Roland reached out and took it, looking at Renard with eyes full of excitement and warmth. "Light Choice..."
Renard moved very slowly. Roland already recognized what it was when Renard first took it out.
This is a Goddess statue, a very small Goddess of Justice statue, only as big as the weight of the sword hilt. The base at the bottom looks like a heraldry seal, and there is a slot on the edge of the base.
In fact, this was originally the counterweight of the sword hilt.
This is 'Light Choice', which is the weight on the hilt of Sword of Justice's sword that Dawn Knight Order has long destroyed; at the same time, this is also the heraldic seal of Dawn Knight Order.
Its implication is that when making judgments and decisions, the person holding the sword should maintain a balance between compassion and punishment in a light-hearted way - the weight on the hilt is to make the sword more balanced.
In the original teachings of Dawn Knight Order, the sword of the Knight of Dawn is used to uphold justice, and to eliminate evil with moderation, it must not only purify evil, but also forgive the lost.
But decades ago, Sword of Justice's sword blade was suddenly damaged.
It was probably from that time that the entire Dawn Knight Order gradually lost its balance.
"It should be on the hilt of Captain Dawn Knight Order's sword..."
Roland said softly.
"Yes, but only the real Paladin should become the leader, and only the sword of Paladin is worthy of 'Light Choice'."
Renard nodded, then smiled at Elano, "Madam, I am indeed a thief, but I believe in the light."
Paladin Roland, at this time finally met his true kind.
Renard was originally a member of Xunlong Ranger Corps, which was originally a local civil self-defense group of Light Roar Bay. It was somewhat similar to Horn Ranger Corps, but not as large in scale.
After Dawn Knight Order came to Light Roar Bay, Xunlong Ranger Corps was attracted by the teachings of Goddess of Justice.
When the Dawn Knights first arrived at the Pande Continent, they actually showed a very sense of justice - they helped business travelers for free, maintained public order in villages and towns, built bridges and paved roads, and acted bravely...
It can be said that he is completely a moral model for knights.
At that time, civil strife had just broken out in Dawn Knight Order. Many knights defected to form Dusk Knight Order, and they were expelled from the Buckley Continent. Their strength was damaged and their footing was unstable. When they first arrived in Pendor, they naturally had to maintain a noble image.
As for Xunlong Ranger Corps, a local group that had not seen much of the world, they were quickly attracted by the Dawn Knights who seemed to be very decent.
Coupled with the fact that Dawn Knight Order was powerful and quite wealthy, soon after the Xunlong Ranger Corps group was merged into Dawn Knight Order, becoming 'Dawn Swift Dragons'.
And Renard was a captain of Xunlong Ranger Corps. He became the Dawn Knight at that time - all the captains in Xunlong Ranger Corps became Dawn Knights. This is the main reason why they were merged. After all, everyone wants to get the official knight status, and besides, he is a Dawn Knight with a great reputation and a full sense of justice.
This is also the first batch of Pendor local knights recruited by Dawn Knight Order in Fieltzwe.
But soon after, Dawn Knight Order gained recognition from the people of Pende and built an auditorium and residence in Light Roar Bay, quickly revealing its true nature.
They began to kill in the name of justice, 'purify' the countryside with torches and swords, and force people to pay tribute to Goddess.
In Kui and other places in the east of Light Roar Bay, they even caused tragedies such as treating Goddess of Prosperity Terra believers as heretics, killing and plundering a large number of innocent farmers, but later they only paid a large sum of money to King Vidis and Aiding Earl to settle the matter.
Speaking of which, Vidis and Aiding believe in Sea Gods, which is actually a 'heresy' in the eyes of Dawn Knight Order, but they almost never conflict with the Vanskery pirates.
Moreover, Dawn Knight Order has a very good relationship with Light Roar Bay lord Aiding Earl - otherwise Aiding would not have let them build the auditorium in Light Roar Bay.
Probably, their main criterion for distinguishing heretics is whether the target that needs to be 'purified' is easy to deal with, and whether the costs and benefits of implementing 'purification' are appropriate...
After all, everyone is a businessman doing business without capital, and the main consideration is the return on investment...
But Renard gradually fell into confusion.
He thought he would become a knight of justice, but he didn't expect to become this kind of businessman.
