When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist
Chapter 84 - 82 Everyone is a Knight [Seeking Leader] (Second Update)

Chapter 84: Chapter 82 Everyone is a Knight [Seeking Leader] (Second Update)

On the night of October 5th, 1444 in the Imperial Calendar, the sky was overcast with no moonlight.

Horn and his Pope Country were still 440 li away from Duke Dane’s Joan of Arc Castle.

The night was as dark as ink.

Standing at the entrance of the campsite, several Child Soldiers kept watch around.

By candlelight, René was reporting the results of their investigation.

According to the words of those displaced people calling from a distance, Danji was buried in a flower field at the edge of the battlefield.

His Black William had been eaten, leaving only half the corpse, rotting and stinking.

Horn nodded and said nothing further, merely waving for the Cheka to rest.

Walking back alone, Horn gazed at the hand-and-a-half sword in his hand.

For some reason, although Barnett’s sword was a hand-and-a-half, it was longer than normal by a good length.

This hand-and-a-half sword was sheathed in a Knight’s Sword scabbard, yet a thumb’s width of blade was still exposed.

On the blade was half an Ael inscription.

Through Horn’s research over this period, he had come to know it was the Ael word for "snow."

The full inscription on this sword was "Snow in Clouds."

In the Church’s classics, this term was often used to describe the purest and most unblemished things.

But this sword had not fallen into Danji’s hands, instead, it had found its way to Barnett and Horn.

Rubbing the inscription on the blade, Horn walked towards the bonfire where the bishops were meeting.

"Danji, Danji really isn’t coming back?" Seeing Horn approach, Madlan stood up eagerly and asked.

"He’s not coming back."

Madlan seemed to lose his soul and collapsed onto the log.

"I didn’t blame him, I didn’t blame him, I just, I just..." Madlan buried his face in his hands.

Frick sat beside him, gently patting his back.

"He didn’t blame you either." Horn tossed a branch into the bonfire, "Without your words, he would have gone back to stop those knights."

"If I hadn’t said those things to him..."

"He didn’t blame you." Horn interrupted Madlan directly, "Don’t tarnish his honor."

The charcoal crackled in the night, and the firelight made all the bishops’ faces burn hot.

"I just took a nap." Horn stirred the bonfire surrounded by stones with tongs, "Mother told me, Danji was an honorable knight, he has entered Paradise Mountain, to serve the supreme Holy Father."

"Really?"

"Of course, it’s true, I swear by the name of Miseria." Horn stated unequivocally, "The footrace may have been false, but Danji entering Paradise Mountain is true."

"Alright, everyone go rest, we have to set out tomorrow, we need to reach the entrance of the Black Bone Marsh in six days."

The bishops looked at one another but obediently left under Horn’s urging.

Perhaps because of Miseria’s assurance, Madlan and the others felt slightly better.

Tomorrow indeed they would depart, they couldn’t let Danji’s sacrifice be in vain.

Grabbing Frick’s Gobbo, Horn asked, "Did you see where Jeanne went?"

The overcast clouds obscured the sky, tonight wasn’t as moonlit as the previous nights.

Jeanne sat with her knees drawn to her chest, perched on a large stone by the roadside.

If Horn hadn’t been holding a candlestick, he might have thought a tree had grown on the stone.

So upright, so straight.

"Can you believe it?" Seeing Horn arrive, Jeanne curled up, burying her face between her knees, "He really managed to stop 9 decreed companies with just a few words."

Horn sat beside Jeanne, he extended an arm, hesitated for a second, and then embraced Jeanne’s shoulders.

Jeanne, arms winding under Horn’s armpits, buried her head in Horn’s shoulder.

The familiar scent of chamomile filled Horn’s nostrils.

"Brother, do those villagers know Danji’s gone?"

Horn’s eyebrows twitched a bit: "I informed the decurions, saying Danji went to argue with those knights and didn’t catch up after the suspension bridge broke."

"So they don’t know Danji died for them?"

