Chapter 196 The Calamity of the Church

Lehman and his knights rode their horses through the streets of Longsong Stronghold.

Now, after the fighting had come to an end, the city’s residents were all hiding in their houses and keeping their doors shut; not even half a shadow could be seen on the streets, making a cold and cheerless image.

“Sir Lehman, I hope that your hand is alright,” The “Shield” Knight, Sir Levin asked.

“It’s not a problem,” Lehman Hawes shrugged his shoulders, “at least I can still move it,” however, that small movement was already enough to make him wrinkle his brows.

Last night’s seizure of the gate had went smoothly, only twenty guards had been stationed at the East Gate, they never expected that the enemy’s attack would come from the inside.

Even though they were able to sound the horn, the reinforcements had still needed a quarter of an hour to arrive, by then, the 15 mercenaries, enhanced with the pills, had already reached the top of the gate; killing one guard after another and thus allowing Lehman with this Knights to open the gate. Under the darkness of night, Lehman hadn’t noticed the side door in the city wall from which two knights had suddenly appeared, the one armed with a hammer immediately throwing himself at Lehman.

In order to lessen the swinging power of the hammer, he had to take the hammer’s blow before it reached his waist, under such a hasty situation Lehman was merely able to use his arm to resist, and almost at the same time using his sword with his other hand to pierce into the guard’s waist. Affected by the impact of the fatal blow, the incoming hammer lost a lot of its strength, but it was still strong enough to leave behind a noticeable dent on his arm’s armor piece.

At first, Lehman hadn’t felt much pain, however, after they had conquered the gate, he noticed that he had problems with lifting his arm, when he unlocked the armor he discovered that his forearm had already swollen up like a rolling pin.

“I hope there’s an analgesic herb in the church,” Levin said. “They often prepare some strange things.”

“Like those pills for example.” Duane, another Knight who happens to be near, said.

Soon, the knights reached the church’s gate, and a team of around 100 militia could already be seen waiting for them, showing off a look full of desire.

“Hand out some pills to them,” Lehman dismounted from his horse. When he saw that everyone had taken the pills, he turned around, climbed the stairs and led his team to the main hall.

“Halt,” the two gatekeepers shouted, “This is Holy Land, no one is allowed to bring their weapons inside!”

Levin pulled out his weapon and placed it in both his hands to hand it over, “We are aware of that, this should be given to you, right?” When the believer stretched out his hands, ready to receive the weapon, Levin suddenly and masterfully grasped the sword’s hilt then slashed his sword upwards, sending the believer’s two hands falling to the ground.

“Ah -” even before the believer’s sorrowful cry could fully emerge from his throat, the Knight had already pierced the tip of his sword through it

Even though Levin’s nickname was Shield, his quick sword draw was truly unmatched.

After the other believer’s throat was cut open by Duane, Lehman kicked open the door and expressionless entered the hall.

“Who are you?” A middle-aged man wearing a blue-and-white ritual gown walked up to them not showing a trace of fear as he faced the bloody sword which was pointed at him, “Daring to have the impertinence to break into the church! Children, grab them!”

Lehman sneered, right now, most people were at home, so there were no more than 20-30 believers inside the church. Having to face his battle-hardened knights, their rebellion would only be a doomed cause.

Not waiting for his order, with a devilish laugh Duane pulled his sword, cutting down one of the believers that was rushing over. Other people also quickly joined the battle, turning the church into a scene of chaos. Seeing the situation, the priest shouted, “Children, take the holy medicine so that God will give you the power to defeat the mob!”

His Majesty Timothy’s guess was right, Lehman thought, they really did have pills stored in here! Merely to see how the believer’s eyes suddenly turn red through and through, and on the believer’s face blue veins were blossoming. With those drugs, an ordinary person could break through the human body’s limit of strength and speed. Furthermore, the narrower the terrain, the more challenging it would be to deal with them. Unfortunately for them, they aren’t the only ones who possess those things, he thought, now have a taste of your own medicine.

“Get out!” he yelled, “make the militia fight against them!”

