Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 413 Powerful Saints and a Population Surge

Where else in the Hessian territory are reinforcements?
Su Li and Hilde were both at a loss for words. Their family members had just arrived, and the reinforcements from Eliria were not up to par.

In fact, because Ariria had been staying in Su Li's treehouse for so long, her minions had almost all deserted. Those kobolds, gnolls, dryads, and wildebeests, unable to feel their master's glory and unable to become dragons, were forced to live and mine in the mining area every day. Except for the kobolds who seemed to enjoy it, many of the others had fled.

That's how the power of the forest works; once an authority can no longer maintain its power, the rule will collapse.

Eliria's retinue does indeed still number in the thousands, but their quality has plummeted to an appalling level.

Su Li was worried for Ariria, but the dragon seemed to be enjoying herself. She spent her days in the eye of the wind in the Jiren Wind, living a very comfortable life. And when Su Li wasn't looking, she would secretly open her dragon mouth, and like a giraffe, stretch her neck and pull down a bunch of Blessed Wisteria pods from the tree.

During the first cycle before the wisteria pods fully mature, and in the few days leading up to their full maturity, she may have already eaten more than 10 bunches of pods.

It's only because Su Li is wealthy and powerful that he doesn't care about her spending so recklessly. Besides, she made outstanding contributions in the battle against the vampire sea dragon, so Su Li considers this a reward for her.

However, this completely captivated Arielia, making her reluctant to leave. The idyllic atmosphere of the Jilun region allowed her to slowly increase her strength while lying down, and the Blessed Wisteria Tree pods extended her lifespan. She wasn't worried about wasting time; after all, she had plenty of lifespan to help her slowly improve her strength.

She then became even less concerned about her henchman legion, and even her wealth steadily increased each day. This was due to her agreement with the Black Forest Territory to use her henchmen to mine and exchange for gold coins.

All she had to do was offer herself and charm him; the allowance Su Li gave her would amount to a considerable sum. This wasn't difficult for a dragon. And Ariria herself thoroughly enjoyed the process.

She's become quite adept at playing hard to get.

Therefore, she has absolutely no intention of managing her dependent army.

If it wasn't her reinforcements, or her family's reinforcements, then who else could it be?

Dante didn't answer Su Li's question, but simply said, "Could we go up to the Maiden's Ring and take a look?"

“Of course.” Su Li readily agreed, showing utmost respect to the newly joined saint. “Please follow me, Lord Dante. The Maiden’s Ring is an important holy site in our territory and the most important spiritual tree planting area for the Church of Dawn.”

He took the lead on the spiral path leading to the mountaintop platform, Dante following closely behind barefoot, his steps steady and silent. If one only considered the scenery along the way, the Empire could be described as picturesque, idyllic, and possessing a tranquil and peaceful feel reminiscent of a feudal empire. Knights, priests, nuns, ascetics, and druids together created this classic fantasy atmosphere.

The closer you get to the summit platform, the more pronounced the tranquil and clear atmosphere becomes, like a real spring flowing in the air, washing away the dust from your soul.

Upon reaching the summit, the group finally saw the magnificent Moon Goddess Moon Mulberry Tree and the clusters of blooming Star Dew Oranges below. Waterwheels transported water from Lake Leiflin to this location, irrigating the Purple Spirit Fields via irrigation canals.

Beside the irrigation ditch, moonflower cabbage is also planted, which is an important ingredient for treatment and only grows beside clear streams.

Everything here demonstrates the formidable power of the Church of Dawn in the Black Forest Territory.

Nuns of the Church of the Dawn worked quietly on the Maiden's Ring, their simple green robes swaying gently and intently. Some pruned the new shoots of the moonflower cabbages that surrounded the platform, while others tended to the moonflower silkworms munching on tender leaves on specially made mulberry trellises. The air was filled with the tranquil glow of star-dew oranges and the fresh scent of mulberry leaves.

The only thing that seemed out of place was a long-haired young man sitting on a roadside bench. He was under the shade of a tree and had a somewhat sinister air about him... or rather, a fashion trend that Su Li couldn't understand.

He had long, dark green hair that reached his shoulders and was styled exceptionally smooth and silky, with a few strands deliberately falling beside his pale, almost translucent face. His posture was languid yet carried a hint of deliberate elegance, with one leg casually crossed over the other, his toes barely touching the ground.

The inner lining of the top was a purple, lustrous silk bodysuit, over which was a somewhat tight, dark green velvet short jacket. The jacket's neckline was low, revealing the purple lining and a small patch of pale chest. The collar and cuffs were embroidered with intricate, dazzling patterns of twisted and intertwined vines and exotic flowers in extremely fine gold and silver thread.

