Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

But judging from their current friendly relationship, it can only be the White Knight. Zhu Yue has the Black and White Winged Duke, and Hei Ji also has the Black and White Knight.

And just as he thought—

"What happened, Brad? Why were we exposed? We've been hiding here all these years, haven't we? And we haven't seen any church members come here."

Eltrauge asked calmly, seemingly because she had already introduced the unconscious Avia, so the White Knight was not puzzled by the human who suddenly appeared in her master's room.

"Here's what happened. Today, one of the Royal Guard's members, a beggar who was temporarily living by begging, happened to receive alms from the church. However, because he hadn't been able to drink blood for a long time, he couldn't hold it in and vomited all over the church staff. As a result, he was subjected to mandatory confinement and a medical examination, and the result was..."

To be honest, this was the first time the White Knight had ever seen such a thing happen to the well-trained Royal Guard. It was so inexplicable, as if they had been cursed by something.

“We didn’t drink blood. We usually have animals to feed on… Oh, I see.” Ji Jun’s usually indifferent face showed a rare frown. “Has the church already sent people to arrest us? We should hurry and get everyone to evacuate.”

“No, that’s not the case. The dead apostle has been released.” Brad shook his head. “The cardinal of Constantinople Cathedral, who is confronting Rezovor, said that he will not come after us and will allow us to leave, to leave the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire. He just hopes that you can discuss it with him before we leave.”

The Black Knight, Rizzowal Stuart, is one of the three oldest Dead Apostles and one of the Black Princess's bodyguards.

The White Knight continued, "Although it sounds nice, our idea is that you, sir, must not be exposed to those people. It would be best to find another place to hide now and avoid the Church's sharp edge."

Clearly, Brad's suggestion is the best solution.

However, Eltrauge glanced at the room's layout and shook her head, saying:

"The guards should withdraw from the city first. Go and tell the cardinal that I will keep my promise."

"But like this..."

"Nothing to worry about."

"...Yes, Rizzowall and I will do everything in our power to protect you, sir."

After Brad left, Princess let the white demonic hound perch on her shoulder and suddenly spoke to Avia, who had been silent for a long time:

"Kishua said you are important, although I don't really care... However, if you can really stand against the Church, I will do my best to protect you, so, do you want to come along?"

"If only you were a little gentler with me, I might have come along."

Avia, holding up her spear, joked, laughing as she looked at the white demonic hound baring its fangs and claws on Eltrauge's shoulder.

"Is that so? I'll keep it in mind as a reference, and I'll try my best to be gentle with you, a human being."

There was not a trace of gentleness in Ji Jun's words, only her usual indifference.

But she paid no attention to Avia's reaction and slowly began to walk out.

"......"

As she reached the door, the black-haired girl seemed to remember something, stopped, and then turned around.

"Well, I'm leaving now, so you'll have to stay close to me, Avia."

She said this very naturally.

106: The Doctor of the Church and the Doctor of Grace

Due to the division of Rome, the cardinals of the Diocese of Constantine were the leaders of the Church in the Eastern Roman Empire. However, due to differences in doctrinal views, the two sides gradually moved towards a split, a division that lasted for more than 20 years, enough to influence the views of a generation.

However, after the split, relatively few believers were willing to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire, resulting in a shortage of grassroots church personnel in the Eastern Roman Empire in recent years, which can only be cultivated slowly.

The Cardinal invited Princess to discuss the matter at a small chapel in the harbor, presumably to avoid arousing suspicion among the Dead Apostles and to show his sincerity.

"By the way, Princess, if you want to move outside of Rome, I can take you somewhere, but on the condition that it remains the same as it is now."

Avia, walking side by side with the black-haired girl, spoke without hesitation.

The place he was referring to was the Hunnic tribes. After all, the Eastern European region where the Huns lived was still fragmented and not yet unified. Furthermore, due to the discrimination against the Huns by the Western Roman Empire, mysterious creatures were allowed to thrive there.

The silver-haired youth has made his decision: in order to defeat the church that has been corrupted by the wasteland for a hundred years, one Scourge of God is not enough; he needs to add another.

Attila failed to destroy the Western Roman Empire, but he wanted to do so together with it.

Before that, the Huns had to be unified more than ten years in advance.

