Chapter 83 Everyone is a Knight [Seeking Leader] (Second Update)

The night of October 1444, 10 in the Imperial Calendar was a cloudy, moonless day.

Horn and his Papal States were still 440 miles away from the Duke of Darnay's Chateau Joan of Arc.

The night is splashed like thick ink.

Standing at the intersection of the campsite, several child soldiers were on guard around.

In the candlelight, René was reporting the results of their investigation.

According to the refugees who shouted from afar, Danji was buried in a field of flowers near the battlefield.

His Black William had been eaten until only half of its body was left, and it had rotted and was full of stench.

Horn nodded and said nothing more. He just waved his hand and told the Chekas to go to rest.

Walking back alone, Horn looked at the half sword in his hand.

I don't know why, but Barnett's sword is clearly in the shape of a half-hand sword, but it is much longer than normal.

This half-sword was inserted into the scabbard of the knight's sword, and the thumb-width of the sword blade was actually exposed.

On the sword was half of the El inscription.

After Horn's research over this period of time, he already knew that it was the "snow" in Alvin.

The full inscription on the sword is "Snow in the Clouds".

In church texts, this word is often used to describe the purest and highest things.

But Danji didn't get the sword, but instead it fell into the hands of Barnett and Horn.

Rubbing the inscription on the sword, Horn walked towards the campfire where the bishops were meeting.

"Dengji, is Danji really not coming back?" Seeing Horn approaching, Madeleine stood up impatiently and asked.

"Can't come back."

Madeleine seemed to have her soul taken away from her, and she sat down on the log.

"I don't blame him, I don't blame him, I just, I just..." Madeleine buried her face in her hands.

Frick sat next to him and patted him gently on the back.

"He didn't blame you." Horn threw a branch into the campfire. "Without your words, he would have gone back to stop those knights."

"If I hadn't said those things to him..."

"He doesn't blame you." Horn interrupted Madeleine. "Don't smear his honor."

The coke made a burning sound in the dark night, and the flames made the faces of all the bishops hot.

"I just took a nap." Horn used a fire tong to stir the bonfire surrounded by stones. "My mother told me that Danji is a glorious knight. He has entered Mount Bliss to serve the Supreme Father."

"really?"

"Of course it's true, I swear on the name of Myrcella." Horn said without question, "Although the race walking competition is fake, Danji's entry into Mount Paradise is real.

Well, go and rest, we have to set off tomorrow, and we have to reach the entrance of Blackbone Swamp within six days."

The bishops looked at each other in bewilderment, but left obediently at Horn's urging.

Perhaps because of Mircella's guarantee, Madeleine and others felt a little better.

We do have to set off tomorrow, at least we can’t let Danji’s sacrifice go to waste.

Grabbing Frick's Gober, Horn asked, "Did you see where Jeanne went?"

Dark clouds covered the sky, and tonight was not as moonlit as in the past few days.

Jeanne hugged her legs and sat on a large rock by the roadside.

If Horn hadn't been holding a candlestick in his hand, he would have thought it was a tree growing on the stone.

So tall and straight.

"Can you believe it?" Seeing Horn coming, Jeanna curled up and buried her face between her knees. "He really stopped nine companies of the Imperial Order with just a few words."

Horn sat next to Jeanne, stretched out his hand, hesitated for a second, and then hugged Jeanne's shoulders.

Putting her hands under Horn's armpits, Jeanna buried her head in Horn's shoulder.

The familiar scent of chamomile penetrated Horn's nose.

"Brother, do the villagers know that Danji is gone?"

Horn's eyebrows trembled. "I have informed the ten households that Danji went to argue with the knights and did not catch up after the rope bridge broke."

"So, they don't know that Danji died for them?"

Horn didn't know how to answer. He stroked Jeanne's shoulder and looked up at the dark clouds in the sky. They blocked the sun during the day, and would they block the moonlight at night?

"Brother, do you think that Danji is a chivalrous knight?"

