Because of the assassination of the crown prince, the atmosphere in the entire royal city suddenly became tense.
The number of guards patrolling the city tripled than usual, keeping an eye on all kinds of suspicious people. The city guards simply took this opportunity to carry out a stern purge operation against the city, hitting those ruffian criminals hard and arresting them. many people.
When the winter just entered, the atmosphere of the royal city was one of solemnity.
The ordinary people in the royal city were extremely happy about this, but they couldn't help but worry about the news that the crown prince had been assassinated and injured.
Prince Garland's popularity is almost two extremes among the powerful, one part firmly supports him, the other part regards him as a monstrous beast, because over the years, the young prince's behavior of sheltering the commoners and over the years to King Camos The various suggestions made to benefit the people harmed the interests of many nobles.
However, among the common people, this wise prince is second only to Camos the Lion King in prestige. Especially in the royal city, there are many people who benefit from the prince. They were happy from the bottom of their hearts that Garlan could be made the crown prince.
Perhaps the heroic Prince Heimos is famous on the battlefield and admired by countless warriors, but for ordinary people, they prefer a wise king who loves the people.
Therefore, when they heard that the crown prince was injured, the people were a little uneasy.
I don't know if the Crown Prince's injury is serious or serious, if this is the case...
I don't know where the news came from, saying that Prince Gallan was seriously injured and could die at any time. In order to avoid accidents, it is best to quickly recall Prince Heimos who was in the north to the royal city.
For a time, a sense of unease spread in the royal city, and the people who did not know the truth of the rumors began to feel uneasy.
Because of these rumors, the atmosphere in the royal city became more and more tense.
"The crown prince needs to appear before the public."
Standing in front of the bedridden Garlan, the priest of Shamash said so.
"This is too dangerous, Your Excellency Xie Mu'er."
Cayhors frowned in disapproval.
"The culprit who intends to assassinate the prince has not yet been found, and now he hastily appeared in public, those guys are likely to take this opportunity to shoot again."
"We can't continue to let gossip spread."
Shemuel said.
In today's court, many people have already proposed the matter of recalling Heimos to the royal city.
Although King Camos did not hesitate to deny the proposal and forcibly pressed those people back, it could be seen that this was just the beginning.
A dark tide has been faintly surging in the palace.
"This may be the plot of those guys, using these rumors to force the prince to appear in front of everyone, and then take this opportunity to assassinate the prince again!"
Facing the constant denial of the guardian knights, Xie Muer did not say anything, but just turned his attention to Garlan.
Obviously, he is letting Garlan make a decision.
Sitting on the bed, Garlan's injured arm hangs on one side, the other on his leg.
He pondered for a while, then looked at Xie Muer.
"You go to arrange, I came forward."
"prince-"
"Kaijos, I can't hide in the turtle shell all the time because I'm afraid of those people, it's too ugly."
The boy said, his expression was very calm, and he smiled lightly at his knight.
"It's just an assassination and suffered a little injury. If you are scared to death, it will make those people even more proud."
"I'm not going to let the guys who hurt me get their way," he said.
"… "
Kaihos bowed his head slightly.
"I see, prince, I'll do a good job of vigilance."
Xie Muer on the side nodded, he was naturally satisfied with Gallan's decision.
…
A few days later, when all kinds of rumors were flying around—even the rumors that the prince was actually assassinated on the spot, but the royal family covered up the matter and did not announce it, came out, King Camos suddenly. He ordered the crown prince to attend this winter festival on his behalf.
The so-called winter festival is a ceremony to worship the hunting god Adimi.
In Aaron Landis, hunting is generally not allowed during spring and early summer, while winter is the season when hunting is encouraged. When winter comes, it's time for hunters to celebrate.
According to legend, when the god of hunter Adimi was born, the warm land of Aaron Landis fell heavily for the first time in all seasons.
Therefore, Adimi is also known as the god of winter.
The day of her birth is seen as the beginning of Aaron Landis' winter.
As the son of the gods, King Aaronlandes must shoot the prey in the festival on this day, and offer the prey as a sacrifice to the hunting god Adimi, pray to him, and let the goddess bless Aaronland The hunters of Dis can obtain abundant prey in winter.
The festival was held in the huge hunting god temple on the side of the royal city.
In front of the temple, a tall stone statue of the hunting god stands on the ground.
It was a young goddess with a strong body and a beautiful face. Unlike other goddesses with rich clothes, her statue wore a short sleeveless skirt and hunting boots, and she wore a crown made of cypress branches and leaves.
She stood on the ground with a valiant appearance, holding a snow-white bow and arrow, carrying a golden arrow on her back, and the mighty hound followed her.
