At dawn, the smell of blood near the temple gates did not dissipate, but intensified. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Upon his arrival, Rubens took over the city's defenses and quickly recruited civilian "auxiliaries" from the city to assist in the defense. The corpses left over from the previous battle were carried somewhere else, but the congealed blood and shredded flesh on the ground really didn't have time to clean up, because there was no stability outside the walls at this time.

The soldiers on the city wall did not dare to rest. Because at ten o'clock in the night, there were even several groups of knights of the "Holy Cult Army" who came to wander around the city walls. Of course, they didn't do it to siege the city, but to search the corpses of the guards of the cultist army at the gates of the city to see if there was anything else to take.

After dawn, when you look down from the city walls, you can see many stripped corpses. It is clear that in this era of serious lack of productivity, bandits will not spare anything of value. Although many people are "knights", no one really thinks they need to follow any knightly rules when the night is dark and windy.

The "Temple" was not attacked because of its walls, but black smoke rose from most of the villages and towns within the Temple's jurisdiction. This scene made the people in the holy city indignant, but remembering that none of the soldiers who had left the city yesterday had returned, the ferocity of the enemy could be imagined.

Now Cardinal Rubens brought only enough troops to defend the city walls, and there is no surplus force to go out to eliminate these gangsters, so the people in the city generally hope that His Majesty the Pope will issue a "holy message" and gather the temple guards in various dioceses to come to the rescue.

However, to everyone's surprise, at dawn, the north gate of the "temple" suddenly opened, and a cavalry force of 700 entered the city, followed by more than 2,000 infantry troops, and a long convoy of emergency food.

The city's inhabitants were thrilled, but when they inquired, they realized that it was a support team sent by Duke Evta. The leader is none other than Wellington, the Grand Knight of the Duke!

For a long time, the "Temple", which was outside the confines of the "Everta", had never allowed the nobles to enter the city with an army. The second support army that came from this battle came from Duke Sally, and ordinary people may not be able to tell the difference, but those who understand a little more immediately realized that this was a justifiable "infiltration of forces"...

The "Temple" had no room to refuse after being raided by the enemy. At this time, if it is Charles II's army, then the "Rosicrucian" will be the final word of the royal family. But now it's Sally's army, so... I'm afraid the scope of Ivta's territory will have to be redivided.

People are under the eaves and have to bow their heads.

However, to the surprise of the civilian population, at 10 o'clock the "Rosicrucian" announced an "oracle" - Pope Peter confessed that the almost fall of the city was entirely due to the Holy See's contempt for the enemy, for which he was primarily responsible. At the same time, he announced the number of priests, bishops, temple guards and even cardinals who died in the battle, and explained the fact that he was wounded.

He then expressed his sincere appreciation for the timely support of Rubens and Benjamin, as well as Sally Roussifron, Duke of Evta, and announced that the next matters of the "Rosicrucifixion" would be decided by the College of Cardinals, and that he would not participate in the decision for the time being.

Then there is a series of clichés to calm the hearts of the people, but what this "holy message" does not explain is... After today, the College of Cardinals has undergone the largest personnel change in its history: in addition to the three who died in battle, five cardinals withdrew from the inner circle at the same time due to "serious injuries", and then Benjamin and two other district bishops who originally belonged to the Rubens line were added to the "College of Cardinals", since then more than seventy percent of cardinals belong to the "Ivota line" staunch supporters, and the future "Rosicrucal" has no suspense to belong to Rubens.

And Rubens, who is sitting in this position, naturally understands who he should listen to.

Regardless of the changes in the core hierarchy of power, the scattered bandit armies roaming outside the "Temple" are the current problem. Therefore, after the "oracle" was issued, the Wellington knights, who had already rested, immediately led their troops to regain the lost villages - the bandits who had already scattered their troops could not compete with the regular army from Ivta, and almost all of them were taken in a wave, and the troops who followed behind distributed emergency food to ensure that the villagers who were robbed of food would not starve to death.

Such a series of measures made the peasants who had been robbed and destitute grateful to Dade, and under the propaganda of well-intentioned people, they gradually learned that these soldiers were not the temple guards of the "Rosicrucifix", but the reinforcements sent by the "Duke of Efuta".

After losing faith in the "Rosicrucius", these refugees now know that "Everta" is the real savior who saved them...

The soldiers led by the Wellington knights clearly did not intend to return soon - their mission was not only to disperse the unmotivated knights of the Holy Cult, but to camp here in the name of "protection" to stabilize the borders of Ivta's suddenly expanding territory.

