At the Basbe family's mansion, a meeting that had lasted for several days was coming to an end.
Guests wearing robes, animal skins and dresses and with different accents were in the same room, adding a sense of mystery to this hall filled with electrical facilities.
Although the owner of the place only appeared on the first evening and was nowhere to be seen at the main seat afterwards, the participants in the meeting did not find it surprising, as they believed that Jeremy Busby was now working hard for their cause, otherwise he would not have to refuse to become a member of the House of Commons.
Only someone who wants to be a member of the House of Lords would refuse to join the House of Commons.
As one of the leaders of the Sacred Heart Fraternity, the Hutton family and the Orenste family also had representatives speaking and supervising at this meeting.
Both Figo Hutton and Jeremy Busby seemed determined to achieve the final result of this plan, but before success, they seemed to have enough confidence in themselves and they still remained restrained and friendly to each other.
The representative of the Orlanst family remained silent throughout, and would only speak out reminders when certain regulations needed to be cited. He did not seem like a person with any desires at all.
However, it is also possible that their desires will be fulfilled as the situation changes.
On this last day, those forces that had reached an agreement or simply refused to cooperate no longer attended, leaving some seats empty. The only representatives of the forces still in the negotiation were Elder Gregory of the Druids, Master Hermondos of the Shaping Hand Alchemy Group, the bear shaman Gasherov of Vikia, the ascetic Marug of the White Wind School of the Steppes, the Grand Master of the Purgatory Flame Knights, which had long been abolished by the Magna Carta, Flero Khain, and the archery instructor Daur of the Sarafafu Archery Association.
In addition to the Druids, the Alchemy Group needs markets and raw materials, the Shamans and Ascetics need fame and money, the Wandering Knight Khain intends to rebuild the Knights Templar, and the Sarafaf Archery Association needs a guarantee that the art of archery will not be lost.
They want more than others, so the obligations need to be more finely divided.
Now, they seem to be basically satisfied with the proposal put forward by the Fraternity of the Sacred Heart.
"I'm glad to see that we have reached a consensus." After several minutes of silence, the representative of the Hutton family made a summary speech. Like his cousins, he liked to take the lead and was as calm in the Basby mansion as at home.
There was no hypocrisy in his smile. These so-called prominent figures in the real world were no different from their "world". He had previously thought that these people were difficult to deal with.
His joy came too early. Flero Khain, a burly red-haired man who was leaning on the side of the armchair like a lord, took over the conversation: "The result of this meeting really surprised me. I didn't expect things to go so smoothly in less than a week. But there are some things I must make clear. Before the armor of the Knights is recast, we will not provide military support."
Mr. Hutton, who was supervising the meeting, said sincerely, "We can provide the money. As for how to repair the armor, I'm afraid you are the expert."
"No, no, no, money can't solve this problem, and I'm not an expert. Of course, there is a real expert here. If you can convince the alchemist of the Shaping Hand to recast the armor for us, we can serve you for free for a month." Khain stood up and swept his hawk-like eyes over the three representatives: "Any one."
The representative of the Orenste family remained silent.
The representative of the Basbe family frowned slightly: "We have just discussed it."
"This is common sense." Khain shrugged his shoulders and stretched lazily as if no one was around. His strong arms were like two iron bridges on the table. "We will provide as many men as you repair the armor. Do you intend to let my boys fight naked?"
It seemed only natural that members of the Knights Templar had to wear armor.
But the armor of the Knights Templar is not an ordinary armor for soldiers. Each piece of armor has been blessed or enchanted, or is made of special metals, allowing them to fully utilize the knights' skills and even combine their skills to transform the wearer into a superhuman being.
Anyone who knows something about the inner workings of the Knights knows that this is not something that is easy to prepare for.
To forge a piece of knight armor, one needs not only a master blacksmith, but also a wizard who can enchant, or an archbishop who is qualified to bless the equipment.
