Until he walked out of the main castle, Bether could hardly believe it.

He looked up at the blazing sun, squinting his eyes.

How did he, a Mountain Knight, become Horn's document advisor in such a muddle-headed way?

Will the other Mountain Knights see him as a traitor?

But Bether finally agreed, with some deliberation.

The first reason was that although the Bear Chomping Castle mountain path ambush relied on mechanical advantages, victory was still victory, and this Horn had some skills.

He wanted to learn Horn's strengths to counteract him.

The second reason was that currently, there were no Mountain Knights around Horn, so any news, any events, the Mountain Knights knew nothing at all.

This was a significant gap for them and needed to be filled.

Even if he had to bear the name of a traitor, he would be a thorn in Horn's side, secretly passing information or influencing Horn.

If he could change Horn's views on the nobility, maybe in the future, both sides could achieve peace without bloodshed.

If Her Highness Moliat were to encounter any unforeseen events, maybe he could still protect those Mountain Knights... 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

No, no, no, Bether shook his head vigorously, how could he think of such things, in his heart there was only one sun, Moliat.

Once the opportunity arose, he would bring his talents to join Moliat.

Folding Horn's letter of appointment, he tucked it into the pouch at his waist, shading his eyes with his hand as he headed toward the camp.

...

Watching Bether's departing figure from the window, a slight smile crept onto Horn's face.

One must admit, Juanuo, Jia Li, and Catherine, the master and disciples trio, were truly remarkable.

In over ten years, before Horn initiated the uprising, they had already cultivated a large pool of basic administrative, military, and economic talents for him.

Or it could be said, this master-disciple trio originally intended to overthrow the Thousand River Valley, and so they had developed the organization for over a decade.

Although logically it couldn't be stated like this, Horn had indeed harvested some fruits of innovation from the Juanist Faction.

If the Thousand River Valley truly resembled the medieval scenery of the Shattered Stone Plain, Horn might still be waging guerrilla wars now.

Shortly after the conversation with Bether, it was time to dine.

Horn put down his Dick gold pen, donned a coat, and as soon as he reached the door, he saw the main door wide open.

The man pushing the door was burly, with grizzled beard and hair, wearing a simple combat attire, striding in quite roughly.

Seeing him, Horn was first delighted, then solemn: "Master Patrick… What happened?"

Unlike before, the Old Wizard now appeared gaunt and much paler.

"At my age, yet I was sent by you to the Shattered Stone Plain, to set up informants and develop the Saint Father's Association!" Patrick scolded indiscriminately.

"You still ask what happened to me? This old man is seventy-six, and to gain the Shepherd's trust, I even had the head of the Sheep God tattooed on my lower back!"

Horn had no mind for a meal, quickly seated Patrick, and prepared coffee for him.

No sugar, no milk, the Old Wizard loved it pure with frog venom.

"How was the harvest this time?"

"Not bad." Patrick grabbed a handful of crispy biscuits from Horn's table, munching away, mumbling, "The first batch of five hundred Blessed have completed vaccination, all pledged allegiance in front of your bust…"

"Uh-huh…"

"Don't talk to me about your Holy Path rhetoric, they don't understand the difference between individuals and congregations, they only acknowledge this bust."

Upon realizing the Leia people were increasing their troops, Horn and the others immediately knew the additional forces could not all be thrown at the Nao'an River line.

Horn made preparations in both the north line towards the Red Iron Mountain Range and the south line of Kasha County.

It was then that Patrick went to the Shattered Stone Plain, taking dozens of Holy Path monks to start developing the Saint Father's Association.

Thanks to the various actions of Moliat and André in the Shattered Stone Plain, Patrick's development didn't go smoothly.

To date, the entire Shattered Stone Plain Saint Father's Association had less than a thousand people.

Only two to three hundred were truly devout and pledged allegiance.

Hindering enemy logistics was challenging, but gathering intelligence, starting fires, and causing disturbances were feasible.

"These times have truly been hard on you." Horn, despite Patrick's rude treatment, consoled him warmly, "Once the war here stops, you can go back and have a good rest."

Patrick looked vigorous, yet given his age, his spirit was considerably dimmed compared to before.

Only Patrick himself seemed unaware of it.

"How is Jia Li?" After business was discussed, Patrick downed his coffee and moved on to personal matters.

Horn immediately retrieved a thick stack of letters from a locked briefcase and handed them to Patrick.

Patrick untied the leather cord and began reading them one by one.

Even though it was dinner time, Horn did not rush him, and simply picked up the map again to study it.

After a while, a Loyal Successor Attendant entered to light a candle, only then did Patrick speak.

"Thank you."

"Hmm?" Lifting his head, Horn instinctively asked, "For what?"

Patrick gave him a suspicious look: "Are you doing this on purpose, or are you pretending?"

"Doing what on purpose?"

Letting out a long sigh, Patrick's initial sharpness and bloodlust from returning from the Shattered Stone Plain gradually faded.

He retied the letters and returned them to Horn: "Thank you for giving Jia Li a girl's period, though just for three months."

"You're welcome, did you notice Jia Li made a new friend?" Horn looked at the solid stack of letters in his hand, "You also realized, Jia Li's heart is actually just like a child's, right?"

Patrick's fingers fidgeted, his tone lowering: "It's us who imposed Ruo'an's mission on her, making her live in fear, pain, and confusion all her life."

"Jia Li should thank you both, she has many people who love her."

"Are you one of them?"

Horn straightened up: "Of course."

"Then when will you marry her? If you marry her, she will securely hand the Thousand River Valley over to you, sparing these current sufferings."

"...Oh my, it's so late already."

"Aren't you twenty-four this year? Even Vincent, who doesn't have your Witch constitution, can still boldly ask Louise to conceive, yet you haven't even tried once?"

"Dass is twenty-seven, and he's not married either, why should I hurry?"

"Does his family have a Pope position to inherit? Yours truly does!"

"Well, my stomach aches, I must be thirsty, I need to eat." Horn adopted a Pope's demeanor, "Ahem, Mr. Patrick, you may return to rest."

Patrick shook his head and prepared to leave, but Horn stopped him, handing him a letter.

With an ambiguous wink towards Patrick, Horn left a "letter from Jinhe Town" and dashed out of the room.

...

Returning to the guest house arranged for him outside the main castle, as soon as he entered the room, a young shepherd approached: "Master Patrick, did you meet the Pope?"

"I did, don't worry, the Pope will surely acknowledge you." Patrick waved his hand impatiently, "Hector, go boil me a pot… cough cough cough."

Covering his mouth, Patrick began coughing violently.

Only after coughing did Patrick belatedly realize he still held a letter in his hand.

Looking down at the letter in his mouth, he noticed a spot of blood had seeped onto it.