Sword of Dawn

Page 170

When he saw the slight white light shining on the long sword, Wright's thoughts couldn't help but pause for a moment.

"Facing your fellow churchmen on the battlefield is not the same as breaking out in a brawl on a country street... Are you ready to face them?"

The knight holding the long sword didn't seem to expect that the big man in front of him would be so difficult after losing his weapon, but he reacted after a very brief shock, and then raised the long sword to bully him, the holy light on the blade Surging in the darkness, emitting enough heat to burn flesh and blood: "Go to hell!"

The scorching heat of the Holy Light awakened Wright. He contracted his muscles violently and turned sideways, narrowly dodging the blow to his chest. Then he stretched out his arms and grabbed the attacker's wrist, twisting hard to take the enemy away. weapons.

The holy radiance lit up from around the knight's wrist, instantly formed a steel barrier and bounced Wright's hand away, and then a dazzling radiance surged around the knight of the Holy See, and the whole person retreated at an incredible speed, and then he With a wave of the long sword, a shock wave formed by a holy light was released from the front of the long sword.

The bright arc of light hit the crumbling force field shield, and the scattered holy light turned into scorching light particles, leaving some burn marks on Wright's exposed skin. Wright used the force field shield's last cover, When the Holy See knight was stunned for a moment, he rushed forward and threw the knight to the ground like a tiger.

The Holy See knight struggled and roared angrily. The holy light continued to gather on him, making his strength rise steadily, but Wright was pressing down on the enemy's chest, with one hand on the opponent's neck, and the other Grabbing the enemy's wrist holding the sword, even though the scorching holy light on the opponent's body ablated his palm, he would not let go: "Why?!"

"I'll kill you!!" The Holy See knight roared, hot holy light gushed out from his long sword, and the scattered flames even burned Wright's shoulder, but Wright just grabbed the Holy See knight's wrist more forcefully , and even shattered the holy light barrier on the opponent's wrist: "Why?!"

The Holy See knight looked at the angry face in front of him in horror. He watched the opponent's flesh and blood being burned by the holy light, and watched the rune brilliance in the opponent's armor go out one after another under the overload, but what he felt The pressure he received continued to increase, and in panic, he yelled loudly: "What are you talking about!?"

"You bully the weak, plunder the innocent, you attack the civilians, and you are greedy! You have committed almost every crime in the sacred books!!" Wright completely crushed the holy light barrier on the wrist of the Holy See knight, and even crushed the opponent's Wrist, amidst the screams of the Holy See knight, he punched the opponent's face, "Why! Why are you heinous people still using the holy light!?"

He swung his second punch heavily, and the last bit of rune brilliance in the magic guide terminal was completely extinguished in the splash of the enemy's blood—his whole body was exposed to high-intensity holy light erosion for a long time. The protection was finally overwhelmed, and the overload destroyed it.

And just when Wright finally knocked out the Holy See knight in front of him, another enemy wearing a white burqa and holding a long sword of holy light rushed from behind him.

Wright felt the wind from behind his head, and felt the sting of the holy light burning his skin again, but he had no time to turn his head, he could only rush to the side at the fastest speed, and at this moment In an instant, out of the corner of his eye, he also saw the person who attacked him—that was the second knight of the Holy See.

The second Holy See knight did not give Wright a chance to stand up again. Taking advantage of Wright's complete loss of balance and no way to dodge, he swung his sword again, but at this moment, a stone suddenly appeared not far away. flew out of the darkness.

This powerless stone hit the shoulder of the Holy See knight without causing any damage, but it made the Holy See knight's sword slow for half a beat. The sword cut a bloody gash on Wright's face, and the latter took advantage of it Taking this opportunity to turn over and get up.

Wright saw the person who threw the stone - not far away, next to the entrance of the cellar, Emily was standing there blankly, still maintaining the posture of throwing the stone.

The Holy See knight roared angrily, and with a flick of the long sword, a blade of holy light passed through the darkness soundlessly, piercing through the little girl's chest.

Emily collapsed before Wright's eyes.

Anger, hatred, or something else... Wright didn't know what emotion came to his mind at this moment and occupied his thoughts. He only knew that this was something he had always followed the way of the Holy Light and worked hard to restrain. He is temperate, he controls himself, he is tolerant, he controls his emotions all the time, but at this moment, his mind is finally filled with those emotions.

