The sharp, long battle horn sounded.

Charles did not hesitate to give the order to fight. The fast boats, which belonged to the Walway pirates, broke through the waves in the shortest possible time and rushed to the Qatani ships that kept throwing corpses into the city behind them.

Captain Hawkins, who usually acted like a carefree ruffian, grabbed Charles who was going to the ship’s forecastle: “Write to His Majesty immediately!”

“I will command the battle!”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

After he finished speaking, he pushed Charles back into the cabin, threw away the hip flask in his hand, and drew out the dagger hanging from his waist. He stepped on the side of the ship that was swaying slightly in the night tide, swiftly jumped from the ghost ship and directly onto a fast boat that rushed out of the side of the ship.

Stepping on the deck of the fast boat, Captain Hawkins grabbed the mast and stabilized his figure.

“Fire!”

His hoarse voice sounded in the deep night.

The Walway pirates’ fast boats were like arrows that left the string, leaving white marks on the sea as they quickly approached the ships of death carrying the plague.

Under the order of Captain Hawkins, two sailors on each fast boat rushed to the bow.

After the war with the Five Port Alliance, the two chemists made further improvements to the formula of the “Ancient Holy Fire”. Captain Hawkins asked the ship designers of the Walway pirates to use the “Ancient Holy Fire” and install a special metal structure on the bow, which looked like a dragon head with a long neck and raised head, seeming to be a common projection on the prow of a warship. [1]

But in fact, it was a special nozzle made after repeated trials.

The Walway pirate fast boats approached the Qatani fleet. The fleet on the opposite side seemed to not care about anything at all, and just wanted to race against time to throw the most infected corpses into the port city.

The sailors on the bow grabbed the metal pull bolt, and the special device concealed on the royal fleet made its first appearance in this situation.

The metal dragon head opened with several “clicks”, and the next moment a raging fire spewed out from the dragon-like nozzle. The hot red flames sprang out like a long red snake in an instant, rushing fiercely at the Qatani fleet which was still tossing corpses.

On the Qatani fleet, the people who stood on the deck and commanded did not realize what it was, but saw the raging flames sweeping over themselves and the ship they were on.

“Son of a bitch!”

“Go to hell!”

………

The Wallway pirates did not hesitate to yell and curse at them. They paddled their oars vigorously and quickly surrounded the entire Qatani fleet with long tongues of flames.

Captain Hawkins stood on the deck.

Under his order, the fast boats swiftly went straight to the main ship of the Qatani fleet. Captain Hawkins bit the dagger horizontally in his mouth, and reached out to grab a roll of hemp rope piled on the ship.

On the main ship of the Qatani fleet, a tall, thin man in a black cloak stood.

The black cloaked man spotted the approaching pirate ship, and he turned his head to give orders to the surrounding sailors, seeming to order them to ignore everything else and keep throwing the corpses with all their strength.

Captain Hawkins shook his hand, and from it the rope was like a nimble and swift poisonous snake as it snapped across the air like lightning and caught the man in the black cloak standing on the bow of the ship.

The black cloaked man did not react fast enough, and it was too late by the time the surrounding subordinates noticed and rushed over to pull at him.

As soon as Captain Hawkins put in some force, the black cloaked man overturned from the ship much higher than the fast boat, and plunged into the water with a splash. Captain Hawkins bit the dagger, stepped on the side of the boat, and jumped directly into the water.

The tongue of fire roared out from the bow, enveloping the huge main Qatani ship in the raging flames. The people on the ship exclaimed, wanting to jump into the water to escape from the burning ship, but the flames floating on the water were equally fierce. They howled in pain as the fire leaped and jumped. The corpses tossed in the air gradually decreased.

“Captain! Captain! Leave quickly!”

On the fast boats, the pirates roared toward the sea.

“The fire is about to burn over!”

Splash.

The water splashed up, and the scar on his face was exposed by the fire light. He stretched out his left hand and grabbed the board on the side of the fast boat. The pirates hurriedly pulled him up.

Captain Hawkins’ right hand clasped the throat of the black cloaked man like that of an eagle claw. His dagger was stuck on the guy’s shoulder deep enough only the handle showed.

“Bah.”

Captain Hawkins threw the guy he had captured into the cabin and spit out a mouthful of seawater.

The flames crisscrossed the black sea, and the ancient pythons of red flames and black smoke intertwined like sins wandered out of hell. Qatani’s fleet was gradually engulfed in the fire. Charles quickly finished writing the letter on the ghost ship. The witch with the crow on her shoulder lit a green magical fire and threw the letter into the fire.

The sea breeze howled, and the pirates were fierce and fearless.

The last Qatani ship sank, and the royal battleships returned to the pier.

The horn of battle had awakened the entire city of Koszoya, and General Sheehan arrived at this time with the Iron Rose Cavalry. They came a little later, because General Sheehan took the soldiers to the various gates of Koszoya Castle first.