Upon hearing this, Eltrauge gave Avia a meaningful look, which quickly disappeared.

"So, what is the price?"

"Do me a favor, and we can sign a contract as a guarantee for both of us."

Faced with the human's answer, the blood-red eyes swept over him, and in a tone as flat as the gaze, said indifferently, "Is that so?"

Hearing the emotionless voice, the white demon dog on her shoulder tilted its head and barked softly, "Fu, Fu."

The cheerful chirping seemed to say, "How could my great master possibly make a contract with a human?"

But the next second, Altrouge gave it a cold look, which made Fufu tremble again.

The two people and the animal walked toward the church, whose walls were a light gray that blended in with the surrounding natural environment. The church roof was mainly made of wood and covered with thick thatch, giving people a friendly and warm feeling.

Several figures stood at its entrance, two of whom were Black Princess's Black and White Knights, while the others were likely members of the church.

Altrouge simply nodded to the Black and White Knights, and the two of them consciously made way for them without asking any further questions about Avia, who had come with them.

The interior of the church is bathed in soft, warm light, casting dappled shadows through the windows. These shadows move slowly throughout the church, creating a mysterious and solemn atmosphere that brings a sense of inner peace and tranquility.

Appearing before the two were an old man and a seemingly composed man.

"Has that princess arrived...? Oh, is that person next to her a person...?"

"They're actually humans who conspire with the Dead Apostles..."

A hint of danger lurked in the man's calm voice.

"Augustine, watch your tone and attitude."

The old man said this, and as he spoke, the man regained his gentle demeanor.

"No need for introductions," Eltrucci said, sitting down opposite the two. "What brings you here, Bishop Jerome?"

"Before Lord Kobek entered that labyrinth, he told me, 'If I ever meet Your Highness, please give me a message.'" The old man said with a gentle smile, "As an elder of the Dead Apostles, your labyrinth is always open to you."

Kobaek, who was being hunted down after the Holy Scripture Tretine was stolen by Mabul Qihuang, returned to the labyrinth he had built, a vast labyrinth that had become dimensionally distorted over time and was almost inaccessible to anyone.

"Alright, that's settled. Your Highness can now leave the Eastern Roman Empire with your knights and royal guards. I hope you will never appear before us again."

After Bishop Jerome finished speaking, he began to drive them away without any mercy. This was normal, as members of the church, no matter how much they disagreed with the Lord, still disliked the dead apostles.

The reason he told Eltrucci in person was probably because of C's request.

Avia thought silently, but at this moment he roughly understood the identities of these two church personnel who stayed in the Eastern Roman Empire.

Jerome, one of the four Doctors of the Church in the West, translated the Old Testament of Hebrew and the New Testament of Greek into Latin. He is also hailed as the greatest scholar in the ancient Western Church. However, in theory, he should be the abbot of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, but he is now the cardinal of Constantine.

And this Augustine is most likely the same person as Doctor Grace... Well, Avia is a little embarrassed, since in the first century AD, his propaganda was more or less influenced by this person...

However, like Jerome, his life path changed because, in theory, he should have converted to the church just before his death.

"......I see."

Kurohime answered in her usual indifferent voice and walked out of the church without turning her head, but in reality, the girl's voice had little power.

"Augustine, Jerome, my name is Avia, see you again someday."

After Avia introduced herself to the two men with a smile, she also walked out with them.

"It really is as Lord Kaubak said, it's really hard to persuade him."

Once only Augustine and himself remained in the church, Jerome murmured softly.

Actually, when Kaubak came to him, Jerome also asked Kaubak why he didn't go and tell him himself.

Kobek's response was: she rejected my invitation without hesitation, and her answer to me at that time was this—

“No matter how much I run away, I can’t change the status quo, can I? If it’s something only I can do, then I have to face it head-on. As the only heir, I have the right to take on this responsibility. Even if I’m in danger, I will do what I have to do. I will never run away.”

Perhaps it was precisely because of this personality that the Black and White Knights and the Royal Guard followed the princess on her journey.

"Lord Jerome, we discovered the location where those Dead Apostles were hiding a long time ago, why did we wait until today?"

"Augustine asked from the side."

"They haven't caused any needless killings because of their bloodsucking, so it's not a bad thing to let them live like this. After all, no matter how much we don't believe in something, it still exists right before our eyes."

