The Holy City of Eastdi is one of the most famous cities in the entire continent. It is famous for its long history and unique religious culture. Every day, countless pilgrims come to this city of God blessed by the Holy Light.
Although the city is not too big, most of the citizens are clergy. There are seven world-class cathedrals in the small city, and more than a hundred small and medium-sized churches, all of which have history.
A valuable monument.
But on top of this mountain city built along the mountain, there is a very famous staircase, which is the famous Holy Staircase Pilgrimage Road. Pilgrims walk on it every moment, and there are countless gorgeous sculptures on both sides of the steps.
, among them there are ancient heroes, historical figures, and more, but they are all bizarre mythological characters.
More than three hundred years ago, there was a madman who used his personal power to turn this holy road of miracles into a road of blood, but he was not punished by God. From then on, the road of pilgrimage became a road of blood.
It has become a bloody road... Well, at this point, I'm afraid everyone knows where this is and that.
This is the headquarters of the Holy Church, the city where the Holy Light first descended, and where everything began.
Walk along the famous white stone steps to the end. On the top of the mountain, the seemingly crumbling group of dilapidated buildings is the headquarters of the Holy Church. It is the core area of the Holy Light Church, which occupies more than half of the faith in the mainland. It can even be called Ai
The center of power in the Greek continent—Bain Temple.
In the past, pedestrians here walked slowly with their heads held high. The residents here seemed to be born with pride. In fact, this was true. The competition between divine power and secular power was never-ending. In this era, it is a real power.
The lord did not dare to offend a regional bishop.
I can't believe that a seemingly impoverished old priest on the road will be spotted by a certain bishop tomorrow and become a high-ranking member of a certain empire. The truth is even more unreasonable than the novel. Many such things have happened, but
Today, everyone came and went in a hurry and spoke carefully, but they couldn't help but peek at the place surrounded by holy light.
"No results yet? All the cardinals have been in there for so long..."
At around three o'clock in the morning this morning, the bell at the entrance to Byrne Cathedral was rung. Within half an hour, all cardinals and senior members must arrive on time, although the bell did not represent an alarm bell for urgent war.
, but the last meeting was more than 20 years ago.
It was obvious that something big had happened. Even though it was nothing on the surface, many priests couldn't help but talk about it in private. While the senior officials were busy in various conference rooms, various rumors below were already flying all over the sky.
"It can't be the incident in the north. In any case, the rumors have spread. It will have a great impact on the reputation of the Holy Church."
"No way. The oracle has confirmed that they are allies. How dare the Pope go against the oracle?"
"Then what do you think it is? Is there any big thing that would make all the adults discuss it? It's like before the Kathorn Jihad twenty years ago..."
The speaking pastor's voice became softer and softer, and cold sweat dripped from his forehead. For middle- and lower-class people like them, jihad is not good news.
Perhaps the spoils and honors of the conquest will make the superiors ecstatic, and the glory of the holy war will make the fanatics risk everything for it. But for ordinary church people, the holy war also means countless deaths. In the endless gold and
Before the honor is obtained, there will inevitably be piles of corpses, perhaps including not only those heretics, but also one of his own.
"Come out, come out!"
"His Majesty the Pope!"
The white-robed Pope Carloma I had just walked out of the church, and the previous harmony had disappeared without a trace. His livid face was undoubtedly the best declaration. Everyone in the square spontaneously remained silent, and
The cardinals and high priests who filed out from behind had different expressions. Some had serious faces and said nothing, while others had angry faces and red faces. Of course, they also pretended to be serious, but in fact there was something wrong with the corners of their mouths.
Feeling uplifted.
From a mortal point of view, the new Pope Carloma, who has just taken office, is already over sixty years old, and can be called an old man with only a short time. However, in fact, except for those who died unexpectedly, most of the previous popes have been able to complete their two terms.
Twenty years. As for where they have been since then, I am afraid only the new pope will know.
Facing the questioning looks of everyone, Kargma was obviously in a bad mood, and had no intention of explaining nonsense. He just tore up a golden scroll. The next moment, the thin old man transformed into a huge sacred shadow, and the bust floated on it.
