Chapter 322: Hoist with One’s Own Petard

"Then just smash it, I didn’t say you couldn’t either." Heavenly Dao huffed, turning his face away: "However if the Light returns making a fuss then you coax him yourselves, I won’t coax you know."

Saying that he held his hand out demanding sticky rice. Sane leisurely peeled the leaf wrapping the sticky rice package he had just snatched, taking a huge bite right in front of him.

Heavenly Dao dropped rolling onto the bell hanging beam throwing a tantrum, kicking his heels exactly like a child having candy snatched away, throwing a tantrum to the point the bell beside him swung making ’bong bong’ sounds.

In the courtyard below someone shouted that the bell automatically rang, the barefooted Deity was about to manifest again, thus the whole crowd dropped bowing down adding one more turn, faith threads flew up every single thread popping straight into Kaelen’s hand.

Kaelen sighed, dug from his pocket two sticky rice packages originally reserved for himself, shoving both into Heavenly Dao’s hands. He sprang up sitting, his face beaming as if nothing had ever happened, both mumbling chewing and glancing at Sane.

"You also shouldn’t be so smug." He said: "Fighting then you fight, enjoying then someone else enjoys. This entire kingdom has there been any thread popping into your hand yet?"

Sane’s face visibly darkened.

Heavenly Dao visibly rejoiced, eating completely clean one package before willing to speak further: "The neighboring country is different. The coal over that side is very hot."

Finishing speaking he vanished, only leaving several banana leaf pieces falling fluttering down to the tower foot.

The neighboring country was named Ironvale. The land of this region plowed up was entirely gravel and gravel, therefore Ironvale men only had two paths, either crawling down into tunnels mining ore, or carrying spears up to the Northern pass guarding against demonic creatures. Every child also knew how to hold a wooden sword before knowing how to hold a spoon, and knowing how to hold a spoon then there was also nothing to scoop.

The Church in Ironvale had a custom, any family having two sons then must hand over one kid up to the pass, called handing sons to Deities. Soldiers dying on the pass then get to go up sitting beside the God of Light, Cardinal Osbert preached like that throughout thirty years, preaching so well to the point there were mothers both crying and saying thank you.

However His Eminence himself had never gone up to the pass once, because His Eminence was still busy sitting beside the fireplace in the Grand Cathedral in the Royal Capital. The sitting spot beside the God of Light then His Eminence yielded entirely to the soldiers!

This year snow fell early, demonic creatures also flooded down early. Gray Stone Fort being besieged arriving at the tenth day then sixty people only remained seventeen, distress letters sent returning to the Royal Capital three letters, every letter was also finished reading by the Lord Commander of the Northern pass then used as fireplace kindling.

That afternoon, the two people sat on the roof of Ironvale’s Grand Cathedral. Kaelen just pressing his hand down onto the tiled roof snapped it back immediately, hissing like a person mistakenly thrusting his hand into a boiling water pot.

The old statue stone under the church foundation here also smoldered like in Fenmoor, but the warmth was completely different. The coal in Fenmoor was warm like a sweet potato burying ash stove, while the coal on this side was stiflingly hot like a forge, touching it then smelled the iron smell, blood smell with even thunder smell.

Sane also pressed his hand down, sitting silently for a very long time.

In the past soldiers of this land going to battle all knelt before the statue of a horned Deity taking an oath, soldiers swore not abandoning the fort, generals swore not abandoning soldiers. Since the day the Church rose up, his statues were called demon statues, smashed not missing a single one, stone brought back propping up church foundations, identically to the way people had done with Kaelen’s statues on the other side of the mountain.

Kaelen didn’t say anything, only threaded his hand into his palm squeezing lightly.

"Let me poke." Taking a long while later Sane finally spoke up, his eyes looking down at the brightly lit stained glass window, the spot His Eminence the Cardinal was currently sitting warming his feet by the fireplace: "Conveniently striking each guy in there one bolt."

"Striking dead then tomorrow there will be another guy sitting into the chair." Kaelen answered: "Church chairs have they ever lacked people sitting."

Sane thought for a moment, his mouth corners suddenly smirked up, the kind of smirking that in the past enemy troops catching sight of knew trouble was about to happen.

