At the top of the Saint-Michel Mountain, Francesco, a black-robed monk from the Benedictine Order of Saint-Maur, had just finished leading a long morning prayer, carrying the extinguished lamp and walking on the There was snow and frost all over the ground, and we carefully passed through the sea fog that had not completely dissipated.
This was also the 21st year of asceticism that he spent on this island of holy mountains, far away from his hometown in Italy, following the daily routine of praying five times a day, working in the morning, and copying scriptures in the afternoon. All of this was disrupted with the arrival of the Holy Kingdom Army.
Although the Holy Mountain is mainly populated by Benedictine monks from foreign countries and nominally directly affiliated with the St. Vanzoye Monastery in Italy; there are also various handymen and low-level monks and apprentices needed for daily life, as well as those who stay locally for a long or short time. Pilgrims, however, mainly come from surrounding areas.
As a result, the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom occupied not only the docks, markets, hotels and houses at the foot of the mountain, but also broke into and controlled various monasteries and churches on the mountain. Although they did not openly rob the valuable magic weapons, they confiscated them and took them away. The food and materials stored in the monastery.
Only the original church on the top of the hill, the Church of the Tombstone, and the chapel of St. Michael, which houses the skull of Bishop Aube, remained unmolested by the determined resistance of the armed monks. But they took advantage of the situation and expelled most of the local people from the mountain, which caused big trouble.
For example, the big bell on the Gothic giant tower located at the highest point of the Holy Mountain requires several young and strong intermittent monks to drag and ring with all its strength; and the bronze and gold-coated archangel statue on the top of the tower also requires Someone climbs up and cleans it so it can stay shiny.
Therefore, like Francesco, the remaining monks had to put aside their studies and spend more time taking on many times the labor and chores of the past. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but take a look at the black cross flag with white sable fur pattern fluttering between the city wall and the fortress at the foot of the mountain.
I don’t know how long these soldiers of the Holy Kingdom will continue to occupy the Holy Mountain; and what consequences they will bring to this religious holy place. After all, although he was a member of the ascetic order, according to the practice among monasteries, he took turns taking care of the sick pilgrims at the foot of the mountain.
Therefore, to some extent, the Kingdom of Sealand has experienced a long period of turbulent civil war and has witnessed the rise of southern forces in recent years. This force, which is closely related to the many heretical factions in the southern part of the kingdom, has even defeated the Holy Kingdom's intervention army several times, and promoted the Holy Kingdom's army to station in the Holy Mountain.
Although their banner is to protect the Holy Mountain from the heretical forces from the Kingdom; there is no doubt that with the long-term existence of these Holy Kingdom armies, when the heretics arrive, the Saints who originally existed as a neutral territory will Mountains are not immune to the flames of war.
Not long ago, Brittania once again strengthened its garrison on the Holy Mountain, and began to repair the outer city walls and the monastery fortress on the mountain; it also transported a large amount of supplies from across the bay regardless of the risk, and further increased the number of troops. The worries of the monks up and down the Holy Mountain.
There is no doubt that war is inevitable, it is just a matter of sooner or later. The monks of the Holy Mountain, who were unable to change this situation, could only prepare secretly and determined to protect the sanctuary; at the same time, they prayed that the war would end quickly and would not turn into the tragic "Siege of Charles" in history.
It was the middle period of the Third (Acacia) Dynasty. As the king's younger brother, Charles V, Grand Duke of Normandy, he was in the middle of a civil war with his brother Philip, the "Cock King" at the time; he led the last of his tribe to flee to Saint-Michel, where they had a close relationship. The mountain also started a two-and-a-half-year siege by the Royal Army.
Although the Royal Army suffered heavy casualties in extremely unfavorable terrain, they were unable to attack the Holy Mountain; instead, they could only set fire to the residential areas, markets, and docks at the foot of the mountain. But Mont Saint-Michel, which was surrounded and cut off from supplies, also suffered from famine and disease, and tragic things happened.
In the end, although the people who survived quickly surrendered after Charles V died of illness, the soldiers of the Royal Army who entered the Holy Mountain immediately saw a scene like hell. Although, at that time most of the records were destroyed and a gag order was issued against the parties involved.
However, the local Benedictine monks and their followers disappeared from history. As one of the Italian branches of the Benedictine order, the senior monks of the Order of St. Maur were also invited by "Cock King" Philip at this time to come to the Holy Mountain to handle the aftermath.
For example, there are only word-of-mouth among the monks, the ancient underground altar that disappeared with the collapse of the Church of Our Lady of Fire, and several mountain caves that were filled in and sealed. Another example is that as the only trace left at that time, there are suspected gnawing marks on the monk's ossuary in the underground hall.
