When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

Qianqian's deerskin boots clattered hollowly on the wooden walkway of the dock at Joan of Arc Castle.

She wore an exquisite flower-embroidered long dress, her head covered with a gauze hat, concealing her face, while her right arm was entwined with Mitney's, appearing like a couple.

Mitney had two thick black crescent moustaches on his lips, making him look like a stout middle-aged man.

In the cold river paths, white vapor puffed from under his black beard, as he rubbed his hands and looked around, carefully observing the small town that not long ago had experienced a fierce battle.

The ground once stained red with blood had long been washed clean by rains, leaving only half a broken bridge drooping on the riverbank.

As for the lightning-charred marks on the riverbanks and walls, they could not be removed for the time being.

"Be careful, handle with care!"

Turning to the side, Mitney shouted to the men handling the cargo, skillfully playing the role of a merchant.

The workers carrying the wooden crates replied to Mitney: "Rest assured, Mr. Meigedi, I guarantee there won't be any damage."

Carrying a wooden box, Marshall, wearing a scholar's robe, squeezed through the crowd disembarking from the ship, accompanied by the head guard Andar sent by Meigedi.

"Sorry, sorry." Marshall clutched his book bag in his arms, "I got caught up copying books last night and overslept, making you all wait."

"Hahaha, it's alright, it's alright, we had to wait for the priest on the dock to finish checking the goods before we could leave," Mitney laughed boisterously.

Standing next to Mitney, Andar, clad in leather armor, held his sharp sword, his keen eyes scanning the surrounding crowd.

On the dock, hundreds of laborers carried wooden crates and goods, moving them to small carts by the roadside.

Beside the road at the end of the dock, a dozen mule carts, horse carriages, and big donkeys waited by the roadside, ready to load the goods and transport them to the trading hub.

Andar whispered to Mitney: "When I came to Joan of Arc Castle three years ago, it was also winter, and there were many more people than now."

"Three-tenths of the population around Joan of Arc Castle were taken away by the Salvation Army." Qianqian said with a slight smile, her voice as melodious as a lovebird's.

"The previous battle was almost a devastating blow to the economy of Joan of Arc Castle," Marshall lamented, reaching out to touch a grain bag beside him, "Fortunately, the local grain prices have finally been suppressed."

"Grain prices were suppressed not because the nobles and rich merchants suddenly became conscientious, but because they had come," said Qianqian, her delicate fingers brushing over the coarse burlap sack.

"Did you notice?" Mitney said mysteriously to Qianqian, "The attitude of the surrounding people towards those priests isn't very good."

Listening to Mitney's words, Qianqian and the others looked around, and indeed, as Mitney said, the locals' attitude towards the priests was quite indifferent.

Typically, when facing priests, they bowed and hunched over.

But now, although they still acted subservient, their backs were straight, and occasionally they would secretly spit at them.

"They are quite nice to those Falan knights, huh, where did the Falan people come from?" Andar suddenly remarked in a low voice.

Following Andar's gaze, Mitney's eyes narrowed slightly.

The gilded chest armor, the blue-and-white surcoat with a fleur-de-lis on it, even from a distance, he could hear the dry Falan language.

Falan Royal Knights?

This was something the Falan Kingdom created in imitation of the Chivalric Order, though a knockoff, their mounted combat was no worse than that of the knights of the Chivalric Order.

With Qianqian on his arm, Mitney walked to the edge of the dock, where several old laborers were sitting on crates, drinking water and resting.

Mitney rubbed a Dinar between his fingers: "Brother, I have a few questions for you."

"Go ahead." Upon seeing the silver glow of the Dinar, the old laborer immediately smiled.

"Where did the Falan people in Joan of Arc Castle come from?"

"Oh, you're talking about that." The laborer replied, "The Falan people produced a land exchange contract from Duke Daine, claiming this land should be transferred to Bamanda's father. The church refused, so the Falan people forcibly sent out the Falan Knights to take over."

"Is this in accordance with the Empire's law?"

"That greedy lady's father was an El person, and I've often said she inherited her father's El people's greed... as you know, whether it's legal or not is just a matter of what the El person says, right?"

"And the church just stands by while the Falan people send out Royal Knights?"

The laborer didn't speak, just stared intently at the Dinar in Mitney's hand.

Qianqian simply pulled out the Dinar and handed it to the laborer, who tucked it into his pocket before he started speaking at length.

The previous matter of the Salvation Army distributing land near Joan of Arc Castle caused a lot of displeasure between the Church, the Leia people, and local residents.