"Then following the old rule." He said: "Generals abandoning soldiers then go out standing replacing soldiers."

That night Kaelen sat leaning on Sane’s shoulder on the Grand Cathedral roof, waiting for him to poke the coal. Right under their feet, in the warmly heated room behind the stained glass window, Cardinal Osbert had crawled into the goose down blanket sleeping soundly like every night.

Arriving at midnight, the Ironvale sky completely did not have a single cloud wisp yet thunder kept rumbling continuously in bouts, rumbling from the Northern pass rumbling down all the way to the Southern coastline. Every church also had a purple lightning bolt embedding straight down onto the roof, piercing through the roof without breaking even a single tile, stabbing down all the way to the statue stone pile under the foundation.

The gold layer plated on the wall flowed drippingly like congealed fat meeting fire. The God of Light statue on the altar cracked wide open from head to foot, the stone shell peeled off in patches, exposing inside a tall large person having a pair of upward curving horns, behind his back spreading wide wings, two hands resting a long sword touching the ground.

Along the Northern pass then lightning poured down like rain. The demonic creature pack currently besieging dozens of border forts completely not yet having time to tilt their necks up howling had already become ash, the wind blowing passing was blown cleanly away.

On the cloud layer, the Law kid tightly covered both ears crying, Heavenly Dao again had to hug sticky rice sitting coaxing until morning.

Cardinal Osbert was dreaming seeing himself get to sit beside the God of Light when feeling his two feet freezing cold.

He opened his eyes, seeing himself currently standing on the wall collapsed losing half of Gray Stone Fort, his body wearing solely a silk pajama suit, his head still wearing intact the sleeping cap having a cotton pompom, bare feet stepping onto the snow, in his hand was a rusty spear not knowing belonging to whom.

Seventeen soldier guys sitting hugging their knees at the wall foot looked up at him, he looked down at them, the two sides stared wide-eyed at each other for so long to the point snow covered white even the cotton pompom on the cap.

"I am Cardinal Osbert!" He trembled chattering his teeth: "Who dares to catch me up here?"

No one answered. He threw away the spear, striding straight going out to the fort gate, just lifting his foot across the threshold then a purple lightning bolt struck embedding down right before his toe, the snow evaporated sizzling once. He tried arriving at the third time then did not dare to try anymore, slinkingly turned back picking the spear up.

The white-bearded captain old man stood watching from beginning to end, finishing watching then burst out laughing ’kh?c kh?c’, because this rule his Grandfa once recounted since the time he newly enlisted, and he kept thinking it was a fairy tale coaxing children.

"We came up here dying replacing you." He said: "Then now Deities force you up here standing together with us. The old rule is like that."

That night, along the Northern pass there were forty-one more people standing guard. The Lord Commander of the Northern pass stood on the North Wind Fort wall, his hand still tightly clutching the wine glass. The old storehouse keeping official having once sold ten cotton coats of soldiers to tailor for himself a fur coat then stood on the Wolf Head Fort wall with exactly the thin shirt worn indoors.

For ten days now this was the first night Gray Stone Fort had people guarding on behalf, therefore the seventeen soldier guys dropped rolling out sleeping soundly like dead, snoring echoing the whole gorge. His Eminence the Cardinal alone hugged the spear standing on the wall until morning, not daring to sit down even once, because just whenever he buckled his knees then in the sky there was a thunder sound clearing its throat.

Morning came, there was a soldier guy waking up first, seeing him trembling like a wet dog then threw a torn blanket over, both throwing and grumbling:

"Stand straightening your back up, Your Eminence the Cardinal. Demonic creatures seeing you hunching like that then they think this fort ran out of people."

Near noon, the fort gate had two more strange guests.

"His Eminence the Cardinal’s family people came up redeeming him back huh?" Some soldier guy asked.

The Cardinal was glad to the point of almost dropping the spear, hurriedly crawling down off the wall.

The captain old man then did not say did not grunt, kept staring intently at the purple-haired man having just stepped across the gate, looking from people’s face to the face of the horned statue inside the small church of the fort, the more looking the more his hands trembled. He knelt dropping down onto the snow floor.

"My Grandfa said You never abandon soldiers." He choked his voice: "These ten days I kept thinking my Grandfa lied."

