Knight Lords: Infinite Simulation and the Path of Light

Chapter 161 The Mighty Aurelion

"Sir, according to orders, we should return immediately."

At the Cheboa Mountains, where the three regions of the North, the Central Province, and the Eastern Province meet, the Dawnguards, ordered to return to their posts, stand at the crossroads awaiting further orders.

However, Aurelion, dressed in a pure white missionary robe, had no intention of leaving. His amber eyes gazed into the distance toward the North, and he remained silent, lost in thought.

Salen, who was waiting nearby, couldn't help but step forward again to remind him:

“Lord Aurelion, Bishop Kanra means that we need to return immediately and await new orders. In addition, you need to complete the handover of authority before you can go to the Eternal Sun Cathedral in the Imperial Capital to report for duty.”

The warm winter sun shone on Aurelion's robes, which were embroidered with golden divine patterns, making them glitter. After sitting silently on his horse for a moment, Aurelion dismounted and walked toward Van der Sar and Saren, who were waiting nearby.

"What a half-hearted operation, isn't it?"

When the two saw the divine light, like the radiance of the sun, shining again in Aurelion's amber eyes, they quickly lowered their heads. As a chosen one of God in the church, believers like Aurelion naturally exerted a suppressive influence over ordinary believers like them.

It was a suppression far more severe than bloodline suppression. At least bloodline suppression only made you choose to run away quickly or take other actions after feeling the pressure, but this kind of suppression between believers, gods, and chosen people was without any conditions or consciousness, and you could only passively accept it all.

Aurelia, radiating a faint divine glow, walked through the ranks of the Dawnguard who were waiting there. Wherever he went, all the Dawnguard paladins knelt on the ground in respect and obedience. At that moment, Aurelia seemed like a god descending to earth.

"Such a meticulously planned and well-prepared operation to destroy the enemy has ended so hastily. It's truly a farce. As the opposite of darkness, since we have temporarily chosen to use darkness to achieve our goals, it's not hard to understand."

but!!!!!!"

As soon as the word "but" was uttered, a bright orange sun with a human face suddenly appeared on Aurelion's body. Under the holy light, the paladins who had been kneeling prostrated themselves, showing the highest respect to the eternal sun.

"After all we've done, this foolish plan still failed, and failed so dramatically."

As he spoke, a small metal sphere appeared in Aurelion's hand. With the infusion of Aurelion's holy magic, the magical runes on the surface of the sphere seemed to be activated, and soon a series of images appeared on the sphere. These were fragments of the Battle of Whiterun that day, including scenes of the high-ranking nobles of the North discussing in the conference room, scenes of the defense phase, and scenes of Havent discussing with the two great counts of the North on the city wall.

"Havent Hyland is indeed a very interesting little fellow. Although I'm not quite sure what role you played in all of this, it seems that your appearance has certainly changed the situation. I heard you've already arrived in the capital. We'll meet again in the future."

After putting the metal ball back into his storage ring, Aurelion stood in front of the two of them. At this moment, the warm, human-faced sun behind them had disappeared.

"Later, I will return to the North alone to handle some matters. Van der Sar, you will lead the Dawnguard back to the base. As for you..."

Aurelion glanced sideways at Salen, who was still respectfully prostrate on the ground, and said softly:
"Once you return to your base, you can leave the Dawnguard on your own."

Upon hearing Aurelion's words, Salen immediately raised his head, looking at the man in horror.

"My lord, I... I've only been following orders! I... I..."

Seeing Salen stammering as he tried to explain, Aurelion impatiently waved his hand to interrupt.

"I'm just informing you of the results, not asking for your opinion again. Also, when you get back, tell that idiot Kanra to do his job properly and not to think about things that are not his business. Otherwise, next time, I don't mind bringing the Order Knights of the Inquisition to see what he's been doing all these years."

Upon hearing Aurelion's words, although he still wanted to argue, he sensed the impatience in the other party's words and wisely chose to shut his mouth. After all, as an inspector, he had no supervisory power during the operation. Now that the operation was over, he was well aware of the consequences if he had offended this important figure.