The suspension bridge of the castle was raised and the gates were closed.

The city of Koszoya was sealed.

It wasn’t until the current naval battle was over that the Iron Rose Cavalry finally arrived at the port. General Sheehan gave an order and they pulled up a long cordon. Immediately afterwards, the soldiers began to quickly investigate the corpses that were thrown in.

General Sheehan’s heart felt as if it was sinking the whole time.

The cordon was pulled up, and the corpses were quickly lifted and thrown into the sea, but the range of the trebuchet was too wide and it was dark at this time. How useful could their cordon be?

He did not know.

The people inside the cordoned area were crying and wailing, wanting to rush out.

A merchant was very close to the cordon. He looked at the gap blocked by the soldiers and rushed over, wanting to escape the cordon.

A blade of light flashed by in the dimness.

The merchant’s head flew high, and blood spattered out.

“Whoever dares to take a half step! I will kill him!”

A black-haired woman carrying an arc sword walked out of the darkness and stood in front of the cordon. The wind blew her black hair back, revealing her sharp dark green eyes.

The pirate ships had returned, and the three ghost ships had docked at the port, but the remaining fast boats did not sail into the port.

The brave and fanatic pirates sat on the deck.

Some people started to grow pustules on their arms, and some people started to feel their foreheads grow hot. A one-eyed pirate with a pustule on his arm staggered to his feet. He stepped on the side of the ship and was about to jump into the sea. The pirates on the same ship reached out and grabbed him.

“Are you fucking blind!”

The single-eyed pirate screamed.

“I’m going to take a bath in the sea, what’s it to you.”

“Take a hell of a bath!” The pirates on the same boat scolded loudly, and they dragged the guy back, “Your bastard owes me money for wine, you want to forget about this?”

Not far from them, on the sea, the Ancient Holy Fire hadn’t burnt out yet, and the dark red fire illuminated the scolding pirates. They anchored the ship outside the harbor, laughing and cursing, as if death had not yet enveloped them.

Three ghost ships and one hell envoy ship anchored in a port not far from them. Charles stood on the ghost ship.

He clutched the railing and looked at the pirates standing or sitting in the flames.

“Hi!”

Captain Hawkins was also standing on the bow, and he waved vigorously at the dock, but not at Charles.

Charles looked in the direction he was waving at, and saw the black-haired woman standing on the dock in the light of the fire, and he was taken aback for a moment.

The sea breeze in December was as cold as a knife cutting into the bones. In the wind, don’t know which pirate ship, someone began to sing loudly:

“We are not afraid of death——we would rather die in battle with the enemy,

Although, death is even more boring than rest.

Come on, leave it up to fate, we grab the life of our lives,

If we fall——who cares whether we die from the sword or from disease.”[2]

The rough singing echoed above the angry waves of Koszoya’s port, the unending fire shining on this part of the sea that would soon be enveloped in death, and Walway’s pirates who were as close as brothers.

They lived and died together, free like the wind.

“…..Let those creeping and crawling cowards die from “old age”!

Let them stick to their sickbeds and spend their last years suffering;

Let them shake their numb heads and breathe with difficulty…..”[3]

On the dock was the Mad Queen Eleanor who finally walked out of the black tower. On the ghost ship was the King’s godfather Charles holding onto the railing. And on the deck of the fast boat was the mad Captain Hawkins standing with the pirates…..

Many years later, old friends once again met at the center of the whirlpool. They faced death as they did many years ago.

………………

Rose Palace.

The King caught the letter spit out from the green flames. This was the witch’s secret method, and every use was a great burden on the witch herself, so unless there was an emergency, Charles would not use this method to contact him.

He opened the letter. For the first time, Charles’s neat handwriting seemed a little messy, and as the King quickly read it, his brows and eyes quickly became covered with ice.

He did not hesitate to activate the contract to summon the Devil.

But without even waiting for him to start the contract, the room was already filled with black mist, and the Devil stepped out of the thick darkness.

“The plague doctors have already gone over.”

The Devil bowed at the King in a salute. He wisely did not provoke the King at this critical moment.

“Your important subordinates are safe and sound.”

The King heard the extraneous meaning: “How many of the Walway pirates have been sacrificed? What about the cavalry?”

The Devil was silent for a moment and reported two numbers.

The King was expressionless, his anger suppressed under his calm surface.

The Devil felt a little helpless.

A single lord of “greed and ill-gotten wealth” could only allow the Devil to open a small gap without causing the suppression of the Law. He could only bring a small group of plague doctors to stifle the spread of the Black Death. In the past days, the Devil was also running non-stop along the southeast coast.

If it were not for the King’s blockade order, he was afraid he might not have been able to limit the plague so effectively.

