In the afternoon, Blue Lion City Palace.
The sound of horse hooves sounded, and Richard led the guard captain and his team back to his residence.
The first thing that appeared in the field of vision was a huge square, nearly a hundred meters in diameter, paved with large smooth stones, spotlessly clean. On one side of the square, there are dozens of steps rising continuously, and above the steps is a huge palace.
Richard dismounted in the square, and the guard captain clearly directed the soldiers to remove the dead python and send it to the palace, with Richard following behind. Before he had taken a few steps, a voice sounded behind him, followed by rapid footsteps, and a person caught up with him.
"Your Highness the Prince, Your Highness the Prince..."
Richard turned his head and saw a young man in his twenties chasing after him. He was dressed in extremely gorgeous clothes, with gold embroidery on the sleeves and complicated patterns on the collar. Her golden hair shines like gold, and a face full of kindness seems to be able to resolve all malice.
The other party is Richard's personal guard captain, responsible for leading the entire personal guard to protect Richard's safety. His name was Edward Angelet, and his status was unusual. He was the son of an earl, which meant that he was a noble. The reason why he was willing to serve as Richard's personal guard captain was not because the other family was in poor condition, but because the other family showed their loyalty to the royal family in order to have a good relationship with the royal family.
This is a very common behavior among nobles in the Middle Ages. In a sense, it is a hostage behavior, but if it is operated properly, it may not be unable to obtain huge benefits. For example, if Richard becomes the next generation king, then Edward and his family, as captain of the personal guard, will naturally receive special treatment. By then, they may not be earls, but marquises.
Edward himself obviously understood this, and he always tried his best to serve Richard. But it may be that the other party's thoughts are focused on this, and his own strength is very poor. He only knows a few tricks of court swordsmanship, which is okay for performance, but not as good as a soldier for fighting.
So this time Richard went to the dungeon to capture the python without notifying the other party at all. He just didn't know where the other party heard the news...
Just as Richard was thinking about it, the guard captain Edward had already caught up with him. He stopped a step away from Richard, took a breath and said, "Your Highness, I heard that you went to the dungeon this morning? You took the dungeon with you at noon. People went outside the city to catch what kind of python?"
"Yeah." Richard responded and stepped forward.
Upon hearing Richard's confirmation, Edward immediately became anxious and said: "Your Highness, I am the captain of your bodyguard, and the bodyguard is your most loyal subordinate. Why don't you leave us alone to find the dungeon and capture some python?" , What if someone does something bad to you? If you are injured, even if our entire Guard commits suicide, there is no way to wash away the guilt."
Richard glanced at Edward and didn't think he was telling the truth, but he didn't bother to dig deeper and said calmly: "Edward, if your swordsmanship can be more powerful, then I will consider bringing you with me next time." .Besides, who in the entire kingdom dares to go against me?"
Edward's eyes flashed, he came closer to Richard and whispered, "Your Highness, you have to be really careful. The eldest prince has always been unfriendly to you, and now His Majesty the King is sick again, just in case... just in case..."
"There is no such thing as a chance." Richard shook his head and sneered, "The king is not dead yet, so my dear brother, William Austin, does not dare to take action against me."
"But… "
Edward wanted to say something else, but Richard waved his hand and ignored him, walked to the end of the square and climbed up the stairs. After passing through twelve marble pillars that were as thick as a person's arms, and walking into the palace hall, Edward had no choice but to follow in a hurry.
The entire hall has an area of more than 200 square meters, so it is said to be extremely wide. But in fact, it was very crowded here at this time. There are dozens of tables on the floor of the hall, and various instruments and equipment are placed on the tables. In front of each table is a maid who is busy, fat or thin, tall or short, black or white, nervously operating. instrument.
On a table near the door, there is a set of simple distillation equipment. The core is a jar that is being heated in boiling water. The mouth of the jar is sealed, and there is only a leather tube leading to the outside. Finally, it has a shape similar to a Weird iron pipe connection.
The middle of the iron pipe is soaked in water. One end is high and the other is low. The high end is connected to the leather pipe, and the lower end is connected to a glass funnel that looks like a horn. It is dripping colorless liquid into a porcelain bottle. .
"Puff, puff, puff", because there was some problem with the connection of the device, white mist kept spraying out, the surrounding air exuded a slightly pungent smell of wine, and the speed of liquid dripping into the porcelain bottle at the end was getting slower and slower.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock-"
A maid with a ponytail looked at the device in front of her at a loss. Her eyes were wide open and she didn't know how to start.
Richard frowned and walked closer. The ponytail maid immediately seemed to be shocked and her body stiffened: "The king... His Highness..."
"I asked you to distill high-concentration alcohol, how did it go?"
"I... I..." The ponytail maid's voice trembled a little, but in order to avoid being scolded, she still answered bravely: "What I did... I did okay... I guess..."
"Is it still OK?" Richard said with an expressionless face, pointing to the pungent white mist that was constantly touching the connection point of the device, and asked, "Is this what you said is OK? What about the air tightness I asked you to do? The alcohol vapor is even If it’s missed, how do you collect the highly concentrated alcohol solution?”
"I… "
Richard reached into the water basin filled with iron pipes again, felt the temperature and said loudly: "How long has it been since you changed the water? The water is hot, do you think this can have a condensation effect? Do you think This allows the high-temperature alcohol vapor to turn into liquid droplets when cooled, and then be collected into the bottle by the horn tube? I remember that I just told you and others the key points of distillation yesterday. Why did you make it like this? What does it look like?”
