The Roble Holy Kingdom occupied a U-shaped peninsula to the west of the Re-Estize Kingdom as its territory.
This country also enthroned a Holy King who wielded faith-based magic, and was a religious nation where the monarch and the temple governed in harmony, though not to the same extent of theo-political integration as Theocracy.
The current monarch of the Holy Kingdom, Calca Bessarez, was also known as the Holy Queen due to her gender.
When Calca first ascended the throne, there was considerable resistance due to her gender.
Ultimately, with the support of the Holy Kingdom's Knight Order Captain Remedios Custodio and the temple's High Priestess Quirat Custodio, the two sisters, Calca, successfully inherited the Holy King's throne, ruling the entire northern part of the Holy Kingdom, which was the North Holy Kingdom.
The reason it wasn't the entirety was naturally that Calca and the Custodio sisters were all female, leading the nobles of the Holy Kingdom's southern part to believe they were secretly colluding and thus not acknowledging Calca's legitimate ascension.
Therefore, Calca did not influence the Holy Kingdom's southern part; perhaps to prevent the kingdom from erupting into civil war due to division, Calca tacitly accepted the existence of the Holy Kingdom's Southern Noble Alliance, allowing them to become the rulers of the south, known as the South Holy Kingdom.
Such a decision is, in fact, difficult to judge.
From the perspective of a unified monarchical government, allowing the South Holy Kingdom to exist was utterly foolish, leading to ineffective governance, decentralized power, greatly hindering national development, and being detrimental to the unified deployment of armies during wartime.
However, from Calca's perspective, if conflict escalated and civil war broke out, it would undoubtedly drag the Holy Kingdom's people into the flames of war, with compatriots fighting each other, which she was unwilling to see.
In any case, the Holy Kingdom is currently in a stable state, and the people's peaceful lives seem to be not bad at all.
In the area where the North and South Holy Kingdoms converge, which is the easternmost part of the Holy Kingdom, there is a thick and magnificent Great Wall, spanning both the northern and southern parts, with a total length of over a hundred kilometers.
When this Great Wall was built, it consumed a great deal of the Holy Kingdom's manpower and resources; it was constructed as a natural barrier to defend against attacks from the Demi-human Tribes in the eastern Hills.
Many traces of battles remain on the wall, recounting the cruel history of resisting Demi-human invasions.
This Great Wall fortress has three large blockhouses to guard the only three gate positions within the hundred kilometers, serving as important strongholds garrisoned by a large number of Holy Kingdom soldiers. If Demi-human Tribes attack smaller blockhouses elsewhere, soldiers would be dispatched simultaneously from two large blockhouses, forming a pincer movement to defeat the enemy.
Therefore, the defenses here are the most stringent, intended to receive signals from other small blockhouses at the first possible moment and react quickly.
The morning sun shone upon the land, and a small cavalry squad appeared on the plains, slowly advancing towards the Holy Kingdom's Great Wall.
Leading them was a knight wearing azure armor with a sword at his waist, riding a horse-like magical beast with red magical patterns covering its body and horns on its head; its red eyes indicated its volatile temper, making it seem very formidable.
Behind him were six knights riding ordinary warhorses; although all were clad in special mithril armor and wore swords at their waists, their aura was much weaker than that of their leader.
"Squad Leader Campanola! Someone's coming!"
On the city wall, a Holy Kingdom guard immediately spotted the cavalry squad and quickly alerted his superior, who was leaning against the rampart.
"Huh? Let me see."
This 'Campanola' officer was a robust man, wearing very heavy chest armor, with rolled-up sleeves revealing strong muscular arms; his rough face was like a weathered rock, and with his thick eyebrows and stubble, he gave off the impression of a 'tough guy'.
Normally, the rank of 'squad leader' would not warrant the honorific 'sir', but the reason the soldiers addressed him as such was due to his formidable strength.
Outstanding talents in various fields or those who made significant contributions to the nation in the Holy Kingdom would be awarded the title of 'nine colors'.
And Orland Campanola was one of the Holy Kingdom's nine colors; his low rank was entirely due to his terrible personality, repeatedly disobeying orders, contradicting superiors, instigating trouble, and getting into fights.
Orland looked down from the city wall and immediately noticed the cavalry squad that had arrived outside the city gate.
"Who are you! What are you doing here!" As the duty captain, Orland shouted loudly at the squad below, asking for their purpose.
About twenty meters from the city gate, the leading knight in azure armor slowly raised his head, not immediately speaking in response to Orland's interrogation.
"Charge!"
The armored knight let out a low growl, flicking the reins in his hand, and the magical beast beneath him immediately galloped forward, then, to Orland's astonished gaze, leaped up, directly flying over the city wall.
Thud, thud!
A dull sound exploded beside them, and Orland and the surrounding soldiers instinctively retreated a few steps, then drew their weapons, aiming them at the armored knight and the Dragon Blood Bicorn that had appeared before them.
Unbelievable!
