To the solemn and sacred song of the Beastn, "The Song of Amynos," nine kings lined up, half-kneeling on the ground.
They revealed their dark necks, waiting for Horn to crown them.
Picking up a crown woven from branches and flowers, Horn solemnly placed it on the head of the King of Xidian.
Then he picked up the jar of Holy Oil mixed with lard from Boned, and applied it to the king’s forehead.
Taking two steps back, Horn picked up the crooked staff in his hand and tapped the Queen of Xidian on both shoulders and her forehead.
"Within the sphere of power, with the help of the Holy Father, Holy Mother, and Saint Miseria, I will protect the Pope Country and its people of hundred and ten according to law and doctrine, for this is the duty of a king."
Horn recited solemnly.
And the Queen of Xidian bowed her head: "In the na of Miseria, I promise to the people entrusted to ."
After saying this, Horn picked up a patchwork bag and tied it around the barrel-like waist of the King of Xidian, hanging at the corner of her apron.
Signing his docunt with his El na on the pre-stamped letter of appointnt, Horn handed the docunt to the Queen of Xidian.
Kneeling on one knee, she received the docunt with both hands, and Queen Amazon of Xidian officially beca the queen enfeoffed by the Pope Country.
The Xidian Kingdom with its fifty-three citizens finally beca a vassal state of the grand Pope Country with its thousand and two citizens.
Congratulations.
"The ceremony is complete!" Boned shouted with a mysterious voice.
The coronation ceremony for kings was actually a thod used in the early Ael Empire specifically to appease the barbarian tribes.
These Beastn, not knowing where they heard it from or if it was passed down from ancient tis, stubbornly demanded the enfeoffnts.
My great Ael has long perished!
But to avoid harassnt, Horn had no choice but to play along with them in earnest.
Anyway, it wasn’t the first ti; Horn was already quite used to it.
Just like that, after enfeoffing all nine queens one by one, Horn handed out the last docunt and looked at the sky, rubbing his sore arm.
It was getting late, and just as he was about to say farewell to this group of queens, the Queen of Xidian suddenly approached Horn.
"Your esteed majesty, besides the enfeoffnts, I have an unworthy request. I would like to ask you for so Holy Oil."
Horn handed over the jar of lard Holy Oil: "You want this?"
"Not this, the golden one."
After much banter like a conversation between a chicken and a duck, Horn finally understood that she wanted so garlic oil.
How did she know? Horn cast an inquisitive look at Busak.
Busak pointed to the newly liberated prisoners standing obediently by the sedan.
They probably saw Madlan using garlic oil to treat diarrhea and fevers in people.
This put Horn in a bit of a dilemma. Everything else was easy to discuss, but the garlic oil was life-saving and had a shelf life of less than a month.
"We can exchange clothes and herbs, or food, or slaves as tributes for that Holy Oil."
Seeing Horn’s hesitation, the queen quickly pleaded.
Madlan suddenly coughed lightly and stepped to Horn’s side: "We can let them exchange garlic and herbs. We have a small distiller, and Chervis can operate it..."
Given the cooler weather and swamp environnt, many indeed caught colds, and the consumption of herbs sped up significantly.
As for the small distiller, it belonged to Chervis. It was used to produce fake wine due to the need for frequent moves, so a large distiller couldn’t be used.
"Alright, you can exchange herbs and garlic for it. Discuss the specifics with Busak and Madlan."
After the discussion, those elderly queens finally left satisfied, and Horn thought he could set off since it was getting late.
But he found that the few guards who ca with the queens stood still.
"What’s, what’s going on?"
"The summoned warriors. These are the strongest warriors of our kingdom. Are you not satisfied?" Hearing Horn’s words, Amazon returned from the path and asked in surprise.
Reminded by Boned, Horn finally rembered.
This was another tradition of the Ael Empire.
They would conveniently summon the kingdom’s warriors to join during an enfeoffnt.
Many senior officials and generals of the Ael Empire were born from the barbarian kingdoms and tribal warriors and leaders’ sons.
Over ti, those kingdoms closer to the mainland and more Aelized even landed and turned into organized legions.
In the Divine Ael Empire period, they dissolved back into kingdoms.
For instance, the predecessor of the Falan Kingdom was the Falan Legion, and its predecessor was the Gothic Kingdom.
The Leia Kingdom’s predecessor was the Imperial Guard Corps, whose predecessor was the Celya Kingdom.
Nevermind, anyway, there were only eight or nine people. Horn patted these female warriors on the shoulders: "Not bad, then establish a guard called the Varangian Guard. In Ael, it ans ax warriors. Your na is Gergo, right?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," the female warrior from the Xidian Kingdom replied.
"You’ll be the Captain of the Varangian Guard, then."
After settling these female warriors and bidding farewell to the queens one last ti, Horn finally set off on his journey.
The autumn sunlight, rising amidst the mist in the swamp, seed a bit mottled.
The fragrance of flowers, cooking smoke, and the sll of grass mingled, making breathing sowhat uncomfortable.
Having these Varangian female warriors did speed up Horn’s journey considerably.
The troubles and pitfalls of marching through the swamp were mostly avoided by these Varangian female warriors.
Several people who were snake-bitten were also treated with homade herbal redies by them.
Madlan looked at the Varangian Guard scouting ahead: "I’ve always wondered how they know Norn. They’ve never left the Blackbone Swamp, let alone gone to the Norn Kingdom?"
"Because Norn is the indigenous language of this land." Horn carelessly shook the reins. "This continent we’re on is originally called the Norn Continent, only later were the Norn people driven to the eastern and northern reservations."
"So we’re the newcors?"
"What else?" Saying this, Horn suddenly recalled sothing, he maneuvered his horse, fell back a few steps, and ca to Qianqian’s side.
"Qianqian brother, today when I saw you speak of Lilith, your expression seed off, what happened?"
Qianqian kicked away a spider crawling out of the mud as he walked: "The na Lilith, I’ve heard it before."
"A witch?"
"No, no." Qianqian shook his head, bringing up another topic, "Do you know what the Blood and Flesh Royal Court’s gods are?"
"They have gods?" Madlan moved closer, asking curiously.
Horn recalled from his Church archives: "I think it’s called the Eternal Lord?"
Qianqian glanced at him: "Yes, the god they worship is called the Blood Race Ancestor Eternal Lord.
Due to their doctrine of preventing comparisons with their God, they neither specify whether the Eternal Lord is male or female, nor ntion nas, nor have any portraits.
But people from the Scales Hermitage once brought back information from the Old Ael Empire’s ruins, where the described events were unclear and bizarre.
We always thought it was forged by the Scales Hermitage because the information stated... that the Blood Race Ancestor was nad Lilith, who was Miseria’s twin sister."
Although Horn had grown sowhat numb to everything during this ti.
Nonetheless, on hearing this news, he couldn’t help but cough violently.
Didn’t this an...
That besides having a Saint Master mother from the Church as a god, he also had a Blood Race Ancestor as an aunt?
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