"Honestly, I really want to pass on the honor of being a new market opener to someone else."
Saran, the leader of the Raven Pirates who only wore a shirt and a single shirt, said from the bottom of his heart. He was lazily standing at the door with a gun in his hand, and the sticky blood was slowly spreading on the basalt rock beneath his feet.
The members of the Raven Pirates were scattered in a majestic palace.
The style of this palace is completely different from the Roland Empire, the Root Empire, and even East and West Ure.
It wasn't like the buildings along the Celestial Sea, with its elaborate flying buttresses, pointed towers and long narrow ridges with gargoyles. The palace, which is generally made of huge marble bricks, is built on a three-story planar rectangular base. The facade is supported by 24 Doric stone columns. Half-human, half-demon gods are carved on the entire triangular mountain flower, and in the middle is a giant bird bathing in flames with the sun in its mouth.
Instead of calling it a palace, call it a temple.
The Temple of the Sun, this is the most special and noble temple on the Ermia continent, and it belongs to the supreme ruler of Ermia.
Its owner is called "Kuman", which means the god born from the sun, holding darkness and light.
It has been several months since Captain Saran arrived in the continent of Ermia, and he still hasn't fully understood the meaning of the myth of the sunbird's nine deaths and nine lives. I only figured out the complex overall system of the Kingdom of Elmia—to put it simply, this is a more extreme theocracy than the Roland Empire.
After shooting and killing another attendant who tried to rush into the Sun Temple, Captain Saran took a moment to take a look inside the temple.
The scene in the hall was bloody and strange.
Two rows of people wearing golden plumage and dark wooden masks sat silently on both sides of the empty temple, with blood oozing from the bottom of their necks. Standing behind them were dark-brown, handsome slaves in wicker skirts who cut their throats with sharp bone knives and held their bodies on their knees to prevent the corpses from falling. And in the center of the temple, the "magician" wearing the three-sided golden sunbird badge and wiping his forehead was fighting with another middle-aged man with profound facial features and green eyes in the most traditional way.
The middle-aged man looked somewhat similar to the magician, with the same high nose, deep eyes, high and thin cheekbones. The golden sunbird badge on the forehead is two more than the magician, the oil paint on the cheekbones is golden, and there is a paint mark like an eye on the center of the brow. When he was young, he should have been a handsome and tall man, but now his waist and abdomen are a bit bloated. Even so, when he swung the two golden spikes, his movements were still fierce and brave.
"You let outsiders step into the Temple of the Sun..."
Kuman, whose chest was sunken, stared fixedly at the young challenger in front of him. Blood flowed from under his golden sunbird badge, and his green eyes looked extremely cold.
"The sun will banish you, banish you, and you are the greatest disgrace to Elmia."
"They are all only on the steps, not in the temple, honorable uncle."
The magician paced slowly, with blood flowing from under his shoulder armor, his face became paler, and his tone became colder.
"It's not much worse than a poisoned person."
The elder and younger descendants of the Sun God confronted each other in the palace, exhausted, like beasts in a life-and-death duel at the last moment, looking for the last chance.
"Poison the king, rape and kill the queen, and force all the crown princes to death... My honorable uncle, if the divine bird really stares at this world, then today should be your death day."
This guy's experience can make a wonderful drama, and he's the kind that noble gentlemen like most.
Captain Saran kicked one of Kuman's personal guards, thinking bitterly—although the weapons occupy some, they are not unlimited after all, and no one knows how long they can last.
It was in the Thousand Island Bay of the Roland Empire that he encountered the "Magician".
At that time, Captain Saran was still an ordinary pirate, and the magician was skinny and thrown into a slave captain.
After the Black Death in 1348, nearly one-third of the population of the Roland Empire was lost, and the land was deserted. In order to rapidly increase the population and resume production, the Roland royal family passed the "Warrosa Act" at that time, which basically abolished the serfdom system that was very popular from the eleventh century to the fourteenth century. conversion of people. The large-scale slave trade was prohibited by the kingdom's laws, and the slave trade was turned into a private operation by some nobles who relied on force. In order to ensure that the trade does not go wrong, the slave ship owner will train the slaves for a period of time before the transaction is completed.
At that time, Captain Saran pretended to be a sailor and sneaked into the slave ship, doing some work before the pirates robbed.
He brought food to the slaves in the cabin—some sour porridge in wooden barrels, and when he passed by the magician, he caught a glimpse of his quiet and cold eyes in the dark. That was not the look that an ordinary slave would have. On a whim, Captain Saran threw a piece of sharpened iron at the feet of this strange slave.
