Just when Novi was stunned, the big lion who was lying lazily beside Garlan suddenly stood up suddenly.
But this time, it didn't take an attacking stance, just moved the tips of its ears and raised its huge head to look forward.
At the same time, Novi also heard the sound of hooves.
Just around the corner, getting louder and louder.
At first, Novi thought it was just someone passing by, but the sound of hooves got closer and closer, and it was obvious that he was running here.
Still kneeling, he stood up suddenly, turned to look in that direction, his face became serious.
Garland heard it too.
The originally laid-back expression was put away, and he stood up while sitting under the tree, looking in the direction from which the voice came from, a dignified expression in his eyes.
Clang.
It was the sound of the sword unsheathed.
The young man held a long sword and stood in front of him, his dark blue eyes looking straight ahead.
He raised his other hand slightly, protecting Garlan behind him, and looked vigilantly at the group of people who had already appeared in his line of sight, who had entered a state of battle.
Seeing that the boy whose head was a bit shorter than himself was posing to protect him, Garlan froze for a moment, then smiled.
He was about to speak, but the cavalry had already rushed into the olive grove with the hurried and noisy sound of hoofs.
The leader was a heroic female knight in leather armor, with a long ponytail swaying behind her head. As soon as she pulled the reins, the horse under her made a high-pitched neigh, raised her front hooves and stopped in place. .
The group of knights she brought also pulled their horses neatly and stopped at the rear.
The female knight first saw the bright sword in the hands of the young man in front of Garlan from a distance, her eyes became sharp in an instant, and her hand was placed on the hilt of her waist.
But she got close, and when she saw the young man posing to protect the people behind him, and the black and red lion embroidery on the neckline of the young man's cape, the expression on her face relaxed.
She rolled over and dismounted, walked quickly to Garlan, and knelt down on one knee.
"Your Majesty, please follow me back to the palace immediately."
Fataya said, "His Excellency the High Priest of Shemuer is very angry."
When he found out that Gallan had sneaked out of the palace and took the big lion Nega, Ximul was furious.
But when he lost his temper, he still had to cover up the fact that Gallan left the palace, while sending trusted people to look around.
Fataya is one of them.
After seeing Fataya and the other knights dismounting and kneeling, Novi retracted his sword, took a step back, and stood quietly behind Garlan.
Garlan stood under the tall olive tree, stroking the male lion beside him with one hand.
He looked at Fataya, who was kneeling in front of him, thought for a while, and asked, "Fattaya, if I order you now to pretend that you didn't see me leave by yourself, will you obey the order?"
As soon as these words came out, the female knight could not laugh or cry.
"Your Majesty, you have been missing for a day. Although the high priest is angry, he is also very worried about you."
"Who asked him to force me to go on a blind date..."
"Your Majesty, what did you say?"
Because Garlan was muttering to himself in a low voice, Fataya didn't hear it clearly.
"nothing."
Looking at the large group of knights kneeling in front of him, Garlan sighed helplessly.
"I see, I'll go back now."
He turned his head and looked at the young man behind him.
"Novi, come with you too."
"… "
No, I have to go back to practice martial arts.
Novi wanted to answer this, but his lips opened, but he still couldn't say it.
King Garland is protected by just a few people, so it's not safe.
If it was the romantic guy who came over in person, he would be able to leave with confidence, but now this group of people doesn't know if they have the ability to protect His Majesty's safety.
As the Knight Commander, he has the duty of guarding His Majesty.
Therefore, he had to personally escort His Majesty to the palace safely.
The boy with an indifferent expression but extremely awkward thoughts thought so, persuaded himself, then lowered his eyes, obediently followed Garlan back to the palace.
…
As soon as Garlan returned to the palace on the front foot, before he could say a word to Novi, someone stepped on the door on the back foot.
Xie Muer, who had to help cover up Garlan's departure from the palace, and had to send people to look for it, had endured it for a whole day, and if he didn't let it out, the fire in his heart was about to burst.
