Gray-black, filled with stench and rotten earth of sewage and swamps...... Well, let's call it that. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

It was dim, as if shrouded in a layer of haze, so that people could not see the sun, but only the layers of gloomy and oppressive clouds of different colors.

Although there is no sun in this world itself.

Polluted hell, rancid swamps...... There are all kinds of names that speak of this, the third level of hell, a plane controlled by the mighty Greedy Grand Duke Bilmeister, a great devil with a human upper body and a serpent lower body.

In this level of hell, with the exception of the tall volcanic glass mountain range that runs through the entire plane, the rest of the region is in a swamp of sewage and a constant stench of foul, fishy, and rancid smell that is incomprehensible to the nose - even the only city in the plane, the sunken city where His Excellency the Grand Duke lives.

Because of this, in this layer of hell, most of the intelligent creatures, or directly the devil, live in that sunken city, and very few will appear in the 'wild'.

Even those powerful visitors from the Outer Plane who are able to travel through space will most likely choose to open their portals in cities or mountains, rather than in unbearable wild swamps.

However, there are always exceptions.

For example, two humanoid creatures walking silently in a swamp in the wild.

One of them was a tall male knight or warrior with short, silky blond hair that resembled gold and the sun. Under the short bangs on the forehead, there are a pair of calm eyes with a faint black in the turquoise. The handsome, resolute face was slightly pale, and the dull lips had a faint, untrimmed beard. He looked like he was older.

On his body, he was dressed in black metal armor with slightly torn, smudged, and bloodstained patterns, outlined in various mysterious patterns.

At the same time, at his waist, hung a long, unsheathed black two-handed sword that exuded a faint bloody aura.

Like the armor, the two-handed longsword had tiny notches on it, like tiny serrations, like demon's teeth—faintly, and with a faint, almost imperceptible aura.

The other man behind him was a petite woman in a golden magic robe, blonde hair, blue eyes, beautiful face, and a haughty expression - compared to the slightly raunchy man, her whole body was spotless and meticulous, and if she had changed her clothes into evening dresses, it would have been as if she had just attended a banquet.

However, even such a proud girl, when looking at the man in front of her, occasionally showed a look that didn't know whether it was pity, admiration, or other feelings.

In this way, the two walked silently on this swamp that ordinary people could not settle down and could not bear, and without saying a word, they moved towards a direction that only a man knew.

......

Clear skies, bright sunshine, warm temperatures...... In the holy city of 'Osna', located on the eastern coast of the mainland, the people here are in the middle of their day.

Since the goddess of light performed miracles here more than 7,000 years ago, this city, which was originally just an ordinary small city, has been designated as a holy city by the Holy See of Light, and a cardinal is stationed at all times. More than 6,800 years ago, after years of construction and decoration, the seventh Pope Gregory I moved the headquarters of the Holy See here.

In the thousands of years that followed, although the missionary cause of the Holy See of Light had many twists and turns, whether it was prosperous or declining, this 'holy city' has not suffered any war, until now, although the holy city is not as prosperous as the capital of the two empires due to religious and canonical reasons, it is the most populous city on the continent - if you add the population of the surrounding area, it can almost be compared to a medium-sized country on a continent.

Moreover, as the headquarters of the Holy See of Light, the Holy City is not only populous, but also a large number of powerful people - not to mention the contemporary Pope Maximian I, who is the most powerful person in the continent. In addition to him, there are five priests and knights of the Holy Order in the Holy City, as well as an equal number of Holy Maidens who can summon the angels of the Holy Order. There are dozens of cardinals who have reached the level of masters...... Coupled with the divine magic array that has been continuously repaired and improved over thousands of years to protect the city, it can be said that even if the entire continent comes to besiege this city favored by the goddess, it may not be able to break it.

At this point, the holy city of Osna, without a doubt, is the first on the mainland.

And in the hall of the Papal Palace, in the middle of this 'holy city', a meeting is taking place.

Those who can attend this meeting are at least the strong people whose strength has reached the master level, and the presiding officer of the meeting is the spokesperson of the goddess on the continent, the contemporary pope who herds all the lambs for her, His Majesty Maximian I!

The one hundred and fifty-seven-year-old man was dressed in the same black robes as an ordinary monk, and only wore an ordinary priest's hat on his head, just like an ordinary old priest, he looked at the many high-ranking members of the Holy See who were naturally in front of him, either dressed in holy and gorgeous clothes, or with bright and dazzling armor, and asked in a calm tone as if talking to an old friend:

“...... So, my dear parishioners, who wants to go on this mission to protect Pastor Lania Dwight to the diocese of Noxon?"

