After the welcoming ceremony on the airship platform, the follow-up welcome banquet began in the Golden Rose Palace. The nobles and dignitaries of this ancient kingdom gathered together to enjoy fine wines and delicacies in the "Eagle Hall" hung with crystal lamps and gilded silk curtains. Those dignitaries who can bring more benefits to themselves add affection, and every noble present always pays attention to the royal servant in blue and red uniform standing at the end of the long hall. When a family name is given, at least one nobleman will stand up and come to the high platform to pay respect to Her Royal Highness, who returned in triumph, and those knights who have made great achievements in battle—they raised their wine glasses high above their heads, time and time again After chanting all of Veronica's titles tirelessly, everyone smiled, as if they were genuinely happy for the knight princess to return home safely.
The defeat in the kingdom's western region seems to be forgotten, and no one mentions the festering defense line in the shadow forest. The Land of Chaos, bringing crucial frontline intelligence from the depths of darkness, and assisting the Western Fortress to repel the monster army are indeed commendable, but is this kind of glory what the knight princess wants? , it is unknown.
Hao Ren was not used to this kind of banquet that seemed enthusiastic but actually had no warmth from the very beginning, so after watching it for a while and found that there was nothing to do with him, he proposed to go outside the hall to get some air. Rudolph III obviously thought that this A guardian from a thousand years ago was not quite used to this strange environment a thousand years later, so he happily agreed: Originally, today's banquet was mainly to welcome Veronica and the Knights, and the "ancient guardian" was an accident For the character that appeared, His Majesty the King was already having a headache with the poor hospitality of this ancient warrior. He was of course happy to see that the guardian had no interest in these aristocratic orders at this moment.
The silver-inlaid oak door of the Eagle Hall closed behind him, and the surroundings suddenly fell silent. Hao Ren went to the terrace under the guidance of the guards, and took a deep breath of the clean air of the Land of Order—White City is located in the center of the Great Plains. The hot and humid air and the cold wind in the north are blocked by the mountains and forests, so the climate in the hinterland of the plain is quite pleasant. The night breeze is slightly cool, with just the right amount of water vapor, and a deep breath is refreshing.
The city is still brightly lit, and the bustling Baicheng has the richest nightlife on the continent. Hao Ren saw several large fireworks fairs in the main city below, and some places seemed to be continuing the unfinished celebrations during the day. He withdrew his gaze, and his eyes fell on the exquisite white stone pillars beside him: these ancient elf-style stone pillars supported a circle of stone ring beams above the terrace, and the ring beams were entwined with blooming roses and some unknown strange species. kingdom plants. As far as he could see, he could see peacefully celebrating crowds or exquisite and luxurious decorations, which were in stark contrast to his experience in Chaos Land.
It's hard to imagine a world that has been sinking in an endless spiral of war for ten thousand years—this Kolo world is different from every "Isolated Doom" he's ever seen, for reasons that at first glance seem It was a short-sighted drunken dream, but thinking about what the old knight Morian said on the airship, Hao Ren felt that it was not entirely true.
Footsteps came from behind.
Hao Ren turned his head and saw the purple-haired Veronica—the princess finally changed out of her blood-stained knight armor and put on a gorgeous light blue princess dress. After being carefully combed into the hairstyle commonly used by noble girls by the maid, it seems that the whole person seems to have changed his style. But when Hao Ren saw the aura of Her Royal Highness walking this way, Hao Ren knew that the other party's painting style hadn't changed at all: Veronica was striding towards this side, and that gorgeous and complicated long dress was like a She was kicked around like a cumbersome rag, and she was probably the only one who could walk out of such a splendid dress with the momentum of a hurried march.
"Master Guardian," Veronica came to Hao Ren in a vigorous manner, and said casually, "Why did you come out?"
"It's a bit boring," Hao Ren smiled, "Come out to get some air. Why did you come out too?"
"Disgusting," Veronica said with an exaggerated expression, "I waited until they finished flattering me, and I quickly found a chance to sneak out. This damn dress is driving me crazy, I don't know how my sister can Walking around in this every day—it's tougher than the scale armor of the Snow Guard of Eternal Winter."
Hao Ren also understood the temperament of Her Royal Highness. Anyway, none of the princesses he met had a normal style of painting, so he just laughed it off at this time: "It seems that you don't like those nobles."