The anger and confusion that had accumulated for a long time were turned on at this moment.

He seemed to have forgotten the Holy See knight who was close at hand. At this moment, he only had the little girl who had fallen on the ground in his eyes. He rushed towards the entrance of the cellar and rushed in front of Emily.

The little girl had her last breath, she was breathing hard, the skin and flesh scorched by the blade of the holy light continued to crack during her breath, blood gushed out from the scorched wound, pulling her even more every second To death, Wright knelt in front of her, but after seeing the wound, he knew it was too late.

But the little girl just tried to open her eyes and looked at the big man in the dark.

She seemed to laugh, and Wright only heard a very faint sentence in his ears: "Big uncle, there is really a circle of light around you..."

The knight of the Holy See came behind Wright. He looked at this enemy who seemed to have lost his mind because of the death of a little girl mockingly, then raised his long sword high and swung it down mercilessly.

The long sword was wiped out in the collision of light and light.

He opened his eyes wide in fear, watching the tall "Cecile" stand up slowly, a layer of radiance that seemed to flow like liquid enveloped the whole body of the "Cecil", covering his body Armor, covering his skin, covering everything about him.

Just like light casting.

Wright opened his eyes, the holy light surged in his eyes, surged in the shocking wound on his face, he raised his light-cast arms, grabbed the neck of the Holy See knight, and bit by bit Lift it into the air, and slowly exert force.

The knight of the Holy See was struggling, and the scorching holy light made his flesh and blood start to emit smoke. In the fear of death, he widened his eyes and stared at Wright's eyes: "The Lord...curse you..."

"I-cur-curse-it!!"

Pure light burst out from the cracks in the armor of the Holy See knight. In this unprecedented clarity, the flesh and bones of the Holy See knight gasified instantly.

A tattered pair of armor and burqa were scattered all over the place.

Chapter 0411 The Day History Advances

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 wound that was almost as deep as the bone, but after several After the bottle of alchemy potion was poured down, the combat 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 mental seal, 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, and strands of rain fell from the sky, falling 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...no longer trapped in cold and darkness...may your soul be at peace...from now on 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 brought some of them—there were more than 1000 people in the Housman prisoner-of-war camp, and 200 people in the Tanzanian prisoner-of-war camp were not brought.”

"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 are you going to do with those nobles and their followers?" Knight Philip asked curiously, "Those people... have been clamoring to meet you after they are full, and to explain to you the truth of this war." ……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 their energy, They still haven't figured out what this war really 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." Shut the machine pumps together to 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."

"Ahem." Gawain coughed dryly—even though 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. Luane's Cathedral and the church were located The city of Luan has special significance not only within the Holy Light Sect, but even in the entire southern border.

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 in the Holy Light from the minds of those tens 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 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 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 southern border Before order, we should do another thing well..."

Byron and Philip said in unison: "Another thing?"

"We must make the southern border 'our southern border'," Gawain stood up from behind the desk, and came to the huge map hanging on the wall. His eyes fell on the northernmost portal of the southern border—the Rock Fortress." You can't hand over the key to your house to outsiders."

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: "Phew—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 Earl of Pompeii is the theoretical owner of the fortress, but the garrison of the fortress is directly trained and controlled by the royal family, a rock fortress, its strength is stronger than The seventy thousand rabble that Earl Hossman has assembled 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 must 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 St. Luan's 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," Gao Wen 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."

Chapter 0412 The First Day in Hosman City

With the end of the fighting in the southern territory, various post-war work has gradually begun.

The Hossman Prisoner of War Camp is still the largest prisoner of war camp after the war. Tens of thousands of coalition prisoners of war are waiting for their next fate in this camp, but it is a huge waste for so many people to live in the camp for a long time. Therefore, after the manpower problem of the escort team was alleviated, Gao Wen began to order the people in the prisoner-of-war camp to be sent to the Kant and Cecil regions in batches-the noble coalition army was mighty tens of thousands of horses, but in fact more than half of them were Farmers and hunters recruited from the fields, these people are completely useless in war, but they are good at farming and work, and they have no loyalty to their old masters at all. As long as they are sent to the construction area, A little training is labor.

At the same time, a team of [-] soldiers, a dozen political officials, and several "guides" also marched into Hosman's territory.

