"Why on earth did we lose?"
The atmosphere in the hall of Havenright's cathedral was solemn. A dozen paladin captains and the few remaining bishops in the country were standing here. They listened to Grant's question and looked at each other, but no one could answer it.
Compared with usual times, there were not many people in the large church hall, and it looked indescribably desolate. Grant's eyes scanned the crowd, and his appearance... was not that angry or violent, but there was a vague sense of exhaustion in his tone.
"Why don't you speak? God is still watching us. Have you already abandoned the faith in your hearts?"
Several bishops listened and shook their heads quickly: "No... we are just thinking."
"Then what did you come up with?"
"We..." The bishops hesitated for a while, and finally, the eldest among them said, "We believe that the main reason for the failure of this battle is the demonic army ambushing in the city. Before they rushed out, We clearly still have the advantage.”
-Although he is the oldest, sadly, he looks to be in his early forties.
"That army?" Grant heard this and snorted coldly, "An army with only more than a thousand people will beat you to the point of confusion?"
"This... that is definitely not an ordinary army! They are definitely not ordinary people!" The bishop hesitated for a moment and then said immediately, "How could ordinary people fly into the sky and kill so many of our fellow priests easily? They must be from the devil. Incarnation, he ran out of hell again to cause trouble in the world!"
As he spoke, he couldn't help but curse in his heart.
What else could it be but this? They can't say... The main reason for losing this battle is that Your Majesty the Pope can't beat that water polo demon
Everyone has this idea in their mind, but no one dares to say it.
"The Black Nightmare Army holds this kind of power, why didn't you get any information at all?" Grant showed no intention of stopping, and continued, "What is the origin of this army? When did they join the Black Nightmare Army? What are the weaknesses? Where are the people in charge of intelligence?”
The bishop hesitated for a moment and said: "Bishop Carlos, who was in charge of intelligence... died in the battle."
Grant was speechless.
The entire hall fell into deathly silence, and everyone stared at the floor, as if there was a shocking secret that could save the church.
In this dead silence that lasted for a long time, finally, a paladin opened the door and ran in from the outside, breaking the silence in the hall. Everyone turned around, and Grant also raised his eyes, looked at the panicked paladin, frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Your Majesty the Pope, the Black Nightmare Army is spreading news outside again, saying... saying..." The Paladin took several deep breaths before saying, "Six days later, they will hold a real funeral for the dead king. Those who spread the news People also say that at that time, everyone will have the opportunity to view the king’s body, and they will show the wounds on the body, so that the truth about the cause of His Majesty’s death will be revealed!”
When he finished speaking, the hall fell into dead silence again, and the atmosphere was even more terrifying than before.
The expressions of everyone in the hall once again changed in an even uglier direction.
And at the same time.
"Wouldn't the idea of holding a new funeral really offend the church?" In Coster City, Frank was helping to carry the coffin for the burial. He couldn't help turning his head and asked in a low voice, "There are only so many people in the city now. If the church gets desperate and comes back, we may not be able to defeat him!"
Joanna said subconsciously: "What are you afraid of? If they come again, we will beat them again until they dare not say a word."
"this… "
Laila shook her head, finished carving the last pattern on the coffin, straightened up and said: "It's a secret that the students have gone back, and we have already checked out the spies in the city. What can the church know? At this time, they must be You're still hiding in the church shirking your responsibilities, how dare you come here?"
"I know, but..." At this point, Frank turned his head and silently pointed at the few busy mages beside him, showing an uncertain look.
-The few "magicians" he pointed out were wearing uniform black robes and rather exaggerated magic hats, covering half of their faces... In short, everyone gave the impression of an ordinary person. The most clichéd image of a mysterious mage.
However, Frank and the others all knew that these people were disguised as soldiers of the Black Nightmare Army.
After a large number of students and some teachers left with Wallis, Coster fell into an extreme internal emptiness. So, Benjamin slapped his head and came up with an idea. He selected a few hundred people from the remaining Black Nightmare army, pretended to be mages, and mixed with the remaining real mages.
Hence, this scene emerged.
"Who can know if they are real or fake unless they get closer?" Joanna didn't care and said casually, "I think this is a good idea. Those priests are already suspicious, so it's easy to scare them."
"All right… "
Frank nodded anyway. Although he was a little worried, since everyone had said so, he didn't think much about it anymore.
Preparing the coffin, organizing the honor guard, planning the cemetery... a state funeral is not a simple matter. The Black Nightmare Army currently has few manpower, and both soldiers and mages have put in intense preparations. Coupled with the large demand for items generated by funerals, various closed shops opened. The streets were full of busy people. Coster, who had become a little depressed due to the war, gradually became lively again.
Benjamin stood at the door of the city hall, looking at the people coming and going, and couldn't help but nodded.
"Do I rely on macroeconomic control to stimulate domestic demand and promote the recovery of Coast's economy?"
The system was speechless for a while, and then said: "I'm sorry, I'm disgusted by your narcissism, and I need to check the CPU quickly. Please don't talk to me for twelve hours, lest I blow myself up on the spot."
"Whatever you want..." Benjamin shrugged and said nothing.
He is in a good mood now and is too lazy to argue with the system. After all, after they defeated the church, the entire Hori Kingdom suddenly had confidence in them. Within a few days, Coster received a large number of visiting businessmen, all of whom wanted to establish good relations with them. They funded many armors and horses, and some even gave money directly.
As a commercial metropolis, the trade that had been interrupted due to the war began to gradually recover. In just these few days, Benjamin even received a large amount of tax money!
He also didn't expect that although both sides suffered losses in that battle, the subsequent impact was unexpectedly good.