Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 180 The Fire of Faith
"Bishop Hiron," Yuno said calmly with his hands wrapped in the wide sleeves of his burqa, "I know that you have been in charge of appeasement of the Samirs in recent years, and I also know that you have been working hard to ease their peace. The relationship of the dynasty, trying to develop them into the people of the golden tree-but this should not be a reason for you to ignore the facts."

"Before the Giant War, the southern region was the territory that the Samirs had managed for generations. During the war, they once defied the general trend and tried to stop our advance here, but His Majesty Malika thought they would fight back in the later part of the war. , was helpful in the journey of the fallen giant king's court, so I forgave this group of unbelieving people and allowed them to continue to live and multiply in the southern part of the northern border."

"But if I remember correctly, there was a shadow of their support behind the rebellion three years ago. It was only because of the lack of direct evidence that Bishop Pilak and you suspended our further investigation and sanctions against them. I am not wrong Bar?"

Xilun stared at him coldly and said after a while, "What exactly do you want to say?"

"It's very simple. Judging from the strength, in the entire southern region, except for the two branch halls of our Flame Temple, as well as my four noble territories and seven military fortresses towards myself, only the Samirs have the armed forces to capture Slovens overnight. strength."

"And judging from the motive," Yuno sneered, "that group of cruel, stupid, and cruel barbarians were never our kind. We know this, and they themselves know it well. I heard that many of their tribes have Having suffered two consecutive years of frostbite, when their stomachs can't be filled, it's not a difficult choice for them to make, right?"

"You are talking about your heart—"

"Okay," Pilak finally spoke, looked at his old friend beside him and shook his head, and said, "The truth still needs careful investigation, and what Yuno said is nothing more than an inference."

"But no one knows the Samir people better than I do!" Shiron argued to himself, "It's nothing but the condescending and arrogant prejudice of some ignorant people to say that they are shameless and unfaithful people. Believe in the ice dragon god Bolelius—of course, that existence may not be called a real god, but it is also one of the most noble bloodlines of the ancient dragon dynasty."

"As for the little discord between the Samirs and us in the unification war, it was even more insignificant. At the beginning, everyone was their own master. What's the problem with fighting on the battlefield openly? Later, they surrendered to our court, and in the process of crusade against the giant royal court They have repeatedly made military exploits, and the former king once personally promised to give them a large piece of fertile land south of the Lode cliff to live and work, but what happened later?"

"Later, we broke our promise! After His Majesty Radagon ascended the throne, we overthrew all the agreements with the so-called 'foreign races'. The Samirs were abandoned deep in the snow field, and the mixed races and sub-humans in the army were also killed. Gradually liquidated, even our former allies, those flame giants who should have become the new giant royal family were also—"

"Hiron!" Pilak interrupted his statement angrily, "You made a mistake."

The rest of the people were silent for a while, while Yuno looked coldly at Hiron's gloomy face, with a mocking sneer on the corner of his mouth.

Hiron clasped his fingers tightly on the table, took a few deep breaths, and finally calmed down: "I was a little impulsive just now, but the case of Slovens must be investigated more deeply. Before definite evidence can be obtained to identify the enemy, As a military chief, I do not agree with any hostilities against the Samirs."

"Of course," Pilak sighed softly, "This is your right, and it is also the rule that all of us should abide by."

He looked around at the six bishops in the temple, and the flames in the cups of fire above the heads of the five other than Hiron were still dim, and he felt a little more sad in his heart.

The goblet of fire on the top of the helmets of the flame archbishops is by no means a symbolic decoration. If they are the guardians of the evil god's fire, then the fire in the goblet is a detector for themselves.

Each of these special fires refined by the dynasty's top divine techniques has unique characteristics. They are ingeniously connected with the bishop's own soul. The more intense the fire, the stronger and more pious the bishop's own beliefs.

However, for these watchers who abandon the glory of the golden tree and devote themselves to the fire of evil gods to protect the dynasty, once the faith is shaken, the consequences are not limited to the wavering loyalty. The abyss has since become a fallen person thirsting for the power of the evil god.

Today, even the faith of the archbishops is so fragile that one can imagine how serious the situation is.

"The Slovens case continues to be handled by Hiron, and we will start discussing the prayer of the flame giant found in the Watcher Fortress."

"I ask all of you here, as well as the 42 bishops under your jurisdiction, to immediately stop studying these prayers." Pirac said without doubt.

As soon as these words came out, Yuno, who had been quite calm all this time, couldn't sit still any longer. He slightly bent down and rubbed against the main seat, and whispered: "Lord Pilak, this is not appropriate."

Pilak turned his head and looked at him lightly, there was no trace of anger in his eyes, but there was an indescribable oppression in his eyes, "Why, what's wrong?"

