the advice of the Venetian nobles and went to attack the city of Zara, which had betrayed Venice.

This decision made the pope so angry that he excommunicated the crusaders. This made the crusaders even more insane, and they made a pact with the Byzantine royal family to attack Constantinople instead. Throughout this process, the Byzantine Empire was sacked by this so-called legion of knights.

In fact, every crusade of the Knights of the Crusaders was accompanied by various lootings.

Theodore saw the knights who had come to ransack "in the name of God." Although Theodore did not openly proclaim his rebellion against the knights against God, he did have more than one struggle against the knights' legions. This rebellion also continued to his descendants.

The so-called Theodore script was actually born at that time, and this kind of writing was not created by Theodore, but by a group of people who followed Theodore against the knight legion, through various signs of life. This kind of writing makes it easy for them to communicate, and at the same time it can hide their intentions.

Constance finally understood: "So, the text symbol we found on the castle before is Theodore script?" ”

Janice said: "To be precise, the words that appear on the castle have undergone some improvements, and they are not the simple characters of the time. Since the Knights of God Rebellion, many people have joined the sect that rebelled against traditional knights and God's ideas. It's just that these people are different from the infidels and are not accepted by the mainstream, so they can only communicate information through some secret written symbols. Then, more and more people felt that God had abandoned them, and they thought about revenge, and they showed it in various ways. For example, vampires' revenge. In fact, vampire stories have been widely circulated for a while, and there are also this group of people who have contributed to them. They felt that they had formed a new population that went beyond the generally religious ones. Therefore, the more advanced their thinking consciousness is, the more they can do things that surpass mortals! ”

"Starting from language, to finally identifying the transcendence of thinking patterns and cultural backgrounds. As mentioned in the Sapir-Wolf hypothesis, language shapes ways of thinking, but it also creates cultural barriers. This group of people has always used a special language to communicate, so they have always had a different way of thinking. If they believe that their thinking patterns are superior to others, they are likely to regard others as inferior beings. For example, we think of apes as lower creatures. ”

Kontend also mentions the Sapir-Wolf hypothesis, which means that even though he and Zolle have not yet met, they have reached a common understanding.

Because of this, in the face of Amrusel's group of people, it is even more impossible to consider it with ordinary thinking.

Amrussell wanted to use Janice to find the Holy Grail, and Janice must have been in contact with Janice's father before her. Turning around, is Amrusel just looking for the Holy Grail?

Kontend doesn't believe it! And judging from what he knows so far, Amrussell is not actually the absolute leader of this "vampire" organization. At least Constance had seen a brown-haired man before, and that man seemed to be above Constend. So, could it be that the search for the Holy Grail also has something to do with something within the vampire organization?

Constance's curiosity grew, but Janice couldn't tell him much, after all, if he explained everything, Constance wouldn't be following Janice all the time.

After Amrussell was threatened with death, Janice did change course, and their convoy began to move towards Italy, which reminded Constant of the previous story of Theodore.

From the inland to the coastline, it was already nightfall. Janice pointed to one of the islands on the map, saying that the castle was their destination.

Since the Middle Ages, many castles in Europe have been built on small islands for the exile of prisoners, and this castle has also exiled prisoners before. In addition to the exile of prisoners, this is also one of the places where the so-called Holy Grail once appeared.

"Are you sure the key you're looking for is on this island!"

"Not sure, but I think it's almost!"

Amrussell clenched his fists, if he didn't continue to look for it, he really wanted to shoot the other party with one shot: "Okay, I hope you can find the right one this time!" After a short break, we will take a boat to this small island after an hour. If this time it doesn't work, I'll throw you into the sea to feed the fish. ”

Accustomed to any kind of threat, Janice and Constance don't care. They ate and drank in the same way, and rested a little, and they were pressed into the boat.

Tonight's wind and waves were a bit strong, and the ship nearly tossed one of its men into the sea halfway through.

The strange weather made everyone more cautious, and the rumors of the previous expedition made people a little more panicked.

Constance glanced at Amrusel: "Are you here to seize power?" ”

Amrussell glared: "What did you say?" ”

"According to the philosophy of your organization, you should not want the Holy Grail to come down. And even if you look for the Holy Grail, you are looking for it to destroy it. And it seems to me that you are so zealous in seeking it, I am afraid that it is not for the destruction of the Holy Grail. ”

"Don't think you're smart." Amrussell didn't bother to talk nonsense, "You low-level humans are always self-righteous. ”

"Hah, finally the word lower human. So, it is not just the Holy Grail that you high-level humans want to destroy, but we poor low-level humans! ”

With a bang, Amrussell slammed straight into Constend's face. He was tired of the other party's speculation, because in his heart, Amrussell admitted that Constance was smart, but this smart man should not surpass himself.

After a long jolt, the ship finally came to shore. Amrussell and his men disembarked one after another, and quickly checked the surrounding situation.

Unlike previous castles in Germany, this castle on a small island has a more complex topography. A large part of the castle is located on a cliff on the edge of the coast. The waves crashed against the rock walls, making it seem like the castle would be shattered.

The castle is the highest point on the island, and like the rest of the city, you can see everything from the top of the island.

Amrusel's men quickly found the observation point, and they still needed to control the situation.

In fact, Zhuo Lefeng and the other four have been following Amrusel. Even when Amrussell was looking for a boat, the four guessed that they were going to cross the sea. So before Amrusel went to the island, Zhuo Lefeng and the other four had already done an analysis, and finally they circled the island and came to the island in advance.

So when Amrusu's men were patrolling around, Zhuo Lefeng and the other four were already hiding near the ancient castle.

If it was during the day, they would indeed be easy to spot, but it was night, and the four of them had already prepared, so they were well disguised to let them observe quietly in the dark. After Janice and the others entered the castle, Zhuo Lefeng and the other four also bypassed the sight of the guards outside and quietly entered the castle.

Every time Janice took Amrusel into the castle, she had to try to get underground, and this time was no exception. It's just that each castle has a different way of going underground, and this time Janice found the entrance from an ancient painting.

This ancient painting is hidden, but Janice clearly has a knack for finding it. After entering the entrance, she motioned for everyone to light the torches, and the inside suddenly lit up.

"Going down this corridor, I remember my father saying that there would be a well next to the key!"

Konstan was a little worried: "Well? This is on an island, and it is going deep underground. If seawater backs up through a well, it's not a trivial matter! ”

Amrussell didn't care: "As long as you can find the key." ”

His men went first, but they didn't see the well until they reached the end.

Looking at the walls to the left and right and in front of them, the group could only shout at the rear and lose their way. The sound echoed through the passage, and there was a slight vibration around it.

Amrussell realized something was about to happen and sped up to follow. Just as he was about to give a few words, the wall on the left moved again, and suddenly a bright light flashed in front of him.

The guard next to him quickly pulled Amrusel over, and just where he was standing, a long sword was plunged into the ground. If it's a little slower, Amrussell has already been inserted with a sharp sword!

Where the sword was, the floor tiles sank slightly. Amrussell crouched down to check, and there was another noise in front of him. Just as he was about to ask what was going on, a crowd of people screamed and shouted at the end.

Shouting badly, Amrussell led the crowd to the end. Suddenly, there was a huge crater ahead. Someone was unsteady and couldn't stop, and fell into the hole with another scream. When they looked down again, there was a flame coming out of the pit, and the man who had fallen fell into the flames, and he was already charred.