Time flies.
In the blink of an eye, another three months have passed.
Since hiring three noble teachers, children over the age of five in the household have to attend six classes every day.
Playtime has greatly decreased.
No need to deal with these annoying and detestable brats.
The time Rennes spends with his wives has noticeably increased.
Their relationship has been steadily improving.
During this process, Janice, Katie, and Leila have become pregnant one after another.
It is expected that around the New Year next year, three more children will be born.
Besides this good news, there is also some bad news.
During this period,
The Rhine region has experienced a drought that has lasted for over a month.
The grain that could have had a bountiful harvest has seen a drastic drop in yield by half.
Coupled with the continuous high tax burden imposed by the Duchy of Lances, a large number of struggling people have been completely overwhelmed.
They can't even afford to eat.
In this situation, the expansion of the cult of the evil god has become unusually rapid.
The number of cult followers has rapidly expanded.
In less than a month, over ten towns have been captured and blood sacrifices have been made by the cult followers.
Over ten baronial families have been expelled.
Now the Rhine region is in a state of panic, and everyone is living in fear.
However,
Rennes' territory is relatively calm.
Because of the development of the beer industry, Rennes had previously stockpiled a large amount of wheat (a raw material for brewing).
Therefore,
Even in the current food crisis, the food supply within the Eagle's Domain has not experienced shortages.
In this situation, the Eagle's Domain is naturally stable as Mount Tai.
As for those cultists who attempt to invade from the outside,
They can be stopped by the Black Rock City Wall and the Meteor Breaking City Crossbow.
After all,
The Eagle's Domain has only risen a few years ago, and the permanent population is only slightly over ten thousand.
Compared to other towns, it is simply pitifully small.
For those evil god priests who like to use blood sacrifices to exchange for power, the attraction is very limited.
There is a way to attack the Eagle's Crest.
It is more cost-effective to attack other towns.
There is no evil god priest in charge.
Even those evil god cultists with only a cultivation level of 6th rank cannot pose a threat to Eagle's Crest.
However.
Eagle's Crest is calm and peaceful.
It does not mean that other noble territories are the same.
On this morning.
Rennes received a plea for help from the Blake family.
The letter stated that several evil god priests led tens of thousands of cultists to surround the Blake family's territory, the city of Panshi. The situation is now extremely critical, and they hope that Rennes can abide by the previous agreement and send troops to support Panshi City.
"Sure enough, it's not easy to deal with the Blake family's forge craftsmen and the three Meteor Breaking Crossbows."
After reading the letter, Rennes lightly tapped the table with his right hand and sighed.
Several evil cult priests, tens of thousands of cultists.
This is a tough situation!
But he had previously formed an alliance with the Blake family through marriage and signed a magical contract.
It is not possible to not provide support.
The magic contract is supervised by the god of contracts.
Once violated.
The divine power of the god of contracts will cast the violator's soul into the depths of the Styx.
This price is obviously not something he can afford.
"It seems that I can only personally take action."
With his cultivation at the 9th rank limit.
Not to mention eliminating those evil god believers, it should be no problem to help the Blake family out of the crisis.
Even if an evil god projection appears, he is confident that he can retreat unscathed.
Thinking of this, Rennes immediately made a decision.
Arrange the affairs of the territory.
After confirming that there will be no chaos in his absence.
Rennes immediately took his most elite guard and rode on warhorses, galloping towards the Blake family's city of Panshi.
...
While rushing to Rennes with a group of people to support the Blake family.
On the other side.
The situation in the city of Panshi is not optimistic.
Tens of thousands of cultists, armed with various weapons, are crazily attacking the city walls of Panshi.
Although these cultists were previously just ordinary farmers without military training, they possess brute strength gained from years of farming.
One-on-one, they are no match for the soldiers of Panshi City.
But under the brainwashing of the cult's high priest, these cultists have turned into the most frenzied bloodthirsty beasts.
Fearless of life and death.
Even if their bodies are pierced by swords, they will still fiercely thrust their pitchforks at their opponents.
Facing opponents who are so crazed that they fear no death, any normal person would feel extremely terrified.
The soldiers of Panshi City are no exception.
Less than ten minutes into the attack.
The soldiers responsible for guarding the city walls of Panshi City are being pushed back by the cultists flooding in like a tide.
Morale is plummeting.
There are faint signs of collapse.
"Those who retreat will be killed without mercy!"
Seeing this, Bennett, the temporary leader of the Blake family, immediately became anxious.
He climbed up the wall with dozens of personal guards, acting as a supervisory team, and beheaded those deserters who wanted to escape from the tower.
At the same time, he made promises to the other soldiers.
As long as they hold the city walls, each person will receive thirty gold coins as a reward.
There will also be hundreds of gold coins as compensation after death.
A carrot and a stick.
The morale of the soldiers of Panshi City has somewhat recovered.
Relying on their long-term training and coordination, they finally managed to barely stabilize the defense line.
However.
There is not much joy on Bennett's face.
He is well aware that with the armed strength of the Blake family, there is simply no hope of winning.
The resistance of the soldiers can only delay the time of the city's breach at best.
Once those few high priests of the cult make a move, the situation will immediately become even worse than before.
"Has the plea for help been sent out? When can we expect the Habsburg family to arrive?"
With these thoughts in mind, Bennett anxiously asked the butler beside him.
"The plea for help has been sent out! The Habsburg family should have received it."
"If the Habsburg family hasn't been delayed and can send troops directly to support us, it will probably take about half a magical hour for them to reach the city of Panshi." The butler replied.
"Half a magical hour?"
Upon hearing this, Bennett's expression became even more grim.
That time is too long.
Based on the current situation, it is likely that the city of Panshi will not be able to hold on until then.
However.
Even if we can't hold on, we must defend.
The family's legacy must not be destroyed in his hands.
With this thought in mind.
Bennett personally put on armor and led the elite guards of the family to fight against the swarming cultists.
With their formidable strength.
Soon, all the cultists on the eastern city wall were killed.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Seeing their lord fight so bravely, the morale of the other soldiers in the city of Panshi soared.
They worked together.
Killing all the cultists who climbed the city walls.
However.
This didn't have much effect.
There were too many cultists.
Up to tens of thousands.
The cultists they killed were just a drop in the bucket.
Soon.
The cultists regrouped.
Attacking the city walls again.
The sounds of fierce fighting and desperate screams filled every corner of the city of Panshi.