Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 505: The Culprit, the Skeleton Church (6700)

"Deep sea jump, three, two, one! Start!"

A large fleet with pirate flags flying and full sails, led by the ghost ship [Dreadnought] and five heavily armed cruisers, instantly disappeared into the huge blue hole that suddenly opened on the sea.

The five heavily-armed cruisers were all made by flattening the decks of hundreds of large galleons captured from the "Treasure Fleet" and re-equipping them.

Although the performance is slightly inferior, it greatly saves the time of building new ships.

After being launched into the water, it was immediately equipped to the fleet of the Pirate King, the Uncrowned King.

The hidden ship, the Golden Deer, used the border maze to enter stealth mode and followed at the end of the pirate fleet.

On board were pirate officers of level three each, a group of Deathwing guards, as well as mother Hathaway and cousin Salant, each holding a level zero relic fragment.

No one can see the true appearance of the Golden Deer in superposition state, and cannot tell that it is the prototype of all heavy-duty cruisers, nor do they have to worry about linking them together.

As the world's number one "commerce raider" ship type, it is a perfect match for the pirate fleet.

When we return to Hastings next year, the Pirate King and his large fleet will be the main force, so we can take this opportunity to train our troops in advance.

Violet, who was traveling with him on the Dreadnought, unfolded the First Overseas Expedition Order to block the entire fleet, but her other hand, which was holding Byron's, was so nervous that she was sweating.

Looking up at Byron beside him, he said anxiously:
"Byron, is Mother really also in the Malta Convent? What if she is mistaken?"

Byron, in turn, shook his fiancée's hand vigorously and comforted her:
“Although I’m not 100 percent sure, I’m still 70 to 80 percent sure.

And no matter whether the 'Iron-masked Man' is the mother-in-law or not, as long as we forcibly break through the divine realm and rescue everyone together, we will naturally be able to determine whether it is true or not.

Anyway, we have bonuses like [Outlaw] and [You are not the murderer].

As long as there are no direct eyewitnesses left in the end, it will just be a normal Barbary pirate attack on the monastery on the front line of the sea. What does it have to do with us Gulf pirates?

If it doesn't work, the worst that can happen is that we can try another monastery next time according to the information, and we will find it sooner or later."

As the Holy Spirit's Favored One, he only had the title but not the actual ability, so naturally he could not obtain the low-level authority of the [Silver Law] and directly access the church's database.

He could only continue to entrust Sister Theresa, [Holy Hammer] Oliver, and August Habsburg to help him collect information about his mother-in-law Vanessa.

Let them mobilize their connections and secretly search for all prisoners held by the church.

Comparison tags: Time at least fifteen years ago, female, noble family, mythical creature, likes water
You won’t know until you search, and you’ll be shocked when you do.

After summarizing the materials from the three parties, there were actually five or six people who met the requirements, and we don’t know how many more were not found.

Moreover, they all have similar living habits, elegant manners, like reading, love taking baths, and without exception, they all wear metal masks, making it difficult to identify their specific appearance.

They were all suppressed by a divine domain located on the coast or on islands.

The code names are even more varied: Iron Head Man, Iron Mask Man, Iron Chin, Faceless Man, Wallfacer, Lonely Soul.
"The church is really spending a lot of money!"

When Byron saw the information for the first time, he immediately realized that this was not the church's attempt to prevent him from breaking into the prison.

Instead, it was a deceptive tactic that had been carefully arranged many years ago, in which a group of nuns with the most steadfast faith were found to impersonate Vanessa.

In order to guard against the fifth-level pirate king and fifth-level false god [Whale Hunter] Jack Harold, who used violence to rescue his wife, he could only obey their orders and find Noah's Ark.

[Whale Hunter] does not have as many high-level church traitors as Byron, nor does it have the title of "Saint" that can be immune to the horrific rules of the major divine domains, nor does it have the two "non-stick pan" entries that can get rid of Fu Yi.

There is only one chance to take action.

Even if you accidentally discover a "Vanessa", if you are not 100% sure, you would not dare to take action because of fear of the consequences.