However, the plague outbreak in Koszoya was man-made. At that time, the Devil was leading a group of plague doctors to solve the epidemic in another village. After he noticed it, he rushed over with the plague doctors.

However, the speed of the human-made infection disaster was too alarming, and the trebuchet had thrown the corpses into every corner in the dark.

Due to human factors, in densely populated cities like Koszoya, the speed of the plague infection was much higher than in small villages. When the Devil arrived, the plague had completely erupted, and it was already quite lucky that the group of plague doctors was able to protect the King’s important cavalry and royal fleet.

“What about the method?”

The King asked.

He did not forget that the Devil had planned to wait until the plague broke out in Legrand before it was resolved. In that case, it meant there was a way to solve such a large-scale plague infection.

“One way.” The Devil replied, “Is for you to come personally——to open the door to hell yourself.”

The King looked at him and understood that this was the real intention of ​​the Devil.

—— He seemed to hope that the connection between the King and hell was as close as possible, perhaps because this would enable him to take the King to hell sooner.

“This matter has nothing to do with me. My dear Majesty.” The Devil hurriedly dismissed any wrongdoing, and he changed the topic. “But, are you sure you want to go in person? You know…..the Holy Court is watching your every move. In this way, you will have no retreat.”

“Holy Court?”

The King sneered as he repeated these two words.

“I only know that my soldiers are in the plague city.”

The Devil let out a sarcastic laugh.

——The plan that hell finally gave up despite painstaking efforts was carried out by human beings in the end.

Between hell and the mortal world, which one was the breeding ground for evil in the end?

………………

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

1432, December.

The plague broke out in Koszoya.

General Sheehan of the Iron Rose Cavalry ordered the closure of the city, the royal fleet was stationed outside the port, and the King personally arrived in the southeast.

AN: [1] Referring to the Byzantine warship setup, they installed special nozzles on fast boats like Domonis, and then sprayed Greek fire at the enemy ships through the special nozzles. This device and long spear played a huge role in close and long distance defense.

[2][3] Quoted from Byron’s Poetry

TN: Some important announcements

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“The Pope will personally go to Bressi to crown Ferri III.” The Duke of Buckingham handed the letter to the King.

The King frowned.

The letter was sent back by Legrand’s secret overseas spies stationed in Bressi, and the King quickly scanned it.

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Coronation, baptism.

This had always been a gloom shrouded over the heads of the Rose royal family.

The Duke of Buckingham subconsciously turned his head and looked at the direction of the black tower.

The dark night more than ten years ago seemed to once again appear before his eyes: Queen Eleanor who was about to give birth, William III who was on the battlefield and could not rush back, the palace guards on the surface led by the already dead Earl Walter, while in fact, the real guards were the power in the shadow of the Rose family led by the Duke of Buckingham himself.

That night, the nobles’ messengers and their candles lit up a thin river of light outside the palace.

But the night was very dark.

With a longsword on his knees, he sat in the darkness of the cold night guarding the crown prince who was about to be born behind him. They were making a huge gamble which would affect the life and death of the Rose family. They had no other choice, and the Duke of Bucmingham didn’t know if this big gamble would succeed or not.

The former Knight Templar commander was behind him and told him softly that the existence from hell they were waiting for had already entered the Queen’s bedroom.

Upon hearing these words, the hand of the Duke of Buckingham holding the hilt of the sword subconsciously tightened, the green veins on the back of his hand looking like a horned dragon.

If there had still been a little hope, they would not choose to put such a heavy burden on the newborn child. They sacrificed the happy childhood that a child should have, and put the king’s fate on his shoulders early.

When the cry of an infant sounded, the Duke of Buckingham closed his eyes.

From then on, the new crown prince was destined to shoulder everything——everything handed over by them, who should have sheltered him from the wind and rain. Could the young crown prince survive the long and struggling madness? Would he go completely crazy or would he become as they hoped?

They did not know.

So this was a gamble.

At that moment, the Duke of Buckingham felt like a coward.

Eleanor hated him and William III for so many years, and it was well deserved.

“Why do you think the Pope himself will personally crown Ferri?” The King pondered and asked the Duke of Buckingham.

The Duke of Buckingham broke free from the memories of that night.

He looked at the King: “Maybe it is for the Black Death…..I believe the Holy Court should have access to other powers.”

“No, it should be more than that.”

The King slowly shook his head.

He could use the power of hell to fight the Black Death, so the Holy Court, which also held access to mysterious power, might not be completely helpless against the Black Death as well. At least, judging from the information returned by overseas spies, the sanctuary where the Holy Court was located had not yet broken out with the Black Death.

——Was it not infected yet, or was it already dealt with by another method?

The King’s guess was that the Holy Court had some way to save people infected by the Black Death, but this method was either not easy to implement, or it was too expensive to be implemented. Otherwise, with the Holy Court’s usual acting style, they should have taken advantage of the Black Death outbreak to raise people’s piety to the church once again.

