When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#175 - The next day, Demon King Hoss

The iron gate slammed shut, cutting off Drolte's screams.

Barnifoss and Mizam arrived at a drawing-room in the castle, where several servants immediately brought wine.

After downing a large glass of wine, Barnifoss slumped into a chair and said with a look of despair, "We're screwed, utterly screwed."

"What's screwed?" Mizam, Prince Condé's personal chaplain, asked with a smile.

"Can you still smile? We only caught a few farmers who followed Saint-Son Hohen in the uprising. Bishop Constance isn't a fool; he'll just think we suffered a crushing defeat."

"But we did suffer a crushing defeat. Those refugees escaped; isn't that a crushing defeat?" Mizam took a sip of wine. "But defeat isn't the same as losing."

"Your Excellency Mizam, what do you mean by that?"

"You wouldn't understand," Mizam leaned over, prompting Barnifoss to do the same, and they began to whisper.

"You haven't experienced anything like this before, so it's normal that you wouldn't know. Let me teach you something.

In war, you don't necessarily need to win to gain merit. You have to know how to talk. If you know how to talk, even a defeat can be portrayed as a victory. If you don't know how to talk, even a victory can be portrayed as a defeat."

"Oh?" Barnifoss immediately stood up, closed the door to the small study, and asked in a low voice, "I understand these tricks, but can they still be used at a time like this?"

"Why not? Surely you haven't forgotten how? How else did you get to be a bishop?" Mizam looked shocked.

Despite being able to apply his knowledge from other experiences, Barnifoss still hesitated when faced with such a large-scale military affair. "But we need at least some kind of achievement, right? We haven't even captured a leader."

Recovering his composure, Mizam rested his chin on the back of his hand, wearing a mysterious expression. "We do have that."

"We really don't."

"We can have that!"

"...Are you suggesting we find someone to impersonate?" Barnifoss covered his mouth, suppressing a gasp. "If that's exposed, we're finished!"

"Who says it will be?" Mizam smiled smugly. "You need to report to Bishop Constance, Bishop Constance needs to report to the Pope, and the Pope needs to report to the empire's many believers.

Otherwise, where is the Church's authority? Where is Messara's dignity? Especially after the Blue Blood incident, we need a high-ranking 'short hair' figure even more.

Everyone is in a hurry; there's no time to investigate. We just need to find someone who isn't widely known and looks the part."

Standing up and pacing back and forth in the room, Barnifoss continued to ask suspiciously, "But what if the 'short hair' side doesn't acknowledge it?"

"If a leader is captured, who would acknowledge it?" Mizam spread his hands. "If they don't acknowledge it, that means we captured the right person. If they do acknowledge it, that means we captured the right person even more."

"But the problem is, where do we find such a person?" Barnifoss's voice was still hesitant. "The ones we caught are just small-time thugs and farmers. It's obvious they aren't high-ranking 'short hairs'; it's too fake."

Mizam suddenly pointed outside, in the direction of Drolte. "What do you think of him?"

"Him?" Barnifoss was shocked. "He's a knight."

"I've investigated him. He's well-built and has a dignified appearance. If we just grabbed some commoner, it wouldn't look right." Opening his pocket, Mizam pulled out a roll of paper and tossed it to Barnifoss. "His family fell into decline a hundred years ago. He's still alone, without a wife, doesn't get close to women, and has a solitary personality. Most of the time, he guards the castle and doesn't go out.

Most importantly, that Demon-Son and his subordinates visited the Duke's castle many times, and he was the one who received and guided them.

He personally saw the Demon-Son and even spoke with him. He's more familiar with these 'short hair' leaders than we are. When questioned, he can provide details."

"But he's the Duke's Knight Captain, responsible for the Duke's and the castle's security. It's his job to guide and monitor visitors."

"Then how is it that he's alive while the Duke is dead?" Mizam scoffed. "It's because he betrayed the Duke that the Duke was captured."

Barnifoss was stunned.

Mizam pulled out a piece of paper and quickly began drafting: "Our wise and courageous Duke should have been able to quickly defeat the enemy, but the enemy had planted a 'short hair' spy by the Duke's side.

This spy was Knight Captain Drolte. Drolte secretly sent a strand of the Duke's curly hair to the Demon-Son Hohen, who used voodoo doll magic to curse the Duke to death.

If it weren't for Drolte, how would the Duke have died?

The knights, without a leader, still bravely fought the enemy, first being blown into the river by the Devil's Wind, and then fighting ghosts in the river.

Just as they were about to be killed, we arrived with our army. The 'short hairs' were terrified and retreated in defeat, all the way to the Wild Spider Forest, suffering heavy casualties and being forced to abandon Drolte.

