"Archbishop Bosen, may I ask what this means?"

  Roxas stared at the old man in front of him, suppressing his inner anger and asked.

  After another repair by humans, the base that was damaged due to Jain's attack has been restored. The rear also redeployed personnel to take charge of the base's operation, but the problem is...

  "They're just ordinary mercenaries!!"

  Rox raised her hands and pointed out the window. There, a group of mercenaries were laughing loudly, waving jugs and telling off-color jokes, as if they were in some tavern rather than a dark realm.

  "They don't even have the strength to venture into the dark territories! Archbishop Bosen, I heard they were summoned by you, what does this mean? Why bring these mercenaries to the dark territories and have them participate in our sacred exploration with us?! You should know that this oracle is of great importance, not a single mistake can be tolerated!!"

  "That's right, it's precisely because this is a matter of great importance that I've sent these mercenaries."

  Up until this point, the Archbishop of Bosen, standing in front of Roxas, interrupted his excuses with an ominous tone. He looked to be around fifty or sixty years old, wearing a pitch-black long robe that wrapped around his thin body. His cheeks were sunken and gaunt, and his white hair was slicked back without a single strand out of place. However, what drew the most attention was his pair of eyes with sharp glints, making him look like a vulture wearing a fur coat.

  "You also know that our Temple of War Gods is short-handed, and this time, due to your incompetence, our supply base has suffered unprecedented losses. Not only did we lose a large number of elite troops, but even Bishop Alex was martyred. He was a member of the Great Mother Goddess Temple and a promising candidate for the next High Priest! How can I explain this to the Great Mother Goddess Temple?! I originally planned to contact other temples and dispatch a joint elite team to search in the Dark Territory, but now that this has happened, how can I possibly ask them with a straight face?"

  At this point, Bishop Bosen looked at Rox and snorted coldly.

  "You should be clear that since the fall of the war god, our temple has not had a good day! There are not enough holy knights under my command. If I don't find these mercenaries, how can we possibly have enough power to destroy and strike down evil? Yes, these mercenaries are a bit rough, but they are also human! Do you think they won't fight for the destruction of these evil and dark creatures?"

  "But..."

  Upon hearing this, Roxas furrowed his brow. Of course, he knew that the High Priest of Bosen wasn't speaking without reason. The Temple of War had been in a state of turmoil since the fall of the God of War. Although other temples hadn't directly annexed it out of respect for the Nine Saints, a temple that had lost its divine protection was essentially meaningless. Fewer and fewer people were joining the Temple of War, which meant there were also fewer knights to guard it. Moreover, the teachings of the God of War emphasized battle; as long as there was conflict, it was acceptable. These mercenaries had been recruited to fight in the Dark Territory against the Dark Folk, so from a doctrinal standpoint, it didn't count as a violation of temple rules.

  But Roxas was no fool, and while some of these mercenaries were indeed skilled, they were only a small part of the group. The majority of them had very ordinary abilities, to be honest, with their strength, they probably couldn't even beat those underground monsters in the Dark Territory, let alone fight against the Dark Elves.

  Bishop Bosen must have been aware of this principle, yet he still recruited these mercenaries to the Dark Territory. The significance of this is quite intriguing, and Roxas was well aware that, in plain words, these mercenaries were nothing but bait released by the Temple of War Gods. Although they may not be strong individually, their numbers made up for it. Once these humans stirred up trouble in the Dark Territory, the evil lurking in the darkness would inevitably take action. And once the fish took the bait, the Temple of War Gods could thoroughly annihilate them with lightning speed and overwhelming force.

  As for these mercenaries, in short, they were lured over by the Temple of War God to serve as bait and cannon fodder.

  "It doesn't matter!!"

  Bishop Bogdan suddenly waved his sleeve, interrupting Rox's speech. His narrowed eyes emitted a sharp glow, staring intently at the Saint Knight Commander in front of him.