That being the case, the Pope going to Bressi to crown Ferri III was definitely not just for the Black Death.

Maybe…..

The King connected the information that General Johan brought back with this incident.

“War.”

He said lowly.

The Duke of Buckingham looked at him with some doubts.

“The Holy Court has been preparing for a war. Now, I know what their goal is.” The King said slowly, “Bressi. They plan to——”

“Build a nation.”

In a short sentence, it seemed that thunder had swept across the world, tearing open the fog in an instant, and letting people peek into the horrible truth.

There was dead silence in the study.

There seemed to be a clamor of iron on iron in the air, announcing that the mainland’s long-standing stable political situation would soon give rise to dramatic changes.

“Bressi, the Holy Court, and the founding of a nation.” The Duke of Buckingham slowly uttered these three things, and he sighed deeply, understanding what the Holy Court’s series of plans were for these years. “Choosing to fight the battle for the establishment of the Holy Court’s kingdom at the time of the outbreak of the Black Death, so that other countries will not dare to intervene easily…..”

Both he and the King knew that once the Holy Court succeeded in establishing a country directly controlled by theocracy, then their enemies would be stronger than before.

The King made a decision immediately.

He opened a new piece of parchment and wrote a classified letter with a pen.

This letter was addressed to Legrand’s mortal enemy, the new King of Bressi, Ferri III.

This was the political arena——there were no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

The King signed his name and stamped it, then looked up at the Duke of Buckingham: “Is there anyone who can secretly send it to Ferri III in time?”

The Duke of Buckingham nodded.

“It must be delivered to Ferri III before the coronation ceremony.” The King delivered the letter to the duke.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Duke of Buckingham replied, he then paused and asked.

“Has your headache improved recently?”

The King glanced at him, then picked up the next report: “Much better.”

The two of them tacitly avoided talking about a certain topic.

The next report was also not good news, and the Duke of Buckingham saw that the King’s look was not one of ease.

“What’s the matter?”

“Refugees.”

The King answered concisely.

The Black Death had broken out for some time, and Bressi was not the only country on the other side of the Abyss Strait to be affected. A country with a vast area like Bressi might fare better, but other small coastal countries had much worse luck, and entire countries were almost on the verge of extinction without even any war.

In the context of such a catastrophe, Legrand, who had not yet been swept by the plague, had become a land of paradise in their eyes.

The refugees fled hurriedly from their hometowns where the Black Death was raging, and struggled to overcome the ocean currents and storms on the Abyss Strait in winter, wanting to escape to Legrand amd flee the disaster.

Prior to this, the King’s order was to strictly deny any refugees entry, and all refugees near the Legrand waters would be expelled by the royal navy. Any Legrand people who tried to provide relief to refugees in private would be thrown on the guillotine together with the refugees.

The King had received a lot of criticism for his order. Poets and bards with great emotions wrote a lot of poems and ballads to mock their King, saying that he must have a stone heart that would never shed tears over any tragic story.

But all this could not stop the King’s cold blood.

The royal fleet only obeyed his orders.

However, this time the refugees were a little different, so first mate Charles felt that it was necessary to report to the King, and let the King make a decision.

These refugees had fled from the Qatani kingdom.

The refugee team included the King and Queen of Qatani, as well as a large number of nobles. This level of refugee fleeing was no longer a spontaneous search for asylum, but had risen to a political issue.

The King tapped his fingers gently on the table top.

The Duke of Buckingham did not speak out to interfere with the King’s decision.

“Expel them——whether they are civilians or nobles.”

The King made a choice.

But soon, he frowned again: “Something is wrong.”

“Do you think there is a problem?”

The King did not answer directly. He stood up, walked to the map hanging in the study, and found the location of Qatani.

This waa a small kingdom, and at the same time, it was a small commercial country with prosperous shipping located in between the Hopeless Inland Sea and the Abyss Strait. Judging from its geographical location, under the influence of the Black Death, it seemed that it was not impossible that even the King and Queen would flee to other countries.

The King looked at those routes.

“Tell Charles to mobilize the fleet and increase vigilance.”

After thinking for a long time, the King suddenly said in a cold voice.

………………

The ghost ship of the Wallway pirates.

Charles opened the secret message that had been quickly delivered by secret means.

“Expel them.”

Charles told the pirates who were awaiting orders and at the same time he asked the royal fleet on the southeast coast to temporarily tighten up restrictions. In name, the royal navy admiral at this time was Captain Hawkins, but obviously there was no way to expect Captain Hawkins to be more reliable.

After receiving the order, the pirates blew whistles.

This order was extremely cruel and ruthless to those who were safe and sound in the city, but in the eyes of the pirates, it definitely fit their style!

My god! Those sympathetic idiots whose heads even pigs would not want to eat!

