With a winding scar on his face, Ackerman sat cross-legged in front of Casper's ashes, quietly looking at the palm-sized urn in front of him, his expression unreadable.

The sound of grief from men, women, and children around him made him turn his head to look.

In the spacious wooden shed, several citizens of Shuangshi stood in front of each urn of ashes.

Some were relatives of the deceased, some were friends of the deceased, and some had simply received favors from the deceased.

Ackerman touched the lid of the urn and said softly, "I advised you long ago to find a woman in the city and have a child. But you always told me you had a wife and children, who had died in the war... Do you see? Without me, you wouldn't even have anyone to see you off..."

A shaman apprentice with his face painted with colorful ink entered the wooden shed and said to everyone, "The time has come. Please, everyone present, take the ashes of the heroic spirits to the sanctuary square."

Holding Caspar's urn in his arms, Ackerman turned his gaze to the door and muttered to himself, "Time to go, my old friend. They say the sanctuary is the gateway to the sacred realm of the gods, and once your soul has traversed it, you will officially become one of the spirits of the gods... I hope that life there will be better than in this world..."

Pushing open the gate, Ackerman saw that all those from the Red Branch Legion who were qualified to enter the temple had come to the pilgrimage site's square.

Nodding to his comrades in the warband, Ackerman hugged Kasper's ashes tightly and, led by the shaman apprentice, walked toward the small gray building in the center of the square.

This building, known as the pilgrimage site, appears much more understated compared to the magnificent and luxurious temple in front of it.

It was carved entirely from a single massive piece of rhyolite, with no windows, no ceiling, only a heavy stone door that allowed one person to pass through at a time. So, once the door was closed, this pilgrimage site became a completely enclosed room.

The building's exterior was painted with lily of the valley juice, giving it a light, glossy gray color, and a calming scent could be smelled as you approached.

The building's four eaves are each carved with a giant dragon with a different expression. Their design is based on the appearance of a tyrant and also has some characteristics of mythology. On the four walls, gold and silver powder are used to write runes or to print paintings and sketches, recording the words and deeds of the sons of the gods.

Upon reaching the bottom of the sanctuary's steps, Ackerman discovered that all the members of the shamanic assembly from Froststone City were gathered before the sanctuary's stone gate.

Minnie, the leader, addressed everyone: "Residents of Froststone City, believers of the Sons of the Gods! Today, we gather here not for sorrowful mourning, nor for declarations of revenge... We are here to witness, to witness the great moment when the heroic spirits enter the Sanctuary!"

Minnie tapped the stone door behind her with her cane and said loudly, "The Son of the Gods ordered the construction of this pilgrimage site. Once the souls of the dead have his permission to pass through here, they can directly enter the sacred realm of the gods and become immortal beings!"

Seeing the excited expressions of the believers below, Minnie continued, "Because opening the passage to the Sanctuary requires a great deal of divine power from the Sons of Gods, the number of heroic spirits qualified to enter the pilgrimage site this time is tentatively limited to one hundred. These one hundred heroic spirits are all fallen in this war, and the list will be determined by the shamanic assembly. We will determine whether a person has a chance to be selected based on their life's deeds, battlefield performance, and level of faith."

Seeing the thousands of people in the square begin to whisper among themselves, Shaman Minnie added, "The ashes of those heroes who were not selected for this list will be placed in the burial ground behind the sanctuary, and they will be arranged to enter the passage again when it opens next time."

"Only one hundred people can enter here?"

Ackerman looked at the urn in his hand and said somewhat uncertainly, "Given our personal relationship with the Son of Gods... you should be able to get in, right?"

Amidst the expectant gazes of the crowd, shaman Minnie read out the name of the first chosen one.

"Tim Rotachi!"

Among those present, some had never heard of the name before, while others, upon hearing it, immediately praised the shamanic gathering for its fairness and impartiality.

Most of the people who don't know this name are residents of the city; while most of the people who do know this name are participants in this battle.

Tim Rotach was neither a chapter commander nor a chapter warrior. Strictly speaking, he wasn't even a chapter member; he was merely a cook in the Froststone army.

But this cook, a slave in Froststone, became the undisputed hero of the Ulster siege.

The general outline of the events is as follows.

The defeat in the Ulster siege prompted the chapter commanders to decide to retreat in batches. During the army's withdrawal, Tim's group was a little-known chapter called Sober, whose task, which had not been taken seriously before the war, was to hold the Froststone army's retreat route—the Bridge of Bansfather.

While covering the wounded troops at the front to cross the wooden bridge, the Sober Regiment sniped the enemy with overwhelming numbers. After holding out for three hours, the morale of the regiment collapsed, and everyone, including the regimental commander, abandoned the position and began to flee.

Tim, a kind and honest cook in his forties, who was a slave, would have been forced to remain a slave if he had fled back to Froststone with the warband at that time... But he did something that surprised everyone.

Alone and facing the surging Ulsters, he did not choose to flee, but stayed on the front line. He used flaxseed oil from his logistical supplies to make firebombs and used wagons, falling rocks, and other obstacles to hold off the enemy for more than ten hours.

In the end, after running out of oil, he was captured by the enemy and dragged to his death by being tied to a horse.

“I’ve seen that short, stout man. Who would have thought that a slave whose homeland is Ulster would be braver than most Froststone people when facing the Ulster army?” Ackerman sighed softly. “If he is the first heroic spirit to step into the Holy Sanctuary, I have no objection.”

Shaman Minnie read the name again, and a thin boy with patched clothes and muddy straw sandals walked shakily up the steps under everyone's gaze.

Minnie looked at the boy and asked softly, "Tell me, child, what's your name?"

“Chuck...Chuck Rotach...Tim is my father.”

Minnie nodded, signaling the shamanic apprentices to open the heavy stone doors of the sanctuary.

Pointing her cane into the dark doorway, Minnie whispered to Chuck, "Go, personally send your father's soul into the sanctuary of the gods, and you will witness this great miracle!"