When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist
Chapter 46: Seizing the Gate Incident (Part 1)

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Seizing the Gate Incident (Part 1)

"Archbishop Tommy is going to assassinate His Holiness the Pope?!"

Jeska picked his ear with his pinky finger, thinking he had heard wrong.

"We... we searched... but it’s not there... the secret decree on the belt was exposed... it was discovered... quickly, go notify His Holiness the Pope."

Straightening the bent-over, panting skinny young man, Jeska’s face was serious: "I know you’re in a hurry, but don’t rush, tell me from the beginning what’s going on!"

At that moment, inside the Pope’s Guard camp beside the entrance of Gulag Monastery, many guards had already awakened from their sleep, stepping out to look towards Jeska’s direction.

"Hurry, there’s no time." Seeing Jeska not taking action, the young man in short clothes became even more anxious than before, "On my way here, I saw Tommy leading people and rushing over, all carrying weapons."

"What?!" Jeska left the young man behind, leaping onto a large locust tree with surprising agility contrary to his hefty build.

Moonlight poured over the flat slope in front of the gate, making several roaring torches quite conspicuous.

Weapons reflected a peculiar orange glow under the moonlight and torchlight.

"Impossible." Jeska murmured, until the Secret Party Envoy arrived, Saint Grandson Pope and Archbishop Tommy would never turn against each other like this.

But now the facts were laid bare, leaving no room for him to investigate any further.

Tommy, after all, was a smuggler, a vicious character; what if he had a sudden impulse to really attempt to assassinate Saint Grandson Pope?

This group of bloodthirsty smugglers, always neurotic, who knew what they thought?

"Fuchev." Jeska leapt down from the tree, hurriedly slinging his longbow over his back and picked up a spiked mace, calling out to the only girl among the Child Soldiers.

"Here!" Fuchev squeezed through the adults’ knees, bringing three fingers together horizontally in front of her chest, performing a Child Soldiers’ salute.

"Go, take these scrolls, and find Saint Grandson Pope, tell him Tommy suddenly brought soldiers overnight, it’s said that the secret decree on the belt has been discovered."

Slinging the scrolls containing rumors of "Tommy attacking Madlan" and "Madlan attacking Tommy" onto her back, Fuchev quickly arrived at the wall, pushed aside several floating bricks, and crawled through a dog hole into the monastery.

"Pope’s Guard, assemble!"

Torchlit, several ten-household captains quickly rang copper gongs, summoning the manpower.

Soon, about forty elite experienced seat guards armed with flails, pitchforks, and machetes assembled in front of Jeska.

The night wind blew as they resolutely lined up into a 5X7 phalanx under the command of their respective ten-household captains and Jeska.

The first row wielded half-man-high doors and machetes, these are sword and shield soldiers, responsible for blocking the front spear thrusts and cutting off enemy pikes.

The rear four rows held pitchforks and flails, pitchfork bearers served as long spear soldiers, responsible for main assault and breakthrough, while flail bearers, as warhammer soldiers, were responsible for breaking shields and attacking enemies behind shields.

On both sides of the phalanx, there were also four or five knife and shield dartsmen wielding wooden pot lids, short axes, and daggers.

Most of them were short in stature, responsible for rolling under the spears to slash at enemy shins and feet exposed beyond shields.

The night wind blew, lifting the hem of their linen soft armor, revealing the sharp ribbed chests of these guards.

Under the bright moonlight, their sunken cheeks looked like a group of skeleton soldiers wearing black hoods.

As an old mercenary and mercenary fundraiser, no one understood battle formations and cost cutting better than Jeska.

The guards were quite familiar with this battle formation, having the organization skills developed from previous marching prayer exercises, and with the morale of the Pope’s Guards, using this formation was not a problem.

This formation had been used to beat up those hooligans and villagers with great success.

When Tommy’s figure appeared at the edge of the hillside, Jeska’s heart sank.

There were nearly fifty men in full armor, clad in leather armor, armed with warhammers and spears.

"Chap, you’re fast, go immediately to the refugee camp, notify the other ten-household captains to come and help! You must be quick, understand?"

Releasing Chap’s arm, this tall, skinny young man immediately stretched his long legs and sprinted towards the refugee camp.