The guides of the team were several old Hossmans who survived the bombardment of Gravel Ridge that day (and they may also be the only survivors among the men brought out by Hossmans). The "Southern Post-War Reconstruction Working Group" composed of political officials came all the way to the castle of Earl Horsman. The soldiers who stayed in the castle and the earl's vassals had already received the news of the disastrous defeat of the nobles' coalition forces and the news that the Cecils had taken over the southern border. I don't know the way, after all, a huge prisoner-of-war camp is built on the edge of the territory-these people waited in the castle for more than ten days, and after the Cecils appeared, they opened the gate of the castle with little resistance. And they tied Earl Hossman's sons and daughters to the carriage and sent them to the Cecil Administrative Officer.

According to Gawain's order, the noble heirs, family members, and entrusted old knights were all taken as captives and sent to Cecil's mainland, while the working group took over the earl's castle directly, began to reorganize the order of the castle, issued decrees, and Started to establish a secondary government affairs office.

Daedalus, the young political officer, was sitting in the study that once belonged to Earl Hossman, and several of his colleagues were sitting together in the study. After entering the warehouse, I put a large table and some chairs in the study, and used it as a temporary office. At the same time, I used a similar method to renovate several adjacent rooms. In these remodeled rooms, from Ceci Little by little, government officials in Seoul are planning a new order for the land.

Looking at the scenes of his colleagues working at their desks, and looking around at the gorgeous murals and bookshelves that still remained in this study, Daedalus couldn't help feeling a little bit emotional.

He was a Housman - at least he had been.

The son of a merchant in Hosmanland and apprentice to a respectable historian, he had been the envy of his peers and the hope of his family in high society and ties to the aristocracy, if not for his His teacher offended Earl Hossman when he was studying the genealogy of the nobles in the southern border, and he ran to the castle to defend his mentor because of his youthful impulsiveness. Perhaps his fate will be completely different from today.

But he should be thankful for the bad experiences—even though when they happened, he thought they were the worst days of his life—that caused him to leave Housmanland and live in Tanzania to become a The down-and-out scribe also made him board the merchant ship to Cecil for two gold coins in distress. Cecil, who was still poor at the time, became the first batch of clerk apprentices.

From a clerk to a clerk, then from a clerk to a second-level assistant in the department, and then from an assistant to an official of the government affairs department... The territory developed rapidly during the initial period, and the management team of the territory also developed rapidly along with it, the lack of manpower and its own The strength allowed the young Daedalus to complete these enviable promotions within a year, and in the end, he returned to the Horsman Territory, from an exiled scholar apprentice to being in charge of receiving the territory, preparing for the construction of Officials of the second-level government affairs department.

The past year seemed to be living in a dream, and now is the time when the dream is the deepest.

But returning to glory does not mean being able to indulge oneself. Daedalus is well aware of this. Cecil's legal system and the management regulations of the Office of Government Affairs are extremely strict. It was really established to maintain the order of the territory and protect the rights and interests of citizens. Moreover, that talented lord seems to have considered the corruption of people after gaining power and status at the beginning of the establishment of the Government Office. A strict cross-monitoring and evaluation system has been set up. Although Daedalus knows that no strict system can eradicate the corruption of those in power, at least he himself is willing to abide by those systems-it is those systems that ensure Cecil's Strong, ensured Cecil's victory, and finally ensured that he and his group of constables could sit here and control the land that once belonged to an earl.

After searching the entire castle and finding the former advisor and steward of Earl Hossman, the soldiers quickly found the dossiers recording various affairs in the territory—they were said to be dossiers, but in fact those things were poor and crude, basically just The title deeds of all parties and the general situation of each region are generally stuffed into a few large books, which are completely different from the clearly classified and easy-to-search archives in the Cecil Government Affairs Office, but they are better than nothing.

According to those crude files, coupled with the information collected along the way after entering the territory, a plan for taking over all noble manors and fields in the territory was quickly formulated, and it will start after the population and land statistics are completed. Land allocation and population relocation, and ensuring basic order in the process... The working group has many tasks, but everything has been prepared before departure, and there is Kant Land's experience first, Daedalus does not feel that there is a problem Excessive pressure.

After completing the drafting of a new document, Daedalus raised his head and moved his slightly stiff neck, and the door of the office was just pushed open, and two soldiers led a tall, thin, black-haired man walked in.

