Chapter 29

Although Leo was tricked into feeding her the poison by Grand Duke Keith…….

He was also my childhood friend, so I was worried about what happened. Still, Leo was a true paladin, so he must have tried to stop the war. Of course, even if he was deceived, I was still angry at Leo’s behavior. But I can get angry later.

“They are the holy knights! The Holy Knights are coming to town!”

At that time, the news of the passing of the paladins in the village came. The travelers who entered the village screamed loudly and informed them. Soon after, the sound of the ground rumbling came. The sound of horses running was as loud as thunder.

Apart from the issue of the tax of the temple, the holy knights who helped the weak and cut evil with their sword with divine power were the object of envy. One of the reasons is that they look cool with their well-built physique and shiny armor. I’ve even read about it in a love story in which a handsome and wonderful holy knight saves a poor village girl who was so popular.

The villagers poured out to watch the procession of the Holy Knights.

There were so many people who wanted to get even a little blessing from the Knight of the Temple. Even the girls who blush in anticipation of the holy knights. In an instant, people formed a wall around the way the procession would pass.

“Lady Julia?”

“Let’s take a look.”

They settled in the gap between the crowds of onlookers. Perhaps Leo is among the group of Holy Knights passing through this village. Then, I don’t have to walk to the temple that is a day away.

Soon the procession of the Holy Knights appeared with a thunderous sound of the ground. The villagers cheered when they saw the shining armor of the Holy Temple. The welcome was so strong that I felt like I would be crushed by the gap between people.

“Ugh, wait a minute, please move! Ugh, don’t step on my foot!”

It was only after I had been stepped on and nearly beaten on my elbow that I could barely get through people and see ahead. At the end of the road surrounded by people, I saw the lead of the procession of the Order of St.

It’s Leo. I was right.

His face was covered by a helmet, but I was sure as soon as I saw the knight leading the procession. He has the same build with a neat white uniform, a blue cape, and a posture that was not shaken even on a fast-walking horse. Above all, Leo was the only one who could wear the Holy Sword given by the Pope.

There was a sense of welcome and relief. I came to the front of the procession to talk to Leo.

“Don’t get in the way! Back off!”

“Lord, bless……. Bless my child.”

“Get out of my way!”

However, the atmosphere of the procession of the Order of the Holy Father was very different from what I thought.

The last time I saw a parade of Knights was a much more friendly atmosphere. The onlookers cheered in the hope of blessing, and the knights in the procession responded to the onlookers. So it was also a kind of festival for the knights to appear in the village.

However, the knights, who rushed into the village in a line, looked unprecedentedly unfriendly. They wielded a spear as if threatening, and shouted at the onlookers around them to get out of the way. Onlookers who were approaching the Holy Knights to be blessed were spared in a harsh atmosphere.

What happened?

The procession came even closer. Now I could see Leo clearly. Leo, too, was as sharp as ever. He wore a helmet and did not show his face, and was wary of people and kept people away.

As a paladin who seemed to be a ruler, he always took off his helmet and greeted people with a smile.

“Lady Julia, if you go any closer, your face might be exposed.”

Jeremy’s voice, which said so, was also subdued. Jeremy seems to have known this change of the Order of the Holy Knights. I was about to grab Jeremy and get out of the gap in the audience to ask what happened.

“Awww!”

Then a child was pushed forward by the crowd. The child, who was not yet free to walk, fell on the floor and couldn’t get up and cried. Beyond the bystander’s procession, a person who seems to be the child’s mother was seen anxiously looking for her child. But there were too many people. It was a difficult position to raise a child through the crowd.

“Giddy up!”

The procession of the Holy Knights was now just ahead. It was a situation in which a child could be run over by their fast pace. The child cried louder. However, no one could easily come forward because the knights were running on the empty road.

Ah, come what may.

If I don’t step up here, I’ll be caught in a nightmare my whole life.

“Lady Julia!”

I leaned over and escaped the gap between the spectators. And I reached out my arm and managed to grab and pull the child’s arm. Soon the Holy Knights ran in the middle of the road.

Phew, that was close. If I was a little late, the child could be run over by a horse. The child who knelt on the floor as he fell began to cry louder. I tried to calm him somehow, but I couldn’t stop his crying.

Then, Leo, the leader of the procession, stopped his speech and came back. I hurriedly put on my hood and lowered my head deeply. First of all, I was going to hide my identity and examine the situation. For a moment, I felt Leo’s gaze toward me, but it fell soon.

He’s trying to apologize.

Even if it wasn’t his intention, he scared a child. He perhaps wanted to soothe him. The child was crying, and it was a dangerous situation.

But what Leo said was unexpected.

“Don’t block the road because it’s a hindrance.”

Leo turned back when he said that. There was no apology anywhere in his words. His blue cape fluttered around his body.

I blinked to see if I recognized the wrong person, but the pattern on that cape was clearly Leo’s. Why? What happened to Leo that changed so much?

At last, the child burst into tears again in surprise. The mother of the child, who barely escaped from the gap in the bystanders, bowed her head deeply to me and took the child away.

“Chief!”

Leo, who turned the horse again, called the village chief. The chief, an old man with a dry beard, looked so weak that I thought he would fall down. The chief greeted Leo in a daze.

“Yes, I’m the chief of this town. Knight, what brought you here?”

“Empty the Gronel plain within a week.”

“What? You mean, the Gronel Plain?”

“And I will requisition food. Prepare wheat and livestock as much as this document says.”

Even so, the village chief’s face, which was about to collapse, became even paler. The amount written on the document seemed to be considerable.

“Knight, but from now on, it’s farming season. If we withdraw from the Gronel Plain now, the year’s crop will be ruined. Even so, the price of food has risen due to the large amount of taxes…….”

The Gronel Plain was a land spread in the northern part of the Holy Land, and the crops were not good because it was barren. However, if you plow the field diligently, you will be responsible for the food of nearby farms. It was obvious that production would drop sharply when farmers leave the plains at the time of sowing. With high taxes, food prices will rise further if production decreases, and some poor farmers will starve.

“The demons are about to invade us at any moment. If we stayed in the plain and before it happens…….”

Leo thrust out the long sword in his hand. The sword pointed at the neck of an old man who was already shaking. The chief was surprised as if he were about to faint.

“Do you want me to cut your throat?”

“Oh, oh, oh, oh, no. I’ll be ready to withdraw immediately. I’ll do as you say!”

“Hurry up.”

After leaving that message, the Holy Knights left the village with a loud hoof sound again. The spectators who had filled the area dispersed in an instant. But I sat there blankly until Jeremy and Dale grabbed my arms and pulled me up. I couldn’t believe what I saw now.

“Where is Heath, Jeremy?”

I looked at the end of the empty road and recited.

“I need to see Heath…….”

♥♥♥

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