() A dirty, simple chicken farm with a wide, tidy basement underneath. Ten people sat around a round table, and Julian followed Selina to two adjacent vacant seats.

"Priest Yutanko, Knight Myron, and ......" In addition to Selena, there were four other people who Julian knew or had seen: Cardinal Utanko, who smuggled him out of the Papal Palace, Myron, one of the 36 blessed knights of the Templar Order, the short priest who brought him back from the Ghost Gate in the Papal Palace, and the Templar sergeant. All four were dressed in casual clothes.

"Knight Rousseau, I haven't seen you for a long time. The sergeant said to Julian with a grin.

"Yes, it's been a few months. Julian nodded slightly to express his gratitude to the sergeant.

"Are you alright?" the sergeant asked about Julian's injuries.

"He got rid of the Iron Tree. Before Julian could answer, Selina had already taken the lead, implying that Julian was able to kill, indicating that his injuries had healed early.

"I heard that you were already a genius in swordsmanship when you were on Key Island, and you were able to defeat Iron Tree's fast sword at such a young age, so we really didn't find the wrong person. Myron gave Julian an approving look.

"That's right. He did what I asked him to do, and he did what I didn't let him do. Selina was ostensibly complimenting Julian, but from that cold tone, anyone could hear her dissatisfaction with Julian.

The cold water that Selina poured on made the atmosphere in the basement awkward. However, Yutanko didn't let this atmosphere last long, he looked around the round table, and said slowly: "Now that everyone is together, let's start." ”

"Wait. Julian interrupted Yutanko, "I have a question. ”

"Excuse me. ”

"Who are you?" asked Julian bluntly.

You must know that both the Purple Cardinal and the Blessed Knight have a high status in the Holy See, and it is not easy for an organization to recruit both of them at the same time.

"You don't know?" Myron frowned and looked at Selina, "Mangrove, as a protector, you didn't make it clear to him?"

"There's no need. Selina said coldly.

Myron was a little dissatisfied with Selina's attitude, but he didn't dwell on this issue, but turned his gaze back to Julian: "Since you have decided to let you participate in the operation, you must know something about us. Listen, the name of our organization is 'The Woods'......"

"The woods?" Julian repeated in a voice that only he heard. In fact, this was not the first time he had heard the name of this organization, and his mind instantly drifted back to that night of swords and swords a few days ago......

In the abandoned mansion on the northern outskirts of the city, the victory or defeat is only between lightning and flint.

A crisp sound of metal colliding, accompanied by a scream, ended the fight. Julian stood tall with his sword, and the blood that spurted from the cut in the other man's severed arm stained half of Julian's body red.

Dante, who fell in a pool of blood, looked at his opponent with a little disbelief: "Why do you show mercy?"

"Because you also gave me a chance. Julian said lightly.

Dante was noncommittal, he chose to remain silent. Along the way, he could have gone straight to the church to get more chances of escaping, but instead he chose to go to the abandoned mansion and fight the assassins behind it. This is not so much the instinct of a warrior as it is the subconscious of Dante, who has not yet completely abandoned his former companion, and although he has embarked on the path of betrayal, he hopes that someone can stop him.

Julian silently withdrew his sword from its scabbard, then walked up to Dante, took out the cross, and cast light magic to heal Dante. "My magic cultivation is still shallow, and I can only do this at most. But at least you won't die from blood loss. ”

"You're really not going to kill me?" Dent still didn't believe in the fact. Julian did not take his life, only took the left hand of the scooping sword.

"Yes, I should have killed you, but ......" Julian couldn't help but relent, remembering the warm scene of Dante with his wife and son. "Forget it, I'm not qualified to sanction you at all. At this time, Julian recalled the heinous crimes he had committed.

"But if you let me go, how can you explain to the 'woods'?"

"What do you say?"

"So you don't know!" Dent looked at Julian in some surprise, and after a while, he came back to his senses and said to himself, "Forget it, I'm a traitor anyway, and there's no need to follow those rules." ”

Julian looked solemn, waiting for Dante's explanation.