Hearing his shout, the militia behind him couldn’t wait to swallow those two colored pills and madly rush forward to fight against the believer. Seeing all this, the priest’s face finally lost his color, “Why do you also have the…!”

“Holy Medicine?” Holding his sword in his hand, Lehman bypassed the group of fighting people, closing in towards his counterpart. “They were a present from your Church, and if we hadn’t to face your obstacles, His Majesty Timothy would have already unified the Kingdom of Graycastle.”

“His Majesty?” The priest’s eyes became wide, “you are Timo– ”

With a grunting sound his voice stopped, the Knight’s sword pierced the man’s chest, penetrating his heart and lung.

Soon after, the unequal fight ended and there were more than 20 believers slaughtered with their bodies spread all over the ground. The further the drug efficacy vanished, the heavier the soldiers began to breathe so when they were finally able to sit down, they were so satisfied that they didn’t mind to sit in the blood which was endlessy flowing over the ground.

Lehman’s arm also became heavier; just his previous sword stroke was enough to make him experience a tearing pain. Sometimes, he also wanted to swallow that black pill, let himself ignore the physical fatigue and suffering, but whenever he saw the pill’s ugly side effects, this idea would immediately vanish.

Lehman had a profound understanding of the two pills that were sold by the church. For a healthy person, the pill would only be effective for three times. While the first time it was still effective for a quarter hour, the duration would decrease with every following dose, at the same time forming a heavy dependence on it. If you were unable to take the medicine for a long time, the body would gradually decline until finally, death.

Taking advantage of this characteristic, he let every one of the soldiers eat a pill to unify the militia, in this way forcing them to obey his orders. The craving for the drug could turn even the weakest farmer into a bloodthirsty beast. Now, after the hundred people had taken the pill for the second time, they could only be used one more time.

But… even if the drug is taken after the third dosage, it will only slow the process, it still cannot reverse its damage. In other words, as soon as one takes the first pill, it is equivalent to setting their first foot into the coffin. Of course, this was something he would never explain to them.

There is no doubt that the two-color secret medicine is a conspiracy of the Church, His Majesty Timothy is apparently aware of this, and because of this, he prohibited all of the Knights from taking it. However, it is also a weapon which can be used to unify the kingdom, or… rather, must be used. Without it, His Majesty cannot overcome Garcia Wimbledon, who also has those pills with her.

When His Majesty mentioned this matter to him for the first time, Lehman couldn’t believe it. He just couldn’t understand why the Church would support two members of the royal family who were competing against each other for the throne. But after a series of unforeseen events, he had to acknowledge His Majesty’s judgment. And now, with the Church in the Western Territory also in possession of the pills, he no longer had any doubt – the Church doesn’t intend to help any of the Princes or Princess to the throne; no, they want the entire Kingdom of Graycastle for themselves.

“We found the pills in the basement, there are four large boxes, with thousands in all of them.” After thoroughly plundering the Church, Levin excitedly came back to report, “There were also gold royals, jewelry, and many silk fabrics, all of which should be the donations given by believers.”

“What can be taken, take away and what can’t be taken, burn,” Lehman instructed. “In case someone asks, Roland Wimbledon was the one who did all of this. We’re just helping the Church to suppress his rebellion.”

Because we still have to rely on the Church to get the secret medicine, so, for now, we can’t burn all of our bridges with them. It is better if we blame the Prince for it, since he can already be considered dead. In order to prevent the Church from becoming suspicion, His Majesty himself had stayed in the North, pretending to comply with their fake instruction. He’d only secretly sent out a small number of Knights, who recruited a large number of militia to capture the Western Territory.

Nowadays, all the forces of the Church are concentrated in the Wolfsheart Kingdom, so we have to unite the Kingdom of Graycastle as soon as possible, only then will we have the strength to resist an attack of the Church. His Majesty Timothy believes that it is only a matter of time before the Church attacks the Kingdom of Graycastle. So until then, we have to store and collect as many pills as possible. At the same time, he has also ordered King’s City Alchemy Association to research its ingredients, so that they could become able to imitate it.

Now that we have the pills in our hand, there is only one task left – completely eliminating Roland Wimbledon.

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