As a Cardinal of the Church of Justice, second only to the Archbishop and the Grand Chanter, Alfred Frey only brought a little more than a hundred people to participate in the Holy War in Sylvania. The losses in the Battle of Tarfjord had not been recovered yet. Besides, Alfred knew that it was not a good idea to mobilize the entire army again. After all, he was the Patriarch of the Western Brittany Diocese.
Moving along the Ivy River, as they approached Sylvania, the number of civilians became fewer and fewer, and the number of soldiers increased. Although Kurfürst Marius was a lunatic, he was quite capable in both military and internal affairs.
However, Marius was ultimately like all the other nobles. He was only responsible for managing and protecting the people in his fief. Others? Sorry, I can't care that much. Please do as you please.
At the border of Steyr Domain, Ivy Domain and Sylvania, there was a lawless area. This was the Dark Creek Valley, also known as the City of Night by many people. This damned place was now crowded with refugees and adventurers. All kinds of people came to try their luck. Most of them were desperadoes. The security was very poor, but people still flocked to this place.
The reason was very simple. The vampires had secretly taken control of the City of Night. Here, any human could sell their blood to the vampires in exchange for money or food. The generosity of the Von Kastein family made the refugees feel a long-lost warmth. This warmth was even warmer than the relief food (porridge) distributed by Karl-franz or the few copper coins and one or two pieces of black bread that the nobles earned after working hard for a whole day.
Every time he sold his HP, he could earn a few silver coins. Money came too easily.
What? Unwilling to sell blood or no blood to sell? No problem. People could also contribute to the Von Kastein family's business by digging and collecting all kinds of bones. Alfred Frey Von Kastein was a great philanthropist. The last vampire count encouraged the starving humans to rob graves and steal bones and corpses. These things could allow the undead to quickly form an army.
In just a year or two, the scattered graves and mass graves within two to three hundred kilometers were almost emptied.
After the Holy War Army arrived at Templehov Castle, Alfred Frey wanted to understand the situation. He brought a follower and secretly came to Night City in the Dark Stream Valley to check out the situation.
The approach of the Holy War army did not put an end to the fervent atmosphere in the City of Night. On the contrary, when Alfred Frey stepped into this place shrouded in darkness, an instinctive discomfort quickly assaulted this passionate Cardinal.
The sky was dark, the city was dark, the streets were dark, and the people were dark. Only the green Evil Moon shone with a strange green light in the sky. Moslib had never been so bright.
"Hey! Welcome to Night City, I'm Jett! " Immediately, a man walked up. He looked haggard, with sunken eyes and pale skin. Seeing the black-robed Alfred Frey appear, this human was very excited. "Hey, brother, do you need a guide? In Night City, no one loves this city more than me. I love this city like how I love your mother! I really regret not shooting you into the wall back then. Now I have to beg for food at the door? Brother, do you have wine? Want a sip? "
"I'm new. I don't know how to play." Alfred Frey skillfully took out a bottle of inferior barley wine from his bag. It tasted more like horse urine than barley wine, but this guy obviously couldn't care less. He gulped it down. "Burp, this is delicious. From today onwards, you're my brother, newcomer."
"Am I not your father?" Alfred sneered.
"Oh! Father! " Jett's shameless appearance disgusted Alfred Frey. At the same time, he noticed that this guy's arms and elbows were full of needle marks.
"Okay, lead the way. Where can I find fun?" Alfred Frey's skillful appearance simply didn't match the word Cardinal.
"Anywhere, Father!" Jett laughed wildly. "Every day, there will be many newcomers like you. But in just three months, half of them will turn into dried corpses. There will be delicious food, delicious drinks, and Kislöw beauties with big butts and big boobs! It's just that the price isn't ordinary. "
"Price?" Alfred Frey scrutinized everything carefully.
"Generally, you have to sell blood twice." Jett spun around happily. "But you have to be careful. Generally, no one can save up the money to sell blood twice. Even if there is, you have to be careful at all times. Don't let someone take everything away from you, or crack your head open with a hammer. In this place, there are no laws, only fist-sized. Do you know where the greatest and most legendary names of Sylvania are?"
"In the graveyard ~"
With a pun, Alfred Frey was amused. "Is this how your vampire masters taught you?"
"Hey, brother, I'm telling you, in Sylvania, we don't buy the Empire's stuff. Here, heroes don't matter where they come from. Anyone has a chance to become a true noble. The main thing is that you can please those midnight nobles. "
"Not calling me Father anymore?"
"It's expired, brother, unless you're willing to buy me another drink."