High Priest Shamash stood in front of Gallan in a neat and spotless priest's robe as usual, staring straight at Gallan.
Although he still had a deadpan expression on his face, the gaze that stared at Garlan was almost enough to spit fire.
Garlan's eyes were erratic, and he avoided Xie Muer's gaze with a bit of guilt.
After a while, he couldn't hold it any longer, and turned his eyes to the female officer beside him for help.
Tapti smiled slightly, then shook his head at Garlan.
Even she didn't want to confront the furious Xie Muer.
Besides, it was Garlan who was wrong this time, so she didn't plan to help.
Garlan, who was rejected by Tapti, could only try to save himself.
He thought for a while, stretched out his hand and pulled Novi who was standing quietly beside him, and smiled at Xie Muer.
"Ximuel, you haven't seen Novi for a long time, have you?"
Garlan said with a smile, trying to change the subject.
"Look, you've grown so big, and you've even been promoted to Knight Commander, isn't it amazing?"
The high priest glanced blankly at the young man who was dragged by his majesty as a shield. Although his eyes did not change, he was also a little surprised.
The face of the grown up boy can still see the appearance of the child in those days.
When the child completely abandoned his identity as a prince, changed his name and surname, and entered the town as an orphan, he didn't pay attention to the other party anymore.
Unexpectedly, this person actually entered the army and made a lot of achievements on the battlefield.
Either way.
The 'Prince of West Asia' has been dead for four years.
Now here is the Knight Commander Novi who is serving for Aaron Landis.
If this young knight commander really has enough potential, it would be a good thing to grow into a general of Aaron Landis in the future.
…
Speaking of which, it's been like this since King Garlan was a prince, always finding a lot of talents from strange places... Whether it's Tarr, female generals, or even slaves...
and many more.
He seems to have come to Xingshi to ask his guilt.
The high priest, who was almost led astray by Garlan, woke up in time and returned his thoughts to the business.
"You shouldn't leave the palace on your own accord knowing that all the ministers are waiting for you."
He said with a dark face.
"I'm not going to play, I'm going to patrol and see the situation in the surrounding military towns..."
"We will talk about these matters later. Now, Your Majesty, please go to the ruling room, everyone is waiting for your arrival."
Shemuer unceremoniously interrupted King Garlan's defense, who was trying to save himself.
Garland froze for a moment.
"I'm very tired after a day of inspection, so I'll wait a few days for anything..."
His words were once again interrupted by the indifferent voice of the high priest.
"Please go to the ruling room."
Minutes of silence.
"… Can't you just go?"
"Please go to the ruling room immediately!"
Shemuel repeated for the third time.
Word by word, unequivocal and unequivocal.
…
…
Under the supervision of the ruthless and vexatious High Priest Shamash, Garlan, who had escaped for a day, had no choice but to go to the ruling room.
The ministers who received the notice were already waiting here.
When Garlan sat down on the golden throne above, someone came out from one side immediately.
A square-faced man with curly black-brown hair leaned over and knelt down.
"Your Majesty, you should have a successor."
Sage said so.
As the head of the Royal Knights, it is his duty to guard the throne.
The continuation of the royal family is also one of his top priorities.
However, there is only King Garland in the current royal family, not to mention descendants, King Garland doesn't even have a concubine, so he can't help but be in a hurry.
The captains of the royal knights in the past have been troubled by the different princes who want to win over him. He is probably the only captain who does not have such troubles...
he thought gloomily.
"Yes, Your Majesty, you have always shied away from saying that you are not mature enough to be married, but you are now twenty-two years old, and you can't put it off any longer."
Immediately after him stood up the elderly You Sixiang.
He is already very old, and now he rarely attends the royal court. But this time, even the old minister, who was living at home, was leaning on crutches, and with the help of his attendants, he came out majestically.
"Your Majesty, whether it is me or the people, I have been expecting you to marry the princess. How can you live up to our expectations?"
He persuaded Garland with all his heart.
"Even ordinary civilians will marry and have children at the age of eighteen or nineteen."