They really should have them come up to the ship to see with their own eyes the plague ships that they had been sinking these past days, to see the disgusting and terrifying scenes on those ships, and then let them personally meet face-to-face with the refugees who were likely to carry the plague and talk about what exactly meant “kindness” and “sympathy”.

Perhaps they would be happy to be densely covered in pustules as well.

“Ho! Ho! Legrand has a good King!”

The pirates shouted chants, pulled up the sails vigorously and paddled the oars hard.

“Ho! Ho! Great and glorious!”

The rose pattern on the sails flapped in the wind and bloomed scorchingly.

Charles heard the voices of the sailors. He smiled and shook his head.

A few days ago, some of these guys almost beat people’s heads in the tavern with a wine jar, because they heard some people slandering the King from time to time in the tavern, with some even making up some insulting songs.

It was rare for these guys to be so indignant, and even after they got back on the ship they were still aggrieved. They gathered together and racked their brains to put together a chant of their own.

Charles also wrote about these guys in his letter to the King.

This was not to praise his subordinates in front of the King.

He was the godfather of the King.

Intellectually, he knew that when the King made various decisions, he must also know that he would face these criticisms and had chosen to accept them. But as the other’s godfather, after the death of William III, as a person close to the role of father, Charles hoped to make the King happy.

Charles hoped that the silly behavior of these pirates could comfort the young King who was burdened with too much.

If possible, he hoped that his godson would be safe and happy.

Unfortunately, that was too extravagant for a monarch.

“Hey! God bless our King!”

Amid the rough roars of the pirates, the fleet moved forward quickly.

They lined up side by side, driving away the Qatani ships waiting for a reply.

The trumpeter stood on the bow and blew the shrill trumpet vigorously. At the same time, the bow collision angles of the warships all aimed at the Qatani ships, showing a gesture of expulsion.

The Qatani ships pulled up the anchors and also raised their sails.

They seemed to be receding slowly in disappointment.

Charles held up his binoculars and looked at their distant shadows, and felt something was wrong.

“Leaving just like that?”

He frowned and felt that the expected difficult expulsion went so well that it made people uneasy. But since the Qatani refugees had retreated, they would not chase them down, so after the refugee ships disappeared from sight, the royal fleet turned back.

………

On the vast ocean.

The Qatani refugee fleet flying a dark gray flag left the area blocked by the royal fleet, and after sailing back and forth for a period of time, suddenly turned around and sailed back in the dark.

When the sailors on the ships moored in the harbor to rest at night discovered that a refugee ship was approaching again, they hurriedly lit their torches, paddled their oars, and shouted loudly to expel them and not let them approach the pier.

The sailor standing at the bow of the ship held a torch, and he shouted, threatening the refugee ship that they would launch an offensive if it did not leave.

He just yelled twice when they saw that a trebuchet was set up on the opposite ship in the dark night.

Did the other party want to fight them and go on land?

This idea flashed past.

In the next moment, they saw something from the refugee ship thrown high with the trebuchet into the port city behind them in the dark.

That was not a boulder! The trebuchet could not throw heavy boulders that far.

What was that?

An uneasy premonition flashed by.

Someone threw a torch into the sky.

Under the flickering flames, they saw a blurry shadow.

“It’s a corpse!”

Someone exclaimed.

Amid the noise, Charles, who hurriedly put on his coat and went up the deck, looked at the scene at hand, and his face suddenly changed. He realized——

This was a premeditated biological attack using the plague infection! [1]

Qatani’s real goal was not to get relief, they were here to send the Black Death to Legrand!

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

AN: [1] In history, many times in wars the methods employed were unscrupulous. According to Gabriele Demsi’s “Plague and Death in 1348”, when the Tatars attacked Thane, the plague broke out in the Tatar army, and thousands of people died every day so “The Tatars spread their hatred to the people in the city, hoping to spread the disease to their Christian enemies. They use weapons to throw the bodies of the dead into the city. The Christian guards in the city stood guard and threw the infected corpses back into the sea as much as possible…..the air was polluted, the well water had germs, and the disease spread rapidly in the city…..”

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Two ships brought the nightmare of death to Bressi.

In the first few days of December 1432, the port city of Aville was still preparing for the New Year’s celebration, but today, the bell of New Year’s joy would not ring.

In less than a week, forty-seven thousand people died in this big port city in the Kingdom of Bressi. The entire city was almost emptied out of human life overnight, and the number of people who died was so large it was as if the city had never been inhabited. From the notes of the chronicler who survived by chance, one could see the desperate record of that month:

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“Everyone died, the ship full of cargo was drifting along with the waves. The city officials banned the ringing of the death knell, worried that too frequent ringing of the death knell would make the whole city fall into despair. But they soon stopped worrying. Because the bell-ringer also died. Twelve of the twelve magistrates in this port have died…..