In the air, the old man's low murmur turned into thunder, and no one in the city could ignore the following declaration.
"Oros of the Bayer Empire colluded with the undead villains and sacrificed millions of people in Victoria Harbor. It is extremely evil. Through judgment and listening to God's will, we here issued an order on behalf of God and ruled that Oros. Moss Ivori. St. Milan was the
The heretical villain, hereby cancel the word 'holy' for his royal family member, and declare him a heretic himself!"
The Pope took a deep breath, as if to squeeze out the last trace of hesitation, then bit his lips and made the most important declaration word by word.
"Evil is around us. I, Kargma I, declare in the name of the Pope that the Holy War should be launched. All those who believe in the Holy Light will fight for the Holy Light and justice and become the mortal enemies of Oros' extremely evil allies."
There were not many words, but everyone who heard them was dumbfounded. The Bayer Empire was not a small country. The conflicting regions in the north were actually irrelevant. The super empire was the main force, but the emperor of the Bayer Empire was ruled a heretic.
, while he was still in office, the entire country was deemed a heretic.
The Bayer Empire was indeed not interested in the faith in the Holy Light before, but at least it maintained a superficial respect. Expelling the Holy Church does not mean being on the hostile side. But if a holy war is launched at this time, it will be equivalent to all those who believe in the Holy Light.
They will all become the mortal enemies of the Bayer Empire.
Of course, this is theoretical. Facing a behemoth like the Bayer Empire, no one will casually declare war without sufficient interests. If the Holy Church does not come forward to organize a crusade, I am afraid that the major countries will just condemn it casually.
No more content.
And if there is a conflict of interest with them, such as the current country of mages, they can take this as a righteous cause and declare a full-scale war on Bayer.
The worst thing is probably the other small countries around the Bayer Empire. If they are also part of the Holy Light camp, they may be forced to take sides. If they choose to respond to the call for holy war, the army of the Bayer Empire will be defeated the next day.
There will be troops approaching the city.
After the declaration of the Holy Church is made, no matter what the reason is, at the moment when the eternal holy war is about to begin, human countries are likely to engage in an extremely cruel civil war. This is undoubtedly what most people do not want to see. But
If Oros still stands with the Undead Emperors, it is very likely to become a reality.
And if this war breaks out, even Victoria Harbor, which has become part of the plane of death, will not matter. Then the war between the superpowers will probably have more deaths than this incident.
"...It's so terrible. This is even more unacceptable than the holy war 20 years ago. The superpowers were actually judged as heretics! Is there going to be a world war?"
"How is it possible? The church may not be able to withstand this civil war. This is not the heyday of more than 400 years ago. The superpowers will not fight to the death for the church."
But some people read between the lines of the pope's words.
"Is it just that Oros was ruled a heretic? The formation time of the crusade army was not determined."
Back then, the entire country of Arashi was ruled a heretic, and only the words of the emperor were ruled. There was undoubtedly room for this, as long as the emperor stepped down before the formation of the crusade army. Naturally, a holy war with the goal of crusading heretics became unnecessary, and
The time and organizers of the crusade were not determined immediately, which undoubtedly left room for a time limit.
"I'm afraid this is also a means of differentiation, forcing the nobles of the Bayer Empire to rebel against the emperor. However, given the situation where Oros dominates the country, it's really hard to say how effective it will be."
Two days later, when the news reached the Bayer Empire, even though official channels promptly controlled public opinion, it still caused a great disturbance. However, it is a pity that Oros's position as emperor is still stable and anyone who dares to resist him
All the lords were killed by him ten years ago, and all the power is in his hands. Even if the ambitious man is still around, what can he do.
But some things are difficult to suppress for a long time. There are also a lot of hidden Holy Light believers in the Bayer Empire. I'm afraid the old emperor has to pay attention to his own safety when he goes out.
Dressing up, the old emperor still does what he should do every day, eats and sleeps as usual, so those who know about it have to admire his psychological quality. When the Bayer Empire seems calm on the surface, the ones who are most panicked are those who come from the plane of death.
