Like all heroes who end in failure, the knight Vino who returned with scars did not receive the welcome he deserved.
He stood in the crowd, surrounded by energetic, longing and expectant faces, carrying their luggage and disembarking from the ship, arriving at the human home they dreamed of.
The tired knight Vino seemed out of place.
Pulling his linen hood tight to cover the wind and snow that made the crowd shiver, Knight Vino walked through the frozen-hard pier and walked out of the port.
A suspicious person wandering not far away spotted him and left quietly.
The knight Vino, who lost his companions and lost his armor, was like a walking zombie, ignoring everything around him and walking on the street.
The prosperity only exists near the port. After ships enter the port, there are only a few pedestrians on the snow-covered streets. When they see people leaving the port, they will greet the merchants with their goods.
The ice-free port of Wiener is getting colder day by day, and residents thought it would improve after the winter fog wave passed. But now the temperature is close to the coldest in previous years, and there is still more than a month before the terrifying cold wave comes in the New Year.
People froze to death every day, and the thick smoke from the chimneys almost formed another layer of dark clouds that shrouded the ice-free port of Wiener even more gloomily, but the thin wooden houses could not block the severe cold at all.
If things get worse, frozen corpses will be seen everywhere on the streets.
Thank God, even if it is so cold, the sea outside the ice-free port of Wiener has not frozen. Every moment there are fishing boats returning to the port to unload their cargo, and there are also foreigners who come here to become new citizens.
Some citizens gathered in the wooden shed in front of the port and prayed with the priest by the fire.
Winter is God's punishment. Only when people trust God devoutly and believe in God will God accept them. They chant like this.
A little girl carrying a basket went to the shack to sell goods, but was rejected by the priest.
"My child, all I can give you is my blessing."
Leaving the warm stove and returning to the icy and snowy streets, she saw a strange figure in a linen cloak moving forward alone.
He looked strange, but what could be scarier than hunger and cold?
"Sir, do you need the Ancient Mark Amulet? It can protect you from strange attacks."
Knight Vino stopped, lowered his head, and looked at the little girl's hands, which were blue from the cold, struggling to hold up the basket, which was filled with wood chips carved with ancient imprints.
"These ancient marks are wrong."
Knight Vino moves on.
The little girl quickly followed behind and flipped the basket: "Where is this? And these... Sir, these are made by my mother..."
Knight Vino stopped again: "You need money very much?"
"Yes... we are almost running out of firewood at home. The fireplace went out last night and my mother and I woke up from the cold..."
Knight Vino silently took out the remaining two hundred shillings in his pocket and threw them into the little girl's basket.
"It doesn't take so much..."
While the little girl was hesitating, the knight Vino had already moved away and disappeared into the hazy wind and snow.
In the church near the port, Knight Vino stepped into the hall. Homeless poor people gathered among the benches, and nuns were distributing hot water and blankets.
Knight Vino showed the fist badge that once symbolized glory to a nun, and was taken to a room inside the church to wait for the arrival of the trial court personnel.
The long wait was longer than expected, and footsteps came from the corridor outside the door. After a gentle knock on the door, the nun entered the room holding hot coffee, put it down and left.
She did not close the door. Just as Knight Vino was about to close the door, a figure wearing a graceful gold-rimmed ecclesiastical uniform, a patterned ribbon, and a crown of precious gems appeared outside the door.
Knight Vino knelt down in fear, held his chest and saluted: "Bishop Ussa. Trial Guard, Steam Knight Vino reports for duty."
"Nice to see you back, Knight Vino. For the glory of mankind."
"For the glory of mankind."
"You failed."
Bishop Uzza said softly, and there was no sense of accountability in the old and gentle voice, but only compassion for the world, which made people unable to help but shed tears and express their grievances.
"... When we were heading to the old sewers, Sir Lu Li was being hunted by a mysterious force. Bachelor Lanna died because of me, and Captain Hoggart and the knights were killed by a mysterious force."
Knight Vino's tone became choked, and he took out the badges of his former companions with body temperature: a head silhouette badge, a book-shaped badge, and a blank badge left deep in the old sewer.
Wise blue eyes gazed gently at the kneeling believers: "God is watching you. He is aware of all your heroic actions. Their heroic spirits will return to the embrace of the Lord... and the evildoers who caused the instigation should be punished by the Lord."
"Evil man? Lord Bishop, I don't understand..." Knight Vino raised his head.
"This is the instruction of the Pope, my child." Bishop Uzza said softly. "If a wicked person lies dormant and does good deeds for the very evil he will control, then is he not considered a wicked person?"
Knight Vino is struggling.
Bishop Uzza continued: "After receiving the news of your return, the trial court's wanted order for the contaminated exorcist has been handed over to the newspaper."
Knight Vino lost his thoughts and raised his head in surprise. The clinking sounds of the few remaining coins in his pocket reminded him of a memory that was not long ago but seemed extremely long ago: Lu Li's evil believers escorted him all the way out of the old sewer, and they did no harm.
Any existence even gave him a thousand shillings as a way back.
"Bishop Ussa, this is wrong!" Knight Vino, who had seen many people outside, couldn't help but defend Lu Li: "We should not be hostile to Mr. Lu Li. He and his followers will never harm us humans!
He and we are both right, we shouldn't continue to waste it like this..."
Bishop Uzza's eyes drooped with age, as if he was disappointed with him, and he said nothing and turned to leave the room.
Faint voices came.
"Our Steam Knight has been contaminated... and needs to be purified."
…
"We all know what Mr. Lu Li did in the old sewer. What better way to prove your position than this?"
In the mayor's office, Mayor Mateus shouted to the priest uncontrollably.
"I only want to convey the Pope's order." The calm priest replied.
"So you don't talk about your position, you only talk about the so-called purity? Ha..." Matthaus sarcastically said, watching the priest leave the office.
Bang.
When the assistant Valendo closed the door, he couldn't help but grab a book nearby and smashed it on the carpet, making a muffled sound.
"Damn fundamentalism!!!"
Valendo silently picked up the books scattered on the ground, sorted them and put them back on the desk.
"Mr. Mayor, there is nothing we can do."
After coming out of the dungeon of the Tribunal, Matthäus is still the mayor of the ice-free port of Vina, and all his actions are monitored by the Tribunal.
Mayor Mateus calmed down his emotions and anger: "But we can't do nothing...Valendo, summon the merchants and tell Mr. Lu Li what happened here."
