When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Amidst the solemn and reverent Beastfolk anthem, "The Song of Aminos," nine queens knelt in a line.

They bared their dark necks, awaiting Horn's coronation.

Horn solemnly picked up a crown woven from branches and flowers, placing it upon the head of the Queen of Hithian.

Then, he took the jar of consecrated oil mixed with lard from Bonnerd and smeared it on the queen's forehead.

Stepping back, Horn raised the crooked 屮-shaped scepter, tapping it on the Queen of Hithian's shoulders and forehead.

"Within the reach of my power, aided by the Holy Father, Holy Mother, and Holy Messiah, I shall protect the Papal States and its hundreds of subjects with law and doctrine, as is the duty of a king."

Horn recited with a stern face.

The Queen of Hithian lowered her head: "I pledge in the name of Messiah to the people entrusted to me."

After these words, Horn picked up a patchwork bag and tied it around the Queen of Hithian's barrel-like waist, hanging it on the corner of her apron.

Signing his Elven name on the letter of investiture, pre-stamped with a radish seal, Horn handed the document to the Queen of Hithian.

Kneeling on one knee, accepting the document with both hands, Queen Amazon of Hithian officially became a queen invested by the Papal States.

The Kingdom of Hithian, with its fifty-three subjects, finally became an affiliated state of the Papal States, a great empire with one thousand two hundred subjects.

A joyous occasion.

"Ceremony complete!" Bonnerd bellowed with a mystical cry.

The coronation of kings was originally a method used by the El Empire in its early days to appease barbarian tribes.

These Beastfolk, from who knows where or passed down from ancient times, stubbornly demanded investiture.

My great El Empire is long gone!

But to avoid harassment, Horn had no choice but to play along.

It wasn't the first time; Horn was already well-versed in the routine.

And so, one by one, after investing all nine queens, Horn handed out the last document, rubbed his aching arms, and looked up at the sky.

Seeing that it was getting late, just as he was about to bid farewell to the queens, the Queen of Hithian suddenly approached Horn.

"Your Majesty, besides the investiture, I have an impertinent request. I would like to ask you for a vial of holy oil."

Horn handed over the jar of lard-based holy oil: "You want this?"

"Not this, the golden yellow kind."

After much back and forth with the elderly queen, Horn realized she actually wanted a vial of allicin.

How did she know? Horn gave Busak a questioning look.

Busak pointed to the released prisoners, standing obediently by the litter.

They must have seen Madelaine using allicin to treat diarrhea and fever.

Horn was now in a bit of a bind. Other things would be easy to give, but this allicin was for saving lives, and it had a shelf life of less than a month.

"We can trade clothes and herbs, as well as grain, or slaves, all can be offered as tribute in exchange for that vial of holy oil."

Seeing Horn's hesitation, the queen immediately pleaded.

Madelaine suddenly coughed lightly, stepping to Horn's side: "They can trade garlic and herbs. We brought a small distiller; Chilvers knows how to operate it..."

Due to the cooling weather and the swampy environment, many people had caught colds, and the consumption of medicine was indeed rapid.

As for the small distiller, it belonged to Chilvers. Selling fake wine required frequent relocation, so a large distiller was impractical.

"Alright, you can trade herbs and garlic. Discuss the specifics with Busak and Madelaine."

After the negotiations, the elderly queens finally left satisfied, and Horn thought he could finally set off, as it was getting late.

But he noticed that the guards who had come with the queens remained standing still.

"What, what does this mean?"

"Conscripted warriors. These are the most powerful warriors of our kingdom. Are you not satisfied?" Hearing Horn's words, Amazon returned from the path, asking in surprise.

Horn, reminded by Bonnerd, finally remembered.

This was another old tradition of the El Empire.

They would conscript warriors from the kingdoms during the investiture.

Many high-ranking officials and generals of the El Empire were descended from warriors and chieftains of barbarian kingdoms.

Over time, those kingdoms closer to the mainland and more Elvenized even went ashore and became organized legions.

During the Holy El Empire, they were dissolved back into kingdoms.

For example, the predecessor of the Kingdom of Francia was the Frankish Legion, and the predecessor of the Frankish Legion was the Gothic Kingdom.

The predecessor of the Kingdom of Lyria was the Imperial Guard Legion, and the predecessor of the Imperial Guard Legion was the Celian Kingdom.

Forget it, it's just eight or nine people anyway. Horn patted the female warriors on the shoulders: "Not bad, then you shall form a guard, called the Varangian Guard, which means axe warriors in Elven. Your name is Gergo, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," the female warrior from the Kingdom of Hithian replied.

"Then you will be the captain of this Varangian Guard."

After settling the female warriors and bidding farewell to the queens one last time, Horn finally set off on his journey.

The autumn sunlight appeared mottled in the rising mist of the swamp.

The scent of flowers, smoke, and the smell of grass intertwined, making it somewhat difficult to breathe.

It must be said that with the Varangian female warriors, Horn's progress was much faster.

Most of the problems and pitfalls encountered during the swamp march were basically avoided by the Varangian female warriors.

Several people who were bitten by snakes were also detoxified by them using homemade herbs.

Madelaine looked at the Varangian guards scouting ahead: "I never understood, how do they speak Norn? They have never left the Blackbone Swamp, let alone been to the Kingdom of Norn."

"Because Norn was originally the language of the natives of this land," Horn said casually, shaking the reins, "The continent we are on is called the Norn Continent. It's just that the Norn were later driven to the eastern and northern reservations."

"We are the newcomers?"

"What else?" Speaking of this, Horn suddenly remembered something. He maneuvered his horse, falling back a few steps, and came to Cici's side.

"Cici, brother, today I saw that when Lilith was mentioned, your face looked strange. What's wrong?"

Cici walked, kicking away a spider crawling out of the mud: "I once heard the name Lilith."

"Is it that witch?"

"No, it's not." Cici shook his head, bringing up another topic, "Do you know what the Blood Court believes in as their god?"

"Do they even have a god they believe in?" Madelaine asked curiously, approaching.

Horn thought carefully for a moment. He remembered seeing it in the records of his church: "It seems to be called the Lord of Longevity?"

Cici glanced at him: "Yes, the god they believe in is called the Ancestor of the Blood Clan, the Lord of Longevity.

Because their doctrine cautions against associating anything with the Lord, they neither say whether the Lord of Longevity is male or female, nor do they say the name, nor is there a portrait.

But the Weighing Hermitage once brought out a document from the ruins of the old El Empire, and the events recorded on it were vague and unbelievable.

We always thought it was fabricated by the Weighing Hermitage, because that document said... the Ancestor of the Blood Clan was called Lilith, the twin sister of Messiah."

Even though Horn had long since become somewhat numb to everything during this time.

But when he heard this news, he couldn't help but cough violently.

Then that means...

Besides having a goddess mother who is the Holy Lord of the Church, he also has a great aunt who is the Ancestor of the Blood Clan?