"Sir Hussein, according to the information sent by the brothers in the Valley Diocese, the target has left Burai City and is estimated to arrive in two days."
"Um"
The man named Hussein nodded perfunctorily and hummed, seemingly absent-mindedly.
As the contemporary knight commander of the Rising Sun Cult, Hussein is one of the few strong men that the church can take action against.
At the beginning of the Golden Dragon Kingdom, the Rising Sun Cult was thunderously suppressed by the founding monarch, Charlemagne I.
In addition, several kings of the kingdom unswervingly implemented the ancestral precepts left by Charlemagne I and always maintained a high-pressure policy against the Rising Sun Cult.
The power of the Rising Sun Cult is extremely weak compared to hundreds of years ago.
However, the Rising Sun Cult was, after all, the largest religion in the human race. It even had a cooperative relationship with Charman I during the founding battle of the Golden Dragon Kingdom.
Originally, Charlemagne I accepted the position of the state religion of the Rising Sun Religion. However, after completing the great task of expelling the orcs, Charlemagne I began to brutally suppress the Rising Sun Religion.
However, the Rising Sun Cult has many followers among humans, and the Kingdom has never been able to completely eradicate it.
The Rising Sun Cult was stubborn at the beginning and after several collisions with the Kingdom's regular army, they also realized that they could not be the opponent of the Kingdom's regular army, especially when the ultimate force, the Dragon Knight, was still in the Kingdom's hands.
More often than not, the Rising Sun Cult is trying not to cause dormant development of the kingdom.
Nowadays, he has secretly managed a considerable amount of power, and has gradually recovered some of his strength.
Knight Commander Hussein is one of the church’s trump cards.
The Punishment Knights were the main force of the church at that time, and they were also one of the few church armed forces that could compete with the elite regular army of the kingdom without losing.
Although the current scale of the Punishment Knights is not the same as that of the past, Hussein's ability to secure the position of Knight Commander of the Punishment Knights also illustrates its strength.
Under the Pope's order, Hussein brought nearly one-third of the knights' elites to live in the small town of Ridge, a few hundred kilometers south of the valley.
This town is located on the only road from the river valley to Jinlongdu. It takes a day or two to bypass the town of Rich.
Richard currently has no reason or need to go around the town.
As long as they wait here and wait, it is almost 100% sure that they will wait until the target falls into the trap, and the church can develop again under the encirclement and suppression of the kingdom. There is indeed something,
Richard's whereabouts were almost completely calculated by them. Perhaps the only mistake was their misestimation of the strength of the guards around Richard.
After all, Zebul and the Manticore had only appeared in the wilderness, and the only people they had ever seen were ogres and soldiers of the Richard system. It was impossible for any news to come out, and it would be useless no matter how strong the church's intelligence capabilities were.
"Lord Hussein?"
Probably seeing that the knight commander was a little distracted, the men on the side shouted again.
"Well, I understand."
Hussein was indeed thinking about other matters, and he was somewhat worried about this operation.
His worry was not about the success or failure of this operation. In his eyes, with him and dozens of elite knights taking action, it would be very safe to kill the upstart in the North.
What he is mainly worried about is the consequences of this action. It will definitely attract the attention and suppression of the kingdom again.
After all, killing an upper-class noble who is about to become a prince is no small matter.
He couldn't tell whether the benefits obtained from this operation were a gain or a loss compared to the price paid.
But as the leader of the Knights and one of the top leaders of the church, he can clearly feel that the contemporary Pope is becoming more and more radical in his actions.
Previous generations of popes followed the principle of low-key development, gradual penetration, and no direct conflict with the kingdom’s officials.
The Rising Sun Cult, which had been dormant for hundreds of years, has finally regained some of its vitality.
The church’s code of conduct seems to have undergone some changes, and it has become gradually more radical again.
Not only was he planning to attack and kill Richard this time, but also in exchange for the conversion of the current head of the Lanster family,
The Pope seems to have some arrangements in the royal capital, and I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse.
"Check the location, temper the poison on the arrows, and sharpen the swords and guns for me. This operation must only succeed and not fail!"
Although he did not agree with the Pope's radical approach, the matter had come to this, and Hussein had no choice but to try to get things done.
"Yes, Sir Hussein, don't worry!"
There were cheers all around,
The tone is quite confident,
These people are the elites of the Knights. In addition to Hussein, there are two masters of the Grand Knight level, and there are more than ten masters of the Knight level.
In their eyes, ambushing an earl from the North this time was simply killing a chicken with a knife, and there was no chance of any accidents.
…
On the official road going south from the river valley,
Richard and others left Burai City and traveled hundreds of kilometers.
Now he has left the scope of the river valley and arrived at the core territory of the kingdom, the central plain.
The official road is almost parallel to the Jinlong River and is built along the Jinlong River. The population is also denser visible to the naked eye.
This fertile land and dense population are also one of the foundations for the kingdom to command all directions.
Richard looked left and right on his horse, observing this rich land at close range, as if he were looking at the things in his own home first.
From time to time, you can see a few farmers passing by. Although these farmers are dressed in tatters, they are in good spirits. At least they don’t have sallow complexions.
It seems that most of the civilians in the Central Plains can still make a living. If there are no external factors, it will not be easy to rebel.
Although the surrounding farmers were a little frightened when they saw Richard's team, they did not hide away like the people in the river valley.
First, although the farmers on the Central Plains are not wealthy, they are more knowledgeable. After all, commodities and rare items from all over the world are gathering in the royal capital.
They had seen more exotic creatures, but they were not surprised to see the manticore brought by Richard.
Second, Richard learned the lesson he learned in the river valley, put a collar on the manticore, and tied a rope to his horse, indicating that he was on a leash with this war beast and that everyone did not need to be afraid.
Of course, this ordinary rope is more of a pretense decoration for the Manticore, which is just to give the people around him a psychological comfort. Anyway, the Manticore will not break free from the rope and run around without Richard's order.
It's just that the manticore, which was originally free to have fun, can only follow Richard around with his eyes occasionally looking melancholy.
"Master Richard, we need to speed up a little bit. If we can't reach Rich Town before dark, we may have to camp out in the wilderness all night."
The cavalryman on the side had obviously been to the royal capital, had some experience with the route, and knew where to rest, so he opened his mouth to remind Richard.
"Well, let's speed up then."
Richard also accepted the suggestion obediently. He was not a fretting maniac. If he could live in a small town with better conditions, why would he have to live in the wild to make himself unhappy?
…
"Drive, drive!"
"Hush!"
Richard and others finally arrived at Rich Town just as night fell.
"Boss, open ten rooms."
"okay!"
Since he didn't have many people with him, Richard had the luxury of taking everyone with him to stay in the largest hotel in Ridge Town.
As soon as everyone entered the hotel, they attracted the attention of the people around them.
Ridge Town is an important node on the official road, with many people coming and going every day.
There are caravans of dozens or hundreds of people, but the swords and armors on Richard's group obviously have more than simple identities.
As soon as you enter the door, the originally noisy hotel lobby becomes quiet.
People around them knew at a glance that Richard and his gang were not easy to deal with.
"Guest, please come upstairs."
Richard was not going to delay here, so he took the people upstairs and into the room to prepare for rest. After traveling for several days, even though his body could bear it, his spirit was a little tired.
…
"Sir Hussein, the target has entered the town and checked into the largest hotel in the center of the town."
