Three days seemed to fly by in a blink of an eye. On the day of the inheritance ceremony, Roddy almost stayed up all night. After all, he was just a big boy. Although I have experienced so many strange things in the past few days and my vision has become extraordinary, I still have to be nervous in the end when encountering such a big event.
Nicole came to Roddy's room early in the morning, opened her door to the personal maid An Qi, and dressed Roddy herself. This time Nicole carefully selected a special silver warrior costume for him. The design of this suit is the work of a famous master in the imperial capital, and it is extremely well-cut. When Roddy puts it on, his strong and straight figure is immediately revealed, and the whole person looks heroic.
The two people's eyes met from time to time, and their minds communicated. They were both blushing and intoxicated. After Roddy was dressed, Nicole carefully looked at Roddy's ears to make sure there were no flaws.
Roddy thought about the ears and felt a little disappointed. He couldn't help but said: "Nicole, when will you remove these ears of mine?"
Nicole didn't dare to hide it anymore, she just smiled bitterly and said: "I am also thinking of a solution, but Dandong's records are really esoteric and difficult to understand. When this matter is over, we will study it slowly."
Roddy opened his mouth, wanting to tell Nicole that he had found a way to use this mask, but he couldn't use it because he was not a magician. Thinking that Nicole is a powerful magician, she should be able to control the mask. But when the words came to his lips, he remembered Andy's instructions and knew that no one should know about Dandong's last words, so he gave up immediately. Before going out, Nicole gave Roddy a few more instructions.
Roddy looked at Nicole who was so close and felt his heart fluttering. He couldn't help but want to lean over and give her a gentle kiss on the cheek. Nicole was startled, and immediately dodged away, with a strange pleading expression on her face, and whispered: "Rody, don't do this. Later... okay? I really can't help you with your appearance now... I see. Looking at your face, I always feel that you are my younger brother... "
Rody sighed, feeling annoyed but not daring to show it, so he could only follow Nicole out and get into the carriage.
Fortunately, Roddy and Nicole were not the only ones in the carriage this time. Instructor Carter, also wearing an officer's uniform, was sitting neatly in the carriage. Nicole has announced to the public that Instructor Carter is Seth's official swordsmanship teacher. According to imperial tradition, after a nobleman successfully inherits a title, the teacher will also be commended by the emperor. So today, Instructor Carter was dressed very smartly, and even his beard was combed meticulously. In line with the idea of respecting teachers, Nicole did not let instructor Carter ride a horse, but invited him to ride in the carriage with him.
A side hall in the palace has already been decorated. According to the tradition of the empire, all the Royal Guards have put on their brightest armor and stand solemnly around the hall. There were already many other young nobles waiting in the hall.
According to imperial tradition, several succession ceremonies are held each year. Every time, many young nobles come to take the assessment, but because this assessment is temporarily decided by His Majesty the Emperor, the number of people is smaller than the normal regular assessment. Some young nobles looked at Roddy with a somewhat indignant look. They all knew that because of this young master of the Tulip family, His Majesty the Emperor had greatly advanced the date of the assessment.
Roddy didn't care about so many things, he followed Nicole into the hall with his head held high and his chest held high. One of them is a charming beauty, and the other is a handsome and handsome man. As soon as they walked into the hall, they immediately attracted countless eyes.
All the young nobles who were preparing to take the assessment were dressed in costumes and tried their best to show their most energetic side in front of others. The empire was founded by force. Although it has declined a lot over the past few hundred years, the martial culture still retains some of it. Each of these young nobles has the title of warrior, and their ranks vary from high to low - but it is not clear whether there is any water in them.
Twenty tables had been guarded in the hall, and without saying much, Nicole led Roddy to the top table and sat down. His face was cold, and he only showed some tenderness when he occasionally made eye contact with Rody. Instructor Carter has a different status and cannot enter the hall, so he can only wait outside.
After a while, Commander Gordon strode out from behind and shouted loudly: "His Majesty, the Great Emperor of the Bright Empire, has arrived!"
All the people who were whispering to each other stopped talking and stood up with a sigh. In the silence, a huge door opened behind the hall, and Emperor Abbas XI slowly strode out from behind the hall. Today, the emperor no longer wore the white robe, but instead wore a golden light armor with a bright red cloak behind him. The gloom between the brows on his face was also swept away, and he looked quite high-spirited.
When everyone in the hall saw the emperor, they all bowed their heads and knelt down. Rody also knelt down on one knee, but when he saw the man behind the emperor, Rody couldn't help being stunned.
Not only Rody was stunned, but also all the nobles in the hall were stunned.
Because in this kind of formal ceremony, the person who usually comes hand in hand with the emperor should be His Majesty the Queen, but today the woman standing next to His Majesty the Emperor is not the Queen!
