The Dibo River was shining with sparkling waves in the sunset. At this time, the floating sunset glow on the river would shoot into the windows and dye the hotel lobby crimson. Through the window lattice, you can see the imperial capital standing on the horizon, a majestic shadow, the high tower and city wall leaving a thick oblique shadow in the twilight of the setting sun.
After wiping the last table, Seti straightened up and wiped the sweat with the back of her hand. She looked at the direction of the door somewhat unexpectedly—the light at the door was dimmed, and a few travelers in cloaks walked in—the guests were guests. She was slightly surprised that there were customers at this season. Since the war in Metz, there have been fewer merchants on the road. The business of the hotel is getting slack day by day, and the owner of the hotel plans to temporarily close its doors and go out of business.
The first person who walked in was a foreigner. He had long dark brown hair that is rare in the empire. His face was a little handsome. Although it is not attractive at first sight, at least his facial features were good and handsome. A pair of brown eyes had a divine light inside. His expression was full of warmth, as if it made people feel cordial at first glance.
Behind him, the taller one seemed to be his companion, looking more handsome, with a hood-although it was taken off as soon as he entered the house, showing slightly curly short hair, he looked around. There was a deep cynicism in his eyes.
There were a few girls behind, and Seti couldn't help feeling very strange. How could there be so many female family members on the road at this time, and she couldn't help but suspect that they were a group of slave traders. However, she soon realized that she was different. These girls were obviously not simple. A few of them dared not look at them because of their eyes. This aggressive temperament was only seen in the real big people in the city. How could it be a slave girl.
"What a strange caravan." At this time, Seti had noticed the caravan parked outside the hotel, and only merchants would use such a carriage when traveling to and from the Banker area.
And it was Brando and his party who walked into this hotel at this moment.
Thankfully, the old caravan bought from the town of Eleven Leaves finally arrived safely at its destination before it fell apart-this hotel with the words'cats and whiskers' on the sign.
This old building with a strong brilliance of returning to the style is located on the bank of the Holy Mercury Bridge, no more than ten miles from Rusta. The exterior looks unremarkable, but a bit too shabby—the paint on the signboard and the door is severely peeled off. There are also many repairs on the roof, but the window is clean and clean. There are still a few pots of ivy on the window sill on the side of the door, with its branches and leaves spreading, and it is well taken care of by its owner.
The business of the hotel looks very deserted, probably because of the location too far. Delphin mentioned that this is the farthest hotel outside the east gate of Rusita, and only some merchants with little money on hand will temporarily settle here.
But this is exactly why they chose this place.
Remoteness means safety—
The waitress in this hotel was actually a mountain man. Brando noticed the girl's long red hair like a fire in the setting sun. He couldn't help being surprised, but when the group was upstairs, Charles turned his head and said with a smile: "It looks like that little girl is suspicious, so it's like what Ms. Sidney said-our disguise is not very good."
Brando came back to his senses and replied: "This was something that had already been expected."
"I thought you would be troubled by this, my lord."
"I don't worry about nothing, but I don't want to do useless work."
"What is'useless work'?" Charles exclaimed, "I haven't heard the lord's new word pop out of your mouth for a while."
Brando patted his mouth in annoyance: "It's just something meaningless."
At this time, Roman, who was walking in the front, noticed the conversation between the two, of course, in fact, she had always been eavesdropping with her ears pricked up. As for the sulking Brando on the carriage, she had long been thrown out of the sky. When she heard these words, she couldn't help but deliberately lag behind, and asked with wide-eyed eyes:
"But why is it meaningless? The Queen caught us and would hang us on the gallows? I heard that the nobles treated their prisoners in this way. If so, should we pretend to be disguised? What?"
"Because it's useless." Delphine replied as he walked aside.
Since starting to take the Fountain of Youth, the scars on her face have faded a lot these days, at least it doesn’t look so terrifying anymore, some areas have even begun to moult, revealing the new skin underneath that is as clean as suet. .
The most important thing is that you no longer need to rely on a wheelchair when you move. Although it is still a little inconvenient, you can at least move freely like a normal person.
"Useless?"
Brando nodded: "When we were on the road before, did the knight on patrol pass by us and didn't stop to check us?"
"Isn't this a good thing?"