Yuno considered his words carefully, and said carefully: "Since the watchers unearthed the prayer book from the giant cemetery, all of you have participated in the relevant research. You should also know that although the prayers recorded in it are somewhat difficult to control, but It’s actually not a problem for monks above the bishop level, especially compared to the powerful power of those prayers, those risks are really insignificant.”

Pilak didn't refuse immediately after hearing this, but turned to look at the other four archbishops except Hiron and Yuno, and asked, "You think so too?"

The four of them looked at each other vaguely, then lowered their heads silently.

"Heh, heh—" Pilak coughed and laughed, and his lungs groaned like an old bellows.

Seeing this, Hiron immediately frowned and stepped forward to help pat him on the back, then took out a bottle of flavoring medicine from his close-fitting pocket, unplugged it and let Pilak take a sip, and the severe cough gradually subsided.

The pale-faced Pilak wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, and after a long silence, he said hoarsely: "Everyone, how long have we been working together here?"

"Siron has been here since the beginning, followed by Yuno, Kelin, and Roddy. Even the youngest Schiffer, you have been here for more than seven years, right?"

The middle-aged bishop at the end was startled for a moment, then nodded vigorously, with red eyes, unwilling to look at the old bishop's illness.

"The northern border has never been a good place. The ice sheet we are stationed on is the coldest and worst corner of the northern border—a ghostly weather where shit can be frozen into lumps of ice, and hungry wolves who can never fill their stomachs." And wild dogs, and those giant remnants who want to kill us all the time. Just picking them up can make people scold for a lifetime, let alone let us catch up with them all."

"However, why do we have to stay here and suffer? Why... give up our honorable identity as a golden monk, and spend our whole lives studying and mastering these powers that belong to the enemy?"

There was a smile on the corner of Pilac's mouth, "Frankly speaking, I don't like the current Golden Dynasty, and even more I hate Rodel's group of bullshit nobles who indulge in wine and sex all day long, betray their trust for petty profits, and are complacent about intrigue. What is the contradiction between the two majesties? It doesn’t matter if there are any conflicts between the old and new parties, in fact, I don’t care anymore.”

"Yuno said that he had been to the town of Slovens, and I had been there too—in the 39th year of the Golden Calendar, I stopped there temporarily on the way to inspect the defense of the two southern sub-temples. At that time, the owner of the town was the old Baron Cahill. , At that time, in order to make a surprise inspection of the military arrangement of the branch hall, I did not bring my entourage with me, nor did I disclose my identity to the outside world, I only said that I was an ordinary monk passing by."

There was a look of reminiscence in the eyes of the old bishop, and he said: "It was already midnight when I arrived in the town. I knocked on the door of a farmer and asked to stay overnight at their house. The hostess for me was an old lady who was over seventy years old. With her little granddaughter who just turned 13."

"The old man was blind in one eye, and the other eye was not very bright. Her son was a soldier who died in the giant war, and her daughter-in-law was an ordinary peasant woman who died in the remnants of the giant's counterattack a few years ago. That The little girl can only carry the farm work in the field and chores at home by herself - she is not tall, her back is a little hunched, her exposed skin is tanned, and her hands are frostbite except for calluses. To be honest , she is not as cute and beautiful as those ladies from noble families."

"However, on the night of my stay, the old woman scooped out a bowl of brown rice from the only half bag of brown rice left at home, and asked her granddaughter to cook a bowl of steaming rice for me. When I woke up the next day, the little girl took home The cleanest piece of silk cloth helps me polish my armor bit by bit.”

Pilak stroked the flame emblem on the chest of the black iron armor, and said softly: "She said that the flame monk is a good person who protects the town. Thank you for protecting everyone and her grandma."

"At that time, I was thinking, this is the meaning of our choice to stay here, right? It's not for guarding the homes and courtyards of the nobles, not guarding the gates and walls for those 'golden people' who can't tolerate others, and it shouldn't be drunk. In the flames left by the evil god, he pursues power that does not belong to him with ambition all day long."

"We just want to be the 'good person' in that child's mind, to protect her and her grandma, to protect people who should be protected by us like that family, aren't we?"

He breathed a sigh of relief, quietly looked at the group of fellow robes with complex expressions, and said after a while: "So, I am not ordering you as the chief archbishop, but as an ordinary flame monk. I beg you, don't be confused by external forces, let's use our limited strength to shoulder this limited responsibility, is it difficult?"

After a long silence, Yuno took the lead and said: "I will order the bishop below to destroy the original copy of the Giant's Prayer Book and all copies, and all related research will also end from today."

The rest of the people also immediately expressed their support. So far, the turmoil that almost caused many bishops of the Flame Temple to split up has finally subsided, at least on the surface.

Pilak looked at the much brighter flames on the helmets of his comrades, and he breathed a sigh of relief, showing a relieved smile.

(End of this chapter)