Her lower body was clad in a pair of dark green corduroy trousers, thick in texture but exceptionally fitted, tightly wrapping around her legs. The trouser legs were tucked into a pair of shiny, pointed black leather boots. The upper edge of the boot shafts was also inlaid with tiny silver thorn patterns.

A pendant made of a fine silver chain hung loosely around her neck. The pendant was an abstract, languid spider, and she wore more than one ring on her pale, slender fingers.

He tilted his head slightly, half-closed his eyes, and a smile of ambiguity played on his lips as he surveyed the busy nuns on the platform and the radiant Stardew Orange tree.

Fandall immediately said to Su Li, "My lord, the person sitting over there is our designer, Friedrich. He has been looking for inspiration here recently."

Su Li remained expressionless, glancing indifferently at Tiberius who was standing beside her.

The deputy steward hasn't even set off for Flashspear City yet; he's waiting for Su Li to give him a batch of good stuff to increase his chances of winning against Nurgle's Chosen.

He immediately understood and strode forward, grabbing Friedrich by the collar. With his height of over 2.2 meters and extremely strong physique, he lifted Friedrich as easily as lifting a chick.

Amid Friedrich's screams, Tiberius glared at him with fierce eyes and roared, "Damn bastard, didn't you see the lord has arrived? Do you think our territory can't do without you? Let me tell you, it's an honor to give you this job. If you don't like it, get out of here right now. There are plenty of people vying to design this outfit."

Dante sighed and lowered his head, pretending he hadn't seen anything.

When a scoundrel like Tiberius starts acting like a rogue, apart from Hilder who can keep him in check, there's basically nothing anyone else can do about this chosen one.

Friedrich immediately screamed and cried out to Su Li, "My lord, my lord, save me! My arm is going to be broken!"

Su Li then slowly turned around, shifting her gaze from Stardew Orange to Friedrich, and said in surprise, "Huh? Our designer is here too. I didn't even see you. Tiberius, how many times have I told you to watch your tone when you talk to others? Not everyone can withstand the intensity of your chosen knight."

Tiberius brought Friedrich to Su Li, then kicked him slightly in the back of the knee with his right foot. Friedrich staggered as if hit by a cannonball and fell to his knees.

Before he could even scream, Dante suddenly stood in front of him, his eyes, burning with holy flames, looking down at him: "Child, what are you chasing?"

Dante's voice was deep and hoarse, yet possessed a strange penetrating power, clearly entering Friedrich's chaotic mind and drowning out the decadent music.

Friedrich jolted, as if waking from a nightmare. He looked up, meeting Dante's eyes, which burned with the flame of pure conviction. He flinched as if burned, his gaze filled with even greater confusion and pain. "I...I'm pursuing...beauty...perfection...flawless...the ultimate..." His voice was hoarse, trembling without his own awareness. "The ultimate?" Dante's voice was calm and even, yet contained immense power. "The Chaos God Slaanesh also promised the ultimate—the ultimate senses, the ultimate madness, the ultimate...emptiness and destruction. It distorts beauty into distortion, and creation into depravity. Is the 'inspiration' you feel a gift from the goddess, or a lure from the abyss?"

He raised his withered right hand and pointed to the decadent lines Friedrich was unconsciously drawing on the silk. “Look at these marks, child. They are a reflection of the defilement deep within your soul. Slaanesh’s whispers are trying to alienate your pure pursuit of ‘beauty’ into a morbid hunger for ‘stimulation.’ The ‘ultimate’ it promises will end in eternal numbness and the annihilation of the soul.”

Friedrich arched his back as if struck by an invisible whip. Dante's words were like a burning brand, searing deep into his chaotic soul. The words "ultimate senses," "eternal numbness," and "annihilation of the soul" precisely pierced his deepest, most hidden fears—the sweetest promises and the most insidious traps whispered by Slaanesh.

"No...I don't want to...I don't want to become like that!" he screamed in agony, clutching his head tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white from the force, as if trying to forcibly rip out those decadent music and twisted "inspirations" that had seeped into his bones. His pale face was covered in cold sweat, and his body trembled violently, as if he were fighting against an invisible torture.

"Of course you don't want to!" Dante's voice suddenly rose, like a horn of judgment exploding above the Maiden's Ring, carrying an absolute power to cleanse all filth. The previously restrained aura of faith around him, as solid as a rock, erupted, no longer the gentle, resonant pale golden halo, but transformed into a blazing, pure, and blinding holy flame! This holy flame did not scorch the skin, but was like the most potent acid, burning away all the invisible chaos and filth!