With this vague worry, Francesco came to the Gothic spire tower, and led several middle-aged/young monks waiting here to climb up the bell tower laboriously along the spiral stone stairs. location. However, the monk responsible for pulling the rope of the big bell screamed one after another:
"God in heaven!"
"What's this?"
“The Divine Apparitions!”
Immediately, they all knelt down and prostrated on the ground; they began to pray with various sacramental symbols. The monk Francesco who was facing them also turned around belatedly; then he also knelt on the floor with his feet weak because he saw a white sailboat.
This is a typical Calais-style sailing ship, all the details are unremarkable, not much different from the most common merchant ships in the Bay of San Loma. But this Calais sailing ship did not sail on the sea, but floated in the sky, riding on clouds and fog in the golden sunshine.
Just like the golden ship of Ra, the sun god, who defeated the darkness of night in Egyptian pagan mythology; and like Noah's Ark, which followed the traces led by doves and landed on the earth after the great flood in ancient times; Covered in golden light, it slowly descended from the sky.
The next moment, the fierce ringing of bells rang out from the highest point of Mount Saint-Michel; then, it turned into the ringing of bells, large and small, that spread all up and down Mount Saint-Michel in all the monasteries and churches. At the sound of the bell, people who were alarmed rushed out.
Then, feeling extremely horrified, shocked and awe-stricken, they fell to their knees on the ground one after another, praying loudly, or beating their bodies with magic weapons obsessively and crazily, trying to prove that they were not dreaming. In the blink of an eye, the flying sailboat landed.
The earthquake was obvious and dull as it rested on the stone flat roof of the Tombstone Mountain Cathedral. In an instant, the top of the original support of the stone frame was dented by the heavy pressure, and slowly tilted to one side. Immediately, groups of heavily armored knights rushed down from the deck of the ship that had stabilized.
The soldiers of the Holy Kingdom at the foot of the mountain were also alarmed in hindsight; disheveled soldiers rushed out from various houses and buildings, and under the shouts of the officers, they gathered into a group and circled up the narrow mountain road. team; seemed to want to figure out what was going on.
However, those who were faster and more responsive than them were these heavily armored knights who came off the flying ship; they wore a variety of frog-faced, duck-billed, pocket-faced, and can-shaped heavy plate and chain armors, but they were agile. They were running in small groups, towering steeply between the church buildings.
In the blink of an eye, like cannonballs falling from the sky, they suddenly flew and hit the Holy Kingdom troops who were winding up the mountain. In an instant, there were screams and exclamations in the sky, shaking and flying around. A group of soldiers; wielding leaf hammers and broad swords, slashing and killing.
But in the narrow winding corridor with no cover on the mountainside, these seemingly well-trained soldiers of the Holy Kingdom, who were also wearing half-breastplates or patchwork armor, were unable to take advantage of their numbers and coordination. They were overwhelmed by these heavy soldiers. The knights in armor swept down from the mountain road one by one.
For a moment, all kinds of broken limbs and struggling and crying soldiers were seen tumbling down from the dangerous points surrounding the mountain like garbage being swept away. Then, the crossbowmen from the Holy Kingdom Army who were from Shanshan below climbed to the top of various buildings in an attempt to support their comrades who were being massacred.
Then, one step faster than them, there was the roar of flames and explosions from above; but some armored knights who had occupied the commanding heights on the mountainside, the monastery/fortress and the outer walls and towers began to fire their firearms, or It was throwing explosive bombs one after another...
The mountain's condescending drop made it easy for them to hit the locations where the Holy Kingdom's crossbowmen were most densely packed; and the battered crossbowmen who were bombarded were scattered like dogs. Even if there were some sporadic arrows to counterattack, they would all bounce off their armor.
In a short period of time, the hastily gathered Holy Kingdom troops were defeated one after another, and the buildings where they were hiding were set on fire one after another. But then, groups of Holy Kingdom knights also wearing heavy armor rushed out of the monasteries and church buildings on the mountainside.
They passed through the buildings without hesitation, and were blocked by blazing flames and the roar of thrown explosives; along the narrow and uncovered mountain road, they once again fought fiercely with the special attack knights who had resisted during the period. . In the midst of this hoarse scream.
Jiang Tian, who had spent a lot of effort and cost to send this crew over, slowly regained his composure as he watched the warnings and injury reminders disappear from his field of vision. Appearing on the mast of the sailboat, and then gently passing by in the air, he came from the top bell tower under the statue of the golden archangel.
Then, he said to the monks who were kneeling on the ground and praying, but were stunned and stiff: "I am looking for an important thing, but it was hidden on the Holy Mountain not long ago, so now I need someone who can guide the way. people……"
The next moment, Francesco, the oldest black-robed monk among the monks, rushed forward on his knees with agility and reaction speed that far exceeded his age, and shouted with enthusiasm and excitement on his face. : "I will obey your instructions, the saint with great power!"