"Swish!"

An arrow landed precisely in front of Tommy, the raven feather at the end still quivering.

"Archbishop Tommy." Standing atop a large rock on the hillside, Jeska laughed heartily, "For the safety of His Holiness the Pope, the gate remains closed at night, please return."

"Captain Jeska, I didn’t miss the closing time nor did I forget to come back." Pushing aside the two henchmen in front of him, Tommy puffed out his chest, "I’ve come to eradicate traitors!"

"Our Great Pope Country’s ruler is wise, the people are happy, the land is peaceful, where is the traitor?" Jeska carelessly toyed with the long arrow in his hand, "Moreover, Saint Grandson Pope is the Eye of God, can any traitor deceive his eyes?"

Tommy waved righteously: "His Holiness Saint Grandson is undoubtedly wise and noble, but unfortunately, among the people, there is a traitor, and that person is Madlan.

He used himself as bait, lured me out of the monastery, just to coordinate with His Holiness from inside... I mean, feigning to escort His Holiness out, but in truth, it’s to control the power in Great Pope Country, please let me into the monastery to root out the traitor for His Holiness."

"Madlan?" Jeska felt as though he figured something out, but couldn’t entirely understand due to some barrier, "Madlan never even entered the monastery."

"Jeska, let’s not beat around the bush." Tommy couldn’t hold back anymore, and that ferocious aura of a smuggler was revealed again, "If Madlan didn’t go in, why would you be hanging around here in the middle of the night for no reason? And gathered so many guards."

"No, no, no." Jeska hurriedly explained, "Someone notified me in advance, saying someone would come to assassinate His Holiness."

"Slander!" Tommy jumped and cursed, "I am as close to His Holiness as brothers, intimate friends... wait, could it be this Buniyan by your side?"

Jeska fell silent, sensing something was off.

"And you claim you’re not in cahoots with Madlan, when his most trusted follower is right there with you?"

Seeing lights suddenly illuminate in the distant monastery, Tommy grew increasingly anxious, if Madlan indeed managed to escort Horn out of the monastery, then he’d be completely passive.

"Step aside, or I will have to take action."

Jeska helplessly shouted, "Madlan truly hasn’t gone over, I swear on my family’s honor!"

"Attack..."

"Attack!"

A loud shout came from behind Tommy’s people, as sixty to seventy farmers wielding wooden sticks, hoes, flails, and even tables and chairs burst forth.

"Careful! It’s an ambush, retreat!"

"I’m bleeding everywhere, help! Help me!"

"It’s a trap, Jeska’s just stalling us here to have us killed!"

"Hold your ground, hold your ground, they don’t have many men." Tommy yelled at the top of his lungs.

The sudden event caught Tommy’s group off guard, as they were driven into the formation by Madlan with a crude back assault.

The clash of sticks and wild hacking of machetes surprisingly felled two or three unlucky individuals.

Unfortunately, among the group led by Madlan, only the foremost dozen dared to attack, while the remaining fifty remained in the rear, either beating the air or waving pots and pans.

"Charge, rescue!"

"His Holiness the Pope will greatly reward us!"

Madlan shouted anxiously.

Seeing Madlan emerging from behind them, Tommy glanced at Jeska holding a pitchfork to block them in the forefront and seemed to have understood everything.

"Great, just great." Tommy roared, "How much merit have I brought to the Pope Country? Now without further rewards, they’re just going to kill me like a hunting dog? All right, people, break through, charge into Gulag Monastery, and demand an explanation from His Holiness!"

The nearly fifty Armed Farmers, after the initial panic, began reorganizing their formation and counter-attacked against Madlan’s group.

"Jeska Hundred Households Commander, what do we do?"

"Charge, fight through." Jeska gritted his teeth.

This misunderstanding cannot be unraveled now, standing aside means they’ll soon attack us too.

"May Miseria protect us, attack!"

"May the Holy Father bless me, attack!"

The Pope’s Guards, who were initially just brawling in groups, felt their tension at the sight of blood transformed into battle cries reverberating through the night.

With march steps far from organized, their faces were flushed red in the torchlight as they rushed quickly towards the chaotic battle with Tommy.