At night, the pirate group attacked the slave ship. When he saw the guy with dark green eyes cut the captain's throat with a piece of iron, Saran knew that his instinct was right.
The other party will never be an ordinary slave.
The captain of the pirate group was an asshole at the time, and Saran wanted to kill him for a long time. That night, he finally found a chance, twisted his neck, tied him firmly with ropes, and threw him into the seabed with all his strength.
When standing on the bow of the ship and watching the one-eyed captain slowly sinking, Saran noticed that someone was watching him from behind.
Turning his head, the ghostly green-eyed slave with blood dripping in his fingers was standing not far away. They looked at each other, but neither said a word.
Saran had no intention of talking to the slave who helped him on a whim, and the slave had no intention of repaying his favor.
When they met again, Saran had already put on the soft peaked hat that symbolized the captain of the raven, and was hunted down by an armed caravan with a small boat that belonged to him at sea. Before the future great Raven Pirates that would roam the world had not risen, the captain and his only two men were almost killed in the sea by artillery. A strange magician in a black wide-brimmed hat and a black coat with double-breasted brass buttons appeared at the bow and said something to the captain of the merchant ship.
The artillery stopped, and the lifeboat and rope were dropped.
"Hello."
Half covered in blood and half covered in water, he followed the magician off the boat and walked across the pier. Captain Saran tossed a gold coin lazily.
"Which noble lady asked you to save my life? Or do you need help performing some magical magic?"
The magician with a puppet and clown sitting on his shoulder finally raised the brim of his hat, revealing a pair of dark green eyes like lake water.
"you can go now… "
The clown answers instead of the master.
Captain Saran tossed him the gold coin that contained the secret of the treasure: "The key to the treasure house of Emperor Befolk, are you a pirate?"
Later, in the northern seas of the Roland Empire, there was a pirate group marked by ravens. The captain was a lunatic, and the first mate was a crazy magician and adventure businessman. The crew members also have some problems in their minds, either stupid or stupid - Captain Saran's evaluation. Sometimes, there will be some inexplicable people secretly looking for a person with black hair and green eyes. Captain Saran seemed to have forgotten that the magician's hair was not red but black when they first met.
The people of the Raven Pirates never search for the past of their companions.
At most, after entering the mainland of Ermia, the magician put on a golden armor, and the black cloak reached to the ground. A group of people kneeled respectfully on both sides of the road, kissed the place he walked, and shouted "Gurion! Gurion!", say:
—Oh, so your name is Gurian.
Captain Saran whistled, slipped his unloaded gun back into his belt, drew his dagger, and bent down to meet the enemy.
There was a violent armor collision sound from the palace behind, and at the last moment, Gurion and Kuman collided together. Their duels were not as elegant as the duels of the knights of the Roland Empire, and were filled with the most primitive violence. The sound of bone breaking mixed with the sound of flesh and blood being torn, Kuman's arm strangled the magician's throat, and the gold wristband in his hand had sharp barbs.
Just before the barb cut Gurion's throat, the sharp knife pierced Kuman's throat.
muffled sound.
Kuman's body fell backwards, and Gurion tore off the golden sunbird from his forehead and held it aloft.
The temple was still pouring in like a tide, and the movements of the soldiers trying to break through the blockade of the pirates froze at that moment. The sound of drum-like footsteps came from the temple, and Gurion, whose face was stained with blood, raised the heavy Sunbird badge in his hand.
The uproar died away.
The light of the sunbird statue fell on Gurion, and the soldiers slowly put down their spears and swords, and then one by one, slowly fell to their knees, and finally pressed their foreheads to the ground.
"Kuman! Kuman!"
They shouted loudly.
Captain Saran and the other pirates leaned on the stone exhaustedly, slid and sat on the ground without caring about their image, and grinned silly.
A new ruler of the continent of Elmia is born.
…………………………
"A new Cuman."
After finishing the bloody letter, Queen Adele sighed.
Due to the repulsion and fear of heretics and the danger of ocean voyages, people have always known little about the distant and fabled continent of Ermia. Even knowing that the identity of the Raven Pirates might be unusual as a magician, the Queen didn't place much hope in the results of the voyage—she only hoped that the pirates could successfully get in touch with the local area and open up some trading posts.
What happened was both unexpected and reasonable to some extent.
