Chapter 375: The Snake Cult and the Slacker
May 8th.
Imer Village.
Perhaps it was a wonderful coincidence, or perhaps it was fate, but when Leon arrived at Imer Village, he happened to catch up with the Damia Goddess’ harvest blessing day - which was also a festival for dancing and courtship.
However, this time, there was no large-scale rally in Yimei Village, and the small square that was crowded with people singing and dancing that year was empty.
The whole village was in a mess and as quiet as a deserted ruin.
You know, this is a place where tens of thousands of people live, and it's just called a "village".
A wreath that had long since withered hung on the statue of the goddess Damia, and no one cared about the fallen leaves and debris around the statue.
This most important festival in the southern continent, this day filled with hope for a better life, in the famous and prosperous village of Imeier, is unusually interpreted as desolation and decline.
"What did Titus do in Imaer..."
Li Ang walked on the stone road at the entrance of the village where he had walked before, looked at the scattered bloodstains on the ground, and sighed deeply.
When General Cleon and his son Lord Dean governed Imaer, this was a bustling and prosperous town...
"After His Majesty Marius recommended Titus to join the Phoenix Knights, this guy originally lived in Imael very obediently and did not make any noise. After you disappeared two years ago, my father took back the Karen Deer Castle and Imael on behalf of the empire... Then my father went to Siyuan City to preside over the economic reconstruction of the entire empire. Imael Village was no longer under control, and Titus continued to collect money and grain from here in the name of the Phoenix Knights' fiefdom..."
Alina whispered the whole story.
The area around Imer was indeed the fiefdom given by Emperor Marius to the Phoenix Knights, but it was not a fiefdom. Instead, the land was given to Leon in a transaction, allowing Leon to use the output of this place to support the Phoenix Knights - the Phoenix Knights were a force of the Ashborn Empire, belonging neither to Bacchus nor to Leon, but came from afar to deal with the Snake Cult, and were the common ally of Marius and Leon.
Titus collected taxes and levies from Imer in the name of the Order of the Phoenix, which was actually legal.
However, Titus's tax collection was too harsh...
The Phoenix Knights are based in Karen Deer Castle. Their goals and responsibilities are very clear. They only deal with the Snake Cult, so they have been attacking the Snake Cult's hideouts everywhere and do not care how Titus got the money and food.
Titus gradually let himself go during this period of unrestrained days. He once again raised a private army by squeezing the land, and became close friends with some conservative nobles.
"Titus doesn't seem to have many family members. This guy can't be coerced... Leon, why do you want to deal with him first?"
Alina asked after she finished talking about Titus's situation.
She didn't understand why Leon wanted to start with Titus first - Titus was a lonely man with no wife or children, and she felt it would be difficult to find a weakness in him.
"You don't necessarily have to harm your wife and children to coerce others... People like Titus who are obsessed with gaining power actually have the most weaknesses."
Li Ang turned around and explained: "Compared with other conservative nobles, Titus is the one who is most afraid of huge losses - he has no family to rely on, and he doesn't have much capital to make a comeback. He simply can't afford to lose. If he hadn't lost the trust of Emperor Marius, he wouldn't be so stupid as to mix with the conservatives..."
"As long as we can find the property he has plundered in the past two years and kill his trusted servants who left here, he must withdraw his troops... Because he only has his private soldiers to rely on, and he dare not bury everything under the White Hart Castle. Otherwise, no matter what the final victory or defeat is, a lonely man who has lost all his capital, what use is there to the conservatives?"
Alina nodded, then looked at Alyssa beside Leon: “So, you want to use the name of the Snake Cult to take away everything Titus has gained in the past two years?”
"Titus is a Phoenix Knight after all, so of course we have to find a reasonable reason for him to withdraw. Moreover, it is obvious that many conservative nobles are colluding with the Snake Cult... Do you think that if the Snake Cult robbed Titus's property, would Titus fight with those conservative nobles under the White Hart Castle?"
Li Ang also glanced at Alyssa beside him.
The little snake girl was a little distressed: "Hiss... My Lord, I am no longer a member of the Cult of God. I promised Alistair to join the Knights of Dusk a few days ago... Can you please not let me carry out such missions in the future?"
Since joining Leon's team, Alyssa has been performing all the tasks in her true colors - Leon always lets her work as a priestess of the Snake Cult...
