Masked Knight - Chapter 83

Chapter 83: A Thousand Year Old Tale

Rody carried Muse across the grassland for two days. They usually traveled during the night
where they less visible That evening, they heard the sound of horses trotting. They both
immediately hid among the grass. They saw a team of Roland cavalrymen, about 100 of them
running in their direction from the distance.
Both of them held their breath until the cavalrymen went by.
Muse who had always relied on her own terrifying strength could not accept the situation they
were in. She could not help but ask Rody, “Aren’t you supposed to be very powerful? The other
day you completely annihilated my 200 cavalrymen. Now there are only 100 of them. What are
you afraid of?”
Rody gave her a strange look but did not say anything.
Last time, Old Mark's life-saving crystal gave me unlimited fighting energy. But right now, I do
not have anything. Other than my strength as a Grade 4 swordsman, I do not even have a stick
to use. Charging into 100 heavily armed cavalrymen is just suicide.
At night, they finally found a small grassland tribe. The tribe only had about a dozen tents. They
also had a fence which surrounded about a dozen cattle. A few horses were also tied beside each
tent. The place was extremely quiet without a single person keeping guard.
Rody left Muse behind and went in to steal a horse. Muse watched him while she hid. She
contemplated her dignity. She never thought that she would be reduced to accompanying
someone to steal a horse.
Her palms began to sweat. After a long while, she suddenly heard dogs barking. Soon after, she
could hear the sound of drums as the tents began to light up. She then saw Rody rush out from
the tribal village with a horse. The horse rushed towards Muse and she noticed that Rody
looked somewhat embarrassed. He had a string of dried meat hanging around his neck. Rody
helped her up and made her sit in front of him.
The tribesmen behind them were shouting. Some of them had already mounted their horses
and were chasing them. Rody and Muse fled as fast as they could. After some time, they could
no longer hear the sound of people chasing them. Then they sighed in relief.
Muse started to blame him. “Aren’t you very skilled? How did you get spotted for stealing a
horse?”
Rody did not answer immediately. He took the dried meat around his neck and hung it on the
saddle. After that, he took something out and gave it to Muse. He then replied without facing
her, "At first there were no problems but when I saw this, I risked entering the tent. As a result,
I was spotted."
Muse pinched the object and asked, “What is this?”
Rody smiled wryly. "The grassland tribe's medicine for wounds. At Watt Fortress, we captured a
lot of people from the Great Moon Kingdom. They were all carrying this. That's why I

recognized it." He crushed the medicine and mixed it with water. After that, he said, "Rub this
on your wound." He then paused for a moment before continuing, "I heard that applying this
medicine can be painful but the effects are good. When you use it, try to endure the pain."
Muse held the medicine and it felt warm. She knew that it was warm because of the duke’s body
temperature. At that moment, she felt hot and her mind went blank.
They rode the horse towards the south for three days. Fortunately, they did not run into any
pursuing soldiers. The grasslands were very large but the population was small. This saved
them a lot of trouble. As they continued to travel south, Rody started to worry about the
situation at Watt Fortress so he sped up. Muse was frustrated but she could not do anything
other than follow Rody involuntarily.
She tried using many magical methods but it seemed like her sorcery had disappeared without
a trace. She also did not have any magic tools around and had no way to make use of her
magical knowledge.
She was originally a proud and indifferent person. However, that personality was built on her
terrifying strength. Now, she had become a weak and ordinary woman. On top of that, she had a
hard time understanding common social communication; She never needed to worry about that
before. When she became a fugitive, she was initially stubborn and argued with Rody. However,
she had to rely on Rody for everything. Along the way, the skillful warrior, Rody hid their tracks
and stole food.
Not only was Muse unable help at all, she was ridiculously lacking in common sense. In the
beginning, Rody just gave the food to Muse. However, he soon learned that without magic, she
could not even start a fire. Occasionally when he caught a hare, he would give it to her.
However, she did not know how to cut and clean the hare for cooking or remove the fur. Rody
could only smile and do everything. He could not help but think of Muse as an idiot.
At first, Muse would answer back sarcastically but then she realized that she was really
ignorant of simple things. She understood that without her magic and the duke’s help, she
would not have survived a day in the grasslands. Her arrogance started to disappear and she
began to act more like a helpless woman. She also remained silent whenever the annoying duke
called her an idiot.
As the Saint of the Roland Continent's Black Veil Temple, the people usually respected her. She
was also said to be one of the most outstanding saints in the past several hundred years.
However, she was now regarded as an ignorant little girl by the Duke of the Tulip Family and
was even called an idiot. She felt extremely frustrated because she was unable to refute his
words.
That day, the two of them met a group of traders with their caravans. Rody observed the
caravan carefully for a long time to determine that they did not have any soldiers from the
Great Moon Kingdom. After some struggle, they went up to the caravan to ask for news. They
wore the stolen clothes of a male and female herder. Rody also forced Muse to smear dirt on her
face to hide the color of her complexion. They both rode a single horse towards the caravans to
greet the traders.
Rody did not know how to speak the language of the Great Moon Kingdom but Muse was
extremely proficient at it. They started chatting with the traders, pretending that they wished
to buy some goods.

