Wearing the Noga formal attire specially prepared by the butler, Minte stepped into Nomonka, the capital of Noga, for the second time, but the feeling was completely different from before.
The streets are still very lively, and there are rare shops opened by foreign businessmen. It can be said that it is prosperous, but occasionally there are scenes of nobles or officers bullying civilians. When Minte arrived at the mountain where the palace was located, he met the three sects. However, seeing that the steward who was leading the way had no other action except a contemptuous side glance, Minte had no choice but to hold back and tell himself that they were all from the enemy country. The people cannot and cannot control themselves.
The Noga Palace is built on the mountainside - more precisely, it starts from the middle of the mountain, and half of the mountain is the scope of the palace. The royal family members of this country seem to like to build houses on the mountains, and the same is true for the castle of Jada's family. On the way, they passed the castle of Jada's uncle, which was also built on the hillside.
The entire palace is like a huge oval stone fortress with three thick walls on the outside. Many tall buildings can be vaguely seen in the middle. There is only one gate and one road in front leading to the bottom of the mountain. The road was paved with gravel. It was not very spacious. There were tall bushes on both sides. Minte recognized that this was a plant native to Noga called "Uncinnabar". There were barbs on the branches, which made people look at each other. It will be stung when touched, and it is often used as a defensive plant in the garden. However, this is the first time he has seen it planted on most of the hillside like this.
The thorns are very sharp and hard. When preparing potions, if its thorns are used, steel scissors are usually required to cut them. It seems that the defense of the Noga Palace is quite tight. In such terrain, even if you want to attack the palace, you will be greatly restricted. Both humans and horses will be stabbed by the thorns.
After riding horses, they arrived at a sentry box about a hundred meters away from the palace gate. After being searched by the sentries, Minte and the housekeeper dismounted and walked to the first level of the city wall. He was surprised to find that the inner wall of the door was actually made of magnets? !
If they build a magnet wall in a place like this, aren't they afraid that the guards won't be able to pass through
The housekeeper seemed to see the doubts in Minte's mind and explained softly: "The guards in the palace and those outside the palace... are not the same system..."
Minte understood immediately. However, the attraction of the magnet can certainly prevent outsiders from entering with weapons. But it is ineffective against the items in the storage ring. People with storage devices like Jada can easily enter the palace with weapons. If others do the same, what is the point of this line of defense? Perhaps, it is just used to prevent large numbers of armed forces from entering
The two main gates at the back are normal. After passing through, there is the main hall of the palace, and everything is quiet. Only a lot of people could be seen in the government offices on both sides. The housekeeper whispered not to look around, so Minte had no choice but to lower his head and observe the terrain with the corners of his eyes.
Go around this palace. They came to a secluded two-story building. The housekeeper stood in front of the door respectfully and said, "Your Excellency, we are here."
The door creaked open. Jada walked out. Smiling at Minte: "Are you here? How have you been these past few days? I have been staying in the palace. I didn't care about you. Please don't be angry."
Minte smiled. Of course not angry. But in order to make the other party believe in yourself. He still showed a little discomfort. The young man who was full of ambitions to climb up the ladder looked restless: "No...how could it be? But...what is the Duke doing these days?"
The corners of Jada's mouth curved into an imperceptible smile. Then he said with a wry smile: "I really want to thank you. When we passed the three-connection, I said I would take a detour. It was you who persuaded me to give up my mind. We were able to return to Nomonka in time. You don't know, right? Those people..." He glanced left and right. Chao Min made a special wink: "I don't know what method they used to convince the guard. They came back only one day later than us. As soon as Lawler knew the news, he immediately went to the palace to complain. Fortunately, I reported to His Majesty in advance. After passing, I suppressed the matter. But Lawler refused to let me go. They asked the Queen Mother to come forward and punished me for ten days of confinement in the palace. I couldn't go anywhere. There was no way to communicate with my family. Until I finally came out today. I will ask someone to notify you right away. You are not in a hurry, are you?"