Renard followed Dawn Knight Order many times, and together with his colleagues, he killed people in the name of justice.
During this process, Renard gradually developed a habit of stealing trophies.
Many villagers who were forced to obtain offerings would often find that a small amount of property or food seeds had been quietly returned to their homes after the Dawn Riders left.
That was what Renard did in confusion. He almost instinctively left hope of life for the villagers.
Finally, after Kui's action, Renard completely woke up.
Terra is one of the main gods of the Pande Continent, which conveys the hope of good harvests and prosperous commerce. How could such a belief be heretical? Why should it purify a group of innocent farmers?
He publicly opposed this matter in the Dawn Hall, but he was reprimanded as "not firm enough in his faith" and was imprisoned in the ashram.
The ashram is actually an internal prison. In addition to confinement and hard labor, you must be whipped before each meal as the "Goddess's teachings."
Putting a habitual thief in jail who can steal loot for a long time without being discovered will result in an internal prison that will soon be unable to contain anyone...
Renard defected from Dawn Knight Order along with those members in the prison who had the same "not strong enough faith" as him.
He wanted to be like Paladin Roland, a knight who truly abides by the teachings of Goddess of Justice.
To this end, he also stole 'Light Choice' - he felt that the current Dawn Knight Order was not worthy of keeping this seal.
In the following days, he went around doing good deeds as a wandering knight, intending to atone for the sins he had committed.
Not long ago, he heard about Oswood's brutal deeds, so he planned to ambush Roland, but he almost ambush Roland.
"Sir Roland, I saw Oswood coming in this direction a day and a half ago, so we hid here and waited until now. I didn't expect that you were the first to come..."
Renard pointed to the surrounding ground. "Moreover, we have set up many traps around here, but none of them have been triggered. There seems to be no wild animals in this forest!"
Traps set in the woods will not be triggered by humans most of the time, especially if they are set up for a long time, and will usually be destroyed by wild beasts.
"No people or beasts were found? Then... have you seen Fallen One?"
Roland is alert.
"No... and if it's Fallen One, it should be easier to hit the trap."
Renard shook his head.
"Teacher Roland, I think...Oswood may have gone over there."
The female warrior named Elano pointed to the sky and said, "There is smoke and dust in the south."
Through the gaps between the leaves, you can barely see the faint smoke in the southern sky.
Elano is obviously very good at finding those subtle clues, and his observation skills are quite keen.
"Pursue southward, don't let him escape."
Roland also trusts this young girl.
A few hours later, Roland's troops caught up with Oswood's troops at the southern edge of the woods.
Oswood will run south, actually because he met many Fallen One...
When Kloze and Sigismund first encountered Fallen One blocking their way, their judgment was correct.
Fallen One in the woods will indeed pursue and block the largest human army.
Originally, this was probably to prevent the large army from transferring to reinforce Vulpine Town; but now, these Fallen One have become a roadblock for Oswood - Oswood's army is the largest at the moment.
Of course, when they met Fallen One and Oswood in the woods, they had no choice but to run away.
Since there was Sir Roland in the northwest and Lion Lake City in the northeast, who was obviously in serious trouble, Oswood chose to run south in order not to be hindered.
This is also the three-fork road structure in the Vulpine Town forest - when running, the faster the better, otherwise in an environment full of bushes and vegetation and vines in the forest, humans cannot outrun the infinitely powerful Fallen One.
But when Oswood reached the edge of the woods, he was forced to retreat again.
Because a raging fire broke out in the woods to the south, and the lines of fire continued to extend to the east and west sides - it was obvious that someone was setting fire outside.
It is actually impossible to break out of the fire line in the woods, because the smoke and dust will keep swirling into the forest. People near the fire line basically cannot breathe, and they cannot see the surrounding environment.
People and animals who die in forest fires are not burned to death, but suffocated.
In addition, someone was obviously setting a fire outside the woods, which meant that someone was guarding it.
At this time, the best option is to stay away from the line of fire and flee upwind.
Oswood does just that.
But this is near the Shihu Inland Sea, and the direction against the wind is actually the direction of the Shihu Inland Sea to the north - in this area, the wind usually blows inland from the Shihu Inland Sea.
