The Pope awoke in his resplendent bedroom with a familiar ceiling in front of him.

"You're awake." Kane got up from the chair next to him and bowed, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, there are thieves in the castle, and I don't have much to worry about those people serving you, so I'm here to watch." ”

Hearing the word "thief", the Pope felt a little chilled and said: "No need to apologize, you did a good job." ”

After being tied for a day, his old arms and legs were a little unbearable, but fortunately, the nuns served them effectively, helping with massage, and pinching his back and beating his legs, so that his body felt better.

Kane beckoned again, and asked the nun to put some light and appetizing meals on the table and serve them to the Pope.

The Pope sat up from the bed, impatiently poked a piece of red wine stew with a fork and put it in his mouth, and after eating, said to Kane: "You are very good. I remember your name as ...... Kane, right? Bishop of the Ruhr region. ”

"Yes, Holy See, you have a good memory." Kane said respectfully.

"So, can you tell me how you found me?" Again, the Pope said.

"Yes, I was about to report it to you." Kane bowed and began to tell his story.

It turned out that after hearing that the church city was under siege, he immediately lost all his wealth, gathered a private army, and hurried to the church city yesterday.

Not very good at fighting, he asked his troops to assist the defenders in clearing the beasts, while he went to the castle to find the upper floors and report the situation.

As a result, inside the castle, two suspicious thieves were accidentally discovered.

In a desperate struggle, he was wounded, but he was not killed by two thieves. When he saw that the situation was not good, he fled.

During the battle, he discovered that the two thieves seemed to have tied up a certain big man in the church somewhere in the castle.

Upon inquiry, he found that the Pope had not seen anyone for half a day, and no one knew where the Pope had gone.

So he hurried to report the matter to the cardinal of the church, but at this time, the whole church was in chaos, and he could not see anyone from his superiors at all.

In a hurry, he had to act on his own, took a few retinues, and searched the castle on his own.

And so the Pope was discovered.

In fact, all of the above are lies.

He did have a private army, but it was something he had been building up since before the attack on the church city.

At that time, Dongfang Mu only explained what asked him to prepare the army, but did not tell him why, out of trust in this stranger, he gathered a combat team of 50 people.

As soon as the troops finished running in, there was an attack on the church city by fierce beasts.

So, he followed Dongfang Mu's advice and went to the church city for reinforcements.

However, he did not travel day and night, as he said, and the grinding content was very high along the way, and finally reached the church city on the third day, when the battle was already in its final stage.

At this time, he happened to bump into Dongfang Mu who came out of the castle again.

Dongfang Mu told him where the Pope was imprisoned, and asked him to make this great contribution to "rescuing the Pope".

In order to prevent the Pope from being impressed, he specially delayed it for a day and waited until the Pope was almost hungry before he went to rescue him.

Of course, it is impossible to tell the Pope himself what is really going on.

The Pope, who was kept in the dark, was 10,000 satisfied with Kane at this time.

Honest, brave, loyal, not greedy for merit, not seeking fame and fortune, and not caring for their own safety.

At the same time, he is a rising star in the church.

The Pope felt that he had a successor.

He is already old, he has been a pope for more than 20 years, and he has experienced all the glory and wealth that he should enjoy in life, and the extravagant life that others cannot imagine in their lifetime.

Now that he is old, his skin is saggy, and his majesty is gone, and his daily pleasure is to go to the treasure room where he has accumulated all his life's wealth and look at his lovely treasures.

The other day the war was tense, he didn't have time to go to the treasure room, and when the war eased, he was about to go there alone to relax and relax, but he ran into a thief and almost killed him.

Fortunately, there are still good seedlings like Kane in the church, otherwise he might accompany his treasure to slowly rot and dry up.

Lying on the bed, the Pope quickly thought about how to reward meritorious deeds after the war.

In the war of the invasion of the beasts, the defenders who guarded the city walls suffered the heaviest casualties, and at the same time, they could not escape the blame, and they did not give any reward.

The knights who fought bloody battles against ferocious beasts in the city, although they did their duty, were also loyal to their duties, worthy of commendation, and could be rewarded.

Although the armed forces of the churches in various places that came to support them were commendable, they did not help much, and second, the churches should adhere to the policy of strengthening the strong and weak branches, and should not let the local churches become too powerful, so they should not look for examples from them.

A good seedling like Kane, although he is a local district bishop, will sooner or later enter the core high-level of Asteria, and secondly, he will make great achievements, which is definitely worthy of recognition as a typical example.

At the time of this beast invasion, the Pope never encountered any threat, but at the end of the war, he encountered a great threat. It was not the Knights, not the Personal Guard, nor the devout believers who rescued the Pope from this great threat, but the young bishop of the district.

It's not a great achievement, but what is?

To recognize this kind of credit, money is not enough, a seat in a red coat, it should be worth it, right?

……

A month after the beast attack on the church city, the chaos gradually subsided.

Although the Knights of Asteria and the people of the city have suffered unprecedented losses, the Church is still firmly on its feet, and the reconstruction work is well underway.

The Order of the Church was personally received by the Pope, and many rewards were given within the Order, which made the Order's faith more religious, but the soldiers on the periphery of the Order were not treated so well. After all, they all volunteered to sacrifice for their faith and did not need to be compensated.

But what no one knows is that in this war, it was not the knights or the peripheral soldiers who suffered the greatest losses, but the Pope himself.

The wealth he had accumulated for a lifetime was plundered in a single day, which was worse than killing him outright.

Fortunately, that Kane was very aware of current affairs, and actively acted for his own future, and presented him with a box of gold coins, which was a little relief from the Pope's flesh pain.

So, naturally, at the Pope's word, one of the youngest cardinals in the history of Altalia was born.

For the church, this month is a month of recovery after the war.

Because all their energy is focused on fighting the beasts and rebuilding the city of Asteria, they are inevitably a little powerless to take care of the movements of the outside world.

While they were busy with the rebuilding work in full swing, the king issued his first edict in several years:

【Crusade Order】

1. In response to the Lord's decree, the whole country should march eastward against all unbelievers.

2. To the east of the Misty Forest, all the land, and everything that is seen on it, belongs to the people, and the first to take the land is the owner of the land, and the first to receive the gold is the owner of the gold.

3. Establish a pioneer army on the same day, and all citizens can sign up to participate, organize a team of less than 50 people, go east to pioneer the land, and distribute the spoils of war by themselves.

The Eastern Crusade was ordered, and the whole country was boiling.

An unprecedented eastward movement began.