The Hutton representative looked to Master Hermondos of the Shaping Hand.
"I need to see how bad they are first." The master replied calmly. "And the payment for this job cannot be paid in cash."
This was not the answer Mr. Hutton wanted. For someone like him, the most expensive things are those that cannot be paid for with cash.
"Perhaps we can discuss this later," said the Basbes representative. "For now, let's make sure that the document before us has been unanimously agreed to."
He took the record summary from the clerk and passed it around one by one in a counterclockwise direction.
If nothing unexpected happens, this is the last verification.
When the document was passed to Shaman Gasherov, he frowned and held the document in front of his face. He was very fat, and the weapons on his waist were two heavy short-handled axes. He was said to be ninety years old. His hair was still brown, but his eyes were cloudy.
This action seemed reasonable, but Elder Gregory suddenly placed his hand on the weapon he had placed on the table - the crescent-shaped golden sickle that symbolized harvest, and looked at the old man who was older than himself with an unfriendly expression.
Captain Khain's hands were gripping the table, as if he was about to overturn it at any time.
Archery instructor Daur, who was originally in a relaxed posture, also looked over as if his intuition was touched.
The three representatives of the Sacred Heart Fraternity looked at each other, and no one spoke.
"I feel a disgusting aura, right from you." Elder Gregory spoke maliciously to Gasherov. He was wearing a pure white robe and holding a golden sickle in his hand, but the sacred temperament that a priest should have was not reflected in him at all.
"You call it a miracle, but the Vikians call it 'divine power'."
Vikia is adjacent to the Eastern Grassland, and perhaps the ascetics of the White Wind School could clarify things for him, but Marug remained silent—a man without a tongue certainly couldn't say anything.
"Bastard!" Gregory jumped up and cursed. The chair was blown away by his action and smashed against the wall behind him.
"I've long said not to let foreigners get involved. They just changed the name and fooled us all! This shaman belief called Shulihan is exactly the same thing as the White Church's worship! Carola, Olwyn, Yolkai, Azalus. Now there's another Shulihan. I've never heard of such a god in Vikia before. Humph, maybe it's a foreign sect that has only appeared in the past hundred years!"
The representative of the Hutton family stood up and said, "Please calm down, Elder Gregory. I think personal beliefs will not affect our plan. Aren't the beliefs of the others different?"
He really couldn't understand how things suddenly turned out like this.
Even the Huttons and Basbys were devout believers in the church, and these people knew this before.
Elder Gregory turned and pointed at him, roaring deafeningly: "How dare you say that?!"
"I haven't forgotten who stripped the Knights of their legitimacy." Grand Master Khain also stood up and drew his sword. "Although I also think it's acceptable to cooperate with the local church, this shaman's beliefs are heretical to the church, and he is a foreigner. This complicated identity is detrimental to our plan. The church may tolerate us, but it can't tolerate him."
Gasherov also stood up, shaking his broad body to confront them across the table. He looked at them sadly: "You have a deep prejudice against me. I am sure that I am not a churchman. I believe in all nature, not just the sun."
Khain swung his sword, and suddenly flames rose from the blade, and the temperature in the hall rose rapidly. "This difference is meaningless. There are all kinds of heretical beliefs in the church, and some people even worship the shining balls of the Heavenly Father."
Gregory withdrew his gaze from the representatives of the three major families.
"If it's just heresy in the church, I can accept it now, but I'm more worried about one situation." He paused and uttered a word with a disgusted tone as if he saw insects appearing in drinking water.
"Benandanti."
"These bitch wizards are loyal to the church and have the nerve to claim that they worship nature. I know that the Benandanti group near Wei'aodi is also connected with that coward in Sasha City. There are too many suspicious points about this old guy. Maybe he is their spy. We have to let him die here."
Daur said nothing, but he used force to separate and straighten the silk thread tangled between his hands.
The representative of the Orlanst family, one of the three major families, had already stood up and walked out with Master Hermondos of the Hand of Shaping, obviously unwilling to get involved in what was going to happen next.
