Chapter 429: Golden Lacquer Peacock Feather Letter
"Get away! Who allowed you to come near?"

The sergeant kicked a homeless beggar who was picking up rice grains in the cracks between the floor tiles, and kicked the little beggar, who was in his early teens, so hard that he rolled over several times with his head facing down.

Several refugees immediately surrounded the little beggar and dragged him back to the dark alley amid his low sobs.

In the dark shadows of the alley, beneath disheveled hair, pairs of bloodshot eyes stared at the glamorous Flying Castle Cathedral.

The spires made of pure white stones reach straight into the sky. Peering from the narrow alley, you can't see its entire picture. You can only see the terrace interwoven with gold threads and the gold and silver statues of saints in the shrines.

Between the shrines, through the clear white sand-glass, one can see priests in black and white feather satin robes coming and going.

And under the shrine, there are twice as many guards as usual.

These guards were different from the militia guards in the High Castle. They were real armored sergeants, each of them having strength close to that of an infantry knight.

Looking at Sergeant Hamishir walking back across the square from the street corner, a guard whispered, "They are at the other end of the square. There is no need."

"Who said it's unnecessary?" Sergeant Hamishel blinked his bulging dead fish eyes. "Wasn't Bishop Resit of Whitewater Castle killed by a beggar? Many distinguished bishops pass by in front of the square."

"That's in North Mound County, which is the territory of the Grand Duchess."

"Who knows if there are any short-haired people among these refugees?" Sergeant Hamishel took the halberd from his companion and rested it on his shoulder. "Valentel and his followers are everywhere. Why are you defending them? You are not short-haired, are you?"

"Of course I'm not." The guard, who was originally a citizen, defended himself. "It can't be that everyone who doesn't support or oppose it has short hair, right?"

"Hard to say."

"nonsense!"

Seeing that the atmosphere was somewhat tense, a priest standing in the shade of the church door ran out quickly and asked: "What are you talking about?"

The two guards looked at each other and turned their heads away tacitly, unwilling to talk more. After all, the issue they were discussing was sensitive, and the atmosphere in Feiliu Castle was tense recently.

"Don't look for trouble. You deserve to be beaten for making so much noise!" After warning a few chattering guards, the pot-bellied priest turned around and walked into the church.

The guards at the door fell silent again, but standing guard was such a boring job that they couldn't sit still, and soon they began to chat in low voices again.

"What's going on recently? Why are they so strict that we are not even allowed to talk?" A guard asked in a low voice, gently elbowing his companion in the ribs.

"It's still about that group of holy relatives."

"Haven't they been quieter recently? Why are you so nervous?"

"Hey, you don't know." The citizen guard whispered, "Recently, those saintly aunts and uncles have come up with new fun?"

"What's wrong now? Didn't you just crown Valentyl as the Pope last time?"

Hamishel interjected, “Those stupid villagers are more than that!

The day before yesterday, they held a believer's meeting in Iron Gate Town. At the meeting, they arbitrarily appointed Abbot Ludwick of Blago Abbey as the Guardian Pope of the South, Valentel as the Guardian Pope of the West, Archduke Meliati as the Guardian Pope of the North, and Saint Jeanne as the Guardian Pope of the East. "

"Ha! Then we in Qianhe Valley now have four popes."

"Four? Five!" The citizen guard covered his mouth with his right hand. "They elected Horn as the Pope above all the Popes. He was called 'Great Pope of the Universe'."

"Good fellow." The guards began to buzz like mosquitoes. "There are five popes in the Thousand Valley, one in Fran, and one in Leia. The Empire does not even have an emperor now, but has seven popes."

"Now everyone can be the Pope."

Although everyone was buzzing, some decent people couldn't help but ask: "How did you know such a confidential matter?"

"Father Dodrasen's groom told me," replied the sergeant-major.

"How did Father Dodrasen's groom know this?" the upright old guard asked again.

"Bishop Barniforth's groom told him," replied the sergeant-major.

The honest guard was even more confused: "How did the groom know that?"

Before the sergeant-major could answer, a guard suddenly stood at attention, holding his halberd upright, and snorted, "Silence, silence, Bishop Matteo is here!"

Bishop Matteo, wearing a gray silk priest robe and with a dusty face, jumped out of the carriage impatiently without even the help of his servants and walked up the stairs in two steps.

He didn't even notice the whispering guards as he walked impatiently into the church.

Passing through the arched corridor covered with gold-decorated lilies and bypassing the flower beds full of flowers, Matteo pushed away the servant who tried to lead the way, grabbed the handrail and ran up the spiral staircase.

His target was the study of Baniforth, the Acting Bishop of Qianhe Valley. He rushed straight over and pushed open the door of Baniforth's study: "Bishop Baniforth, I have an urgent battle report!"

Barnifos looked at Matteo who had intruded in with surprise, and said to the bishops around him, "Let's stop here for today. You can go talk to the deans later. We can talk about it after we get through this period."

