Alien Knights

Todd was stunned by the scene in front of him. When he realized it, Hudgens was being trampled on the ground repeatedly by the old man in full body armor.

He grabbed Edgar and Jerry Jerry who rolled up their sleeves and wanted to fight, Todd stepped forward, pointed at Huggins who had given up struggling, and said to the old man, "Sir, I don't know who you are or what happened, but this man is my bodyguard, please let him go first."

The old man shook his beard, looked at the person under his feet in a funny way, exerted strength on his legs, and said in a deep voice: "Little bastard! Why didn't you tell Father Todd my identity!"

Huggins raised his head with difficulty, and on his dirt-covered face, there was a smile that was uglier than crying: "This is Baron Cumberland, my Lord Knight (the master who followed in the Knight's Servant stage), the leader of the battle group I used to be in..."

"Um..." Todd froze in place. He looked back, and at some point, those subordinates of Huggins who were standing behind them all ran away.

After thinking for a while, Todd, who tried to organize his words, said to Cumberland: "My lord, Huggins has unavoidable difficulties..."

"A deserter is a deserter! What's more, I personally witnessed his knight conferring ceremony back then. This bastard is the first knight I have seen in my life who has lost his fief, title, and even honor!" Cumberland kicked Huggins hard, and roared angrily: "Do you know that because of you, I was ridiculed by my colleagues and friends for a whole year!"

Huggins was ashamed and ashamed.

Todd felt that things were getting more and more troublesome, so he quickly dissuaded the baron and said, "Lord Cumberland, please calm down. There are many complicated reasons for this incident, and no one wants to see it happen. But Huggins is now my follower. As the master, I am willing to do everything possible to make up for his mistakes."

"...Oh? That's good." The anger on the old man's face disappeared without a trace in an instant, and he nodded calmly.

Um?

what happened?

Todd looked at Cumberland, whose face changed faster than the sky, and his brain was in a state of shutdown for a while.

The baron patted the dust on his trousers, and said as if nothing had happened: "Forgot to tell the business, Father Todd, Your Majesty the King and Queen invited you to the palace for a gathering, I don't think you will refuse?"

The muscles on Todd's face twitched, and a smile was forced out of the corner of his mouth: "I'm so happy..."

———————————

On the way to the palace, Todd chatted with Baron Cumberland.

The temperament of the old man is completely different from the first impression, he is funny, talkative and quick thinking. Todd vaguely understood that Hudgens' character was influenced by who he was around.

Cumberland was born in poverty. At the age of fourteen, he joined the war with the northern barbarians as a farmer and soldier. This fearless and heroic figure on the battlefield made the lord at that time notice him at a glance. Since then, there have been nearly a thousand wars, large and small, and the triumphant return in the sea of ​​corpses and blood has made the name "Cumberland" engraved in the hearts of every enemy. And he also relied on his military merits, from sergeant, knight squire, apprentice knight, knight, and finally was named a non-hereditary baron for life.

"Your Majesty the Baron, may I ask your Majesty the King and Your Majesty the Queen, why are you looking for me?" Todd still had some psychological shadows about what happened at yesterday's banquet. If the royal family recruited him this time just to help the nobles, then it's better to plan to run away as soon as possible.

Cumberland looked at the priest, smiled and said, "I don't know."

Todd was speechless.

The meeting place was not arranged in the audience room or the side hall, but in the government affairs hall of the palace. This surprised Todd a little, because it was a bit unreasonable for the royal family to meet a young priest.

When Todd stepped into the door of the palace, he was a little dizzy with the bustling crowd in the hall.

While he was observing everyone in the hall, others were also observing him.

The aura of mystery and glory made this priest, who was only fifteen years old, tall and unpredictable in the eyes of everyone.

Among the crowd, Todd only found two people he knew. One was naturally Queen Mary who was sitting high on the side of the throne, and the other was Viscount Kennard who made a fool of himself at the banquet yesterday.

Slowly pacing to the center of the hall, Todd held the cross on his chest in one hand, drew the cross in the air with the other hand, read a prayer of blessing to the king and queen, and nodded slightly to show respect.

Seeing the priest's actions, the people in the hall began to whisper, some of them were louder, and they could vaguely hear the words "Even the bishop would not dare to do this...".

Contrasted with other people's dissatisfaction and comments, Guy VI just frowned slightly, exchanged a wink with Queen Mary beside him, and then said to Todd with a pleasant face: "Father, do you know that legends about you have been spread in every corner of Silver Ring City."

Todd shook his head and said, "What people praise is the power of the Heavenly Father, and it has nothing to do with me."

The king was stunned for a moment, and then asked again: "I heard that you brought a strange flower this time, but different varieties of roses grow on the same tree?"

"That is the flower of the Gospel in the miraculous place "Muxi Town", and it is a gift from the heavenly father."

Guy VI moved his body and asked with interest: "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"A farmer in Muxi Town inserted the fallen rose flowers and roots together one day, buried them in the town's soil, and watered the well. The next day, the farmer discovered that the roses grew on the roots..."