Different from the plazas paved with white stones or bluestone slabs in other temples, the plaza of the Hunting God Temple is a vast grassland, covering an extremely wide area, and there are many animals stocked in it. Small hunting grounds in the city.
If the dignitaries want to worship the hunting god, they must enter it to hunt in person, and then offer the prey to the hunting god Adimi.
In today's festival, Garlan, who replaced King Camos, also entered it.
At this moment, he was standing at the entrance of the hunting ground on horseback, the snow-white steed standing quietly under him, occasionally scratching the ground lightly with his front hooves.
The weather in Wangcheng has always been warm, and it is only early winter. Many people are still wearing short-sleeved robes, but Garlan is dressed in strong clothes. He is used to wearing light-colored clothes. At the moment, he is wearing a dark brown long-sleeved tunic. , and even the cape was changed to a dark color.
The perimeter of the hunting ground was already crowded with people who came to watch the winter festival. Many people saw with their own eyes the prince riding a horse at the entrance of the hunting ground, and suddenly they cheered, shouted, and cheered excitedly.
"The crown prince is obviously very good, and I don't know who is talking nonsense everywhere."
"Yeah, I don't think the Crown Prince looks like he was injured at all?"
"It's probably just a small wound."
"Ha, that's true. King Camos loves the crown prince very much. Maybe he really fights for a little injury."
"Stop arguing, stop arguing, you see, the crown prince has already entered the hunting ground—"
"God of hunting Adimi is above, please give my family enough prey in winter."
Amid the cheers of the people watching from a distance, Garlan bowed slightly and galloped into the hunting ground like a sharp arrow.
The cool wind swept across his cheeks, causing the long golden hair behind him to fly up in the air.
Even though it has entered winter, the sun in the royal city is still bright, shining brightly on the tuft of blond hair.
As the one-in-a-million steed, the white steed runs very fast, and in the blink of an eye, it has taken its owner to the location of the prey group.
By the small stream in the distance, a group of antelopes and a group of deer were drinking with their heads down.
As winter approaches, they are already fat and strong.
The hounds that came suddenly broke their leisure time. In the barking of the hounds, the panicked animals ran up, driven by the hounds, and ran in one direction.
Not far away, the white horses galloping towards them have slowed down.
The dark cloak was flying high behind him, and the blond boy on the horse raised his bow at the prey driven by the hound.
An arrow shot, and a gray-white antelope splattered blood from its neck and fell down.
The cheers of the people outside suddenly increased.
At the same time, a sharp tingling sensation came from his left arm, causing Garlan's bow-wielding hand to tremble.
He took a deep breath, resisted the pain on his left arm, took out the arrow from the quiver behind him again, and continued to shoot with the bow.
A sharp arrow shot away in the sun.
Amid the barking of the hounds, the animals running in panic fell to the ground one by one.
After Gallan gritted his teeth and endured the pain, he shot all the golden arrows in his quiver, his forehead was already sweating.
The left arm holding the bow was trembling slightly, and a dark trace like a water mark slowly spread on his sleeve, but he was wearing a dark brown long-sleeved coat and was blocked by a cloak, making it difficult to see. That trace.
Only ten arrows can be carried in the festival, which are special golden arrows with hunting runes carved on the tail of the arrows.
The more prey you shoot to dedicate to the hunter, the more you will be praised by the hunter, who will shelter the people of Aaronlandis during the winter hunt.
There are only ten arrows, which also means that the hunting god warned everyone not to hunt too much.
With a long whistle, the hounds stopped driving, and the surviving animals fled, and soon disappeared without a trace.
The people outside the hunting ground counted the number of prey lying on the ground, counting to ten, and cheered again.
The crown prince's arrows are not empty, and he will surely win the favor of the hunter, so that the people of Aaron Landis will have a good harvest in winter.
Soon, the priests of the Temple of Hunting God came over, lifted the prey, and sent it to the statue in the temple.
After worshiping the statue for one night, they would cook the prey and let the people share the food as a gift from the hunting god.
Garland was finally able to leave the arena. Amidst the cheers and shouts of the people outside the hunting ground, Garland waved to them, and then left the hunting ground on horseback.
The guardian knight, who was also waiting at the entrance of the hunting ground, rode his horse to greet him, and his eyes were cold when he landed on the water stains on the dark clothes on Garlan's left arm.
Noticing his sight, Garlan raised his hand and moved his cloak, hiding his left shoulder under the cloak.
Garlan rode all the way to the direction of the temple. Under the sun, he smiled brightly and behaved calmly.
Sweat oozes from his forehead, and the blond hair on his temples is almost wet and pressed against his cheeks. In the eyes of others, it should be sweat from the vigorous activity just now.
Only the blond knight who was staring at the wet marks on the hairline clenched his fingers hard on the reins.