Not to mention the nobility.
Most nobles will have concubines to serve at the age of thirteen or fourteen, and most of them will get married around the age of sixteen or seventeen.
"King Gallan, for commoners, getting a wife and having children is their private matter, and others should not interfere, but as the king of Aaron Landis, it is your responsibility to marry a princess and give birth to a successor."
At this time, Zuo Sixiang also stood up and looked at Garlan with a serious face.
The words of this prime minister, Si Xiang, were also sonorous and powerful.
"Please be sure to choose the princess as soon as possible!"
Xie Muer, who was standing on the underside of the throne, also followed.
"King Garland, you said before that because the country is still in turmoil, you don't have the heart to think about marriage, but now that the country has stabilized, it's time for you to think about it."
"Yes, Your Majesty, it's time for you to marry the princess."
"Your Majesty, the people are all looking forward to the birth of this country's princess."
"Please understand my worries."
"No matter what, this can't be delayed any longer—"
"For the safety of the throne, Your Majesty!"
Several high-ranking officials in the court took the lead, and other ministers and nobles followed suit, persuading Garlan to choose a princess as soon as possible.
After all, this group of people was frightened by the original King Camos, for fear that Gallan, like King Camos, would not marry and have children until he was in his thirties.
Therefore, almost every once in a while, they have to propose to Garlan about choosing a princess, but these years have been perfunctory and delayed by Garlan using various excuses.
But this time, the ministers who had been waiting in the ruling room for a whole day were obviously not willing to give up easily.
When everyone swarmed up and tried to persuade Garlan to marry the princess, only the priest in blue, who was standing opposite Xie Muer on the other side of the throne, lowered his eyes and remained silent.
And the ministers were extremely dissatisfied with this high priest of Nanna, Suojia, who always helped Garlan to fool the ministers and let him escape the forced marriage.
Many people think that this guy who used to be Heimos's subordinate is still secretly thinking something.
After all, if Garlan never got married and had children, Heimos would always have the first right of succession to the throne.
Therefore, Suojia deliberately contradicted everyone and prevented King Gallan from marrying.
At least Xie Muer, who has always thought so, and the head of Sage think that Suojia has bad intentions.
Suojia, who took the blame, said that he was really wronged.
He is definitely loyal to King Gallan.
He knew very well that even if Heimos had become king with their assistance, they were just overpowering the Shamash Temple in name and being able to assist the king.
But now under the regime reform of King Gallan, the Nanna Temple has real power by itself, and they don't need to depend on others at all except for allegiance to the king.
Suojia is very satisfied with the status quo, and sometimes he is fortunate that King Gallan successfully ascended the throne, and this kind of regime change will take place.
Helping King Gallan escape the forced marriage, this is the king's order, can he disobey it
However, even Suojia, at the moment when the crowd was raging, did not dare to take the risk of the world to rescue Garlan.
Haven't seen that even King Garlan couldn't speak under the attack of the ministers.
"Your Majesty, you can't continue to perfunctory me and wait."
In the end, Zuo Sixiang made the final decision.
"It will be the Flower Festival in a week, please be sure to choose a princess at the festival!"
Flower Festival.
A festival that symbolizes the end of spring.
Hua Yu, meaning the withering of beautiful flowers.
If you want to be rare, you must pick it off before it withers, and keep it in your hands.
In the folk, it is a festival for the boys and girls of Aaron Landis to pursue their lovers.
Garland's courtiers have made up their minds to hold a grand celebration in the palace that day, inviting all noble girls of the right age to come and participate.
There are so many beautiful and lovely girls, how could King Garlan like one of them.
Of course, it would be better if you could see a few or a dozen more.
Zuo Sixiang thought so energetically.
The ministers who achieved their goals withdrew in satisfaction.
And the high priest in Tsing Yi, who had been silent in the ruling room, secretly released a pigeon after returning to the temple.
The carrier pigeon fluttered its wings and flew high into the sky, heading north.
Fly to the location of the black knight who fought off the invading Geshu just a few days ago.