The change occurred on the seventeenth day after the siege of the gate.
That morning, the mages hiding in the gate had just finished breakfast and gathered together to discuss a more direct method of gathering elements - "double cultivation" caused them some trouble in training the affinity of the fire element. After all, they could go to the meditating person's head. Throw water balls, but they can't throw fire balls, right
So they are having a heated discussion about this issue.
As for Benjamin, he came to the door of the corridor. As usual, he let go of the water element's perception and observed the movements outside to see what new tricks the surrounding army had come up with today.
Through the feedback from the water element, the scene outside the gate gradually emerged in his eyes. However, when he perceived the scene outside the gate, he was suddenly stunned.
"This is… "
On the outside of the gate, groups of soldiers were busy coming and going, sorting out military equipment, dismantling tents, and moving things... They set up ladders and pulleys on the gate again, transported things up from this side, and then turned back from the top of the gate. Then transport it back to the kingdom.
The soldiers were also constantly moving towards the side of Crewe Town, as if they were ready to give up the siege on the side of the gate and all move back to the kingdom.
Seeing this, Benjamin couldn't help but withdraw his perception and raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Could it be that... the kingdom is not going to continue to surround the Crusad Gate
After a brief moment of astonishment, Benjamin quickly realized what had caused this situation to happen.
It must be Ikol who sent troops.
The Crusad Gate was originally on the border between the kingdom and Ikol. After passing the gate, there is a wasteland - a disputed area between two countries. Generally speaking, the Kingdom will not send people beyond the gate, and Ikol will not send people close to the gate. However, because the gate is now occupied by Benjamin and his friends, the kingdom sent people to surround the gate, which is tantamount to destroying the tacit understanding between the two countries.
Once Ikol sends troops, the kingdom can only withdraw the troops outside the gate. Otherwise, Ikol can go to war directly and block the outside army at the gate. The thousands of people in the kingdom will become turtles in the urn.
Therefore, the kingdom could only withdraw its troops.
Thinking of this, Benjamin was still in a good mood. As soon as Ikol appeared, their chance came. Now that Crusader's gate is lost, the Kingdom of Hori wants to regain its lost territory, and Ikol wants to take advantage of it. Even if the two parties don't really fight in the end, it will at least cause a lot of disputes.
As for the group of mages hiding inside the gate, even if they can't make a profit, they can definitely escape the encirclement safely and stay away from this place of right and wrong.
Therefore, after observing this, Benjamin quickly returned to their modified discussion room and announced the news to the mages present.
"Ah... So, can't we stay here forever?"
After listening to Benjamin's words, Master Frank asked with regret on his face.
"Of course not. What does it look like to hide in this place all day long?" Joanna immediately patted Frank on the shoulder and said loudly, "My great magician Joanna is not a coward. One day, I will let those outside People have a taste of the power of my forbidden curse, the fierce flames!"
“…”
The other mages smiled and shook their heads helplessly.
"Actually, I don't want to live here any longer. People outside use cannons to bombard me from time to time. It's a bit noisy and will disturb my meditation."
"It doesn't matter where we go. I think as long as we are together, we can settle down anywhere except Hori Kingdom."
"I've never been out of the kingdom, so I don't know what other countries are like..."
In this way, after Benjamin announced the news, everyone did not feel much reluctant to leave the door. Instead, they showed expectant expressions and discussed the possibilities of the future.
Seeing this, Benjamin also smiled and quietly left the discussion room.
Regarding the whole idea of leaving the gate, he still had a lot to prepare. Just because the kingdom has withdrawn its troops from the outside doesn't mean they can leave here.
They still need a careful plan.
In this way, time passed quickly, and the transfer of the Kingdom's army continued until the afternoon of that day. At about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, they basically completed the transfer. All the soldiers climbed over the gate, returned to the kingdom, and re-stationed in Crewe Town.
At the other end of the gate, only the bishop was left.
—The bishop who stood there in the first place, blocking the door and preventing Benjamin and the others from leaving.
After the soldiers left, he still stood quietly at the exit of the gate, as if he had transformed into a statue. Even after thousands of years, he would stay here, waiting to "greet" the mage who left the gate.
At the same time, a rather loud voice echoed through the gate.
"Masters in the gate, listen, we have lifted the siege on you. Please open the gate as soon as possible and leave the kingdom. We promise that we will not hold you accountable and will never harm you. As long as you open the gate and return If you open the gate, you can leave the kingdom freely. We will never go back on our word..."
The sound seemed to be blessed by some kind of magic or magical props. It sounded extremely loud, and it fell on the ears of every mage in the gate, and it was extremely clear.
The mages in the gate were busy packing their luggage in preparation for leaving, and when they heard the sound, they couldn't help but laugh mockingly.
"The bishop is still blocking the door and saying this, does he think we don't know anything about the outside situation?" Wallis put away a large bag of gold coins hidden under the general's bed, and stepped on the bed. Said so.
Beside him, Augustine also nodded. He put the confiscated magical books into a bag and said, "I think it would be sincere to at least ask all the church personnel nearby to step back a few kilometers."
Obviously, no one really believed this insincere declaration of truce.
As for Benjamin, he was also stuck at the door. While listening to these words, he sensed the densely packed soldiers in Crewe Town with the water element induction method, and couldn't help but shake his head.
What else could he say
All I can say is... the church is too greedy.
In fact, if the church really shows sincerity and lets them go, the door will naturally open when they leave. At that time, the church will be able to regain control of the gate. At most, it will only save face. It will not lead to other countries sending troops. Who knows who will end up with the gate.
But now, armies from other countries are coming, and the kingdom is afraid. They were afraid that if something happened and the door that had been theirs for so many years fell into the hands of others, then the joke would really get bigger.
Therefore, at this time, they would say something that seemed to be "submissive" to the people at the gate.
It's a pity that even at this point, they still refused to show sincerity, as if they were unwilling to let the mage go and take back the door. In this case, there is no need for Benjamin and the others to look good on them.
To be honest, Benjamin doesn’t know whose hands the door will eventually fall into. Although they now occupy the gate, they really do not have the ability to decide on matters of this level.
Therefore, the only thing they can do is to slowly leave the protagonist position of this storm and quietly exit before the water becomes more and more muddy.
In this way, the voices begging for peace outside the gate lasted for about an hour. Probably because their throats couldn't bear it, several people even shouted back. In the end, when they saw no reaction at all from the gate, they understood that their intentions might be discovered, so they simply stopped shouting.
Then, an unusual silence enveloped the inside and outside of the gate, and no one made any big moves. Regardless of the mages inside the door or the soldiers outside the door, everyone is waiting patiently, as if waiting for the first thunder to sound in the cloudy sky in a hot and humid summer.
Until late afternoon.
The bishop who had been guarding the exit of the door suddenly seemed to have discovered something. He rarely continued to stare at the door, but turned around, narrowed his eyes, and cast his gaze into the distance behind him.
On the other side of the gate, outside the kingdom, on the vast horizon where the sky and the wilderness meet, at an unknown point in time, dense crowds of people suddenly appeared.