People scattered like frightened crows. “

Fleeing quickly spread this pandemic.

30,000 people died in the city of Grando near Aville within a week.

Atel, heading north, lost half of its population within half a month.

More than 540 people were thrown into the tombs every day in the Kest Lowlands.

………

Starting from the Port of Aville, along the long coastline and inward along the cobweb-like land routes…..the plague spread with the scattered boats, and the fleeing people spread out overwhelmingly.

Who will save mankind?

………………

The Kingdom of Bressi, the capital of Asselli.

General Karl walked into the glorious palace anxiously.

Karl Laxia.

He was the commander of the Expeditionary Force who led the Bressi Expeditionary Force to invade Legrand this year and achieved a major victory. Logically speaking, as a general who won such a major victory for Bressi, when he returned, he should be greeted with flowers and cheers.

But no one in Bressi today was in the mood to cheer.

The plague was spreading in western Bressi, and the death reports in every city weighed on people’s hearts like a heavy stone, and people were panicking. Both nobles and civilians felt the unpredictability and horror of natural disasters.

The King of Bressi has urgently issued an order to terminate maritime trade.

But to no avail.

On the one hand, cities that have not yet been spread with the plague were unwilling to suffer such losses, on the other hand, urgent orders made in a rush could not be fully implemented.

“Your Majesty.”

General Karl knelt to the new monarch in the black cloak.

The King of Bressi, Ferri III, 23 years old.

The reason why the Bressi Expeditionary Army stopped at the Moon River Fortress and withdrew a large number of troops ahead of schedule was related to him. Because at the end of October, the old king had died. When the King of Legrand was busy putting down the civil strife, the Crown Prince Ferri of Bressi was also putting down the struggle for kingship.

However, the difference was that Crown Prince Ferri had the support of the Holy See.

After the negotiation, General Karl led most of his troops back to the country in a hurry to conquer the riotous nobles for Crown Prince Ferri, and he was not able to return to the capital until today.

“Rise.”

Ferri III stood before the throne, and there were no other people in the hall except him and Karl. The young new king had dark blond hair combed back neatly. His features were deep, and his gray eyes were calm. When he was still the crown prince, he was known as a very “beautiful man”.

General Karl was once a teacher in the period of Crown Prince Ferri, and he was also his most important confidant.

After he stood up, he found that Ferri III was holding a copy of a thick book, which was the history of the Bressi Kingdom that was used for enlightenment education during the period when he was still the crown prince.

“Teacher, how is the situation?”

Ferri III raised his head. When he looked at people with his dark gray eyes, it was easy to give people a gentle and amiable feeling. A significant time had passed since the coronation ceremony and he was already Bressi’s new monarch, but in private he still retained the name he used to call General Karl when he was a child.

“Extremely terrible.”

General Karl shook his head heavily.

“We cannot restrain the spread of the Black Death.”

“I heard that Legrand also issued a maritime blockade order.” Ferri III turned a page and said softly, “Only a strait separates us, but Legrand on the other side has not been affected by the Black Death so far. I heard that all their ports went into slumber overnight under the order of the tyrant. Is that right?”

“…..Yes.”

General Karl was silent for a moment and replied.

“Why can they do it, but we can’t?” Ferri III closed the book. “Sardin was the first city to receive a blockade order. However, a week after the blockade order was issued, merchant ships still sailed out in secret, and there are still merchant ships docking at the pier…..Say, why would the same order result in so much difference?”

This question carried a dangerous signal, and it was not for ministers to answer bluntly.

Ferri III laughed lowly: “Look, even you are afraid, and do not dare to speak the answer.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Because the royal family of Bressi is in a fundamentally different position from that of Legrand’s royal family.” Ferri III closed the book with a “bang”, his dark gray eyes suddenly becoming sharp, “We led an expedition to Legrand because we can plunder the profits from the land of Legrand, and because this was the battle of the saints who sent a punitive expedition on heretics handed down at that time. There is a higher authority above the authority of the royal family of Crowe.”

“In Legrand, even if there is the presence of the Holy Court, the nobles are habitually more obedient to the glory of the Rose royal family. But in Bressi, even the king must be a devout believer, and all my vassals when dispatching them for expeditions, the battle flag with the cross has a far superior position than the battle flag with the tulip.”

“The royal family is just a puppet.”

“This is why.”

Ferri III’s voice was cold.

“Your Majesty.” General Karl was shocked. He quickly looked around and made sure that no one else was around. “Why are you suddenly like this…..”

“The Pope will arrive in a week to coronate me personally.”

Ferri III said lightly.

“The Pope will come personally?” General Karl frowned, “Why would it be the Pope?”

“The letter said it was because of the natural disaster, so he will come to preside over the coronation personally.” Ferri III said, “That is the real king of kings.”