"Yes, Lord Aurelion, I will carry out your orders upon my return."

After completing all the tasks assigned, Aurelion's back conjured a pale orange wing of light. After a few gentle flaps, he flew into the sky and quickly transformed into a point of light, disappearing into the distance.

After sensing the disappearance of that overwhelming aura, the two who had been kneeling on the ground stood up again. Looking at the vanished point of light, Salen spoke first:

"So what do we do now? The orders from above are for Lord Aurelion to lead the troops back, but it seems he has other matters to attend to..."

Van der Sar looked at his colleague and shook his head helplessly. He wondered if the other man's way of doing things and his personality were intentional or just his true nature.

“Saren, if you are unhappy with this result, you should have brought it up earlier, instead of waiting until Lord Aurelion has left.”

Moreover, Lord Aurelion is only dissatisfied with some of your performance this time, so he's letting you leave the Dawnguard on your own. If you continue, given Lord Aurelion's personality and way of doing things, all that awaits you is the burning of the Holy Flame.

Upon hearing Van der Sar's words, Salen couldn't help but sigh softly. He then recalled some words that Bishop Kanra had spoken to him before the operation began. After thinking for a while, he shook his head, banishing those unrealistic ideas from his mind.

"I understand. Let's go back then. I'll personally apologize to you when you return, sir. So, what's Lord Aurelion up to in the North again? Didn't our operation there fail?"

Seeing the repentant Salen, Van der Sar nodded slightly. After all, as a colleague of many years, although the other party sometimes had strange ideas, he was not a bad person. He was a staunch believer in the eternal sun. It was just that sometimes he could not see his own position and his place. This time it was good that he had this change of heart. At least this guy's stupid brain would not think nonsense anymore.

"Yes, it is precisely because of the failure that Lord Aurelion wants to erase the stain of this defeat."

"Remove the stain?"

Salen, whose political thinking was practically nonexistent, clearly didn't understand what Van der Sar meant. Knowing what kind of person the other was, Van der Sar explained in detail.

"Our Dawnguard mission was to help the North deal with the siege by the Church of the Death and to assist the North in eliminating the hidden dangers left by the Church of the Death. However, before we even arrived, those bastards from the Church of the Death had already been driven away."

This thwarted our initial plan. Since Whiterun wasn't threatened by the Church of the Death, it naturally didn't need the Dawnguard's assistance, and therefore we couldn't take advantage of the situation to occupy this largest city in the North.

At this point, Van der Sard carefully examined the other person and, finding that Salen was listening attentively, continued his speech.

"Since we cannot settle in Whiterun, settling in other small towns would not be of much significance to the Church, as the impact would be too small. Therefore, Lord Aurelion abandoned the idea of ​​discussing the Church's settlement with the lords of the North at the meeting."

This is what you saw at the meeting: despite the strong opposition from the northern lords, they didn't insist. Although we could indeed force our way in through a joint relief agreement between the Empire and the Church, that wouldn't be very meaningful; it would only draw the attention of all the lords, big and small, in the North to us.

As he spoke, Van der Sar paused, seemingly recalling Aurelion's words from that night. "And it was for this reason that Lord Aurelion decided to terminate this plan, which had become meaningless, and so that night he issued the order to leave Whiterun and track down the remnants of the Church of the Dead."

At the time, Lord Aurelion's plan was to expel the Church of the Death to the Orcish Empire, which would somewhat salvage this failed plan, but...

At this point, Van der Sar looked at Sallen with scrutiny, and the latter sensed that he was being looked back at.

"What's wrong, Van der Sar?"

"Just as we were stationed in Ugramar, cutting off the Church of the Death's retreat route, an order changed Aurelion's decision."

You mean~

At this point, the slow-witted Salen seemed to finally remember something, and said breathlessly:
"Therefore, therefore it is..."

Van der Sar nodded slightly, in response to Salon's question.

“That’s right. The letter delivered by the Holy Eagle Knight changed Lord Aurelion’s decision.”

