Cthulhu Gonfalon

“Name?”

“Rien.”

“Native place?”

“Grey Tree Village, Rye Town in the Northwest.”

“Are you a member of the Association of Thieves?”

“Yes, I belong to the Association of Thieves in Rye Town.”

“What’s your level of strength?”

“If I’m in direct combat with somebody, I can probably fight with mid-ranked warriors. After all, I’m just a thief, and I’m good at things like sneaking around, hiding, stealing and identifying…”

“I see, then I assign you to the Scout Team, and you need to take this document to the big barracks in the north of the city to find Demmons. Lord Rel, you can ask the assistants of the Scout Camp for details.”

Leon who was under the pseudonym of “Rien,” nodded and took the filled out paper and headed for the north of Eagle Wing City.

Although he hadn’t come back for more than thirty years, he still remembered every inch of the city. He was walking around and felt that everything was familiar to him. However, when he looked carefully, he found that things were not the way they had been before. There were, in fact, quite different from what he remembered.

For example, for one of his favorite restaurants in his youth, the owner was a middle sorcerer. He was good at cooking, and he introduced dozens of delicate and delicious cold drinks with different tastes every summer. Now the restaurant was still there while the owner was no longer there. Looking at the present shopkeeper who resembled the old owner, Leon thought he must be the previous owner’s child.

Another example was his favorite weapon store; there were two bosses in this store. One was an old dwarf with rich experiences in forging, and the other was a retired adventurer, tall and strong, whose muscles were sturdy enough to be used as armor. But this store had disappeared, and instead, a hotel had been built on the site. With close observation, it could be inferred that the walls had been built later. Maybe the two bosses were killed in Woods’ Cleansing.

There was a tavern where the palace guards often gathered, and the owner of which was also a retired palace guard. It was in this tavern that Leon had drunk alcohol for the very first time. When he passed by, he saw the tavern was still there with the old signboard. He thought back and realized that among those who had followed Woods to rebel were many palace guards.

Leon walked and looked at the roadside, his face full of curiosity and his heart filled with reminiscences and mixed feelings.

For a legendary master, thirty years was not a long time, while for a god, it was just a blink of an eye. But for a country, a city, and even for the civilians living in the cities, it was more than a lifetime of one generation.

The Eagle Wing City where he had been born and grew up had changed a lot.

He walked slowly, stopping his from time to time. Sometimes he would stop at a unique landscape or building and take a look at them before moving on. It seemed that he was not in a hurry to finish his task but rather came to visit.

As he was walking along the street in the north of the city, he suddenly felt the ground shaking slightly. Then he heard the sound of horses’ hooves coming from behind. So he went to the side of the road, looked back, and saw a group of armed knights riding horses towards the city gates.

Their armor was so shiny that they could be used as mirrors, and their horse-riding postures looked proficient. It was evident that they had been trained for a long time. They could certainly fight bravely on the battlefields because their faces were full of exuberance and high morale.

But… Leon sighed inwardly.

These knights’ faces looked too immature. They were not veterans who had experienced many battles but a group of children.

On their armor, he saw the Holy Emblem of the God of Knights. There was no doubt that they were members of the God of Knights’ Regiment of Knights.

“It’s so strange that these knights from the Church of the God of Knights also join in the battle. Why is that?” He pretended to be a curious passerby and asked a soldier who was patrolling.

However, the soldier was also confused and said that he didn’t know why. But then he said with a big smile, “The Groundbreaking Knight was the earliest patron saint for us humans, and the knights in his Regiment of Knights were both powerful and honest guardians. With their help, we will be able to defeat the brutal Orcs and protect our homeland!”

Leon nodded with a smile; then he quickened his pace towards the barracks outside of the north city gate.

He was really curious.

The Church of the God of Knights still had a great influence on the Eagle Kingdom because the kingdom was the only country that still believed in the God of Knights in the Dominant Continent. For a long time, this country had undergone despicable rebellions and bloody cleansings, and even the grand “Knights’ Tournament” had been held intermittently. But the God of Knights still kept the very strong Regiment of Knights in this country due to their long-term accumulation.

However, the Regiment of Knights had never launched an attack in the past years. It was said that the God of Knights had made this promise not to fight for the heirs of rebels, and this rebel had been the ancestor of Eagle Kingdom—the God of Eagle who had competed with the God of Light for the seat of the God of Human Beings.

But… why did the Regiment of Knights of the God of Knights start off this time?

Did this god who had been silent in recent years finally decide to rise up and show his great power?

Leon couldn’t help but feel excited when he thought about it.

