Chapter 1 Faith

After Marshal Aufra finished speaking, everyone was shocked. The entire living room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Becky was stunned for more than ten seconds, unable to react: she was in the post-faith reconstruction phase and temporarily refused to believe reality. It wasn't until Lily patted the mercenary girl's lower back with her tail that Becky jumped up: "Just that?! You are... oh right, I understand, the things that happened back then must be secret, you don't want to talk about it..."

"That's right," Aufra nodded with a smile. "I know what they say outside, there have been all sorts of versions for hundreds of years. At first, I cared, but now I can't be bothered with those bards. But in reality, it was very simple for me to team up with Gadon in the beginning. I was an adventurer in the No-Man's Land, sometimes hungry, sometimes full. I ran into Gadon by accident. He wasn't good at fighting, but he had a sharp eye. He saw at a glance that my kung fu was good, and then he said: 'Help me fight for territory. I have some brothers under me, I'll let you be their boss, and I'll give you twenty eagle-shield gold coins a month.' I thought about it and said: 'This job is reliable.' Then I became a commander. But at the time, I didn't realize that he had more than 200,000 brothers under him—I should have asked for more if I had known."

Hao Ren covered his face with his hand, offering no comment. In his heart, he finally understood why Aufra said that seeing Becky reminded her of her time as an adventurer. Becky, on the other hand, continued to look as if her faith had collapsed, and after a long while, she choked out a sentence: "Then the four-hundred-year promise..."

"I agreed with Gadon III that as long as I was paid regularly, I would stay here," Aufra said with a smile. "Of course, that was what I said in the very beginning. Later, the country became stable, and I became a marshal. Staying in this country became a responsibility and... a matter of the heart."

As she said this, Aufra glanced at Becky: "But in the beginning, I really agreed to join because Gadon paid me a high salary."

Becky clutched her head: "I feel like my faith has collapsed, I need a moment."

Aufra seemed to find the reaction of this rash mercenary interesting, and after watching for a while with a smile, she suddenly asked: "Becky, do you know that you are already a hero now—the Holy See is sparing no effort to promote you as a legendary mercenary who bravely died in the Diocese of Beinz?"

"Oh, I know," Becky raised her head, wondering why Aufra suddenly brought this up. "It doesn't feel real."

Aufra pointed to Hao Ren: "Then why did you first follow the foreigner on the journey to the Dragon Spine Mountains?"

"For the reward," Becky said matter-of-factly. "If I accidentally find the bead, I'll be rich!"

Aufra shrugged: "In the future, your admirers and bards will make up stories about you that even you won't believe. They will say that you were inspired by the goddess, for love, for honor, guided by a prophet, to hunt down demons, to save the world, but the real reason you embarked on the journey was just because the Holy See offered a high reward. So don't believe what the bards say, they can make up anything to get attention, and most heroes' first battle to save the world is often just to earn a living."

Becky nodded thoughtfully. Aufra looked at the girl with a somewhat amused expression: "Of course, this is the first time I've seen a hero who still only thinks about wages after saving the world... Your purpose is simple enough."

Nangong Wuyue scoffed: "She's just got no ambition."

The group had refreshments in Aufra's mansion. The banquet prepared by the palace wouldn't start until the evening, so they rested in their respective guest rooms until dusk. As the sun set, a royal knight in ornate armor came to the marshal's residence, and Aufra called everyone together.

"Moron—that is, the King of Holletta, is holding a banquet in the palace to welcome you. The Pope will also be there. These two are rarely seen," Aufra said in the carriage on the way to the palace, introducing the meeting. "This is a secret meeting. The banquet won't be large. It's mainly to discuss things. You can ask any questions you have. I have already reported everything that happened in the Dragon Spine Mountains to them... well, everything I know. In the two months you've been gone, the Pope and His Majesty the King have had several heated discussions. In the end, they decided to abandon some stubborn ideas and open up all the information about the Radiant Church and the legend of the goddess to you foreigners. But there is one condition: you must not shake the foundation of this kingdom, and do not leak this information to the common people."

"We have no reason to do that," Vivian nodded. "We 'outsiders' are the safest for you, because all the worldly interests of this world have nothing to do with us—we only care about how to solve the problem of the First Born."

