Alien Knights

In the early morning of the second day after the Battle of Ancient Micheng, the fleet in the port raised their anchors and raised their sails. One by one, they sailed out of the harbor and slowly headed south.

Before coming, Muxi and Froststone's coalition fleet had 42 ships, including 7 three-masted Shane cargo ships, 17 two-masted Krafts, and 18 other small ships.

When they left, the size of this fleet had expanded to 70 ships, and the extra ships were all kinds of ships captured in the port of ancient Micheng.

In the Battle of Ancient Micheng, the Froststone Allied Forces liberated about 7,000 slaves in the city, wiped out 350 enemy soldiers, captured about 2,200 Ulster soldiers and civilians, and seized various properties equivalent to 2.8 million gold coins on the premise that their own losses did not exceed 100 people.

In addition, the coalition forces also brought back some extremely special trophies - war beasts. Among them were forty giant wolves, six two-headed strange birds, and two poison gas giant crocodiles.

With the billowing smoke, the burning ancient city became farther and farther away from everyone's sight. The liberated slaves and barbarian tribesmen stood on the bow of the ship, roaring and shouting, venting their old grievances and joy after victory over the years to the most famous capital of the slave trade in the northern border.

Todd stood on the side of the boat and watched all this quietly, without any emotion in his eyes.

When he turned his head, the silly smiling face of Little Jerry, the deputy head of the North Island Knights, appeared in front of him.

Everything was just like the scene in the San Sidro monastery a few years ago. The thin, tall and straightforward boy followed him step by step, silently following his footsteps.

Todd looked at the familiar, harmless face, and finally a smile appeared on his face: "Let's go."

The faint cheers could still be heard in his ears. Todd didn't stop walking. He stepped into the cabin on the bottom floor and saw Evie standing by the cabin door.

The Valkyrie quietly wiped her weapon, and said to Todd, "The man has already been brought."

Todd said "wait here" to Jerry behind him, then pushed open the door, and a face that had been beaten beyond recognition appeared in front of his eyes.

A dying plainsman, tied to a wooden frame, was tortured and baptized by two barbarian torturers.

The torturer first poured a ladle of sea water into the victim's mouth, and then punched the victim heavily on the lower abdomen. Pale yellow water, accompanied by light pink blood, spewed out from the victim's mouth.

"Please... stop..."

Ignoring these people, Todd found a chair, sat down at the table, and looked through the ledgers and notes seized by the tribe.

"On May 7, 891 white goods were loaded on board, including 230 adult men, 337 women, and some elderly people and children. 』

"Diseases during the voyage included 72 people (resolved); normal loss of 24 people (including 16 women, 5 men and 3 children); 37 people were given gifts (the list is in the appendix)"

『Market income: 735 people, equivalent to 23761 gold coins. 』

『Note: Due to quality problems, some goods were processed at a low price and were not included in the calculation. 』

Todd slowly closed the ledger, exhaled heavily, and his hands trembled slightly due to emotional fluctuations.

At this time, the torturer was grabbing the opponent's hair and shouting loudly: "Tell us! Your identity!"

The victim opened his blood-swollen eyes, glanced at them, and said softly, "A fur trader from the Fenton Principality."

A heavy punch hit the opponent directly on the chin.

Seeing the bloody teeth rolling down under his feet, Todd stretched out his hand to pause the torture.

He walked up to the victim, first looked at the other's palm, then looked down at the knee and foot.

"Fur merchant?" Todd found a chair and sat in front of the victim: "Before choosing a false identity, think carefully."

"In the crevices of your nails are the imprints left by using ink for many years. Let me ask you, why does a person who can't read words and only deals with fur and coins have been in contact with pen and ink for a long time?"

Todd's question made the "Fur Trader" bow his head.

"You have thick calluses on your knees, but what's interesting is that there are no calluses on the soles of your feet. That is to say, you often use the kneeling position on weekdays, but you don't walk often." Todd smiled at the other party and said, "Come and tell me, is there any fur merchant in the world who usually kneels and talks with others without rushing around?"

The body of the "fur merchant" began to tremble.

Todd stretched out his hand and slowly stroked the silver cross on the other's chest: "Christian... For you people, I have a hundred ways to make you tell the truth."

