May 8.

The village of Yimer.

Perhaps by a wonderful coincidence, or perhaps by fate, Leon arrived in the village of Imer just in time for the Goddess Damia's Harvest Blessing Day, which is also a festival of dancing and courtship.

This time, however, there was no large-scale rally in the village of Imer, and there was no one in the small square where the crowds were surging and singing and dancing.

The whole village was in shambles, and it was as quiet as a barren ruin.

You know, this is a place where tens of thousands of people live, and it's just called 'village'.

The statue of the goddess Damia has a wreath that has long since withered, and the fallen leaves and debris next to the statue are not taken care of.

This most important festival in the southern continent, this day full of hope for a better life, in the famous and wealthy village of Yimer, is an unusual interpretation of desolation and decay.

"What did Titus do in Imer......

Li Ang walked on the stone road at the entrance of the village where he had walked, looked at the scattered blood stains sprinkled on the ground, and sighed deeply.

When General Creon and his son, Lord Dean, ruled Imer, it was a bustling town......

"After His Majesty Marius introduced Titus to join the Order of the Phoenix, this guy was honestly living in Imer without moving. After your disappearance the year before last, my father reclaimed the area of Karon Deer Fort and Imer on behalf of the Empire...... Then my father went to Siyuan City to preside over the economic reconstruction of the entire empire, and the village of Yimer was no longer controlled, and Titus continued to collect money and food in the name of the Phoenix Knights......"

Alina whispered about the cause and effect.

The area around Emer was indeed a fief given by Emperor Marius to the Phoenix Knights, but it was not a fief, but a trade to give this land to Leon, so that Leon could use the output of this place to feed the Phoenix Knights - the Phoenix Knights were the troops of the Ash Empire, which belonged neither to Bacchus nor to Leon, but came from afar to deal with the Serpent Cult, and were the common allies of Marius and Leon.

Titus used the name of the Phoenix Knights to collect money and food from Imer, which was actually legal.

It's just that Titus levied it too harshly......

The Phoenix Knights are based in Karen Deer Castle, their goals and responsibilities are very clear, they only deal with the Serpent Cult, so they have been attacking the Serpent Cult dens everywhere, and they don't care about how Titus got the money and food.

And Titus, in this period of unrestrained days, gradually let himself go, scraping the ground to pull out a private army again, and fought with some old-fashioned nobles.

"Titus doesn't seem to have any family, and this guy can't coerce him...... Leon, why did you deal with him first? ”

After talking about Titus's situation, Alina asked.

She didn't understand why Leon wanted to start with Titus first—Titus was a loner, with no wife and no children, and she felt that it was difficult to find a weakness.

"Coercing others doesn't necessarily have to be done to your wife and children...... Titus, who is bent on gaining power, has the most weaknesses. ”

Leon turned around and explained, "Compared to other old-school nobles, Titus was the one who didn't dare to lose a lot - he didn't have a family to rely on, and he didn't have much capital to make a comeback, so he couldn't afford to lose at all. If it weren't for the loss of Emperor Marius's trust, he wouldn't have been so stupid as to get mixed up with the old school......"

"As long as he can find the property he has looted for the past two years, and kill his cronies and servants who have remained here, he must withdraw his troops...... Because he only had private soldiers in his hands to rely on, he didn't dare to bury everything under White Deer Fort. Otherwise, no matter what the final outcome is, what good is a lonely person who has lost all his capital to the old school? ”

Alina nodded, then looked at Alyssa beside Leon, "So, you are going to use the name of the Serpent Cult to snatch everything that Titus has gained in the past two years?" ”

"Titus is a Phoenix Knight, of course he has to find a reasonable reason to retreat. Moreover, it is obvious that many old-fashioned aristocrats are in collusion with the Serpent Cult...... Guess if the Serpent worshippers robbed Titus of his property, would Titus fight the old-fashioned nobles under Fort White Hart? ”

Leon also glanced at Alyssa beside him.

The little snake girl was a little distressed: "Hiss...... My lord, I'm no longer a member of the Cult, and I promised Alista to join the Knights of Dusk a few days ago...... Can you stop letting me do this kind of task in the future? ”

Ever since Elisa joined Leon's team, all of her missions have been in her true colors - Leon has always made her work as a serpent priestess......