"Come on, you're always talking about gods... The gods of the Snake Cult are gone. Actually, joining the Twilight Knights is a more suitable choice. At least the doctrine of 'being in darkness but having light in the heart' is more suitable for you..."
Leon looked at Alyssa helplessly.
The little snake girl is actually a very reasonable person and has always been well-behaved, but she still has a habitual attachment to the Snake Cult.
Le Ang could understand her, it was like a child's attachment to home - Alyssa was brought to the temple on the continent of Amara when she was young, she grew up there, the Snake Cult was her home, she couldn't just abandon it.
"Hiss... After completing this mission, I will go to Singal with Alistair... Hiss, otherwise you will definitely ask me to do this kind of work again in the future..."
Alyssa muttered.
"Isn't Alistair doing that? How could he still trick such a beautiful girl?"
Ramon came closer and whispered in Leon's ear.
"Well... it's because of that, that's why he has a better relationship with Alyssa... Alyssa grew up soaked in poison, her whole body is poisonous, and she can't do those unspeakable things. Only Alistair is suitable for her..."
Leon glanced at Ramon and whispered, "You are not planning to take advantage of Alyssa, are you..."
"No, no, no... She is a vegetarian, not suitable for someone like me who eats a lot of meat and fish every day..."
Ramon swallowed and said nothing.
Soon after, there was some noise in the originally quiet and desolate village.
A group of "snake worshippers" entered the village and, led by a beautiful snake priestess, raided Titus's lair.
Coincidentally, the manor occupied by Titus in the village of Imer is right next to Lord Dean.
Dean's old butler watched these 'snake worshippers' kill, burn and rob property in the neighboring manor, holding the alarm bell in his hand but never ringing it.
Moreover, the old man had a gloating smile on his face.
Even when these snake worshippers dragged away Dean's carriage to load Titus's property, the old butler did not stop them, and even took the initiative to unload the hay from the carriage...
From the looks of it, even if Titus is not hated by the gods and the people in this village, he is at least hated by everyone...
Of course, when the Snake Worshipers left with several carts of valuables, the old butler still sounded the alarm - after all, a carriage was also stolen from Dean's house...
Titus has a lot of wealth at home, and it seems that he has made a lot of money in the past two years.
Moreover, Ramon's men also found a lot of armor and weapons from Titus's house, most of which were equipment of the Imperial Knights.
These equipment were originally the standard equipment of Emperor Marius's Guard Corps.
But the current 'Imperial Knights' are not noble knights in the true sense. They should actually be called 'Knights of the Imperial Guard of Bacchus', which is a brand new guard corps formed by Emperor Marius after he obtained a large number of war horses.
Many members of the legion are not nobles, but basically all of them are intellectuals who graduated from the Royal Academy of Siyuan City.
The Royal Academy of Siyuan City was built seventeen years ago. The principal is Justus, and Emperor Marius himself is also the honorary principal. It is not only a military academy, but also a place to train a new generation of political talents.
Dean was also an Imperial Knight - the Imperial Knights under Marius were actually reserve officials, but they did not have the privileges of aristocracy.
These are the new generation of reform implementers, most of whom are people who have benefited from the reform.
As Bacchus' reform progress continued to advance, Marius dispatched many imperial knights to various places as grassroots implementers and supervisors to ensure that the reform policies could be implemented.
Emperor Marius should have sent a number of imperial knights to keep an eye on the eastern region, but the knights sent to the vicinity of Imer were probably secretly killed by Titus.
I guess it's similar in many places...
After all, no conservative noble was willing to allow Marius' "reform commissioner" to come to their own territory to supervise them.
Anyway, the emperor is far away and the safety of these "special envoys" is really hard to guarantee when they are on business trips. After killing them, we can just put the blame on the Snake Worshipers.
And now, Leon used the same method to put the blame on the Snake Worshiper, but he was not dealing with the Imperial Knights, but Titus.
The Scorpio Assassins killed all those who dared to resist in Titus's family, dispersed the other servants, set fire to the manor, but deliberately "failed to catch up" with several followers who had run away from the beginning.
Most of those who ran away at the beginning were Titus's confidants, who were rushing to report the news.
Those who dare to resist are usually the die-hard guards of their homes.
Ramon's men were very good at this kind of work; after all, murder and arson were their forte.
“Where to go next?”
