On the morning of the 19th of June, in the Rose Cross Monastery.
Compared to the extravagant life of the nobles, Sally's life could be said to be calm and peaceful. Of course, this "calm and peaceful" was just a facade.
The front area of the monastery was a cathedral. It was a public area that the citizens of the city could enter. The nuns in the monastery had to pray every morning before they could start their activities. As a "priest candidate", Sally was still a "nun", so her position in the monastery was not as high as one would imagine. She had to do a lot of work every day, including cleaning the floor of the cathedral, cleaning the house, helping the bishop organize manuscripts, and so on.
To the nobles, such a thing seemed a little 'degrading'. However, as the daughter of a duke, Sally still scrupulously abided by the teachings of the church and did the 'lowly' labor in the eyes of the commoners. Thus, most of the monks and priests in the monastery who were born as commoners soon abandoned their prejudices and developed a good impression of the beautiful Miss Sally.
Because of this, Sally quickly accumulated a network of contacts in the monastery. She did not offend anyone and could handle all the interpersonal relationships with ease. This was easy to say, but difficult to do. And now, Sally, who was only 16 years old, really showed her ability in this aspect.
This was something that Roddy had never seen before.
After noon, Sally, who was wearing a white robe, walked out of the house at the back of the monastery as usual and walked into the front hall of the cathedral at noon.
Bishop Benjamin had warned Sally not to step out of the monastery, so the front hall of the cathedral was the limit of her activities. When she walked in, the warm summer breeze was slowly blowing in front of the hall. The girl raised her head, squinted her eyes and looked forward, clenching her fists tightly.
No one noticed that in her hand, it was not the "Rose Cross" that was the symbol of the Holy Cathedral, but a small unique die.
"May the gods watch over you."
Sally whispered the holy temple's proverbs and greeted the devout believers. She walked to a seat in the corner of the front hall and sat down. Then, she quietly began a second round of prayers that other cultivators wouldn't say.
Sally had been doing this for more than a month. To others, it might just be an expression of her sincerity. But after ten minutes of praying, a blind old man groped his way to a seat not far from Sally and also began to pray in a low voice.
This kind of situation was not uncommon. Disabled civilians would beg the gods to alleviate their illness, so this old man did not attract anyone's attention. After he finished speaking, he trembled as he tried to stand up with the cane in his hand. Sally, who was at the side, noticed this and immediately stood up to help the old man.
In the eyes of the bystanders, such a thing couldn't be more normal. However, no one noticed that when the blind old man walked forward, the path he chose basically avoided everyone in the church. When Sally helped him up, no one noticed the expression on the nun's face or the soft words that came out of her mouth.
"Is everything done?"
"Miss, Francis's attention is currently on Viscount Terry. It's estimated that his next target will be Baron Ford. We have already made false statements, and his men will soon take the bait."
"Good job, keep it up."
"There's new news. Viceroy Rubens seems to be coming to Eiferta territory in the autumn. It should be a good time to meet with Bishop Benjamin. By then, your position as priest should be confirmed."
"Yes, I have confirmed this news."
Sally smiled, her lips barely moving. "Any news from there?"
"Lord Duke has not been doing anything recently. He is still staying in his study."
"Not the Ducal Palace, I mean … Norland Village."
"We have sent people there, but there has been no response because we are afraid of being targeted by Francis's men. It is estimated that there will be news in about seven days. But we just received news that Cree Village, which is not far from Norland Village, was attacked by Orc Wolf Riders … There are no survivors. "
The old man's words were barely audible, but when Sally heard this news, her fingers that were gently supporting him suddenly clenched.
"… Cree Village?"
"The cavalry of Compayton Stronghold went there and put on a show. They thought they would not get anything, but they picked up five or six Mount Wolves from the grassland. It seems that the Wolf Riders retreated and left the Mount Wolves behind."
Hearing this sudden news, Sally thought of the guy who once brought her safely back to Hollier City. She suddenly thought of a possibility and immediately asked, "How many Wolf Riders are there?"
"According to the news from Cree Village, there are less than 40."
