Although Francis knew that he was the one who made the decision to assassinate Roland and that he was responsible for the failure, he was still furious. He felt that he had been fooled by that damn shooter!
"That bastard is in the city! I asked you to look for him for a few months, but you couldn't find him. I was even led by the nose by all kinds of false evidence. Look at the result? He's been right under my nose! "
"What's the use of a bunch of useless people like you?!"
Suddenly, Francis condensed the fire element in his palm, and the temperature in the room suddenly rose. The eyes of the three subordinates suddenly became extremely frightened. As the few who had seen Francis in anger and survived, they all knew that when the Earl was really angry, there was absolutely nothing he could do. Therefore, at this time, they suddenly froze on the spot, and they even forgot to beg for mercy.
Francis clenched his fists and stared angrily at the three subordinates. He clenched his teeth and suppressed the anger in his heart. He tried to control his impulsive emotions. Finally, he let out a cold snort and swung his arm. A small fireball flew over the heads of the three men, smashed the window, and disappeared from sight.
A few seconds later, there was a muffled explosion in the distance, followed by the sound of trees falling.
The three subordinates heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that they had escaped a disaster. But the silence that followed was very depressing. None of them dared to say a word, for fear of angering the count again.
"Fortunately, the people we sent out are all dead. At least there's no danger of being exposed …"
Francis squinted his eyes, still clenching his fists. "I still have a chance … I still have a chance …"
He said to himself in a low voice, frowning and trying to think of a solution. But after thinking for a long time, he had no idea how to find a suitable opportunity to kill Sally!
The failure of this operation directly alerted the enemy. Sally would definitely not easily walk out of the protection range of the Templars. More importantly … the bishop would definitely increase the protection and search for the instigator of the assassination.
"Young Master … it seems that there will be a governor from Rose Cross coming to Hollier City soon. He sent a notice here some time ago."
"Superintendent?"
Francis suddenly turned around. He knew very well what this position meant: it was a position that was only one step away from the core of the Rose Cross Temple. Above Bishop Benjamin was the [Diocese Archbishop], followed by the [Governor Bishop], the [Cardinal Bishop], and finally the [Pope].
In the past, when such a character came to the city of Holier, the first thing he did was to parade around the city to attract more believers. The second thing he did was to give a speech in the city square to inspire the faith of the believers. The third thing he did was to announce the latest orders from the Holy Cathedral in the square, usually promoting certain bishops, priests, and monks.
As the information flashed through his mind, Francis was stunned for a moment. Obviously, as a priest candidate, Sally would definitely be baptized by the bishop in the city square!
He was overjoyed, but he quickly narrowed his eyes. If he were to assassinate Sally in such a ceremony, it would be equivalent to openly going against the Rose Cross.
He gritted his teeth, turned around, and waved his hand to give a new order. "Gather all the forces that can be used and rush back before that Superintendent arrives at Hollier City!"
"As long as there's a chance, there's always a way."
*****
5th of September.
Looking southeast from Hollier City, what one could see was no longer the grasslands and plains of the northwest, but a primeval forest with extremely high coverage.
In the minds of modern people, the "primeval forest" often only appeared on TV. If people in the city wanted to experience it, they would have to travel a long distance by means of transportation to find a forest isolated by the city. After entering the forest, there were often many artificial facilities to ensure the safety of the tourists.
However, such a scene would never happen in the medieval setting of the "Earth Division". On the contrary, the "city" was isolated by the forest.
Production was backward, and the population was sparse. The human life on this continent was especially hard. There were no smooth roads between cities at all. It was already good enough to have muddy roads, not to mention the primitive jungles that were filled with all kinds of dangers.
At this time, humans did not have logging machines or chainsaws. Under the conditions of natural economy, there were no more material needs. The economy of each region was almost completely independent and self-sufficient. Under such circumstances, humans had always been fighting against the forests that wanted to flood the cities.
In the "Amber Forest", three hundred kilometers away from Hollier City, a caravan was struggling to travel on this simple and crude forest road.
The carriage shook slightly, and the metal axle made a rhythmic creaking sound. The leather boots stepped on the soft ground, and the smell of rotten leaves wafted in the air. Flags fluttered by, and the pattern of two roses crossed in front of the cross glowed softly under the sunlight.
Relatively speaking, this road condition was relatively good. When the temple guards walked on it, they sighed in their heart. "At least it's better than the swamps and muddy roads."
On both sides of the road was a dense forest with low visibility. The sky above was covered by the lush branches and leaves, and the sunlight that penetrated through the trees left some spots on the ground. Although the caravan was moving forward in silence, they could always hear the whispers of the guards. It made them feel that the atmosphere in the caravan was … slightly tense.
As the Bishop of the "Rose Cross" Holy Cathedral, the carriage that Rubens was in had just left the last fortress on the journey — Vittel Castle. After about ten days or so, when they walked out of the forest that was difficult to travel through, they would be considered to have entered the Eiferta territory of the Dukes Of Angmar.