In other words, Oswood had to turn back and head north to fight Fallen One who was chasing him and fight his way out, otherwise he would most likely be suffocated to death.
When Sir Roland's team arrived here, Oswood was fighting Fallen One, and the two sides were fighting fiercely.
"...Sir Roland, how about we wait until they finish fighting?"
Renard suggested.
Indeed, on one side is a brutal villain with no humanity, and on the other side is Fallen One, who has no soul or body. Even Sir Roland thinks this situation is very suitable for watching a movie.
"Withdraw!"
Roland Before he had time to enter the state of watching the show, he heard someone giving an order.
Then, a small group of people suddenly abandoned the Fallen One they were dealing with and ran in the direction of Lion Lake City.
Obviously, Oswood discovered Roland's troops. He didn't want to be entangled, so he abandoned the troops and ran away with only his confidants.
"Go after him!"
Roland's order was equally brief. He greeted Roland loudly, and then chased Oswood without hesitation.
And part of Fallen One also followed Roland's troops to catch up.
Oswood feels that this period of time has been too miserable.
The main purpose of committing crimes around Crow's Perch Village is to help Lion Knight Order take the blame.
What happened to Crow's Perch Village was done by Lion Knight Order, but in order to hide the truth, Lion Knight Order would always hire some other teams to cover up this kind of thing.
Sometimes it's Three Prophets, sometimes it's Oswood's adventure group.
The way to cover it up is also simple, just massacre the surrounding villages and show that you did it all...
Why do terrorists always openly claim cases of attacks against humanity?
Because Royal Knights has to keep itself clean and cannot let other lords come to investigate - terrorists like Oswood are so strong that ordinary lords cannot deal with them. Under normal circumstances, only Lion Knight Order can deal with him.
But Lion Knight Order will naturally be 'escaped by Oswood' again and again due to various reasons.
Oswood has done this kind of work many times. It not only allows him and his subordinates to vent and have fun, but also makes some money from Lion Knight Order. For Oswood, this is certainly a very suitable job.
Anyway, Lion Knight Order can cover any sequelae.
But who knew that his troops encountered Silver Hand near Crow's Perch Village and lost more than two hundred people for no apparent reason.
Moreover, this time Lion Knight Order couldn't be protected, and Royal Knights was turned into an illegal knighthood, and the balance was not even paid.
That's all. Oswood had robbed a lot of money from the villages and towns. After the troops were damaged, he originally planned to leave here and go elsewhere to avoid the limelight.
However, when he was preparing to evacuate, he unfortunately ran into Godric. He rushed to Vulpine Town to save his daughter, but was blocked by the army and was forced back to Crow's Perch Village.
This was very troublesome. Crow's Perch Village became the main battlefield, but he did not have time to withdraw. At that time, Amy disappeared with a large number of cavalry - Amy went south back to Lion City.
But in the eyes of Lion Knight Order and Oswood, how could Amy suddenly evacuate during the war?
It is possible that they were leading cavalry in an ambush.
So Oswood had no choice but to cautiously confront Lion Knight Order's people together.
It turns out that this kind of confrontation is in line with Godric's combat style - he has many archers, so he likes this kind of confrontation and a war of attrition.
So, after several wars of attrition, Amy became Queen, Lion Knight Order became the illegal knights, and Oswood was beaten until there were only more than two hundred people left - Lion Knight Order's bastards always let him take the lead, and Godric also wanted to kill him...
There was no way, Oswood was responsible for the massacre of Crow's Perch Village. He also massacred several surrounding villages and towns, which caused too much hatred.
After that, Lion Knight Order evacuated, and Oswood finally escaped from Godric's sight. After hiding at the beach for a few days, thinking that nothing happened, he ran into Paladin Roland at Crow's Perch Village who was cleaning up heretics...
There were Godric's troops in the west, and Oswood couldn't go, so he had to escape into the forest to the east of Vulpine Town.
But not long after entering the forest, he encountered a wave of Fallen One attacks...
Then he headed south desperately, trying to escape from the forest, but as soon as he reached the edge of the forest, a fire blocked his escape route.
After running wildly through the woods for nearly ten miles, Oswood finally escaped from this damn forest.
But something even worse happened - Oswood led dozens of remaining soldiers and plunged into a large pile of Fallen One.