After saying that, he went to meet Matteo. To be honest, Barnifoss didn't like Matteo because of his stubborn and honest character, but he had to use him because the knife was really useful in this troubled time.

It has indeed been an eventful time recently, in other words, it has been an eventful time since last year.

First there were Shorthair and the Holy Grandson, then Meliati and Catherine, and recently a messy army of Holy Relatives appeared and actually looted several churches near Feiliu Castle.

Especially that Valentyl, who took advantage of the absence of the main knights to attack everywhere, robbing people, money, and women, and specifically robbing churches that were not protected by strong fortresses.

In order to prevent themselves from becoming the next victim, a large number of bishops gathered at Feiliu Castle to seek the protection of the Imperial Order Company, which led to the current solemn and crowded appearance.

At the instigation of the Blago Monastery, a large number of monks wrote letters to the Vatican, demanding the replacement of the bishops to appease the public grievances.

Unfortunately, neither Pope Grandiva of France in the south nor Pope Pugliano of the north received any reply, as they were still arguing over the issue of orthodoxy.

Barneyforth is having a headache about this matter. He risked his life to take Constance's place, but now he has not yet enjoyed the results but has to pay the price. How can this be acceptable?

Fortunately, with his great courage, he urged the Sharp-Tooth Knight Alman of Rapid City, and is about to capture Rapid City.

As for the North Mound battlefield in the north, Barniforth has devoted all his efforts to supporting supplies externally and suppressing mobs internally, so that today the lakes and rivers of Hotam County are clear and peaceful, and people can leave their doors unlocked at night.

Although he was frightened by Valen Taylor and the incident with the twelve golden peacock feathers, fortunately, Alman is about to capture Rapid City.

As long as I give more credit to Armand, punish a few people, and write a few more words, I can cover up this matter.

You can't stop yourself from making progress.

You know, what he is doing now is within the ability of the Bishop of Qianhe Valley. If he does it well, it will be useless, but if he does it poorly, it will be a sin.

But for the "limited-ability" Bishop Barnifors of the High Castle, it was a great achievement.

Perhaps in the future the Vatican will send a new bishop to replace him as acting bishop, but his contribution is real and can save him ten years of hard training.

As long as he could survive this period, Barnifors was confident that he could at least get the position of a cathedral priest, or even go further!
Just wait and see, within ten years, I will still be the Archbishop of Thousand Valley, and maybe even a cardinal position of my own.

When it came to the cardinal, Barniforth didn't even look at nuns or peasant girls. Only the daughters of knights or even earls were allowed to stroll around his cross.

After calming himself down and putting away his romantic thoughts, Barnifoss quickly walked up to Matteo.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Barnifos asked dissatisfiedly, looking at Matteo who was gasping for breath with his knees supported on his body without any manners.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency..." Matteo said hoarsely, gasping for breath, "Urgent news from the Detention Dock, Alman has been killed in the battle, and the Rapids City Church army has been completely wiped out!"

"What did you say? What did you say?!" He asked again in a higher tone, and Barneyforth's hair stood on end. "Say it again."

"Knight Elad urgently reported that the Salvation Army defeated the Knight Arman of the Jaws at the Lexi River and annihilated more than 120 Knights of the Imperial Order. The entire army retreated and is currently in the Detention Dock and Fort Mosby.

Knight Elad said that Rapid City is upstream of Flying Castle and can be reached in a moment by boat. Please provide support."

The Savior Army defeated Alman...annihilated the Knights of the Imperial Order...and was about to arrive...

Barniforth's body began to tremble, and with every word that came out, a few more golden stars appeared in front of his eyes.

When Matteo finished speaking, what the Acting Bishop of the Thousand River Valley saw in front of him was no longer Venus, but the fallen Feiliu Castle and the gallows that were close at hand.

If the other party is traveling by water from Rapid City, they should arrive next week!

Frozen in place, Barnifos stared blankly ahead with his eyes, making a gurgling sound in his throat, which frightened the attendant monks and Matteo so much that they dared not move.

"Bishop Barnifosse?" Matteo asked tentatively.

"Gah-"

After being stunned for a full five seconds, he suddenly fell backwards with a "click" sound, and the servants beside him hurriedly supported him.

But looking at Barneyforth's face again, his eyes were indeed tightly closed, his teeth were clenched, his face was ashen, and he couldn't breathe through his nose.

"Bishop Barneyforth!"

"Bishop Barney Force, what's wrong with you?"

"Quick, call the monks here and use magic!"

"It's too late, bring some water." Matteo acted decisively and splashed water on Barnifoss' face.

But Barnifos still didn't wake up. Matteo gritted his teeth, rolled up his sleeves, swung his arm and slapped him twice. Only then did the vicar's eyelids tremble slightly.

The moment he opened his eyes, Barnifoss was stunned for a moment, touching his burning face. Then he screamed with a voice that could break glass: "Quick, write a letter, a gold-painted peacock feather letter, asking Prince Condai to send troops back to defend!"

(End of this chapter)