Early the next morning, the North Island Knights extinguished the fire pit, packed up the camp, and set off again on the road to Silver Ring City.
After more than six hours of journey, the outline of a city gradually appeared in front of everyone.
Cumberland stared blankly into the distance, his face gloomy, and he didn't know what he was remembering.
The group of people followed the path for another two kilometers and came to an abandoned mill.
Cumberland pushed open the door of the mill-house.
Several strong men dressed as farmers stood up from the haystack. After seeing the appearance of the person clearly, they bowed slightly and saluted.
After stopping the North Islanders' move to start a war, the old knight walked to the middle of the waiting people and asked their leader: "Are everything ready?"
The latter nodded dully.
Brünnhilde quickly glanced between Cumberland and the farmer, raised her spear and pointed it at the latter, and asked loudly: "Who are you?!"
The person being questioned opened his mouth, and people saw through the bright light that his tongue had been pulled out by the roots, leaving only a vague piece of flesh visible.
"They are not enemies." Cumberland slowly pressed down Brünnhilde's spear, and then said later: "But they cannot be called allies."
The farmers ignored the North Islanders' axes and pulled wooden boxes one after another from the straw piles. They skillfully opened them with crowbars and took out sets of old leather armors that exuded a musty smell.
Brünnhilde knelt down, looked through the leather armor carefully, pointed to the deer head coat of arms on the chest and asked Cumberland: "Why is there armor from the Northern Kingdom of Connaught here?"
Cumberland smiled and said: "You really don't think that we can rush into the city with just a few people like us, do you?"
Brünnhilde threw the leather armor in her hand back into the wooden box without refuting the other party's words.
Cumberland continued: "You guys wait here and rest for a while. I'm going into town tonight to meet someone."
Brünnhilde took a step closer to the old knight with an aggressive look in her eyes: "Why do you want us to stay here? How long for a period of time?! Why do I feel like this is more and more like a trap? And you are wearing down my patience.
!”
Cumberland looked at Valkyrie with a grimace: "People say that people from the North Island are impatient, and this seems to be true. Brynhild, if you don't trust me, an old guy, you can come with me.
Have your men stay here and wait for the signal."
Seeing her nodding in agreement, the old knight shook his head and sighed: "Don't forget to tell them that if they don't come back within three days, they don't have to wait any longer."
——————————————
Late that night, Cumberland and Brünnhilde, who had put on Northern Army armor, and their respective attendants, followed the guide towards the gate of Silver Ring City.
Approaching the city, the Valkyrie looked at the tall and solid city walls in the night and let out a low voice of exclamation.
Cumberland followed the opponent's line of sight and looked forward, and what he said was quite strange: "The city wall is perhaps the most contradictory invention in human history. It resists the attacks of wild beasts and foreign enemies from the outside, but it also imprisons the inside.
The courage and soul of people.”
Cumberland looked at the confused expressions of the people around him, and just smiled and said: "Historically, those kingdoms with high walls and deep pools will all go to destruction without exception; those kingdoms that give up their persistence and live indefinitely
So the power will slowly rise into an empire."
"guard!"
Brünnhilde whispered a warning while reaching for the spear behind her back.
Cumberland waved his hand to her to calm down.
The guard who led the way to the city gate handed over a small bag of coins and revealed a badge.
Soon, the city gate official ordered a side door to be opened and gave these visitors permission to pass.
"The silver ring has already turned black."
After saying this, Cumberland put his horse's belly between his legs and entered the city he had not seen for a long time.
Silver Ring City no longer has the prosperity of the past. The bright lights after midnight were replaced by a dead silence. Along the way, the buildings are dilapidated and debris is scattered everywhere.
Brünnhilde rode her horse, carefully avoiding a dead body in the stinky ditch, frowning and said: "The tragic situation in the underworld of Heim in the legend is nothing more than this."
The group continued to move forward and slowly approached the Cathedral of St. Petersburg.
The huge holy cross in the center of the church square has been torn down and replaced by a stacked rectangular stone platform. On it, there are grooves used to bind hands and feet, black stains of blood around the stone platform, and wooden
The ancient god symbol was constructed. Without further details, everyone could already imagine what the northerners did after entering this place.
"What is that?" Brünnhilde asked, causing Cumberland to turn his head.
A shriveled corpse that had obviously been embalmed, with its hands on the ground and its knees on the ground. Five huge iron nails firmly fixed its hands, feet and head to the ground. The direction of the top of the corpse's head was exactly the direction of the ancient god.
wooden statue.
Cumberland sighed: "Bishop Fabian, when the barbarians entered the city, chose to live and die with the cathedral. He defended his faith with his life. May Heavenly Father bless his soul."
After bypassing the church riddled with holes and walking through a forest of corpses with wooden stakes pierced through his body, Cumberland finally stopped at the entrance to the cemetery five hundred meters away from the church.
He dismounted, took off his weapon and handed it to his attendants for safekeeping. He held the torch and walked slowly forward on the muddy steps under his feet.
Seeing this, Brünnhilde thought for a moment and followed his footsteps.
The huge cemetery now looks extremely crowded, and there are so many tombstones that the land is completely insufficient. Some tombstones are simply piled together like firewood; some tombstones even have dozens of names written on the palm-sized stone surface.
.
After passing the tombs on the outside, Cumberland walked inward, and the environment became darker and darker.
There is a small space of no more than ten square meters in the innermost part of the cemetery. Small flowers and lush ivy grow on the land here.
An old man with white hair and beard, with his back to the old knight, knelt in front of the tombstone, clasped his hands and prayed quietly.
Cumberland looked at the tombstone. There was no writing on it, not even patterns or emblems carved on it.
"Are you here?" The kneeling old man opened his eyes and turned his head.
Cumberland looked at his friend who seemed to have aged ten years in front of him, leaned down, placed a bouquet of flowers in his arms in front of the tombstone, and asked softly: "When did it happen?"
"After the queen left, Guy VI used alcohol and carnival to anesthetize himself. At the beginning of this year, he suddenly fell to the ground at a banquet and was in a coma for a whole day after he was returned to the palace. The first thing after waking up, he asked the attendants
He was carried to the queen's gallery, where he died."
Cumberland sighed inaudibly, looked at the tombstone and asked: "Why is King Silver Ring buried here? There is not even an inscription?"
"For the current Silver Ring Kingdom, a living king is more valuable than a dead king. All those who knew about it have been dealt with."
Cumberland nodded, paused for a moment, and said to the old friend in front of him: "Emerson, although we have communicated in the letter, I still have to ask again, are you sure?"
Hearing this, the old man touched the tombstone with his hand, and the sound he made sounded like a desert that had been invaded by wind and sand for thousands of years: "I have already thought about it. All things have their rise and fall, so let this kingdom...collapse..."