Throne of the North.

Chapter 510: Praise of Light (Part )

The Kingdom of Sera.

Because of the coming of the war, knights leading a small army can always be seen on the roads between territories. Although the tension brought about by the war did not allow them to go directly to the battlefield with the Andara Kingdom, they still had to increase patrols to ensure the safety of the territories.

This is also a change that the nobles have had to make in recent years. The terrible wars have made the nobles terrified and worried that disaster will appear on their doorsteps.

Of course, population movement among nobles is still a taboo.

At this moment, a group of soldiers stopped Sven and his group.

"Who are you? Why are you here?!"

The leading knight rode on a warhorse. It was not an imperial or highland warhorse, nor was it any other extraordinary warhorse. It was just an ordinary knight's horse.

He looked at the group of people in front of him. If they were not dressed in bright and beautiful clothes, he would have arrested them on the charge of discovering runaway slaves and savages and made them slaves.

But the spirit of these people had nothing to do with slaves, and the knights were still worried about getting into trouble.

However, as nobles, isn't it a bit too shabby for these people to walk on their own legs?

“We are believers of the dawn.”

Sven spoke, emitting a hazy holy light of the morning light, which was not something that could be faked. Behind him, there were more than 20 people following, including men, women, young and old, from several families.

"believer?"

The knight frowned. There was only one church around, which was the Dawn Church in the territory behind him. It was not big, but the priest inside the wooden church had great authority.

Where do these people come from?
"The great Lord of the Dawn is guiding us forward. We are going to the place where we worship our Lord. I heard that it is called the Dawn Fortress."

The former Unicorn Fortress has now become the Dawn Fortress, and the Kingdom of Sera has placed all the believers of the Dawn there.

Facing the words of the Dawn Church missionary in front of him, the knight felt a headache. He really didn't know how to deal with these church clergy, especially during this period, the lord had a quarrel with the priest of the Church, and it seemed that something very serious was involved.

I heard that some important figure in the Holy See died, and even His Majesty the King was held accountable by the Holy Mountain of Dawn and was forced to come out of meditation.

In fact, I didn’t want to cause any trouble, so I waved my hand.

"You guys should leave here immediately. This is Barony Dias, and strangers are not welcome here."

After all, the Kingdom of Serra is not as open as the Empire, but Sven will not leave just like that. He is now holding on to the tiger's skin.

"We are planning to enter the church in Barony Dias to rest, and we need you to lead the way for us."

Sven said, the knight instinctively wanted to refuse, but in the end, he gritted his teeth, turned his horse around, and led these Dawn believers into the barony.

……

"Master, that's them."

The knight said to Baron Dias, who was standing on the second floor of the castle, looking through the window at Sven and his group. He was relieved when he saw that they didn't make any big moves.

"Why would these damn Dawn believers come to my territory?"

Baron Dias was dissatisfied. He didn't want to see anyone now. The best thing was that his territory did not attract any attention and this war and the death of the Archbishop of the Vatican were swept under the carpet.

It is said that many clergymen in the royal city have begun to instigate His Majesty the King to declare war on the Andara Kingdom at all costs.

Even for this reason, many nobles stood on the side of the Vatican.

But the more this happened, the more Diaz dared not to send more troops to the north. Instead, he secretly collected empty salaries and said that he had sent out 100 people, but in fact he only sent out 34.

He didn't dare, because he heard that something big happened in the south. The Vatican's Dawn Path killed many nobles and caused rivers of blood. Many nobles suffered heavy losses.

"The Vatican is a bunch of lunatics!"

Diaz only dared to curse in his own territory. Anyway, the situation was tense and he would never let his elite troops leave his side.

Fortunately, His Majesty the King stood on their side and did not agree to the unreasonable demands of the Dawn Church.

"Don't worry about this missionary. Just give them whatever they want to eat. If they have any other requests..."

Baron Dias looked at the maids in his castle and felt reluctant to let them go.

A moment later, the butler came back and whispered something in the baron's ear, which surprised the baron a little.

"They only wanted fifty pounds of bread?"