"The 'woods' are the intelligence agencies planted in St. Pope's Island, and you should have heard the proverb 'If you want to hide a leaf, you should put it in the woods'. My code name in the woods is 'Iron Tree'. ”

"Iron Tree?" Julian snorted, "Hagen, who was betrayed by you, is also a member of the 'Woods': the Black Tree. Isn't that right?"

Dan nodded for sure.

"Your wife is also a member of the 'woods'?"

"No!" this time, Dante denied it very dryly, "She's just an ordinary person." Neither mother nor son knew my true identity. ”

"Really?" said Julian, squinting suspiciously.

"If it weren't for the mangrove tree that suddenly woke me up, then I would have spent the rest of my life with my wife and son as a tavern owner. ”

"So you betrayed your former partner in order to continue to live an ordinary life, right?"

"What's the use of talking about that now?"

"You can go on living the life of an ordinary person. Listen......" said Julian in a very deep voice, "you are dead, both for the woods and for the Holy See. Leave immediately with your wife and son, find a place where no one is around, and never appear in the sight of the fourth person. ”

"Are you really going to let me go?" Dent's chest rose and fell, and he couldn't fully accept that he had been forgiven.

"Tomorrow night around this time, you will run away with your wife and son. How to get out of this city is a hundred times clearer to you than I am. But before that, you have to do one thing. ”

"What's the matter?"

"Every city has a cemetery. You go and steal a child's corpse and an adult's corpse for me, and I'll be waiting for you in this place at 12 o'clock tomorrow night. Remember, no one can find out about ......"

“...... The name of our organization is 'The Woods'. My code name is 'Mulberry'. Julian recalled a lot of things that night, but less than half a second later, he listened to Myron's introduction, showing an expression of "I see", not letting others notice his twinkling eyes, Julian didn't want to be discovered, he didn't kill Tieshu that night.

"This Yutanko priest, you've known him for a long time, his code name is 'Birch'. Not noticing Julian's strange expression, Mulberry Myron continued.

"I'm 'Kiri'. The sergeant who had taken care of Julian was still smiling, and after introducing himself, he pointed to the short priest beside him, "His code name is 'Maple'." ”

As for Selena, even if you don't need to be introduced, you know that she is a mangrove.

In addition to the five "trees" that have been seen, the other six strangers who have not been seen are:

Apple Tree: A beautiful girl of about 17 or 18 years old, dressed in a black nun's robe;

Pine Tree: A young man in his 20s wearing the uniform of the garrison of the city of Madolu;

Cedar tree: A businessman dressed as a bejeweled man, a fat man about 40 years old;

Coconut Tree: A dark, short, thief-eyed man, Julian always thought he was kind-faced, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him;

Oak tree: a middle-aged man dressed in ordinary clothes;

Oak Tree: A middle-aged woman who is the wife of a colored oak tree.

These 11 people are all backbone members of the "Woods" organization, plus the elm trees that are winding outside, a total of 12 people.

"Excuse me, Hagen, the bakery, is he from your 'woods'?" asked Julian knowingly.

"That's right. Hagen's code name is 'Black Tree'. "It was Mulberry who answered him - blessed the knight Myron, "It's a pity that he was betrayed by the traitor Iron Tree." It's the tavernkeeper Dante you killed. ”

"Black Tree must have suffered a lot in the prison of the Inquisition. It was Mapletree who spoke, and from the concern in his tone, it was clear that he had a personal relationship with Hagen.

"I only hope that Heishu can survive until the end of this mission, and don't bear the torture and confess us in advance. "Someone seems to have no faith in Hagen, he is the coconut tree with the thief's eye.

Maple Myron hurriedly retorted: "With me knowing Black Tree for so long, he is not that kind of person. ”

"At the beginning, Tieshu's character was also obvious to all, but he didn't rebel yet?" said Cai Oak Tree lightly.