Although the tribes in the grasslands were self-sufficient, there were caravans that traded in
goods from the Radiant Empire. They brought specialty goods from the Radiant Empire and
traded it for fur to take back to the Radiant Empire. Reuenthal did not prohibit the entry of
these caravans. After all, that was where he bought the metal to forge their swords.
Although the two nations were fighting, the Great Moon Kingdom was located at the
grasslands. There were no fortresses or walls to separate the territories. Prohibiting trade
would have been a joke.
The two pretended to buy goods and asked for information. They found out that the havoc
caused by the two groups dispatched by the Radiant Empire had made Reuenthal withdraw his
troops back to the Great Moon Kingdom. Although the Trier Fortress and Loulan Fortress were
still occupied and guarded by soldiers of the Great Moon Kingdom, their king was furious about
the havoc caused in their country. He blamed Reuenthal for his incompetence. After that, there
was an uproar in Dragon Plateau. The tribal leaders who disliked Reuenthal spoke against him
and did not want Reuenthal to continue leading the soldiers. On the other hand, the second
prince received a lot of support. He took the opportunity to seize power and the war had
temporarily stopped.
As for the Radiant Empire, the Watt Fortress was still heavily guarded. The banner of the Tulip
Family continued to fly but there was no other news.
Rody calmed down and believed that Gordon, Sieg, and the others were still waiting for him to
return. He wished that he could grow wings and immediately fly back to Watt Fortress.
When they were resting that day, Muse looked gloomy. Rody laughed and asked, “Hey, what’s
wrong idiot? What are you thinking about?”
During the past few days, while escaping together, they had become dependent on each other.
Although they were enemies, they had now established an affinity for each other.
Muse no longer replied sarcastically. She ignored the fact that he called her an idiot. She lightly
asked, “Your Excellency, have you decided on what to do with me after taking me back to Watt
Fortress?”
Rody shook his head and replied, “I have not decided yet but I cannot let you go. The Roland
Continent must have a reason for meddling in the war between Radiant Empire and the Great
Moon Kingdom. How can I feel at ease without knowing their true motives?”
Muse closed her eyes and thought for a moment before sighing. She said softly, “There is
nothing strange about it. What do you want to know? Just ask. I will tell you if I can.”
The moment she said that Rody was surprised, “You are willing to tell me now?”
Muse looked frustrated as she whispered, “His Majesty the King wants to get rid of me. Why
should I pledge my loyalty to him? However, as a temple saint, there are still things that I
cannot say.”
Rody nodded and thought for a moment before asking, “To tell you the truth, I am not familiar
with the situation in the Roland Continent. If you all wanted to fight with the Radiant Empire,
why did you all not attack directly from the north?”
Muse smiled but it slowly dulled. “Fight with you? Surely, we cannot win…”

Rody could speak Muse smiled again and continued, “We are different from all of you.
This whole vast continent is the Radiant Empire’s territory. The populace and ample resources
on this continent all belong to the Radiant Empire. Our Roland Continent is made up of more
than a dozen kingdoms. Each has its own king and army. All of them are believers of the
Temple and the king must be acknowledged by the Temple in order to ascend the throne. We
are not of one mind and there is infighting every year. If we were to fight with you, we would
definitely lose.”
“My kingdom is the largest one on the Roland Continent, the Kingdom of Sauron1. Although the
Roland Continent has more than a dozen kingdoms, the Kingdom of Sauron occupies half of the
continent with its territory, military force and population. The other 12 kingdoms combined
cannot compete with the Kingdom of Sauron. However, at the same time, my kingdom is also
the most helpless one. It is located in the south near the thunderous regions and next to the
powerful Radiant Empire.
For hundreds of years, every time the Radiant Empire became stronger, you would cross the
ocean to attack us. We would need to mobilize all the kingdoms of the Roland Continent to fight
back! However, once the Empire retreated, the Roland Continent would be torn apart again and
the 13 kingdoms would go back to doing their own things. The Radiant Empire has such a big
territory and is so powerful. How can we in the Roland Continent pick a fight with you? The
only time we have ever won was when we fought across the sea or when we took advantage of
your civil strife but in the end…” Here, Muse looked at Rody and whispered, “In the end, we were
still defeated by your ancestors, the Tulip Family.”
Rody’s face turned red. He was an impostor and it felt weird when someone praised his
‘ancestors’.
Muse did not pay attention to Rody's facial expression and continued, "The Kingdom of Sauron
has always been known as the strongest on the Roland Continent and its cavalrymen are all
brave but it is in extreme danger because it is the closest kingdom to the Radiant Empire.
Sauron acts as a strong barrier blocking the further expansion of the Radiant Empire to the
north while the other 12 kingdoms hide behind us and enjoy peace."
Rody raised his eyebrows and could not help but ask, “Since the Kingdom of Sauron is the
strongest on the Roland Continent, why did you not capture the 12 smaller kingdoms and unify
the continent?, Won’t you be able to fight against the Radiant Empire then?”
Muse looked helpless and replied in a low voice, “You will not understand. The Roland
Continent believes in the Temple. Everyone, whether it is the king, the nobles, the knights or
the civilians, they are all believers of the Temple. First of all, the Temple would never agree to
unifying the continent. If the bishop made a decree, everybody would oppose to a war. Even the
King of Sauron would have to step down. Starting a war to unify the continent? It is
impossible.”
Rody sneered. “Hah, it looks like your Temple does not have good intentions! Uniting the
continent to create a strong empire will weaken the Temple’s authority! Of course, they
wouldn’t want that to happen! If I were the Temple’s leader, I would try to stop anyone from
uniting the Roland Continent too! It is much easier to have all the small countries duped into
worshiping one supreme religious leader than to struggle under a single strong imperial
power...”

