On the path south of Havenley, a horse-drawn carriage galloped all the way.

The environment was extremely empty, and the neighborhood was desolate, with no other people in sight. But even so, the coachman waved his whip violently, and kept speeding in the hunting wind, as if he was afraid that someone would catch up from behind.

"Can we—can we really run away?"

Inside the carriage, six nobles, including Duke Colin, and several mages were crowded inside, looking a little nervous. One of the nobles had a sleeping little girl in his arms, and he couldn't help but glance out the window, then turned back and said so.

At the moment, their mood has not completely calmed down.

As nobles with a high status, they can be regarded as having seen a lot of the world, and they can remain calm when something happens. But an hour earlier, they had robbed the princess from the palace, and then rushed to the gates of the city, where they had broken through and escaped from the capital under the protection of several mages...... This series of actions has completely exceeded their bottom line.

Despite the success of the operation, they managed to escape from Ascension. But when the initial momentum passed, the nobles couldn't help but tremble a little when they thought of the church.

- From now on, they are no longer the nobles of the Kingdom of Hori.

to be hunted down by the church to the ends of the earth.

Fear and suspicion inevitably appeared in the hearts of several people, although everything had gone well so far, but when the church came back, they could really escape?

"Yes. Duke Colin nodded, somewhat autosuggestively, "We've got rid of our pursuers, and the people of the church have no idea where we are." ”

The nobles nodded in silence, and there was silence in the carriage, as if digesting the situation.

After a moment of silence, someone spoke again: "So...... Lord Duke, since you have proposed this plan, have you also thought about our next move?"

Duke Colin raised his head: "We are leaving the Kingdom of Hori. ”

"How can we leave? Your Highness is in our hands, and the church cannot let us go easily. And now that it's been here, it's hard to use the connections and power we used to have. ”

Duke Colin immediately replied, "Find Master Benjamin, he knows how to get people out." ”

"In case he dies in this battle...... Or they don't want to care about us at all, so what?"

"Then go back to the fiefdom first, before the news spreads, we still have some power that can be called upon, which can be used to contact other forces abroad. Duke Colin took a deep breath and looked at the sleeping little girl, "In any case, Your Highness is in our hands, and we have the capital to live." ”

The nobles glanced at each other, but finally fell silent, probably thinking about the current situation in their hearts. The wheels rolled and carried them towards the fiefdom to the south, little by little hidden in the afterglow of the setting sun.

And probably following in their footsteps, a few hours later, the figure of the paladin appeared in the path under the moonlight.

“...... What clues did you find?"

Chasing all the way from the royal capital, the captain squinted his eyes and tried to look around in the dim light. A whole team of paladins searched back and forth in this belt, anxious like ants in a frying pan.

However, the results were not very good.

"It's very windy and the sand is very dusty. The traces of the wheels have disappeared here, probably covered, and we can't tell where they will go next. ”

"Damn...... Keep looking south. The captain suddenly became nervous, "His Majesty the Pope, you have also seen it, if we can't find a clue, we will all suffer!"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but think back to a few hours ago.

- Receiving the news that His Majesty had been kidnapped, and no one could be found in the area of Lake Pearl, in the end, the Kingdom army had only been out for less than a few hours, and had to return to Haven and Wright, which was a great shame. His Majesty the Pope was on horseback, and his whole body seemed to be shrouded in a cloud, and no one dared to come within a few meters of him.

The army returned to the royal capital first, while they and a dozen other teams of paladins were separated on the road and set off early to investigate the whole incident. The captain remembered the unusually gloomy face of the Pope when he gave them the order.

...... He didn't dare to think about it anymore.

"Hurry up, look over there, you must find the whereabouts of those people!" he urged again. In the darkness of the night, the paladins continued their search for the front, with a tired countenance.

And at the same time.

The bottom of Lake Pearl.

“...... They left so quickly. ”

After using the water elemental sensing method to probe around, and sneaking out to examine it carefully, Benjamin had a somewhat surprised look on his face. The Kingdom Army, which had been mighty a few hours ago, had already withdrawn completely, leaving only a few sentries patrolling the area.

It made him wonder a little.

Looking at Grant's battle at the beginning, he even planned to fight him to the death here, even if he couldn't find anyone, he wouldn't stay for a few hours and then retreat, right?

The system came out and said lazily: "Isn't it good to go? If people really dig three feet into the ground, drain the lake and start digging, maybe they will dig you out." ”

"Of course it's good to go...... I just think it's a little weird. ”

"What do you want to do so much, what do you want to do, what do you want. ”

“...... Never mind. ”

Eventually, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

He suspected that there might be something else hidden in the church's retreat, but for the current situation, it was better for them to hide underground and wait for news. In fact, the Dark Nightmare were hiding in the shadows again, and the Church's sortie had failed, and the situation was already in their favor, and Benjamin had nothing to worry about.

Therefore, he didn't think much about it, and returned to the camp to start planning the next round of attacks. The other exit from the underground passage was near the Crusard Gate, and Benjamin was preparing to attack the towns in that area.

The next morning, new news came from outside the dark department of the academy.

“...... The Church has just announced to the world that they had gone on an expedition last night, and that they had already inflicted heavy losses on the Black Nights after a great battle on the shores of Lake Pearl. I don't know the specifics, but the priests in many places say that you were seriously injured by the Pope and have fled back to the Academy of Magic?"

When he received the news, Benjamin had a "what the hell" expression on his face at the time.

The church is also becoming more and more able to make up nonsense.

But is it so hard to accept that he was tricked once? Grant is so reluctant to admit that he pounced? Making up this kind of remark, the church is becoming more and more limitless in order to stabilize the situation.

"Rest assured, they didn't find us at all, they were just bragging. After replying to such a message to the Academy's dark department, Benjamin touched his chin and thought for a moment, and a smile gradually appeared on the corner of his mouth.

If the church thinks ...... It would be naïve to make such an announcement to settle down the Kingdom of Hori.