Among the gods of mankind, the God of Knights enjoyed the best reputation and was most respected by the people. In the barbaric ages, it was he who had accepted the Priesthood of “mankind” from Cybele who had created human beings but seldom protected them. The God of Knights faithfully guarded human beings.

For quite a long time, he had been the main god of the human holy pedigree. Later, with the rise of Buddhist Knights, he had eventually given up the seat of the main god and decided to assist the powerful man renamed the God of Light. But he and his knights had still been the most resolute and courageous force to protect human beings. Especially in this era where human beings had been addicted to internal fights, only he still had adhered to the concept of pioneering and progression.

Now he had two aliases, the “Groundbreaking Knight” and the “Lonely Guardian.” The two were actually two sides of one the same coin; together they meant the same thing.

He was the only person who had still established more living space for human beings and who had insisted on defending mankind against enemies.

Now, did he finally decide to step on the front line of the battle between human beings and Orcs again, and return to the time when the God of Eagle hadn’t launched a mutiny? Did he decide to come back to the age in which knights fought with him side by side to resist the Orcs?

Leon was very puzzled. He couldn’t help but pray secretly and report this news to Sui Xiong.

Sui Xiong was so curious about this that he contacted Morani who had been involved in the dealings of this war. Morani was also very intrigued, so he found the God of Knights in the Pantheon temple and asked him directly.

Facing Morani’s inquiries, the God of Knights nodded and said, “Yes, I have issued the oracle and called on all knights who believe in me to wear their armor, take up their weapons and go to the Eagle Kingdom to support the human armies against the invasion of the Orcs.”

“Why are you fighting? That’s not your style.”

“Why would I join in this war?” The God of Knights was silent for a moment before answering, “I can’t just watch the whole Eagle Kingdom, the oldest ancient country in human history, be reduced to the kingdom of Half-Orcs.”

“The kingdom of Half-Orcs?” Morani asked doubtfully.

“Yes, didn’t you notice that? Now the Orcs are forcing men to have offspring with female Orcs. Women may lose the opportunity to marry someone or have children. This is just the beginning, but if the Orcs really occupy the whole Eagle Kingdom, they will popularize and persist in this practice so that the Eagle Kingdom will no longer have human beings but only hybrid Half-Orcs after a few generations.”

Morani thought for a while, shook his head and then asked, “What’s wrong with Half-Orcs?”

Morani, also known as the ‘Steel Lion,’ was a Half-Orc. What’s more, he was not just a hybrid Half-Orc but a purebred Lion-man.

“I just want to insist on my practice,” The God of Knights answered calmly. “That’s all.”

Morani nodded and thought for a while. He secretly contacted Yorgaardman, the God of Justice and told him to find the God of Light and search for details.

“I hate that guy,” Yorgaardman said sullenly. “Don’t expect me to do this favor for you.”

Fortunately, one of their friends was just qualified to be able to talk with the God of Light. The Goddess of Wealth tried to ask the God of Light about his opinions in regard to this matter.

The God of Light, with a circle of nimbus behind his head, lit up with a cruel smile and said coolly, “Everyone makes their own choices, and as long as he is willing to accept the consequences, I respect his choice.”

“Consequences?” The Goddess of Wealth was shocked and hurried to ask for an explanation, but the God of Light refused to answer.

But the meaning behind his words was scary enough to worry about.

“Is it possible that the God of Knights will bring great trouble to himself for doing so?” Sui Xiong asked. “There are not many of his followers left. If he brings the elite Regiment of Knights to the hands of death, his status of a deity will probably be downgraded.”

“This is his own choice,” Morani sighed and said. “He has been pressed hard by the God of Aristocracy all these years. Perhaps he is tired of such a life and is determined to fight for a change.”

“So what are the opinions of the Gods of Mankind on this matter?” Morani looked at Javier sitting next to him.

Javier sighed and shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I’m just temporary staff. How could I possibly know that?”

“It seems that you are quite unsatisfied?”

“Of course.” Dark clouds rose over Javier’s face immediately. He said, “The Orcs’ invasion is clearly a premeditated attempt to exterminate the entire human race, but the king still didn’t take any actions to stop it. What the f*ck!”

“I’m not surprised at what the king did,” Yorgaardman sneered and said. “But I will be very surprised if he does any good deeds. He even killed Cybele, so it’s not surprising that he might think the predecessor who has guarded us well was an eyesore.”

Those gods looked at each other and sighed.

If Yorgaardman’s guess was right, then the God of Knights might face a tough road this time.