With Salen's face flushed, Van der Sar continued:
"You should know that we have a cooperative relationship with those Southerners. Even though we are in a dominant position, we cannot ignore some of their demands."

The failure of this operation revealed a huge flaw in what was originally a well-planned plan.

The North, already weakened by the cholera outbreak caused by the Church of Death, should have had no energy left to exert influence abroad; simply maintaining the Armagh defenses would have been a feat.

Van der Sar, who had already mounted his horse and was returning with the warriors of the Dawn Guard, also looked regretful. As a participant in some of these events, he naturally understood the efforts and costs that had been made in the process.

Looking at Salen, who was deep in thought, Van der Sar decided to make things clear to this foolish fellow this time: loyalty to the Sun must be contingent on loyalty to one's leader.

Since Lord Aurelion hasn't decided to kill this guy outright, it means that the fool Sarren still has a chance.

"But as you know, by the time we arrived, the crisis in Whiterun City had already been resolved. In fact, if the white lion hadn't been seriously injured, it would have almost killed that bug."

The turmoil suddenly stirred up by the Church of Death's army of ghouls in the North, while causing some trouble, was at most a bloody wound. It did not cause chaos in the North; on the contrary, it made them more united, especially after seeing another force eyeing them covetously.

The entire plan went horribly wrong under these circumstances. Originally, they could have waited until everything was settled and forced everyone to accept the outcome.

But now that Whiterun hasn't fallen as expected, it's time to prepare for the aftermath of the plan's failure.

As he spoke, Van der Sar let out a contemptuous laugh, it was unclear who he was mocking.

“Those southerners were terrified, afraid that their emperor would discover what they had done and then cut off their pig-like heads.”

For some reason, Salen let out a strange laugh in response to Van der Sar's sarcastic remark.

"Therefore, it is precisely because of this situation that the group of Southerners kept making requests to His Holiness the Bishop, hoping that Lord Aurelion could create some disturbance in the North and disrupt the Northerners' investigation."

However, the plans of these fools were doomed to fail. With two local nobles dead, the truth could no longer be concealed.

Upon hearing Van der Sar's analysis, Salen looked somewhat confused. After thinking for a while, he gave up and asked Van der Sar:
"Then what is the relationship between Lord Aurelion and Bishop Kanra...?"

Seeing that Salen looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated, Van der Sar took over the conversation.

"This conspiracy against the North was agreed upon by both sides on the day Lord Aurelion went to the battlefield, and by the time he returned, the plan had already begun to be implemented."

In Lord Aurelion's eyes, this was nothing short of a compromise and concession to heretics and evil forces.

As for Bishop Kanra, Lord Aurelion said he was nothing but a selfish wretch who only wanted to be promoted from city bishop to district bishop. Such a fellow has already violated the doctrines of the Eternal Sun, and once the Lord has finished dealing with the matter, he will surely settle accounts with this heartless fellow.

Upon hearing Van der Sar's words, Salen suddenly felt a chill run down his neck, and recalling the look Aurelion had given him, he felt only relief.

"And what is Lord Aurelion now...?"

"Go and deal with what the adults consider a stain."

Northern White Spring Canyon
"Aurelia!!!! Don't push your luck! Do you really think I'm afraid of you?"

Aurelion, burning and shining like a sun, hovered in mid-air, looking down at Alan, who looked like a charred corpse.

“Hehehehe…

A ridiculous collaboration has given you unrealistic fantasies; a bedbug is always a bedbug.

Knowing he was doomed to die today, Alan decided to throw caution to the wind and opened his dark mouth to let out a chilling laugh.

"Hahahaha, you, Aurelion, who calls yourself the embodiment of light, look at what's happening now! You can't change it! You can't change it! Where there is day, there is night! Where there is light, there is darkness!!!"

Boom~
With a loud bang.

A massive fireball, hundreds of meters in diameter, crashed down. Aurelion, hovering in mid-air, had an inscrutable expression, lost in thought.

(End of this chapter)