"The key lies in frequency. We have encountered too many patrol knights along the way. As far as I know on weekdays, such knights will only conduct a routine patrol along the periphery of the imperial capital before early morning and evening. This shows that Her Majesty the Queen. The security on the periphery of the imperial capital has been strengthened, but they have not been ordered to interrogate the floating population entering Rushta."
"Is that right?"
"Yes," Delphine nodded, but he glanced at Brando with some surprise. I probably didn't expect the latter to be so familiar with this place. You must know that many natives of Rušta might not know this empire. How does the vigilance force outside the capital work
Charles smiled, apparently knowing the answer to this question a long time ago: "This shows that the hospitable Queen has adopted a precautionary method of loosening on the outside and tight on the inside. It seems that she is very confident in her tentacles, I am afraid that we will not enter the city. That's it."
"In other words, as long as we enter the city, she can find us?"
Brando nodded: "It seems that at least the Silver Queen thinks so."
The merchant lady analyzed her own income and couldn't help but wrinkle her brows: "In that case, Brando, are we going to act separately?"
"Um?"
"That is to say, let me take Brunhild and the others into the city to attract the attention of the Queen. You and Teacher Mephistopheles will find a way to sneak into the city to save Qian—"
Brando couldn't help being angry and funny when he heard these words, and patted her smooth forehead: "What are you thinking? The matter hasn't gotten so serious yet. I don't think the Silver Queen will be troubled so early."
Roman hurriedly hid his forehead, and asked, "Why?"
"I don't know why," Brando also shook his head, and replied softly: "But I have a hunch that the Silver Queen is waiting for us to enter the city—"
…
After the setting sun sinks under the horizon, the night truly envelopes the city of Rusita. In the darkness, there are dots of lights floating in the darkness. On the distant horizon, it seems like stars descending from the sky. In some places further away, a flash of light flashes from time to time on the dark sky. , Only those who live in Rusita know that it is actually a flapping wing plane of the Nazers.
Since Rustha is far from the extreme border of the Nazers, both sides have a large number of troops stationed on the east border. Even in the dark, there are still groups of Pegasus knights and wizards in the sky. The flapping-wing aircraft patrolled and reconnaissance in the canine-toothed airspace.
Faina stood by the window and stared at the river flowing quietly under the moonlight, and she couldn't help but recall the last time she came to the emperor. However, time has passed, and she has also fallen from a respected identity to the clouds, let alone maintain In the past halo, even father and brother were imprisoned in the belly of the fearsome'behemoth' in front of him.
But I don't know why, at this moment, there is peace in her heart.
There was a knock on the door, and the others in the room turned their heads, just in time to see Metisa pushing in a uniform and pushing the door.
She closed the door with her backhand, let out a sigh of relief, then looked at Brando and said, "Lord Lord."
"Metisa, how is it?" Brando nodded to her. He asked the other party to go out to inquire about the news before, but now his look should be rewarding.
Metisa replied as expected: "Fortunately, it's not too much trouble. I asked you clearly, Lord Lord, the engagement ceremony will be held in half a month, and then the White Rose Garden of the Palace of San Contepe will hold a banquet. , There will also be celebrations in the city. In fact, Rustha had already started preparing for this celebration a week ago."
Brando couldn't help but snorted. Obviously, what the Cruz people did to Akane made him very disdainful: "It seems that the Silver Queen wants to use this to dilute the panic of the imperial capital, but I don't think the effect will be too great. I don't think about what I did before."
"It's just clearing the dissidents." Delphine replied lightly.
The opening of the prime minister’s daughter made Medissa couldn’t help but glance at her. She frowned slightly before continuing to report: "Countess Valachit—I mean Qian. It’s said that she has been living outside of Rušta. In one of the castles, but I’ve seen it there and there’s no one."
"Is it fake news, or was it transferred?" Brando asked.
"It should have been transferred, Lord Lord, I was worried that the Silver Queen left her eyeliner there, so I didn't dare to stay for too long, but then I asked about it elsewhere. The castle did live in a castle before. A big man, but moved away a few weeks ago."
"It can be seen that the Silver Queen had already expected our arrival, otherwise she would not have to do anything more." Delphine was indifferent to Medissa's gaze and analyzed with a faint voice.