The ritual of the priests offering sacrifices will continue for a long time, and the crown prince can go to the room inside the temple to rest for a while.
Garlan took Kaihos into the room, and the guards guarded the room.
As soon as he entered the room, the seemingly relaxed and indifferent smile on the boy's face disappeared instantly.
He stood there, grabbing his left shoulder with his right hand, closing his eyes and pursing his lips, a look of pain on his face.
Kaihos stepped forward quickly and pulled off Garlan's cloak.
The dark brown clothes on Garlan's left arm near his shoulders were already dyed red, and the blood was still spreading faintly.
Kaihos gritted his teeth.
The winter festival is just a ritual, and the requirements are not high, so shooting those domesticated prey in the hunting ground is actually very simple.
The difficulty is to shoot ten arrows in one breath in a very short period of time.
Anyone who can shoot arrows knows that continuous shooting is extremely exhausting. Generally speaking, when an ordinary person shoots the fifth or sixth arrow, the muscles on the arm will be sore, and after the seventh or eighth arrow, it is difficult to lift the arm.
The further you go, the more perseverance you need.
On the other hand, the place where Garlan was injured was his arm.
Kaihos quickly changed Garlan's dressing and re-bandaged the wound.
Based on the prince's injury, I am afraid that the wound on his arm would split when he was halfway through the shot.
After that, the bandages were almost soaked in blood red, which made people feel frightened.
After cleaning up the blood-stained things, Kaihos looked at Garlan.
The young prince sat on the chair, wearing only the right half of his shirt, leaving his left shoulder open, and the snow-white bandage he had just wrapped had oozing blood again.
The teenager raised his head, leaned back in the chair, and closed his eyes as if he was resting.
He opened his mouth slightly, breathing a little too fast.
The slender eyelashes moved slightly, obviously suffering from pain.
Kaihos's eyes fell.
He thought that King Camos mentioned to him a few days ago that he was promoted to cavalry commander and commanded a legion. He had to be prepared.
Military power is an integral part of controlling power.
The prince must have his own military power.
…
…
Large flakes of snow fell from the gloomy sky and landed on the snow-white ground.
It was an endless frozen land.
The majestic huge stone castle stands on the frozen ground for thousands of miles, becoming the only dark color in this dazzling white.
The cold wind was blowing violently, passing through the window of the stone castle and pouring into the castle.
Deep in the castle, in a spacious room, the four walls are made of black stone, and there are hardly any decorations in sight, not even tapestries.
Rows of swords shining with cold light hang on the stone wall, giving people a more and more cold feeling.
The flames in the huge fireplace on one side of the wall were burning, and the crimson fire was reflected on the swords and the cheeks of the people in the room.
The silver-white hair was dyed with a light, and the slightly slender Danfeng eyes drooped slightly.
The faintly glowing silver hair scattered in the corners of the slightly raised and increasingly sharp eyes, and the young man with the complexion of snow stood in front of the fireplace.
The other two knelt down in front of him on one knee, bowing their heads deeply.
"Your Highness, there is a message from the royal city of Aaron Landis."
The thick light-colored eyelashes lifted, and the young man looked at the subordinate who was kneeling in front of him.
"Following your instructions, our men lurking there have succeeded in provoking a struggle between the two princes of Aaron Landis."
The kneeling man reported.
"Prince Heimos has been driven out of the royal city."
"The matter of provoking those Aaron Landis people to assassinate the Prince of Gallan has also been smoothly promoted."
"The crown prince is already in bed, and our people are still encouraging those people to continue to assassinate the crown prince."
After one person finished speaking, the other person continued to speak.
"The crown prince has disrupted your deployment several times, especially the one in Tozes..."
The man had a sad look on his face.
Their people have been lurking in the city for several years. If the prince's secret deployment in Tozes City is successful, the fall of Tozes City, an important sea port, into the hands of pirates will not only weaken Aaron Landis The national strength of the monarch caused panic, and it also greatly damaged Aaron Landis's reputation on the mainland.
The silver-haired youth wearing a thick snow velvet cape stood in front of the fireplace, and a reddish flame was reflected on the edges of his pupils, which looked like lavender gems placed in the ice and snow.
The thin lips, the tone of which is like a flame, give people an extremely ruthless feeling.
"Prince Garland..."
He repeated the name in a low voice in a nonchalant tone.
Then, turn your head and look at the wall to the side.
A huge map hangs on the stone wall.
The handsome young man's face was cold, as if he had no emotion.
But in the eyes of his staring at the map, the flame called ambition burned deep in his pupils, as if it could devour and burn everything he saw.
"The Kingdom of Kanal will be available soon."
He says,
"Next, it's Aaron Landis."