When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

The setting sun slanted, and the valley, squeezed between two high mountains, was filled with slowly moving villagers.

After walking for a day, their legs were already numb, and the increasingly steep slope offered almost no support other than the crutches in their hands.

However, both the villagers and the high-ranking officials of the Papal State were in good spirits.

During this trip, apart from a few people who caught colds and broke their legs, there were hardly any mishaps that affected the progress.

This made Horn a little suspicious, and he checked everywhere, fearing that something would go wrong at a critical moment.

But now, they have arrived at the designated river crossing point on time.

After crossing the rope bridge not far ahead, they will be able to enter the mountains in the central area of ​​Qianhe Valley.

At that time, the knights will not be able to chase on horseback on the mountain roads.

Yes, these villagers will soon be able to get rid of the threat of the Church army.

Danji sat cross-legged on the top of the slope, resting his head on Black William's horse leg, quietly watching the setting sun.

Twenty years ago, when he first started out, he would never have imagined that he would be mixed with these villagers, running away from the pursuit of other knights.

Does he still count as a knight now?

The long sword representing the knight's identity hangs on the saddle.

But Danji couldn't take it, because he couldn't hold it.

He didn't know when, but he couldn't hold the knight's sword steady anymore.

Every time he wanted to draw that long sword, his hand would shake like a sieve.

Danji thought of Horn, who shook as badly as he did when the Holy Father possessed him.

His feelings for Horn were complicated. At first, he thought he was a liar, then he thought he was a cultist.

Later, he didn't know what Horn was anymore.

"Brother Danji, I caught a wild rabbit, come and eat it tonight."

"Okay, I will definitely come."

When the villagers passed by, Danji retracted his hand to greet them, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared again.

How happy these people are, Danji has never seen such happy villagers in twenty years.

Maybe they will still be stingy, still take small advantages, and still make trouble without reason.

But they are different from before, but Danji can't say what is different.

Gulag Monastery is really a good place.

If Gulag Monastery was a secluded island, Danji might be willing to live there for the rest of his life.

But the knights are here, and the Church is here.

They left that paradise-like island.

"Danji, what are you doing sitting here?"

Holding a bowl, drinking rotten bread soaked in rice paste, His Holiness the Pope squatted on the ground, like a farmer squatting on the threshold to eat.

He has to go to tell stories to the villagers during dinner time, plan the route and march for tomorrow, so he simply eats dinner in advance.

"Tired, taking a break."

"I, a person with the first stage of breathing technique, don't feel tired, and you, with the fourth stage of breathing technique, are tired?"

Without answering Horn's question, Danji softly asked: "Your Holiness, when you went to see Our Lord Messiah, did she say that those sinful knights would go to hell?"

"What sin do you have? It's okay, I'll tell my mother, and if you perform well in the future, you can get a discretionary reduction."

"Will I go to hell?"

"Most likely not." Horn slurped a mouthful of rice paste, "First, you are a high-ranking official of my Papal State, and second, you are a good person, better than many knights."

Danji did not reply, but gently stroked Black William's horse leg beside him.

"If you are really afraid." Horn put the spoon in his mouth and slurped it clean, then handed it to Danji.

"Here, a holy relic."

Danji confusedly took the spoon.

"I am the son of Mother, I can basically be considered a holy relic of Mother, then my things, according to the principle of transmission, are also holy relics." Horn stretched out five fingers, "This spoon can redeem five hundred thousand years of sin."

Holding the spoon in his hand, Danji's serious face suddenly couldn't hold back, and he couldn't help laughing.

Horn slurped the rice paste while spinning around, with a smile on his face as well.

"Your Holiness, Your Holiness..."

Before Danji's laughter stopped, a child soldier stumbled out of the bushes.

"What's wrong?" Patting Danji's shoulder, Horn quickly stood up and greeted him.

"Those knights, they're here, I saw them, many people, many many."

Time suddenly became quiet for a moment.

"The knights are here, how can they be so fast?" Ignoring the heat, Horn directly swallowed the rice porridge and magical beast meat in one gulp, asking unclearly.

The child soldier's face was covered with small wounds separated by bushes: "I don't know, but they are indeed here."

"Damn it, call all the messengers!"

Handing the ceramic bowl holy relic to the child soldier, Horn wiped his hands on his pants and began to issue orders quickly.

The most ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ in ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥⊥ book ⊥⊥ bar ⊥⊥ first ⊥ hair!

"Abandon irrelevant baggage... that kind of broken ceramic bowl is irrelevant baggage!"

"Call back all the people who are collecting firewood and potato roots... potato roots are everywhere, go quickly!"

"Let ten households form a team and speed up the passage through the rope bridge, no one is allowed to grab the road!"

The child soldiers rushed down from the hillside, conveying the new news to the ten households, and the originally slowly advancing team visibly increased its speed.

Just after Horn finished giving the order, Sisi ran over from the other side of the hillside: "Your Holiness, do you know that the knights have caught up?"

"Already know." Horn looked into the distance, he didn't know how long the knights would take, but at least he couldn't see their figures yet.

"This is a three-day journey, we are three full days behind, they only set off at noon yesterday, and they arrived this evening?"

"Maybe they abandoned the infantry and baggage?" Sisi wiped the sweat from her forehead: "Besides, you only walked 50 li (里: approximately 25 kilometers) in three days, if the road wasn't too muddy and they didn't have to look for our traces, they probably would have arrived long ago."

Jeanne climbed up the hillside from the other side at this moment: "What's going on? Why did the team suddenly speed up, and there are still many people scouting and collecting potato roots nearby."

"Blow the whistle, call them all back, the knights are catching up."

Before Horn finished speaking, the villagers below began to run and curse.

"Shameless things, they said it was a race walking, but they actually rode horses?"

"Aren't we also using horses to pull carts?"

"That's different, we are from the same clergy, either junior generals or veterans, how dare those stinky knights cheat?"

"Hey, understand, don't you allow people without feet to use crutches?"

They were laughing and scolding, but the villagers still nimbly opened their sore legs and accelerated their pace.

"How long will they take to arrive?" Horn looked to the west, among the mountains, he could only see black swallows flying in the red sun.

"Maybe five small hourglasses (5 minutes)."

"How long will it take us to walk over?"

"At least we have to wait until the sun is blocked by that mountain."

"That's eight small hourglasses."

Sisi glanced at the crowd below: "At least two to three hundred people will not have time to cross the bridge..."

"Are we going to abandon them?"

"If they abandon all their belongings, will they make it in time?"

Behind him, Horn and Sisi were discussing fiercely, but Danji didn't make any movement, he just stopped laughing.

He raised his head, the mountains stretched and undulated, and the evening glow penetrated the clouds, cutting the mountains and green land.

It was cloudy all day, but in the evening, the sun came out instead.

Raising his head, Danji closed his eyes, the wind mixed with the faint laughter and footsteps, the creaking of wheels rolling over the ground, and the rustling of leaves stroking the evening wind.

Reopening his eyes, Danji drew the knight's long sword from the saddle.

The sword no longer trembled.