Two weeks later, near the end of the midsummer moon, Roland finally arrived in Hermes.

The Northland garrison and the witches greeted him at the gates of the Holy City, and he also saw a few nuns in the ranks dressed in the black robes of the Church.

Although Roland had learned of the disappearance of the church's top brass from Lightning, he still couldn't believe it when he walked into the empty highland fortress - the expected battle didn't happen, neither the witches nor the new mortars came in handy. Although the result is no better, there is always a feeling of punching the cotton.

According to reports from Hawkface and Egtha, it was the former Pure One who sensed the anomaly of the Church and, after properly disposing of the orphans in the Abbey, made a suggestion to the Northland Army to investigate the Holy City of Hermes.

Surprisingly, the huge city was already empty, and only a few residents of the outer city who had not had time to move away remained in the illusion that the church still existed. In fact, they didn't know what was going on in the inner city, only that the church was preparing for the final battle.

The Sisters of Isabella soon entered Hermes - and the signs of escape gradually eased, at least in the direction of Wolfheart and Eternal Winter. After all, the abandonment of the Holy City was too dramatic, and the blow to the reputation of the Church was almost devastating. The nuns who took the initiative to restore order were more like successors to the church than those who did not say goodbye.

"How the hell is this done?" Since the letter could not be written in too much detail, the first thing Roland did when he entered the Holy City was to ask where the remnants of the Church were going, "There are thousands of people in the inner city, don't they need to go through the outer walls to leave the plateau?"

"There are many natural tunnels beneath Hermes, some of which lead through the walls of the Holy City from underground. If they were evacuated in batches, they would indeed leave the residents of the outer city unnoticed. Isabella explains, "They were designed to be single-use and inaccessible, and I checked several tunnel entrances and found that they were all destroyed. ”

"Where do those tunnels lead?"

"Only those who have walked by know," she shook her head, "if this escape had been planned in advance, it would have been difficult to trace their whereabouts after a month and a half." ”

So the church is planning to cut off the tail to save its life, in order to make a comeback? Roland couldn't help frowning, the problem is that giving up the holy city is equivalent to losing the basic plate, it is not as simple as cutting the tail, and the loss is even worse than the severed head. Are they so confident that they will be able to find a new base to confront the Grey Keep, or are they going to break it up and harass his territory in batches? The thought of having to watch out for these fanatics for the next few years gives him a headache.

Probably seeing what he was thinking, Isabella smiled, "You don't need to worry about the church anymore, they won't be coming back." ”

Roland was stunned, "Why do you say that?"

"They left a messenger. The other party replied.

......

In a chapel in the northern part of the Holy City, Roland met the messenger that Isabella had spoken.

It was a gray-haired old man, dressed in a brand-new red-bottomed gold-rimmed priestly robe, with a thick book in his arms, and came out under the escort of the guards.

Although his gait was a little weak, he still held his head high, as if he didn't want to lose to anyone in momentum. He glanced at Isabella coldly, and then looked at Roland, "You are the King of the Grey Keep, Your Majesty Roland Wimbledon?"

"It's me. ”

"Gray-haired and gray-eyed, I do resemble your father," the old man said slowly, "My name is Jacob, the high priest of the Holy City, and if you follow the secular division, you are probably the same as the duke...... Of course, I don't have a corresponding fiefdom and I don't need so many minions. ”

"I heard you insisted on waiting for me here?" Roland shrugged, "Why, those people didn't take you with them when they sneaked away?"

"I'm going to stay for myself," he said, with a solemn expression, as if he were giving his last words, "I'm too old to run...... Even if you can go, you won't have a few years to live. Instead of going to live a new life, it is better to be buried with the city. ”

"A new life?" Roland quickly caught the key words in the other party's words.

"That's right, take off all responsibilities and just live a new life for the rest of your life. "You win, Your Majesty, if that's what you want to see—the Church will no longer oppose you, the city will be in your hands, and you'll soon take over our nightmare." ”

"Oh?" Roland said noncommittally.

"Why do you think we're staying on this plateau where there's nothing?" he raised his voice slightly, "Look at the good you have done, humanity is going to perish because of you!"

"yes, you're too serious, I don't carry this pot. Hearing this, Roland probably understood the High Priest's intentions. The Church is really unwilling to allow itself to be comfortable and take the Holy City, even if it is physically powerless to stop it, it has to make a spiritual stumbling block. This hand had been played before the decisive battle, but with a completely different intention - if he was a person who knew nothing about the battle of divine will, he would have been surprised to learn that the devil was about to destroy humanity. If you add oil and vinegar and put the classic black pot of "the destruction of mankind is your fault" on your head, its lethality is no less than spiritual pollution.

"Pot?huh...... Do you think I'm joking, young majesty, it seems that the Pure One has not told you the truth of the matter. Jacob glanced at Isabella meaningfully, "The Church has an unimaginable responsibility, and only a few high-level people know about it. You have no idea what kind of enemy we have been preparing to face for hundreds of years. Now that you have ruined all this, you will naturally have to bear the consequences, even if you don't want to, it's useless - when fate befalls humanity, all you can do is accept it helplessly, and watch your kingdom turn into a sea of fire!"

It seems that this guy not only wants to launch a mental attack, but also finds an opportunity to provoke the relationship between him and Isabella, but unfortunately he sees the wrong person and expresses the wrong intention...... Roland looked at the righteous old priest, and couldn't help but think of a sentence - life is like a play, it all depends on acting skills.

"You may not believe me, but there is no doubt about the facts," Jacob sighed as he spread out the book in his arms, "This is the Holy Book of the Church, and you will understand what stupid things you have done after reading it......! No, the real enemy of humanity is-"

"Devil, right?" Roland interrupted him casually, "The Church didn't build the Holy City here to defend against evil beasts, but the veins of the sacred stones in the mountains. There is a privy council underneath the cathedral that is used to mine the Divine Stone and transform the Divine Punishers, which is the core of the Church - of course, I don't know if you know this, after all, the transformation ceremony can only be in the hands of the Pope. Do you want to talk about the battle of the divine will or the smile of the gods after that? The war of reincarnation for more than 400 years is not new news, and the devil is not a ghost that comes and goes without a trace, in fact, I have dealt with them for a long time. So...... Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

"You—I—" Jacob was stunned by this time, his mouth had grown, and he had not been able to utter a word for a long time, and it seemed as if he would hold his breath at any moment. It was a long time before he pointed to Isabella tremblingly, "It's you......"

The latter shook his head slightly, "I didn't tell him this. From the beginning, he knew so much more than we thought he was, and you were underestimating him...... Or rather, we all underestimated him. ”

"Now that you're done, it's my turn next," Roland sneered.