Qingping

The black night is like a high-grade velvet cushion... On this autumn evening, the stars in the sky are so bright.A large carriage was driving slowly on a certain road in the southern part of the empire.This exquisite four-wheeled carriage has smooth and simple patterns on the carriage, and the most conspicuous thing is the family emblem on the carriage!

On the blades of two crossed long swords, a proud griffin spread its sharp beak and wide wings.And there is a crown on this proud griffin, shrouded in raging golden flames...

Such a badge, in the exercise of the empire, as long as someone who knows a little bit about the coat of arms of the imperial nobility, will be full of respect for the family of this badge.Among all the families in the entire empire, there are not many who can carve two crossed long swords on their badges!These two long swords represent at least one marshal-level figure in the history of the family.And the crown above symbolizes the blood relationship between this family and the royal family!

And the Griffin—this represents that this family is the most famous iron-blooded ace in the imperial army, the marshal family of the Twilight Legion.

At the front and back of the carriage, there were ten guard knights wearing light armor, riding steeds, and hanging knight swords. The armor on their bodies was polished and their weapons were shiny.The people driving the carriage were all archers in leather armor. At this moment, he looked at the dark sky and frowned.So he turned his body sideways and said to the knight guarding at the front of the carriage: "Where have we arrived? It's getting late now, should we find a place to rest?"

Hearing what the archer behind him said, Seth also looked up at the sky.Wei Wei pulled the reins of the mount to slow down, and broke away from the escort formation.The knights behind saw that he had left the formation, and someone immediately made up for it, without disrupting the entire guard formation at all.Seth's horse gradually paralleled the carriage protected in the middle. He reached out and knocked lightly on the door of the carriage, and said respectfully: "Master Hein, there is a small town ahead, and there should be a hotel here tonight." Where to rest." After finishing speaking, he returned to his post.

Qing Ping heard that he was called Heinlein by them again in the carriage, and felt that he was really wronged.But he didn't have the heart to care about this thing anymore, what he was interested in now was what Sally had just been interrupted by Seth's knock on the door.

"Go on."

Sally stammered with dull eyes: "Holy, the momentum of the temple is getting bigger and bigger. Ke, His Majesty Clem I seems to have begun to be unable to restrain their growth."

"Why?" Qingping asked: "Isn't religion born from the country?"

"I, our Hill Empire was only established for more than 500 years, and the holy temple was created when the entire continent was unified more than 1000 years ago. Here, the empire or kingdom of this continent, All, all need the approval of the temple."

Qingping thought about it for a while and understood: the temple existed long before the establishment of this empire. Almost one-third of the people on the mainland believed in the temple's religion, while the other third should follow the trend. One-third are non-religious.If he heard correctly on the pier, this jihad seems to be initiated by the temple to cleanse those countries that do not believe in their own religion.And the building of the temple actually sent troops from the country of his own faith instead of using his own Templar Knights. It seems that this calculation was very shrewd.

But I heard that Sally's evaluation of the emperor Clem I was not so low. He should be a very good emperor when he was young, but he was suppressed by the temple at such an old age?There must be some inside story, but a little maid like Sally probably doesn't know the details, so she simply stopped asking.

Qingping nodded, and said to Sally: [The soul is back. 】

Sally's dull eyes suddenly woke up, she looked at Qingping dazedly and touched her face: "Hmm... are you asleep?"

"Yes, I didn't sleep for a long time." Qingping used the soul-hunting spell on Sally, which was a very advanced spell, and Seth, who had just knocked on the door, almost interrupted the spell.Although he could feel that Seth and Sally had no hostility towards him, he wanted to know who they mistook him for, where they were going to take him, and what kind of person they were mistaken for.

And this morning, the priests who watched the temples in the small town executed Amy for despising the temple and opposing the religion based on the words of a few passing adventurers.This made him very incomprehensible. Under such circumstances, none of the officials in the town had come forward to try the case, and Amy was burned to death like this.Could it be that the religious priests in this country have a higher status than government officials?Is it more authoritative than the judge's trial?