After our investigation, Drolte's true identity is the Demon-Son Hohen's uncle, the Demon-Son Hohen's deputy, the Second Demon Emperor Segall Hos Garal. Even the Demon-Son Hohen has to kneel and salute him every day..."

"Wait, wait, wait, I have a few questions," Barnifoss said, holding his forehead.

Stopping his pen, Mizam raised his head. "Please ask."

"Why do we need to clear the Duke's name? Now that the Blue Blood incident has been exposed, wouldn't it be better to portray him as deserving it to quell the commoners' anger?

Secondly, why the curly hair? What's the significance of that?

Finally, didn't that Segall escape with the help of the Merchant Guild? How did he end up here?"

Putting down his pen, Mizam slowly began to explain to Barnifoss: "First of all, we absolutely cannot acknowledge the Blue Blood Orphanage. All related evidence must be destroyed, and all those who know must be silenced.

The Duke cooperated with the Church in selling Blue Blood wine. If the Duke isn't clean, then Hohen's actions would be justified, wouldn't they? Where would that leave us?

Second, we need the Duke to be innocent in this matter, but his character must be tarnished, deserving of his fate, to make it easier for us to take over the Duke's assets and prevent relatives from coming to freeload.

The curly hair is to imply that his orientation wasn't normal, violating the teachings, and he deserved to be exploited and killed.

At the same time, he had a secret affair with the Demon-Son Hohen's uncle. This kind of sensational rumor is what people love to talk about most, diverting the commoners' attention from the Blue Blood issue.

Third, Segall escaped, but no one else knows that. We need a figure with enough weight and authenticity, otherwise, how can we account for it with some small fry?

We'll add the middle name Hos to him, making his name similar to his nephew's. Those who don't know will think we caught Hohen.

Even if we're exposed, we can say that we never said he was Hohen. Do you have any other questions?"

Looking at Mizam's calmly smiling face, Barnifoss felt a chill. "No, no more questions.

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………………

"The Second Demon Emperor Segall?"

Amused and exasperated, Prince Condé tossed aside the letter in his hand, gazing at the Wild Spider Forest before him. Dozens of jumping spiders and seven or eight bull spiders lay dead before him.

The remaining giant spiders were still entangled with the infantry, seemingly endless.

"Where did all these spiders come from?" Prince Condé asked, flicking the disgusting slime from his sword.

A scholar dressed in a blue-embroidered cloak replied, "Giant spiders are said to live in the caves of the mountains. They have only gradually appeared in the last hundred years, and few naturalists have documented them."

This scholar was hired by Prince Condé from the Salin Scholar Society to serve as his usual advisor.

Prince Condé shook his head. He had tried to force his way through, but it was too difficult to move in the forest and hard to form a charging formation.

The most disgusting thing was the spider silk that the attacking giant spiders spat out. It would entangle the horses' hooves and legs. While it didn't cause any damage, it meant that they had to dismount and clean the silk from time to time.

Thinking of the swamps and mountains beyond the forest, Prince Condé felt a rare sense of exhaustion.

If he had known it would be so troublesome, he shouldn't have gone to Small Pool City in the first place and should have personally suppressed this group of refugees.

"Forget it, let's go back," Prince Condé said dispiritedly, turning his horse to leave. "There's no need to waste time here. Go ask the Church how they lured away the guardian monsters of that Blue Blood Monastery."

"As you command, Your Highness."

After the scholar walked away, Bo'olyo rode up to him. "Your Highness, are we going to Jeanneburg now?"

"Yes," Prince Condé said without looking back. "We'll go to Jeanneburg to replenish our supplies first, and then I'll decide whether to leave a few edict-linked guards. The rest of you will accompany me to Feiliu Fort to meet Bishop Constance."

"Understood," Bo'olyo nodded, but his breathing suddenly quickened. "Your Highness, the Laya Kingdom, are you going to...?"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask," Prince Condé's voice was devoid of emotion, and Bo'olyo stiffened.

"Yes, yes, my lord."

Prince Condé and Bo'olyo led the Transcendent Knights silently back, but halfway there, Prince Condé stopped again.

He turned back, looking at the mountains behind the Wild Spider Forest, frowning. "What's that sound? What are they shouting?"

Bo'olyo tilted his ear, only hearing a faint shout echoing through the mountains, not knowing who was yelling.

A gust of winter wind blew through the Wild Spider Forest, causing all the trees to rustle, and in that sound, the distant voice became clearer.

Prince Condé straightened his back.

It sounded like one person shouting, and also like many people shouting.

"The Unjust, come forward and listen—"

"Kill all injustice—to achieve peace—"