Ramon asked with great interest, as this kind of work was exactly his strong point.
"Go to Walwyn, it's not far to the south... What's the name of the lord?"
Li Ang turned and asked Alina.
"Rimusk, a greedy and lecherous fellow."
Alina replied.
"Lewd... um... will there be many beautiful women in his family?"
Ramon raised an eyebrow at Leon: "Are we pretending to be the Snake Cult or something else this time?"
It seems that this guy is addicted to role-playing.
"We found a lot of Imperial Knight equipment at Titus's house... I'll wear Titus's equipment to Walwyn. A group of Imperial Knights raided Rimusk's house and took away all his family members... It's just right."
Leon took out a set of Imperial Knight Armor from the carriage.
…
"Lord West, haven't you sworn allegiance to Lord Rimusk? Why didn't you go to White Hart Castle?"
On the watchtower of Walwenburg, several soldiers were leaning on their spears and chatting.
"What's the point of fighting... You can only enjoy life if you are alive!"
An imperial knight lazily lay on the observation deck basking in the sun. He turned over and advised the soldier beside him: "White Hart Castle is a dangerous place. How can it be conquered so easily? Even if I win, what can I get? I am sent by His Majesty the Emperor. Rimusk doesn't trust me..."
"Then... shouldn't we fight bravely and gain Lord Rimusk's trust with practical actions?"
A young soldier asked ignorantly.
"Alas, naive boy...Everyone wants to be rewarded for military exploits, but some battles are destined to be fruitless...Besides, isn't it good to be alive? Just like now...We can bask in the sun for a while, fish for a while, sit until dark and go home. Nothing has happened, and we can still get paid safely..."
The Imperial Knight known as Cister said lazily.
"But didn't you also make contributions when dealing with the Snake Cult last time? I also want to accumulate some merits. Maybe I can be recommended to the Royal Academy. Then I can become an Imperial Knight..."
The young soldier was probably very envious of Siester's knighthood - it was difficult for children from conservative noble families to become imperial knights, and admission to the Royal Academy required approval from Marius or Justus, but if one had made meritorious contributions, that was another matter.
"Snake Cult? The last time we dealt with the Snake Cult, it wasn't a war... Naive child, you are Rimusk's nephew..."
West turned over again, apparently not intending to say anything more to the young soldier.
"Lord Sister...Imperial Knight..."
The young soldier was silent for only a moment before he spoke again.
"Hey... could you please stop talking so much? I finally get a quiet nap..."
West sat up impatiently.
"Um... I mean... it seems like there are a lot of Imperial Knights outside..."
The soldier pointed to the road outside the castle, his eyes sparkling with longing: "So many knights, they look so majestic..."
"What the hell……"
West was startled, quickly got up and looked outside the city, then put his sword belt on his shoulder and prepared to run away. He ran two steps and turned back, patted the young soldier on the shoulder: "From now on, you are the patrol captain! I'm going to White Deer Castle to participate in the battle..."
"Hey... Master West?"
The soldier stared blankly at West's back as he ran away quickly, muttering, "Didn't you say that White Deer Castle is very dangerous..."
West didn't know whether White Hart Castle was in danger or not.
But he knew that if he didn't run away, Walven would be in great danger...
He was an imperial knight sent by Emperor Marius to supervise the implementation of the reforms, but he swore allegiance to the conservative lord Rimusk a few months ago - this was a serious political mistake. If other imperial knights or Emperor Marius knew about it, he would at least be demoted to the lowest level, and might even be sent to the arena.
And now, a large group of imperial knights have come to Walwyn, what does this mean?
A few months ago, the main reason that prompted Sisto to pledge allegiance to Rimusk was the attack launched by the Snake Cult.
West was a smart commissioner. He knew who sent the so-called "snake worshippers" and why. For the sake of his own life, he had to compromise...
Rimusk was also a very sensible guy - he cooperated with Wester in the "heroic battle" and "drove away" those "snake worshippers", then appointed the "brave" Wester as the patrol leader and sent a few soldiers to him as followers...
Of course, those soldiers were all greenhorns in their teens and 17s, and they were all from the side branches of the Wester family...
So Wester was very sensible and slacked off every day. Anyway, the Imperial Guard Corps would pay him a salary, and Rimusk would also pay him a patrol salary - as long as he slacked off, he could get two salaries, so there was really no need to work so hard.
