“No, he should be the knight the apostates are looking for,” Phil Gray explained.
"Huh?" Patrick's eyes widened, then he whispered, "Cousin, did you use the Eye of Fate?"
"Yes."
Patrick quickly instructed Gene, and then went to the boss to book a room right next to theirs.
After Gene helped the homeless man onto the bed, they stood outside the door, looking at each other in bewilderment.
"Cousin, what do we do next?"
"I don't know how he ended up like this," Phil Gray described the scene he had witnessed in detail.
"Alas, the knights of the Knights of Destiny were loyal to the Papacy and the Pope. He was expelled and must have been disheartened. It's not surprising that he gradually became stupid."
"Loyalty? Then why is the Knights of Destiny now turning against me?"
"Ah, the current Papacy is not the same as the Papacy of the past. It must be that the people of the Knights of Destiny have been replaced by the current Knight Commander's cronies. In addition, you were just an ordinary person and not a chosen one of the gods at the time, which caused a lot of dissatisfaction in the Papacy. Anyway, it should be blamed on Wendell and the Knight Commander."
As he spoke, a hint of nostalgia flashed in Patrick's icy blue eyes. "The past was truly wonderful. Although I didn't have much contact with my uncle—your father—he was a truly good pope. Countless believers supported and loved him. The name Darcy Grey will be forever etched in the history of the Church of Destiny."
Patrick had barely finished speaking when the door slammed open.
They were both startled.
They saw the homeless man, who should have been lying in bed, standing straight in front of them. Although he was only supported by one leg, he was inexplicably steady. His black eyes were sharp and stared directly at Phil Gray and Patrick.
Who are you?
Patrick swallowed hard, overwhelmed by the imposing presence of the tramp knight.
"You...you wouldn't attack the Vatican, would you?"
"Wait, what am I afraid of? You only have one leg now."
The homeless man ignored Patrick's answer and just looked at Phil Gray.
Phil Gray sighed helplessly, stepped into the room, removed his mask, and revealed a face that bore a striking resemblance to the former pope.
“You must have heard me just now, I am the current Pope Phil Gray.”
The homeless man stood frozen in place. Phil Gray could see his body trembling, tears streaming down his mud-covered face, but his dark eyes remained fixed on him.
Time seemed to fall silent at this moment.
Until the one-legged knight knelt down with a thud, saying, "Ernest Surrey greets His Majesty the Pope."
Phil Gray tried to help him up, but the knight seemed afraid that his dirty body would defile His Holiness the Pope, so he flinched for a moment and then struggled to his feet on his own.
"How did you end up like this? I know you were expelled from the Knights, but it wasn't your fault. Even if you left the Knights, someone of your noble status shouldn't have ended up like this."
“I… although I was controlled by the Dream Cult, I did believe at the time that I had killed those villagers with my own hands. They had been so kind to me, and yet I had brought them death. Countless times in the dead of night, I would return to that scene again, unable to escape it.” His expression was filled with immense pain.
“I wandered aimlessly through other parishes and sought revenge on the people of the Dream Cult. I finally found the person who had controlled me. I fought him to the death, and he died, but I lost a leg.”
"But after he died, I discovered that my memories of killing the villagers with my own hands were also false, fabricated by him. He was the one who killed those villagers, and those illusory memories shattered when he died."
"Isn't that a good thing? You should get over that."
“No, I should have seen through these illusory memories sooner. I could have simply used my divine power…” Ernest’s expression was somewhat manic as he slammed his fist on the table in anger. “When I dragged myself back to the Papacy, I heard the news of Pope Darcy’s death. It was all too late. The Emperor I followed, my faith, the days I wasted—it was all too late!”
He buried his head in his hands and began to sob softly.
The only sound in the room was his painful voice.
Phil Gray pursed his lips, unsure how to comfort him.
The power of fate is truly unpredictable, and its most unpredictable aspect is that it can turn a proud noble youth, a chivalrous knight, into a vagrant who is bullied by everyone, destroying all that is beautiful in an instant.
For a knight who believes in the god of fate, such a fate seems even more cruel.
"No, it's not too late, Ernest. Do you know what the most precious quality of a knight is?"
Phil Gray spoke slowly.
"It means never giving up, never being defeated by difficulties. As long as there is a breath left, you can pick up a sword and fight for your beliefs. And what about you? Look at your current dejected state."
“No, I am no longer a knight.” Ernest shook his head and clenched his fist.
"You are... I now appoint you, in the name of the Pope, as the Knight Commander of the Knights of Destiny!"
"What?" Ernest and Patrick stared at him in shock.
"Valker Dodd, the former commander of the Knights of Destiny, has betrayed me, forcing me to wander in exile. Now, Ernest Sari, I ask you this: are you willing to take up your sword once more and become my knight, fighting for me?"
Phil Gray looked at him quietly with his icy blue eyes.
Looking into those similar eyes and face, Ernest felt as if he had returned to that afternoon more than a decade ago, when the sun was shining so brightly, the Pope, holding a longsword, gently patted his shoulder, his icy blue eyes filled with encouragement, and his face adorned with a gentle smile, "From now on, you will be a member of the Knights of Destiny, my dear knight, please fight for me!"
The Pope's gaze seemed to travel through time and space, landing once again on his disheveled state, as if all those terrible things had never happened.
But it actually happened; the world has changed, and things are no longer the same.
His thoughts returned to reality, and he saw Phil Gray still waiting for his answer, steadfast, as if he would wait forever.
His lips curved into a smile, but the muscles in his face twitched and trembled uncontrollably. Tears streamed down his face as he said in a hoarse yet solemn voice, "Ernest is willing to defend His Holiness the Pope to the death and fight for you!"
“Okay.” Phil Gray also gave an approving smile.
Ten years later, this wandering knight finally rediscovered his faith and received salvation from the god of fate.
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