The Bressi royal family was different from Legrand’s royal family. Although the power of the church in Legrand was strong, it was nothing compared to Bressi. In Bressi’s three ranks, the clergy prevailed above the secular aristocracy.

This was related to the establishment of the Bressi Kingdom.

217 AD.

The land on the east bank of the Abyss Strait was still in chaos, and there were many states. The central peoples called “barbarian slaves” swept across this continent. They swept across one country after another, as if with a mission from heaven to destroy all the little civilizations that had cropped up.

It was against this background that the original body of the Kingdom of Bressi, the Kingdom of Claud, greeted the army of barbarians. At that time, King Cremo, the great hero in the history of Bressi, led the last army to face the barbarian army in the Lowland Valley. In desperation, the king swore to the Holy Court, which had yet been accepted at the time.

So long as the Holy Lord protected them and helped them achieve victory, then the Kingdom of Claud was willing to accept the Holy Court as the state religion.

“…..The benevolent Lord sent His saints and his army. Angels wore armor to fight with mortals. They bestowed the crown of victory to the great and pious King Cremo. The priests drew crosses on the chests of the heroes, and as a result the brave knights have been invincible ever since.

…..They conquered all heretical countries and established the great Kingdom of Bressi on the vast land, and since then God has protected this land. “

——”Bressi Chronicles Volume I”

At the beginning of Bressi’s history, the Claud dynasty united hundreds of chaotic countries with the terrible power of the Holy Court as a bond, and established the megalithic Bressi on the basis of the unity of faith.

Since the founding of Bressi was closely integrated with the help of the Holy Court, it was doomed——the huge spiritual monster of the Holy Court would be a majestic world tree deeply rooted in the great land of Bressi, in which the ground would be spread full of its networks of roots.

Ferri III laughed self-deprecatingly. He looked at the brilliant throne.

“Did you know? Teacher. When I stood in front of this chair, there was no excitement or joy, but endless absurdity. We used to watch Legrand struggle in the flames of war for so many years, and laughed at their empty effort, thinking that they were just a bunch of fools.”

“In the end, who is the fool?”

Legrand, who disobeyed the Holy Court, received its “divine punishment” a thousand years ago.

The country became divided, the vassal states were numerous, and the surrounding enemy countries added salt to the wounds. The Rose royal family almost completely disappeared from the world, but even then, they never really bowed their heads to the church and never prayed for help from any power. Relying on generations after generations of hardship, they finally restored the outline of the original powerful country little by little in the flames of war.

They walked with scars, but they were standing.

“When the Holy Court’s butcher knife was swung at Legrand, we shouted long live the Holy Lord, but when the knife turned to us, only then did we feel the pain.”

Ferri III threw the chronicle on the throne.

“Your Majesty…..” General Karl closed his eyes in pain, and he comforted him with difficulty, “It’s just a coronation, not so serious. Maybe it’s really to solve the black death.”

“No.”

Ferri III calmly cut off the words of comfort.

“I think their purpose is not just the coronation.”

“What is it then?”

“I have no idea.”

………………

When the Pope’s carriage drove towards the capital of Bressi, Legrand was also ready to meet their challenge.

Legrand, Rose Palace.

The King was reading the letters sent back from the southeast coast.

During this period of time, the Gelug family, which had an outstanding influence in the transportation industry, was officially incorporated into the royal family’s direct line of subjects. The King established the “Legrand Transportation Department”, and the head of the Gelug family served as the Minister of the Transportation Department. At the same time, the royal family appointed two auditors and a deputy minister personally appointed by the King.

Patriarch Gelug certainly understood what the King meant.

The King did intend to use the Gelug family and give them power and status without hesitation. At the same time, he also put a knife on their necks for supervision and restriction. Once they made any actions that crossed the line, they could expect for their heads to fall.

This style of behavior was very “King.”

According to the King’s own long-term plan, the transportation network on land would definitely be connected with inland waterway and ocean shipping routes in the later stage.

However, it was currently impossible to do so, and it was the King’s commissioners who shall cooperate with it.

——Before the Conference of Brilliant Glory, the commissioners had been ordered by the King to investigate the counties.

They were affectionately called “the King’s black wings”.

In that big investigation, these commissioners did a good job. After the conference, the King did not dissolve them, but transferred them to the southeast region, and established a nominal “Local Public Sentiment Response Committee.”

In truth, it belonged to the King’s personal supervision and intelligence agency.

Their current responsibilities were more focused on “intelligence”.

This time during the carrying out of the blockade, it was all thanks to these investigators that the King was able to control various situations along the southeast coast in a timely manner. Privately, the nobles hated these commissioners. However, the civilians reversed their previous aversion to similar intelligence personnel, and they had a good impression of the King’s “black wings”.

