Chapter 233: The Papal States
December 1444, 12 in the Imperial calendar.

Daze Township, Autumn Island.

The cold wind penetrated into Mitternich's clothes through the sleeves, and he couldn't help but shiver.

Following Crispa, they set out from Jeanne d'Arc, passed through the dark wild spider forest, and after four days' journey, finally reached their destination.

"Did they change the name of this place to Daze Township?"

"Yes." Sissi said with a smile while greeting people she knew, "Otherwise it would be bad to always call it Black Bone Swamp."

After nodding in response, Mitternich stood on the dock and looked around the small port.

Compared with the port's cargo throughput, this port is really too large, and it is more than enough to handle three or four times the cargo throughput.

Looking at the beastmen who were struggling to carry the wood onto the dock, Mitternich felt curious.

How did this miraculous grandson of the saint tame these wild and pagan beastmen?

Eloquence? Or force?

"Sister Sissi!" Armand came riding towards us from a distance with the sound of horse hooves.

Sissi immediately smiled and waved to her companion who had gone through so much hardship: "Here and there."

Armand jumped off his horse, gave Sissi a big hug, exchanged a few words of greeting, and then noticed the messengers who had accompanied them behind him.

"Hahaha, sorry, I'm a little excited after all, we are companions who have walked through a road of blood and sweat together." Armand walked forward, saluted with Mitternich and others, and introduced himself.

"…I am the chief debater of the Holy Fathers. The Patriarch asked me to bring you a message. He is busy training soldiers in the military camp. He wants you to go to the city first and take a rest. We can meet again in the afternoon or evening. What do you think?"

Mitternich was impressed by this cheerful little priest, and his impression of Horn improved as well: "Okay, no problem, let's go."

The group of people each mounted their horses and headed towards the town.

After walking out of the dock and following the horse team forward, everything around us began to become desolate.

A thin layer of white frost clung to the withered yellow grass leaves, and the turbid sunlight slanted through the gray haze, spreading with difficulty across the yellow and black land.

Although the sun was shining on his back, Andal could not feel much warmth, as if even the sun was swallowed up by the winter chill.

The sparse bushes swayed in the cold wind. The leaves had long since fallen, leaving only withered and yellow branches barely surviving.

As he rode along the road, Andal saw swamps of water bubbling in the mud all over the field.

Mitternich pinched his nose. He couldn't stand the stench. "Sir Armand, how long will it take?"

"It's almost there, almost there." Armand rode in front on his horse. "Listen! That's the sound of the Para River flowing."

After passing through a sparse forest and crossing a newly renovated bridge, a large pile of ruins is hidden behind the bushes.

However, the sharp-eyed Andal still saw the gate of the town among the chaotic ruins.

"I didn't expect that there would be a relic of the El Empire here." As a scholar, Martial raised the corners of his mouth, unable to suppress his excitement.

The accompanying master chanter Thomas gave a thumbs up and said, "I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable. Yes, this is proof that our Papal State is the Third Empire of Aiur."

The Third Reich? Mitternich looked at Sissi with a questioning look.

"Don't expose this trick used to deceive those beastmen." Sissi covered her mouth with her hand and lowered her voice.

"Oh oh oh." Mitternich suddenly realized. No wonder those beastmen were so obedient.

Andal looked at Thomas's determined eyes and always felt that something was strange.

Going up along the Para River, the group came to two broken doors. The Guel-style moldings and strip-shaped indentations immediately made Martial scream.

"The Collins Column is classic. It's so classic."

"Rare! Very rare! A portrait of Alexander the Great in his youth!"

Unlike Martial who couldn't help but shout excitedly, Mitternich, who had a certain level of appreciation, focused his attention on the newly built house.

Observing this building in front of him that has both the Aire style and classical flavor, Mitternich became more curious.

He had to admit that the streets of this town were really quite clean, and there wasn't much feces or urine on the streets.

This is even better than what the city of Rapid City does.

Looking at the public toilets on the roadside and the people with bruised faces and noses pushing carts to pick up shit, Mitternich couldn't help but smile.

If there is only one shortcoming, it is the lack of green plants in the street trees and flower beds.

After escaping from the desolate wasteland and ruins, the smell of fireworks at the tip of his nose helped Andal express a lot of his originally depressed mood.