Under the dim lights, narrow streets, noisy alleys, and chaotic markets, Alfred Frey strolled around a few times. The Cardinal thought he would encounter countless sins and distortions, but in fact, what he saw was a large group of refugees huddled together to keep each other warm. They lived by selling blood and collecting bones for the vampires.
Most of their faces were pale due to excessive blood loss and weak due to excessive indulgence. After selling their blood, they would crazily spend and enjoy themselves. Then, after squandering all their money, they would sell their blood again. In such a cycle, these people had already become "blood slaves" as the vampires wished, willingly becoming the source of blood for the vampires.
Unlike Frey Von Karstein who paid attention to the number of living people in his territory to provide sufficient blood source, Norman Frey had made Sylvania void of living people. This had already been mentioned before, so it won't be repeated here.
After walking around the Night City, Alfred Frey saw with his own eyes how the Undead collected the "blood tax" and "bone tax". What made Alfred Frey most distressed was that the refugees were satisfied with this. Compared to the nobles and bureaucrats, the vampires were gentler. To these midnight nobles, money and food were worldly possessions. Alfred Frey couldn't help but feel conflicted when he saw that the Church of Justice was fiercer than the midnight nobles in collecting taxes and extorting marrow!
What was even more humorous was that there were all kinds of advertisements at the scene of blood selling.
"The day of a family of three,
No matter how careful you are,
Your daughter's birthday,
You have to live a decent life too!
Mr. Thomas of Ostmark, selling blood for his daughter's birthday. "
Alfred Frey had thousands of words stuck in his chest. The Cardinal sighed and strode away under Jett's urging.
There were no living people in Sylvania. This sentence echoed back and forth in Alfred Frey's heart. The Cardinal couldn't help praying again, "My Lord, they are all your people, please don't give up on them."
Walking along the river of the filthy and chaotic River of Eussig, Alfred Frey once again doubted this Holy War.
He didn't doubt the need to eliminate the vampires, nor did he doubt the need to purify Sylvania.
Alfred Frey was doubtful. Even if we eliminate the Undead and solve the problem of Sylvania, can we save and improve the livelihood of the people here?
The Church burned everything, nailed the vampires to wooden stakes, and dealt with Alfred Frey and his Castein bloodline. Can Sylvania really be saved?
He had to follow up, but neither the Church nor the Empire's court could do anything about it.
Before the Cardinal could continue, there was some movement on the banks of the River of Eussig, which was full of smelly and corpses.
It wasn't just corpses. There were corpses everywhere. Refugees from the north, people abandoned by Night City, trash who sold their blood until they lost their minds, and civilians who were killed in fights.
Some scavengers were feasting, but Alfred Frey was too lazy to pay attention to them. He was about to hurry back to Templehof and join the Holy War army when he heard cracking sounds from the withered grass in front of him.
Alfreid subconsciously tightened his grip on his warhammer and approached cautiously. However, when he saw the scene in front of him, the red cardinal's hair stood on end. His whole body trembled, and a deep chill ran from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet.
A brown-haired little girl was gnawing on a corpse. She looked to be only two or three years old and had a pair of very pure big eyes that blinked.
But under her big eyes, her mouth was full of blood, and the clothes wrapped around her were tattered, showing an extremely dirty dark green color. The little girl screamed, but she took out the rotten organs from the corpse and swallowed them in big mouthfuls. She didn't even know what she was doing. When she saw Alfred Frey looking at her, she showed a big smile and took out a piece of the organs, as if inviting Alfred Frey to share it.
Can we really save Sylvania? Alfred Frey's eyes were filled with tears. The Cardinal tried to approach her. Seeing that someone was willing to pay attention to her, the little girl smiled happily and clapped her hands hard. Then, she handed the bloody organs to the Cardinal.
Alfred Frey hurriedly reached out and pushed it away.
What's wrong? Why don't you want to eat? Don't you want to eat? The little girl blinked her eyes in confusion and tilted her head to express her confusion.
The Cardinal began to tremble. Alfred's hands were shaking. He clenched his teeth, and the fervent Cardinal allowed his tears to fall.
Why did it become like this?
Humans, Chaos, Undead, whose responsibility is it?!
No matter what, Man Frey! I will definitely take your dog life!
"Come, come with me." Alfred Frey gritted his teeth, picked up the little girl, and checked her body to make sure she was fine. His black robe was soon covered in blood. The Cardinal left with the confused little girl and returned to the camp of the Holy War army.
A few hours later, Alfred Frey arrived at Templehof.
The camp of the Holy War army was a little chaotic. After all, it was a religious army, a secular army, mercenaries, and wizards. Alfred Frey hurriedly handed the little girl to a battle priest and asked his subordinates to prepare some food for her. After that, he rushed to the camp.