But even so, these powerful men standing in front of him did not dare to take it lightly in the slightest—His Majesty's status did not come from the magnificent papal robes and the triple crown made of gold and precious stones. It's from his body, which is given by the goddess, the strongest strength in the continent!

And they also knew that although it was said that it was to 'protect' Rania Dwight to go to the diocese of Noxon, the actual task this time was to ease and promote the relationship between the nobles of that kingdom and the Holy See - not only needed to have flexible skills and superb ability, but also needed strong strength as the foundation and backing - if the strength was insufficient, but forcibly took over the task, it would be nothing if the task could not be completed, and if it was humiliated by the other party and damaged the prestige of the Holy See of Light, it would be fatal.

After all, in the war twenty years ago, the Holy See suffered heavy losses, and if it weren't for the Pope's crown, the strongest man on the continent, the ambitions of those kings and emperors would have been exposed.

On the western continent, although the Holy See successfully introduced the belief of the goddess to the countries under the control of the Magic Association through the victory of the Holy War, most of the high-ranking people in those countries are still hostile to the Holy See, a force that seeks to divide their power cake.

Because of this, the missionaries of the Holy See in those countries not only did not have the great political and temporal power as in the eastern regions, but were oppressed to the point that they were deprived of even the most basic powers, such as the right to collect contribution taxes and tithes, so that the Holy See had to constantly raise supplies to the clergy in these countries.

There was even a cardinal of the western diocese who, because of a conflict with a nobleman of the kingdom, was blocked at the door of the church by the other party, and the priests and other clergy could not enter or leave the main gate for a week - until the cardinal of that diocese was instructed by the Holy City to bow his head and give in.

Therefore, this mission is best to be carried out by one of the five Saint-level powerhouses present, or one of the several Saint-level angels who can summon the Saint-level angels, so as to have some certainty. Otherwise, in that country hostile to the Holy See and the Goddess, most of the things that will disgrace the Holy See will happen.

-- This is a situation that they do not want to see, both for the Holy See and for those who lead to the failure of the mission.

“...... I do, Your Majesty. ”

After a moment of silence, a quiet female voice sounded, and at the same time, a silver-haired and blue-eyed female knight wearing silver full-body plate armor who looked to be about thirty years old calmly came out of the crowd.

It's her?!

Everyone, including the Pope, was stunned for a moment.

"Captain Hurd, are you sure?"

After coming to his senses, Pope Maximian asked with some uneasiness.

Arian Hurd, the Grand Master of the Knights of the Holy Light, the strongest person in the Holy See except for the current Pope, the Holy Knight at the peak of the Holy Rank, the master of the sub-artifact Divine Guardian Sword, even among all the intelligent races in the entire continent, is enough to rank in the top ten, or even the top five.

The 163-year-old paladin has fought countless battles against demons, demons, and other evil creatures and forces, most famously with one man and one sword, while blocking a demon lord at the pinnacle of legend, and destroying a portal he opened, stopping his plot to destroy a nearby city.

And such a strong man, in terms of strength alone, let alone going to the Noxon Kingdom, which has only two at most Saint Rank Intermediate Guards, even if he visits the Eda Empire, the base camp of the Magic Association, it is enough!

However, like most knights who practice their own knighthood, this paladin is strong enough, but she is very insensitive to scheming and political struggles - and it is for this reason that she only has a name in the Cardinal Conference except for the position of head of the Knighthood, and most of the meetings are held, but only listen silently - as for whether she understands or not, only she knows.

Let such a person who knows little about diplomacy and politics go on a diplomatic visit...... Can you really get the job done?

Similar thoughts came to the minds of the members of the College of Cardinals.

"Sure, Your Majesty. ”

In the face of the Pope's inquiry, the upright, kind, and noble knight bowed his head slightly and replied.

“...... Well, then the task of this trip is left to you, my friend. Perhaps it was not good to refute the face of this Holy Order powerhouse in front of everyone - although she herself may not have cared, Pope Maximian, after hesitating and thinking for a while, agreed to her volunteer, "The goddess is with you, I wish you a smooth journey." ”

PS: The revision is complete, and at the same time, thank you for the 100-point tip from the book friend.