When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#186 - The Priory of the Scales?

The Scales Hermit Order.

Even within the Secret Rite Society, this name is quite explosive.

Putting aside the fact that they, as members of the Secret Rite Society, are not atheists or devil worshippers, but instead worship the opposing Church.

You should know that in Black Serpent Bay, a haven for fugitives and Secret Rite Society members, most people are anti-Church.

Especially many extreme Secret Rite Society members, who even swear never to obtain any income through the Church in their lifetime.

In a country where the Church deeply permeates every aspect of daily life, that means they can only rely on crime to obtain money.

But in this atmosphere, the Scales Hermit Order insists that they are not part of the Secret Rite Society, but a Messianic religious order, the holy ones, and that everyone else is a lost sheep...

Isn't that just asking for a beating?

Despite their facade of admiring the true god, everyone knows that beneath that facade lies an extremely terrifying demon.

They are the Secret Rite Society most fond of conducting human experiments and raising magical creatures; wherever there are nine incidents of magical creature riots, ten involve the Scales Hermit Order.

They even kidnap witches with unique abilities under the guise of knowledge, then perform dissections and a series of cruel experiments, and even went to the Flesh Throne to kidnap vampires and ogres.

To this day, the Flesh Throne refuses to provide any foreign aid to the Scales Hermit Order and has placed the head of the Scales Hermit Order on its highest wanted list.

This may not mean much to the Scales Hermit Order, because their leader is already on the highest wanted lists of the Church, the Empire (Demon Hunters), and the Secret Rite Society; when you have too many lice, you don't feel the itch.

Despite often being besieged and resisted, the Scales Hermit Order does attract some wizards.

Because Secret Rite Society members have to admit that the Scales Hermit Order's radical approach has given them a significant lead over other Secret Rite Societies in the study of magical essence and magical creatures.

The cold wind after the rain hit his face, and Horn, riding his horse, was still thinking about the Scales Hermit Order.

If the evil god on Autumn Twilight Island is a member of the Scales Hermit Order, then not only are the long-haired monsters not strange, but even the giant spiders in Wild Spider Forest become reasonable.

But are there really Scales Hermit Order wizards on Autumn Twilight Island?

Running out of the sparse woods, another abandoned village appeared before him, the barbarians in the village cautiously poking their heads out, peering towards Horn.

When Horn's gaze turned towards them, they would hide their heads behind collapsed walls and fences, but that was just burying their heads in the sand; those big ears were still visible.

Horn smiled.

According to his instructions, the Black Hats had not engaged in large-scale killings, and anyone who had not participated in the previous battles was left alone.

As Horn rode past them with a dozen or so guards, iron hooves kicked up mud, which even had specks of blackish-red in it.

It seemed that last night's drizzle had failed to wash away the bloodstains on the ground.

After yesterday's night rain, many people in the camp caught colds again, it was unknown whether it was divine favor or just a common cold, but Madelan had dispersed some of the old, weak, sick, and disabled into the beastman villages.

The last of the fourth team would arrive soon, and by then, nearly 20,000 people would be stranded on the road.

They desperately needed a place to live and shelter from the cold.

The sky was like a gray-black canvas smeared with a dry brush, and behind the gray curtain was a pale sky veiled by wisps of fog.

The lake reflected the sky like a mirror, and even turned a pale gray color.

"Your Grace, we've arrived."

Rudylo, who had come to meet Horn, pointed to a long stone arch bridge that stretched far into the distance.

Dozens of beastman barbarians stood stubbornly by the long bridge.

Their noses were bruised and their faces swollen, and they wore long robes of animal skin, constantly cursing and admonishing the black-clad soldiers standing at the head of the bridge, hoping they would not anger the blood god on the island.

On the lakeshore was a towering granite rock, and the bridgehead was built on the granite, with dozens of piers carved with exquisite acanthus leaves stretching forward, until the distant Autumn Twilight Island hidden in the mist.

Autumn Twilight Island seemed to float in the mist.

If someone, not knowing any better, rushed onto the long bridge and galloped wildly, they would surely be unable to see the road ahead in the thick fog, and then fall into the water at the broken bridge.

According to those beastman priests, the long-haired monsters would not attack outsiders who came to the island only on the sacrificial days that occurred every seven days.

The next sacrificial day was still five days away, and Horn couldn't wait five days; he had to complete the clearing of Autumn Twilight Island before the day after tomorrow.

These days, he had been having the beastmen of the United Kingdom fish with all their might, while the salt wells were producing brine with all their might, and Horn had even transferred 100 favored ones to learn the peat alchemy formula.

If he continued to waste time like this, he wouldn't have enough time to settle down before the snow fell.

"Brother, the boats are ready."

After yesterday's long expedition, Jeanne showed no signs of fatigue, but was full of energy.

Victor pointed to the broken bridge and introduced: "Due to the limited number of ships, only a dozen or so, each carrying at most seven or eight people, we can only transport a hundred people to the island at a time, and the ships are small, so warhorses can't go up.

We decided to first go to the broken bridge, walk to the end, and then take a boat from the bridge to Autumn Twilight Island, which is just over a mile or nearly two miles of waterway.

The most⊥new⊥small⊥say⊥in⊥six⊥9⊥⊥book⊥⊥bar⊥⊥first⊥send!

After the first batch of ninety people land, they will immediately build fortifications to defend, and send out scouts.

After the second batch of one hundred people land on the island, they will begin to clear the long-haired monsters along the line, and the third batch of one hundred people will continue to land on the island as support."

"Okay, let's do as you say."

After all, it was the suggestion of the frontline commander, and Horn readily agreed.

Victor quickly selected the soldiers, taking all 20 holy musketeers, 60 cuirassier pikemen, and 10 sword and shield soldiers.

These 90 people were all favored ones, and could switch shifts to fire the clockwork guns when necessary.

Following behind these 90 soldiers, rafts and canoes slowly rowed in the water on both sides of the long bridge.

Horn reached out and brushed past the handrails of the bridge, the Pompeian-style patterns on the piers and floor tiles were blurred, the marble handrails had long been weathered and fallen off, and the cracks in the floor tiles were overgrown with grass and yellow-red moss.

This thousand-year-old bridge, left over from the Eyre Empire era, was more solid than Horn had imagined.

He stomped hard, but the long bridge did not tremble even slightly.

This was a bridge built a thousand years ago or even earlier, and it was more than a thousand meters long and four to five meters wide.

If you asked those stonemasons to build a 100-meter bridge now, they would be panting and puffing, Eyre technology really was invincible.

Horn shook his head, the stonemason he had signed a contract with was the last to catch up with Horn's team, he wondered what he would think when he saw this long bridge.

Walking from the bridgehead to the end of the long bridge, the originally towering piers gradually began to collapse, either tilting directly into the water, or the bridge deck falling into the lake.

"Let's board the ship from here."

Jumping onto the largest oar-powered boat, Horn held onto the gunwale and sat firmly, and a dozen small boats cut through the mist, moving forward.

Autumn Twilight Island in the distance gradually became clearer, and even the black shadows moving in the fog were no longer blurred.

Horn gripped the papal scepter in his hand, and inserted the clockwork key in advance, pointing the muzzle of the scepter forward.

"Your Grace, look."

Beside Horn, Victor pointed to Autumn Twilight Island in the mist ahead and shouted in surprise, "There's actually a pier there."