Alien Knights

"Master Chief, you are different from what I imagined."

Looking at the slightly weak "woman" standing opposite him, Todd scratched his head, not knowing how to address her for a moment.

"Mr. Dion? 』

"Miss Dion? 』

After thinking for a while, Todd omitted the address, looked at the other party's simple women's clothes, and said hesitantly: "You are a little different from what I think..."

Glancing at the two people looking at each other with a headache, Tristan squeezed between them, and said to Todd: "Find a place, I have very important things, we need to talk alone."

The latter glanced at the knight in women's clothing and nodded.

The two came to the interpretation hall of the church and closed the door.

Tristan first asked a question: "I was on the way here, and I heard that you took in the queen of the Silver Ring Kingdom a few days ago, and there is also a rebellious army?"

Todd admitted it was true.

Tristan lowered his chin and pondered for a while: "If I had known about this earlier, maybe I would have brought some soldiers this time."

After hearing what the other party said, Todd asked a little strangely: "I saw the entourage of the church mission. Didn't you bring a team of soldiers?"

Tristan pinched his eyebrows with a headache: "No, they are not soldiers..."

Afterwards, the man explained the "Calamity of Truth" incident to the chief commander of the knight order.

Listening to the other party's introduction, Todd opened his eyes wider and wider, and finally stammered: "You...you mean, the group of soldiers you brought are just a bunch of college students?"

Tristan nodded slightly.

Todd took a long breath, closed his eyes helplessly, and showed a wry smile at the corner of his mouth.

Speaking of which, Muxi Town is almost becoming a paradise for fugitives...

The serfs who escaped from the nobles, the alien species who were persecuted, the queen who was scolded for disaster, the army who fled treason, and now there is a group of students who are defined as heretics. The most ironic thing is that these people actually live on the land of the church and accept the protection of the Knights of the Holy See.

Todd opened his eyes and said, "I saw your letter a few days ago, and I thought you brought a reinforcement to Muxi Town..."

Then, he sat up straight, with a solemn face, and told what happened in Muxi Town recently.

The young deacon rubbed his chin with his hand, and after thinking about it, he said: "The commander from the Southern Legion is right. Even if there is no defection, Muxi Town will be attacked, but due to the lack of information he obtained, the analysis may not be sufficient. Next, I will tell you some news I just learned, they are very important!"

Tristan first explained the situation around Muxi Town to Todd: "According to the sacred agreement concluded by the church and many secular countries, no kingdom is allowed to conduct any form of trade with the northern barbarians. However, according to the church's investigation, the Silver Ring Kingdom secretly conducted many large-scale transactions with the barbarian tribes a few months ago. They exchanged weapons and armor for a large amount of gems and gold sand from the barbarians."

"Because of the lack of effective evidence, the Church had to rely on the Holy Acropolis to exert military pressure on Silver Ring City, and at the same time sent a mission to negotiate, using both soft and hard methods, asking them to stop this behavior immediately. They even released remarks that if Silver Ring City continues like this, the Holy Acropolis will not hesitate to use the method of war to occupy the stronghold and destroy the trade route to the north." Tristan tapped his knuckles on the table lightly, with a solemn expression: "At the same time, according to reliable news, the barbarians and the pirates of the northern archipelago have signed a truce. agreement, and possibly an interim covenant.”

Tristan moved his body closer to Todd, and asked in a deep voice, "Do you know what this means?"

Todd was digesting the information provided by the other party in his brain.

1. In order to alleviate the domestic financial and tax crisis, the Silver Ring Kingdom began to trade with the northern barbarians.

2. The Church and the Holy Acropolis adopted both soft and hard methods, intending to force Silver Ring City to immediately suspend its trade with the barbarians, and claimed that they would not hesitate to use war to destroy trade routes.

3. The northern barbarians concluded a temporary alliance with the pirates in the northern archipelago and opened up the sea route.

Then, combining the above three items, Todd came to a conclusion that made him sweat.

Since the trade route between Silver Ring City and the northern barbarians may be interrupted by the army of the Holy Acropolis at any time, the former two need to find a new, safer trade route to stay away from the threat of war; and the temporary agreement between the barbarians and the pirates opened up a perfect channel for this trade route—the sea.

However, there is still one of the biggest troubles to be solved in this sea passage - Muxi Town.

Muxi Town, located at the throat of the west coast, faces Waiheke Island across the sea, and is surrounded by plains with a wide view. It only needs to station a cavalry unit in the town, and no trade caravan can safely go back and forth under the nose of the town.

Therefore, for Yinhuan City and the barbarians, the existence of Muxi Town was like a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh, which had to be eliminated.