So after he used the soul-stirring technique on Sally, he specially collected information about the temple.

But thinking about it now, the power of the temple is really not ordinary.Now, except for the Hill Empire and a few other kingdoms in the entire continent, there are no provinces directly under the jurisdiction of the temple. Whether it is an empire or a kingdom, there are provinces directly under the jurisdiction of the temple, and the tax revenue of the province belongs to the temple, and they are stationed in the province directly under the jurisdiction of the temple. A large number of Templars.

Moreover, the outstanding talents there are absorbed by the temple at the first step. Those who are armed are the Knights Templar or the reservists of the Knights Templar, and those who are written are the priests or the bishops of churches in various towns.Especially very rare people with magical power in their bodies, they will be trained by the temple to become temple magicians or priests, and they will be retained as very valuable talents.

As for the Hill Empire, the training of magicians is still very much like the mountain gates of their own world of cultivating immortals, and they sweep the snow before their doors.It's not that the samurai and knight academy have already started large-scale teaching and opening of academies.

The speed of the carriage gradually slowed down, and Qingping also withdrew his thoughts and looked out the window.The knights guarding the carriage were preparing to enter the small inn in the town next to the road.

This road was originally leading to the holy capital of the Hill Empire, so there were naturally countless business travelers.Once there are more business travelers, it would be the best thing to open a hotel in a small town by the roadside.

Nong Maso is a disabled veteran. 40 years ago, he was a very tough and handsome young man who belonged to one of the top border guards in the Hill Empire.Once in a battle with horse bandits trying to break into the enemy's country, he lost a right eye and limped a leg.After recovering from his injury, he retired, took his wife and children to this small town, and opened a small hotel with his pension.Now, more than 40 years later, his grandson is already a guard in the town, his wife has also gone, and his son has gone to a nearby city to do business.Nong Maso is still unwilling to give up this small hotel, and still maintains the daily operation.

Today, the grandson brought his comrades back, and Nong Maso generously took out a lot of beer for these young people to drink openly. Everyone got excited after drinking, so they yelled for Nong Maso to talk about themselves The battle story of the year.

"... Just when the horse bandit was about to cut me down, I turned around!" Nong Maso's story suddenly stopped, and several young people thought that their father was teasing them, and just wanted to urge him Hurry up and continue talking, and listen to Nong Masuo listening to the outside with his ears upright.

One...five...not twelve, twelve horses, a carriage came towards him.Nong Maso stopped chatting with the children immediately, and he turned to the counter to entertain the guests.

By the time everyone heard the sound of horseshoes and carriages, they had already reached the door of the shop.But almost at the same time, these voices stopped, and the others didn't feel anything, but Nong Masuo immediately recognized the strangeness here.These riders are masters!It is possible to control the horses in such a unified way and maintain consistency. There are really not many imperial troops with such technology. All he can see are some straw bags.Could it be that the elite troops of the empire came here?Out of curiosity, Nong Maso stretched his neck and looked out the door.

A total of fifteen people came in, and one of them was a young girl, wearing a conspicuous maid outfit that only aristocratic families could have.The others were all covered tightly by black cloaks, with only one head exposed.When the boys in the store saw the maids of the noble family, they stared at them strangely. Only Nong Masuo had developed a habit at the border. He likes to look at each other carefully, so that he can distinguish the seriousness of those things. Experienced businessmen, those guys who are horse bandits or robbers trying to sneak into the border guards to do evil.

Except for one of these fourteen men who was a teenager, the others were all tall and vigorous adults.Just as soon as they entered the door, Nong Maso could tell from their walking posture that these guys were real regular soldiers.Only soldiers are so straight no matter where they go, walking impartially, and every step is just the right size.This will help them measure the distance on the battlefield so that they can cooperate well with teammates around them, or be able to grasp the defense line.

Nong Maso was immediately full of enthusiasm for these resolute soldiers, although he did not express it.

After all these people entered the store, a big man turned around and asked the boy in the line.