"No. I'm familiar with several other warriors." Minte comforted the other party. But I was cursing secretly in my heart: Who are you lying to? If you really cut off ties with the outside world completely. How did you get those magic potions in
Jada didn't know what he was thinking. With an apologetic smile on his face, he said: "Now I have finally officially fallen out with them. I'm afraid life will not be easy for you here from now on. You'd better be mentally prepared. Don't be fooled by them. Those people...for the South People of origin always have bad intentions."
Minter paused. Respectfully: "Don't worry. I know what I should do."
Jada nodded with satisfaction and motioned for him to follow her: "I will take you to see His Majesty the King, come with me."
The housekeeper had already quietly retreated, and Minte followed Jedda back to the back of the palace, climbed the steps from the small garden, and climbed to the palace built against the mountain.
Nuojia's palace has many corridors, with wide-open windows on the outside. Although it is early summer, the strong wind blowing from the middle of the mountain is still quite cool. The inward side is the wall, decorated with ancient armor, swords and weapons and large murals.
These paintings are quite old, and their styles are very different from those of East and Shaonan. The colors are bold and solemn, and the brushstrokes may be a little rough, but they give people a rough and wild impression. The content of the painting includes the hard work of the Norvi royal family in ancient times to start a business and conquer the city, as well as scenes of the previous kings leading armies in battle. The most prominent one is of Emperor Nicodemus riding a tall white horse. , pointing forward with a riding whip in his hand, his eyes sharp. Behind him are heavily armored soldiers and a scarlet griffin flag. Under the horse's hooves are the remains of East and Shaonan's flags and stains of blood, and there is even a Fragments of the eight-pointed star pendant.
Minte narrowed his eyes, sneered in his heart, and walked past the painting as if he was ignoring it.
Slowly walking up the mountain along the corridor, you soon came to a palace. The buildings here had a special sense of solemnity. Minte guessed that this was probably the residence of King Noga. But why did Jada take him directly to the king's palace
He followed Jada into the palace, and almost immediately, he discovered that this place was very different from the places he had passed before.
It is also a corridor with one wall and one window. The windows here are hung with dark green velvet curtains to block the cool mountain breeze, while the paintings hanging on the walls have changed drastically in style. Most of them are scenery, flowers, and people, including a corner of the garden in the sun, children whispering under the flowers outside the palace ball hall, pure white long-haired cats taking a nap under the window sill, and palace maids dressed up for festivals. , there are rolling mountains, endless fields, busy people during the autumn harvest, villagers dragging their children to the market... Minte suddenly felt a little moved. He seemed to see an ordinary, peaceful Noga, without ambitious royal families, no snobbish and greedy villagers, no bloodshed, and no wars...
I wonder who painted these paintings? He only found that five or six of them were masterpieces by famous artists in ancient times (the paintings were signed), and the others were not signed. Although these paintings were not perfect in technique, they made people feel very warm.
Jada found him pausing in front of the paintings to take a closer look. Then he turned back and said with a smile: "Isn't the painting very good? Do you know who painted the ground?" Minte shook his head and asked curiously: "Who is it?" Jada just smiled mysteriously and asked him to continue walking forward. .
A pair of middle-aged men and women, neatly dressed and meticulously dressed, stood outside the tall door. As soon as he saw Jie Da approaching, the man immediately stepped forward and bowed: "You are here, His Majesty is already waiting." He looked at Minte with some joy: "This...is what you said..."
Jada nodded, turned around and whispered: "Follow me in, be careful to keep quiet." Then she strode forward. The middle-aged woman curtsied, and looked at Minte with gratitude. Minte stepped down, and the middle-aged man quickly opened the door and let them in.
The room is huge. The light inside was a little dim, the curtains were closed, and the lights were lit in the room. Most of the furniture seemed to be at least a hundred years old, and one could still see its former luxury. The floor was covered with soft and thick fur carpets. Unexpectedly, there was a fire burning in the fireplace in the corner of the room, and the air was filled with a scent of A sense of enthusiasm.
