The castle of the headquarters of the Knights of the Sacred Tree, the empty corridor was as quiet as a tomb, and only the light from the outside shone on the bluestone walls, shining faintly.

There was a deathly silence that could hear one's own breathing, heartbeat, and even the sound of blood running through one's body, and Gaio Valence, standing in the middle of the hallway, with his stiff and old-fashioned face, was browsing the paintings on the walls of the hallway.

The large frame depicts a duel between three sword-wielding knights of the sacred tree in a large hall - one of them is too wounded to fall to the ground, but he still raises his knight's sword to throw it, and the other two fight with all their might.

Although it seems to have been painted a long, long time ago, and even the quality of the painting is tinged with the dull yellow characteristic of parchment, the original painter must have been a very powerful master - even after so many years, I can still see the angry, unwilling, painful expressions, resolute eyes and unyielding faith of the three knights.

The sound of crisp footsteps came from the end of the corridor - the squire who strode with great strides stood respectfully in front of the knight: "Chief Knight of Gaio Valens, now all the knights of the sacred tree in the entire city of Turin have been summoned. ”

"What about Leonardo?" asked Gaio calmly, "is he back?"

"Chief Knight Leonardo is still in the palace, and should be with Grand Master Mercer Kane. The attendant replied, "Do you want to wait a little longer, maybe ......?"

"No, get everyone ready, we'll get started right away. Gaio shook his head: "Maybe this is the will of the Radiant Cross, this is it...... Things to do for me. ”

"Y-What did you say?"

"Look at this picture, squire. Gaiyo didn't answer him. Instead, he turned and pointed to the painting on the wall: "Then tell me what you saw." ”

"Of course, if you're going to test me. Hearing Gai Yeo say this, the squire immediately showed a somewhat nervous expression: "The content on the picture scroll is about the story of the three hundred years ago, the first Grand Master of the Knights of the Holy Tree rebelled, and wanted to take advantage of the death of His Majesty Levy to establish the 'Knights Kingdom', and was stopped by the two chief knights. ”

"That's right. That's what all history books say. Gaiyo slowly lowered his head: "But no one mentioned why. ”

"Why did the man who had sworn allegiance to the Kingdom of Turin suddenly rebel, and why did the two chief knights oppose the Grand Master's decision, what went wrong?" asked the squire, as if to say to himself: "If they are all lying, then what is the truth - who is the real traitor among the three, who is the liar, and who is the loyalist?"

"So...... People never care about the cause, and they never care about the truth - all they want is the 'truth' they want. Even if it's just a flawed joke. Gaiyo shook his head: "Only the one who survives has the absolute right to say how the story should be written." ”

Tearing back the barrage, the arrogant chief knight left the empty hallway and walked towards the hall where the door had been opened, under the horrified and surprised gaze of the squire.

The hall, which was not very large, was now full—a full hundred Sacred Tree Knights stood almost everywhere—a full hundred Sacred Tree Knights, leaving behind the various castles in the East to garrison and have missions, which was almost half the number of the entire Knights.

And for the Knights of the Sacred Tree. That's just enough to hold a meeting of the Knights. With heavy steps, Gaio Valence walked up the steps with his sword in his hands. Looking around at all the brothers who were wearing the same black tree coat of arms on a white background as he was, his expressions were unprecedentedly cold.

"Before I begin today's meeting, I have one thing to ask you, brethren—who are the enemies of the Order?"

"Of course, we all know the heretics east of the Blood Cliff, and we fought against them three hundred years ago, before the Kingdom of Turin was founded, so who is the one who keeps stopping us from keeping the peace of the Kingdom?"

"Who is it. Who has stopped the Order's plans for expansion time and time again, leaving us without enough troops to defend every castle fortress on the frontier of the Blood Cliff, and who has kept food unable to be transported from the warm south to the east in the winter, leaving so many brethren to starve and fight and freeze to death in the cold?"

"Who is it again and again that has thwarted our strategic plans. Let the battles that could have been triumphant victories come to fruition?" Gaiyo looked at the pair of eyes that began to become angry, "That's right, we all know who it is. ”

"Holard Minest, he's the true enemy of the Order!"

Speaking of this, Gaiyo paused very unnaturally, looked at the eyes of the Sacred Tree Knights around him, who were also a little angry, and took a deep breath: "And the reason why I have gathered everyone together today is because I have discovered a fact that I can't believe. ”

"Our Grand Master, Lord Mercer Kane, has allied himself with House Minest!"

"It can't be!"

"The Radiant Cross is above, this kind of thing ......"

"This is absolutely impossible, I vouch for my life, Grand Master Mercer Kane......"

The whole hall was filled with an uproar, and the knights' surprise, incredulity, anger, and all kinds of emotions were all on their faces, they couldn't believe that what Gaio Valence said was true, but in the face of a chief knight, they could not suspect that the other party was lying.

After all, in a little while, Gaylot Valence will be the next Grand Master - there is no need for him to make a near-"usurpation" act at such a time.

"Silence all quiet!" an old knight with a broken arm and one eye stepped forward, and the shouts of the bronze bell directly drowned out everyone's voices, and the only eye was fixed on Gaio Valence who was standing there: "Your Excellency the Chief Knight, you have just made a very terrible accusation!"

Of course I know that Brother Senna Sr. - but it is precisely because of this that I say it at such times. Gaiyo's expression still didn't show the slightest wave: "Because I'm just like you, I'm so shocked!"

"Lord Mercer Kane would join forces with a sworn enemy of the Knights, a man who has spent half his life trying to make the Order collapse and perish, I can't guess what they want to do, but it is certain that the day they succeed must be the day when the Order is going to perish, because that is the only thing Horald Minester wants to do!"

"And I will never allow that day to come - we have guarded the whole kingdom for three hundred years, and three hundred years ago, the brethren of the Knights, our forefathers watched over the whole world from that desolate cliff, and I will not allow the meaning of their existence, their legends to be erased, to be tampered with, to be turned into a bunch of stories and legends that no one will believe!"

"I'm going to stop them. Gaio Valence spoke with great calm: "And you are witnesses. ”

"But...... Lord Mercer Kane is also our Grand Master, and as members of the Order, our most important credo is to obey the will of the Grand Master. Old Senna began, "And what you seem to be doing is for us to accuse ......"

"I understand your concerns, and I know what everyone is worried about—but think about it, there have been similar events in the history of the Order, where the Grand Master betrayed the entire Order to usurp ambitions that did not belong to him. Gaio's stiff expression also showed a little excitement: "And as the chief knight, I also have the last privilege to stop our Grand Master Mercer Kane from taking everyone to hell with him. ”

"The Radiant Cross is on it, you shouldn't be planning to ......"

"That's right, I'm going to challenge Lord Mercer Kane, just like I did three hundred years ago. Gaiyo nodded solemnly.

"I'm going to duel him!" (To be continued.) )