The attackers in the night finally retreated. After the two most powerful knights of the Holy See and several other mages, knights, and priests who led the team fell, the few remaining people took advantage of the night and fled in panic into the abyss. In the darkness, they left a dozen corpses and a mess, but they got nothing in the end.
A Cecil combat soldier was seriously injured. His force field shield was shattered when he was fighting a knight in close quarters, and then he was cut with a bone-deep wound below his chest, but after several After the bottle of alchemy potion was poured down, the soldier's injury had stabilized.
Apart from this, there were no other casualties on Cecil's side.
The soldiers who ended the battle began to inspect the battlefield, organize their equipment, and confirm the enemy's situation, but no one approached the open space next to the well.
Wright stood quietly in this open space, a layer of clear and bright holy light still enveloped him, covering him like a light-forged armor and cloak, the holy light shone around and also illuminated the sky, In the open space shrouded in holy light, Emily has closed her eyes.
Those big bright eyes will never open again.
"Do you believe in Holy Light, or the God of Holy Light?"
A sentence that the lord asked himself before departure emerged in Wright's mind. This sentence has been lingering in his mind for many days. The sense of contradiction generated by this sentence made him sleepless day after day. He didn't understand , didn't understand why he had to choose between Holy Light and the God of Holy Light, but now he understood.
In the midst of anger and great disappointment with the God of Holy Light, he understood that it was a bright light in his mind, a bang when he broke free from some kind of spiritual imprint, and in that moment of complete realization, he abandoned his belief Lord of decades, embraced the true Light.
But someone paid a price that shouldn't have been paid.
A slight coolness fell on the face, strands of rain fell from the sky, and fell on this land full of misfortune and sorrow. Xia Yu, who was late for a whole night, finally arrived before dawn. In the cold rain, Wright half-kneeled beside Emily, putting his hand on the little girl's forehead.
"... may the Holy Light protect your way forward... May you no longer be trapped in cold and darkness... may your soul be at peace... so that there will be no more hunger and suffering..."
Ansu 736, Fire Moon 22, early summer.
The first white knight in human history was born in the wilderness of the southern border.
Although at this moment, no one knows how this new profession should be named.
In Cecil Territory, in the lord's mansion, Gawain saw two knights, Byron and Philip, who had just returned from the front.
They hurried back to the territory from the Hossman prisoner-of-war camp all the way, and they arrived with thousands of special prisoners brought out from the noble coalition.
"Following your order, we brought back those nobles and their knights, mage entourage, and priests of the Holy Light, Holy See knights, and extraordinary mercenaries who were mixed with the coalition forces," Byron reported the situation, "but because To hurry, we only took some of them and there were more than 1,000 people in the Hosman prisoner-of-war camp, and 200 people in the Tanzanian prisoner-of-war camp were not brought over."
"That's enough. The main thing is to bring those nobles and their vassals here. Don't worry about others," Gao Wen said casually. "We still have a lot to do before the entire southern border is integrated."
"Lord, what do you plan to do with those nobles and their followers?" Knight Philip asked curiously, "Those people... have been clamoring to meet you after eating, and want to explain to you the... Misunderstand."
"... Are you clamoring to meet me to talk about this? Fortunately, their minds haven't completely froze, but it's not much better," Gao Wen waved his hands nonchalantly, "They can save effort, they I still haven't figured out what this war means."
When Byron heard it, he immediately moved to Philip's side and whispered: "Look, I'll tell you, you just need to keep those people locked up, and let them yell if they yell, at worst, they will talk to the boss of the water plant." Close the machine pumps together, let's see who makes the loudest noise... "
Philip ignored Byron at all, but continued to say to Gawain: "We captured the knights of the Holy See and priests of the Holy Light in the noble coalition as much as possible, but there are still many people who escaped after entering the plain area. Some people were trapped in Cecil's control area and are slowly being captured back, but there are still a considerable number of Holy See knights and priests who fled to St. Luan's Cathedral in the northwest...there is not in our control area."
Byron next to him couldn't help muttering: "It will become a control area when it is shot down."
"Cough cough." Gawain coughed dryly twice. Although he wanted to say that Byron's words were right for him, he avoided letting himself go too much at the last moment because he knew very well that St. Luan Cathedral and the Louvre where the church is located Ancheng not only has special significance within the Holy Light Sect, but even in the entire southern region.
That is the headquarters of the Church of the Holy Light in the southern parish, and it is also a theoretical "neutral place".