"of course."

"I always wanted to be a chivalrous knight." Jeanne's voice echoed in Horn's sleeves. "Then, the villagers of Moulin Rouge deceived me... I thought chivalrous knights were a scam."

Horn stroked Jeanne's arm and said, "There are only ordinary people in the world. How can there be a chivalrous knight who is omniscient and omnipotent?"

“I thought a chivalrous knight would uphold justice all his life, but perhaps a chivalrous knight can only uphold justice once in his life.

The rest of their lives may be just like Danji's, lived in obscurity, even in a somewhat decadent and desolate state.

I saw how cheerful they were when they were doing good deeds, but I didn't know how much it would cost to uphold justice...

Being cheated once made me hate all chivalrous knights. How much has Danji endured?"

Horn felt that endless words blocked his nasal cavity, his throat was dry, and he couldn't speak.

"Brother, will our country be a place of absolute fairness where there is no need for knights to uphold justice?"

The night wind howled, pulling at the corners of Horn's trembling mouth.

"Yes." Horn squeezed out some words from his throat, "There won't be absolute fairness, but by then, everyone will have the right to justice.

As for not having to uphold justice, that will happen, but that will be in the very, very distant future.”

Jeanne didn't reply, but Horn could feel a warm, wet sensation in the hollow of his shoulder.

"Do you want to be the same as before?"

"No, this world doesn't need knights, whether they are chivalrous knights or those knights." Jeanne raised her head, her eyes red. "I want everyone to be a knight, and I want no one to be a knight."

Jeanne lowered her legs, took out a book from the cloth bag around her waist and handed it to Horn.

It was a copy of "Knight Cefar" whose pages had turned yellow and were even a little curled, but it was still well preserved.

"Is this the book that Danji gave you?"

"Yeah." Jeanne shifted her position to rest her head on Horn's shoulder better. "I lied to him. I said I could understand half of it, but I only knew four or five words on the first page."

"puff!"

"What are you laughing at? Don't laugh." Jeanne blushed and hit Horn's thigh. "Read to me and teach me how to read."

Spreading the Knight Siphal across his lap, Horn rubbed the pages gently.

The blank spaces on the pages are filled with fine text, and sometimes there are notes stuck on them.

Judging from the handwriting, a small part of it was from more than ten years ago, while most of it should be from this period.

The new notes only contained very simple explanations, probably because they were afraid that Jeanna wouldn't understand.

Unfortunately, Jeanne couldn't understand not only the book, but also the notes.

By the dim candlelight in his hand, Horn recited softly:

"The trend of the world is that if stability lasts for a long time, it will inevitably turn into chaos, and if chaos lasts for a long time, it will inevitably turn into stability. The Seven Hills Kingdoms fought against each other and merged into the El Empire..."

"On April 1328, 4 in the Imperial Calendar, the Holy El Empire Emperor Baldwin arrived at Schönbrunn Palace. Just as he took his seat, a strong wind blew outside the palace..."

"There is a place in Chaman whose name I need not mention. Not long ago there lived a knight..."

"Xifaer's ranking in the Knight Tournament is not ideal..."

At first, Jeanne followed Horn's fingers and gently followed his recitation, but later, her voice became smaller and smaller until it turned into a light snoring.

No, sister, is this your determination to learn to read?

Reluctantly closing the book and handing the candle to the accompanying child soldier, Horn put a hooded cloak on Jeanne, picked her up sideways with sweat all over his forehead, and staggered towards the tent.

This short journey feels so long.

Horn gritted his teeth and put Jeanna on the animal skin blanket with difficulty.

Bending over, with one hand on his knees and the other on his waist, Horn was breathing heavily.

On the last stretch of the road just before the tent, he ran out of breath and nearly fell over.

The silly girl looks thin, but she is really dense.

After calming his violently beating heart, he walked out of the tent and carefully closed the curtain.

"René, find me a plank, a shovel, and... a bottle of wine."

(End of this chapter)