"Come on, this one is a god...... The gods of the Serpent Cult are gone. Speaking of which, joining the Knights of Dusk would be a more appropriate choice, at least the doctrine of 'in darkness, light in heart' is indeed more suitable for you......"

Leon looked at Alyssa a little helplessly.

The little snake girl is actually a very reasonable person, and she has always behaved, but she still has a habitual attachment to the snake worship.

Leon can understand her, it's like a child's nostalgia for home - Alyssa has been taken to the temple of the Amara continent since she was a child, she grew up there, and the snake worship is her home, not that she can give it up completely.

"Hiss...... After this mission, I went to Singal with Alistay...... Hiss, or you'll make me do this kind of work in the future......"

Alyssa grunted.

"Isn't that what Alisthai is...... How can you fool such a beautiful girl? ”

Ramon leaned over and whispered in Leon's ear.

"Ahem...... It's because of that he has a better relationship with Alyssa...... Alyssa grew up soaked in poison, she was poisoned all over her body, she couldn't do those indescribable things, only Aliste was suitable for her......"

Leon glanced at Ramon and said, "You probably didn't want to hit Alyssa......

"No, no, no...... She's a vegetarian, not suitable for someone like me......"

Ramon swallowed and stopped talking.

Soon after, there was some commotion in the otherwise peaceful and desolate village.

A group of 'snake worshippers' entered the village and raided Titus' den under the leadership of a beautiful snake priestess.

Coincidentally, the manor that Titus occupies in the village of Imer is next door to Lord Dean.

Dean's old butler watched as these 'snake worshippers' killed and set fire to their belongings in the next manor, carrying the alarm bell in their hands but never rang.

Moreover, the old man still had a gloating smile on his face.

Even when these snake worshippers dragged away Dean's wagon to load Titus's belongings, the old butler did not stop him, and even took the initiative to unload the hay from the wagon......

In this way, Titus in this village is not angry, but at least hated......

Of course, when the Serpent Worshippers left with a cart of belongings, the old butler sounded the alarm - no matter what, Dean had been robbed of a carriage from his house......

Titus has a lot of possessions at home, and it seems that he has been scraping the ground for the past two years.

Moreover, Ramon's men also found a lot of armor and weapons from Titus's house, most of which were equipment of imperial knights.

These pieces of equipment were originally the standard equipment of Emperor Marius's Guards.

But the current 'Imperial Knights' are not really noble knights, they should actually be called 'Knights of the Imperial Guard of the Bacchus', that is, the new Guards Legion formed by Emperor Marius after obtaining a large number of war horses.

Many of the members of the legion are not nobles, but basically all of them are cultural people who graduated from the Royal Academy of Siyuan City.

Founded seventeen years ago with Justes as its principal and Emperor Marius himself as its honorary president, the Royal Academy was both a military academy and a place to train a new generation of political talents.

Dean was also a knight of the Empire - the Imperial knight under Marius was actually an official reserve, but had no aristocratic privileges.

These are all new generation of reform implementers, and most of them are people who have benefited from reform.

As Bacchus's reform process progressed, Marius sent a number of Imperial Knights to various places to serve as grassroots implementers and supervisors to ensure that the reform policies could be implemented.

Emperor Marius must have sent a number of imperial knights to keep an eye on the eastern regions, but the knights sent to the vicinity of Imer were probably secretly killed by Titus.

It is estimated that many places are similar......

After all, none of the old-fashioned aristocrats were willing to allow Marius's 'reform commissioners' to supervise their own territory.

Anyway, the emperor is far away, and these 'commissioners' are on a business trip, so it is indeed difficult to ensure their safety, so after killing, it is enough to throw the black cauldron on the head of the snake worship sect.

And now, Leon threw the black cauldron at the head of the Serpent Cult in the same way, except that he was not dealing with the Imperial Knight, but against Titus.

The Scorpio Assassins killed all those in Titus' house who dared to resist, dispersed the other servants, and set fire to the manor, but deliberately 'did not catch up' with a few of the minions who had run away from the start.

Most of the people who ran away at the beginning were Titus's cronies, who rushed to report the news.

And those who dare to resist are usually the hardcore guards who guard the house.

Ramon's men did this kind of work quite quickly, after all, these murders and arsons were their old business.

"Where next?"

Ramon asked with some interest, this kind of work is his forte.

"To Wolfin, not far to the south...... What is that lord's name? ”

Leon turned to ask Alina.

"Rimuske, a money-grubbing and fellow."