"So many …"
Sally's thought was immediately overturned. No matter how she thought about it, it was impossible for that guy to kill so many Wolf Riders. After all, killing ten Wolf Riders almost cost him his life. Now that she thought about it, the only thing she could do was to prevent Francis from finding him …
Unknowingly, the two of them had already arrived at the entrance of the front hall. Sally stopped in her tracks, and softly reminded the old man to pay attention to the road. Her fingers had already imperceptibly stuffed a folded piece of parchment into the old man's hand. The blind old man repeatedly expressed his gratitude, bowed several times, and then slowly walked into the distance.
Sally did not stay in front of the door for too long. She looked at the two Templars who were dozing off. Although she knew that Francis would not have the guts to attack her in front of the Holy Temple, she did not trust the guards at the front of the monastery.
Speaking of security, perhaps she felt more at ease when she was beside the guy with the horn bow.
It had been a long time since Sally experienced the feeling of not having to worry about danger. When she thought of Roddy, she could not help but feel a little nostalgic. But as for "missing" … Sally quickly denied this word in her heart. Her fingertips gently played with the bone dice. When she remembered that this thing was also a gift from him, she could not help but blush.
"If you can't beat him, don't fight him. Please don't let anything happen to him …"
Sally let out a soft sigh. In the end, she still felt worried. The parchment she handed to her subordinates had already listed out all the measures and efforts to deal with Francis, including how to continue to mislead her brother, cover up the unusual behavior of the scouts in Norland Village, let her own forces grow quietly outside of Francis's sight, and even set up a special team to protect her from all aspects, and so on.
At the same time, Sally was also concerned about her father's condition and speculated about what Francis was going to do next.
The so-called struggle was never just a simple fight, especially between the nobles. Every time there was an assassination-like conflict, it meant that the plotters had made countless preparations for it to break out.
Last time, Sally's negligence almost cost her life. So when she once again gained a foothold in the cloister, what the young daughter of Duke had to do was not simply to "wait for death".
Her eyes swept across the street outside the church. The few spies that Francis had placed to monitor Sally were clearly visible in her eyes. There was no need to hide at all.
"Hmph."
A trace of coldness flashed in her eyes. In front of the church, when the young nun turned around, a warm smile appeared on her face again, and she calmly returned to the interior of the church.
..
Seventeen days after the end of the battle against the Wolf Riders, June 21st.
The warm summer wind blew through the quiet Norland Village. Farmers wearing straw hats squatted in the shadows of their houses to rest. From time to time, they put their hands over their eyes and looked out of the village. At the entrance of the village, more than thirty scouts were constantly practicing charging on their warhorses. Occasionally, they would cheer and applaud when they saw a soldier cutting down a scarecrow with precise and sharp swordsmanship.
When more than thirty warhorses galloped, dust billowed in the air. After seeing such a scene many times, the panic that had arisen from the massacre of the village by the Wolf Riders gradually calmed down.
Since seventeen days ago, there were fifteen strong young men in the village. The villagers could see these young men working hard every day. They would run ten laps in the morning and shout slogans such as "One, two, three, four", "One, two, one", "Exercise, protect the motherland", and so on. At night, they could hear them singing. The lyrics were very strange. They said things like "Unity is strength" or "We are soldiers" … The farmers had never heard such songs before. But after hearing it a few times, they found it to be catchy. It was as if they had been brainwashed, and these melodies lingered in their ears all day long.
Now, farmers carrying hoes would even hum a few lines of "The sun sets over the western hills, the red clouds fly" in the fields when they had nothing to do. They swayed their heads as they walked by, enjoying themselves.
Roddy did not expect such a situation. After all, hearing these farmers singing Chinese songs in Bringan was a little funny. But after getting used to it, messy lyrics kept popping up in his head, making him feel that "military songs" were not just for show.
Speaking of which, ever since the complete annihilation of Xhosa's Wolf Riders, Sodelor and his subordinates were completely convinced. They no longer had any objections to the organization and leadership. It was obvious that the shock brought about by the battle would affect them for a long time. And under such influence, Roddy pushed the boat with the current and began a new training program.
The so-called "new program" was actually an enhanced version of the previous "military training": starting from the housekeeping of the dormitory to marching in unison, what Roddy wanted to instill in them was the concept of "strict obedience." Making the soldiers obey and execute orders sounded natural, but in this era, most people still did not realize the importance of it. On the battlefield, if any order was not strictly followed, the consequences would be unimaginable. So, starting from this basic understanding was also the practice of many major guilds.
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