Horn didn’t know how to respond, he could only caress Jeanne’s shoulder and raise his head to look at the clouds in the sky.

Does it block the sun by day and the moon by night?

"Brother, do you think Danji is a Knight of Chivalry?"

"Of course he is."

"I always wanted to be a Knight of Chivalry." Jeanne’s voice echoed through Horn’s sleeve, "Then the villagers of Red Mill Village tricked me... I thought being a Knight of Chivalry was a scam."

Horn caressed Jeanne’s arm: "This world is full of ordinary people, there’s no omniscient, omnipotent Knight of Chivalry."

"I thought Knights of Chivalry dedicated their whole lives to justice, but perhaps, they only get to stand for justice once in their life."

The rest of their lives, they might be like Danji, unremarked, maybe even living down-and-out."

I saw their pleasure in upholding chivalry, but didn’t know how much it cost to uphold true justice...

Just being tricked once made me resent all Knights of Chivalry, how much did Danji endure?"

Horn felt a flood of words clog his nasal passages, his throat parched and unable to speak.

"Brother, will our nation be an absolutely fair place that doesn’t need knights to maintain justice?"

The night wind roared, tugging at Horn’s quivering lips.

"It will." Horn squeezed out a few words from his throat, "Absolute fairness, no, but by then, everyone can have the right to claim justice.

As for not needing to uphold justice, that will happen, but it’s a long, long time from now."

Jeanne didn’t reply, but Horn could feel a warm dampness on his shoulder.

"Do you want it to be like before?"

"No, this world doesn’t need knights, whether they’re Knights of Chivalry or any other kind of knight." Jeanne lifted her head, her eyes slightly red, "I want everyone to be a knight, I want no one to be a knight."

Jeanne lowered her legs, took out a roll of book from her waist pouch, and handed it to Horn.

It was a well-preserved copy of Knight Sifal, though the pages were yellow-touched and slightly curled.

"Is this the book Danji gave you?"

"Yes." Jeanne shifted, comfortably resting her head on Horn’s shoulder, "I lied to him, I said I could understand half of it, but I only know four or five words on the first page."

"Pff!"

"Why are you laughing? You’re not allowed to laugh." Jeanne, face reddening, playfully punched Horn’s thigh, "Read it to me, teach me to read."

On his thigh, Horn unfolded Knight Sifal, gently rubbing the book’s pages.

In the book’s margins, tightly packed words were filled, sometimes with notes stuck on.

Judging from the handwriting, a small part was from over a decade ago, but most were likely from this recent time.

The new notes recorded simple explanations, probably fearing Jeanne wouldn’t understand.

Unfortunately, Jeanne couldn’t read the book, nor understand the notes.

By the dim candlelight in his hand, Horn began to recite softly:

"The world’s tendency, stability inevitably leads to chaos, chaos inevitably leads to stability. The Seven Hills Kingdom disputed and was absorbed into the El Empire..."

"Imperial Calendar Year 1328, on April 4, the Divine Ael Empire’s Emperor Baldwin came to Mei Quan Palace, and as soon as he took his seat, a gale assaulted the palace from outside..."

"In Chaman, there’s a place, no need to mention its name, where a knight resided not long ago..."

"The ranking of the Knight Sifal’s tournament was not ideal..."

Before long, Jeanne’s breathing turned into gentle snores.

No way, sister, is that your determination to learn to read?

Horn could only smile helplessly, though the concern clogged his throat and made it dry.

He covered Jeanne with his cloak, which was over his sweat-covered head, and cradled her horizontally and staggering, walked to the tent to put her down on an animal skin blanket.

Bending over, he supported himself with one hand on his knee, covering his mouth with the other as he caught his breath.

Just before he could take a breath, he almost choked and gave up.

"Silly girl looks slim, but her density is really high."

Out of breath, he gently placed Jeanne down on the beast skin blanket.

"René, go find me a piece of wood, a shovel, and... a bottle of wine."