When Li Jia arrived at the castle gate, he found a middle-aged man in a large robe waiting at the gate. He was large, but a little thin, but this made his face more defined. His temples and mustache were dark red like wine, with some gray hair, but they were neatly groomed. His orange-red eyes were shrewd, just like Serinda's.
The man stood lazily with a faint smile on his face, watching Li Jia and Serinda both come to him.
"Welcome, welcome. Today is a great day to meet a magician from the magic castle." The man opened his arms and greeted Li Jia in a very relaxed manner.
Li Jia hurriedly dismounted and saluted like a wizard, "You are Count Arias, right?"
"That's right, didn't the naughty little Serinda introduce her father to you?" The Count winked at Serinda, who turned her face away angrily.
Li Jia looked at Serinda awkwardly, then said, "She told me some of your deeds, but hearing about you is not as good as meeting you in person. Today I finally got to see you."
The Earl didn't care at all. He stepped forward and patted Li Jia on the shoulder and said, "I know, there must be nothing good to say. When the God of Nature created her, he must have used water to make her face, wind to make her legs and feet, stone to make her head, and finally fire to give her a temper."
Li Jia was sweating in his heart. How could someone "praise" his daughter like this? No wonder these two people can't get along. He laughed and said, "She just talked about some trivial things in the past."
"I understand, I understand." The Earl turned and led Li Jia inside. "In fact, I have a lot of stories about her, and I can share them with you at the dinner."
Serinda snorted, ignored them, and walked into the castle alone.
Although Li Jia did not expect the Earl to behave so strangely, he was reassured by the Earl's attitude. So he walked side by side with the Earl.
"The God of Nature arranged a very legendary way for us to meet. The castle that fell from the sky was simply a miracle. But unfortunately, I was knocked unconscious and could not see the scene clearly at that time." The count pointed at his forehead helplessly. There was a scar more than five centimeters long near the hairline.
"It was just an accident." Li Jia said vaguely.
"That was also a great accident." The Earl chuckled, seemingly not caring at all that his ancestral home had become a ruin under the school.
Li Jia was unsure of what the Earl meant, so he could only tell the truth: "We came here this time to discuss your ancestral home and the surrounding territories with you."
"Don't worry, don't worry. We have plenty of time to deal with these small matters. Let me take you to visit this small castle first." Count Arias said.
The castle was indeed small. After entering the gate, there was a patio of ten meters square. The Earl pointed to the wooden swing on one side of the patio and said, "This is where Serinda often came when she was a child. I made that swing myself. She loved playing with her mother in this corner. Sometimes she would weave something, and sometimes she would read a book. At that time, her mother wore a shell necklace every day."
"Shell necklace?" Li Xia subconsciously touched his neck.
The Earl looked at Li Jia's collar and said, "It's the one you wear in your collar."
"Did you find out?" Li Jia was a little embarrassed.
"Although I only saw the rope, I recognized it because it was originally a gift from me to her mother. It was a shell I picked up from the beach when I first saw the sea in the south. At that time, I suddenly felt that the world was so big. So big that it could easily arouse people's desire to conquer it. Later, her mother always wore this necklace. She simply liked the color of the shell. Later, after she passed away, this necklace became the thing that Serinda cared about the most." The earl asked, "Can I take a look at it again?"
"Uh, of course." Li Jia took out the necklace from her collar and handed it to the count. The count took it in his hand, weighed it gently a few times, and then returned it to Li Jia.
"Time flies faster than a horse," he said, then sighed softly and smiled in an incomprehensible way.
Walking up a short stone staircase into the main gate of the castle, Li Jia discovered that this castle was smaller than Viscount Irus's, but much more sophisticated. The door opening was carved with intricate vines and flowers, with some winged fairies flying in it, and the door was made of thick wood with reinforced copper bars and nails nailed on it.
Entering the main building, Li Jia found the entrance hall very dark. The entrance hall was open all the way to the roof. There were some narrow windows on the second and third floors, leaving a few square spots of light on the stone floor. Several square pillars passed through the three floors on both sides of the entrance hall and went straight to the top. Some oil lamps emitted dim lights on the pillars and walls, slightly reducing the gloomy feeling of the first floor of the castle.
The Earl took Li Jia into a side archway and then took the stairs to the second floor of the castle.