High level undead.
"Why was the reaction so intense? It was completely different from what was expected."
Perhaps the events in the north damaged the prestige of the Holy Church and the Pope himself, making him eager to restore it. Perhaps he felt that the tragedy in Victoria Harbor was too heart-wrenching. The decision made by the Pope was sudden and strong, as if he was still
When the two players just started playing cards and were still trying to get back and forth, one of them did not hesitate to throw away all his chips for a decisive battle, which completely exceeded his opponent's expectations.
None of the cardinals who were summoned expected that the Pope would be so radical, let alone those visitors from another dimension. Their "cooperation" with Oros had just begun, and most of the plans had not yet been launched, but it caused a stir in the entire human race.
Violent backlash from society and the Church of the Gods.
In their expectation, the Pope at this time should take the overall situation into consideration, most likely to condemn while sending spies and diplomats to slowly collect intelligence, and strive to reduce major issues to minor ones, instead of taking risks just from the beginning.
With the risk of superpower civil war, they will fight to the death.
"Damn it, is this pope crazy? Did we dig up his ancestral grave or something?"
"No! Speed up all plans, otherwise the Undead Emperor will dismantle us!"
--------
On the first day when all the countries were about to be shocked by the Pope's announcement, we had already arrived at the border between the two countries and were leisurely preparing to enter the country.
When Xiaohong slapped away the provocative fool, the boss of the other mercenary group took action, but was slapped away again. As a result, the dispute between the two parties became more and more serious, and finally led to a blood feud... Okay. The above is just random.
It is basically impossible to have a bad mouth.
The mercenaries who go out to make a living are not the fools and sidekicks in knight novels. If they had formed a big grudge and offended the wrong people just by testing them, then this mercenary group that keeps causing trouble would not be alive today.
Especially when two large mercenary groups are led by their captains. This situation is not ridiculous. It is really outrageous.
"The silver-ranked Kassandra was slapped away. That ranger must be at least gold-ranked."
"...Even the leader of the Eagle Regiment, Yost, was slapped away, and even the epic divine weapon Starfall Sword was snatched away with bare hands. The leader is a weapons master who has experienced hundreds of battles, gold level? You mean the black-haired one?
Women only have the gold level?.”
"Legend? No, Captain Yost has also fought against legendary warriors, and he did not lose as badly. In other words, that woman is at least a holy warrior. For such a young holy warrior, who is that young master?"
The young master refers to the young mage who was drinking tea and chatting together. The mage profession relies on accumulated knowledge. Other professions can be achieved quickly, but it is basically unrealistic to quickly become a mage. And the shining blue magician robe not only shows that he is very
In addition to having money, it also proves that he is very confident in his own safety.
The mercenaries are not without eyesight. They have long discovered that this silver-coin mercenary group is mainly composed of young people who are generally idle. Coupled with the outstanding performance of other members, rumors of a son of a great nobleman from a certain country traveling with a loser, maids, wives and concubines emerged.
Already.
Coupled with idle people's nonsense, the rumors became more and more true. The Storm Eagle became a loyal butler. Korn became a handyman, and the half-dragon became an amusing clown. Lilith in a cloak was regarded as
With the help of the bodyguard mage, the two elves became elf slave girls that only noble families could afford. As for Heloise... In a way, I was right, she was still a pet, just changed.
direction of use.
"Hey, this guy even stays with you in the carriage during the day. He is so arrogant and immoral. It is really enviable... and infuriating."
"Those elves and catwomen always get on the bus, and they stay there for hours, and the boy is not afraid of being weak."
Ahem, that dirty smile was so obvious, but at least they still had some brains and did not include Xiao Hong, who was at least a saint, and were still regarded as bodyguards. Otherwise, when the "Dragon Majesty" broke out, all these guys would become
It will definitely turn into coke.
Those discussions behind the scenes that were deliberately kept low were no secret at all in front of us. The result was that after pointing at the stupid cat who was the only one who was "guessed correctly" and rolling on the floor with laughter, there were two more teeth marks on his head caused by the tiger's teeth.