  "Rocks Knight, I know what you're thinking, but I haven't done anything wrong! Do you think I'm taking advantage of or deceiving these mercenaries? Ha! You think they're all fools? These mercenaries have managed to survive this long, are they all idiots? Don't they know how dangerous the Dark Territory is? They're not followers of the War God Temple, are they? Why do they rush in eagerly to serve us as soon as I give the order? Is it for the glory of our War God Temple? With these coarse and unrefined guys? What do they understand about faith? Don't you know what's going on in their minds, why they accepted our recruitment?"

  “…………………”

  This time, Rox didn't speak. In fact, he was very clear in his heart that these mercenaries were not fools, nor were they followers of the temple, and there was no reason for them to sacrifice themselves for the temple without hesitation. Moreover, mercenaries who had been through thick and thin understood the coldness and warmth of the world better than these holy knights, but it didn't make sense that they could see things that these people couldn't, yet one by one they jumped into the fire like moths, what were they after?

  The answer is simple: interests.

  In the legend of the dark region, apart from those terrifying monsters and evil dark elves, there are countless mysterious treasures. These mercenaries were greedy wolves, previously the dark region was far away from the ground, and they themselves did not have enough strength to venture here, so it didn't matter. Now that the temple has opened a teleportation gate, and also swept through the dark region with them, let's not talk about how much credibility there is in saying that they are fighting against evil on the surface, if they can mix into the dark region and get some rare treasures, then they will have made a profit!

  People who make a living as mercenaries often have a bit of a gambler's mentality, and with the temple here, they don't have to worry about anything. They can just stake their lives on it, and in the worst-case scenario, they'll just die. But what's the difference between dying at the hands of monsters in the dark realm and dying at the hands of mountain bandits on the surface?

  But on the other hand, the mysterious treasure in the dark area and the broken copper and iron in the mountain bandit camp, which one has a higher return rate is obvious to anyone!

  In other words, you're holding a broken dagger and saying it's a spoil of war from the Dark Territory, so its prestige is definitely several times higher than something picked up from an orc's corpse.

  Rox certainly understood the reasoning, but he just couldn't bear to look at it. He felt that these mercenaries' coarse and greedy thoughts tainted the great prophecy. To think that they had come here for the entire continent, yet looking out the window at those mercenaries drinking and having fun, damn them, how could they care about the future of the Klein Continent? How could they care about the battle between justice and evil? There were probably many among this group who had helped nobles oppress commoners before, what kind of people were these who dared to claim they represented light? Justice?

  Looking at Archbishop Bosen's face as gloomy as a vulture, Roxas hesitated for a moment before finally speaking out his true thoughts.

  "But Archbishop Bosen... ...the dark region is no different from other places. Shouldn't we be cautious?"

  That's why Roxas didn't want to let so many mercenaries into the Dark Territory. Archbishop Bosen doesn't know how deep the water is in the Dark Territory, but he does. Now these mercenaries are greedily running around for treasure. What if they provoke a power that shouldn't be provoked? The dark elves, the heart demons, the gray dwarves, which of these races is easy to mess with? What if things go wrong and the Third Great War breaks out again like before?

  After all, the God of War fell in the second Heaven and Earth war, so the people in the Temple of War God knew more about the situation at that time than anyone else. What if this time these mercenaries made too much noise and once again attracted the attention of various forces in the dark realm? This time they didn't have the blessing of a true god!

  "Don't worry about it!!"

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, upon hearing Rox's inquiry, Archbishop Bosen's expression stiffened slightly, and then he let out a cold snort before turning his head away.

  "With the promise of my Lord, these insignificant people are not worth paying attention to! You just need to do your part and these small troubles will absolutely not be able to stop the will of my Lord!"

  "That's it... I'll take my leave then."

  At this point, Roxas didn't want to say anything more. As the leader of the Holy Knights, those polite phrases were useless to him. Since Archbishop Bossen had already spoken up, it meant that he should have some preparations in place. However, given his relationship with himself, it was unlikely that he would be told anything.

  Thinking of this, Luoxi let out a sigh in her heart.

  I don't know what will happen if things go on like this. But Roxas had a feeling that if they continued, things might develop to an uncontrollable extent.