The cold wind is biting, the snowflakes are flying, and the world is vast. Davao, which stands on the plain, was soon dyed white by the wind and snow.
Davao City is located in the middle of the eastern alliance. In fact, its scale is not as large as the main town led by ordinary barons. The 20 meter high city wall encloses an area of 14 square kilometers, in which there are three kings, six dukes and 15 marques. Even if the area of Davao City is twice as small, it can never be called Davao town.
Of course, the princes and marques of Davao are self styled, and their will can not even carry out the whole city. However, they do have the blood and surname of knights. According to the rules of the glorious code, priests, knights and people all constitute a legal place.
There are 120000 mu of pasture land and a river around the small town. In the eastern wilderness full of devil grass, its natural conditions are unique. Moreover, Davao City is only 54 days away from Borui Kingdom, and the motorcade will not travel to the border town of SUS kingdom for more than 70 days.
The two kingdoms of Borui and Susi canonized all the poor nobles in Davao as lords of the Kingdom, opened roads and built supply points along the way in their name. Over time, it has become an important trade transit station and business destination of the eastern alliance.
Davao City does not produce food, but it is quite prosperous, with a permanent resident population of more than 8000. In the second season of rain and snow, the roads are slippery and difficult to travel. Large caravans will live in Davao City for two months. When the snow and ice melt in the coming spring, they will set off for their destination. The caravan brought a wide range of goods and bulging money bags. The city is full of imposing shops, pubs and hotels. The flow of people in the streets shuttled back and forth against the heavy snow. It was very lively. There was no bleak and desolate water season at all.
With a loud bang, a figure suddenly broke the wooden door of the tavern and fell and landed in the center of the street, attracting pedestrians to give way. This is a strong middle-aged man with gray hair. His gorgeous fur was covered with sewage, and there seemed to be scorch marks of fire on it. The whole person curled up in a strange position, fell on the ground and couldn''t help twitching, obviously in shock.
"It''s master Lieber of the grey rabbit caravan!"
A sharp eyed spectator identified the victim. The spectators were in an uproar.
"Sure enough, it''s master Lieber."
"It''s fun now."
"Who dares to make trouble in Davao? What a brave man!"
"Go and inform the guards and mercenaries of the brotherhood... Come and help and quickly carry master Lieber to the church. If he dies here, he will smash our signboard."
The city of Davao is mixed with good and bad people. Fighting is common. It''s not surprising that people are dead. But no one can openly harm the golden Lord of Davao.
The caravan is the gold owner of Davao.
Master Lieber of the grey rabbit caravan is forthright and generous, and is deeply welcomed by the residents of Davao City. Moreover, the gray rabbit caravan is the property of the masked brothers, and seven of the ten residents here are peripheral members of the brotherhood. The leader of the brotherhood''s caravan was beaten half to death on the brotherhood''s territory, which immediately aroused the anger of the residents.
However, the brotherhood is divided into three major factions and more than 20 forces. Lieber may have been wounded by enemies within the brotherhood. The crowd around kept basic restraint, but they were vaguely divided into several groups, large and small. They confronted each other and were at war at any time.
Before long, the guard mercenaries of Davao City hurried here. The head Mercenary Captain probed Libo''s breath, opened his eyelids and looked at his pupils. His jaw head indicated that his life was not in danger for the time being. Just as the guard mercenaries were ready to carry Libo away, a sharp voice sounded:
"No one can touch him!"
A pudgy old man walked out of the tavern. He was wearing a luxurious bear fur coat. His face was blue and white, and his eye bags were deep, giving people a sense of frivolity of excessive wine and color.
When the Mercenary Captain saw him, his murderous expression immediately changed into a flattering smile, nodded and bowed and said, "father bilka, are you there?"
The nobles of Davao City do nothing every day, either hold banquets and revelry, or work hard to create people. Urban government has nothing to do with them. Father bilka is the actual person in power. In the name of the nobles in Davao City, he hired the mercenary regiment of the masked Brotherhood to maintain the order of the city, collect taxes from merchants and distribute them to each escort mercenary.
Father bilka nodded majestically and demurely, pointed to the unconscious Lieber and said in a shrill voice, "he is an evil wizard!"
The crowd spread around like a frying pan. The guards and mercenaries fled the scene and shivered in the crowd. They couldn''t even grasp the one handed spear in their hands. Two strong, dignified faces passed through the broken tavern door, put up Lieber''s arms and dragged him to the town church.
The pleasure seekers in the tavern just poked their heads out and began to talk with fear and excitement.
"Scared the hell out of me... Lieber is the son of the devil."
"I saw a fireball as big as a man''s head in his hand... It must be the legendary hellfire."
"The Supreme Lord is above... LIBOR plans to burn the whole city and please his demon parents. Fortunately, the evil can''t hide from the father''s eyes."
"Praise the Supreme Lord. I saw that the warrior waved his hand and flew the devil''s offspring. The terrible Hellfire could not hurt him at all."
"Frog eating fool! Can''t you see that the warrior is a noble and upright Paladin!"
People on the street found that beside father bilka stood a mysterious man wrapped in a cloak. He must be the legendary Paladin.
People believe that the noble paladin is the embodiment of justice and power. The passage between paladins and evil wizards is only circulated in the ballads of bards. Today, they witnessed how paladins subdued wizards and saved Davao. Believers knelt in the snow and praised the glory of the Supreme Lord in unison.
Father bilka nodded with satisfaction and ordered in a sharp voice: "at noon tomorrow, the paladin Lord Conrad trigowal will personally preside over the ceremony of purifying evil. The big housework will let everyone know the news of victory... Who, take someone to catch all the attendants of the grey rabbit caravan, interrogate them well, and don''t let the wizard''s helpers slip through the net." Then the priest turned to the paladin and said with a flattering smile, "Sir, shall we go back to church now?"