"You don't have to worry. Julian's protector, Mangrove Selina, spoke, "I have arranged for the Money Tree to be by his side, and if the Black Tree wavers in any way, the Money Tree will kill him immediately and then commit suicide." ”

Instructing others to kill their companions, Selina's calm when she said this made Julian feel a chill.

Oak immediately asked a question: "Money Tree?" there doesn't seem to be this person in the 'woods', right?" Apparently no one present had ever heard of the codename, and turned their puzzled gaze to Selina.

"Money Tree is my direct downline with a single line of contact, and I am the only one who knows his deposits. ”

Everyone else accepted Serena's explanation and didn't ask any more questions, for the simple reason that each of them had a downline that only they knew. And Julian has already speculated that the money tree in Selina's mouth is the young man who made him "Jack" on his behalf.

"Alright, that's the end of the discussion about the Black Tree, let's cut to the chase. Purple Cardinal Yutanko, codenamed "Birch", seemed to be the moderator of this meeting, and he turned his gaze to the nun who had not spoken, "According to reliable information, the two targets we want to rescue have been arranged to the Pedo Sanatorium. Apple Tree, you are a nun in the Peido Sanatorium, you should be familiar with the situation inside, let me tell you. ”

"Yes. Apple Tree smiled, and she said in a sweet voice, "The Peiduo Sanatorium is located in the mountainous area, the farthest of the six sanatoriums from the city, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and many patients who want to restrict their freedom but are not suitable for sending to prison are arranged to be sent to the Peiduo Sanatorium. There are four times as many guards as other sanatoriums, and there are so many traps that there is no way to break through head-on. The Holy See's sending both targets to the Peido Sanatorium is ostensibly beneficial to our rescue work, but in fact it is more difficult than separating the two places. ”

Two goals?Julian noticed the word. "Is there anyone else they have to save besides Frey?" Julian thought.

"Sewer OK? I can arrange for my men to go in. "The coconut tree raises a building yì.

Kiriki glanced at him: "How many people can you bring into the city?" ”

Later, Julian learned that Coconut Tree was the leader of one of the island's more powerful thieves' guilds, but he was basically not allowed to appear outside of the urban slums, because every city in the Papal Dominion had a wanted sketch of him, so it was no wonder that Julian thought he looked familiar.

"I don't know if those guards love money or not. As a businessman, Cedar thought of a bribe.

However, Pine immediately denied this construction: "As far as I know when I served in the garrison of the city of Madolu, this method will not work at all. ”

At the round table, you said a word, I said a word, and put forward one plan after another, but after discussion, I felt that it would not work. At this time, the priest of the birch Yutanko, who was in charge of presiding over the meeting, spoke: "Actually, on the way here, I have already drawn up a plan. ”

The "trees" were silent, and together they turned their eyes to Yutanko.

"Every year, the Pope sends high-ranking priests to preach in the six sanatoriums of Madolu, you all know?" Yutanko glanced at everyone, and seeing that no one spoke, he continued, "I was selected this year, and this is a golden opportunity. ”

Oak asked, "If it's a sermon ceremony, it's a good time, but when will you come to preach?"

"Next Sunday. ”

"So fast?" all the other "trees" except the mulberry tree felt a little hasty.

"It is precisely because of the time constraints that we have convened this meeting today. Mulberry - Knight Myron seems to have known about Yutanko's plan for a long time, "Before Birch comes to preach, I will allow myself to be seriously injured in a training session and try to be admitted to the Pedo Sanatorium as an internal response. Apple tree, you need to hurry up and find out where the two targets are. ”

"Understood. The beautiful nun replied gently.

At this moment, there was a regular banging sound on the top of the basement.

"The elm tree is reminding us that there is still half an hour left. Selina said.

"Then hurry up and arrange the details quickly. Kiriki Road.

......

Julian, who was not a member of the "woods", never spoke a word at the meeting, trying to maintain his outward calmness and not to let others notice his inner ecstasy and agitation.

Frey, I'll see you next Sunday!.