In addition, August Habsburg also learned the key to the guarding rules directly enforced by the divine domain in various places through his identity as a hardcore traditionalist and the connections of the Habsburg royal family:
"She can neither take off her mask herself nor be taken off by others, and anyone who does so will be sentenced to death.

She cannot voluntarily reveal her identity to anyone. Once she does, she and the person who hears it will be sentenced to death.”

The conditions for triggering the two rules are actually the same - "knowing".

That is to say, no matter what means others use, as long as another person who knows her identity appears in front of her, the rules will be triggered and a tragedy will occur.

The only way to save people is to break the divine domain with external violence. It is impossible to rescue people secretly.

So, it is obvious that there is a person next door to my aunt, the "Iron-Masked Man", who is highly suspected to be Vanessa's alternative candidate.

But after learning about this taboo, Byron never dared to go to the Maltese Monastery again.

She didn't even dare to use some little secret known only to Violet and her daughter to verify the truth from the side.

Otherwise, it would be the same as the wizard's "water test". The fake ones would be crushed by him, and the real ones would be crushed by the rules, and in the end, only a corpse would be obtained.

I could only make bold assumptions and verify them carefully, using Raven Fujin to explore each suspected target one by one, hoping to use the process of elimination to eliminate all wrong answers right away, but I was still unable to be completely sure.

Until a few days ago, a "transfer order" from the church was delivered to Black Sail Port.

St. John actually ordered the new pirate king [Uncrowned King] in a condescending manner to lead the fleet to attack the territories of Protestant princes and block the large quantities of weapons they purchased from overseas arms companies.

This saint was not just dreaming, but instead collected fresh hair from many women and sent it to Byron along with the letter.

There is no doubt that before the York family could use the hostages in their hands to threaten him to obey, the unscrupulous church used this trick first.

Friends who often kidnap others know that the first ransom letter sent may be a hair, but the second time it may be a finger.

If you don't plan a few months in advance.

In such a hurry, he could only obey obediently. Once he joined the battlefield, he became cannon fodder. But it would no longer be as simple as he could quit whenever he wanted.

However, the bad thing is that St. John feels that the whaler has not been heard from for ten years since he went out to sea, and he may have died overseas, so Vanessa's value has been greatly reduced (Chapter 496).

In order to transfer the pressure to the rising star [Uncrowned King] who was already engaged to the Wanmin Princess, he also sent a lock of Vanessa's hair.

St. John was confident that the places where these two groups of people were being held were kept strictly confidential, and that they were being suppressed by the Level 0 Holy Relic [Holy Foreskin]. No divination could rely on such a simple medium to lock onto the places of detention.

If mortals could have this ability, the most powerful church would have already gathered all the fragments of the level zero holy relic.

Byron's [Logbook] doesn't have this ability either.

When I looked at the hostages in person before, I couldn't even tell their height, weight or body shape, let alone divine their exact location.

But none of this matters.

Because there is a key piece of information that was inadvertently overlooked by the saint, and it cannot be blocked by anti-divination means.

Byron, the "Prince of Night Devil", simply put the hair in his mouth and chewed it, and then used his black magic to determine what they had eaten before their hair was cut.

The principle is the same as cutting a little hair to test for drugs.

“Breakfast: panini cake, croissant, with mocha coffee;

Four types of lunch: fruit salad, vegetable and seafood soup, steak as the main course, and chocolate ice cream as the dessert;
Dinner was similar: cream of mushroom soup and black pepper beef macaroni, and macarons for dessert.

The most important thing is that they eat exactly the same thing for a long time!"

Byron clearly remembered that the nun who managed the scribes said: "When you enter the prison, you will eat the same level of prison food as the prisoners in the special cells (Chapter 496)."

Therefore, after receiving this letter, he was 64389% sure that they were all on the island of Malta, and the "Iron Mask" numbered next door was Vanessa!

First entry [Historical Reviser]: "Those with whom you have an anchoring connection will also be more likely to be drawn into a certain historical vortex with you, approaching various unknowns and secrets."

Byron became a "disaster star".

Those who are directly connected to him cannot escape, and those who are indirectly connected to him cannot escape either, they will always be caught up in fate.

