Chapter 205 The ceremony begins

"The elves can obtain a piece of land for preaching, but they need to deal with the nobles in that territory themselves. The duchy will not issue any orders for the nobles to give up their territory. This is inconsistent with the laws of the duchy. As compensation for this, the candidate for the first lord of that area can be nominated by the elves."

The elf in the forest was lying on a branch, watching the carrier pigeon fly into the sky. According to common sense, Lysabelle would receive the message in three or four days. Now he just had to wait.

The elves finally achieved their goal at the negotiation table, but in order to fully realize the effect they wanted, it seemed that they would need to pay a little more.

But overall, the cost is much less than starting a war.

The elves were confident that they could defeat all resistance from the principality. Even with the Kingdom of Valandi behind them, the elves did not believe that these humans could pose any real obstacle to their goals.

However, the elves will also die in this war, and the chaos in the war will make it impossible for the elves to completely recover these corpses and return them to the embrace of the mother tree. This is a price the elves do not want to pay.

It would be great if we could just provide some material support to these resistance fighters to achieve our goals.

"The order has arrived, move forward."

The Principality troops at the departure position had received the order and then left the departure camp.

They carried heavy crossbows and catapults. They were a force prepared for high-intensity combat, and their target was just outside the forest.

"Even the God of the Sun has no right to kidnap our people."

The pre-war mobilization had already been done when they arrived at the departure camp. The soldiers and officers all knew what had happened. The Sun God Cult's crusaders forcibly abducted the villagers from the surrounding villages and even launched an attack on a town. Although the local militia fought back and prevented the town from completely falling, many townspeople were still abducted.

For the sake of the reputation of the Cult of the Sun, the order did not mention the purpose of the Crusaders to loot these people, but even so, it was enough to make the soldiers angry and full of fighting spirit.

Many of them were ordinary villagers in a village before joining the Principality Army. The actions of the Crusaders naturally aroused their anger.

"Don't forget, the elves will be our allies in this operation. As long as they don't attack us, don't attack them."

A small group of elven troops also made final preparations at this time.

"Try not to accidentally hurt the civilians who were captured by the Skitarii."

The elves also received the news that the agreement had been reached. The elves were just not good at communicating with others, but that did not mean they were really arrogant. On the contrary, they actually attached great importance to cooperation with contemporary civilization.

They are well aware that they are just a lost civilization and cannot truly confront contemporary civilization. Therefore, they carefully hide the various problems that arise due to the loss and actively seek cooperation with contemporary civilization.

They will do their best to maintain the alliance that has been reached.

"Get ready, the sun is about to rise."

In the capital of the principality, Moralichi heard the bells.

Regardless of the time of day, the church bells ring at a fixed time every day.

"Three long bells..."

When this bell rings, it means that the sun will soon rise. The believers will wake up at the sound of the bell, wash themselves, and then go to the nearest church to wait for sunrise.

The prayer at sunrise is the most important of the three daily prayers of the Sun God Cult. The prayers at noon and sunset can be cancelled for other reasons, but every believer will participate in the sunrise prayer.

"Time is up."

Laming looked at the increasing number of believers below, opened the holy book on the lectern, and prepared to start today's prayer.

Although the work of the Crusaders is important, for a devout believer, nothing is more important than praying at sunrise and thanking the sun god for spreading sunlight to the earth.

"Fire!" The soldiers next to the catapult cut the rope at the command, and burning boulders smashed towards the Crusader camp not far away.

"Prepare!"

The soldiers ran to the pile of stones nearby, picked up the boulders soaked in grease, and ran to their own catapults.

Not long after, another round of burning boulders flew towards the camp not far away.

Flames rose in the camp.

"Those abducted people are still in the camp. Will bombarding them like this..."

One soldier muttered quietly, earning a glare from his captain.

"We have to win first before we can spare the energy to discuss saving people. The enemy is the Skitarii. Even if we go all out, we can't say we will win this battle."

The soldiers didn't say anything else, and as he moved the next boulder, screams echoed through the camp.

"Quick, move the other offerings to the sacrificial site."

Several crusaders kicked away several villagers who asked them for help, and then rushed to the distant sacrificial site with other civilians they had captured.

"Fortunately, the raid on the town left our sacrifices with some reserves, allowing them to withstand such losses."

At the sacrificial site, the chief priest was waiting, holding a dagger in his hand. A burning boulder smashed over, but it only caused a ripple in the air above his head before being bounced away.

“Are the numbers complete?”

He seemed to be completely unconcerned about the attacks from the Principality's troops in the distance, his eyes always fixed on the sacrifices being brought in one after another below.

His eyes swept across the sacrifices one by one, lingering on each face for a moment. He wanted to remember the appearance of each sacrifice.

“May you enjoy the sunshine forever in His presence.”

He whispered a prayer, waiting for the moment when the sun would rise above the horizon.

"We have enough sacrifices. Now we just need to wait for sunrise."

In the Principality's troops in the distance, the soldiers began to form a formation and began to advance towards the camp.

In their eyes, the camp was eerily quiet.

The Crusaders did not launch any counterattacks. Only a few shouts and the sound of burning flames could be heard from the camp. But one thing was certain: the catapults' attacks had no practical effect.

In this case, in order to complete the mission, the Principality's troops have only one option: to advance.

"The Principality troops are advancing."

The chief priest soon learned the news from the assistant priest nearby.

"They are too slow, but that's normal. After all, they are fools who cannot understand the power of God."

The sun was already rising above the horizon, and the officiant waved his hand.

"Begin the ceremony!"

(End of this chapter)