"Then why now...?"

The old man sighed and said, "Some things don't matter as long as they're not exposed, but once they are, we have no choice but to take action."

In other words, he would not have expelled the Dead Apostle from the Eastern Roman Empire had it not been for the fact that the Dead Apostle had been exposed for strange reasons.

"On another note, what are your thoughts on this, Augustine?"

Jerome watched with interest this upstart who was carrying a Bible and a prayer book.

"I always felt a strange interest in Avia, but unfortunately, he ended up with the Dead Apostle. Although it was his own choice, if Lord Novia were still alive, she would surely have been able to persuade him to join the church."

Augustine was always inexplicably interested in that legendary pope, and even once thought that if he could meet him, they could become close friends.

"Haha, then you should keep up the good work. You're still a long way from reaching that level."

.......

As they walked out of the church, Avia didn't say much, simply walking silently alongside Eltrucci.

With his keen observation skills, he naturally noticed that the black-haired girl's pupils dimmed slightly at that moment.

From this, he could see that she could not ignore what she considered to be human words.

Because what he said makes a lot of sense; it's only a matter of time before the Dead Apostles are wiped out.

"I agree to what you just said. Where is the place you mentioned?"

Eltrauge stopped and stared at Avia with her slightly dim, blood-red eyes.

"In that case, take your men and come with me to the north."

107: Meryl, please cry.

The sky was a deep blue, and the sunlight gently bathed the vast land in its warm glow.

Occasionally, a few eagles spread their wings and soar across the sky—this is Eastern Europe today.

Its economic structure was relatively simple compared to Western Europe, mainly based on agriculture and animal husbandry. In short, there were obvious differences between Western Europe and Eastern Europe in various aspects at this time.

This region was the territory where scattered Hunnic tribes roamed and ruled. In the eyes of the two great Roman Empires, the people of Eastern Europe were equivalent to uncivilized barbarians who could not communicate with each other.

One of the tribal leaders was named Lua, the Hunnic elder who had found Attila's remains among the giants, and also the one who had his tribe adopt Avia.

According to the original timeline, the Huns would have unified under him in 432 AD, died two years later, and then Attila, the undisputed Hunnic military genius, would have become the new master of the Hunnic Empire.

Rua wasn't too concerned about Avia's sudden return and her joining forces with the Dead Apostles. After all, the agreement was just to drink some blood and not kill indiscriminately, so it wasn't a big problem... In short, he did indeed follow Avia's instructions and gave Eltruchi and her Royal Guard a safe haven.

"Anyway, this is left to Attila and you. It's not that you can't make the decision. Attila won't think about these things anyway; you'll be the one making most of the decisions."

At that time, Lua had an indifferent expression on his face, as if to say, "What's there to hesitate about?"

The only perplexity of this Hunnic leader was:

If you come here, does Attila know? I have a feeling that something terrible will happen if I leave her alone in the Western Roman Empire.

Avia had initially intended to say that she knew, but then she immediately remembered—

Oh no, the illusion stopped working long after Wales.

If you think about it carefully, it's been more than a year since he left Milan. It took him four months to find Fafner initially, and when he arrived in Glastonbury, Britain, he was led by the fairies into the door leading to the inner side. Although it was only for a brief moment, he didn't realize that six months had passed since then.

After that, she accepted Meryl's request to go to Wales, which took two months. Finally, she was taken back to the Eastern Roman Empire by Altrouge, which took a month.

It took two months to bring Eltrauge to the Hunnic tribe...

Avia could already imagine that the white-haired girl, who had suffered so much 'torture' in the Western Roman court, probably already had murderous intent.

But since things had come to this point, he felt that it wouldn't be a bad idea to make Attila wait a few more months.

Because he originally planned to go to Britain to see Melie after sending Eltruchi off, and then return to Milan in the Western Roman Empire.

As a result, Lua suddenly shouted when only he and the Hun elders were present:

"The three-headed dragons on the Dniester River in the Great Plains are truly despicable. They dared to harass us while our war god Attila the Younger was on his way to the Western Roman Empire, causing our horses to live in constant fear. Alas, if only Attila were here."

"Yes, if Attila were here, she would have immediately gone to slay that evil dragon."