To some extent, it's not entirely a bad thing.

Byron did not dare to delay too long because he was worried that the situation might change.

After learning from Theresa that the fifth-level legendary paladin had left in a hurry, he did not waste even a quarter of an hour and acted decisively without hesitation.

At the same time, in the Malta Monastery, at the bottom of the underground prison with the strongest defense in the divine realm.

The cells that had been filled with nun scribes two months ago had been completely emptied, with no one in sight.

Ever since the High Tower Sequence Extraordinary Being who had descended as the Archangel Pallas began to reversely output the "Gospel of Heaven", the work of the scribes came to an end.

The poisoning plan of "Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven" even became a taboo topic that backfired, and the deaths of the contaminated nuns were meaningless.

However, several scribes who were completely uncontaminated were not released.

At the very end of this prison floor, next to the luxurious cell No. 64389 "The Man in the Iron Mask", another cell with a similar level of luxury was temporarily converted.

There is a separate toilet, bathroom, living room, study, various books, wardrobe, and multiple bedrooms to ensure privacy.

The people who lived here were the women of the Lancaster family.

Margaret and Byron's aunts were not released like the other nuns after their mission was interrupted, but were instead kept imprisoned here.

Except that he has not yet put on the special metal mask, his treatment is almost exactly the same as that of the "Man in the Iron Mask".

Margaret saw it very clearly. The level of detention had changed from being a dispensable one, where one had to work outside for a year and be abused by a little head nun every day, to the current strict surveillance.

The situation has obviously changed again.

“If there are newspapers to read in the library, you can always know what is happening outside.

Although there are books in the cell now, the latest one was written before the end of the Dark Millennium, which is of no help to us in understanding the situation outside.

Byron hadn't been here for some time since the conflict between Protestants and Orthodox Christians began, and it was not known whether the war had affected him.

If the change in the situation is related to our situation, it must be because something happened on his side, which made us, who were originally dispensable, become important again.

and"

Margaret glanced at the partition wall of the cell next to her before continuing to speak to her sisters-in-law:
"With this role model who has been imprisoned for many years, we have probably become a key tool to achieve a certain goal in the eyes of the church.

Unfortunately, we have no way to inform Byron that if there is any danger, don't come again.

He is Lancaster's last hope, and it is totally not worth it for him to risk himself to save us."

Before they were able to enter and leave the prison freely to copy scriptures, they met the owner of the next cell and were warned by the jailer.

It is strictly forbidden to talk to the Iron-Faced Man, otherwise you will bear the consequences.

Even the nuns and jailers kept their distance from her, fearing that they would hear something they shouldn't.

And the "Iron-Masked Man" is actually a very nice person.

Knowing that the rules he followed were harmful to others, he never took the initiative to speak to his neighbors even though they had come for the first time in more than a decade. It was as if he had completely accepted his fate after being imprisoned for such a long time and had given up the last struggle.

but it is not the truth.

The "Iron-Masked Man" in a white dress was sitting on the narrow windowsill, gently stirring the clear water in the copper basin with his bare feet that vaguely looked like whale fins.

A pair of eyes were looking across the sea, at the aura of disaster that permeated the entire Holy Silver Empire, and flames were flickering in his slightly erected pupils.

Especially when she saw a "Death Star" gradually rising above the monastery, the corners of her rosy lips under the metal mask curled up into an extremely moving smile:

“The signs had already appeared when the nuns were copying books two months ago. The current level of disaster is obviously because the church has completely fallen into civil strife.

The women from the neighboring Lancaster family were too concerned and confused.

Their nephew, 'The Star of Disaster', who had come to scout the place a long time ago, would definitely not miss this opportunity if he wanted to rescue them.

The aura of disaster grew stronger, my strength grew stronger, and the seal on my body slowly began to loosen.

Waiting until that 'star of disaster' takes action will be my best chance to escape.

This kind of disaster star is a calamity for ordinary people, but for us [Disaster Witches], it is a blessing star without any water!
Following him is definitely our favorite turmoil.

From the conversation between Queen Margaret and several female relatives next door, I can also guess what the Red Rose Family has experienced.

I don’t know how Anchor Bay and my little Violet are doing now.