There were a lot of people in the caravan. There were a total of nine carriages. Other than the largest carriage that Bishop Rubens was in, there were two carriages that accompanied the priests, and the remaining six were used to carry supplies. The composition of the caravan was very simple — eight Holy Knights on horses, twenty-four Holy Knights on both sides of the carriage, and thirty-four ordinary infantrymen and squires. Other than that, there were ten servants who specialized in taking care of the Bishop and the priests.
It was noon, and the caravan stopped by the roadside to take a simple break. But before the carriage came to a complete stop, an unfamiliar caravan rushed out from the side of the road and broke the silence —
A team of twelve cavalrymen in red robes rushed over, and together with more than thirty scattered soldiers, they shouted the slogan "Kill these heretics". They suddenly appeared in the narrow environment of the forest and rushed straight towards the Bishop's carriage!
In the face of such an attack, the well-trained Temple Guards seemed to have expected it. They immediately raised their shields and stood in front of the Bishop's carriage. Then, the infantrymen formed a formation to face the enemy, and the cavalrymen mounted their horses and charged forward. As the priests finished chanting a few blessing spells, they began their vigorous counterattack —
The battle broke out in an instant. Although the ambushers had the advantage in numbers, they were no threat to the Holy Knights who were well-equipped and had a full set of buffs. The battle was one-sided from the beginning — the ambushers could not cause any effective damage at all, and they were completely helpless against the infantry shield formation. As the eight Holy Knights launched a collective counterattack, the morale of the caravan collapsed, and after fighting for a while, they fled in defeat.
It happened quickly, and it ended even faster. From the ambush to the escape, it did not even take ten minutes. In the entire process, the Bishop himself did not step out of the carriage at all. From the beginning to the end, he only gave the order to "start the battle." After the battlefield was cleaned up and the priests reported the situation, Bishop Rubens pushed open the exquisitely carved wooden door and stepped out of the carriage.
Not far away, there were seven to eight corpses lying on the ground, and five captives were screaming in pain.
Dressed in a black and yellow robe, Bishop Rubens was 62 years old this year. He had a well-proportioned body, and his eyes were hale and hearty. When he looked at the corpses, it was as if he was looking at the surrounding trees. When the guards dragged a few of the ambushers, who were still alive, in front of the Bishop, he seemed to be too lazy to ask any unnecessary questions. He just glanced at the four men who were screaming in pain and asked casually, "Have you verified their identities?"
The Temple Guard tore off the sleeves of these people, revealing the uniform pattern on their arms: a snake wrapped around a cross.
When these patterns appeared in front of Rubens, the Bishop narrowed his eyes slightly, and then turned around silently. When he walked to the side, he raised his palm and casually made a "downward cut" gesture.
As a result, after he left, the Temple Guard raised the sword in his hand and mercilessly swung it down.
After a simple lunch, the Bishop returned to his carriage. Before the troops set off, he picked up a quill and jotted down a few simple words on a thick book — "5th of September, Pit Viper Cross's fifth ambush. Casualties …"
In this sentence, all the "accidents" that happened during this journey were recorded, and the number of casualties on both sides were also noted. It was obvious that such sectarian wars were considered "bloody", but from the Bishop's point of view, everything that the Pit Viper Cross did was just to cover up their fear of the Rose Cross.
"They are just a bunch of barbaric heathens."
As he spoke, his quill continued to write on another piece of parchment, and the prefix was "To Cardinal Cade".
"Those heathens are constantly ambushing my troops, and they suffer heavy casualties each time. But it is obvious that these heathens are trying to lower my guard. The heathens who were killed were farmers who don't know how to fight. Such a plan is too cruel …"
The quill dipped into the ink continuously, and the words on the parchment were very neat.
"I will continue to maintain this scale of troops to lure them into ambushing us. But to be on the safe side, the other two troops are following us in the dark, and the last one has gone to Hollier City in advance to prepare …"
"The heathens have been lying low for a long time, but this time, I have taken the initiative. Those heathens still think that they are hiding, but in fact, I already know of their plans. If they really take action in Hollier City, I will definitely teach them a lesson. "
The tone of the letter was impassioned, and it was obvious that Bishop Rubens respected "Cardinal Cade" very much. After drying the letter, he gently folded the parchment and took out the wax seal. After melting it, he used the wide ring on his thumb to press on the dark red wax seal, leaving behind the seal that represented the Rose Cross "Bishop". Then, he raised his hand and chanted an incantation, encrypting the letter a second time before handing it to the servant outside the carriage.
At this time, the troops had already rested. When they lifted the curtains and looked out, they could still smell the unconcealable smell of blood. But the Bishop seemed to be used to it, and he only said indifferently, "Let's go." Then, he let the curtains fall.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