The representatives of the Hutton family and the Basby family both looked livid. Basby rang the bell, and there were bursts of dense footsteps outside the room.
Armed men are surrounding this place.
"Well, there are indeed many suspicious points about me, and you guys in the Sacred Heart Fraternity will not stop you. It seems that I have to die."
Gasherov put his hands on the table and looked at the silent ascetic Marug. His deep voice was steady and powerful, which contrasted with his bloated body. "But Marug, they killed me for such an uncertain reason, and when I die, you will be the only foreigner here. They may suddenly feel patriotic in the future and think that it is very unconscionable to let foreigners come to their country to seek benefits, so they decide to make up for this mistake. What will you do then?"
Gregory and Khain were both arrogant and domineering people, and they never concealed this fact.
Khain was particularly profit-driven. If the three major families were to give him half of the money paid to other members in exchange for killing that person, he would definitely be happy to do so - and such business was often proposed by him in the past.
It was precisely because they had lost their sense of honor and betrayed their identity as sword-bearing monks that the Knights of Infernal Flame were expelled from the Magna Carta.
Although Gregory has a better reputation, he is also a person without bottom line.
Gasherov was wrong on one point. There were actually more than just two foreign forces cooperating with the Sacred Heart Fraternity, but they did have one thing in common that could not be ignored. The countries behind Gasherov and Marug had no embassy in the Kingdom of Dorne. They did have some status in their own countries, but if they died here, no one would be able to hold them accountable for the atrocities that took place here.
Marug stood up silently, put the unsheathed scimitar horizontally in his arms, and approached Gasherov horizontally, as if he wanted to fight alongside him.
Gregory sneered at them. Khain held a flaming sword in one hand and used the chair next to him as a shield with the other. Daur held three pens in his hand, and the tips of the pens pointed at the two foreigners like arrows.
Now it's two against three.
Before seeing the real enemy, the supreme military force here has already begun to prepare to kill each other.
Guests wearing robes, animal skins and dresses and with different accents were in the same room, adding a sense of mystery to this hall filled with electrical facilities.
Although the owner of the place only appeared on the first evening and was nowhere to be seen at the main seat afterwards, the participants in the meeting did not find it surprising, as they believed that Jeremy Busby was now working hard for their cause, otherwise he would not have to refuse to become a member of the House of Commons.
Only someone who wants to be a member of the House of Lords would refuse to join the House of Commons.
As one of the leaders of the Sacred Heart Fraternity, the Hutton family and the Orenste family also had representatives speaking and supervising at this meeting.
Both Figo Hutton and Jeremy Busby seemed determined to achieve the final result of this plan, but before success, they seemed to have enough confidence in themselves and they still remained restrained and friendly to each other.
The representative of the Orlanst family remained silent throughout, and would only speak out reminders when certain regulations needed to be cited. He did not seem like a person with any desires at all.
However, it is also possible that their desires will be fulfilled as the situation changes.
On this last day, those forces that had reached an agreement or simply refused to cooperate no longer attended, leaving some seats empty. The only representatives of the forces still in the negotiation were Elder Gregory of the Druids, Master Hermondos of the Shaping Hand Alchemy Group, the bear shaman Gasherov of Vikia, the ascetic Marug of the White Wind School of the Steppes, the Grand Master of the Purgatory Flame Knights, which had long been abolished by the Magna Carta, Flero Khain, and the archery instructor Daur of the Sarafafu Archery Association.
In addition to the Druids, the Alchemy Group needs markets and raw materials, the Shamans and Ascetics need fame and money, the Wandering Knight Khain intends to rebuild the Knights Templar, and the Sarafaf Archery Association needs a guarantee that the art of archery will not be lost.
They want more than others, so the obligations need to be more finely divided.
Now, they seem to be basically satisfied with the proposal put forward by the Fraternity of the Sacred Heart.
