The Rocal Empire is located in the north of the Star Continent, bordered by the Kingdom of Medin in the south, the legendary island kingdom of Zealand in the southwest, and the Snowy Federation in the northeast across an icy strait. The Rocal Empire has the most extensive territory among the 12 secular powers of the Holy Light Society, but it is only the fifth most populous country, located behind the Fayele Empire, the Pole Kingdom, the Medin Kingdom, and the Holy Oluffi Kingdom, and more than 90% of the population lives in the coastal areas on the east and west coasts, as well as the narrow border area bordering the Kingdom of Medin in the south, and most of the rest of the country is deserted mountains, forests, and ice fields.

Although it has the title of "Empire", Rocard's national strength is not very outstanding, and when people talk about Rocal's Empire, the first thing that comes to mind is not how powerful their ironclad chariots are, but that this country has the oldest history among the 12 major countries, and it is also the oldest empire in existence, and the country has existed centuries before the establishment of the Holy Light Cult itself. Unlike many empires in history that have had brilliant achievements and then drowned in the long river of history, the Rocal Empire has no history of ups and downs, and the country has survived in a relatively stable state to this day. With the exception of the Poseidon and the demons, the Rokar Empire has rarely been invaded by powerful foreign enemies in its history, and they have rarely expanded to the outside world, probably for a long time before even the ambition of the entire country has been consumed. And other countries, even the Central Church, rarely point fingers at the Rocard Empire, let alone meet each other. The Rocal Empire is like a respected old man, indifferently watching the competition between the juniors.

However, it is not the long history that has always protected this country from foreign invasions, but the Golden Dragon Clan, who have made a guard contract with humans. The Sanctuary inhabited by the golden dragon is located in the vast mountains of the interior of the Rokar Empire, which is why the population of the empire is concentrated in the coastal and border areas, and the inland is almost a no-man's land, and the dragons do not like humans to get too close to their territory. Moreover, the relationship between the Rocal Empire and the Golden Dragon Clan does not exist only in geography. It is said that the origins of the royal family of the ruling empire can be traced back to the first dragon knight Alexander Drogan who made a pact with the Golden Dragon Clan, and the word "Drogen" also comes from the ancient language meaning "dragon". As for Alexandria, the capital of the empire, it was also named in honor of this ancestor.

Alexandria was located on the coast of the Olopa Sea in the southeastern part of the empire. As a port city and the capital of the Rocard Empire, near Alexandria and its surrounding towns, it was home to 30% of the entire population, dignitaries, nobles, merchants, and adventurers...... Gathered here, quite prosperous.

On April 20, 1687, dozens of imperial ministers, nobles, parish clergy, and a large number of honor guards gathered near the harbor. Having received the news of the arrival of the Pope's envoy, the men made preparations in advance and held a solemn welcoming ceremony. At about 9 o'clock in the morning, when a large warship flying the flag of the Knights Templar and the emblem of the "Sea of Miracles" of its naval combat regiment docked in the harbor, the emotions of the crowd suddenly rose, and the guard of honor played the welcome music diligently, and the officials in charge and the bishop of the area greeted them with smiling faces.

According to information from Holy Pope's Island, the envoy was a young knight who had just been promoted by the Pope, and that his secular origins seemed to be from his own country, and although the identity of the envoy was not known, it could be assumed that his family should have a good position in the empire, so whoever could get the envoy first would reap the greater political costs.

However, the results disappointed everyone. After a large number of sailors and Knights Templar descended from the battleship, no envoy was seen. A high-ranking bishop who served as the envoy's deputy explained apologetically to the person who came to greet him that the envoy had already left in a small boat with his close attendants before the battleship had even docked, saying that there was a secret mission to be carried out, and no one else could stop him.

At this time, in a tavern not far from the port, near the window, sat two men who shrouded themselves in cloaks.

Looking out the window at the smiling faces wrapped in brocade robes, full of flattery and disappointment, the man sitting on the left snorted disdainfully. "Partner, checkout. He put the money on the table, then stood up and walked briskly to the tavern door.

The man who had been sitting across from him also immediately stood up and chased after him.

"Master, where are we going?" asked the man who had come from behind, walking side by side with the former.

"Go to the palace. Where else to go, of course, is to first meet the Empress of the Empire, which is the most basic diplomatic etiquette. The man known as the "master" replied.