"Your Highness, I... I..." The maid with a ponytail trembled, her voice filled with tears, "Your Highness, I was wrong... I am too stupid, I can't remember. King... Your Highness, please try again. Give me a chance, I... I will definitely... "
"Forget it, no need." Richard said calmly, "I have said before that the maids in my palace can make any mistakes, even killing people. But one thing must be done, and that is to listen after I explain. Understand what I say and then do it.
If you can't understand or forget, it's not that you are stupid, but that your learning ability is too poor, and the last thing I need is someone with poor learning ability. Because I don’t have that much time and energy to popularize science, and I don’t have that much time and energy to cultivate everyone into junior high school students with scientific accomplishments that transcend the limitations of the times.
So, from now on, you are no longer a person in the palace. You can pack your things in the afternoon and leave. Don't let me say it a second time. "
After Richard's words came out, the beautiful maid with a ponytail trembled and her face turned pale. Once she is kicked out of the palace, it will mean that she can no longer find a place where she can earn five silver coins a month. Her poor family cannot survive at all, which is undoubtedly a disaster for her.
The maid with a ponytail couldn't help shouting: "Your Highness, Your Highness! Please, give me another chance. I... My father owes a lot of money to others. If I leave here, there will be no money to pay." If he pays his debt, he will be beaten to death, please.”
Richard didn't seem to hear anything and walked towards the depths of the palace. The ponytail maid's face became a little desperate.
Edward, the captain of the personal guard who was following Richard, saw it, glanced at the ponytail maid's handsome face, and then glanced at the other crooked maids busy in the hall, his eyes flashed.
Walking a few steps quickly, he caught up with Richard and said, "Your Highness, I think the maid named Eve just now is actually quite good. It's just that she may have been here too short and is not familiar with her, so she didn't do a good job. Her family It’s so difficult inside, so why don’t we just keep her for a few days, just in case she is willing to work harder..."
Richard stopped and looked at Edward with extremely calm eyes.
Edward's body trembled, showing a somewhat fearful expression, "Your Highness, I... I..."
"I know what you are thinking." Richard said, "But I must tell you Edward: I can tolerate a person's ugly appearance, bad qualities, and corrupt behavior, as long as she can complete the assigned tasks. On the contrary, a person If a person has low IQ, low ability, and poor learning ability, then no matter how beautiful she is, I will never tolerate it. Because in the field of science, there are only numerical values and no appearance.
In a word, I am very busy. I have been busy for more than ten years since I came to this world. I am busy trying to understand some supernatural things and answer a question. So, everything that affects me is an obstacle, and I absolutely will not tolerate obstacles. If you pity the girl, fine, yes, she can stay, but only if you help her get everything done, that's it. "
"I..." Edward lowered his head and his expression changed rapidly. After a moment, he lowered his head and said, "I understand, Your Highness," then turned and walked towards the ponytailed maid.
The ponytail maid watched Edward approaching, her eyes flickered, and she whispered tentatively: "Sir, look at me..."
Edward said nothing and continued to approach. The girl showed a puzzled expression and subconsciously stepped back. Edward suddenly stretched out his hand.
"Ah!" the maid cried out, and her ponytail was grabbed by Edward.
Edward pulled hard, and the girl was so painful that she almost shed tears. Edward ignored it and strode out of the palace, dragging the maid's hair. Then with a strong force, he dragged the maid to the ground and said coldly: "I'm warning you, if you make His Highness the Prince angry, get out of the palace immediately. Don't do it." If you appear in front of His Highness the Prince again, you may risk your life!"
"I..." The maid stood up in horror. Edward had already tossed his sleeves, turned around and walked into the palace again, chasing after Richard with a smile on his face.
"Your Highness, I have already taken care of that pig-brained maid for you. I will have someone find a smarter and more obedient one to replace her in the afternoon. Do you think that's okay?"
"Uh." Richard said, noncommittal.
"Actually... Your Highness, I think you can definitely give some orders to you. There will be many people to help you do it. You don't have to do everything yourself. After all, you are His Highness and you should do some more important things." ." Edward said in a persuasive tone.
"for example?"
"For example... Ahem, Your Majesty, you see, His Majesty the King has been in poor health. He is bedridden this time. I don't know if he will be safe. If something unexpected happens and the eldest prince succeeds to the throne, there will inevitably be some things that are not good for you. , it’s better to prepare early. You might as well contact more nobles and win their support. In this way, you can at least ensure that your own interests are not violated, and you can get a satisfactory territory and a satisfactory grand duke. title."
After swallowing his saliva and seeing that Richard didn't have any big reaction, Edward continued: "In comparison, I think your highness, you are currently looking for all kinds of weird things and conducting various research related to wizards. There is really nothing." It’s too necessary. It’s okay as a hobby, but it’s really unreasonable to devote all your energy to it... "
"Ha." Richard chuckled, "Do you mean to let me get involved in crown prince politics?"
"Um, this..."
"Edward, let me ask you, do you think it is the crown prince's politics that is more important to me, or the wizards and spells that are more important to me?"
"I think the crown prince's politics is more important to you, Your Highness." Edward said seriously.
However, Richard shook his head slightly, stepped forward, pushed open a red wooden door, and walked in.
Edward's expression froze slightly and he stopped in front of the door. He knew that inside the door was Richard's independent laboratory, which was usually used when Richard himself was doing some special research. At this time, Richard hated being disturbed by others.
Sighing lightly, he stopped outside the door and looked at the wooden door in front of him. Edward couldn't help but murmur to himself: "Your Highness, you must listen to what I say, otherwise... I will be betrayed." It’s hard to do. My family has pinned all its hopes of rising on you, and now the king is seriously ill. If you don’t do anything... "
…