Balfe couldn't find the Knight Commander of Loxes, and when he rushed to the stronghold in a rage, he was told that the Knight Commander had left for the transmission gate in the rear, and didn't know what he was doing.

  "Is he gone?"

  "Yes, Viscount Balfour."

  Facing Baruf's furious inquiry, Liam also had a worried and frustrated expression. After realizing that he couldn't stop Jan, Liam could only run to find the Lord of Knights, Roxas, to vent his frustrations. In fact, he didn't know what else to do either. This matter had blown up so big, if it reached the ears of Bishop Bosen in the rear, it would likely cause another stir. But what could the temple do about it?

  But what Liam found strange was that after listening to his own report, Lord Roxas didn't get angry at all. On the contrary, he spaced out for a moment and then gave him an inexplicable reply.

  "Wait a minute."

  What's going on? What is this nonsense?

  Can't help but admit, Liam has no idea what the Lord of Loxes is thinking. In his opinion, this matter should be settled immediately. Otherwise, if those nobles make another fuss and Jain doesn't give in, both sides will be on the verge of a clash, and who knows what the situation will become? But instead of hurrying to resolve it, the Lord of Loxes is acting as if he's going to drink tea and watch a show. What is this all about?

  But before Liam could say anything else, Roxas suddenly turned around and left, saying he had something to report to Archbishop Bosen and would temporarily take over the management of the stronghold. This made Liam extremely frustrated, now that Roxas was gone, these nobles came to stir up trouble...Liam even suspected whether Lord Roxas had planned this in advance and slipped away early.

  "Has he left? If so, then who is in charge of our current base?"

  "By order of Lord Roxas, I am temporarily in charge of acting on his behalf."

  "Great!"

  Hearing Liam's response, Viscount Barf nodded arrogantly and then pointed at Liam with his hand.

  "You must also know that previously, a despicable fallen noble killed my attendant in the stronghold and even attacked my personal guard! These things all happened in the stronghold, you should know. Now, I order you in the name of Viscount to immediately send someone to capture that guy along with his attendants and bring them before me, did you hear?!"

  At this point, Liam's face also sank. What the hell, I'm a temple person and not in cahoots with the Valkyrie Kingdom, so to speak, I'm a holy knight. You're just a viscount who comes to the temple to point fingers and draw pictures, and you want to command the holy knights? The holy knights aren't your family's dogs, what do you think our War God Temple is?!

  "I apologize, Viscount Barf, but I'm just temporarily replacing Lord Roxas in managing the stronghold and don't have the authority to mobilize the temple's forces. The current defensive force is insufficient, and we also don't have any extra manpower to do this. Let's wait for Lord Roxas' return."

  Liam's heart was filled with anger, and his words were naturally harsh. He was a holy knight of the Temple of War God, not a person from the Valkyrie Kingdom, and he didn't usually bother with these nobles just because he didn't want to cause trouble, nor did he have any superior or inferior relationship with them. If you don't appreciate the face I'm giving you, then don't blame me for slapping your face with an iron pan.

  "A noble is being threatened in his own stronghold, and this is a trivial matter?"

  At this point, Barf's eyes widened suddenly and he glared at Liam angrily.

  "You have to understand what would happen if I were to report this. I, the Viscount of Balfour's attendant, was murdered in the stronghold of the Temple Church and yet the Temple did nothing about it! Haven't you thought about the consequences?"

  At this point, Liam's face was also gloomy. If it were in the past, he might have had to consider the relationship between the Temple of War and the Valkyrie Kingdom carefully. However, now that the Valkyrie Kingdom has turned to other gods and even begun secretly suppressing the Temple of War, there is no need for any consideration between the two sides anymore.

  "I'm terribly sorry, but the fact is that we are indeed short-handed. You also know that even the previous cleaning of the monsters around the base was done by mercenaries we hired..."

  Liam wouldn't be foolish enough to follow Lord Balf's words. What's so great about being a viscount, anyway? You and I aren't even in the same system. Let alone a viscount, even if an earl or marquis came, it would still depend on whether they gave face or not! Thinking of this, Liam also gritted his teeth and endured, no matter what Lord Balf said, he just repeated that sentence - without people, without power, he was only acting as a proxy. Even if it were the end of the world, he had no right to make any decisions on his own.