To be precise, after the Salvation Army left, a large amount of land that originally belonged to the local people was reclaimed.

The scene of farmers protesting on the streets of Joan of Arc Castle was almost repeated once more.

It wasn't until the Falan came that the local residents threatened the Church with supporting Falan's rule, forcing the Church to stop its action of taking back land.

After all, originally they could only choose the Church, but now they have a second choice, so the Church naturally held back.

The entire Joan of Arc Castle is currently in a strange balance between the Church, the Falan Kingdom, and the local residents.

Mitney didn't ask too many questions to prevent revealing his identity, but on the way to the inn, he silently counted the number of Royal Constitution Knights.

By the time he reached the inn, he could draw a conclusion: based on the number of officers and horses, Joan of Arc Castle's Royal Constitution Knights numbered between 400 and 800.

Adding in the 300 Extraordinary Knights left by Prince Kongdai and the temple knights left by the Church, the number of Extraordinary Knights currently stationed at Joan of Arc Castle is about 1,000.

As for why Prince Kongdai didn't properly block Horn at Joan of Arc Castle, there are natural reasons.

Recently, Eldest Prince Yingbela led an army into the Royal Palace attempting to seize the throne, but he was unexpectedly betrayed by his subordinate, bought off by Jinigis, resulting in his complete annihilation.

In today's Falan Royal Capital Changge City, King of Tumend is bedridden with a severe illness and is basically unable to manage affairs.

Under the advice of Pope Johnny VIII, Crown Prince Jinigis became regent, leading the kingdom's affairs.

His first requirement is to have the three great nobles holding the decree attend this year's New Spring Banquet in the Royal Capital before spring.

Upon learning of Yingbela's fate, the two Royal Dukes decided to host a royal dinner and formally invited Prince Kongdai to attend in March of the following year.

On the surface, these actions seem inexplicable, but if you take out the decree, the situation becomes immediately clear.

As the decree of the mobile army of the Leia Kingdom, there are a total of 42 of them.

Each of these is held by the King, the Eldest Prince, and three royal nobles, each stationed in different places during normal times.

After the illness and death of the Old King Tumend and Eldest Prince Yingbela, Jinigis held 17 decrees in his hands.

On the other side, the two dukes, Lu'el and Nedbach, brothers of the Old King Tumend, held a total of 16 decrees.

As a prince of the former dynasty, Prince Kongdai held 9 decrees, ultimately becoming the largest neutral force.

Because everyone knows that among the various nobles in Leia, none would allow Prince Kongdai to become king.

This is the longstanding dilemma of the Leia Kingdom, where powerful nobles internally control the mobile combat forces of the kingdom.

Externally, powerful nobles hold the local defense forces of the Leia Kingdom.

The entire Leia Kingdom, despite the royal power being stronger than it was before the Hundred Years' War, is still jointly governed by the powerful nobles both inside and outside.

At this delicate point where both sides are evenly matched, whoever Prince Kongdai sides with would gain an epic boost in strength.

In Mitney's view, Prince Kongdai, with his six decrees stationed at Feiliu Castle, is simply waiting to see who offers the better deal.

"This is both a blessing and a curse for us," Mitney analyzed, "The advantage is that internal constraints within the Leia Kingdom prevent them from focusing on dealing with us.

The bad news is that to prevent disrupting the fragile balance, at least until March, Prince Kongdai and his nine decrees will remain in the Thousand River Valley."

"If we can quickly defeat the local Church and nobles, once Prince Kongdai sees the tide turning, he might just leave with it," Qianqian quickly followed up with analysis: "His core position is the Windmill Land in the Kongdai Region, and it wouldn't be worth it for him to exhaust his forces fighting us."

"But on the other hand, if Prince Kongdai strikes quickly before we can consolidate, we'll still face defeat," Mitney calmly said from the bed in the inn.

Andar looked at Qianqian and Mitney's expressions and hesitantly asked, "We need a swift and decisive strategy, meeting up quickly, but wouldn't supporting the Salvation Army disperse our forces?"

"The Salvation Army is more familiar with Joan of Arc Castle than we are. If we can take Joan of Arc Castle, we can eliminate the threat of being attacked from both fronts."

"But do you really think the Salvation Army can defeat the 1,000 Extraordinary Knights at Joan of Arc Castle? This isn't like before."

Qianqian and Mitney exchanged a glance without speaking.

Marshall stepped out with a smile and said, "Isn't our trip here precisely to evaluate whether they have what it takes?"