Church

After the battle in the Church gate area, Paul led Schroeder and the others on horseback into Franklin Harbor.

He looked around, carefully examining the port town. In terms of built-up area, Franklin Harbor was more than twice the size of Lakeheart Town. The layout of the residents' houses was well-arranged, and the houses were generally taller and more beautiful than those in Lakeheart Town. From the city gate, a winding avenue led to the dock area in the west, and this avenue was paved with bricks, which was far better than the muddy central avenue of Lakeheart Town when it rained.

It seemed that although it had been extorted by pirates for a long time, the town had not lost its vitality. No wonder the Shark Gang had taken a fancy to it and was determined to stay.

As for why the Lord's Manor was not located here, the threat of pirates was certainly an important reason, but more importantly, the lords of the northwest region often did not place their residences in prosperous towns. Many lords' residences were just isolated castles or manors, without even a single house nearby.

In Paul's memories from his previous life, the European lords in the Middle Ages on Earth were generally like this.

Now was not the time to admire the scenery, he put away his thoughts. At this time, Cecil, the intelligence director who came with the army, roughly estimated the number of pirate prisoners and casualties, and reported: "Sir, the pirates' active forces have basically been accounted for here. According to my speculation, they now have no more than fifty people left."

After a brief discussion among the officers, two cannons and a company were left to guard the city gate. The other troops were scattered throughout the town in platoons to search for any remaining pirates, especially the pirate leader Shark. After a brief interrogation of the prisoners, this cunning pirate leader had incited his lackeys to fight to the death while he quietly slipped away.

Schroeder suggested: "I think the dock area must be occupied immediately. Shark may have secretly escaped by boat from there."

Paul thought it made sense, so he ordered Schroeder to lead a company of soldiers to march quickly to the dock area and seal off the port.

The other officers also led their soldiers to search for the remaining pirates, while he himself, together with intelligence director Cecil, led two platoons, including the firearm soldiers, to the Church in the center of town. Intelligence indicated that it was the pirates' temporary headquarters, and Paul hoped that the pirates might have hidden something there, such as glittering gold coins, or glittering gems. In various legends, pirates had a habit of hoarding treasure.

At this time, the residents of Franklin Harbor had closed their doors, fearing that they would be affected by the battle. The streets were quiet, with only the sound of the army marching and the sound of horses' hooves.

The Church was getting closer. The soldiers at the front suddenly made a warning gesture, and a platoon of soldiers behind them immediately surrounded the Earl and Cecil.

The door of the Church was tightly closed, and two pirate-dressed corpses lay at the door. It was indeed strange, they should have been the first troops to arrive in this area. Could it be that the pirates had an internal conflict? Soon, the door of the Church was knocked open, and the soldiers rushed into the hall, carefully searching every corner.

But apart from a few pirate corpses, they found nothing.

"It seems that there was indeed an internal conflict, and another group ran away with the valuables."

Paul judged so, and anxiously prayed: "Lord of Light, although I was not very respectful to your brothers on Earth in my previous life, this time you must bless Schroeder to stop them. Afterwards, I will definitely offer you three golden incense sticks... oh no, donate three gold... silver coins to the Church, well, let's just make it copper coins."

He reluctantly led two soldiers around the Church, hoping that the pirates could leave something behind.

After personally looking at a few rooms, he came to a room on the second floor, glanced at it, and saw nothing but a bed, a square table, and an old wardrobe.

"Lord of Light! Give me a miracle to see, otherwise you won't get those three copper coins."

He said complainingly, and kicked the wardrobe in frustration.

"Ah—"

A small but clear exclamation sounded.

The two soldiers and the Earl widened their eyes.

"Who is it? Come out!"

One soldier shouted loudly and kicked the wardrobe hard, while the other soldier quickly protected the Earl behind him. Dense footsteps sounded outside the room, as soldiers from other places heard the sound and ran towards this room.

A crying voice came from the closet: "Don't kick, I'll come out! Please spare my life, please spare my life!"

Then the door of the closet opened, and under the gaze of everyone, a middle-aged man in a white robe with a Mediterranean hairstyle crawled out.

He staggered a few steps, knelt down in front of Paul, hugged his thigh, and said with tears and snot: "This lord, I am just a Wandering Priest, staying here temporarily for a few days, and I am not with the pirates who live here. Please don't kill the innocent!" After saying that, he howled, and the sound was really heartbreaking and tearful.

"Get up, get up!" Paul kicked the other party away.

This was too exaggerated, he really couldn't stand a greasy middle-aged man kneeling in front of him with tears streaming down his face. But this Mediterranean guy had a good eye, and he could recognize at a glance that this half-grown child was the leader of this group.

The man ignored him and just kept howling: "Father in heaven, your servant is about to go up to serve you!"

There was no way, it seemed that his kingly aura was really something. Although he had been trying to control it, accidentally leaking a little was enough to make ordinary people unable to stand up.

The Earl ostentatiously stretched out his right hand and combed his hair back, raised his chin, and struck a pose that he thought was very handsome, "I am the local lord, and I am here to exterminate the long-standing pirates, protect the territory and the people, not to kill and set fires." Hehe, continue to be shrouded in my aura.

"Lord?" The Mediterranean priest suddenly stopped crying and looked up to carefully examine the person in front of him. Ah? He was just busy howling, but looking closely, this person's current movements and the temperament he exuded did have some resemblance to the silly son of a landlord.

"Ahem!" He stood up, cleared his throat to cover up his embarrassment, and then straightened his clothes.

The Mediterranean priest said slowly: "So you are the lord of this place, I wonder what this little lord is called!" There was even a hint of arrogance on his face, which reminded Paul of the royal commissioner who had been tricked by him. Speaking of which, that guy disappeared after the pirates attacked, and I don't know where he ran off to.

"Standing in front of you is the kingdom's northwest frontier minister, the nemesis of pirates, the summoner of thunder (firearms), the spreader of the gospel of the Lord (papermaking), Earl Paul Greiman of Alarda Territory." Should I add the title of liberator of buttocks, but thinking about it, forget it.

The Mediterranean priest's face immediately turned into a chrysanthemum, "So it's an Earl!"

He held his hands in front of his chest with his fingers crossed, looking at him as if he had seen an angel descending to earth. The previous hint of arrogance disappeared completely, as if it had never appeared.

Paul looked up and down at the person who claimed to be a priest, waved to the soldiers, and said, "You guys go out first, I want to talk to this priest alone."

Seeing the soldiers hesitate, he patted the firearm at his waist: "Don't worry, everything will be fine!"

Thanks to "Red Left-Handed Sword," "Pitifully Lacking Virtue," and "Book Friend 20170192" for the recommendation tickets!