The Archbishop said with a smile, "Your Majesty, although I came back a little late, Leo has prepared the worship for me at the beginning of the year. The Lord will bless you as scheduled. Please don''t worry."


    The king looked concerned and said, "I''m worried about this. Fortunately, you came back safely, archbishop. Maybe I shouldn''t ask more. Why did you lead your troops to deal with the mountain thieves in Rockland?"


    "I bought a batch of food and wanted to give it to the refugees in begmia mountain. You know, their winter is not very good, but these heretics abandoned by the Lord robbed the refugees'' food. I feel the anger of the Lord. As a servant of the Lord, I must send them the punishment of the Lord in the name of the Lord!"


    "Why don''t you tell me in advance? I can send out the army of Wangdu to wipe out the hateful mountain bandits."


    The Archbishop shook his head and said, "thank you for your kindness. May the Lord bless you and your kingdom."


    With a few polite words, the Archbishop left the palace and looked at his strong body and calm steps. The king felt that the old man could live for decades.


    ……


    Leo was ecstatic when Howitt returned from victory.


    He asked about the course of the battle and the whereabouts of bucken. He asked a lot of things, but the Archbishop didn''t give an answer. When he realized that the situation was wrong, the Archbishop asked him, "remember your father?"


    Leo was stunned and said, "why did you suddenly mention..."


    "I miss him a little," sighed the archbishop. "We fought for the Pope for twenty years. He had you when he was almost forty. We are the servants of the Lord. We can''t have children. In order to keep you, he promised the Pope to be a bait and participate in the mortal war.


    I still remember the battle. He covered the wound on his stomach and stuffed the flowing intestines back. He held my hand and asked me to take care of you. He said you were an honest and kind child. "


    Leo bowed his head, embarrassed by the Archbishop''s words.


    Howitt continued: "Your father is a brave soldier. I always think of him as my own child. I miss him very much and really miss him. I always think of you as him. To tell you the truth, you are really not like him at all except your appearance. You are stubborn and pedantic, and always abuse your kindness. Maybe I live too long, maybe I miss him too much, and I also think of you as my son. I love you I have been conniving at you and trusting you. I believe you will change. I want to leave everything I have to you, but you deceived me. "


    "Yes, I''m sorry..." Leo was speechless.


    "You lied to me." Howitt dropped his hand on his knee and sat silently under the statue. At that moment, Leo found that he was really old.


    After a long silence, the Archbishop raised his head and said, "I was trapped by bucken. I didn''t expect that he summoned so many soldiers. Under the protection of the Lord, I defeated him, but he was still alive. He escaped. There were more than 1000 people in his hand, and there will be more in the future, and more than half of the 2000 people I brought died."


    Leo was stunned and said, "I clearly saw that our soldiers came back safely..."


    "Look at their faces carefully. Don''t you feel strange? No wonder you are not familiar with the army," sighed horvit. "Those people are the refugees I intercepted from the road. I give them food and let them wear the armor of the dead. I can''t let the king see that we have lost so many soldiers, let alone let him see my weakness."


    While talking, Howitt coughed violently. He untied his robe and a terrible wound appeared on his chest.


    Leo was frightened and wanted to go to the doctor, but Howitt stopped him.


    "It''s useless. It was cut by bucken''s holy sword. The blood of the Lord is condensed on the sword. The wound left by it can''t heal. I can''t last long. It may be a few months, or even shorter. You should learn to survive. Bucken will come back soon. If I''m dead at that time, you have to survive, you know?"


    Leo looked at the Archbishop trembling. He wanted to cry, but his tears couldn''t come out.


    It''s just a lie. Why did it become like this? Did it kill the Archbishop because of a lie? Did it kill the old man like his father?


    The Archbishop closed his robe, coughed and said, "those refugees can''t hide for too long. It''s useless to fight. You should recruit soldiers as soon as possible, or at least restore your previous strength."


    Leo nodded and saw the Archbishop take out a piece of parchment from under the statue and hand it to him: "prepare a sacrifice according to the content above. I''ll help you enter the stage tonight."


    Leo was surprised and quickly shook his head and said, "do you want me to be a divine punishment warrior? I, I really don''t want to..."


    "You have to learn to survive! Don''t you understand now?"


    "Yes, but I made an oath before the pope that I will not be a divine punishment warrior all my life."


    "Forget that stupid oath. It''s the Pope''s defense against you. Your father has high prestige in the army. He doesn''t want you to have anything to do with the army!"


    "But when I was in the Cathedral of the holy Kingdom, the LORD would hear my voice."


    "The Lord doesn''t care about this, the Lord only trusts the strong!" Howitt began to cough violently again. Leo didn''t dare to continue to argue. He prepared sacrifices. That night, on the roof of the cathedral, Howitt made him a first-order divine punishment warrior.


    "I will tell you all the upgrade methods I know. It''s not difficult to find sacrifices, but the Lord is very strict with strength. Before I die, you have to upgrade to level 3 at least, remember?"


    Leo, who had just finished his promotion, was very tired. He looked pale and said, "I''m afraid I don''t have that talent. Many divine punishment warriors took decades to rise to the second level."


    "You have talent, your talent is here." Howitt took out a divine blood stone from his arms. "This is a second-order warrior. He is very brave on the battlefield. Eating it is the best sacrifice for him."


    Leo took the divine blood stone and didn''t know what to do for a moment. In his opinion, this feeling was no different from cannibalism, which completely subverted his cognition of faith.


    "I know it''s hard for you. You have to bear the risk of losing, but you have no choice."


    Looking at the pale archbishop, Leo temporarily forgot his faith and swallowed the divine blood stone.


    Howitt nodded with satisfaction and told, "have a good rest for a few days and keep healthy. I will soon promote you to the second level. Remember, the promotion ceremony must be carried out where you can see the sky, otherwise the Lord will not respond to you."


    The frail Archbishop went back to his room to rest, but the tired Leo couldn''t sleep. Guilt, chagrin and helplessness kept tearing his body. At midnight, he left the cathedral and walked hard to Manda''s official residence.


    At the moment of seeing Manda, the tears that couldn''t flow suddenly burst the embankment.


    "I''m a stupid man, aren''t I?"


    This unexplained question is very confusing, but Manda can speculate why he asked so. It seems that the situation of the archbishop is not optimistic.


    After a moment of meditation, Manda gave the answer: "you are a kind person. Sometimes you are too kind, but I never think you are stupid."


    Leo took out a letter from his arms and stuffed it into Manda''s hand: "this is the reply from the grain merchant to me. Bucken has left the Rockland hills. Take this letter. You can buy food from the blue bay and then send the food to the begmia mountain safely."


    Manda took the letter and was speechless for a moment. At this time, Leo was still thinking about the refugees.


    "You won''t lie to me, will you?" Leo stared at Manda as if he could see through his soul.


    Manda didn''t lie: "it won''t happen."


    Leo left the mansion and staggered into the night.


    Manda sighed and received the letter in her arms.


    Of course, we should buy grain, leave some in the begmia mountain, and send most to the seven star mountain.


    The archbishop is not optimistic, which means the king is not optimistic. Manda wrote a letter overnight and stuffed it into the Styx island.


    He ordered Stanley to send troops immediately to capture grey fish town before the new year in the name of Roman Wilkins.