After thinking through all this, Todd sat on the chair, looked at the young deacon opposite, and said, "You mean that Muxi Town is in the vortex of war? And if I guess correctly, the church actually wants to see Muxi Town fall into the flames of war. In the war between secular kingdoms, the church only has the right to mediate, but it is inconvenient to directly participate in the war. But if Muxi Town, the land of the church, is attacked, the church will have a reason, the best reason for the church army to set foot on the secular kingdom. Therefore, The church uses Muxi Town as a bait, an excuse to start a war. To the church, we people are nothing more than dispensable children in a plan."

Tristan was surprised when he heard this, and later he said to Todd in a complimenting tone: "That's right, Mr. Chief, it's really rare for you to think of these things."

Todd tilted his body a little, and looked at the other party puzzled: "I don't understand, since you already know the future fate of Muxi Town, why did you send those students here?"

The young deacon said: "Headmaster, you may not know that the situation in the capital is getting worse and worse, and these students have no other place to go. Regarding Muxi Town and Muxi Knights, my master and I have a suggestion."

Listening to the other party's words, Todd had an ominous premonition in his heart: "Suggestion?"

"Abandon Muxi Town, take your Muxi Knights and head south!"

Todd stood up from the chair in shock: "What did you say?! Give up Muxi Town?!"

Tristan took out a lot of papers from his luggage: "These are all things that my master and I worked hard to get. This is a transfer order for the Knights to move defense, this is a permit to pass through the pass, and this is..."

"Wait a minute!"

Todd slammed his hands on the table and shouted loudly: "Are you kidding me?! There are more than a thousand people in the town! How can so many people move just because they say they want to move?! And it's going to be winter soon, and the heavy snow will soon block all the roads, and you won't even be able to get out, let alone relocate the whole town!"

"Chief, please pay attention, I didn't say that the whole town moved south, I was talking about the Muxi Knights..."

Seeing the calm expression of the man on the other side, Todd took a breath, his mind was buzzing: "You mean...you want me to leave the whole town...to escape?"

Tristan pursed his lips: "Commander, this is not an escape, this is a temporary retreat, and you will have a chance to come back later..."

"You asked me to leave the residents of Muxi Town to the northern pirates and those brutal nobles?!"

Tristan's nails were deeply embedded in the palm of his hand, and he tried his best not to hear the sadness and pain in his tone: "You can bring all the talents and items you think are valuable. As for the remaining residents, they used to be the citizens of the Silver Ring Kingdom, so they shouldn't suffer too much..."

"What about those serfs who ran away? What about those merchants who avoided exorbitant taxes? And those! What about those who chose to move into Muxi Town because they trusted me?!"

Tristan, who was gradually losing patience, pounded the table with his fists, stood up and looked at Todd, and said coldly: "Commander, in war, naive people die the fastest! The necessary renunciation is to avoid unnecessary sacrifices. Only by living can there be hope for revenge!"

After a dead silence.

Todd's expression was terrifyingly calm. He grabbed the edge of the table and said in an unusually low voice: "Maybe you don't believe me, but I have died once. Death is neither scary nor sad. The sad thing is that even if you are alive, life is better than death, and life is worse than death. Although living can escape many things, you can't escape yourself alone."

Tristan froze.

In the impression of the young deacon, Todd is a gentle, humble and polite person. At this moment, he saw another side of this 15-year-old boy that he had never seen before.

The young man packed up the documents on the table, walked slowly to the door of the room, turned his head and glanced at Todd: "Commander, to convince me, words are not enough. What I want to hear is how you plan to deal with the double-teaming of the Silver Ring Army and the North Island Pirates. Please remember, it is the end of November, and your time is running out..."

Watching the deacon disappear at the other end of the door, Todd sat back in the chair heavily and buried his face in his hands.

—————————————

Todd sat on a bench in the square in front of the church, looking at the bustling crowd in front of him. The residents in front of him, no matter how busy they were, would always bend over and say hello to him when they passed by him.

Just yesterday Friar Joe and old Aiden finally succeeded in developing new cement. Whether it is firing speed or hydration time, the new cement is faster than the cement recorded in ancient books, and it has higher hardness and lower cost.

The old knight Cumberland was on the eastern plain of the town, teaching Huggins and his subordinates how to charge and fight in groups, ensuring that these young men who had been separated from their horses for too long would not have difficulty performing basic combat skills on the battlefield.

Under the crowd of town residents, Knight Dion finally changed into neutral casual clothes after several protests to no avail. He took a group of students and stayed in a hotel on the commercial street of the town.

Todd looked at the ground, remembering what Tristan said yesterday, and worrying about how to deal with it in the future. This kind of aimless thinking lasted from noon to sunset.