Unlike the old woman with a broken knee, we are also a Taiwanese nation that has not been completely tamed, so I'm afraid our situation will not be very good.

Coupled with the fact that my hair was suddenly cut off two days ago, I had a sense of déjà vu.

We must escape from prison as soon as possible!"

Obviously, the conclusion Byron reached after mobilizing a series of powerful connections and conducting personal investigations was correct.

No. 64389 "The Man in the Iron Mask" is Violet's mother Vanessa.

Moreover, under the suppression of the divine realm and unable to confirm her identity in advance and communicate plans with each other, she was also trying her best to save herself.

Just waiting for the opportunity when the aura of disaster in the monastery reaches its peak.

However, no matter how fast Byron reacted after receiving the news, it was not as fast as the careful arrangements made in advance by the church.

What Vanessa, Margaret and their group first waited for was not Byron's pirate fleet, but another warden who was seamlessly sent here by the church.

The door of the underground prison was wide open.

A cardinal archbishop dressed in a scarlet cassock and wearing a bishop's ring walked in with a team of ten female judge knights in heavy armor.

If Byron were here, he would recognize him immediately.

He is Archbishop Barbatila from the Orthodox religious order, the Congregation of the Holy Infant Jesus, who presided over the "Dispute over the Right to Protect the Church" in the Bantaan Islands (Chapter 316).

In order to successfully obtain the "immunity", Byron gave the archbishop a very clear list of bribes.

“Special spices: 20 kilograms.

Raw nugget gold: three thousand pounds.

Inkwood Plantation on Yucatan Island (title): 1,500 acres.

Two merchant ships

Especially for the two merchant ships, dividends are distributed regularly on the first day of every month, and there has been no omission to date.

Byron has already paid Archbishop Barbatilla a huge bribe worth more than 30,000 pounds, so he would be recognizable even if he turned into ashes.

After the departure of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta [Holy Lance] Valette, who had just threatened Byron's church, it was naturally impossible for him to create a defense vacuum here right after.

Instead, he arranged for an archbishop who was also a fifth-level legend. He was not as good as a paladin, but was more than enough to deal with mid-sequence extraordinary people below fifth level.

Due to the requirements of the divine domain itself, male intruders will be forced to change their gender, and only the archbishop can be exempted. There are very few suitable candidates for the position of "warden".

But Archbishop Barbatilla himself was not satisfied with this assignment. He had a gloomy look on his face, which made the prisoners afraid to react.

"Such a boring assignment has fallen on me.

They are all women who make people feel uncomfortable. I can’t even bring in my personal male servant.

Even if she is brought in secretly, she will become an unbearable woman.

On the surface, I am the warden, but in reality, I feel like I am in prison myself. There is no fun to be had. Isn't the 'mistress tax' I paid this year in vain? !

God, the Pope should give me my money back!"

He paid the "mistress tax" every year.

But in essence, he is the kind of orthodox priest who will only "attack in priest form" when he meets a specific person, and he has no interest in adult women.

When you come to a women's convent, you will never defile the purity of this place.

Of course, this depends on how one understands defilement. To some extent, being defiled may make things even dirtier.

The archbishop complained in his heart as he walked, and his stomachache became even worse when he saw the prisoners in the upper cells who had all turned into females.

"If I stay here for a few months, I'm afraid I'll become a Protestant.

Do not drink, smoke, or go to entertainment venues. Limit consumption and entertainment desires. Music and dancing are prohibited. Premarital sex, infidelity, and abortion are abhorrent.

Can we still live our lives after listening to these precepts?

We are God's servants, and we should be standing high above at the pinnacle of the material world, doing whatever we want.

By then, you will successfully crack the side effects of "The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven" and become an angel on earth, and you can enjoy all of this forever.

It’s all the fault of those damn Protestant clergy. What does it have to do with you whether believers live or die?

Who would be so crazy as to revolutionize themselves? I think you must have eaten too much!"

His resentment towards his austere life soon turned towards Protestantism.

The Orthodox Church believes that "the Virgin Mary gave birth to the Son and needs to be worshipped; the Pope is the Creator's spokesperson on earth and needs to be worshipped."