"They said that I returned in triumph," Veronica frowned, "but I know what happened at the border. A whole regiment was almost eliminated. I heard that there were less than two scattered soldiers who came back after reorganization." Team, that was clearly a defeat."
"In the war against Chaos, as long as you come back alive, you win the battle, and if you come back alive and don't allow Chaos to cross the barrier of order, it's a great victory," Hao Ren recalled what Sir Morian said to himself, He replied with a common saying in this world, "'Everyone who returns home is triumphant', don't you all say that?"
"I know," Veronica sighed, "and I also know those nobles... Actually, they are not stupid. Of course they know what happened and what they are doing. This is their duty. They must maintain a An uplifting atmosphere, let the people believe that our kingdom is still strong, even if one day the walls really collapse, they are also responsible for ensuring that everyone dies after eating their last meal. As the Kord people say: good wine It's better to put it in the stomach than to sprinkle it on the ground."
Hao Ren smiled: "It makes sense."
Veronica shrugged: "Yeah, it makes sense, but unfortunately I don't like this reasoning. I think I'm more like a soldier. Soldiers are worthy of celebration when they win a battle, rather than fleeing back in disgrace."
"It's really not like what a princess should say."
"You really sound like my father." Veronica turned her head, looking at the cloudy and starless night sky, "but it's true, you are an ancient man from a thousand years ago."
Hao Ren suddenly coughed violently...
After he finally stopped coughing, he quickly took out a few pieces of paper from his portable space and handed them to Veronica: "I have already told your father, the king, he agreed to use the power of the kingdom to help me find someone, let me Just hand over these materials to you, and you can take a look.”
Veronica immediately took the papers. She was very curious about who the "old friend" said by the "Ancient Guardian" was still active in this world, and she was very active at this time. . She is very clear that the friend of the ancient guardian is naturally another guardian—a warrior who can survive from the previous generation will not be an ordinary person anyway. If such a powerful person really lives in seclusion in the kingdom, then It is undoubtedly great news to invite him out of the mountain in the name of the ancient guardian.
But after she unfolded those few sheets of paper, she was a little stunned.
Exquisite portraits of people were printed on several sheets of paper—it’s not unusual for such delicate portraits to be printed with gadgets made by alchemists, but the people on the portraits are a bit inexplicable. It is a girl with short black hair and a bright smile who is sitting on the sofa and eating melons. The girl does not have the temperament of an "ancient warrior" at all, but is more like a quirky little girl next door; the second photo It still seems to be her on the paper, but the back of her head turned into long silver hair, with a pair of triangular wolf-like ears growing on her head, and a fluffy tail behind her, standing in the unknown wilderness, He was staring at the full moon in the sky in a trance, with a detached temperament.
If the changes in the second picture can be imagined, then the third picture is a bit unbelievable. On the third picture...
It was a huge wolf... or a dog, because Veronica had never seen a wolf laugh like that.
Although it was a bit impolite to say it, Veronica was stunned to see a silly expression from the heart on the face of a canine creature...
"These..." Her Royal Highness raised her head and looked at Hao Ren with searching eyes.
Hao Ren nodded: "The three pictures are all about her—I don't know what form she will appear in front of you, so I have to list her three forms. Oh, by the way, there is a reference object missing in the third picture , tell me, the big white dog... the height of the wolf is about the same as the height from here to the small balcony below."
Veronica was dumbfounded: "... three forms?!"
Then she glanced at the balcony below, and even exclaimed: "It's so huge!!"
"Well," Hao Ren nodded, "She has three forms, facing different enemies, she can exert five to ten times the normal strength, but only in the first two forms does she have the ability to communicate with people .”
"Could it be that she will lose her mind in the third form?" Veronica's expression was extremely confused. She didn't even know how she accepted the statement of these three forms, and she could still ask along this logic, "What is this? …complete animalization?"
Hao Ren tried to make himself serious: "It's not enough to lose your mind, it's just that in the third state, she can't speak human words, and communication basically depends on bark... You'd better find someone who is good at dog training to negotiate with her, so as not to misunderstand and call her." Get up, to be honest, you knights may not be able to beat her by fluttering."
"Could it be that she is a divine animal protecting the country from ancient times?" Veronica murmured to herself dully, and before Hao Ren could answer, she added, "Ancient secret arts...how wonderful."
Hao Ren: "..." (To be continued~^~)