Parud held the long sword at his waist, his falcon-like gaze scanning back and forth in the crowd ahead.

Behind him, the iron-clad wooden gates were tightly closed, and the sky was now slightly white, but the merchants waiting to leave the city had already gathered a long queue at the gates.

Parud stared at his subordinates, explaining to the merchants who were gradually becoming a little restless, and a sneer appeared on his lips.

......

Three days ago, Parud received a report from his subordinates that he had found another person suspected of being a spy from the Southern Shiya Kingdom.

Spy Parud was unimpressed. In the past year, have there been fewer spies sent by the mountain monkey country? What's more, this wilderness of the Diocese of Clay is well-connected in all directions, and there is no danger to defend at all, and it is impossible to cut off those tentacles that stretch further north. So let them explore enough, so what's the matter?

Parud didn't care about the small country of corridors to the south, and as the Grand Commander of the Lord's sword, the Knights of the Holy Sword, he was qualified to be proud. It's not like he hasn't done such a thing as destroying a country with one army.

However, after the unification of the Northland, he was "assigned" to this marginal part of the Cult of Clay, and Parud was really not in a good mood.

Especially, when he couldn't wait for the news of the war, he could only linger on the school field every day, venting his excess energy like a trapped beast.

As Grand Commander of the Knights of the Holy Sword, Parud is directly accountable to the Pope and is not subject to the control of the local cardinals, and once a year, he also has the right to have a direct audience with the Pope.

He had already decided that when the Holy Descent ceremony was held in three months, he must make a proposal to the Pope, either to transfer him out of here, or to let his knights once again become the vanguard of the war, to open that corridor and clear the last obstacle for the Church of Eternal Night to the magical power of the south.

Therefore, when he received information from his subordinates about the spies, he didn't even listen to it, so he waved his hand casually and let his subordinates deal with it themselves.

He paid the price for his arrogance.

At first, it was only a report of a failed arrest and the suspect having escaped, but that evening, one of the Order's garrisons in the business district was attacked, and the treasurer, along with his two mid-ranking paladin guards, was assassinated in full view.

And the murderer, judging from the outfit, is clearly the suspect who escaped before.

In the Order, Parud himself was a powerful commander, but at times, he was inevitably checked and balanced by a council composed of the four chiefs of military, finance, medical care, and quartermaster, as well as deputy commanders.

Although the council was not favored by the archbishop, such an attack was ...... What kind of Shea spy is this, this is clearly a naked ~ naked provocation!

Enraged, Parud immediately ordered the gates to be sealed off and began a manhunt throughout the city.

As the night passed, the two detachments of the Knights stationed here had stirred up the city, but nothing was found, and the mysterious Assassin disappeared like droplets of water melted into the sea.

Helpless, Parud could only restrain the anger in his heart, and while pasting the portrait of the suspect all over the streets and alleys, he contacted the local snake in the city to help find the person. In Parud's mind, the most likely hiding place for the other party is the business district, where there is a lot of traffic, and strange faces come and leave every day, but under the pressure of lockdown and continuous search, the murderer must be hidden no matter how hidden he is.

The first day passed, the second day passed, and the search still found nothing, and through careful questioning, Parud also realized that the "spies" who sent the team to arrest at the beginning did not seem to be the same person who assassinated the treasurer later...... Although their weapons and attire are the same.

Could it be a gang? However, in terms of appearance and weaponry, no clues have been found in the past few days.

While Parud was hesitating, the Assassin reappeared.

This time, it was the warehouse near the school grounds that was attacked, and when Parud heard that it was on fire and arrived with his men, the quartermaster had already been buried in the fire along with his civilian personnel.

Luckily, the buildings in the city, including the storehouse, were made of stone, and the fire didn't spread, and unfortunately, because the storehouse was made of heavy stone brought in from the south, the quartermaster, who was a high-ranking paladin, could not escape.

This made Parud so angry that he almost vomited blood, high-level holy warriors, on the Aaron continent, there are no warriors who can cross two major obstacles to promote high-level professionals, each of them is a killer with powerful combat skills, not to mention, this is still a high-level holy warrior who bathes in divine grace and can perform the highest level 4 divine arts.

What made Parud even more angry was that this fire also burned a large amount of grain baggage at the same time.

All of a sudden, the form became severe.

This kind of thing, no matter what diocese it is, is not something that a knight leader can do, but this is Clay.

The wilderness where the diocese of Clay is located lacks sufficient resources for survival, and has always been a neglected area in the Northland for thousands of years of war.

For a long time, it became a place of exile for deserters, criminals, and refugees, who built small camps in the wilderness and competed with goblins, gnolls, ogres, and other monsters for the meager resources produced in the wilderness. Their best hope is to one day kill the mercenaries from the south and get their identification, or to hitch a ride on a caravan and get a chance to enter the country in the south.

I've heard that it's not much better, but at least you can get out of this hell, don't you?

Therefore, even if the church of Ilmat, the god of weeping, later took possession of the place, the Northland kingdoms did not intend to take action against this land of chicken ribs.

In this country, which is customarily called a kingdom, there is no royal family, and their original leaders were a loose circle of devotees such as the leaders of the samurai order, ascetics, and high sorcerers. So there was no such thing as an aristocracy, as evidenced by the fact that the most luxurious mansion in the city was not the temple of Ilmat, located in the center of the city, but the headquarters of a chamber of commerce in the business district.

This also made Parud feel a lot less stressed when he made the decision to lock down the city, but now, it is no longer feasible to continue the lockdown.

So early this morning, Parud himself came to the gate of the city.

Will it come?