Protestants are obviously more pure. They regard the Gospel of Genesis as supreme and believe that "there are no other gods except the Creator, and idols must not be worshiped.

Everyone has their own duties, and working hard is the best way to repay the Creator."

In other words: "Render to the Creator what is the Creator's, and to the King what is the King's."

The essential difference between the two doctrines is that the latter wants to make God's representatives on earth unemployed, completely strip them of their privileges, and return power to the king.

Clergymen like us only need to guide people's faith and should not interfere in secular affairs.

But no matter how angry Barbatilla was against Protestantism, he could not change this order from St. John, the leader of the Congregation of the Holy Child.

Because it was he who oppressed [Queen of Eternal Night] Margaret I and then personally led the team to arrest Vanessa and put her in prison.

It was that successful operation that made Barbotilla stand out and wear the red robe of cardinal.

It is no exaggeration to say that he is one of the main culprits behind the separation of Violet's family.

In order to prevent the spread of information, it was only natural for the church to appoint him, an insider, as the temporary warden.

Soon, he stood at the door of the two cells at the bottom, looking at the two prisoners inside, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he thought to himself:

'The war situation is tense now. Emperor Frederick III has ordered the recall of all mercenaries [Doppler Heavy Swordsmen] to join the battlefield.

Just like when the Whale Hunters were used to search for Noah's Ark for the church, they were preparing to mobilize the forces of the five Gulf Citizens.

Hettings could not send any troops to fight in the civil war, but the Kalmar Alliance ruled by the Queen of Eternal Night, the Uncrowned King who had recently become famous in the continent, and the Anchor Bay of the Bay Princess were all fine.

The people here are the collars that make the latter two obedient.

The instructions I received were:
No matter it is voluntary or forced, even the Taiwanese who have already knelt down will never be our own people. Their role will always be consumables and cannon fodder. Even if they fight to the last Taiwanese citizen, it will not matter!

No matter how much blood they have shed for the church, the hostages here will never be released and will only be endlessly exploited.

Moreover, they should be made to panic, feel pain and despair, and pass their emotions to their loved ones so that they dare not slack off.

[Holy Spear] Lord Valette is a Paladin. Although he is a reliable person, he is too rigid.

Why are these prisoners being treated in a way that is inappropriate for their status? What a waste.

According to the saint's order, people will be sent tomorrow to separate them and put them all in different prisons, making it difficult for rescuers to find them.

Before we set off, let me teach you how to be a prisoner obediently!'

Barbotila recalled that after he secretly hinted to the White Rose York family, the other party bribed him with a large sum of money to commission him to "poison" (Chapter 491), and his eyes flashed with undisguised malice.

He took out a palm-sized bone house from the storage of rare items and threw it away.

Boom——!
It was as if it had forced its way into the current space, transforming into a [First-Level Holy Relic Skeleton Church] with an internal space larger than the entire underground prison!
By the way, both cells were packed in.

“Hundreds of years ago, the Black Death killed one-third of the population of the Old World, leaving corpses everywhere.

The remains of the dead in the Electorate State of Bohemia were built into this creepy and mysterious building.

Possessing terrifying power."

Although it looks like an ordinary Gothic building from the outside, the interior of the church is creepy.

Because the interior of the church is filled with densely packed human bones, every decoration is made of human bones.

The crosses, crowns and other decorations that can be seen everywhere in the church are all made of bones from different parts of the human body.

The candlesticks and Baroque altars surrounding the church all have candles lit on bones, never extinguishing.

The most eye-catching thing is the large chandelier made of human bones in the center of the hall.

It is composed of leg bones as the main frame, the lower jaw bones as the hanging curtain, the main frame is divided into eight leg bones, and the lamp stand supports a piece of pelvic bones arranged in a circle, each of which holds a head that acts as a candlestick.

When people stand below, they feel as if they are being stared at by countless skulls, which makes their scalps tingle.

One of the effects of the [Skeleton Church] is to spread the "Black Death"!
A cold wind blew by, and all the female members of the family, including the mythical creature Vanessa, shivered.

(End of this chapter)