Christmas Day is the day of the birth of the Son Tangula, a time-honored day in the Church of the Father. Every year on this day, the Church celebrates accordingly, and because of the special status of the Church of God the Father in human society, Christmas Day has become more and more important in human society, and has long developed into a celebration day for all mankind, those dynasties before Augustus, and the United Kingdom of Augustus.

This celebration extends even to the most basic village organizations.

In Norman's memory, Christmas Day was a symbol of joy, because on that day of the year, people didn't have to work, the church would provide delicious white bread for people to eat (Norman now knows how bad that so-called white bread was), and Lord Barton would be merciful and provide a place for people to sing and dance to celebrate, and he would ride around the village in a horse-drawn carriage and celebrate with the people, and even serve drinks.

And in Arica, far from the village of Ashley, Christmas Day is no less joyful.

Arica, which had already been crowded two days ago, was even more overwhelmed on this day, and every street was crowded with water, but even so, Arica, which did not occupy a large area, still could not accommodate all the people, and many people still could not enter outside the city. Outside the city, however, they could still celebrate Christmas, and the camps around Arica were filled with joyous scenes, music, dance, and cattle slaughtered everywhere, and it would be the most generous dinner of the year for the people of the steppe.

Compared with those celebrations outside the city, the celebrations in the city are much more formal and orderly.

After the 3 bells are struck, the parade begins.

The grassland's unique thick-armored cattle pull the float queue on the main road and slowly grind forward, this kind of side-by-shoulder scene, the shortcomings of the slow movement of the thick-armored cattle are no longer the shortcomings at all. The floats adorned with flowers are full of performances, from the dancing of the beauty of the prairie to the loud singing of the bards, to the narrative theatrical performances, all of which are a rare show for those nomads that make them extremely happy to watch, especially this year, when there is a special performance that has never been seen in previous years, that is, the symphony.

It was on the fifth float, the largest float, with a dozen fair-skinned outsiders sitting in front of them, all sorts of musical instruments, and the largest float was packed. In front of these people, there was also a man standing, holding a wooden stick with his back to the direction of the float, and his hands were constantly moving, and under his dance, the dozen or so people in front of him were playing in unison.

This scene has attracted the attention of many people who have watched the Christmas Day celebrations in Arica for many years, and there is a lot of discussion.

"So many people playing together? I've never heard music like this before. ”

"I just saw so many people and thought it would be messy, but I didn't expect it to be good. ”

"Oh, God the Father, what a great piece of music! I seem to see how the Church led the people to successfully drive the dragons out of the continent!"

......

Norman huddled in the crowd, and the voices of these people came to his ears in an endless stream.

Today's Norman has changed his appearance, no longer the young man he used to be, but a middle-aged man who looks like he is in his forties and has begun to age.

This is a special look that Norman made for himself this morning, because he was going to the sword drawing ceremony today. As a former sage, his appearance has been seen by many people, although Arica is located in the distant Pengke Territory, but it is inevitable that someone here will see him, or see his portrait, and the participants in the sword drawing ceremony should be under the gaze of countless pairs of eyes. At that time, in full view of everyone, it will be a little troublesome if he is recognized, so it is better to be easy to understand.

By Norman's side were Chen Qinghe, Atrimithea and others, and Harriet was also there, clinging to Norman at the moment.

Her face became more and more haggard, her eyes were dull and weak, and she looked weak and weak, and any ordinary person with common sense could see how bad her body was. But the magic of love is also great, and every time she looks at Norman, her bleak eyes will shine strangely, and that may be a great motivation for her to stay alive until now.

Guilty Norman also tried to use some spells to heal her condition, but to no avail, and the Templars could do nothing about it, so Norman could only watch her slowly usher in her death.

However, in this group of people, only Norman has pity on Harriet, Atrimixia, who has always been expressionless, is like a wooden man every day, and Chen Qinghe and the three dragons will not have any concern and sympathy for the death of this small human. Even compared to Harriet's death, a word from the surrounding crowd made them care more - when he heard that "the church led people to drive the dragon clan out of the mainland", Qin Hao's face showed resentment and a little anger. But he wasn't brainless, and he didn't immediately crush the worm who was brave enough to say such a thing in front of him, and it was really embarrassing for him.

Chen Qinghe cared more about the music itself, and after listening to it for a while, he praised softly: "This is indeed a great music, but unfortunately, the level of the performers is limited, which affects the effect of the music." As he spoke, he glanced at Norman intentionally or unintentionally, and it seemed that he really admired his virtuous brother very much, not only in terms of strength, but also because of his virtuous brother's amazing achievements in various miscellaneous studies. For a dragon like Chen Qinghe, it was more appreciated by him than his achievements in spells.

When Norman heard this, he glanced at the shriveled old man with a rustic face, and then withdrew his gaze and looked back at the procession of floats - Chen Qinghe had only walked in Augustus in the past year, and he had come into contact with many people, so for the sake of prudence, Norman also helped him change his appearance today, so that he could not see his original appearance.

The chatter continued, but the direction gradually changed.

"I've heard it in Preston, and I've heard that it was written by the wanted disgracer. ”

"What, that guy wrote this tune?"

"If you listen to it again, this symphony doesn't seem to be so good. ”

"Man and music should be separated, and although he is a bold insulter, his music is good. The church has not shied away from this, and I don't think we need to be too nervous. ”

"I've heard people say that this piece was supposed to be played by more than 20 people, but now there are only a dozen of them, and the effect is reduced. ”

......