"Feel the guidance of the Goddess of the Sun!" Dante's voice boomed like a great bell, each syllable carrying immense force, crashing into the depths of Friedrich's crumbling consciousness. "This is not blind worship! This is absolute recognition and wholehearted devotion to strategic wisdom, strict order, civilized values, and justice!"

His withered hand pointed to the sky, as if summoning the midday sun. A condensed, blazing white beam of light instantly pierced through the faint glow of the Maiden's Ring and precisely enveloped Friedrich!
"It fills the emptiness in your soul with a clear goal!"

Within the pillar of holy flame, countless blurry, distorted lights and shadows, symbolizing the allure of chaos, emitted silent screams as they melted away like accumulated snow.

"It uses iron discipline to restrain your uncontrollable desires!"

The intricate, eerie dark green patterns on Friedrich's body seemed to come alive, writhing and peeling away in agony under the scorching holy flames, revealing pale but no longer sickly skin beneath. The decadent vine patterns embroidered with gold and silver threads on his bodysuit and coat, like venomous snakes thrown into the flames, curled up, charred, and turned to ashes!
"It replaces your greedy demands with a dedication to civilization!"

The ruby ​​eye of the languid spider pendant around his neck instantly dimmed and cracked, the fine silver chain snapping inch by inch. The serpentine ring with thorns wrapped around his finger shattered with a "poof," the silver snake's body twisting and deforming as if branded with a hot iron, before falling off his finger.

"It uses its inner focus and perseverance to resist the temptations of the senses and the whispers of chaos!"

Dante took a sudden step forward, his bare feet slamming into the stone slabs with a dull thud. His eyes, burning with holy flame, pierced Friedrich's unfocused pupils like two sharp swords. "The 'ultimate' promised by Slaanesh is a poison that will erode your will! Violet's gift is a furnace for forging an iron will! See your true heart! Do you seek to reduce beauty to a decadent plaything, or to make art the cornerstone of civilization, a hymn to order?!"

Under the fierce impact of the holy flames, Friedrich felt the sticky, sweet membrane deep within his soul, which had been constantly tempting him to slide into the abyss, being completely torn apart and burned away! An unprecedented pain swept through his body, but what followed was an indescribable sense of relief, like a suffocating person regaining air!

Those decadent tunes have disappeared.

The distorted lines disintegrated in his mind.

Those thirsts for the "extreme" of the pathological state dissipated like the receding tide.

Instead, a yearning for light, order, and true creativity, originating from the deepest recesses of his soul, blazed fiercely like tinder ignited by sacred flames! He saw it! He saw the scene he was supposed to depict—not the twisted vines and demonic flowers, but golden waves of wheat symbolizing a bountiful harvest, the soaring wings of a griffin representing wisdom and strategy, the sturdy walls of a fortress, and the innocent smiles of children under the sunlight!

"Ah—!!!" Friedrich let out a long howl that was neither human nor human, a mixture of extreme pain and ultimate relief. He suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Dante, no longer filled with fear and confusion, but with the ecstasy of surviving a catastrophe and a newborn, fiery power that was almost bursting forth! Tears mixed with sweat, gushing down like a flood, washing over his pale cheeks.

"I...I..." He gasped for breath, each breath seeming to draw strength for new life. He broke free from Tiberius's unconsciously loosened grip and lunged forward, his forehead slamming heavily against the cold, hard stone slab with a dull thud. His dust-covered fingers dug desperately into the cracks in the stone, and he roared with all his might, his voice hoarse yet carrying a resolute determination that could shatter stone:
"I, Friedrich, pledge my allegiance to Violet, the goddess of strategy and wisdom! I will dedicate the rest of my life to serving order and light! May my brush and needle dance only to praise the cornerstones of civilization, the battle song of order! May every stroke of my design become a sharp sword piercing the shadows of chaos, a sturdy shield protecting hope and prosperity! Saint, please... guide me on my path! Goddess, please... forgive my lost soul, and accept me, this believer who has been reborn!"

As the vow that erupted from the depths of his soul subsided, the last trace of the gloom, restlessness, and eeriness emanating from Slaanesh's whispers vanished completely, like the last dewdrop evaporated by the blazing sun! A faint yet incredibly pure, resilient light of faith, imbued with a clear sense of purpose, rose around him like a newly born flame, perfectly merging with Dante's blazing holy sun flames and the serene, purifying silver glow of Stardew Orange!
The entire Ring of Maidens platform fell into a sacred silence. Only the rustling of leaves in the breeze and Friedrich's heavy, post-traumatic breathing could be heard. All the nuns stopped what they were doing, watching in awe, many with their hands clasped together, softly reciting hymns of praise to the Lord of Order.

