The night was deep and the stars were sparse.

Holy Sepulchre Cathedral.

Losa followed Archbishop William through a corridor to a closed prayer room on the right.

From the window here, one could step onto the Via Dolorosa, which is the path Jesus carried the cross up the mountain to be punished.

Near the towering circular dome, there was a narrow window, from which faint starlight shone, conveniently illuminating the prayer room, where a Shen Kan with a statue of Jesus was placed.

The white candles reflected on the walls, making the weathered and blurred reliefs seem like a revival of the sacred.

Medieval churches, unlike the resplendent ones after the Renaissance, often appeared quite simple.

Looking at Prajna, who wore a veil revealing only her eyes yet still could not hide her beauty, Archbishop William looked distressed and whispered to Losa:

"Count, you are the first man to bring a lady here overnight and observe the commandments. But please remember, this is the tomb of the Holy Son, a sacred place, and no profane acts are to be committed here!"

Losa understood his thoughts and smiled, "Rest assured, I am a devout believer and would never act recklessly in this holy place.

Besides, this lady is by no means my mistress but my personal guard. She has made great achievements on the battlefield, and the heretics are frightened by her. Many knights who have fought alongside her honorably call her the 'Iron Knight.'"

"You can verify this with any knight who participated in the Battle of Kaler Castle."

Archbishop William was astonished, "Are you serious, Count?"

"Of course!"

Archbishop William looked Prajna over and reflected, "It seems I misunderstood. In this sacred land of Jerusalem, miracles always happen. Even a beautiful and brave female knight has appeared before me."

In his mind, he silently categorized Prajna as a Witch.

Losa teased, "Without Prajna's protection, I would indeed be uneasy. Honestly, I don't have much faith in the security of Holy Sepulchre Cathedral."

William was speechless.

He knew Losa was referring to the theft of the "Holy Object."

Lately, he had been quite troubled because of it.

On one hand, the matter of "Miracle" and "Holy Object" had already been reported to Pope City, and it was too late to retract it.

On the other hand, there were many bishops competing with him for the Patriarch position in Jerusalem. He was the first candidate but not indispensable.

Having made such a significant oversight, he dared not speak out and had to cover it up.

The werewolf corpse was replaced with a high-priced wild wolf carcass.

When someone noticed the discrepancy, he claimed the werewolf corpse had shrunk during tanning.

In short, he muddled through the matter.

Losa asked, "Oh, by the way, where is your clerk?"

Archbishop William awkwardly replied, "Sent to the countryside a few days ago. A knight wanted to make him his attendant. His parents preferred that he become a knight rather than a priest."

"I see!"

Losa returned a look of realization, though no one truly knew if the clerk, as an informed person, had been silenced by Archbishop William.

"Tomorrow morning, I will perform a Mass for you. At that time, I will prepare unleavened bread for you as Holy Communion. Until then, you need to fast overnight."

Normally, fasting should last a whole day and night, obviously, Archbishop William was trying to show goodwill to Losa.

Bang—

As Archbishop William left, he closed the door.

In the quiet room.

Only two people remained, eyes meeting, even the subtle sounds of breathing were distinctly audible.

Losa sat down in front of the Shen Kan, originally thinking he would have a good sleep, yet the sleeping conditions tonight were even worse than those in the tent during the march.

He drew a cross in front of himself, "Praise Heavenly Father."

Devotion lasted only a minute, defeated by the silence and boredom, Losa inquired, "Prajna, did you bring paper and pen?"

"Yes."

"I have a new story. Listen while I narrate, and transcribe it in Latin for me. I plan to print and sell it, as that series Demon Hunter earned me quite a bit."

Prajna's eyes lit up slightly, she nodded, "Okay."

"What's the name of this story?"

Losa thought briefly and replied, "A Song of Winter and Flame."

...

Jorgelisburg, Sego Village.

The sky was dark.

The miners gathered in the newly developed iron mine, inside the shack above the mine.

