Alien Knights

Walking on the Yuexi Plain at the foot of the mountain, all the way to the south.

Taking off the conspicuous monk's clothes, and putting on the farmer's robe and cloak that Huggins found somewhere, Todd looked at the dark night road by the bright moonlight and someone else's torch, and yawned: "Where are we going? It's so late at night, can't we go tomorrow?"

"It's only open at night," Hudgens said to him. "Besides, with so much going on lately, we need some entertainment."

Um?

Open at night? Fun and relaxing?

Todd raised one eyebrow, and immediately thought of some "not suitable for children" images. While shaking his head and smiling knowingly at Huggins, he thought to himself, I really can’t see it, brother, you usually look serious, but you are such a boring guy, no wonder you asked me to change out of the monk’s uniform and put on casual clothes before I came out.

Unexpectedly, Edgar, who was walking in front, suddenly turned around, his face full of excitement and joy: "It's really great! The 'Downtown Circus' just came to the neighborhood this morning, and it's open to the public tonight. I thought they were touring and performing in the Silver Ring Kingdom, and it would take three months to come here, but I didn't expect to come back in just over 20 days!"

ha?

circus?

So that's what you've been talking about all along!

Todd, who realized that he was completely delusional, touched his nose in embarrassment, his old face turned red instantly, and he was ashamed of the filth deep in his soul.

Suddenly recalling the question that bothered him before, he quickly changed the subject: "Hudgens, I wanted to ask a question yesterday."

Huggins pushed aside the bushes blocking the path with his hands, and nodded for Todd to ask questions freely.

"When I was in Qianmu Village, I found that the priests there didn't seem to be friendly to the monks in the monastery. Logically speaking, why do the priests who belong to the heavenly father have a hostile attitude towards me?"

Huggins paused, turned sideways and took a deep look at Todd, took a breath through his nose, and said slowly, "Have you heard of 'Asceticism' and 'Churchism'?"

"No, never."

"I guess so."

The man moved on, and after thinking for a while, he said, "The masters and monks of San Sidro's Monastery used to be divided into two camps, the ascetics and the church."

"The so-called ascetics refer to those who focus on spiritual asceticism and religious meditation. They advocate staying away from the temptations of the world and the hustle and bustle of the world, abandoning the guidance of the church, and only follow in the footsteps of the heavenly father. On the contrary, they advocate bringing monasteries under the jurisdiction of the church and maintaining a close relationship with the secular world. This is more conducive to spreading the glory of the heavenly father and increasing the number of believers."

Todd nodded while listening, and asked again: "I heard you say a word just now, ever?"

"That's right, about ten years ago, the monastery had the most serious dispute between the two factions since its establishment. The result was that the ascetic faction won a big victory, while the leaders and followers of the church faction were exiled. And the master Melis you know was one of the leaders of the ascetic faction at that time."

Todd was a little dumbfounded when he heard this. He didn't expect that the usually low-key and kind-hearted Master Melis would still have such a vigorous record back then.

Seeing his expression, Huggins laughed, shook his head and said, "Do you really think that the victory of the faction dispute was due to those old people?"

"Is there anyone else involved?"

Huggins nodded and continued: "On the one hand, the church faction agrees to accept the land donated for the purpose of "salvation of the soul", and on the other hand, it advocates the introduction of church forces into the Abbey of San Sidro. These two terms are considered to have violated the taboo of the Silver Ring Kingdom. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say that it was not so much a dispute between the ascetic faction and the church faction, but a struggle between the church and the royal power."

Todd was about to ask again, and Edgar in front cheered.

"It's here! It's here! It's just ahead!"

Following others and turning over the high slope in front of him, Todd stood on the high ground and looked down, sighing secretly in his heart, what a lively scene.

On the huge open space, tall tents were built one after another.

Colorful wind lanterns, colorful flags fluttering in the wind, beauties playing with throwing knives, brawny men breathing flames, clowns on stilts, the voices of people resounding in the ears, and occasionally one or two animals' chirping can be heard.

All kinds of people shuttled among the stalls and tents like a market, beautifully dressed women, handsome young people, talking and laughing happily; kind old people, smiling and sitting quietly; naughty children, playing and playing happily.

The location of the downtown circus was not only close to the San Sidro Abbey, but also in the middle of several large towns in the Silver Ring Kingdom.

Perhaps it was because the camp opened on the first day, although there were quite a few people, but according to Huggins, there will be more people here in a few days, and the maximum number of visitors in one night can even exceed 20,000. This figure was quite low in the previous life, but in the Middle Ages when the residents were scattered and sparsely populated, it was definitely at the level of a large bazaar.

Following in the footsteps of the other three, Todd approached the circus camp and discovered many interesting things.

Unlike imagination, the downtown circus is open.

In other words, there is no entry fee at all for playing here, only when you enter a specific tent to watch a program, you will be charged a certain amount of viewing fee. At first glance, this charging method reduces the total income, but it attracts a large number of people with poor economic conditions. Coupled with the income from self-operated or rented booths, it forms a profit model of "customer-gathering additional industries".

Walking on the trails of the circus, unlike Huggins who stares straight at him, Edgar is like a "little tour guide" who has opened up a chatterbox. He knows everything about every performer, every booth, every juggling, and every snack.

Seeing Todd's puzzled face, this lively kid who was only eleven or twelve years old scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "Because I run fast, almost every performance in the downtown circus, no matter how far away, I would sneak away from the monastery to watch it. But before I didn't have money, even when I got here, I could only watch the open-air performance from a distance. If the guards of the tent performance were loose, I would find a way to sneak in. But now it's different! I have this!"

Edgar untied the money bag from his waist and dangled it in the air as if showing off. The sound of the silver and copper coins colliding was crisp and pleasant.

With the reward for refining silver, the expression on Edgar's face reminded Todd of his previous life, those brats who used family money to show off their wealth outside.

Rolling his eyes and sighing, Hudgens was about to reach out his hand to give the little boy a shudder, but the flashing figure in front of him made his whole body stiffen and his eyes were in a daze.

"I have something to do first, I have to take a step first."

As soon as the words fell, Huggins squeezed into the crowd and disappeared instantly.

Todd was dumbfounded, and quickly shouted: "Hey! Hey! Then where should I go now?!"

Suddenly feeling someone pulling the corner of his clothes, he looked sideways.

Edgar triumphantly pointed his thumb at himself: "I know where I'm going!"

Looking at the other party's confident expression, Todd suddenly had a bad feeling.

as expected.

Five minutes later, the little kid also ran away, and before leaving, he said, "Wow, an exclusive show of Hercules Medlar!" Big idiot, you take Todd to find the black sheep, I'm going to see this! 』

Seeing Edgar's disappearing figure, Todd and Jerry, who had black lines all over their faces, looked at each other. The silly smile on the other's face made him completely lose hope.