The adjutant's heart was pierced, and he fell to the ground limply without saying a word. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The swordsman had a cold gaze, drew his sword and kicked the body back into the tent without saying a word, then turned around and stood in front of the tent - the soldiers who originally belonged to Count Mirno on the periphery were long gone, and the only one standing was a soldier wearing a "pit viper cross" robe.

"You..."

Mirno never imagined that he would have such a fate, and he couldn't help but regret it in his heart - he had thought that leading troops to fight would be a simple matter, but who would have thought that after the army went on the expedition, the various forces would be so unkind... If it were in Charles II's palace, he would have a hundred ways to reprimand Cardinal Dean and cause him heavy losses, but on the battlefield of real swords, his game is completely useless.

"The Viper Cross wants to reclaim what is rightfully ours, and will not make a big deal about it, Count Mirno can rest assured. Dean looked at ease, and his long, slender, withered fingers picked up the milk tea cup that belonged to the Count of Mirno—a delicate cup that the Count had brought with him, and had been handmade by the craftsmen who made porcelain for the royal family, with fine lines and bright colors. Dean didn't mean to drink tea, he just looked down at the cup, ignored the trembling Earl of Mirnor, and said to himself: "If you guess correctly, this cup should be worth more than sixty silver coins, right?"

Mirno's face was pale, the bodies of his cronies were lying aside, and the team that should have protected him was gone, and it was obvious that he was now under house arrest in disguise, where was he still in the mood to answer the other party's questions in this situation?

"Lord Earl is a nobleman of the kingdom, so he is too lazy to think about what this teacup means to ordinary people. So you won't understand why I'm taking people to declare war on the Rosicrucian. Some things are too far apart to be explained, because you won't understand them. ”

He put down his teacup and raised his gaze, and when the cold gaze was fixed on Mirno, the latter shivered involuntarily because of his great mental power.

"So no matter what happens next, the task of explaining to Your Majesty will be handed over to you. I think you know what to say and what not to say. ”

With that, he got up and left, not giving Count Mirnor a chance to speak. And when the body of the adjutant was also taken away, Mirno, who was sitting in the tent, had changed from anger to deep fear...

He understands that no matter how big a thing happens to Viper Cross, he can only be the one who bears the blame in the end.

The villages outside the Templar City experienced a series of fierce battles at 10 a.m., and the Temple guards who rushed out were largely outnumbered by their superior equipment. However, after successfully driving away the "Holy Cult Army" that had plundered the grain, the tired war horses no longer had the strength to return, so the various teams invariably chose to rest and reorganize in the village - but before they could eat lunch, the knights of the "Holy Cult Army" who had called for revenge one after another swarmed in, and a chaotic team of as few as fifty or two hundred, regardless of their strength, completely crushed the temple guards here in terms of numbers.

In this case, the sleepy temple guards had no time to escape, so they had to fight on the spot. The only thing they could do was to send soldiers back to the temple immediately to ask for help.

The news of the simultaneous call for help from the five teams reached the temple in the early afternoon, much to the surprise of the bishop in charge of defense.

He knew that he could not do this kind of thing, so he could only hurry to the church in the inner city and urgently ask for an interview with the Pope and the College of Cardinals to resolve the matter.

However, a group of old men of the College of Cardinals had not experienced such an urgent situation for a long time, and when they received the notice of the meeting, they all came to the church in an unhurried change of clothes - when the Pope explained the current situation, the cardinals looked at each other, and none of them reacted...

"What do you mean? Is Count Mirno going to declare war on the Rosicrucian?"

"Probably not, maybe it's just a failure to manage the friction caused by subordinates... Most of the knights he brought in temporarily were mercenaries, and if the bullets could not be suppressed, it would not be surprising that such a raid occurred. ”

"But now that it's happening, what are we going to do? The village has been looted, the temple guards are besieged, are we just watching?"

The cacophony of discussion echoed in the church, distraught the Pope – but because of the rules of the sect, he could not say a word about the problem at hand, but could only try to guide and summarize it, and get the cardinal to come up with a practical resolution as soon as possible.

However, the group of old men discussed and discussed, but suddenly discovered a problem: Rubens was missing.

Rubens left suddenly in the morning, and the news of his departure from the temple had not even spread in the inner city, when the cardinals of Rubens' line were silent, and the others realized that Rubens had "escaped".