Muse shook her head. She obviously did not take the duke's nonsensical words to heart and
slowly replied, "The Temple is the religious leader of the Roland Continent. Naturally, they have
power. They have 200,000 Circle Knights scattered across the continent in all the kingdoms.
The Temple will also assign a saint to each kingdom. The saint manages religious sites and
helps the king to govern the kingdom. In the smaller kingdoms, the saint has even greater
authority than the king… so… so, do not insult the existence of the Temple! The Temple is God's
building! Everyone on the Roland Continent is under God's protection! It is not… not as
despicable as you said!"
Hearing this, Rody sneered again. “No wonder you cannot defeat the Radiant Empire! There is
no centralized rule and there is no unity.”
Muse gave a crooked smile and replied, “It seems like the current King of Sauron has the same
idea as you. The moment he came into power, he has been finding ways to weaken the Temple’s
authority and influence of the religion. This time, he formed a secret alliance with the Great
Moon Kingdom and funded them to fight with the Radiant Empire. How else did you think
Reuenthal managed to get so much provision and military equipment? I may not know about
many things but I know that war requires money!”
“Hehe," Rody said with a sneer. After that, he said, "What about you? Did they dispatch you as a
special envoy to assist Reuenthal?"
Muse nodded. “Although King Sauron is not loyal to the Temple, weakening the Radiant Empire
is beneficial to the Roland Continent. This was something the Temple understood. As we cannot
have a frontal attack, we can only hope for an internal strife. When the Great Moon Kingdom
and Radiant Empire are at war, the powerful Reuenthal can at least delay the Radiant Empire
for a few years… or even longer. Then, there will be a time of peace for the Roland Continent.
So… so the Temple decided to support King Sauron even though they do not have a good
relationship with him. This time, they dispatched me for the sake of helping Reuenthal to fight
the Radiant Empire. It shows the amount of attention the Temple is giving to this.”
Rody thought for a moment and said, “I finally understand the gist of it but why do they want to
betray you?”
Muse sneered and replied, “I am the Saint of the Black Veil Temple. Once my training is
completed, I will officially serve as the leader of the Temple in the Kingdom of Sauron. King
Sauron wants an autocratic rule. Naturally, he will not want a religious leader who can resist his
power. It is normal for him to try and assassinate me. If I were to die here, they would be able to
push the responsibility to the Radiant Empire. The Temple would not be able to say anything
either. Besides, according to the Temple’s, a saint needs a few years of training. If I were to die,
the Temple would need to send another saint to the Kingdom of Sauron and that would take a
few more years.”
Rody sighed. “King Sauron schemed to kill you because it would take the Temple a few more
years to send another saint. He would then weaken the influence of the Temple in the Sauron
Kingdom and by the time the Temple sends a new saint, he would already be in power.”
After that, Rody suddenly thought of something. He asked, “The God you all believe in, and the
God that the people of the Radiant Empire believe in, are they the same?”
The color on Muse’s face suddenly changed. Her beautiful face immediately turned cold and she
replied, “Of course not! The Radiant Empire worships the devil! Only the Roland Continent

worships the real Almighty God! The one you all worship is a demonic scum from the Mythical
War during the Mythical Era a thousand years ago!”
Rody was curious, “What? How so? What Mythical War from a Mythical Era a thousand years
ago?”
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1 Googling 索伦 ( Suo Lan) yielded Sauron among the images.