“From the Sea Dragon Bay, which was the last bastion of our Church to fall,” Mayne closed his eyes, and sank into the chair, his tone suddenly full of fatigue, “There is only one possibility if a large group of witches have emerged without any fore-warning in the Fjord, they must have immigrated from the mainland in the past.”
“Must we, or mustn’t we ask the Supreme Pontiff for instructions?” Tayfun asked.
“…” Mayne slightly shook his head, forcing down the over and over rolling feeling of powerlessly within his heart. Maybe this was the Church’s test given by God, only after cutting their way through the thistles and thorns would they be able to see God’s true intentions. Opening his eyes, he had finally recovered his former serene state, “The matters of the Holy Church of Hermes shall be handed by you and Heather.”
“Don’t tell me that you want to go to the Fjord?” The old bishop stared at him with wide open eyes.
“I will lead one hundred soldiers of the God’s Punishment Army together with some of the pure witches, to thoroughly clean out the Western Territory of the Kingdom of Graycastle, afterward I will take the opportunity to deal with the witches in the Fjord.”
“But the law says…”
Mayne immediately interrupted him, “That’s only the case when an extraordinary was found within the borders of the Four Kingdoms, but now she is separated from us by the sea and furthermore also had nothing to do with our plans. Do not forget, that in the end, we are only doing this to obtain more land and a larger population, so that we can continue to expand the size of the God’s Punishment Army. And by now, it became clear that the 4th Prince is a hindrance on the path to archive the goals.”
“But…” the moment Tayfun intended to interrupts, loud footsteps could be heard from outside of the hall, startling both men, who both coincidentally turned towards the door.
Only to see the door fly open with a loud bump, and a magistrate rushing into the room in a helter-skelter manner, “Bad news, Your Excellencies, bad news!”
“Speak a little calmer,” Mayne shouted, “Report slowly what you have to say.”
“Her Excellency Heather has sent an emergency letter, a large fleet has landed on the coast of the Kingdom of Endless Winter, and by now a large force of the enemy is besieging King’s City, the situation is imminently dangerous. The other’s sea-faring vessels are all uniformly sailing under black sails, and a blue flag of a sailboat and a crown that is flying at the mast.” The magistrate seemed to be extremely anxious, “The delivered news states, that two city gates have already fallen into the enemy’s hands and Her Excellency Heather is doing everything she can to resist with the help of the followers. However, besides the enemy’s large number, they are also using the Berserker Pills!”
“What?” For a long moment, Mayne couldn’t believe his own ears. Black sails, a sailboat with a crown…
The enemy was actually the Black Sail Fleet of the Queendom of Clear Water!
…
The granite steps of the Kingdom of Endless Winter Capital’s temple were dyed red with blood, and the sweet and strong smell of fish within the air assaulted the nostrils.
The ground was covered with corpses — there were former members of the God’s Punishment Army, followers of the Church, people from their own side and also Sandpeople of the Mojin Clan. They had died in all kind of ways, but most of them had traces of burns, their limbs had been shattered into small pieces and their viscera spread everywhere. Ryan knew that they had died under the fire and impact let out by the fierce Snow Powder.
