Philip fumbled for a cane and led us to the small room inside the commune

There was only one servant of Salander with Philip, and I wondered why a clergyman would use a heretic as a servant, and when the Salander saw us enter, hesitated, bowed, and went out

The rooms here used to look exquisite, with pine floors, wooden rows more than a meter high on the walls, and spectacular paintings painted on the ceilings, although many of them collapsed, and there were several breaks in the room, which were repaired with stones, but the stones seemed very abrupt, because they used to be white stones, and the stones placed were bluestone, which were somewhat out of harmony and made the house look dilapidated

Philip sat down in a chair lined with fluff, and we sat on one side, and soon the Salander came in with a plate of drinks, all of which were delicately lacquered wooden cups, and I took a sip of the drink in them, and knew that it was the more precious 'tea', and it seemed that the old man Philip was not very poor, and was able to enjoy such luxuries

"This is from the Burkes," Philip said to us, taking a sip of tea

Giovanni's face did not change, he looked at the tea in his hand hesitantly, and did not drink it, but I had already swallowed a mouthful Giovanni glanced at me intentionally or unintentionally, and my heart suddenly tightened

Philip listened to us for a long time without moving, so he smiled and said, "The thing is a good thing, there is no problem, just drink it with confidence"

The Salander walked in, took some clutter, and then closed the door and did not come in again

"Do you know why the Burkes take such good care of me?" He asked us

"Because you are highly respected," Giovanni flattered dryly

"Hehe," Philip seemed to understand everything, and didn't say more, just took a sip of his tea, "if that's really the case, there are more famous people than me, and the Burkes don't have so much energy to take care of them one by one."

"Then," Giovanni hesitated, "does it have anything to do with the Great Pasture?" ”

I think Giovanni has thought about this answer a long time ago

"That's right," said Philip, "Lech is ready to canonize a shepherd"

"He's not qualified," Giovanni said

"Actually," Philip replied to Giovanni, "Lech is currently the most qualified shepherd, and should have been appointed by Emperor Chanda, and after Chanda's demise, Svadia inherited this right, but Svadia himself gave up this right, so the shepherd became elected by the bishops of the east themselves, and now, almost all the bishops and holy weapons are in Berke, and the king of Berke is recognized by the Emperor of Svadia, so the king of Berke is now the most entitled to canonize the shepherd."

"It's ridiculous," said Giovanni, "how can the Burkes, who have been expelling the clergy of the Eastern Church and encouraging their own inhabitants to discriminate against the Eastern Church, be qualified to be canonized as the Grand Pastor of the Eastern Church?" ”

"Well," said Philip, "there are two archdioceses of the Eastern Church in Salander, which were taken from the Chanda by the Salanders, and in fact the bishops there are only nominally subject to the rule of the Patriarch, but in fact they are all canonized by the Sultan."

"I have heard that the Sultan only recognizes that they are elected by the clergy of the Church, and that the Sultan does not interfere in the affairs of the Church."

"What's different about the Burkes this time?" Philip said sadly, "We have lost the right to appoint and dismiss the archbishop, so it is only a matter of time before the appointment and dismissal of the archpriest is taken away, and when the archpriest was detained many years ago, we should be mentally prepared."

"The reason why the Burks are not canonized now is because"

"It's because the bishops don't cooperate," said Philip, "but six of the fifteen archbishops have chosen to compromise, but five are adamantly opposed, and of the remaining four, if the Berkes fight for two more, then Lech can convene a synod."

"Lech is not a king yet"

"Does it make sense to lie to yourself?" Philip kept his eyes open as if he could still see

"Do the Burks want your help?"

"Yes," said Philip, "because my brother was one of the four bishops, and the other was the vice-recof of my convent, under whom I had been a priest for twelve years."

"You must be being watched?"

"I guess you're already known," said Philip, "but it doesn't matter, I'm not that important, the Burkes only want me to cooperate, and if I refuse, they can't do anything to me."

"What about us?" Giovanni said

"You'd better get out of here as soon as you can," said Philip, "if you have your own business, get out of here as soon as possible, the longer you stay here, the more dangerous it will be, and if the Burkes don't know where you came from, you're likely to be arrested."

"We are here to ask for your help," Giovanni said sincerely, "and before we leave, we want to know which of the Vecchian families around here are traitors"

"What if you know?" Philip said, "What is the use of the Burkes who have taken possession of mortal lands and taken away the servants of God, and you boyars have done nothing, even if you know who are traitors?" ”

"Priest Philip," said Giovanni, "if the land of mortals cannot be reclaimed, how shall we deliver God's servants in the future?" ”

Philip fell silent

The tea fluctuates slightly in the quilt, and the fragrance rises

After a long time, Philip said, "Whose situation do you want to know?" ”

Three hours later, we walked out of the town hall

In the distance, there was a pastor from the Western church standing in the middle of the street preaching, and for some reason, I didn't hate those people at all

Philip just told us that for Riverland, the enemy who should be punished the most is the traitor of Vecchia, I can doubt the words of the woodcutter, I can also doubt the words of the Vicchian along the way, I can even doubt the words of Giovanni, but in the face of a blind old priest, I can no longer hold on to the doubts in my heart, I can only believe that in the war, the most destructive, the most murderous killing of the people, it is precisely those rebellious nobles

These nobles usually guard the four directions in the name of God, the farmers cultivate the land for them, the craftsmen produce goods for them, the merchants bring them scarce goods from afar, the priests pray for them but they are not concerned about the well-being of these people, once there is a foreign invasion, to destroy the happiness of all these people, the first thing these nobles think about is not how to unite against the enemy, but how to use the war to gain independence, and use the enemy to fight their opponents

Countless villages have been destroyed, countless churches have been destroyed, countless families like Lepnin have been pushed into the abyss by their former 'friends' I can't understand, I really can't understand

The icy wind blew in my face

The people on the streets are still boiling, are there any of these people who joined the enemy army when the foreign enemy invades?