Drawing out a square shape with his hand, Todd said to the person in front of him in a very gentle tone: "There is the simplest and most common method. We will use stone and cement to build a fully enclosed stone house with a square of 70 centimeters and a height of 130 centimeters. Open an opening at the top of the stone house, throw you in, and then seal the opening."

"In that airtight, dark cabin, you can't lie down and sleep, and you can't stand up and move around. There, you will lose control of time, and at the same time lose control of vision. Your hearing and senses will become extremely sensitive. Even the sound of dust falling can draw those uncontrollable fears and nightmares from the depths of your heart, eroding your soul little by little..."

Todd's words were like a rusty saw, slowly cutting the nerves of the people present, and even the torturers who were used to seeing blood in the barbarians shivered unconsciously.

"Do you think this is the end? No, this is just the beginning. On the third day in the stone house, we will send you two things." Todd lightly flicked the cross on the opponent's chest: "A dagger and a basin of human blood."

"There will be two roads before you. One is to commit suicide with a dagger. According to the doctrine, you will fall into hell forever; the other is to drink human blood and linger on, becoming an unclean person despised by the Holy Spirit." (In Christianity, suicide is murder, a felony against God's creation, and will enter hell after death; blood symbolizes the redemption of Christ, and those who swallow blood are regarded as unclean and will be cast aside by believers forever.)

"Heavenly Father! I say! I am willing to tell everything!" The "fur merchant", whose psychological defenses were completely broken, raised his blood-stained head and cried, "I am Frederick, the deacon of the Holy See!"

"The center of the Holy See?" Todd asked, "Which church department do you belong to?"

"No, no! We do not belong to a single administrative department of the church, we are directly under the orders of Pope Alexander!"

"The Pope? Then this fleet of slaves also belongs to the Pope?"

"In name, it belongs to a charity organization spontaneously organized by the knights of the Holy See, and it is specially used to rescue believers who are persecuted by religion or refugees who apply for asylum."

"Charity?!" Todd snorted coldly: "How do you deal with the wealth from the slave trade?"

"This money will be incorporated into the Holy See treasury in the form of donations or indulgences."

Todd said in a contemptuous tone: "It's not so much the Holy See's treasury, it's better to say it's entering someone's pocket."

After pausing for a moment, he asked Felicchild again: "How long has the church been operating the slave trade business?"

The latter swallowed: "I don't know about it before, but it has been more than a year since I took over this matter. I heard that the original destination of the fleet was the Southern Empire. Later, because of the war between the Abbasid Empire and the Ayub Empire, the slave trade site had to be changed to Gubu City."

When Todd heard this, he suddenly remembered something: "Let me ask you, where did these slaves you transport come from?"

"There are wars between the diocesan kingdoms. When the victors deal with the captives, the Holy See will first come forward to rescue these captives, then send them to cargo ships in the form of charitable aid, and finally sell these people to the southern empire or the northern countries."

Some uncertain worries in Todd's heart were appearing and disappearing from time to time. He continued to ask, "Where did your latest batch of slaves come from?"

Felichild hesitated for a while, and finally whispered: "Holy Acropolis..."

An angry Todd gritted his teeth, grabbed the other party's collar, and lifted him into the air: "Let me guess, there are currently three factions in the Holy Acropolis. One is the royalists who defend the king, the other is the liberals who fight for independence, and the third is the church faction who is willing to be a running dog. So, you and those church bastards colluded to sell the people of the Holy Acropolis like livestock?!"

Flying in mid-air, Freichild flailed his hands and feet, shouting that I don't know, but there was a trace of suspicious panic in his eyes.

Todd looked at the expression on the other's face, frowned, let go of his hands, and let Felicchild fall to the ground.

"Some things, it seems that you won't tell the truth..." Todd's right hand evolved into a tyrant form, and the sharp iron claw turned into a sharp long needle, piercing Felicchild's forehead: "Very well, anyway, I lost my patience. Instead of waiting for you to tell me one by one slowly, let me open your brain and find out what you know by yourself!"

The terrifying and cruel scene in front of them made the barbarian torturers kneel down one after another. They watched in horror. Felichild, who was pierced into the head by a sharp needle, had white eyes, twitching all over his body, and drooling from the corners of his mouth.

A few seconds later, Felichild subconsciously said: "The person behind the slave trade with the church is the leader of the liberal faction in the Holy Acropolis, the eldest son of the King of the Holy Guard—His Royal Highness Sinclair."