The mysterious man nodded slightly and walked forward. The crowd spontaneously gave up a wide passage and watched the paladin and the priest leave in awe and gratitude. Some devout believers even knelt down and kissed the paladin''s footprints. The people in the tavern have been fighting for the wine cups used by the paladin.
The church is the most magnificent building in Davao City, with solemn and gorgeous internal furnishings. The paladin Kandal bypassed the main building of the church and entered a simple building in the backyard.
The decoration of the building is quite different from the simple appearance. Mahogany furniture of Gambis Kingdom, wool painted carpet of Wharton grassland, spider silk lady oil painting of Susi Kingdom, crystal chandelier of Neville, refined gold candlestick and water lizard oil candle of Borui Kingdom, ornamental armor of Dodo, Centaur leather sofa of Sasan and other luxury goods are all excellent.
Kanglars took off his cloak, and several beautiful young girls with thin clothes came up with little snow-white feet, but they were dispersed by father bilka. These girls are made up of powder and jade, innocent and lovely, but there is a charm between their eyebrows and eyes. They were intimate with father bilka, and they were obviously taught by him.
The paladin''s blue eyes shrunk slightly and said coldly, "you will enjoy it."
Father bilka graciously took over the cloak, thrust out a fat boar face and said, "Lord trigoval will laugh at me. That''s my hobby."
The only specialty of the eastern alliance is population, and the largest trade is population trade.
Strictly speaking, population trade is not a criminal activity. After all, high society has a tradition of persuading gold to adopt. Only by following the noble master can the children of ordinary families have the foundation to climb up, and their living conditions will be better.
Knights belong to extraordinary human beings who move towards perfection. When the blood of knights spreads to ordinary people, beautiful appearance and healthy body become the intuitive standard to measure whether a person is noble or not.
If something is good at the top, it will be good at the bottom. The eastern alliance was originally a place of exile for aristocrats. There were no natural conditions to open up territory. The impoverished aristocrats were trapped in isolated island cities and had nothing to do except to reproduce.
The ancestors of the eliano family founded the kingdom of Susi by relying on population trade and lover diplomacy. With the example of alejano, the population trade of the eastern alliance became more and more prosperous, and gradually formed a large-scale and surprisingly profitable industry.
Each caravan will take the collected handsome men and women to the Eastern League, sell them to the local nobles, adopt their young children with persuasion money, and then transfer them to the Lords in need at a high price to train them as attendants, maidens, family dead or secret knights.
In fact, the clergy also need to improve the appearance and temperament of future generations and adapt to the aesthetics of high society. It''s not surprising that Davao City Church adopted some beautiful girls, but father bilka''s hobby of abusing underage girls disgusted the conlars.
However, father bilka was born in the oldest Holy Mountain Monastery. Since the papal line was elevated, the priests of Holy Mountain Monastery gradually withdrew from the power core of the Holy See and became the bottom of the church monastery. It took the trigowal family a lot of trouble to take their former political enemies for their own use and let them take charge of the educational administration of the Eastern League.
Bilka was huddled in Davao and could not become a high priest in his life. The decline of priests and the decline of nobles, the upper atmosphere of the Eastern League is naturally extravagant and erosive. Most importantly, bilka is loyal and useful to the trigoval family. Conrad will not blame the family''s eagle dog claws because of his moral sense.
"Lord trigowar, you have reached the silver level, and now you have captured another wizard. The fourth level paladin is just around the corner." Father bilka said flatteringly, "I can''t leave Davao to attend the promotion ceremony of adults. I specially prepared 100 holy power crystals as my personal gift to you."
Conrad looked a little pale and said in a deep voice, "I can easily capture a wizard this time. Thanks to the help of bishop Charlie in black... You arrange it. I''ll take the little black robe to see him now."
"As you wish, my Lord." Bilka bowed out.
A moment later, he returned to the room with a thin boy in black. The boy was about 8 years old, holding a small wooden box tightly in his hand. When he saw the paladin, he wanted to bow.
Conrad raised his hand to stop him, got up and said, "Jamie, take the box. I''ll take you to your mentor."
The boy Jamie followed the paladin and left father bilka''s house. They entered the back door of the church and climbed up the spiral stairs to the top of the tall tower. Conral pushed open the wooden door of the attic, and a strange smell came to his face, just like rotten meat soaked in honey, which made people feel sick after a sharp smell.
Jamie squeezed her nose into the cramped attic and saw a bony old man sitting in a rocking chair. He was covered with a thick blanket, surrounded by a fierce mountain ape with smooth fur and a giant owl more than half a man. The mountain ape looked at the two visitors curiously, while the owl closed his eyes and did not move, just like an inanimate specimen.
"A little wizard?"
The old man''s voice was dry and dull. It seemed that he had not spoken for many years. Two dark red lights flashed in his deep eyes, as if they could burn through people''s soul. Jamie couldn''t help trembling. Holding the wooden box, he wanted to hide behind the paladin, but he was carried out.
"Lord Charlie, Jamie is a devout child. His parents are servants of our Lord." Conrad took Jamie''s hand and smiled.
The old man''s dark red eyes became soft and no longer had the power to capture people''s soul. He nodded and said, "this is the heir you found for me?"
"Yes."
Conlars Trigoval looked down at Jamie and said, "the adult in front of you is the chief of the black robed church, the sky Patroller, the insight, the devout, the black robed bishop of the magistrate''s office, and the 41st speaker of the Shadow Council - Charlie."
"Only he can save your soul from the devil."