Orland subconsciously glanced down at the city below; there were nearly ten meters of height from the ground to the city wall. Without using magic or the Flight ability to cross this distance, what kind of monster was this horse?
But such an action could basically be considered as an enemy, right?
This guy looks strong; should I try him out? Orland mused. But without knowing the other party's identity, it would be bad if something happened.
Better ask first.
Just as Orland was about to open his mouth to question the purpose of the other party's actions, he didn't expect the azure-armored knight before him to speak first.
"Who is the strongest among you?"
The armored knight asked in a flat tone, his gaze sweeping over them before settling directly on Orland, whose figure was particularly conspicuous among the soldiers.
Hearing the topic he was most interested in, Orland instantly grinned; such a question was exactly like when he went looking for trouble himself.
Immediately, he also unceremoniously stepped forward, pointing his thumb at himself, "Me!"
"Mm." The armored knight nodded, drawing the sword from his waist; it was a longsword about one and a half times larger than a normal iron sword, its blade gleaming with a cold light, and a dragon-shaped gem was inlaid at the hilt.
Without another word, the armored knight immediately spurred his Dragon Blood Bicorn to charge towards Orland.
"Everyone, get back!"
Orland shouted, pushing the soldiers in front of him aside.
The space on the city wall was not wide, and facing the knight's charge, if the soldiers didn't dodge, they could easily be struck by that unknown warhorse.
A mount capable of leaping the height of the city wall, one could imagine how powerful its strength would be.
The opponent's target should be himself, so there was no need for the soldiers to suffer unwarranted harm.
This thought flashed through his mind, and Orland immediately took off, charging towards the opponent.
The distance between them was very short; he had only taken two steps when the warhorse had already charged in front of him.
However, just as he intended to dodge the warhorse's charge, he didn't expect the knight to suddenly pull the reins, turning the warhorse in another direction, and fiercely bringing his longsword down.
Orland immediately brought his sword horizontally to block; the next second, a huge force came from the sword, his resistance was completely ineffective, and the knight's longsword heavily struck the armor on his chest.
With a clang, Orland was sent flying three meters, smashing onto the city wall's paving stones, then rolling several times before coming to a stop.
"Squad Leader!"
"Everyone, attack!"
The surrounding soldiers, seeing Orland repelled, immediately shouted and charged towards the stopped knight, clearly treating him as an enemy.
However, as they approached within two meters of the knight and warhorse, the Dragon Blood Bicorn's front hooves rose high, then slammed heavily onto the city wall's paving stones, and an invisible shockwave directly knocked back the charging soldiers.
However, some of these soldiers hit the ramparts, others fell onto the passage floor, but not a single one fell off the city wall.
Clearly, the knight's attack angle and force were well controlled, and he had no intention of killing.
But even so, his actions of attacking the city guards were still considered hostile.
Whoosh!
A sound of air being torn suddenly rang out, and an arrow with a magical gleam flew towards the knight at an extremely fast speed, aiming directly for the eye of the Dragon Blood Bicorn beneath him.
Just as the arrow was about to hit its target, the knight swung his longsword, precisely cutting it into two pieces, which fell to the ground.
He slowly turned his mount, looking in the direction from which the attack came.
There, a man was slowly drawing his bow and notching an arrow.
The man wore magical light leather armor, completely different from Orland and the other soldiers, with an owl emblem on his right chest and the Holy Kingdom's crest on his left chest.
"Archer, state your name?" The knight said calmly, pointing his longsword at the man.
"...Pavel Baraha."
Perhaps because the knight's agile movements filled him with awe, the man did not refuse his inquiry about his name and directly stated it.
Pavel was one of the Holy Kingdom's nine colors, and like Orland, he was an existence granted a revered title for his martial prowess.
"Boss."
Orland had gotten up from the ground at some point and stood in front of Pavel, wary of the knight opposite him.
Pavel asked, "Orland, are you alright?"
"It's hard to say I'm alright." Orland clutched his chest with one hand; a huge gash had opened in his thick armor, almost cutting it in half, and blood continuously flowed from the cut. "Be careful of his swor; it must be a very high-grade weapon."
"Who exactly are you, sir? And why are you attacking us?"
Pavel looked at the azure-armored knight opposite him with a heavy expression, trying to ascertain his purpose.
Judging by Orland's condition, this was likely a difficult opponent to deal with; if possible, he wanted to avoid a fight.
Facing his inquiry, the knight did not respond much, but instead said indifferently, "Both of you, come at me."
Pavel was silent for a moment, looking at this attitude; a battle might be unavoidable. He no longer hesitated and loudly called out to his companion, "Orland, it's time to go!"
"Alright!"
Orland roared and charged towards the knight.
Although Boss Pavel's close-quarters combat ability was also extraordinary, his main strength lay in ranged attacks. The opponent was a knight capable of quick charges, so he needed to create attacking opportunities, at least to prevent the opponent from utilizing their speed advantage.
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