The Archbishop of the Church of Justice, Wickmar, was arranging the marching tasks. The reinforcements from Avey and Sol were still on the way. Now, only about 12000 people had arrived at Templehof. As for whether to march immediately, there was a big debate among the commanders. The Archbishop and the legendary demon hunter Von Koden wanted to march immediately and catch the Undead off guard. On the other hand, Lupio Blaze, the Teacher of the Burning Sun Knight, and Jovi, the Light Mage, thought that they should wait for the army to gather.
Alfred Frey also thought that they should wait for the army to gather, but he had to admit that Wickmar and Von Koden were in a hurry to march. More than 10,000 people spent a lot of money every day. There were almost no supplies nearby, and the poor Steyr could not provide logistical support. They could only rely on the food from Avey, and even the supplies directly from Rick. The logistical line was very long. As long as the Holy War army delayed for a day, the logistical line would be tight for another day.
At the same time, according to the scouts, the Undead army was still slowly gathering. If they marched at this time, they might be able to catch Alfred Frey off guard and directly take Dunkenhoff Castle.
After three hours of discussion, there was no result. Wickmar signaled that they would take a rest today and dismissed the meeting. He then summoned a group of vampire hunters who had already gone crazy. These vampire hunters were not official demon hunters. Many of them were close to madness after hearing Nagash's whispers in their dreams. However, they also revealed a fatal news — the Undead were planning to resurrect Nagash!
When Alfred Frey came out of the tent, he saw the fire and a huge column of smoke in the distance.
"What's wrong? What happened? "
"It's the Dark Valley, my Cardinal. Our vanguard has already reached the Night City and burned it to ashes. That kind of place shouldn't exist in the first place," a cardinal casually said.
"But there are many innocent civilians there!" Alfred Frey was surprised.
"They are no longer civilians after becoming the dogs of the Undead. They are enemies." Before Alfred Frey could say anything, he suddenly realized that the little girl he brought back was being pressed against a tree stump by a few ascetics.
"No! What are you doing?! "Alfred Frey pushed the cardinal away and roared.
It was too late. The flail smashed down and the little girl's head exploded. Blood and white liquid spurted everywhere.
Before she died, she looked at Alfred Frey in confusion. She didn't seem to understand why these people were doing this to her.
"No!" Alfred Frey picked up his weapon and rushed towards the ascetics. He smashed the ascetic who was executing the girl to death with his hammer. "She's just a child. She doesn't know anything! She doesn't know anything! "
A bloody conflict broke out in the camp until Archbishop Wickmar arrived.
"Any filth must be purified immediately! Alfred Frey. " After Wickmar understood the cause and effect of the matter, the archbishop started to criticize Alfred under Alfred Frey's hopeful gaze. "Do you know what you are doing? Alfred Frey, you idiot. Are you trying to protect a vampire?! "
"She's not a vampire. She's just an ordinary human child!" Alfred Frey roared under the crowd's obstruction.
"An ordinary human child would have a mouth full of blood and human organs hidden in her clothes?" The archbishop slapped Alfred Frey's face. Wickmar's voice was like a bell. "Wake up! Oh, my Cardinal! Have you forgotten the teachings of our Lord? Have you forgotten our teachings? Filth must be purified. For the sake of King Laing, don't make me remind you a second time! "
After the archbishop scolded Alfred Frey in front of everyone, the farce quickly ended. Alfred Frey sat on the ground dejectedly.
Was there a problem somewhere?
We came to save Sylvania, but why … Why did we bring slaughter and destruction to our own people?
Did … Did something go wrong?
… I am Alfred Frey's section divider …
"The Holy War's army has arrived at Templehof."
In Duncanhof Castle, Alfred Frey and Lich King Akerman were discussing the next step of the plan.
"If we let the Holy War's army gather, they will be a great threat to us," Akerman said calmly. "We should attack first."
"No." Alfred Frey smiled coldly. "Guess who will be the happiest if we attack Sylvania first?"
"The Holy War's army?" Akerman was deep in thought.
"Yes, they can't wait for us to charge out. They can't wait for us to leave Sylvania and fight them under the sun." Alfred Frey nodded. "This way, we won't be able to use our advantage in numbers, and we won't be able to complete the plan of trapping the archbishop."
"Then …"
"Fortunately, we have an excellent servant who can complete this mission." Alfred Frey clapped his hands, and a necromancer walked out of the darkness.
"Alfred Goste, the youngest of the five Templehof brothers."
"He understands the terrain of Templehof and can complete the mission of trapping the enemy. As long as we fail, Wickmar will personally lead the Holy War's army into Sylvania and follow us."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm very sure, because I know our archbishop very well. He will definitely make this decision, definitely."
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