"What? I thought there was some secret mission before I got off the ship early. ”

"I just don't want to see those ugly smiling faces anymore, since I was a child. ”

The other party fell silent.

"It doesn't matter. The man, known as the "master," said, "Report to the Pope as it is." ”

"Master, I can swear once again that I am only on the orders of the Pope to be your attendant, not to spy on you. He repeated what he had said several times on the boat.

"Whatever. Julian didn't argue anymore. He knew in his heart that no matter whether the man next to him was there to spy on him or not, it was no longer something that could be controlled by his Julian's will.

After receiving a tracing mission from the Pope a few days earlier, Julien Rousseau was appointed as the Pope's envoy to the first stop of the mission: his native Rocard Empire. Before he departed, the Pope had to appoint him with a knightly squire.

Since Julian was not born into a knightly family, he had no concept of knights and squires, and Julian was generous since he was a child, even treating the servants in the family as equals and treating them as relatives, so Julian didn't think about it at the time and really refused. But the Pope insisted on giving him an acolyte, for a simple reason: knights should have their own acolytes, which is not only the rule of secular society, but also in line with the teachings of the Holy Light Cult, not to mention that as a blessed knight of the high-ranking knightly class, it is impossible to say without an acolyte.

Hearing the Pope say this, Julian no longer insisted on his opinion, not that he agreed with the so-called "rules", but that he understood in his heart that the "attendant" was just a pudf, and the Pope actually wanted to put an eyeliner around him and monitor his every move anytime and anywhere. The Central Church spares no effort to spy on even those who are loyal to the Church, let alone those like him who have betrayed the Church and refused to be loyal to the Church.

It's just that to Julian's surprise, the Pope's attendant to Julian was a one-armed man, and the arm that this man lost was cut off by Julian's own sword.

Former member of the French Yale Emperor, former member of the "Woods" organization, codenamed "Iron Tree", a renegade who defected to the Holy See, and the boss of "Rose of the Night Wind...... These identities are all concentrated in one man: Dante.

In the abandoned mansion, Julian cut off one of Dante's arms, but instead of killing him, he used the corpse to fake the illusion that Dante's family was buried in the fire, so that Dante and his wife and children escaped from the grasp of the Central Church and fled to a place where no one found him. Ironically, Julian assassinated Dante in order to prevent the Woods from suffering more damage, but Julian later caused far more damage to the Woods than Dante could do.

As for why this man would serve the Holy See again, according to Dante's own words: "None of the people targeted by the Central Church could escape, and my family and I had just disembarked from the ship when we were caught by the Inquisition. Julian was too lazy to distinguish between the true and the false in Dante's one-sided statement, no matter whether Dante was really caught in the process of fleeing, or whether he took the initiative to surrender to the Holy See, it was pointless to continue to investigate. Julian only needs to understand that this master-servant relationship between him and Dante, at least on the surface, must be maintained until the mission is over.

In fact, the fact that Dante was chosen to be his squire can be seen in itself the Pope's sinister intentions. Dante knew everything about Julian, and of course knew that the destruction of the "woods" was also caused by Julian. Whether it was for his own revenge, or for his former companions in the "woods", Dante had enough reasons to kill him Julian, so keeping Dante by his side can be said to be the Pope's constant vigilance against Julian, and it also cut off the possibility of the two resisting together. This strange master-servant combination of two betrayers sowed the seeds of suspicion from the start. Although Dante has shown great loyalty and dedication to Julian along the way, it is not surprising that Dante will kill Julian as soon as the mission is completed.

Although he understands this thoroughly, Julian has no choice but to perform as a puppet on a script that has already been written by others. Even if it is impossible to know what Dante really thinks at this time, the man said that the name is very correct: none of the people targeted by the Central Church can escape.

......

This ancient country, the Rocal Empire, is his homeland, and the city called "Alexander" is his native hometown. Today is the first time I've been back in the city since I got on the boat bound for the Paladin Training Camp on Key Island 14 years ago. Walking through the familiar and unfamiliar streets, Julian was silent and full of mixed feelings.

"Master, I heard that this is your hometown. Why don't you go home and walk first, see your relatives and then go to the palace?" Seeing the dead silence of his master, Dante offered to build a house.

"......Home?" Julian said with a wry smile, "where is home, and where are your relatives?"