Even though the situation seed unchanged, on the way back to his bedroom, Horn felt much better than before.
He sowhat understood why those villains still wanted to take soone down with them in their final monts.
Seeing the tense faces and sweaty foreheads of Tommy and the others around him, so of the bleak clouds about the future even dissipated for Horn.
"There’s really no need for you to do this," Grampwen said softly to Horn, his tone sowhat exasperated, "We’re on the sa side, don’t you understand?"
"Who said I’m on the sa side as you?" Horn had a face full of schadenfreude.
"Please stop saying such things in anger," Tommy whispered through gritted teeth, "I know what we’re doing indeed puts you in danger, but you have to consider us too.
Once this is over, you can naturally leave with the two witches, the Secret Faction will protect you.
But we’re different, our business hasn’t been moved to Black Snake Bay yet, and what you’re doing... argh!"
Why would the Secret Faction protect if I leave with two witches?
Seeing Tommy’s distressed appearance, Horn frowned, sensing there might be more to the story, but he didn’t trust this group of people and was unwilling to ask, fearing he might reveal sothing.
Clad in the Pope’s Holy Robe, Horn was escorted back and finally had the leisure to take a look at the Gulag Monastery.
The essence of monasteries was not much different from churches; most churches were in towns, manors, or villages, while monasteries were mostly in the wild.
Therefore, monasteries have security needs; they not only build them on mounds but also erect towering walls around the churches.
From the gatehouse, there was a tree-lined path leading to the Gulag Church, with flower beds on either side.
On the left of the path were the bell tower, vegetable garden, and warehouse, while on the right were the livestock pen, mill, bathhouse, and herb shop.
To return to Horn’s bedroom in the church, one had to pass through a courtyard garden covered with grapevines and morning glory, and an arbor ford by shrub branches.
Horn looked up, beyond the intermingling branches, and could see two turrets standing on each side of the church, with the monastery cetery between the church and the turrets.
Many devout and wealthy believers, mainly the Ard Farrs, were buried here.
Horn had just passed through the shrub corridor and reached the cetery when a flash of lightning appeared before him.
"Let through, you despicable and vile knight!"
"For Miseria’s sake, please don’t say such rude things, otherwise I’ll have to break my knight’s vow and strike you, a weak woman,"
Although many parts of the knight’s armor were scorched red by lightning, he stood firm, unwilling to yield even a step.
"Knight’s vow? You talk about knight’s vows and I find it laughable!" Jeanne, seemingly provoked by sothing, exploded in rage, "Knights deserve to die; they’re all liars. I repeat, get out of my way!"
"Jeanne!" Horn hastily called out.
"Brother Horn!"
Seeing Horn, Jeanne imdiately dispelled the lightning from her hand and ran quickly towards Horn.
Behind her, Jia Li followed with her head bowed like a schoolchild who had done sothing wrong, a bump on her forehead, pouting with tears at the corners of her eyes.
"Sister Jeanne is bad..."
Reaching Horn, Jeanne pushed aside Tommy and the others and embraced Horn sideways.
Horn’s head hit her chest, producing a tallic clang.
So hard, Horn cried out in pain.
"I’m so glad you’re okay."
Hearing this voice, Horn was startled; this was undoubtedly Busak’s voice.
Peeking out from beside Jeanne, he saw Busak and the remaining Child Soldiers, along with the trembling Butcher Priest Kosse and the young monk Armand, standing by the church’s door.
Shouldn’t they be over at Red Mill Village? How did they get here?
With a puzzled look at Jeanne, she smiled and said, "Kosse and the other villagers saw that you hadn’t returned for a long ti. Just as another monk went out to investigate and ended up at Red Mill Village, they ca over by boat."
"We originally planned to rescue you, but didn’t expect that you had already been elected as pope, truly the true grandson of the Holy Father, the one chosen by Miseria." Busak looked at Horn with much more reverence than before.
But Horn narrowed his eyes, casting a glance at Tommy who was standing to the side.
The knight also approached, staring directly at Horn, particularly at the golden crown on his head.
"Your Holiness the Pope, let introduce you to the Temple Knight Commander of Gulag Monastery—Danji Heide, the Water Mill Knight."
A so-called temple knight is a knight consecrated by the church, exclusively serving as its ard force.
In a sense, temple knights are actually ard monks rather than knights in the secular sense.
The knight before him should be the one sent to stay by Durdafer’s side and responsible for his protection.
After all, the Thousand River Valley, unlike elsewhere, is rampant with Secret Faction bandits, and its security is only slightly better than neighboring Shattered Stone Plain and Black Snake Bay.
Listening to Grampwen’s introduction, Horn looked towards him, only to see a middle-aged knight.
Though his stature was clearly tall, he was hunched over, and his dark walrus mustache was as tough as steel, with a thick red nose above it.
At this mont, he pushed the bird-beak-shaped faceplate upwards but made no gesture of greeting to Horn.
"Oh, are you a titled knight?" Horn looked at this rosacea-nosed knight.
A titled knight is one of the most outstanding among imperial knights, hence earning a unique knight title from the royal family.
For instance, the Flute Knight Lorson from a hundred years ago, and Lion Knight Prince Kongdai of the Leia Kingdom.
"No, that’s just a nickna others gave ." Danji looked a bit embarrassed, "Your Holiness the Pope, your people are starving, may I request you..."
"The Pope’s already sick and exhausted, and you still want to bother him? Knight Danji, please step aside; we need to escort His Holiness back to his room to rest."
Before Danji could respond, Tommy and the others exchanged glances and squeezed past Danji, crowding around Horn as they headed toward the church.
Hiss, it seems that these people aren’t in cahoots; there’s an opportunity to be seized.
"Wait." Without ti to think further, Horn suddenly called out, making Jeanne stop imdiately.
The others, unable to stop Jeanne, could only helplessly halt where they were.
"This temple knight Danji is responsible for my safety; how can he rely be an ordinary Knight Commander?" Horn rubbed his sore nose, "In the na of the Pope, you are to form a Holy Grail Knight Order; you are the Grand Master, with Saint Jeanne as the Knight Commander. This Knight Order shall stand as equals with the three great Knight Orders."
The knight was montarily stunned, before awkwardly placing a hand to his chest and bending in obeisance. He didn’t even manage a half-bow, "At your command, Your Holiness."
Jeanne glanced at him with displeasure and continued carrying Horn towards the bedroom.
Cuddled in Jeanne’s arms, Horn continued silently pondering an escape until the bedroom door drew near, and waves of dizziness hit him once more.
Once again, Horn felt his body temperature rising, his vision blurring.
Almost forgetting what he needed to do, he bit his tongue, forcing himself to stay focused, and tapped Jeanne’s chest.
"Why are you blushing? Ahem, I have sothing to tell you..."
Bringing his mouth close to Jeanne’s ear, Horn whispered: "The Holy Father has given a redy in a dream that can ease my illness: take forty pounds of garlic... crush into paste... fernt for five minutes, then place it in a distiller... until golden liquid flows out... do you understand?"
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