Brando did not answer, but he had no objection in his heart. In fact, he had already expected this, and Antitina's analysis was the same before that.
"What about the others?" he asked again.
Metisa turned her head: "Miss Delphine, your father and grandfather are imprisoned in Moss, as are the commander of the Blue Legion and Grand Duke Mosaic. But as far as I know, the upper level of the temple is not imprisoned in that place. Regarding the whereabouts of the Great Holy See, not many people are clear at all. Many people don't seem to know what happened in the temple that day, nor do they know that the temple of flames has been divided into two at this moment."
Hearing these words, the statue of the saint Sidney sitting on the bedside of the lion palace frowned slightly, while Faina showed an anxious look: "Metisa, I..."
"Fort Moss is not a special prison," Delphine interrupted her: "It is the other palace of the royal family, so they are only under house arrest. After all, my father, grandfather, and Grand Duke Huaye did not come forward. Take a clear stand against the Silver Queen."
"Why are they going to be arrested?" The merchant lady was counting the expenses in recent days, she couldn't help but raised her head and asked strangely.
"Because they are not in the first schedule, the Silver Queen has to do too much this time. To be on the safe side, she will suppress all factors of instability to a minimum in advance."
"Miss Delphine," Medisa's dissatisfaction on her face became more obvious when she heard her say this: "According to your statement, I don't see a reason for you to choose Lord Lord. The Silver Queen needs Ni. The attitude of the German family, and what you represent is the attitude of the Nieder family. I don’t know what your plan is, but if you dare to hurt the lord at all—"
The silver elf princess pursed her lips and did not finish her words, but seeing her cold eyes, Delphine also knew what the second half of the sentence would be.
Brando was also slightly startled, and couldn't help but glance at Medissa with some surprise. He knew that Medissa had never really accepted the prime minister's daughter, but it was the first time that she expressed her attitude so clearly.
Delphine smiled slightly, she only raised her head and glanced at Brando with light purple eyes, without answering.
"Miss Delphine..." Brando couldn't help but said.
"Does Lord Earl believe me?"
"But you do have more choices, don't you?" Charles finally stepped in, and he chose to stand by Medissa's side.
Delphine couldn't help but shook his head slightly.
Brando sighed, "It's because of the changes in the ivy, right?"
The prime minister's daughter turned her head, with a look of'you really know' on her face. She hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly: "But that is only one of them. My grandfather never supported the emperor's transfer of the throne to the Silver Queen, so your majesty did it. The Palut family will be supported to check and balance the power of the prime minister. They used this method once when the royal family fought against the temple, but this time it was not used well the last time."
"The Ivy Change," What everyone could not think of was that Morderfey, who had been silent at this moment, suddenly said, "Does it mean that?"
Everyone's eyes were cast on him.
"... I, I just happen to understand."
"Mordface, you are not the undead of Madara?" Brando reacted. He knew very little about the vampire siblings. He knew that Metissa, Shire, Tiger Sparrow, and Fro Yi In the past of the mercenaries, even Hippamilla would occasionally mention some of his experiences in the temple of the earth, but Mordefice and Andrique have always been silent about their origins.
Before that, he had always thought that before they became card creatures, they were just ordinary dark nobles of Madara, or a little bit of origin, but when he heard Mordefense's words, he knew he was wrong.
Mordefense is not the undead of Madara, he was probably born in Metz, otherwise it would be impossible to know what happened that year.
Facing his gaze, Modefice nodded: "Lord Lord, you guessed it, neither my sister nor the dark nobles from Madara. We were from Cruz during our lifetime, and Metz is our hometown. ."
Brando was clear: "So it was not accidental that I summoned you from the tomb that day?"
"I don't know much about the rules of destiny cards, but maybe it should be true."
"I understand," Brando replied, "Since you were once from Metz, you should be the witnesses of that incident?"
"Not exactly as witnesses, but sister Andríguez and I did go through that dark history. I only remember that my relatives—family and friends were killed in the turmoil, even myself, that The history is more cruel than the narrative. The experience of Sir Lawrence you have ever seen is just the tip of the iceberg."
Mordefense smiled indifferently: "For that period of history, I really don't want to recall too much. Unless Lord Lord happened to mention this incident, I would not like to mention it."
"I'm sorry." Brando didn't expect that he unintentionally exposed his scars, and couldn't help but apologize very much.