  Running into Liam, a hard bone, was enough to infuriate Barf. There were several times when he even wanted to get rid of this blind paladin once and for all. Fortunately, Barf wasn't stupid enough to do so, seeing that Liam refused to give in, he had no choice but to utter a few harsh words before storming out of the base.

  "These idiotic holy knights!"

  He stormed out of the base, still fuming. If it were some other temple, he might have been able to exchange a few pleasant words with them. But the Temple of War? They should be grateful they hadn't been completely destroyed yet! How dare they put on airs?! Didn't they know that without the support of the Valkyrie Empire, their broken-down temple would already be finished?!

  "What a bunch of idiots! It's utterly ridiculous, the truth is right in front of them, but they still want to play dumb. These followers are all morons, and that war god isn't much better off either, no wonder he got killed by the demon tribe, humph! A true god, what a joke!"

  "Adults, this is not something to be said casually."

  When he heard this, Kordon was also frightened and turned pale, looking around. Fortunately, there was no one around, nor did anyone hear his complaints. After all, although the War God Makka had fallen, he was still one of the Nine Saints, and blasphemy against the gods was a serious crime. If the Holy Knights heard it, they would directly convict you of being a heretic, and you'd be prepared to die!

  I know!

  Upon hearing Corton's words, Barulf waved his hand in distaste.

  "But what should I do now?"

  "This..."

  Facing Baruf's inquiry, Kordon fell into thought for a moment. Originally he wanted to bind the temple together and then go find trouble with Jianen. Jianen was bold enough, surely he wouldn't dare make a move on the temple either. But unexpectedly, Luoxu actually ran away, leaving behind only Lianmu. This made things much more troublesome... However... Thinking of this, Kordon's eyes lit up again. Afterwards, very quickly, a passionate smile once again floated onto his face.

  "Lord Barf, what Sir Liam said just now has given us a wake-up call."

  "Oh?"

  "Do you remember when we went to clean up the dark area around the temple, and because of a lack of manpower, they recruited us and those mercenaries? We can do the same thing. What do you think if we put out a high-priced bounty on Jain's head? If someone can kill him or capture those two ladies by his side, they'll get a generous reward. These mercenaries are all in it for the money, and for these rewards, they'll definitely go looking for trouble with that guy. Let's see how long he can hold out against open attacks and hidden arrows!"

  That's a good idea.

  Upon hearing Kordon's words, a hint of satisfaction flashed in Baruf's eyes, and he nodded his head in satisfaction.

  "Then leave this matter to you."

  As a fallen noble, Cordon still had some energy in the stronghold. It was seen that under his secret efforts, soon all the mercenaries in the stronghold knew about the heavy reward issued by Viscount Barulf. It must be admitted that this Barulf was quite generous. If someone could kill Jan, they would get a reward of 1,000 gold coins. And if they could capture him alive, the reward would be as high as 3,000. And if they could catch the two ladies by Jan's side, the number of rewards would not be small either. Catching Elise had a reward of 500 gold coins, and even Becks, as long as she was caught back, there was also a reward of 300 gold coins.

  This news quickly caught the attention of the mercenaries, and most of the mercenaries who came to the Dark Territory were for money. The bounty amount was not low at this time. Although 3,000 gold coins are a small sum of money for those nobles, it is enough for ordinary people to live a rich life!

  It is said that where there are great rewards, there must be brave men. Zhan En's reputation was very great, and his achievements were also evident to all. However, mercenaries originally stake their lives on a gamble, not to mention the monsters in the dark regions are difficult to deal with. But how could Zhan En say that humans are not much simpler to deal with than monsters?

  And even if they can't kill Jen, if they can kidnap Bixie and Elsie, they'll still get a lot of money! Although it's a bit less, for those mercenaries, even 300 gold coins are enough to make them take risks.

  But these mercenaries are not fools, previously Zhan En destroyed a group of elite soldiers of Lord Balfour, the means were ruthless but made everyone see. If they rashly seek to go up, it's possible that the outcome will be even more miserable. So they also patiently lurk in the dark shadows, waiting for the arrival of the opportunity.

  But not everyone has this patience.