This is a long corridor, with light coming in from a narrow window on one side of the outer wall. It is much brighter than downstairs. On the inner wall, there are seven or eight large and small oil paintings. Li Jia noticed that the painting closest to him at the beginning of the corridor is particularly large, two meters square, and the protagonist in the picture is a shirtless man holding an axe high. The man has a resolute appearance and a tall stature, and is leading countless soldiers to charge.
The composition of this painting is very strange. The direction in which the man is charging is actually the audience outside the painting. Li Jia stood in front of the painting, looking at the man's fierce tiger-like eyes, and could clearly feel the indomitable momentum. After paying attention for a while, she suddenly felt a palpitation, as if the man would rush in front of her and chop off her head in the next second.
The count stood aside in silence until Li Jia came to her senses. Then he said, "This is Melo Arias. Our family's history in the kingdom started with him. I am the eighth generation now."
"I heard that your ancestor was the most powerful berserker at that time?"
"Not only then, but even now. The power of my ancestor has reached the holy realm, exceeding the limit of mortal power. The current territory of the kingdom was conquered by him, the magician Matthew Doria, and Allen Dias."
"Alan Dias, Dias, could it be?"
"Yes, it was the founding king. The three of them were very good friends, as close as a pair of trousers. They fought together, overthrew the unfortunate Black Dragon Empire, and swallowed up the lands of countless lords. In that era, they were truly proud. However, the final fates of the three were very different. Allen Dias became king, but my ancestor and Matthew Doria disappeared shortly after the founding of the country."
"Missing? Both leaders suddenly disappeared?" Li Jia asked in surprise.
"Do you smell a conspiracy?" The Earl stood beside Li Jia with his hands behind his back, staring at the portrait of his ancestor. "I've read a lot of historical materials, and I think it's hard to imagine that if it wasn't a conspiracy, two such powerful people would disappear inexplicably. Not only did their personal martial arts reach the peak of humanity, they also had their own armies. If you want to use force to deal with them directly, it will definitely be a shocking war."
"Have you found any clues in historical records?" Li Jia asked.
The count shook his head. "No, there is no record. History is like this, like a loach swimming at the bottom of a lake. Whether it is silt, water plants or waves, you can't see its shadow clearly."
"However, your family has passed it down." Li Jia said.
"Yes, yes. Come and see my family, the Snotlout Duke Carter Arias." The Earl walked forward with Li Jia and pointed to the middle-aged man in the second painting. "This was when Melo Arias disappeared. Carter was only five years old. To the nobles, he was just a little fat pig on the dinner plate. Many of the heirlooms in the homes of the surrounding lords were 'exchanged' from 'Carter'."
"This is the 'forever young' Francisco. He always liked hunting in the forest. He was only seventeen years old when he was killed by goblins. Fortunately, he had a son when he was fifteen." The third portrait shows a young man carrying a hunting bow and a hunting dog.
The man in the fourth portrait was strong, but had a lot of hostility between his brows. "Ah, this is Francois the Bug. Our family was promoted from duke to earl during his time, and a large part of the territory was cut off. This idiot had no one to discipline him since he was a child, so he did all kinds of bad things in the capital and the territory. In the end, he killed a prince because of jealousy and was beheaded. Well, his only contribution was to give birth to a son in time."
Who are these people? Li Jia really didn't know how to comment on such a family so as not to offend his master. However, he found that the person in the latter portrait was much more normal. It was a knight leading the army.
"This is my grandfather. He was a man with a completely different personality from his father. Perhaps the blood of Melo became stronger in him. God knows how he was able to reorganize the family territory and vassalages and raise a new Berserker Legion when he was only fifteen or sixteen years old. He fought against the Empire all his life. In the end, he died of illness on the battlefield of attacking the South Castle." The Earl was obviously more solemn when talking about his grandfather. "This is a good thing. At least it is much better than dying in the conspiracy of a sinister villain."
The last portrait was of a thin old man. Although he was wearing fine armor and carrying a luxurious sword, with a straight posture and a dignified appearance, his eyes showed deep melancholy. The Earl stared at him for a long time and said, "My father, a guy who was suspected by others and never achieved his goals. He was very brilliant when he was young, but when he was old... Hehe."
For some reason, he didn't continue talking. He patted Li Jia on the shoulder and said, "Forget about these ancient things. Come, my friend, try my wine collection. This is a good thing with a long history."
As Li Jia was being led by the Earl, she felt a wave of emotion in her heart. She always felt that behind the Earl's playful smile there was another side of him that was completely different.