"Yes, sir. I asked him what he wanted to eat tomorrow, and he said fifty pounds of bread would be their food for ten days."

The cooking skills of Baron Dias's chefs are not very good. Sometimes the baron finds the bread difficult to swallow and can only eat it after mixing it with jam. By the way, the jam from Earl Ryan's territory has not been delivered to the Serra Kingdom this quarter, and he doesn't have much food left.

That missionary from the Church of Dawn only eats these?

The baron frowned. Why is he so different from Father Card?

"Good afternoon, Father Card."

Missionary Sven met the priest of the barony at noon. In fact, in terms of status, the priest is higher than the missionary, but everyone in the Vatican understands that many priests are priests not because they are powerful, but because they have connections.

They are not necessarily stronger than those missionaries.

Just like Card, he knew very well what kind of person he was. The two nuns last night caused him to wake up at noon today, and today was a day of prayer.

"Praise the Morning Lord."

"I was just praying. Sorry, Priest Sven."

Sven forgave him, and in response to Card's invitation, he nodded and entered the church.

"The light of dawn will surely illuminate every dark land."

He prayed devoutly in front of the sculpture of the morning light, and only after a long time did he return to his normal appearance.

This appearance surprised Card who was standing next to him. There were not many ascetics in the Holy See, and this gentle-looking monk was simply a rare treasure.

Fortunately, he still knew his duties as a priest, and said to Sven solemnly:
"My Lord has received your piety. His light will shine into the depths of your soul, bringing peace to your soul. His light will shine on your body, making you healthy."

A series of standard rhetoric, saying that it would be useful to those praying civilian slaves, but Sven didn't believe a word of it.

His expression was pious, and he nodded in agreement with what this Card said.

"I come here in accordance with the will of my Lord's apostle, Archangel Samir, to pray for my Lord's believers, so that the light of morning light may shine and allow the believers to serve my Lord forever." Archangel?
This was something unknown to Father Card, and he looked at Sven with some curiosity.

"The Archangel has descended to the North and met with Archbishop Adriana. She has descended into this world on behalf of the greatness of our Lord."

Sven said this, and when he mentioned Adriana, Card in front of him suddenly became interested.

"Did the angel really appear?"

He was extremely surprised and nodded gently. Then a hazy light emanated from his body and formed a snow-white holy sword.

"This is a divine art bestowed upon me by the Archangel. It comes from my Lord, the Great Dawn."

Father Card no longer had any doubts and could not help but envy Sven. The clergy in the Vatican all derived their magic from the Lord of Dawn, and every time they obtained a magic, it was a gift from the gods.

In this way, with a good topic, missionary Sven quickly became familiar with Father Card.

As the two chatted, they naturally talked about the death of the archbishop.

"Archbishop Sigurd actually died in the Kingdom of Sera. The Empire was so bold that it dared to kill the honorable archbishop of the Holy See."

Sven expressed surprise and looked at Father Card, who was angry but unable to hide his fear.

"Archbishop Sigurd died at the hands of the Empire?"

"What a shame, I used to look up to Archbishop Sigurd."

"Who else could it be other than the Empire? In the entire Norris, only the damned Empire has the guts to kill a distinguished archbishop. They want to avenge the Marquis of the North Wind."

The Marquis of the North Wind was killed in public. The impact of this incident has not disappeared worldwide until now. The Holy See suffered a lot because of this incident. Even the resistance of the nobles of the Path of Dawn was due to this incident.

The nobles in the North Wind Province, who were at the center of the storm, did not feel anything, but in other places, the death of Marquis North Wind would be talked about by the nobles at every gathering.

In Father Card's opinion, this matter was also unreasonable, and His Holiness the Pope seemed to regret it.

Fortunately, no one has been able to provide evidence to prove that it was the Vatican that did it.

"A few days ago, an order came from the Holy Mountain, saying that Archbishop Sigurd was killed by a magician from the Empire."

In fact, between being killed by imperial nobles and being killed by imperial magicians, the latter is more acceptable to the Holy See.