On the float behind the float of the symphony orchestra that I don't know where it was invited, there was no show performing, but a few people, and in the center was a dark-skinned, slightly chubby man, dressed in a very ornate manner, from which Norman saw elements of aristocratic clothing in the north-central region as well as some native clothing elements of the prairie. And from the discussion of the people around him, he knew that the person in front of him was the lord of Arica.

On the float after the lord of the city, there was a black priest, dressed plainly, holding a scepter, with a serious face, not smiling, and from the talk of the people around him, it was known that this black priest was the metropolitan of the church of Arikadu.

There were also several priests standing beside the metro, all black, and Norman naturally did not know any of them. As the procession of floats slowly passed, and then looked at the next few floats, there were performances one after another, and there was nothing Norman thought would appear.

It seems that he did not come to Arica.

Norman thought so in his mind.

Earlier, in the tavern, he had heard someone say that Hardy had been exiled to the savannah, and wondered if he would meet him on Christmas Day, which was one of the reasons why he had changed his appearance today. But I don't see it now, it seems that Hadi is not in Arica, otherwise, with Hadi's status, he should stand with the metropolitan......

In addition to the parade of floats, today's program also features communion delivery.

Christmas Day is a rare annual day of mercy for wealthy churches, and a large number of communions will be delivered directly down the street for free today, which is one of the reasons why there are so many people in the city today. And Norman and they rely on the brutal flesh of a few dragons, so they naturally will not lag behind in this kind of activity, and they can easily solve the lunch problem for Harriet and Atramisia, as for Norman and them, the structure is already different from these humans, and they don't need to eat.

After finishing their meal, they headed north, where the capital church was located and where the sword drawing ceremony was held. And when they got there, they found that the sword drawing ceremony had begun.

There were many churches that Norman had seen, some of them majestic, some of them were strange, and some of them were simple, but it was the first time he had seen a church of this style at Arica's capital church.

This flat-style church, like a lying ox, is more appropriately a windmill than a church at the head of all the parishes of a city. Compared to the humble church in Ashley Village, it is not simple, but it is rustic in style.

In front of this metropolitan church, there is a large square as usual. The square was already crowded with people around it, and they crowded into the square, leaving only a ten-meter-square open space in the middle. In this clearing, a high platform of more than one person was erected in the center, connected by stairs on both sides, and the high platform was guarded by knights in armor to maintain the order of the crowd, and above the high platform was a large stone in the center, on which there was a striking protrusion.

That should be the sword in the stone.

Norman stared at the sword in the stone, although it was a little far away, but his extraordinary eyesight still allowed him to see the sword in the stone clearly.

The hilt of the sword, half an arm's length, is studded with shattered gemstones, and the tail of the hilt is fanned open......

Norman compared his appearance with his own memories and finally determined that it was indeed Amilius' sword—— unless there was another identical sword in the world.

The stone wrapped in the sword in the stone is a large irregular ball, several heads taller than a normal adult, which makes the church also set up another platform behind the sword in the stone, and the participants in the sword drawing ceremony have to stand on the platform to draw the sword.

Now the contestant was standing on the platform behind the sword in the stone, holding the hilt of the sword with one hand and pressing the stone with the other, and he gritted his teeth and drew the sword with all his might, and Norman could see the dense drops of sweat and the bruised tendons on his head clearly.

This contestant can be said to be very burly, with knotted muscles, but after he used his strength to eat milk for a long time, the sword in the stone did not move at all. At last his face turned flushed, and he tried to pull it out, but was driven down by the priest beside him.

As the contestant stepped down from the stage in shame, the scene erupted in strong boos and cheers, and people laughed and shouted, as if watching a monkey show. But this scene did not stop people from dreaming of fame and blind faith in themselves, and the second contestant soon came up from the side stairs to the stage for a new round of monkey shows.

Norman and the others watched and squeezed forward, and when they finally squeezed to the registration office, there were already nineteen people who tried again, but without exception they all failed, and the cheers and inversions of the scene came and went, so it was not lively, and Norman also heard some shouting and frustration of bets and frustration.

It seems that this sword drawing ceremony is not just a simple thing to watch, but also a gambling market, perhaps this is why no one has been able to draw a sword for so many years, and the annual sword drawing ceremony is still the most lively event in the Christmas Day celebrations.

The registration process for the sword drawing ceremony is simple, you only need to hand in a coup voucher and wait in line.

Chen Qinghe and the other dragons have the innate arrogance of the dragons, and they are not interested in the sword in the stone of the human race (Norman naturally didn't tell them that this thing is actually a demon relic), so they didn't plan to go up and try it, only Norman participated, so he went up to hand over the indulgence himself, but when he handed the indulgence to the priest, his hand paused slightly, and after a delay of 0.3 seconds, he handed over the indulgence.

After receiving the indulgence, the priest pointed to the side in a flat tone: "Go there and line up." ”

Norman glanced at the priest, his eyes were very deep, but he did not stop at his feet, and walked towards the queue beside him. Behind him, the priest continued to receive the next contestant.

The priest who received the Norman was not native to the savannah, he was yellow-skinned, old, wrinkled like a ravine, and full of gray hair, enough to be the grandfather of the young priests around him, but his eyes were clear, not cloudy like ordinary old men.

It's Hardy Ewingstein.

Norman didn't find it for a long time, and thought that Hardy had been exiled to another city on the prairie, but he didn't expect that it was really Arica. But what surprised Norman even more was that Hardy, a once high-ranking cardinal priest, was now wearing a robe, revealing that he was just an ordinary junior priest.

Norman was a little surprised by the drastic change, and turned his back to Hardy, so he didn't notice that the old priest, after guiding the next contestant, glanced at his back, as if intentionally or not, and the clear water of the lake rippled in his eyes, and then disappeared.