From now on, all the northern regions of the kingdom where the "Temple" is located have been invisibly incorporated into the territory of "Evta".

In the small city in the eastern part of the kingdom, there were already scattered and fleeing religious armies that brought news of the defeat of the "Pit Viper Cross".

The "Pit Viper Cross" does not have the connotation of "Rosace Cross", because the sect appeared relatively late, and the doctrine was born from the "Rosace Cross", so the architectural style here is quite similar to the "Temple". If there is one big difference, it is the image of a pit viper carved on the building.

Covered in sweat and mud, the soldier who had recovered his life from the battlefield was taken to the center of the church to tell the Pope in front of the Pope and four other cardinals and six elders that Claude and Dean had been single-handedly killed by a guy who suddenly appeared.

His staccato words were mixed with unspeakable fear, and the faces of the people who had been expecting the news of the victory were suddenly ugly.

The priesthood of the "Viper Cross" is slightly different from that of the "Rosicrucian", and the "cardinals" and "elders" under the Pope are juxtaposed. But only "cardinals" can participate in political decisions, and "elders" are determined by strength and power, belong to the fighting department, and have the right to know, but not the right to decide.

Pope Daze's eyes were gloomy at this time, he was dressed in a white robe, and he sat in a seat slightly higher and was silent. The cardinals and elders below were in an uproar at the news - Dean and Claude were recognized as strong, and they were able to attack with their respective troops as planned, so how could they let one person be killed?

"Who did it? Is it really a person?"

"What about Elvis?"

Someone asked loudly, but Pope Dazer interrupted these inconsequential details - there are so many bizarre and strange things in this world that no one would think that they are invincible. The stronger the strength, the more awe he knows, so the deaths of Claude and Dean do not surprise him too much, the only thing he cares about now is the "pit viper's kiss", as for the vacancy of elders and cardinals, there will always be someone to replace them.

"His Majesty the Pope... Lord Elvis was forced back by the guy who used the bow and arrow, and eventually used the scroll to escape by flying..."

This sentence made the surrounding elders and cardinals collectively breathe a sigh of relief, and escaping "by flying" meant that he used the Elder Scroll, and the effect of this scroll was well known to everyone here, so they should have assumed that Elvis had succeeded in taking the "Pit Viper's Kiss".

Pope Dazzle is also relieved, and all he has to do now is to wait for Elvis' return. Once the scepter is regained, the "Pit Viper Cross" can be completely revived and the "Rosacecru" will be stomped under its feet!

But before that, Pope Dazzle still has a lot to deal with - in his view, the "aftermath work" is actually just as important as the battle, because the "pit viper cross" can never admit that the war was launched unilaterally, and the only thing he has to do now is to put the black pot that provoked the war on the head of the Count of Mirno.

"When Elvis returns, take him to the 'baptismal room,' he deserves it. ”

The "baptismal room" is the main reason why the pit viper cross can recruit a large number of powerful masters - those who can enter the "baptismal room" for a day will have a lot of strength after they come out, and some people can even break through the threshold and become a strong existence that is simply difficult to resist in the eyes of ordinary people... But the "baptismal chamber" was in the hands of the Pope and became a reward that everyone wanted.

The Pope exhaled, feeling a lot more relaxed, and just whispered, "As long as Elvis is okay... His loyalty, I believe. ”

On July 5, the temple gates, which had been closed for many days, finally opened.

This was due to the success of Operation Bandit Suppression, which was carried out by Wellington and the Temple Guards, in which the Knights of the Holy Army and the Viper Cross who were roaming the vicinity of the Temple were largely wiped out or expelled, while more than 300 bandits who had participated in the looting of the village were captured alive and escorted to the gates of the Temple.

According to the original solution, after the "bandits" were defeated by the knights, they would basically be hacked to death on the spot to prevent future troubles. In this era of "the lord is greater than the sky" and "the canon is everything", there are basically no uniform laws and regulations. However, at the behest of Roddy, these bandits are clearly suitable material for a "political show" at the moment.

And it was very coincidental that Zach and the others, who were in the same camp as Roddy, were all escorted - compared to the high-spirited spirit of the robbery, at this moment these guys were all dejected, their hands were led by ropes, and when they walked through the streets of the "temple", they had to endure the stones and rotten eggs thrown by the crowd around them... (To be continued.) )