Tristan chatted a few more words with his daughter and his granddaughter, who was the former steward of the castle, and then returned to the study.
Although the head of the Penlos family did not have any change in his expression on the surface, his expression immediately became a little ugly after he sat down at the long table.
He found that he had neglected to calculate one thing before. In the past few days, Tristan had been thinking about whether the Antler Gate of his castle built on the rock wall could withstand the siege of Ilea and her Western Army.
But now Tristan realizes that when Ilea really comes to fight, he will not only have to worry about the powerful army under his command, but also the attitude of the people in the city.
As we all know, the rise of Ilea and the Arias family is inseparable from the Shuangxiu sect, and Ilea's consecutive victories have made the name of Saturday's god known to more and more people.
In addition, the entire continent is either at war or preparing for war. Everyone from the nobles to the common people hope to receive the protection of the gods.
However, those old sects obviously had no way to satisfy the desires of believers.
The appearance of Li Yu and Cornelia continued to wholesale miracles, which invisibly raised everyone's expectations for the gods, and also made it more and more difficult for the old sect to deceive believers.
Thinking of this, Tristan called for Banco, the high priest of the Church of Thorns.
The Church of Thorns is the largest church in the Elk Valley. They believe in Boris, the god of thorns and the Uncrowned One, and the cooperative relationship between the Penros family and the Church of Thorns can be traced back thousands of years.
Tristan himself was also a follower of Boris, although he changed his faith for a while after taking refuge with Solomon.
It was not until those Winged Tribes were defeated that Tristan returned to the embrace of the God of Thorns and the Uncrowned One.
Like most of the high priests of the old sects, Banco, the high priest of the Church of Thorns, is also old. He has difficulty walking and needs help from others.
When Tristan saw Banco, he thought of Merlin and Cornelia again. Such a comparison also made Banco look increasingly depressed.
But Tristan was still very respectful on the surface, and even personally pulled out a chair for Banco.
Banco also enjoyed this respect and never mentioned Tristan's betrayal of Boris, which made the atmosphere between the two parties very harmonious.
Until Tristan spoke again, "Can you estimate how many followers of Shuangxiu Cult appeared in the Antler Gate?"
Banco was stunned for a moment when he heard the name, and then immediately said, "Where did you hear about the followers of Shuangxiu Cult appearing in the city?"
"No?" Tristan asked.
Banco shook his head, "The people in this city are all believers of Boris. They are as pious as you and cannot be deceived by those foreign false gods. Of course, some people in the city may be talking about the man named
Merlin guy.
"But they are all foreign refugees, not many in number. I was just wanting to talk to you about this. We can accept refugees. After all, they are also very pitiful, but we must ensure that they are not heretics.
"Since they came to this land, they must believe in the God of Thorns and the Uncrowned One with us..." Banko rambled.
But Tristan was not fooled by him. This old guy was making big things into trivial matters again, fooling around.
Banquo has been sitting in the position of high priest for almost a hundred years. He is now old. Even though orcs generally have a long lifespan, he only has a few more years to live.
Banco only has one thought left now, which is to live out the remaining few years peacefully. As for what will happen after his death, he doesn't care.
Therefore, even though there were many more believers in the Shuangxiu religion in the city, and more and more people were wavering in Boris' faith, Banco just pretended not to see it and deliberately downplayed the matter.
It would be great if Tristan could symbolically expel a few refugees in the end and get this matter over with.
Tristan looked at the old priest pretending to be stupid in front of him, and couldn't help but feel a little angry, but soon he thought of something and most of his anger dissipated.
It's not because Tristan respects the old and loves the young and doesn't want to embarrass Banco when he sees his age, but because he sees his own reflection in Banco.
Banco's situation is actually very similar to his. Tristan can't beat Ilea, just like Banco can't beat Merlin. It's not that he doesn't work hard enough, or that he likes to deceive himself.
The key is that even if Banco takes it seriously, there is still nothing he can do about the double break, so when faced with the crazy poaching of teachers during the double break, he can only turn a blind eye and live one day at a time.
After understanding this, Tristan no longer looked at the old priest in front of him so much.
But the problem is that the other party can mess around, but he can't.
Tristan still has more than a hundred years to live, and he is also the head of the Penlos family, so he has to think about his own family.
The room fell into a brief silence, and Tristan suddenly spoke again, "I remember you seemed to have a whip in your hand."
"Oh, are you talking about the Whip of Thorns, one of the three holy weapons of the church? This holy weapon can only be held by the priests who are most devout to Boris and have the highest prestige in the church, so yes, it is in
On my hand."
Seeing that Tristan no longer mentioned the troublesome two-year-old church and the prophet named Merlin, but instead turned the topic to his own sacred vessel, Banco became very excited again.
But Tristan's next words made him stunned again, "Very well, give me that whip. Oh, by the way, there are two other sacred objects. You can also have someone bring them over."
"Can I ask, what are you planning to do after gathering the Three Sacred Artifacts?" the old priest said cautiously.
"Give it to the God-chosen king as a congratulatory gift." Tristan said expressionlessly, "I forgot to give her a gift when she was crowned."
Banco was so frightened that he stammered when he heard this, "This, this is impossible, those three things are the holy treasures of our church, containing powerful divine power, how can they be given as gifts to others.
"It's better to give it to the pagans. What if the pagans destroy these sacred vessels?"
"You said that this contains the power of the God of Thorns and the Uncrowned One. They should be able to protect themselves," Tristan said.
"This...this..." Banco was speechless for a moment.
"If they can't protect themselves, it means that the power of the God of Thorns and the Uncrowned One is no more than this. Then the Penros family and the people on this land would be better off believing in Saturday."
Tristan has made up his mind and decided to continue to carry forward the family's fine traditions and join if he can't win.
Although he had betrayed the Red Lion Empire and took refuge with the Wing Tribe people once before, betraying those Wing Tribe people and taking refuge with Ilea this time would definitely give him a worse reputation.
But no matter how unpleasant it sounds, it is still better than death.
Although Tristan spent most of his time at home this year, he was not idle either. He had been observing the three new emperors. As he looked around, he felt that none of the three had a greater chance of winning than Ilea.
.
Although out of caution Tristan wanted to wait and observe the future development of the situation, but Ilea was coming with force. If the girl really planned to unify the Bratis continent, her next target would definitely be him and his Elk Valley.
Already.
The most important thing is that Tristan really doesn't want to fight those iron balls and steel monsters again.
This chapter has been completed!