The Black Wings were also happy to accept their “bribery”——the money would be registered and handed in uniformly——and then record the illegal exploitation of certain officials, and then report them back to their superiors. In order to facilitate statistics, an investigator stipulated that each bribe was levied one penny.

This had even become a “penny” tradition.

This was a follow-up positive impact of the county lords’ exchange of blood.

Various types of letters like flying snow continuously entered the Rose Palace. The Duke of Buckingham saw the lights in the King’s study last late into the night more than once.

“Sure enough, the Black Death is far beyond the medical level of this era.”

The King pressed his forehead and then smiled slightly.

“However, they really are a bunch of lunatics.”

The Duke of Buckingham took over the letter from the Lunatic Academy of Sciences’ pharmacist handed to him by the King.

After the outbreak of the Black Death, the King asked Charles for information on uninhabited islands in the southeast, and finally chose an uninhabited island isolated from the mainland and not on the travel routes. Privately funded by the King, he established “Legrand First Academy of Sciences’ Pathology Research Department” on it.

Abbreviated as “The Lunatic Hospital”.

When the Devil was dealing with the Black Death that sporadically spread to the coast of Legrand, he kept some corpses of Black Death patients according to the King’s will, and then sent them to that uninhabited island by special means.

The Lunatic Hospital was a medical team with the anatomist, pharmacist, and surgeon of the Lunatic Academy of Sciences at the core.

The order they received was to study and research the Black Death to the best of their abilities.

This was something quite difficult.

If it weren’t for the Devil’s special means, relying on the isolation technology of this era, let alone studying the pathology of the Black Death, he was afraid that the entire Lunatic Academy of Sciences would be infected and die.

Except for the three lunatics, the rest of the researchers were doctors who were secretly selected from all over the country and then passed the required examination. Each of them had personally had an audience with the King, and they were all people who had taken a solemn oath to dedicate their lives for mankind. They knew their mission and possessed the will to sacrifice.

However, the King did not intend to let these silly doctors really give up their lives.

Although…..well…..

When these enthusiastic young doctors and kind old doctors first set foot on the uninhabited island full of a grand heroic mindset, they faced not only three mentally abnormal superiors, but also the bird beak-masked plague doctor.

Now that was really a very sad, sad experience of learning to work together.

Although no solution has been found yet, the Lunatic Hospital did achieve what could be called a “breakthrough” in this era with respect to the Black Death.

This was related to the pharmacist who was full of experimental spirit.

In order to understand more clearly the entire process of the Black Death, he actually took the imitative himself to become infected with the Black Death…..

If it were not for the presence of the plague doctor the Devil had left there, he would have likely departed this world in just half a day. After recovering, Mr. Pharmacist relied on this mindset and spirit to record in detail the entire course of the Black Death. And he even tried to become infected again to repeatedly experience it and test solutions on himself.

Even the silent, mute plague doctor was shocked by his crazy willpower.

Fortunately, the knight commander stopped him in time.

——The fragile human body could not withstand such repeated damage.

But his mindset and spirit had won the admiration and love of the other doctors.

They scrambled to leave the ranks of normal people and stepped into the ocean of lunacy.

“These guys.”

The Duke of Buckingham turned to the second half of the letter and couldn’t help laughing.

In the second half of the letter, a request written jointly by other doctors in the Lunatic Hospital was attached.

The other doctors who were assimilated by these three lunatics seemed to have jumped from one extreme to the other. Not only did they leave their faith in the Holy Court behind, they also tried to write letters to the King asking for the same treatment as their immediate superiors.

——They tried to persuade the King to set up a torture stake for them as well.

“Doctors who do not have a torture stake do not deserve to be a member of the Lunatic Academy of Sciences! We strongly demand the same treatment as the gentlemen!”

“I believe that the torture stake represents the supreme glory of the study of medicine, and it shows the untiring pursuit of academic and life truths by doctors.”

“…..”

The Duke of Buckingham began to ponder whether the assimilation ability of lunatics was really so strong?

“They really are a bunch of lunatics.”

The Duke of Buckingham couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh.

“Yes, lunatics, a bunch of lunatics worthy of the greatest admiration.”

The Duke of Buckingham smiled and nodded, approving the King’s evaluation.

Crazy enough and worthy enough.

“You won’t really…..?”

Then the Duke of Buckingham wordlessly watched the King pick up his pen and began to write a letter.

“Since it is their request, then I will give it to them.”

The King replied with a little smile.

He also even started a medal exclusive to the First Academy of Sciences——a torture stake, and announced that only those who have made outstanding achievements could receive this medal.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

The Duke of Buckingham chuckled and shook his head, but did not oppose the King’s decision.

He picked up another report.

After a few glances, the Duke of Buckingham’s expression clouded over.

The King signed his name at the end of the letter, put the pen down and looked up. He then saw Duke Buckingham’s solemn face: “What’s the matter?”

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