Philip tells us that less than half of the towns in the Riverlands fell by fighting, and that most of them fell because of the mutiny of the soldiers or the rebellion of the lords; Philip tells us that when the Berks enter the city to plunder, they always find all the riches quickly, because there are countless Wikibians rushing to lead the way for these soldiers, and what the Wikiians can get is only a little residue of the Berk's reward afterwards; Philip told us that during the siege, many priests and nuns took care of the wounded soldiers and hungry citizens around the church, but when the city was broken, the nobles of Vicchia demanded that the church hand over their soldiers and then execute them in front of the Burkes to show their loyalty, while some of the Vicchian co-conformants were instigated by the western church to invade the church, many pastors of the eastern church were brutally killed, and there were many cases of nuns being killed

After hearing this, I almost wondered if Old Man Philip was old and confused, and whether he thought that all the things the devil did were done by Wikibians

But Philip wasn't stupid at all, and he was able to clearly name the rebellious families and what they did

"How do you know so much?" I couldn't help but ask Philip, "You can't be everywhere."

Philip's eyes were covered with a membrane, but even so, I could see that there was a feverish mania in his eyes, red, not at all like the eyes of an elderly priest

"Son," he whispered, "from the beginning to the end of the war, I myself have heard the confessions of hundreds of people, my colleagues have heard so much that I can hear the cry of the women, I can hear the doubts of the soldiers, I can hear the despair of the peasants, I can hear every voice here God whispering in my ear about the things that were born in the land of the river, and I think I have forgotten how blind my eyes are, for I do not want to think about him, but God has sent you to remind me not to forget."

"What about Lepnin?" I still couldn't resist asking this question

Although I already knew, it is very likely that Lepnin was destroyed by the Wikibians

"Lepnin," Philip closed his eyes, "is it Lepnin of Zenda?" ”

"I don't know," I said, shaking my head, "I only know it's Lepnin of the Riverlands."

"Oh, that's them," said Philip, "this is an ancient family, and they have the blood of the Chanda royal family, but in an age like this, the glorious blood is not treated commensurately, in the past, when the banner of the Emperor Chanda covered the earth, our church would not have been reduced to what it is now, and the Lepnons of Chanda they were "

Philip told me a shocking secret

If it had been in the past, I would have been glad to hear this, because Kaja would have been extremely disappointed in the riverland when he learned the news

Leo had said to Kaja that he was not allowed to associate with that Shura

I now know why Lord Leo did this, because it was the Shura family who, in concert with some of the surrounding village nobles, had led the Burks into destroying the Lepnin family

A hundred people restored the territory, and three hundred people took revenge on the old man Leo, but why didn't he tell his daughter the truth? Why didn't he tell the truth to the people around him?

I'm a little curious, if Kaja knew about this, would he be naïve enough to expect Shura's family to hold a noble assembly for the Lepnin family?

"Ahem," Philip coughed, "I feel like I've been talking to you about blood for so long, and I don't think I'm going to be happy if I've become more unreligious, and he's giving me a voice to spread the gospel."

"Getting the Wikians to take up the sword is the best gospel," Giovanni said

I felt a little funny in my heart, Giovanni said these words, it almost made people think that he was a person who would give his life for Wiki, but everything he did was for himself

But I waved it out of my mind in a blink of an eye, and who wasn't?

In this world, it is estimated that no one will give everything for their own nation, for people who have nothing to do with them, and for inexplicable ideals?

Where can such a stupid person be? Where can there be such a naïve person? Where can anyone be so close to God?

Since everyone else is like this, I don't need to be such a fool

I want to think for myself, will I be an illegitimate child of the Romanov family? Or do you want to be a pawn of the Valan nobles? Is it to be a son-in-law of the Lepnin family? Or do you want to be a partner of the Bianwen family? Or, to be one of Giovanni's assistants? Who among these people are my friends, and who will abandon me at a critical time?

Will one day my neighbors and friends storm my home with enemies, kill my family members, hang them on the beams of the house, and let the crows come and peck at their cheeks?

"Yes," I continued, though my voice was a little erratic, "I will take up my sword from this day forward, Lord Priest"

"Against whom?" Philip asked blankly

I don't know, I'm more dazed than Philip

We walked out of the town hall, but all I could think about was what Philip had said

"Vidor," Giovanni said to me, "we can now go back to Vlaankov to prepare, I think we know enough."

"No," I said to him, "I'm going somewhere else."

"Oh?" He was curious, because in the past I had been asking to go back, "Where are you going?" ”

"Lepnin's estate," I said to Giovanni

Giovanni vaguely knew that I had some ties with the Lepnin family, and I told him about Kalinin's arrangement for me and Kaja Giovanni was not surprised by this arrangement at all, but he said that the old man Leo may have signed this kind of agreement with many families, as long as anyone can restore his family, he will marry Kaja to whoever the time comes, this kind of aristocratic family, there will be no family affection at all

"Lepnin's manor?" Giovanni was a little puzzled, "There is only a large field of wheat covered with snow now, there are many graves, their houses have been demolished, the surrounding forest is full of bandits and you already know who destroyed them, what are you going to do there?" ”

"Just to check it out"

"Why?"

"Because," I said to Giovanni, "I'm the lord there".