Closer to home, no matter how speechless the process is, at least the two large mercenary groups have reached a consensus - don't offend this young nobleman who is traveling. Since the other party wants to play games, just play with him all the way.
Having proven their strength, naturally everything is easy to say. Mercenaries who don’t know if they can see the sun tomorrow are very realistic. They come out to fight for their lives and in the end they seek wealth. Interests are much more important than honor. They made trouble before just for the sake of face. If there is no face in this industry, there will be nothing.
Kaneko, the reason for calming down now is for Satoko. Continuing to cause trouble is obviously seeking death. Moreover, having a powerful "mercenary group" that does not divide the commission is a good thing no matter how you look at it.
"Anyway, it's just for young people to play for fun, don't take it seriously. And if it really offends the nobles, it will be a problem."
Afterwards, the two team leaders took the initiative to come over and apologize, and several senior executives often came over to chat about household matters and try to improve relations. But in my opinion, finding out our family background and origins is the primary purpose, and taking advantage of the situation to poach people is the most important thing.
core motivation.
As for their actions, I ignored them without hesitation. My group of bastards would be safer if they had someone to play with. If they really waited until they got bored, they might be able to do anything.
But soon, I regretted it. Even though Yost was pretty good at his work, he clearly couldn't speak and still dragged us into doing things around the house. It was really uncomfortable.
"Gaga, where did I mention it last time? By the way, it's the same joke I left behind last time. Why do the houses of the undead always have one less room than other races when they build a house? You can't guess, uncle will tell you. It's a toilet! They don't even have food.
I haven’t eaten yet, so the toilet at home must be a decoration. Hahaha.”
"Starfall Sword" obviously looked like a rough uncle, but he told cold jokes that were not funny at all. None of us here could laugh, but several of his other colleagues laughed dryly and squeezed out a few laughs, which was enough to cope with it.
It's past.
"Isn't there something wrong with your captain's brain? Xiaohong beat him stupid the day before yesterday."
Heloise's mouth was full of venom, but her words unexpectedly received wry smiles and nods from everyone on the other side of the regiment.
"The leader is good at everything, but his humor is a little strange. We don't expect him to think anyway, so everyone should just laugh, otherwise it will be endless."
The person who spoke in a low voice was a young mage from Jacadir, who was also the staff officer of this mercenary group, but at this time he could only look at his boss's helpless smile.
But now, it seems that he found that his jokes did not have the expected effect. Suddenly, Jost, the master of bad jokes, has come up with a new joke.
"Do you know that the undead house is the best place to eat? Well, it must be the cleanest place in their house, because there is no need to use it at all. There is the toilet, hahaha,"
Well, I don’t know why he likes jokes about toilets and undead so much, but from the unhappy expressions on Lilith and Heloise’s faces when they looked at him, I knew this guy was guilty.
After all, these two are both undead, and they probably still have the ability to eat normally, and they can probably use the bathroom... Should I say that if I don't commit suicide, I won't die?
As if he noticed that the audience was not in the right mood, the guy shook his head and squeezed out a new joke.
"By the way, have you ever heard of the story of the Dragon Slayer Warrior and the Dungeon? Once upon a time, there was a stupid red dragon who once overate..."
This time it was the turn of a certain long-haired woman to grind her teeth. Listening to this cold joke and looking at the Death King in front of me, I finally smiled.
"Let me tell you a joke. Once upon a time, there was a fool. He talked about slaying dragons in front of the dragon clan, and told dirty jokes in front of the undead, and then... nothing happened."
Just as we were entering the Bayer Empire, the Pope's declaration of war spread throughout the world the next day. As devout believers in the Holy Light, the Lagos royal family decided to respond to the church's call and declare war on Bayer after much hesitation.
.
That is, one day later, when the news from all parties was conveyed, the Bayer Empire and the Kingdom of Largos officially became warring countries.
At this time, without our knowledge, we were in this Largos caravan, planning to enter the Bayer Empire and make a fortune.
[System prompt: Don’t worry, Death Emperor will always be your title. Friendly reminder, you should go to the Temple of the God of Destiny to change your destiny.] (To be continued...)