"I'm glad to see that we have reached a consensus." After several minutes of silence, the representative of the Hutton family made a summary speech. Like his cousins, he liked to take the lead and was as calm in the Basby mansion as at home.
There was no hypocrisy in his smile. These so-called prominent figures in the real world were no different from their "world". He had previously thought that these people were difficult to deal with.
His joy came too early. Flero Khain, a burly red-haired man who was leaning on the side of the armchair like a lord, took over the conversation: "The result of this meeting really surprised me. I didn't expect things to go so smoothly in less than a week. But there are some things I must make clear. Before the armor of the Knights is recast, we will not provide military support."
Mr. Hutton, who was supervising the meeting, said sincerely, "We can provide the money. As for how to repair the armor, I'm afraid you are the expert."
"No, no, no, money can't solve this problem, and I'm not an expert. Of course, there is a real expert here. If you can convince the alchemist of the Shaping Hand to recast the armor for us, we can serve you for free for a month." Khain stood up and swept his hawk-like eyes over the three representatives: "Any one."
The representative of the Orenste family remained silent.
The representative of the Basbe family frowned slightly: "We have just discussed it."
"This is common sense." Khain shrugged his shoulders and stretched lazily as if no one was around. His strong arms were like two iron bridges on the table. "We will provide as many men as you repair the armor. Do you intend to let my boys fight naked?"
It seemed only natural that members of the Knights Templar had to wear armor.
But the armor of the Knights Templar is not an ordinary armor for soldiers. Each piece of armor has been blessed or enchanted, or is made of special metals, allowing them to fully utilize the knights' skills and even combine their skills to transform the wearer into a superhuman being.
Anyone who knows something about the inner workings of the Knights knows that this is not something that is easy to prepare for.
To forge a piece of knight armor, one needs not only a master blacksmith, but also a wizard who can enchant, or an archbishop who is qualified to bless the equipment.
The Hutton representative looked to Master Hermondos of the Shaping Hand.
"I need to see how bad they are first." The master replied calmly. "And the payment for this job cannot be paid in cash."
This was not the answer Mr. Hutton wanted. For someone like him, the most expensive things are those that cannot be paid for with cash.
"Perhaps we can discuss this later," said the Basbes representative. "For now, let's make sure that the document before us has been unanimously agreed to."
He took the record summary from the clerk and passed it around one by one in a counterclockwise direction.
If nothing unexpected happens, this is the last verification.
When the document was passed to Shaman Gasherov, he frowned and held the document in front of his face. He was very fat, and the weapons on his waist were two heavy short-handled axes. He was said to be ninety years old. His hair was still brown, but his eyes were cloudy.
This action seemed reasonable, but Elder Gregory suddenly placed his hand on the weapon he had placed on the table - the crescent-shaped golden sickle that symbolized harvest, and looked at the old man who was older than himself with an unfriendly expression.
Captain Khain's hands were gripping the table, as if he was about to overturn it at any time.
Archery instructor Daur, who was originally in a relaxed posture, also looked over as if his intuition was touched.
The three representatives of the Sacred Heart Fraternity looked at each other, and no one spoke.
"I feel a disgusting aura, right from you." Elder Gregory spoke maliciously to Gasherov. He was wearing a pure white robe and holding a golden sickle in his hand, but the sacred temperament that a priest should have was not reflected in him at all.
"You call it a miracle, but the Vikians call it 'divine power'."
Vikia is adjacent to the Eastern Grassland, and perhaps the ascetics of the White Wind School could clarify things for him, but Marug remained silent—a man without a tongue certainly couldn't say anything.
"Bastard!" Gregory jumped up and cursed. The chair was blown away by his action and smashed against the wall behind him.
"I've long said not to let foreigners get involved. They just changed the name and fooled us all! This shaman belief called Shulihan is exactly the same thing as the White Church's worship! Carola, Olwyn, Yolkai, Azalus. Now there's another Shulihan. I've never heard of such a god in Vikia before. Humph, maybe it's a foreign sect that has only appeared in the past hundred years!"