"It's because they thought of this that they were able to make up their minds," Aufra sighed. "Two troublesome guys... they're not that old, but they're stubborn as anything. I spent most of a month trying to persuade them at first."

Hao Ren couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard Aufra's old-fashioned tone, then he subconsciously looked at Vivian next to him, thinking that there was someone here who was more qualified to say that: in front of Vivian, who in this carriage could be considered old...

Vivian bared her fangs at Hao Ren: "What are you looking at me for? I'm still young!"

The carriage drove into the high walls of the palace. Nangong Sanba craned his neck to look at the magnificent and exotic architectural landscape outside, marveling at it. This royal building, driven by magic power and exuding solemn grandeur everywhere, was unlike anything he had ever seen. This was something that could only be seen in places where royal power was supreme. Although extravagant, it was truly shocking. He retracted his head and nodded solemnly to Hao Ren: "I've decided, I'm joining no matter what. This is too damn interesting."

Hao Ren squinted his eyes and lay back on the soft back of the chair: "You say that as if you can still quit the team now."

Nangong Wuyue curled her lip: "You won't think it's interesting when you follow us to war."

Finally, under the supervision of a group of attendants, this group of country bumpkins (at least Becky and Nangong Sanba looked like country bumpkins all the way) passed through long corridors and magnificent halls, walked for a long time under the gaze of the statues of the kings of Holletta and a group of historical figures, and were finally led to a magnificent large room.

As Aufra said, this was a small-scale secret meeting, not luxurious, but with unprecedented value.

There was a long table in the room, surrounded by several elderly men and women and some ministers with serious expressions whose identities were unclear—only these five or six ministers were qualified to attend this secret meeting and could arrive at the palace in time. The rest were either not qualified to know too much or were too far away to make it.

Hao Ren and his group appeared almost out of thin air every time. These "foreigners" who were used to suddenly appearing made the king and ministers a little overwhelmed: they were used to following strict rules and arranging everything step by step, including meeting foreign envoys and receiving domestic lords, but obviously these people from outside the sky were not playing according to international law and the habits of the master of ceremonies. In a hurry, they could only prepare to this extent.

After the guests appeared, the bigwigs at the table stood up one after another and nodded reservedly. Aufra pointed to them one by one and introduced them: "His Majesty Moron, the King of Holletta, one of the smartest kings in the current world. The Pope of the Radiant Church, the supreme representative of divine power, one of the most prestigious people in the world. Prince Haverman, who is responsible for assessing the impact of the First Born and how to deal with unexpected disasters. And also Cardinal Auben—he sent people to guard the entrances to the other two sacred caves. The last two First Born are under his surveillance."

Aufra also introduced the people around her, but Hao Ren felt that he didn't need to remember too much: he wasn't here to get close to bigwigs.

He only remembered the characteristics of a few important figures: King Moron was an old man with gray hair and a slight hunchback, but he looked very kind from his temperament. If it weren't for his luxurious robe, it would be difficult to associate him with a king. The Pope was a spirited old man with white hair and beard, wearing a purple-gold robe, with no expression and often lost in thought. Prince Haverman was a slightly chubby middle-aged man with some baldness. The cardinal was a bald middle-aged man. He was the most special, with his skin covered with scriptures and mysterious religious symbols. These symbols even spread to his face, making the cardinal look a little frightening. He was serious and surrounded by an atmosphere that made him difficult to approach. After Hao Ren and his group entered the room, he had been curiously looking at everyone.

Vivian's attitude was similar to Hao Ren's. She didn't feel anything for these bigwigs in front of her: the bigwigs she had seen back then were far more capable than these people in front of her. She talked and laughed with those people, and in the end, she had kicked many bigwigs into the moat...

Becky, on the other hand, nervously bowed to everyone present. The girl was very nervous: most of the people standing in front of her were people she had heard about since she was a child. Before today, she had only mentioned these people's names when bragging to people in taverns, but now these bigwigs were standing in front of her, nodding to her with smiles. The poor mercenary girl was sweating profusely and pinched her lower back hard: "I'm not dreaming, am I... um, it's a dream, I can't feel anything."

Lily howled and jumped up: "Why did you pinch my tail?!"

Vivian sighed, covering her forehead: "I knew it would be like this."