Theoretically, Luan City is under the direct control of the royal family. There is no local lord, only the chief affairs officer sent by the royal family, but the general affairs officer is basically a cover. The real control of Luan City is the St. Luan Cathedral in the city. The southern bishops and priests.
Of course, the bishop of the southern diocese is gone now, and the high-ranking knights and priests of St. Luan's Cathedral also died in this war. It wasn't a problem at all, but what Gawain had to consider was not the defense of St. Luane's Cathedral at all.
What he has to consider is whether he can attack there directly, and under what name.
This is directly related to the subsequent order in the southern border, and also related to his influence on the large number of holy light believers in the southern border.
And there is a more realistic question: what happens after the St. Luan Cathedral is knocked down? Is it just to occupy the city of Luan, or to arrest all the priests of the Church of the Holy Light in the city of Luan, or even destroy the church? If it is the former, then I am afraid that it will not be able to completely expel the influence of the Holy Light Church on the southern border. If it is the latter, then I am afraid that the social order in the southern border will face great fluctuations. Believers will also question the "justice" of the new lord.
After all, occupying cities and churches can still be said to be a normal procedure of war, because the bishop of the southern border, Lemont, "attacked" Cecil City with twelve fully armed Holy See knights and a high-ranking priest, which can be regarded as It is an act of declaring war, but if the Holy Light belief system in the southern border is further destroyed after the city is captured, the hundreds of thousands of Holy Light believers in the southern border will have doubts about Gawain Cecil's rule.
Gao Wen couldn't directly erase the belief of the Holy Light from the minds of those hundreds of thousands of people, and with his current influence in the southern border and the actual situation of the world's religious beliefs, it was impossible for him to promote too intense beliefs. Church Reform Program.
Of course, a compromise can also be considered, forcing all priests to accept Cecil’s law after the St. Replace, purify, and transform the entire group of priests, but the effect of doing so cannot be guaranteed, and there may be hidden dangers...
Now that he has begun to take over the southern border, he must start thinking about these practical issues as the ruler of the southern border.
Philip and Byron saw that Gawain was thinking about something, so they didn't disturb them. They waited quietly, and then they heard Gawain tap the table lightly with his fingers, and said as if to himself He said: "There must be a Church of the Holy Light..."
Philip didn't catch it all at once: "What?"
"It's nothing," Gawain shook his head. "We will solve the problem of St. Luan's Cathedral, but for now, we can let those priests and Holy See knights continue to tremble in the cathedral for a while. In addition, there are those who are locked up in various prisoner camps." The aristocrats here... also temporarily let them take a good look at the situation in front of them, which will help them cooperate with Cecil's law in the future. And in solving the problem of St. Luan's Cathedral and reshaping the order of the southern border Before that, we should do one other thing first…”
Byron and Philip said in unison: "Another thing?"
"We must make the southern border 'our southern border'," Gao Wen stood up from behind the desk, and came to the huge map hanging on the wall. His eyes fell on the northernmost gateway of the southern border, the Rock Fortress. Hand over the key to the gate of your own house to an outsider."
Following Gawain's line of sight, Philip and Byron also saw the portal fortress with special significance.
Philip's expression became serious, and Byron couldn't help whistling: "Hey, this is a great goal."
"It's indeed an amazing goal," Gawain nodded, "The Rock Fortress is completely different from the weakly defended stone fortresses in the southern border. The magic shield shrouded the fortress, and all the elite soldiers stationed in the rock fortress. The seventy thousand mob assembled by Earl Mann is even stronger."
Byron chuckled: "After all, it's to seal off the entire southern border."
"So we may need to fire a lot of cannonballs to knock down this fortress," Gawain also laughed, "but no matter what, we have to knock it down...and then control this door in our own hands."
After that, how he fights on the Holy Spirit Plain has nothing to do with him. He can calm down and take care of the southern border, such as the priests of the Holy Light who are hiding in the St. Luan Cathedral, or those who are still in prison the noble captives in the
"When are you going to launch an attack?" Byron put away his usual hippie smile and asked seriously, "We are now at the stage of the strongest morale..."
"Don't worry," Gawain waved his hands, quietly looking at the map in front of him, "I'm waiting for news..."
"wait for news?"
"Waiting for a reason to attack the Rock Fortress, waiting for the timing of the attack, and waiting for new information," Gao Wen said, "and these...maybe soon."