"It doesn't matter, Lord Lord, time will always erase all scars." Mordefeis smiled: "At that time, after the holy war, the Temple of Flame was facing a general decline and confusion of faith, the undead Riding in with the cultists and making waves within the empire, the Temple of Flame was most severely infiltrated by the Unity of All Things, and it was that time, and even to this day, there are still many historical issues. I remember the most chaotic place. In the days, East Metz and Mechotofin, near Argen, were the first to bear the brunt. At that time even several dukes were bewitched—"
"I, I have heard of this," Faina suddenly said: "I heard my nurse talk about the scene at that time. It is said that many people died at that time, and countless people were crucified every day. There were also assassinations and conspiracies among the nobles. It was the darkest period in the Metz area. Between the countryside was a place of witches and heretics. They cramped and skinned people, and used the harshest methods to torture those in the temple. Priests and believers."
"It's the same in the city. Every day, witches are corrected and executed by fire. Similar scenes are being staged all the time." When Mordfeather recalled the scene, he couldn't help frowning.
"I didn't expect such a thing to happen in the empire," Charles was a little surprised. Although he had heard of the turmoil, he couldn't imagine that the situation was so serious without personal experience: "What happened then?"
"Later it was the so-called Ivy Change. The chaos in East Metz evolved into a real turmoil. During the turmoil, several famous nobles died, and some of them were those who had fought side by side with Niedervan. Comrades and dear friends," Sidney spoke at this time. As a party in the temple, she could be said to be the one who knew best what happened at the time: "The old prime minister was ordered by the Silver Queen in furious The army entered East Metz and put down the rebellion in one fell swoop, and even captured two of the tree shepherd's twelve patriarchs."
"Two?" Brando noticed the number.
"Blood Lord Roclair, and another is Lenny the Blighter, but the latter escaped while being escorted."
"I said it was an escape, but my grandfather always suspected that Her Majesty let him go," Delphine finally spoke at this time: "At that time, in dealing with these cultists, Her Majesty and my grandfather had a great deal of trouble. Disagreement—According to the law of the temple, these cultists should have been in a different place, but the last one escaped. One is still imprisoned in the Thorns Fortress, and most of the cultists and the fallen dark lords have only been sealed. , Has not been completely destroyed, and that Sir Lawrison is just one of them."
"These are all orders given by the Silver Queen herself," she sighed: "What puzzled my grandfather the most is that the temple actually gave way."
"This incident has buried grievances between Her Majesty and my grandfather, but not only for personal reasons, but because my grandfather saw that Her Majesty had something else in her heart. Although he was not partial At the temple, but as a veteran imperial faction, he is also unwilling to see a real break between the royal family and the temple, thus letting the empire into the abyss of immortality."
She took a breath: "So you understand, now that everything has happened, my grandfather is even more unlikely to stand with Her Majesty the Queen. This is why Her Majesty secretly designed me to leave the capital. The reason, these things I should have seen long ago, just blinded my eyes with hatred."
"Me and me too," Faina looked at Brando, gritted her teeth and said: "I can represent Mehhothoven, Brando, I will be on your side, I'm the No. A successor in line, I can make this promise."
"Miss Faina," Metisa glanced at her, comforting: "Don't worry, we are not targeting you."
"Thank you, Medissa." The princess of the flower-leaf collar couldn't help blushing.
Delphine seemed to turn a deaf ear to what Medissa meant. She looked back at Brando and asked, "So Lord Lord, what should we do next?"
"There is still half a month," Brando replied, "It seems that there is still enough time. We will try our best to investigate where Akane is under house arrest, because I will only consider launching it directly on the day of the celebration if I have to. Before that, we have to find a way to invade Moss, this is to save you and Faina's relatives, on the one hand, it is also to win more allies for us."
He glanced at Sidney: "It would be great if we could find out where the upper echelons of the temple were held."
"Will they be killed by the Queen?" Charles interrupted suddenly.
"She wouldn't do that," the statue of the saint in the Lion Palace finally said: "Before I get the holy sword Odyssey—"
"Then do it, let's investigate separately," Brando replied: "Although the Silver Queen is confident to get us out, before that, we have time to play hide-and-seek with her."
He paused for a moment.
"I will surprise her."