——These soldiers are not only the guards of the working group and the "bandit suppression troops" after taking over the territory, but also the executive staff of the second-level government affairs office before the normal operation. Thanks to the continuous education work carried out in the Cecil area, the combat Every soldier in the corps has basic reading and writing skills. Although it is still not up to the standards of clerks and clerks in the government affairs department, in this era, ordinary Cecil soldiers are already better than noble affairs officers in many places— —More than half of the latter are illiterate.

"What does this man do?" Daedalus looked curiously at the man brought in by the soldiers, and he confirmed that he had never seen him before.

"We found him in a cellar. He seemed to be trying to leave the castle through the tunnel, but we caught him," reported a soldier. Qian was arrested by the lord, and when he heard that the lord was defeated, he prepared to take advantage of the chaos and escape."

"Green..." Daedalus raised his head and looked at the black-haired man with a hooked nose in front of him, who also showed a fearful and humble smile at the right time, bending over and using the least hostile gesture. He said in a tone: "Sir, I'm just a businessman... I was originally going to Cecil to do business, but you also know that Earl Hosman hates Cecil and wants to go to the southeast to do business The businessman will be exploited and detained by him in various names, so I..."

"Green Wolfe, Earl Hussman's intelligence advisor, low-level stalker, 32 years old, male, thin, with black hair and hooked nose, was a well-known mercenary in the Hussman area in his early years. He was almost killed when he was fighting for an exploration mission, but he found a knight sword sealed in the wall while he was recuperating at home, and used this as an opportunity to enter Earl Hossman's castle..." Daedalus casually pulled out from a pile of documents A card, while reading it, he raised his eyelids and looked at Green, "...on the night of Earl Hossman's defeat, your dinner was lamb stew with potatoes and two glasses of Karna wine, right?"

All of Green's smiles were stiff on his face, and his eyes slowly widened, full of disbelief.

As an intelligence leader, he really knows what the card the other party draws out means.

"Mr. Green, Cecil is everywhere, please keep this in mind," Daedalus put the card with detailed information on Green Wolf back into the folder, looked into the other's eyes and said slowly, "You You shouldn’t have lied in the first place, it’s not in your favor to shorten your labor period.”

Green Wolfe felt his cold sweat start to ooze out, and he subconsciously repeated a certain word in the other party's words: "...labor?"

"Yes, labor, according to the order of Duke Gawain Cecil, all the descendants of the defeated nobles, family members, knights, and extraordinary people who are vassals should undergo labor reform, Mr. Green, you will realize in the great labor The honor of being a citizen of Cecil."

The two soldiers took half a step forward, sandwiching Green Wolfe between them.

"You should feel lucky, Mr. Green, Duke Gawain Cecil is kind and just, and Cecil's laws are strict. While punishing you, the laws are also protecting you. Those who resisted were filled in the shell crater," Daedalus said while taking out a pre-printed document, filling in the key information and signing it, and then handing it to one of the soldiers, " First sent to the prisoner-of-war camp, and then sent to the North Shore Development Zone, where there is a shortage of people. This is his identification and handover documents."

"Wait...wait a minute!" Green Wolf reacted belatedly at this time, the special behavior of the Cecils was completely different from what he expected, the ones he had imagined when he was caught None of the plans came into use, which made him very unwilling, and he didn't know what the other party meant by "reform through labor". In front of this kind of thing he had never heard of, he instinctively felt a little uneasy, "I would like to Allegiance to Duke Cecil - I still have a lot of property, hidden in my country estate, I can give it all, sir, I can redeem myself, I know the rules of ransom... Sir, I have an idea... ...No no no, I have a suggestion..."

"Of course you will be loyal to Duke Cecil, I am very sure of this, but that is after you have completed labor reform," Daedalus interrupted Green Wolf, with a formulaic smile on his face, While talking, he took the previous document from the soldier, "But for your bold idea, Cecil has a complete set of laws - trying to bribe government officials, evading labor reform, and proposing to extend the labor period for two months .”

Green Wolf was stunned for a moment, and then watched helplessly as the document was returned to the soldier after some new entries were added.

"Mr. Green, I wish you a successful transformation and become a glorious Cecil citizen soon. Goodbye."

After the soldier left with the former "intelligence advisor", Daedalus couldn't help but shook his head with a smile, and said to his colleagues, "How could they have thought that the technicians who built the magic net and the activities on the territory There are military intelligence officers among the merchants?"