Just like a noble who died at the hands of orcs, at most other nobles would be angry and seek revenge together, but they would not care about it after a while. However, if a noble died at the hands of another noble...

Viscount Miles is the best example. Without Ryan's help, Viscount Miles would probably still be paying off his debts. No, even his title might have been affected. You have to know that it was around the time when the lord system appeared, and the great nobles of the empire were unable to find opportunities to make more room for their own bloodlines.

The Dawn Church and magicians have always been enemies, and the hatred for magicians has lasted for thousands of years. During such a long period of time, magicians have killed countless clergymen, and even His Holiness the Pope died at the hands of magicians.

"I also heard that the Silent Ascetics from the Holy Mountain are coming to the Kingdom of Sera. Those people are the nemesis of magicians."

Because of his background, he has connections with the Holy Mountain and is well-informed.

Father Card wanted to befriend the gentle missionary because the latter was related to the archangel. If the archangel appeared in the Holy Mountain, his status would probably be second only to the Pope, half a head higher than the ten cardinals, and the same status as the Son of God.

Father Card's northern territory was good to begin with, as he had a string of connections on the Holy Mountain, but it was vast in scope but not great in depth.

Who doesn't want to make progress? Father Card is tired of staying in the Kingdom of Serra, but if he doesn't have high connections, he will have to stay in the Barony of Dias for the rest of his life.

In the evening, Father Card took out his treasured delicacies. He also wanted to call a few nuns, but they were not the peasant believers outside. Nuns bathe frequently and have very good skin.

But he still didn't do it, not because he was reluctant, but because he felt that this gentle missionary was different from him.

Having a clear self-awareness is Father Card's greatest advantage, and it is also the reason why he was able to obtain the status of a priest among a group of competitors.

What he didn't expect was that this gentle missionary was even more traditional than he had imagined.

"I have already collected part of the faith tax from Baron Dias."

Sven took out the not-so-soft bread, and then took out an egg. The butler had forced the egg on him because he was shocked that he only took so little, but Sven still wrote a note for it.

He handed the note to Father Card and said:
"A total of 50 kilograms of bread and 120 eggs, enough for us to eat for ten days. According to the ratio, these are enough for five families to pay their religious taxes for a year."

Because of Ryan's plan, the clergy of the Kingdom of Sera have the power to collect taxes.

The meaning of Sven handing the note to Card was very simple: to collect taxes from ten households less this year.

The main reason is that these breads and eggs are relatively precious. After all, they are what the Baron eats himself, and the ingredients are not bad.

Father Card was shocked, but didn't know what to say.

Is this what missionaries from the Vatican are like? It should be like this...

But I’m afraid it’s hard to find such a person in the current Dawn Church.

Card didn't understand because he had never lived in such an atmosphere, but he knew very well that in terms of status, this gentleman missionary would definitely be able to go further than himself in front of the Lord of Dawn.

As a priest with a clear understanding of himself, his attitude suddenly became humble, and he even picked up the bread in front of Sven and started to eat it.

It was very dry, but he swallowed it, then smiled and told Sven that he owed him a piece of bread.

The relationship between the two took another step forward.

Sven stayed here and received many believers from the Barony of Dias on behalf of Father Card. He explained patiently, prayed devoutly for everyone, and even used divine magic to help a woman with blurred vision regain her sight.

Father Card was not at all upset by Sven's behavior.

"I met these families in the wilderness. They cannot follow me to the Dawn Fortress, so I ask Baron Dias to take them in and treat them as your people."

Sven left those who followed him in the Barony of Dias.

The barony was not large, and xenophobia was an instinct, but it was not something that would be considered at this level. Baron Dias simply waved his hand and gave them the right to reside in the house.

After expressing his gratitude, Sven took these people to find their houses. Because of the war, every territory had some vacant houses, and the houses where these ordinary people lived... were not luxurious to begin with, and the most they could do was to shelter from the wind and rain.

“You are the people here.”

Sven spoke to these people and prayed again, praying that these people would be happy. Dozens of people knelt on the ground crying and expressing their gratitude.

"Praise the morning light, praise the light of my Lord."

(End of this chapter)