"Father! The peasants you are talking about are those runaway serfs who betrayed the sacred contract?"

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was shocked.

Todd, who was interrupted, looked towards the place where the voice came from.

Several well-dressed nobles stood together and cast malicious glances at him.

Todd said in a questioning tone: "I think there is something strange in what you said. These farmers who betrayed the "sacred" contract should be punished by God, but why does the Heavenly Father use their hands to perform miracles?"

Watching the nobles pause for a moment, Todd continued: "I think these farmers came to Muxi Town after being inspired..."

"Nonsense!" Several nobles were furious, and just as they were about to refute, the king saw that the situation was wrong, and quickly changed the subject: "Father, I heard that you won 30 million silver moons through gambling at the banquet yesterday?"

Hearing this, everyone in the hall immediately got excited, and the crazy gambling game yesterday has spread throughout the streets and alleys.

Todd still looked calm, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, that is also the holy order of the Heavenly Father, and has nothing to do with me."

Viscount Kennard suddenly shouted: "You cheated yesterday!"

Todd gave him a funny look. The skills at the poker table are not good, but the thief's ability to catch thieves is first-rate.

Standing beside the young viscount, a fat middle-aged bald man stood up and said, "Father, I think the game between you and my son is unfair. There is no reason to change the rules at will during the game."

Todd curled his lips, sneered in his heart, and quarreled for a long time. It turned out that "the son is angry, and the father is picking the bag."

"Earl Gnar's words are also reasonable." The king smoothed things over with a smile: "Otherwise, how about everyone giving in?"

Todd looked at the father and son calmly, paused for a moment, and suddenly said something that baffled everyone: "The royal guards who escorted me yesterday are the most disciplined and neatest army I have ever seen."

Although Guy VI didn't understand why the priest mentioned this, after all, the other party was praising his own guards, and there was still a proud smile on his face.

Queen Mary, who was sitting beside him, frowned instead. She looked at Todd's mouth and her body tensed up.

"But what makes me sigh is that their saddles are worn out, the bottom of their scabbards is rusty, and even dinner is a bowl of meat porridge for two."

The smile suddenly disappeared from the king's face.

The reason for these circumstances, he could not understand, was lack of money.

Some people may find it strange that, as the richest country in the Western Continent, the royal family also has no money?

But this is the fact. At the beginning of the establishment of the Silver Ring Kingdom, it still adhered to the medieval law that "the king should support himself". However, with the frequent occurrence of wars and the expansion of palace expenses, the real estate income, lordship income and judicial income of the royal family's territory were far from covering the royal family's expenditure.

Taxing the subjects became the only choice, and the tax rate and tax types became more and more strict with the needs of the monarch. There was even a saying among the people of Yinhuan City-"Excessive taxes are like rats, fattening yourself and harming the people".

But what the high-ranking king didn't know was that most of these huge amounts of taxes flowed into the hands of the nobles who held the power of finance and taxation.

Seeing that Guy VI's face became serious, Todd said suddenly: "I voluntarily give up the right to recover the gambling chips from Lord Viscount..."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone felt relieved, but what they didn't expect was that the priest hadn't finished speaking.

He continued: "Without the all-night guards of the royal guards, I doubt if I could have slept peacefully last night. Therefore, I hope Earl Kennard and the Viscount, for the sake of these guards' dedication to the kingdom, donate a little money to improve their equipment and food."

As soon as the speech was finished, everyone in the hall had different expressions.

The guards standing inside and outside the hall cast grateful glances at Todd. Not only because the priest fought for their interests, but more importantly, the royal family and nobles always asked them to do this and that, but few people could pay attention to the hard work and dedication of the guards.

The nobles had no voice of objection, but nodded one after another. On the one hand, it was because Todd voluntarily gave up the right to recover the astronomical gambling debt; on the other hand, no matter it was day or night, the royal guards did protect his safety, and it was completely reasonable for the priest to seek some reward for them.

Guy VI couldn't help but smile openly. Firstly, after listening to his suggestion, Todd immediately gave up the right to collect the gambling debts. Whether it is face or face, he really gave himself enough; secondly, he said that the rewards he won for the royal guards should first fall into his own pocket before they can be distributed. At that time, he will take the big head and the guards will take the small head. Wouldn’t he make another fortune?

Queen Mary's expression was probably the strangest one in the hall. She stood up, first opened her eyes and looked at Todd, and then saw her husband's happy face. She opened her red lips and wanted to say something, but she didn't know how to say it. The expression on her face became more and more panicked and helpless.

"Father, your inner being and your character are really good and true." Guy VI coughed and looked at the father and son expectantly: "My two beloved ministers, what do you think?"

The count discussed with his eldest son for a while, with embarrassed faces, and finally raised a finger tremblingly: "One... one hundred silver moons?"

The king's face fell instantly.

Todd lowered his head, almost laughing.