When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 612 - 575: Endurance King Ailard

Just as Horn and the dual leaders of Moliat Thousand River Valley were having a secret conversation, the King's Path of Feiliu Castle, a hundred miles away, was crowded with priests and soldiers escaping in the night.

With the defeated soldiers of the Imperial Knights pillaging upon entry into the city, the news of Prince Kongdai's defeat and beheading quickly spread through Feiliu Castle.

Although everyone thought it was absurd, as the details from the defeated soldiers became more specific and realistic, they had no choice but to recognize the reality.

The gang of feces collectors and pig riders banded together and utterly crushed the noble Imperial Knights.

During the chaos, some knights did try to regroup and attempt a counterattack.

But several senior cavalry officers of the Imperial Knights were either missing or killed in battle, and the morale of the ordinary knights was exceedingly low. Any assembly was quickly attacked first by the North Mande Mountain Knights and then beaten into defeat.

With the violent temper of these mountain people, they were simply incapable of doing what Horn did in accepting the surrender and capture of knights.

What prisoners? No one surrendered; they all died in battle.

Among the remaining four to five hundred knights, more than half were slaughtered directly by the Mountain Knights, while the remaining half, due to high mobility or not stopping to plunder, mostly fled the vicinity of Feiliu Castle by land under the cover of night.

Of course, some Mountain Knights stationed themselves early by the roadside, checking these fleeing passersby one by one.

If they were mere commoners or small merchants, the Mountain Knights would extort some money and let them go.

But if they found priests or noble knights, then sorry, they would turn their horses around and escort them back to Feiliu Castle obediently.

"Traveling at night with two pregnant women, you really have a big heart." Stuffing a few Dinars into his belt, a Mountain Knight patted his belly, "You're afraid of the Witch, yet not afraid of causing miscarriage to your wife and sister-in-law?"

"That Witch has the Witch disease. If it spreads, my family will be wiped out," said the farmer with a painted face, wearing a straw hat, with a look of distress. "Besides, there are those soldiers, I plan to live in the countryside for a while, if nothing happens, I'll come back."

"Alright, alright, you can go." The Mountain Knight impatiently waved his hand, and the cart smoothly passed over the low bridge of the river.

After crossing the bridge and driving a bit further, the farmer steered the cart to the roadside, and soon a drenched old man emerged from the bushes.

"They didn't suspect anything, did they?" Lakunio asked while pulling his wet clothes over his head as he approached the farmer.

The farmer, though having blackened his face with ointment and cut short his eyebrows and hair, still vaguely resembled Ailard.

"No, but we need to hurry up. If they find out I'm not dead, we probably won't be able to leave." Ailard opened the carriage door, allowing two anxious mistresses to get some air.

During the previous manhunt, they discovered that the Salvation Army and Mountain Knights believed Ailard was dead, allowing them to escape Feiliu Castle secretly.

In the battle at Cheese Bay, after Ailard was unhorsed, he fought bravely and then feigned death.

When the Salvation Army Infantry went to attack Prince Kongdai, he swapped clothes with a knight nearby, seized an unclaimed warhorse, and fled Cheese Bay.

After disguising himself, Ailard made his way to the vicinity of Feiliu Castle, preparing to secretly retrieve Prince Kongdai's two pregnant mistresses from a farmhouse outside the city.

These were the last direct bloodlines of the Golden Finch Dynasty, their value far exceeding hundreds of gold pounds.

However, as he approached the area, he encountered Lakunio, who was driving the two mistresses away in a cart.

What he could think of, Lakunio could also think of.

Upon realizing Prince Kongdai was unhorsed, Lakunio immediately judged that this battle could never be won, so he swiftly left the battlefield, went to the farmhouse, and fetched the two backups of the Golden Finch Dynasty.

There was nothing he could do for the squandered elders, but the bloodline of the Golden Finch Family had to continue.

Lakunio had repeatedly urged Prince Kongdai to produce offspring for this very day.

With his breathing method, he could live another twenty or thirty years, nurturing a couple of little ones would be no problem, only that these kids wouldn't have as many good resources as Prince Kongdai.

Their father had already laid out the entire fortune of the Golden Finch Family in the battle at Cheese Bay, but thanks to their noble lineage, these two children could at the very least secure a baron's or knight's title.

The demise of the Golden Finch Dynasty was fate, much like how that farmer could cause a sudden upheaval in the Thousand River Valley, since it wasn't destined, there's no need to force it, otherwise you end up like Prince Kongdai.

In the face of sorrow, Lakunio was thoroughly accepting it, asking for nothing more than the continuation of the Golden Finch Family.

"What should we do next? Should we avenge the Prince?"

"Next, we go to the Falan Kingdom. I reckon the Falan people will be very interested in the Golden Finch Family's bloodline," Lakunio shook his head, "I'm old, and you're a defeated general, how do we avenge? But it's alright, someone will help us seek revenge."

Lakunio shut the carriage door and continued onward with Ailard, the carriage moving along the silver path under the moonlight, occasionally passing defeated knight riders.

"Who?" Ailard shook the reins, curiously asking.

"The Church."

"The Church?"

Giving him a glance, Lakunio patiently explained, "This land of Thousand River Valley was originally a hidden treasury that the Leia Kingdom gifted to the Church. Now the inevitable southern and northern split of the Church has lost the southern Church's financial source. To regain orthodox status, the Northern Church will undoubtedly try to reclaim Thousand River Valley."

"But don't both the Falan Kingdom and the Norn Kingdom secretly support Thousand River Valley?"

"Hmph, you're seriously mistaken, the Falan Kingdom and the Norn Kingdom aren't supporting Thousand River Valley; they are trying to weaken Leia Kingdom.

You must know, so long as Thousand River Valley doesn't bow to the Church and dares to treat nobles and knights in such a way, the Empire has no reason to accept Thousand River Valley. All the fancy words are for the final ugly face.

After the battle of Windmill Land, the Leia Kingdom retained control of Windmill Land but is internally weakened, whether it be Norn or Falan, both aim to annex its territory.

If the Leia Kingdom attacks Thousand River Valley, they certainly will support Thousand River Valley, but neither wishes for Thousand River Valley to win nor for Leia Kingdom to win.

The best scenario is for Thousand River Valley to turn into a meat grinder, bleeding and dying, making it convenient for those hyenas to pounce upon and tear apart.

When the Leia Kingdom is torn apart, is there any necessity for the existence of Thousand River Valley?

In other words, when the Leia people attack Thousand River Valley, the other two kingdoms will only support Thousand River Valley with everything except sending troops. From the moment they dare to sweep the Thousand River Valley Church, extinction was already destined."

"But shouldn't all this rely on Leia truly being able to win?"

"What a joke is that?" Lakunio glared at Ailard, "The Pope launching a Crusade, together with the knights on Leia soil, can gather over ten thousand knights, even more cavalry than the Salvation Army Infantry, what can they fight with?

Taking a huge step back, if they really win, that will be the complete disaster; one heretical sect in Thousand River Valley defeating the entire Leia Kingdom, what do you think the other two kingdoms will do?"

With eyes glinting uncertainly, Lakunio looked back at the castle gradually disappearing from sight: "You watch, at the latest in two years, the Crusaders will be here, and at the slowest five years, this little wave of Thousand River Valley will be completely drowned in history!"