The chief mate of the Raven Pirates, the well-traveled Mr. Magician, formerly known as "Gurion", is one of the crown princes of the Kingdom of Elmia.
Compared with the Roland Empire, Elmia's national system is more primitive, and the temple system is the political and military system of the country, but on the other hand, the royal power is also more concentrated. "My country" is used to describe this ancient and mysterious continent, which can be called genuine. The ruler of the Kingdom of Elmia is called "Kuman". Kuman is not only the administrative head of the country, but also the military commander, and also the chief priest of the temple. Kingship is divine right. Under this special belief and custom, the royal family of Elmia is considered to be the blood of the sunbird, with a name but no surname. After the crown prince is elected as the new ruler, he will be called "Kurman".
The magician Gurion's father was originally the king of Ermia, but was murdered by his brother Normar with poison, and the throne was usurped.
After Normar became the new Cuman, he poisoned his elder brother's children one by one. Only Gurion escaped from Elmia and boarded a smuggling ship for slave trade. I don’t know if it’s the retribution of the heavens. During the reign of Normar, who killed his brothers, nephews and nieces, despite many favors, the heirs not only did not increase the original children, but died one after another.
Normar, who has lost all heirs to the throne, has become more and more violent. He is worried that Gurion will return to Ermia to grab the throne at some point, and his rule will become more and more cruel and bloody. When Gurion, Captain Saran and others arrived in Ermia, they encountered many ambushes and assassinations in the early stage. If it were not for the muskets and weapons allocated to them by the queen in advance, it is unknown whether Gurion would be able to reach the capital alive.
Part of the reason was that Nomar’s rule was too cruel and despotic, and part of the reason was that he was shocked by the unprecedented weapons of muskets and gunpowder. Many priests and elders in the Temple of Ermia fell to Gurian.
More than half of the elders agreed to Gurion's request—
According to the oldest and bloodiest kingdom tradition, when Kuman's prestige is not enough to convince everyone, other heirs to the throne have the right to initiate a duel to decide who is the ruler of the kingdom in the most primitive way.
"The winner is king."
Adele, who also experienced the dangerous battle for the throne, commented so.
Neither Gurion nor Kuman intends to be honest and follow traditional customs. On the day of the duel, Kuman mobilized his army to kill his nephew along with the elders who supported him. Gulian placed assassins at the banquet. When Kuman turned his face, the assassins also drew their knives and cut the throats of the elders who supported Kuman.
In general, the situation is actually more unfavorable for Gurion.
After the elder who supported him was assassinated, Kuman immediately gave up the idea of waiting for the soldiers to solve his nephew and the traitor, and instead tried to delay time or even kill his nephew with a duel. Cuman ruled Ermia for a long time, and the remaining elders agreed to his request out of fear of form. Gurian can really rely on the small number of pirates, and can only block the enemy by using terrain and gunpowder weapons, and this blocking cannot last for too long.
Hence the bloody duel recorded in Captain Saran's letter.
Fortunately, Gurion won his throne in the end.
The queen turned her head through the car window, glanced at Heinrich who was not far away, and was silent for a while.
Archbishop Rodri vaguely guessed what she thought of.
The battle for the throne that Adele participated in can be called the most brutal and bloody one in the past five hundred years of the Roland Empire.
At that time, the battle for the throne was mixed with religious conflicts and civilian riots, and the Kingdom of Yager, the Pope, and the Kingdom of Root spared no effort to intervene. The form is complex and ever-changing. Whether voluntary or involuntary, different heirs to the throne were put on the stage of competition, either dead or mad. Among them, the youngest victims were even underage—they were the younger brother of Edmund III, the son and daughter of the Grand Duke Tarleni. One was seven years old and the other was six when they mysteriously "stumbled" and fell from the castle tower.
During that time, the capital of the kingdom was bleeding every day, and new corpses were born, and the price of poisons skyrocketed dozens or even hundreds of times.
It can almost be said with certainty that without Heinrich's protection, Princess Adele at that time would have never survived.
Archbishop Rodrik was not the deputy head of the Knights of the Temple at that time. Although he became the Archbishop of the Day Palace, he did not really participate in the battle for the throne. He only heard about some things occasionally, and now he suddenly regretted that he hadn't participated in that competition.
Heinrich outside the carriage felt something and cast his gaze over.
However, the queen has already withdrawn her gaze.
"Tell me what you think." She looked down at another unopened letter on the table, her slender fingers intertwined, "About Gurian, about Ermia."