The remaining sixteen soldier guys bewilderedly looked at each other for a moment then also knelt following.

Purple faith threads flew up from seventeen heads currently bowing low, every single thread popped straight into Sane’s palm. The God of War stared intently at his hand like looking at some very strange thing, looking endlessly not blinking his eyes.

Kaelen leaned close to his ear, giggling: "See, Baby."

He abandoned him standing there admiring his hand, taking a lap around the fort, arriving at the collapsed wall spot then stopped tapping tapping his shoe toe onto the rubble pile. A thorn bush from under the snow sprouted up, growing fast as blowing, before long had grown thickly covering the collapsed wall spot, thick like a net, every single thorn as long as a finger.

There was a soldier guy curiously touching trying, getting stabbed by a thorn exactly one strike then jumped hopping up, hissing saying like this then what demonic creature can crawl through successfully. Across the Northern pass, whichever fort the wall collapsed then that spot sprouted up an exactly identical thorn bush.

The Cardinal dragged arriving before Sane’s face, knelt bowing down to the snow: "Sir, I know my crime already. Please You let me return."

Sane completely didn’t bother looking down at him, only asked the soldier captain old man at this fort standing the pass for how long already. He answered the least kid also two years, there was a kid four years now not yet getting to return home a single time.

"Then whenever this fort has people coming up changing shifts, has cotton coats to wear, has medicine to apply, then you return." He said.

[For thirty years I told soldiers dying then getting to sit beside Deities...] The Cardinal looked at the purple-haired man currently standing amidst the ragged soldier crowd, then again looked down at his two completely purple bare feet: [Turned out real Deities only stand beside soldiers.]

He crawled getting up, tremblingly asked for paper and pen. Gray Stone Fort completely didn’t have any blank paper piece left, he had to write onto the back side of the fourth distress letter that the captain old man had not yet had time to send away.

While in the Royal Capital then that morning was bustling like a broken beehive.

People dragged each other out before the Grand Cathedral door but no one dared to step inside. Someone said the horned statue on the altar was a demon, someone argued what demon that stood at attention like a guard, arguing noisily until the crippled chestnut selling old man at the street head leaning on his crutch dragged inside, looked at the statue once then knelt dropping down.

"Demon my monkey!" He shouted: "God of the soldiers you know, you fools!"

The servant crowd then tearfully recounted everywhere that the Cardinal’s bed was completely empty, the blanket still warm, surely he was caught away by the horned demon already.

Arriving at afternoon, a pigeon from the Northern pass brought back a letter personally written by his hand, the handwriting slanted and crooked like chicken scratching, ordering opening the parish storehouse sending cotton coats, wool blankets with medicine up to all border forts, accompanied by people going up changing shifts for soldiers.

The rule of the horned Deity transmitted going even faster than post horses, and the rule then was very easy to remember, generals abandoning soldiers then go out standing replacing soldiers.

There was a certain Viscount Sir not believing, the next night covered three blanket layers, borrowed ten Holy Knights of the parish standing surrounding the bed. Morning came he stood on the Black Stone Fort wall, his body still wrapped intact in three blanket layers, while the ten Holy Knights stood guarding the empty bed until all the way to noon to finally know.

Less than ten days, the road up to the Northern pass was congested because of wagons carrying cotton coats, wool blankets with medicine, veteran soldiers standing the pass for many years sequentially got to be changed returning to their hometowns.

Any lord having sons then personally led the sons up the pass, leading up then stayed there permanently to be sure, because no one knew what way then Deities counted as abandoning soldiers. Any mother in Ironvale also lit candles before the horned statue, praying for her child, praying even for the entire fort of her child.

That was the matter of ten days later. While that afternoon, when the two people left Gray Stone Fort going down the mountain, Sane kept walking exactly a few steps then stopped, opened his palm looking, his lips moving.

"You mumbled what there?" Kaelen asked.

"Three thousand four hundred and twenty-seven."

Kaelen was stunned for a moment before understanding, snorted laughing to the point having to hold onto his shoulder to laugh.

"You counted every single thread huh?"

"Too free counting for fun only." The God of War answered deadpan, finishing answering then bent down counting further, because just had adding one more thread popping into his hand.