Alina replied.

"Lustful...... Well...... Will there be a lot of beautiful women in his house? ”

Ramon raised an eyebrow at Leon: "Are we pretending to worship the Snake Sect or something else this time?" ”

It seems that this thing is addicted to role-playing.

"Didn't Titus find a lot of Imperial knight equipment in his house...... Wear Titus's equipment to Wolfin. A group of Imperial knights raided Rimusk's house and captured all his family...... Just right. ”

Leon pulled out a set of Imperial Knight armor from the carriage.

……

"Sissime, haven't you sworn allegiance to Lord Rimuske? Why didn't you go to White Hart Fort? ”

On the lookout at Fort Wolfin, several soldiers were chatting with their spears.

"What's so good about going to war...... To live is to enjoy life! ”

An imperial knight lazily lay on the lookout to bask in the sun, turned over and advised the soldier beside him: "White Deer Fort is a dangerous place, how can it be so easy to conquer? Even if I win, what do I get? I was sent by His Majesty the Emperor, and Rimusk didn't trust me in the first place......"

"That'...... Isn't it all the more important to fight bravely and win the trust of Lord Rimusk with practical actions? ”

A young soldier asked, confused.

"Alas, naïve boy...... Everyone wants to be meritorious, but some battles are destined to be unsuccessful...... Besides, isn't it good to be alive? Like now...... Let's bask in the sun for a while and touch the fish for a while, sit until it gets dark and get off work, nothing happens, and we can still get paid safely......"

The Imperial Knight, known as Sist, said lazily.

"But the last time you dealt with the Snake Worship Sect, didn't you also make a meritorious service...... I also want to save some credit, maybe I can be recommended to the Royal Academy, and then I can become an Imperial Knight......"

The young soldier probably envied Sist's knighthood - it was difficult for a child of an old-school aristocratic family to become an Imperial knight, and admission to the Royal Academy required the approval of Marius or Justus, but if it was meritorious, it was a different matter.

"Snake worship? The last time I dealt with the Snake Cult, it wasn't a war...... Naive child, you are still Rimuske's nephew......"

Sistt rolled over again, not looking to say anything more to the young soldier.

"Lord Sist...... Imperial Knights ......"

The young soldier was silent for only a few moments, and then spoke again.

"Oops...... Can you stop talking so much? I was finally able to take a nap cleanly......"

Heath sat up impatiently.

"That...... I mean...... There seem to be a lot of Imperial knights outside......"

The soldier pointed to the road outside the castle, his eyes flashing with a longing light: "So many knights, it looks so majestic......"

"I'll ......"

Sister was excited, quickly got up and looked out of the city, then put the sword strap on his shoulder and was about to slip away, ran two steps and turned around, patted the young soldier on the shoulder: "From now on you will be the patrol leader!" I'm going to White Deer Fort to fight......"

"Hey...... Lord Sister? ”

The soldier looked at Sist's back in a daze, and muttered, "Didn't you say that White Deer Fort is dangerous......

Whether Fort White Hart is dangerous or not, Sistt doesn't know.

But he knew that if he didn't run, Wolfyn would be in danger......

He was an Imperial Knight sent by Emperor Marius to oversee the implementation of the reforms, but he had sworn allegiance to the old-fashioned lord Rimusk a few months earlier - a serious mistake of political inclination, and if the other Imperial Knights or Emperor Marius had known about it, he would have at least been swept to the end, and might even be sent to the gladiatorial arena.

And now, a large group of Imperial knights has come to Wolfin, what does this mean?

A few months ago, the main reason for Sist's allegiance to Rimusk was the attack by the Serpent Cult.

Sist was a clever commissioner, he knew who sent the so-called 'Serpent Worshippers', and he knew for what reason, for the sake of his own life, of course he had to compromise......

Rimusk was also a very good guy - he cooperated with Sist's 'heroic fight', 'drove away' the 'snake worshippers', and then appointed the 'brave' Sistt as the patrol leader, and sent several soldiers to him as his retinue......

Of course, those soldiers were all seventeen or eighteen years old, and they were all side branches of the Sistt family......

So Siste is very sensible to fish every day, anyway, the Imperial Guards will pay him a salary, and Rimusk will also pay him the salary of a patrol - as long as he fishes with peace of mind, he can receive two salaries, and there is really no need to work hard.

(End of chapter)