Choosing to retreat in the midst of political struggle basically means that nothing will be done in the future. Many of the old guys finally breathed a sigh of relief at this, and the subsequent resolutions were quickly unified...

Now that the "close to Ivata" faction has completely lost the climate due to Rubens's absence, almost everyone else present believes that "friendship with the royal family" is the main purpose of future action, and their opinions are also very inclined to "calm the situation": now send troops to rescue the temple guards first, calm the matter, and then everyone put the matter on the negotiating table.

This is the prevailing view within the entire Holy See at the moment, and if Rubens had been there, he would have made a stronger argument at this time - he had experienced the battlefield in Evta, and had a deeper understanding of such "minor contradictions" or "frictions" that sounded like nothing. But he was not here at the moment, and the cardinals who had lived in the temple for a long time had almost forgotten what the war was like.

There will never be a war that will be able to calm down to the end, and this truth has been completely ignored by them.

It is not that no one in the Holy See is willing to raise objections, but that the "opinion leaders" have reached a consensus that there is no room for others to raise objections. So the Pope quickly sorted out and published his opinion, and by the time he received the order from the bishop to carry it out, two hours had passed since he reported the news.

Counting the preparation time for the mobilization of the armed forces in the whole city, by the time the rescue troops set off, there was already no "fighting" in the villages.

Cardinal Rubens, who had left the temple since early in the morning, had traveled thirty kilometers west by the afternoon.

If he followed the speed of the carriage, he could actually go farther. Apparently, however, Rubens was not in a hurry, and almost every hour the convoy had to stop for a moment to rest - after all, he was old, and the jolting and shaking were a real drain on physical strength.

It stands to reason that he should wear comfortable casual clothes when he travels, but Rubens always wears a very formal teaching robe. Not only did the robe come in bright and ornate colors, but it also received extremely powerful divine blessings. At the same time, he also carried the cardinal's scepter, which was only used during the "Grace Ceremony", and even wore a crown inlaid with magic crystals.

None of the cardinal's entourage understood the cardinal's intentions, and Rubens didn't explain much along the way. He just kept looking at the rough and winding road in the distance...

From here to the northeast is the edge of the diocese of Bogdor, and Rubens' hometown is just south of Bogdo, but at this time he is clearly not looking at the location of the small village where he was born. When a dark shadow appeared on the mountain road in the distance, the cardinal finally exhaled, and then straightened his crown, and said to his entourage: "Pack up your things and get out of the way." ”

"Your Excellency... So, is that the army?"

The drivers were so frightened that their legs weakened, for they could also see the shining armor and groups of tall horses in the sun. Having never experienced a war, this was the first time they had seen an army actually going out, and it really gave people great psychological pressure on the road where they could not go to the village or the back of the store.

"How, no, what? armies are also made up of people, not monsters. ”

Rubens was obviously in a much better mood than before, and was even willing to talk to the coachman about it. But the latter was obviously not at ease, and after moving the carriage and salute in a panic, the leading scout in the distance had already arrived on a fast horse.

The four scouts, all with the "Rosace Cross" insignia on their leather armour, came close to see Rubens' clothes, immediately turned over and dismounted, and without saying a word, rushed to the front and saluted respectfully.

Benjamin wasn't late. ”

He nodded, but then turned to look back—and in his view, the pillars of smoke near the temple were gradually dissipating into the sky...

When the decision of the Cardinal and the Pope was carried out, the remaining garrison of six or seven hundred in the Temple City was basically dispatched.

In the name of "rescue", they did not disperse into five teams after putting on their armor, but marched in groups, rushing from near and far to the nearby villages - but when they arrived at the nearest village, they saw buildings reduced to ashes and mutilated corpses all over the ground.

The battle was fought two hours ago... Three or four thousand cavalry attacked and surrounded hundreds of Templars who didn't even have the ability to escape, and the result was not even a thought about it.

In fact, many people thought of this kind of thing, but the cardinal and the popes underestimated the ferocity of the enemy and overestimated the control of Count Mirno... Until now, they thought that they were facing "the disobedient men of Count Mirno", and they only needed to clear up the misunderstanding and find some reason and materials to send it away.

However, the "Pit Viper Cross" had no intention of giving them a chance to react. (To be continued.) )