The representative of the Hutton family stood up and said, "Please calm down, Elder Gregory. I think personal beliefs will not affect our plan. Aren't the beliefs of the others different?"
He really couldn't understand how things suddenly turned out like this.
Even the Huttons and Basbys were devout believers in the church, and these people knew this before.
Elder Gregory turned and pointed at him, roaring deafeningly: "How dare you say that?!"
"I haven't forgotten who stripped the Knights of their legitimacy." Grand Master Khain also stood up and drew his sword. "Although I also think it's acceptable to cooperate with the local church, this shaman's beliefs are heretical to the church, and he is a foreigner. This complicated identity is detrimental to our plan. The church may tolerate us, but it can't tolerate him."
Gasherov also stood up, shaking his broad body to confront them across the table. He looked at them sadly: "You have a deep prejudice against me. I am sure that I am not a churchman. I believe in all nature, not just the sun."
Khain swung his sword, and suddenly flames rose from the blade, and the temperature in the hall rose rapidly. "This difference is meaningless. There are all kinds of heretical beliefs in the church, and some people even worship the shining balls of the Heavenly Father."
Gregory withdrew his gaze from the representatives of the three major families.
"If it's just heresy in the church, I can accept it now, but I'm more worried about one situation." He paused and uttered a word with a disgusted tone as if he saw insects appearing in drinking water.
"Benandanti."
"These bitch wizards are loyal to the church and have the nerve to claim that they worship nature. I know that the Benandanti group near Wei'aodi is also connected with that coward in Sasha City. There are too many suspicious points about this old guy. Maybe he is their spy. We have to let him die here."
Daur said nothing, but he used force to separate and straighten the silk thread tangled between his hands.
The representative of the Orlanst family, one of the three major families, had already stood up and walked out with Master Hermondos of the Hand of Shaping, obviously unwilling to get involved in what was going to happen next.
The representatives of the Hutton family and the Basby family both looked livid. Basby rang the bell, and there were bursts of dense footsteps outside the room.
Armed men are surrounding this place.
"Well, there are indeed many suspicious points about me, and you guys in the Sacred Heart Fraternity will not stop you. It seems that I have to die."
Gasherov put his hands on the table and looked at the silent ascetic Marug. His deep voice was steady and powerful, which contrasted with his bloated body. "But Marug, they killed me for such an uncertain reason, and when I die, you will be the only foreigner here. They may suddenly feel patriotic in the future and think that it is very unconscionable to let foreigners come to their country to seek benefits, so they decide to make up for this mistake. What will you do then?"
Gregory and Khain were both arrogant and domineering people, and they never concealed this fact.
Khain was particularly profit-driven. If the three major families were to give him half of the money paid to other members in exchange for killing that person, he would definitely be happy to do so - and such business was often proposed by him in the past.
It was precisely because they had lost their sense of honor and betrayed their identity as sword-bearing monks that the Knights of Infernal Flame were expelled from the Magna Carta.
Although Gregory has a better reputation, he is also a person without bottom line.
Gasherov was wrong on one point. There were actually more than just two foreign forces cooperating with the Sacred Heart Fraternity, but they did have one thing in common that could not be ignored. The countries behind Gasherov and Marug had no embassy in the Kingdom of Dorne. They did have some status in their own countries, but if they died here, no one would be able to hold them accountable for the atrocities that took place here.
Marug stood up silently, put the unsheathed scimitar horizontally in his arms, and approached Gasherov horizontally, as if he wanted to fight alongside him.
Gregory sneered at them. Khain held a flaming sword in one hand and used the chair next to him as a shield with the other. Daur held three pens in his hand, and the tips of the pens pointed at the two foreigners like arrows.
Now it's two against three.
Before seeing the real enemy, the supreme military force here has already begun to prepare to kill each other.
