Upon his arrival at the Neustrian court in exile in the kingdom of St. Omere, Abu was quickly and warmly entertained, not because he had brought secret letters from the Neustrian merchants expressing their allegiance to the legitimate royal family, but because many recognized him as the bodyguard of the papal envoy, and some of them remembered that the envoy praised the mercenary for his bravery and rare loyalty, thanks to his alertness and protection.

Regardless of whether the exiled Orthodox royal family and the people who depended on them were ready to fight back or settle down in St. Ommel, warriors like Abu with considerable combat power were the ones they felt worthy of wooing. As for the merchants' secret letters of allegiance, they did not take it very seriously, for they felt that the commoners of Neustria were naturally loyal to them, and to whom could they be loyal but to them?

Yes, there is now a usurper self-proclaimed queen and a young and arrogant Bishop of Turnest ruling Neutria, but this ridiculous alliance is not destined to last! Joseph, the venerable old Joseph, who had held the position of Archbishop of Neustria for many years, had already sent a complaint to the Holy See, and the Pope was about to issue a pardon condemning this lawlessness, and at that time the commoners of Neustria had no choice - they could either endure the closure of all the churches, the refusal of all the clergy to atone for their sins and the funeral rites for them, or express their anger at the usurpers and force them to bow their heads and acknowledge the authority of the Orthodox royal family and the orthodox archbishop!

When Abu heard their optimism, he couldn't help but smack them. For if the exiles of the court thought so, it was no wonder that they had missed the best opportunity to bring down the new king—and Abu could not indulge them like this! He had come for turmoil and strife, and to see the new king's enemies revel in the illusion of victory without sending a single soldier, which was extremely detrimental to their own cause and to Abu's own ambitions!

"You are thinking too simply, too beautifully, and most importantly, too naïve!" The old mercenary warned the ladies of the court and the clergy who surrounded Archbishop Joseph, "I have seen their army, and I tell you the truth, the woman who pretends to be the queen, has a great army under her command. They had light cavalry among them. There were heavy cavalry, all in thousands, neatly draped, riding horses of the same color; She had infantry under her command. Those infantrymen also had helmets. There are weapons made of iron. Armor of iron is worn on the body—every one of them is pulled before you, and you see the equipment. I have to think it's a lost knight! How could a man with such a large army in his hands be afraid of the opposition of the people? She can't even listen to the Pope's opposition! ”

His remarks frightened the ladies, who all wanted to return to Neustria as soon as possible, and who were more fearful than the men in the days of exile. Some of the court ladies were subjected to the rude courtiers of St. Omere, who were far inferior to them, and who in the past could laugh at such pursuits, but now the exiled court could not refuse the demands of St. Omeres as lightly as they had done in Neutria. They therefore gathered with the archbishop more often than ever, both to pray to the gods to protect them from the snare of the farmer of St. Omere, and to give them a confident promise to dispel the misery of their exile.

"That is impossible," said a clergyman who had previously served in the army and had joined the Church because of poverty, and saw the uneasiness of the ladies and stood up in time to endorse the archbishop's measures and sermons, "how could the woman who pretended to be the queen, who had been a baroness and had never been in battle in her life, have such an army under her command?" Could it be magic? If it is magic, ladies, rest assured that the devil is rampant, the Holy Decree of the Pope can deal with them. ”

"I hope so, but she has been on many battles, and has driven out the northerners who had invaded before, and the captives and corpses have been taken everywhere to teach people, and she would not have been able to take Neustria if she had not been so." Abu grunted.

"Well, what is there to worry about? Her power could not be so great, unless it came from the devil, and if it was from the devil, His Majesty the Pope and the monarchs of various countries would help us. ”

"It's true that her power is likely to come from the devil, but I'm afraid that this devil won't bow his head because of a pardon - at the beginning, even if there was an order from the gods, the demon king didn't hand over people lightly, and it still had to go through a blood deal, so I think we should be fully prepared."

The tone of the sentence softened considerably, and the clergyman, who had served as a soldier, replied proudly: "It is only natural that we have sent letters of complaint to many noble courts, and with the papal decree, many knights will soon come to join our army and conquer Neustria—I may tell you that we have already been joined by a number of counts of St. Omier, and of the powerful men of Kolomna, who have brought with them a great deal of men, equipment, and horses. It's more than doubled our power! ”

"It couldn't be better!" Abu said happily that the nobles had multiplied their bravery after they knew that they were not going to attack a terrible northern heretic, but a woman who had never been on the battlefield.

"That's right, every day people come to join us on horseback and with their servants." The priest added at the end.

He had been in exile for some time, for he had thought of meeting the famous Duke of Ulrich once and, if possible, informing him of any information he had heard about the actions of the new government, but he did not wait for this opportunity, for the Duke was preoccupied with his granddaughter's marriage, and all other important things had to make way for this, let alone a mere mercenary.

Eventually, he was summoned, but it was reported by a fugitive that the two counts of Kolomna (who were cousins of the orthodox royal family of Neustria, within four generations), had heard that the throne had been usurped by Neustria, and wanted to invade Neustria, rescue the former king who had been trapped in the Great Abbey, and achieve knightly glory, and by the way, plunder a considerable amount of booty. They set out with the hope of glory and wealth, but they were greeted with death and humiliation, and their army had not long set foot on the territory of Neustria when they saw the ominous smoke, and then a terrible and terrible army attacked them, and few of them fled triumphantly.

This terrible news greatly shook the exiled royal family, and the Duke thought of summoning the old mercenaries who had previously reminded them of the strength of their enemies. (To be continued......)