Treasures

Every city had a fixed tax quota, and the remainder was left to the local nobles to manage their fiefs.

Simply put, it was like collecting protection money.

The protection fee was a fixed amount, but the boss had no way of knowing exactly how much money was actually being made.

For some cities, this tax quota might be quite large, but for others, it might not even amount to a single month's worth of actual revenue.

In short, the Kingdom of the Moon still maintained a feudal system.

The only place Luo Li truly held in her hands was Brilliant City.

She had almost entirely lost the ability to control the other cities.

Fortunately, she still held the nation's military power, at least in name.

"Time to sleep."

Looking at the moon high in the sky, she realized it was already past midnight.

She was feeling tired as well.

However, sleeping in such a vast and empty place like the main hall was truly uncomfortable.

"To the bedchamber."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The entire Temple was enclosed by a three-meter-high wall. Upon stepping out of the main hall, the side buildings consisted of priest quarters on one side and nun quarters on the other.

Interestingly, although the priest quarters were included within the Temple grounds, a partition wall had been built to isolate them.

It was shaped like a concave block, separating the building where the priests lived from the rest of the complex.

The partition wall featured two iron gates that were locked at a specific time every night to prevent any scandalous trysts from occurring within the Temple.

The largest building in the Temple was the front hall, which housed the sacred statues.

Luo Li's bedchamber, however, was located in the rear, occupying an entire building of its own.

The buildings in the Temple were generally about three stories high; aside from the front hall being slightly taller, the heights of the other buildings were very similar.

Unlike the dwellings of the commoners outside, the Temple buildings were constructed from solid stone blocks.

Their sturdiness was on an entirely different level.

"Your Highness, we have arrived at the bedchamber."

One little nun led the way while two others respectfully held up the hem of her skirt as they crossed the central courtyard to reach the residence at the back.

The couch in front of the sacred statue was meant for use during periods of secluded prayer, but on ordinary days, the Saintess could choose to sleep on the bed beneath the statue or return to her own room.

However, many Saintesses chose to sleep directly in the main hall for convenience.

Such details could be found within the Biographies of the Saintesses of the Moon.

The nuns stood guard at the door while Luo Li entered alone.

The floor of the room was entirely covered with thick carpets, so it did not feel cold even when stepping on it with bare feet.

A magnificent crystal magic chandelier emitted a soft glow, and every piece of furniture in the room carried a profound sense of history.

A smaller daybed was placed there, along with a desk and various dazzling decorations.

This was a place for the Saintess to take short naps, have mid-day breaks, or drink tea.

Moving further inside, she came upon a display room.

The layout of the display room was quite simple, yet the items hanging on the surrounding walls were anything but ordinary.

Various weapons were mounted on the walls, most of which were lances and greatswords, though there were also suits of armor, daggers, and even some crossbows.

Each weapon was placed inside a glass display case with a line of text hanging above it.

The inscriptions noted the name of the person who had once used the weapon, along with their former rank.

She walked up to a certain lance.

It was a long lance crafted from gold, weighing approximately three tons, and it was held suspended in the air by the mana emitted from magic stones inside the case.

The shaft of the lance was engraved with various holy runes, each one inlaid with holy platinum. Even standing outside the display case without direct contact, one could feel the inviolable, divine power radiating from the weapon.

"Sacred Knight—Julius Wallis. Born in the year 577 of the Holy Calendar, died in the year 692 of the Holy Calendar."

This golden lance was the weapon of the very Sacred Knight she had summoned.

Julius was one of the three Sacred Knights born in the history of the Kingdom of the Moon.

It was precisely because Julius originated from the Kingdom of the Moon that she had been able to summon him.

She lightly stroked the glass display case, feeling the divine power emanating from the golden lance.

She couldn't help but recall the history of Sacred Knight Julius.

He reached the rank of Brave Knight at twelve, became a Guardian Knight at seventeen, a Heavenly Punishment Knight at twenty-seven, and finally attained the rank of Sacred Knight at forty.

It could be said that the era Julius lived in was a time of a major counter-offensive by the demon army.

His path of growth was essentially accompanied by one battle after another.

On March 7th in the year 692 of the Holy Calendar, the demon army suddenly broke through the border without any prior warning and marched all the way toward Brilliant City.

The reinforcements from other nations could not possibly arrive in time.

To protect Brilliant City and the Kingdom of the Moon, he led ten thousand knights to face the demon army at a location fifty kilometers away from the city.

In the end, the knight legion was completely wiped out. Julius himself died of exhaustion under the siege of tens of thousands of demon elites, over a hundred Demon Commanders, and ten Demon Marshals.

When the reinforcements finally arrived, he had already drawn his last breath. Even so, his standing figure was enough to make the heavily damaged demon army hesitate to take a single step further.

According to the records, Julius and his ten thousand knights had slain three Demon Marshals, seventy-three Demon Commanders, and over twenty thousand demon elites, while also heavily wounding the Demon King.

The Saintess of the Moon of that generation also passed away less than a month after returning, having excessively exhausted her life force.

"A truly heroic figure whose story is worthy of songs and tears."

She gently touched the golden lance. In truth, it was impossible for all the Sacred Knights of the Holy Church to be locals.

To put it bluntly, the territory of the Holy Church was only so large; for top-tier combat power, they had to select from the knights of other nations.

Thus, the Kingdom of the Moon had contributed three Sacred Knights over its history.

However, since the death of Julius, the elites of the Kingdom of the Moon had been almost entirely wiped out overnight. Nearly all of those ten thousand knights had been Brave Knights. The sudden loss of so many elites made it exceptionally difficult for the Kingdom of the Moon to recover.

Since then, the Kingdom of the Moon had lost its vitality and had yet to fully recover its strength even to this day.

The decline of the Saintess of the Moon's power also began to manifest during that period, and it had not fully recovered since.

That was a turning point in the history of the Kingdom of the Moon.

But now, perhaps the Kingdom of the Moon had reached its second turning point.

Because... I am here.

She glanced at the various treasures displayed in the room.

"It's a bit of a waste to just leave these good things sitting here. Hmm... perhaps they can be put to use?"