Soon, he saw an interesting scene.

In the open space formed by the tall houses, groups of young men in thin clothes climbed onto carriages in the cold wind and drove towards the wilderness.

"What's that?" Mitternich also noticed this and pointed over there and asked. "Oh, this is the final conscript of our third batch of conscription, and it is also the last conscription, a total of 1000 imperial companies." Thomas answered.

"How many companies of imperial orders?"

"1000 of what?"

Andal and Mitternich screamed almost at the same time, one after the other.

Sissi coughed and said, "Well, in the system of the Papal States, the organization of an imperial company is, ahem, one person."

Mitternich and Andal looked at each other, their eyes full of disbelief.

Knowing that the Salvation Army was formed by farmers, the two men were prepared for them to be a little unreliable.

But they really didn't expect it to be so unreliable.

Before Mitternich could recover, Andal suddenly stood up on his horse, looked into the distance and frowned.

On a street corner, a dozen beastmen with pointy ears stood in front of a priest, shouting and yelling ferociously.

"What's that?"

"Oh, that's our half-legion of beastmen. They missed the recruitment period and are making trouble." Thomas made a awning with his hands.

Most of these beastmen were prisoners of war who were brought in by Horn to build military camps. Out of simple religious enthusiasm, they wanted to join the Savior Army.

Horn only planned to form a half-legion of beastmen, and a half-legion was 250 beastmen.

Their main responsibility is to fight skirmishes with the obsolete Cannedy Type 1 clockwork guns and bows.

"Where are your night guards? Do you want to go and suppress them? We'll just wait here." Andal kindly reminded.

"It's okay. We'll ask their Holy Spirit priests to take them away later."

"Holy Priest? What is that?"

"Oh, it's a small sect under the Misella religion, mainly composed of a group of southern barbarians who worship Sheng Sun as a god."

“Who do you regard as God?”

"What do you think of the Holy Sun?"

Mitternich and Andal blurted out the same question again.

"Don't be surprised." Thomas shook the reins and said proudly, "We in the Papal States practice a policy of religious tolerance and allow dual beliefs."

What are you proud of?

Mitternich almost blurted out, isn't this pure heresy?
Andal asked as if in a dream: "Then, do the priests have any objections?"

"No, the Holy Grandson asked the Holy Lord Mircella in a dream, and the Holy Lord said in person: OK."

Looking at the Holy Priests who were dressed in pagan leather robes and bone decorations, but had replaced their scepters with crosses, waving their scepters to drive away the beastmen, Mitternich fell into complete silence.

"Xixi, are there any other surprises that I don't know about?"

"Ahem, hey, we've arrived at the official residence square in the center of El Town!"

"Did you know these things before?"

"Oh, isn't that the Güell Theatre? Let's look at the church in the distance, my Mithril."

Seeing Sissi's evasive look, Mitternich had an idea in his mind. She was probably afraid that Catherine would completely lose confidence, so she helped Horn and the others hide it.

"Don't be fooled by their appearance. They are actually very reliable." Seeing Mitternich and Andal's expressions suddenly turned strange, Sissi said hurriedly.

"Is that so?" Mitternich put away the disappointment on his face and smoothly changed the subject, "Brother Armand, you should take us to meet your holy grandson as soon as possible."

"It's not even noon yet, why don't we go to the industrial zone?" Thomas asked in confusion, "There's a holy wheel machine turned by the invisible hand of the Holy Father. I guarantee it will astound you. It's amazing."

Why go to an industrial zone? I guess it's just a bunch of rotten blacksmiths and dirt workshops.

There is also the Holy Wheel of the Wheel. It is about their imperial decree and their worship of the leader as a god. Mitternich estimated that the so-called Holy Wheel of the Wheel of Wheels was just a simple hydraulic gear machine.

Anyway, Mitternich and Andal wouldn't believe a word of what Thomas said.

Seeing the two people's hesitant and helpless expressions, Armand stopped Thomas who was still trying to persuade them and said with a smile:

"Since you two want to see His Majesty so much, why don't you let Mr. Martial go to the industrial area and you two come with me to the military camp to see His Majesty?"

Mittenyi looked at Martial: "Do you think this arrangement is okay?"

"Of course." Martial said cheerfully without any airs, "I just want to go and see the world."

(End of this chapter)