Black Pine City, the capital of the Fitz Province, Tree Worship Church Theocracy.
A solemn, all-black church stands in the very center of the city. At this moment, the city's residents are flocking to the large square in front of the church, as if there are free milk and eggs waiting for them there.
Fitz Province is located in the southern part of Aduolin Province. It is narrower from north to south and wider from east to west, resembling a "cushion" in southern Aduolin.
The capital city, Black Pine City, is located at the very center of the "cushion," giving it perfect control over the surrounding towns.
That's how it should have been.
But as news of the defeats continued to reach Black Pine City, everything seemed to begin to change.
Despite their best efforts to conceal it, secrets eventually leaked out, and news of the defeat gradually reached the public.
To boost morale and protect the provincial capital, the Black Pine City Cathedral posted notices three days ago and dispatched priests to spread the message along the streets.
The priests claimed that the archbishop would give a mobilization speech in front of the church in three days to vote, and everyone was required to attend.
The people in the city weren't really interested in this matter. Although the number of people moving around in the Tree Worship Church had decreased, it wasn't stagnant.
Aduolin has been occupied for several months, and everyone actually knows a little bit about the current situation of the people inside.
The situation isn't nearly as dire as those priests described...
No one had heard of any robbery, murder, or forced labor from Aduolin's relatives.
While minor conflicts certainly occur, it is said that most heretics are not bad people; they simply have some issues with their way of doing things.
Faced with this seemingly meaningless speech, many people privately expressed their unwillingness to attend.
Some said the archbishop was making a mountain out of a molehill, some said Aduolin's heresy wasn't so bad, and others said they wanted to see if the taxes there would be lower.
In short, I don't want to go!
The next day, a unique hanging took place in the square of Black Pine City. Some of the guys who had secretly complained about the archbishop the night before were hanged on the spot on charges of being heretics and spies. Their bodies are still hanging on the racks by the square.
Upon seeing this, the people of Black Pine City expressed their loyalty to the Archbishop with cheers and tears, and pledged to attend the pre-battle mobilization speech the day after tomorrow.
On the third day after the notice was posted, the followers of the Tree Worship Church got up early that morning, dressed their families, and headed towards the cathedral, fearing that if they were late, they would be turned into dried meat and hung on a wooden rack.
Around nine o'clock in the morning, the main square of Black Pine City was already full of people.
As the capital of a province, Black Pine City has a large population that cannot be contained by a single square.
Standing on this high vantage point, one could see that the streets and alleys connecting to the square were also packed with people, all waiting for the somewhat mysterious archbishop to appear.
This includes a few Soul Returner entered the city early on.
*Player internal communication channel:
[Pond Fish and Old Abyss]: I'm in position, on the west side of the square. It's so crowded here...
[ Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop ]: In place, the Aberration plants used for cover have been placed, ready to escape at any time.
[ Dark Archmage ]: Excellent visibility; we can see the church's large platform from here. It's time to meet this mysterious archbishop.
There were naturally more than three people who infiltrated Black Pine City, but having worked together before, they quickly formed a temporary team.
[ The Dark Archmage ] goes without saying. Some time ago, she was conscripted by the bishop of another town to repair the city wall. After the city fell, she was forced to leave the city and decided to go all the way and become a refugee in Black Pine City.
[ Pond Fish and Old Abyss ] was getting a bit tired of fighting Blood Corpse on the Eastern Front, and with Klaf City being a bit too difficult, I finally decided to relax in Black Pine City. It was a good opportunity to test whether my nearly 20 points of Plant Compatibility could perfectly handle the new Aberration Chomper in the shop.
As for summoner builds...
In the official setting, controlling vine and woody Aberration animals requires the player's Animal Compatibility attribute rather than Plant Compatibility.
Because all her special attributes are focused on Plant Compatibility, she is temporarily unable to establish a good relationship with the summoned beasts.
As for why the [ Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop ] is here, it's entirely because [ Pond Fish and Old Abyss ] felt it was pointless to come to Black Pine City alone, so he forcibly dragged a strong man along to sneak in with him.
As for the Greenhouse in Valhalla, [ Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop ] once again enlisted his older brother's help to manage it...
In short, after various people used all sorts of reasons to conscript men, the three reunited in Black Pine City.
After exchanging information, they realized a problem: at this critical juncture, the Archbishop of Fitz Province had never shown up!
Just as everyone was puzzled by this, news of the archbishop's upcoming speech spread throughout the streets and alleys.
After some initial planning, the three decided to infiltrate the gathering to find out what was going on.
By 10 a. m., the civilians who had gathered had been left waiting for several hours, and naturally, they were resentful.
But looking at the gallows at the edge of the square, the resentment somehow vanished.
Just then, the direction of the cathedral finally changed.
A group of priests wearing robes with gold trim emerged from the main entrance of the church and began to maintain order among the crowd in the square.
It seems something big is coming.
Sure enough, after the commotion caused by hundreds of thousands of people subsided, a figure finally appeared on the platform directly in front of the cathedral.
The figure walked step by step to the marble railing, looked down at the citizens below, and slowly removed the hood from its head, revealing a fairly delicate face.
"Citizens of Black Pine City, I am your Archbishop, Luorui'er Fitz."
A calm yet confident voice resounded throughout the square and its surrounding area in a unique way.
Many people who had never seen the archbishop's face before were shocked by this scene.
Although the archbishop was not particularly handsome, the mystique he had cultivated over the years by living a secluded life inadvertently added a layer of allure to the public.
The calm sound still echoed around the square:
"... In the past few months, I believe you have all heard that our northern neighbor, the Aduolin Province, has been occupied by heretics, and those heretics have turned their attention to our Fitz Province."
"It is undeniable that in the past month or so, the Holy Crusaders in Fitz Province has suffered several small-scale defeats and lost some troops; this is an indisputable fact."