Qiao Qiao was wearing a bright red robe, and her whole body seemed to be in a ball of fire. The gorgeous face was extremely calm at the moment, but a pair of flashing eyes showed excitement, constantly looking for the crowd below.
"Everyone, get up." Abbas XI's unique clear voice sounded, and he said calmly: "Don't have so many rules, let's get started." At this point, his eyes glanced at Roddy's face intentionally or unintentionally. Face—Rody immediately looked away from Qiaoqiao.
Gordon immediately stood up and announced loudly that the assessment had begun.
Following Gordon's order. All the young nobles stepped out of their positions. Concentrated in the center of the hall, Rody naturally stood at the front.
The emperor nodded and said some hard words - of course Rody didn't listen to a single word of these high-sounding words. Although he didn't raise his head, he could already feel Qiaoqiao's eyes turning on him. He felt extremely awkward, but he didn't dare to look up.
The first test is riding skills. There are already more than twenty royal horses on the square in front of the main hall. Each horse is covered in snow-white body, without a trace of hair, and looks extremely handsome.
The young nobles all walked out of the hall and listened to Gordon announcing the assessment content. The square has long been arranged like a military school ground. A pair of bows and arrows are hung on each horse, and each person is equipped with ten arrows. There is also a cavalry spear hanging on the horse, but the head of the spear has been removed. There are three archery targets as tall as two people placed in the distance!
The Empire of Light was founded on martial arts. Every noble must practice martial arts, and those who inherit the title must have the title of warrior. Therefore, most of the assessments focus on martial arts.
This assessment is not just a matter of riding and shooting, but also completely follows the battlefield pattern. After all the people mounted their horses, the target was too far away, and they had to ride horses to within the range of the bow and arrow before they could shoot. During this distance, the knights could attack each other and try to knock other knights off their horses. Everyone was attacking others. Everyone must protect themselves, after all there are only three arrow targets! The one who shoots the arrow on the target in the melee is only half successful - if he is knocked off his horse in the middle, he is eliminated.
Of course, for the sake of fairness, this assessment was conducted in batches. Samurai of the same level can only be tested together with samurai of the same level! Otherwise, according to normal competition, a first-level warrior would never be able to beat a third-level warrior.
The young nobles immediately divided into three groups. Among them, Roddy's group of first-level warriors had the largest number of people. Simply because in order to inherit the title, many nobles conceal their strength before inheriting the title, even though they clearly have the strength to exceed the level of a first-level warrior, just so that they can stay in the queue of first-level warriors during the assessment! In this case, although there are many opponents around him, relying on his own strength that exceeds that of a first-level warrior, he has a high chance of winning. Only a few people who are fully confident in their own strength will increase their warrior level early.
The first to compete were the third-level warriors (none of these young nobles were above the third-level warriors). Gordon gave an order, and only four knights mounted their horses. Normally, four people shooting at three arrow targets is more than enough. Even if they don't attack each other and just shoot arrows honestly, they can still pass. But these four people seemed to be going crazy. As soon as they got on their horses, no one went to get their bows and arrows. Instead, they all raised their spears in unison and rushed towards them like the opponents next to them...
These young nobles are all young people who are fully confident in their own strength. Different from those idiot nobles, they are all full-blooded guys who want to fully demonstrate their martial prowess in front of the emperor during the assessment. In their arrogance, , simple archery cannot satisfy their honor. Only by knocking down the opponent in an upright manner is the symbol of a true warrior!
The four people immediately got into a ping-pong-pong fight. Roddy was fascinated to see it - he was a real warrior, and these four people did have real talents. Dare to perform on such an occasion, there is indeed a chance - you know, for most nobles, their lifelong future may be today! If he performs bravely, then the Emperor will be happy and he may become famous in the future.
The four third-level warriors fought for a long time before deciding the winner. In the end, the thickest guy among them was knocked off his horse by the combined efforts of the other two. And the weakest one among them was the first to be beaten off his horse. The remaining two people looked at each other and stopped in perfect agreement. They drew their bows and nocked arrows one after another, and hit the red heart of the target.
There were thunderous cheers on the sidelines, and Abbas XI seemed very happy. He stood up and clapped his hands.
There is nothing exciting about the competition between the second-level warriors below. There were seven people in total. After getting on their horses, some rushed out to shoot arrows impatiently, some went to attack others with fierce looks on their faces, and some looked hesitant, not knowing whether to get spears or bows and arrows.
With Rody's current strength, the fight between the second-level warriors has long been despised. He yawned repeatedly and simply closed his eyes to rest.
Unconsciously, Qiao Qiao, who was beside the emperor, saw Rody's appearance, and a strange color flashed in his beautiful eyes.