Each of them clutched a piece of hard black bread, tearing it with their hands and dipping it into the thick pea soup on the plate to eat.

The soup softened the hard bread, making this food quite palatable.

A dark-skinned man wiped the plate clean with the last piece of bread, picking up a pea and stuffing it into his mouth, chewing heartily.

He mumbled, "The food at the mine is pretty good. There's at least a whole piece of cured meat in this pot of pea soup; I've eaten several strips. In the past, I might not have eaten meat once a year."

Actually, they still got to eat meat, which was the fish caught from the Jordan River, but in this age, fish weren't classified as meat.

During fasting, many nobles would use sea fish as a substitute for meat.

A young man with typical Saracen features replied fluently in Germanic Language, "Yes, the new Lord is a generous person, and everyone in our village is very grateful to him."

"Right, I remember the Lord also waived your 'Unbeliever Tax'! This way, you save quite a bit of food annually."

In the six villages affiliated with Jorgelisburg, the relationship between the Christians and the heretics was quite harmonious.

Although in most rural areas, Christians and heretics still lived as strangers until death, marriages and intermarriages within the same village were not uncommon.

The young man was a bit troubled: "That's true, but I don't feel life has gotten much better. The Master Ali in the village recently collected a Saladin Tax, taking away the last bag of grain from my house, reportedly to maintain weapons and armor and hire guards for the Lord Knight of Sego Village."

If Hans had heard this, he would have cried out injustice.

Heavenly Father above, he hadn't even been to Sego Village, let alone instructed the tax collectors to collect an extra Saladin Tax.

Losa also didn't issue an additional levy order for this tax.

One can only imagine into whose hands the grain fell.

The companions fell into silence.

This topic was quite sensitive among them.

Due to differences in faith, the treatment of the two groups was not the same, but the Unbeliever Tax was not so exorbitant that these heretics needed to feign conversion and later repent.

The Saracen youth also realized he had said something to displease and quickly changed the subject: "I've actually met the Lord, not long ago, he came by the village with a large cavalry, wearing a cloak embroidered with gold thread, a golden crown on his head, and a sharp treasure sword at his waist. He was the most handsome and majestic man I've ever seen."

"Yes, I saw him too!"

"It's said that the Lord is very wealthy, which is why he's so generous with us. He has more bread and meat soup than he can finish every meal, and at night, ten beautiful women accompany him to bed."

"My gosh, can the Lord handle so much on his own?"

"Of course there's no problem! The Lord once fought a hundred on the battlefield; handling ten women in bed is nothing!"

Everyone was filled with longing: "Brother, how do you know about these things?"

The miner said proudly: "You should have seen those cavalrymen with feathers on their backs; they're called 'Winged Cavalry.' I have a brother who's one of them. It's said their weekly salary is a full thirty Dinar Silver Coins."

The face of the Saracen miner showed a hint of longing: "If only I could become a Winged Cavalry."

"Haha, stop dreaming, you can't even ride a donkey, and you're a heretic. In this lifetime, you'll never pick up a sword to serve the Lord."

The Saracen youth sighed lightly, "That is indeed the case."

Someone next to him said, "It would be great fortune to be noticed by Lord Marles and taken to the Blacksmith Shop in the castle as an apprentice."

"That's right, Lord Marles might be a bit strict, but he is absolutely a good man."

At this moment, the ground suddenly trembled.

Rubble and gravel rolled down the slope.

The miners were momentarily stunned, and then they all stood up in a rush and ran outside.

"Run quickly!"

"It's an earthquake!"

But they did not get far.

The next moment, in the darkness, a giant rock slammed into their midst with a thunderous crash.

The Saracen youth was pinned half under the rock, looking fearfully behind him at the monster with a ferocious head covered in black scale armor.

Demon!

This was definitely a demon!

The black-scaled beast was like a massive lizard, with crown-like spiked horns on its head, its thick limbs touching the ground as it crawled slowly, leaving deep footprints.

A blood-red maw rapidly enlarged before him.

His world fell completely into darkness.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.