Minter followed Jada and turned the curtain. Come to the inner room. The furnishings here are much simpler than outside. They all look like homely old things. On the bench by the window, a man about forty or fifty years old is lying on a pile of cushions, holding something in his hand and looking at it.
His face was pale, his figure was a little chubby, his hair was bald, he had two curly beards on his lips, and his round face was full of kindness. He saw Jada come in. Then he smiled and stretched out his hand: "I'm waiting for you. Come and sit."
Jada smiled and gave a half salute, then took his hand. He sat on the stool next to the bench and asked a few questions about his physical condition before introducing Mint: "This is the potion master I mentioned to Your Majesty. He prepared the medicine you have been drinking these days."
"Oh? You're younger than I thought." The middle-aged man, Gale II, looked at Mint curiously. Minte hurriedly stepped forward and saluted him: "It's my honor to serve you."
Gale II seemed to be in a pretty good mood. He kept smiling and asking about Minte's age, parents, hometown, and teachers... just like a family conversation. Minte had already made up his life story before he came, and dealt with it flawlessly.
After half an hour, Gale II took a sip of tea with satisfaction, stopped asking questions, and brought up the topic: "A few days ago, Jie asked someone to deliver the medicine you prepared. I tried it, sleeping potion. The effect is very good. I have slept for more than four hours these days. You know, I haven't had a good night's sleep for three years. I also tried your physical supplement yesterday and I felt very energetic. Not bad, I also ate more food than usual.”
"It's great that those potions can help you. If you need other potions, please feel free to tell me. As long as I can do it, I will make it as soon as possible." Minte answered with his head lowered.
Gale II smiled and pointed to another chair next to him: "Sit over here." Minte glanced at Jada and sat down as instructed, only to hear Gale II say: "Actually... I don’t know what potion I need. Since you have learned it, please help me take a look."
Minte was a little surprised. He was not a doctor: "You think too highly of me. I just have a good foundation in potions and I happen to know some useful potion formulas. I am still far behind a real potion master. According to my experience The teacher said that at best I am just a trainee potion master. I am not capable of treating people. Perhaps you can ask the palace physician to come and take a look, and I can prepare some potions according to your needs."
"Oh?" Gale II was a little disappointed, but he quickly smiled mockingly, "That's right, you are still a child." He nodded to Jada, who then stood up knowingly and stood up from the shelf next to him. He took out a small box from a decorative clay pot and handed it to Minte.
Min Te took the box, feeling a little strange. Jie Da said: "Actually, there is no need to see a doctor. All the palace doctors came to the same conclusion: excessive sadness, emotional instability, severe headaches, hallucinations and persecution fantasies. The mental state is no longer suitable for handling political affairs. It is necessary to Recuperate quietly and try not to be disturbed by outsiders." He sneered as he spoke, with a hint of mockery in the corner of his mouth.
Minte heard some secrets in it, but remained silent. He just lowered his head and opened the box, and found a crystal bottle inside, with a small half bottle of thick water-red liquid inside, shaking gently.
"This is…"
"The main culprit for your Majesty's current illness, although on the surface, it is just a bottle of headache medicine." Jada replied through gritted teeth, "You still remember the place where we fought when we first met, right? It was the demon in the tent. Pharmacist, I heard that he is very capable, so I entrusted him to prepare medicine for Your Majesty. I didn’t expect that he actually tampered with the potion! His Majesty drank the last bottle and found out that there was something wrong with the potion. If it weren’t for that bastard’s incompetence, he would have prepared it The medicine is not effective enough, I’m afraid His Majesty has long since..." Turning to look at Gale II, his eye circles were a little red: "Back then... I went to him to prepare the medicine... This is all my fault..."
Gale II smiled and said: "You are also trying to help me. This is not your fault. The fault is those who do bad things secretly."
Min Te was already stunned by what he heard. He stared at the bottle and suddenly thought, could the potion in this bottle be the same pot that he had tampered with back then
(There have been so few comments recently. Everyone, is there really nothing worth discussing about the plot?)