The North Territory has just experienced a blizzard. The cold wind from the Barren Tundra blew into the borderlands of the empire unimpeded, laying a silvery-white frost veil over every town and city here.
Oliver is a bit further south than Cole Town, but it still couldn't avoid being harassed by the severe cold.
It's not the season suitable for farming now, and it's even hard to hunt prey. What's more, there are beastmen around, so no one dares to venture into the forest rashly.
The Flame Sun Holy Order of Knights from the Sallenz Religious Territory, along with a large-scale logistics team, traveled back and forth among the various towns in the North Territory. They distributed food and supplies to Cole Town and the nearby villages, and every household had the opportunity to get them for free.
This expense was deducted from His Holiness the Pope's personal stockpile.
Everyone had originally thought that this expeditionary force, which was preparing to stay permanently, would exhaust the nearby grain harvest. However, they hadn't expected that the current Pope, who was rumored to be fond of amassing wealth, would be so generous.
If Daphne were to hear the thoughts of these villagers, she would surely be hopping mad.
She had painstakingly amassed wealth for so many years precisely for this grand expedition this year. Military operations cost a fortune, and decades of savings could be exhausted in just one or two years.
Daphne wasn't cruel enough to forcibly collect grain and levy taxes in this desolate and cold land. This expeditionary force of nearly 50,000 people couldn't be supported by Cole Town and the several nearby villages alone.
Their purpose was to safeguard this place, not to plunder it.
This was the reason why the villagers in Oliver Village had a good impression of and deep respect for the Templar Knights.
Gravia led a team of about 400 people, including two Templar Knights and their attendant guards, to Oliver. The village head and several villagers welcomed themkeenly and took the initiative to guide Gravia and the two knights to the burial ground in the village.
Then Gravia ran into Daphne, who was disguised as Elenna, right in the middle of the sea of people squeezed by the villagers.
Gravia came from the Sallenz Religious Territory, while Elenna came from the St. Mary's Religious Territory. Although both were under the jurisdiction of the Blazing Sun Church, the two places were actually thousands of miles apart. So this was the first time Gravia had seen Elenna.
She had heard that Elenna Perkin, the Grand Reciter, often covered her face with a gauze curtain, and only her pair of emerald-green eyes were as magnificent as if they could capture people's souls.
Now that she saw it with her own eyes, it was indeed the case.
Elenna was very beautiful, with a delicate and dreamy kind of beauty. However, this feeling seemed somehow familiar to Gravia.
But the most important question should be: Why could a dead person climb out of the ground and stand in front of her?
"Are you really Elenna Perkin?" Gravia expressed her doubt at once. She revealed a bit of her sea crystal staff from under her cloak, and a cold chill drifted out faintly. "How can I confirm that this isn't a necromancer's trick?"
The resurrection of the dead might not be a miracle. It could also be necromancy. Not to mention that on the other side of the mountain was the land of the dead.
Yeah, how could it be proved?
Why not take off the upper garment and let Her Ladyship the Saintess check by pinching to see if it's warm and soft?
Daphne was just about to stretch out her arm to let Gravia check her pulse, but a sudden loud shout interrupted her.
"Your Ladyship the Saintess, this must be Lady Vanitaya descending to the mortal world in person to perform a miracle and save the pious believers!" An elderly man squeezed out from the crowd and flopped down on his knees between Gravia and Daphne. Perhaps only people of this age would be so firmly convinced that the Sun Goddess still watched over the world. "Look, there's still color on Lady Elenna's face. She doesn't look like a zombie with pale and stiff skin at all. And she had a particularly good appetite as soon as she woke up and ate up all the offerings we placed there."
"Everyone present saw it," a young man chimed in. "How could a zombie be as good-looking as Miss Elenna?"
Well, people of this age are all about looks. Their values follow their aesthetics.
As a result, both the old and the young in the village unanimously agreed that Elenna's resurrection was a display of Vanitaya's great power. There were even rumors that when she broke through the earth, she was accompanied by a blaze of light like a solar corona that almost blinded everyone's eyes.
As the person involved, Daphne was sweating profusely. She didn't dare to refute either, after all, these were all statements that were beneficial to her.
Was this the so-called "There will always be great scholars arguing for her"?
Gravia was still skeptical. She slowly walked up to Daphne, leaned in, and carefully examined Daphne's face and body.
"Hello, Miss Gravia. I've long heard of your name..." Daphne put on a rather dignified female voice, but as Gravia's gaze wandered over her body more and more wantonly, her voice began to tremble a little.
The "Blood Disguise" could mimic appearances, but it couldn't change the body shape and figure one-to-one. So she was still half a head shorter than Gravia, and her chest was the same size as before.
When Gravia's gaze finally lingered on her chest for a long time, Daphne couldn't hold it in any longer. "Your Ladyship the Saintess, where... are you looking?"
Gravia withdrew her gaze, then looked down at herself, and a barely noticeable upward curve appeared at the corner of her mouth.
This girl! She's so ill-mannered! What is she competing with a woman she's meeting for the first time?
Daphne was almost furious. She had never taught Gravia to be like this. The pure Saintess had completely gone bad.
"Nothing. There's indeed the breath of a living person. I've confirmed it," Gravia pretended that nothing had happened. She put away her staff and hid it under her cloak again. "I'm sorry, Miss Elenna. I was a bit offensive just now."
"This is unavoidable. After all, Klogthia is on the other side of the mountain. It's normal to be on guard against the undead," Daphne secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Saintess is just a useless title. I should offer my respect to you, Grand Reciter," Gravia took two steps back and then knelt down on one knee among the crowd, bowing her head to Daphne. "Thank you, Lady Vanitaya, for bringing you back to the mortal world. This is undoubtedly a miracle. She is kind and great."
The two Templar Knights following Gravia also knelt down on one knee. They recited hymns in a pious tone: "Welcome back to the mortal world, Lady Elenna. And thank you, Lady Vanitaya. She is kind and great."
Most of the villagers were also believers of the goddess. Whether they were pious or not, they all chanted in unison: "Thank you, Lady Vanitaya. She is kind and great."
The gentle wind mixed with ice and snow blew from a distance, blowing up her robe. The snow-capped peaks shone brightly in the morning light. The pitch-black night sky was completely torn apart, and a touch of blue dyed the sky above.
At this moment, only Daphne was standing. She was surrounded in the center, and all she could see in front of her were people kneeling down.
Finally, she could regain a bit of the feeling of being the Pope, although just a little bit.