Ceasefire Negotiations (3)

After hearing Santos's conditions, the Third Apostle remained silent for a long while, then bowed to Santos: "General, please allow us to take your words back and let my companions discuss this matter. I myself truly cannot make a decision."

Santos nodded, indicating his agreement to the Third Apostle's request, but then added, "But our patience is limited."

You only have one day.

If you do not give me an answer by this time tomorrow, my army will continue its attack.

Don't assume that your Sacred Artifact 'Judgment' is so powerful; we also have our own Divine Artifacts.

You've all witnessed the power of our army's Artillery and Muskets, haven't you?

Compared to your heavily restricted Sacred Artifact 'Judgment,' our Sacred Artifact has no restrictions whatsoever. Anyone, anytime, anywhere can use it!

Upon hearing this, the Third Apostle touched his left arm; he had personally witnessed the power of that weapon on the battlefield.

He was fortunate not to have been hit head-on by Artillery shells, but his left arm was broken by flying stones. It wasn't serious, and although it still hurts today, it no longer affects his use.

Although he wasn't entirely sure whether what the general in front of him was saying was the truth.

But based on what he had seen and heard on the battlefield over the past few days, he had good reason to believe that the terrible weapons used by the army in front of him, even if they had restrictions, were not very strict and were definitely weapons with very lenient conditions of use, just as he had said.

Finally, the Third Apostle bowed to Santos once more, then turned and left.

Before leaving, however, he took out an exquisite Wooden Box from his pocket, placed it on the table, and said to Santos, "This is a gift for you, General, to thank you for accepting our ceasefire negotiations. Regardless of the outcome, we are grateful for the opportunity you have given us."

Santos wanted to refuse, but the Third Apostle quickly pushed open the door and left before he could call him back.

After a while, the Guard Corps ran back and reported, "The enemy's envoy has left the camp and returned to the city they control."

Santos asked the Guard Corps who was seeing them off, "Did they do anything unusual in the camp?"

The captain shook his head and said, "Those envoys were very honest; they followed the route exactly as we prescribed and didn't cross the line at all."

Santos nodded, acknowledging the Faith Order's sensibility and believing they were highly likely to surrender later.

Then Santos picked up the small Wooden Box on the table, opened it, and inside was a beautiful natural mineral that emitted colorful light.

Although Santos couldn't recognize what the ore in front of him was, he was a knowledgeable person and knew that it was clearly an unprocessed gemstone.

In terms of size and volume, Santos had never seen anything like it before; one glance was enough to tell that this thing was extremely valuable.

Santos Mizhene and said, "That's quite a show of sincerity!"

Mizhene looked astonished and said, "This is the Star of Splendor. I never expected them to give it to you?"

Although I have never seen it, I have heard my teacher mention this gem.

This gem was discovered when the Faith Order Headquarters retreated to this valley and began developing the valley.

The First Apostle named this gem the Star of Splendor, symbolizing the Faith Order's renewed rise to glory. It's astonishing that they would give you such a precious treasure with such special meaning.

Indeed, as you said, the apostles were very sincere.

The man just now was the Third Apostle of the Faith Order. Within the entire Faith Order's hierarchy, he was second only to the First Apostle and my teacher, Keledu. Moreover, the Purple-Robed Warrior Corps were the army directly under his command, and the Faith Order's armed forces were usually commanded by him and the Fourth Apostle.

After hearing Mizhene's words, Santos suddenly felt a pang of regret. If he had subdued the Third Apostle earlier, would the Purple-Robed Warrior Corps wielding the Judgment have been unable to play a role in the upcoming battle?

Mizhene saw through Santos's thoughts and immediately reminded him, "Within the Faith Order's system, even if the Third Apostle is not present, the other Apostles have the right to use the Purple-Robed Warrior Corps, and the officers and soldiers of the Purple-Robed Warrior Corps will obey the orders of the other Apostles."

Therefore, even if you control the Third Apostle, you cannot stop the Purple-Robed Warrior Corps from continuing to fight us.

Santos smiled. "Do you think they'll agree to surrender to us?"

"I can't judge, but based on my understanding of those apostles, they might agree."

However, I don't know about the situation with the 'Venerable Lord'. The 'Venerable Lord' may not agree to your request.

Although I have only met him a few times, based on what Keledu and I know about him...

"The Venerable Lord is the kind of person who values the followers of the Faith Order very much, especially his apostles. He will not easily place his hopes on others unless he can guarantee the absolute safety of his apostles."

"Is that so?"

Santos was somewhat curious about the 'Venerable Lord', but valued the people under his rule even more, feeling that he was somewhat similar to the Duke.

However, the Duke is different from him. The Duke also cares for his people, but Duke does not let his love for his people cloud his rational judgment.

In any situation, His Highness the Duke will make the most reasonable choice, and he will also weigh the options and make sacrifices if it can achieve his goal.

Santos was unwilling to waste any more time thinking about these things. He continued to work with Mizhene on the post-battle debriefing, and Mizhene also discussed where they should launch their next Faith Order if the Faith Order did not surrender.

After all, even though the Expeditionary Army currently holds the advantage, the Faith Order's 'Judgment' Sacred Artifact is still very troublesome. If they don't find a way to deal with it, it will be difficult to defeat the enemy smoothly in the subsequent battles.

Meanwhile, the Third Apostle also returned to the Faith Order without incident. He immediately went to find the other three Apostles, and the four of them gathered once again in the Enlightened Sanctuary.

The Third Apostle recounted to the other three the terms of surrender he had heard from Santos, as well as all his conversations with Santos, in great detail.

The fourth and Fifth Apostles were probably younger, and they were very dissatisfied with Santos's attitude, clamoring to continue the fight.

However, the Third Apostle, who always advocated war, did not agree with their ideas. Instead, he turned his attention to the First Apostle, wanting to find out his thoughts from him.

The First Apostle asked, "You saw that mysterious army. What was your assessment of its strength?"

The Third Apostle spoke up, saying, "They are terrifyingly powerful, far surpassing any enemy we have ever encountered."

Their strength did not solely rely on those terrifying weapons. When I entered their camp, I found it to be very clean and tidy, and all the soldiers looked very healthy, both physically and mentally.

What surprised me most was how polite the soldiers were—yes, extremely polite.

Even the most ordinary soldiers would greet our Diplomatic Delegation with a smile.

They neither mocked us with a sarcastic tone nor threatened us with actions or words.

They seem more like a group of students than an army!

..."

What do these represent?

The fourth and Fifth Apostles didn't quite understand, but the First Apostle remained silent.

He understood all too well that such behavior meant that even the most ordinary soldier in this army was a person with a sound personality.

They were not war beasts fed with blood, flesh, and wealth, but people who understood why they fought and what they were fighting for.

"Then let's surrender, but I hope you can represent us and make one more small request to them!"

The First Apostle spoke.

"Go ahead and say it!"

"We can be disposed of at will, and even all the priests at the Faith Order Headquarters and the officers of the Faith Order's army can go back to their territories with them to await their fate."

But the 'Venerable Lord' must stay here; once the 'Venerable Lord' leaves the Parasitic Sanctuary, he will inevitably die."

The other apostles were shocked. They knew that their 'Venerable Lord' was not in good condition, but they did not expect it to be this bad.