Dante looked down at Friedrich, who seemed to have been pulled from sewage, washed clean, and reborn. The rock-like lines on his weathered face seemed to soften slightly. He slowly raised his hand, not to press on the top of his head as before, but to extend a withered finger that seemed to contain infinite power, and gently touched Friedrich's mud-covered forehead.

The instant their fingertips touched, a beam of blazing white holy light, refined to the extreme, pierced Friedrich's brow like the most precise carving knife!
"Lost souls, have rediscovered the light of wisdom and order!" Dante's voice, like a solemn final pronouncement, resounded through the heavens. "In the name of Violet, by the wisdom of the God of Strategy and the order of the scorching sun, your sins have been purified! Your talents have been reborn! Rise, Friedrich brothers! From this day forward, your paintbrush and needle will be the bricks that build the fortress of faith, the lighthouse that dispels the fog of chaos! The light of the goddess's wisdom will forever illuminate your path, and the laws of the goddess's order will forever protect your creations!"

A more powerful, clearer, and sacred torrent, brimming with wisdom, enlightenment, and the power of order, surged into Friedrich's body. He felt an unprecedented lightness and strength in his soul, as if infused with boundless inspiration and unwavering purpose. He abruptly raised his head, his face streaked with tears and dust, disheveled, but his eyes, like stars ignited by holy flame, were filled with the light of rebirth and an unparalleled passion—a passion created solely for order and civilization!
“Praise be to Violet! Thank you, Saint, for your salvation and guidance!” Friedrich’s voice was loud, clear, and full of power, with no trace of his previous decadence and eeriness.

Su Li was stunned by the completely transformed, determined, and goal-oriented light in the designer's eyes.

That's incredible! Is this the value of God's chosen saints?

Although this saint may not be as good as a knight like Tiberius in terms of combat prowess, his strategic value is immeasurable!
If you were to give him a set of silk clothing made of iridescent silkworm silk, wouldn't he become an apostle of the gods on earth? Wherever he went, he could attract the common people there to become believers of the Goddess of the Sun!

Su Li didn't have to wait long for all this. Friedrich locked himself in a makeshift studio next to the Ring of the Maiden, working day and night. Abandoning all the intricate, distorted lines and eerie colors, his design philosophy underwent a radical transformation. He no longer pursued sensational sensory stimulation, but rather a perfect unity of solemnity, order, power, and sacredness.

Just a few days later, a set of clothes that made everyone hold their breath was presented to Su Li, Dante, Hilde and the others.

This is a bishop's robe designed for a lord. The main body is made of sacred and deep iridescent silk, while the collar, cuffs and front edges are embroidered with clear, sharp and geometrically beautiful patterns in "holy flame gold" iridescent silk thread, which is as pure as the rising sun. The patterns include a golden sun emblem representing the goddess and an imperial crest with griffins holding crossed swords.

Su Li unsurprisingly bestowed the reward upon the ascetic saint Dandin, ordering him to wear the attire and go to the religious city of Flashspear to cooperate with Tiberius and Dietrich in purifying the local corruption.

The effect was extremely obvious: this religious city harbored a large number of rebels, cultists, and even evil minions bewitched by chaos.

The local population increased by more than 500 after the saint arrived in just one cycle!

Most of these 500-plus people were hidden rebels and thugs. Inspired by the Holy Light, many directly became followers of the Goddess of the Sun. Especially the rebels, raiders, and bandit groups outside the city; after Dandin's visit, many laid down their weapons and readily became supporters of the rule of Flashspear City and Blackforest Territory. After all, these were all forces of the Church of the Goddess of the Sun; after their conversion, their faith was the same, and their will to resist and rebel was greatly reduced.

Another group consists of ordinary people coerced by Chaos believers. Many ordinary civilians may be forced to provide limited assistance to the rebels or cults (such as hiding supplies, passing messages, or concealing their whereabouts) because their families are held hostage, their livelihoods are controlled, or simply out of fear.

Dante's appeal gave them immense courage and hope, leading them to believe that they could escape coercion under the goddess's protection. They voluntarily confessed to saints or knights, revealed information about their coercers, and sought refuge and redemption, thereby cutting off the rebels' intelligence and supply networks.

Finally, the corruption of chaos is not limited to those who willingly submit, but also includes innocent people who are affected by sorcery, blasphemous rituals, or the whispers of the chaotic being, falling into madness, depression, hallucinations, or extreme behaviors.

Dante's abilities can also help them directly combat the chaotic mental pollution, calming the victims' frenzied minds, dispelling the blasphemous whispers and terrifying hallucinations in their minds, restoring them to clarity, and turning them into potential believers in dire need of comfort and guidance. (Of course, most knights treat such people the same way; they will simply burn the polluted village to the ground, executing and burning all the civilians and those who have been mentally corrupted.)
(End of this chapter)