Ride and Cut

The mission team set out from Frisz and headed south along the flat road.

Half a month later, they crossed the southern border of Pompeii and officially entered San Jose.

The Theocracy of the Church of the Holy Light is a miniature country consisting of only a few small cities, sandwiched between San Jose and the borders of several small principalities. If the Pompeians wanted to reach the Church State as quickly as possible, they had to spend a long journey on the territory of San Jose.

This is a country with completely different customs and customs from Pompeii. The warmer and more humid climate has cultivated a passionate and unrestrained artistic style, and it has also brought a more open atmosphere and prosperous business.

Li Cha is still here, seeing the regular mercenary group in the knight novel for the first time, but it seems that they have no ability to change the situation in the mainland, but they are good at finding cats to collect debts and other trivial matters.

The lord asked Bedric about this, and he immediately got the latter's merciless ridicule. "The kind of mercenary group you mentioned does exist in some small principalities. But for a big country, how can it be possible for the people to freely form armed forces?"

So Li Cha's feelings for the mercenary group were shattered.

The farmers in San Jose are generally used to growing a crop that is very uncommon in Pompeii-rice.

Locally, rice can mature twice a year. And it is said that in the southernmost part of San Jose, this crop matures three times a year, and the yield is amazing.

Most of the members of the mission are authentic Pompeians, and they are not used to rice made of rice. After tasting it once, they never touched it again. Only the lord, seeing this thing, was so excited that tears filled his eyes, he built half a pot in one go, and became famous in one battle.

"Have you ever eaten rice before?"

After half a month of getting along day and night, they can finally get acquainted with each other, and Paul occasionally chats with the lord of the Alpine Fort.

"I'm from the southern province, and I've eaten there a few times." Although Li Cha didn't know why such a big man was so enthusiastic, he didn't want to show his kindness.

"What do you think of the country of San Jose?" The carriage drove quickly on the fertile fields, and Bishop Paul pointed to the farmers and waterwheels that kept flying backwards in the paddy fields on both sides.

"It's very rich!" Li Cha said sincerely, "Ordinary civilians actually have the conditions to grind and pray for half a day at noon every day. This will starve to death in Pompeii."

Paul didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "This is a mandatory decree issued by San Jose to express my piety. That's how the 'Saint' in front of San Jose came about."

"But very few people know about it." Bishop Paul suddenly lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, "Actually, the church doesn't like this practice at all, and even hates it. The holy name is given by pinching one's nose. Guess why?"

"Praying once a day isn't enough?" Richard didn't have a good impression of any church, and the Church of the Holy Light was certainly no exception.

However, the facts have proved that since the Church of the Holy Light can firmly sit on the top spot of the first church in the mainland, it is impossible without two brushes.

Bishop Paul's answer did not involve faith at all, but was very realistic, and even had a taste of calculation: "Because the royal family has gained a good reputation for piousness, but the church bears the secret complaints from the people."

This made the lord startled, "That's really the case."

…………

Generally speaking, San Jose officials and lords, large and small, generally maintain a certain degree of respect for the Pompeii envoys. As long as the foreign affairs documents are handed in, the journey is very smooth, and there are even banquets hosted by the nobles from time to time.

But among the people, the situation is completely different. When most civilians find out that they are from Pompeii, their first reaction is to run away with their lives.

In particular, the lord of the Alpine Fort also brought many half-orc warriors. It is no exaggeration to say that his body was wider than the door panels of others, which seriously exacerbated the situation.

Li Cha couldn't help feeling the seriousness of the estrangement.

On the one hand, Pompeii is the descendant of the rebel Nero, and San Jose carries the past glory of the ancient human empire, and it is true that we will not deal with it from the beginning. But on the other hand, during the thousands of years since their respective countries were established, the original barriers may not only have not been eliminated, but have gradually become more insurmountable.

Pompeii's folk culture is fierce and martial, while San Jose advocates getting rich through business.

They regard each other as robbers and profiteers, and it's not a day or two that they cast aside. How much of this is natural and how much is man-made has long been difficult to distinguish.

And when the mission finished its seven-day journey in San Jose, leaving a 300-mile rut behind it, a city built entirely of Yellowstone was already in sight. The magnificent Gothic spire, over the height of the city wall, is displayed in front of the visitors.

City of Holy Light, Vatican.

It is said that it was here that the God of Holy Light performed a miracle for the first time, which opened the history of the Church of Holy Light for thousands of years, and the Hagia Sophia, which was built on the original site, has long been the location of the main court.

It is said that the area of ​​this small city is less than a quarter of Cologne, but there are more than one hundred churches of different sizes and styles, almost all of which are built.

It is said that the resident population is less than 20,000, and almost all of them are priests, nuns, church members and other clergy.

"There are many interesting churches in Vatican. If Master Richard is interested, I can show you around."

"Then I would like to thank Bishop Paul." The lord of Alpine Castle was really moved.

It's just that there was another team preparing to enter the city at the same time. They held high a flag with a light blue background, with a white line depicting a woman wearing an ice crown—the symbol of the Snow Goddess.

After Pompeii completely abandoned the Church of the Ice and Snow Goddess, the only ones who could hold up this emblem openly were of course Stuart's envoys.

Even the three major powers had to hold their noses together and sit at the negotiating table in the face of such a top-level vicious event as the reappearance of the undead, trying to find a way to explain to the world.

But the negotiations belong to the negotiations. It is better to hope that the solar energy will come out from the west or that the tiger will become a vegetarian if the old feud between Stuart and Pompey can temporarily put aside their prejudices.

The vanguard troops of the two missions tried to enter the city one step ahead, but neither of them took the other, but neither of them was willing to back down, so they confronted each other at the gate of the city.

This is the City of Holy Light, a place where the use of force is absolutely not allowed theoretically.

But the two groups of people lack awe of Vatican. Pompeii has just converted, and it is hard to say how many true believers there are besides Paul; while Stuart is directly a pagan.

More importantly, both sides are rich and powerful, and they are both accustomed to roles in their own country.

So even if it's just a small matter of who goes into the city, they don't feel any psychological burden when their swords are drawn.

"Sigh." Li Cha covered his face and sighed. He now understood why this mediation would be difficult.