Burris' expression was blank for a few seconds, and he finally couldn't help but said: "I thought... you should ask 'Can you accept men'..."
"Ha, I've long felt that you've been playing dumb with me! You're right!" Lott led the mage around again, "You understand exactly what I mean, and understand every hint I have! But you are very You have to pretend that nothing happened, put on a dignified appearance," he lowered his voice, "he really deserves to be a stubborn old man in his eighties..."
Boris tilted his head and responded cautiously: "This... I don't lie to you, I do feel your attitude to some extent. You also said that I am a stubborn old man in his eighties. I am very grateful that you let my body Regaining youth, but it doesn't change my mentality. I can have a healthy body, but I can't change my old soul... "
Lott thought for a while: "I don't quite understand what you mean. Do you have a law that stipulates that souls over the age of eighty are not allowed to fall in love?"
"That's not true," Burris smiled helplessly, "How should I put it... My lord, I have long been used to living alone, not only in terms of material, but more spiritually... So, your ambiguity I'm terrified by the hint. I don't mean to reject you personally, but... it's just that I'm not at all fit for the kind of relationship you're imagining right now. I'm afraid I won't be able to give you a satisfactory response."
"I'm quite satisfied with your response now." Lott brought the distance between the two of them closer, "I understand what you mean. You haven't been in a relationship for more than 80 years, and now suddenly someone is chasing you, so You panic, you are super surprised, you have never experienced a relationship closer than a friend, so you regard it as a scourge... It is not the scariest thing to have someone chasing you, what is even scarier is that this person is also the same gender as you Not a 'human', he is a demigod and otherworldly high-level undead creature... In your imagination, you should have been just a pair of ambitious magical allies, but now this undead creature of the same sex is going to chase you according to the plot of a romance novel—you Look, there are so many scary places, you don’t even know which one is the point.”
"Indeed, your analysis is very comprehensive and clear." Burris was so frightened that he began to speak in an academic tone.
"Now that you understand, it's easy to handle." Lot proudly looked at the mage in his arms who was circling with him, "I know the difference between fictional literature and reality. In reality, the relationship between people cannot be like romance. The plot of the novel develops as quickly. I don’t ask you to fall in love with me immediately, as long as you know what I’m thinking, the future is still long. In fact, you should be mentally prepared. I hinted at it more than sixty years ago. do you remember?"
Burris doesn't quite remember. He did remember a lot of conversations back then, but not about this kind of thing... At that time, he was in a bad state, with injuries on his body, a low-grade fever, his mind was unclear, and his emotions were a little out of control. He talked a lot, but the Lord of Skeletons only occasionally responded, or briefly asked questions, and he was not as talkative as he is now.
Lott repeated the situation for him back then: "At that time, you said that you would release me from the Swamp of the Dead within your lifetime. I ask you, are you seriously promising me this matter? You said of course you are serious. Then I also promise you, as long as you can take me away, I will willingly become your exclusive ally... Before parting, I say to you, Boris Gershaw, my mage, you are my destiny Man... do you remember this passage?"
Burris raised his head in a daze, and the academic discussion still remained: "My lord, the situation is like this. Originally, I accidentally ignored this part, but now after your patient reminder, I have re-recognized the particularity of the details here... You The phrasing was rather roundabout, and I was not able to extract enough information from it without my speculative ability... ”
"Dear Burris, do you speak the human language?"
Boris tried to adjust his mentality and said, "I mean... now I think about this passage, but I really didn't pay much attention at the time. I..."
Lott was a little disappointed: "It's okay, it's not too late for you to know now. Well, let's stop this topic first... Will today's conversation affect our relationship?"
"Probably not," Burris said. "You remain my most important ally, and I still trust you completely."
Although you have been hiding something from me. Burris added silently in his heart.
However, I am not in a hurry to prove it, because this kind of concealment is inevitable. There are too many secrets in you, and it is impossible for anyone to know all of them in a short time.
Lot led the mage past a pair of dancers who were now standing beside the Princess and Sir Naylor. Naylor was a little surprised and embarrassed to stare at them all the time, while Estee stared wide-eyed at the mentor being embraced by the colorful Skeleton Monarch... That gaze almost pierced Burris.
The music is coming to an end, and the last song tonight is coming to an end. Lott supported Burris' back, and whispered in his ear: "I know what it's like to be in love in my eighties, and I can imagine how uncomfortable you are now. It's okay, take your time. I just Let me inform you formally, so that you can be mentally prepared."
After the music was over, people stayed in the final gesture of the dance, and then hugged their partners one after another. Lott also gently hugged Burris in his arms, and kissed his forehead with a snickering smile.
========================
After the ball, Hedda called Burris again, saying that the princess wanted to find him. Strangely, she specifically confessed that "Warlock" Lott would also come along. Boris thought it was Esther who wanted to talk about Sir Naylor, but unexpectedly, it was King Pacia and Prince Lanto who were waiting for them in the side hall.
"Thank you for rescuing my daughter," Prince Lanto paced back and forth in the hall, looking restless, "The second son, Charles, has told me about your kind deeds, and I can see that you are worthy of my trust." The spellcaster..." He finally slowed down as he spoke, and finally stood in front of Burris, "Should you have also heard about the assassin?"
"Yes, Your Royal Highness."
As soon as Boris finished his answer, Lott came forward to grab the conversation: "Have the assassins already confessed? Their behavior is very strange. Why do they have to go to the palace to assassinate His Highness the Prince? On the way or in the prince's territory." Wouldn't it be more convenient? If they just think it's more deterrent to carry out the assassination in the palace, why don't they just assassinate the king?"
The corner of King Pacia's mouth twitched while sitting on the banquet chair. He looked at the "warlock" for a while, and finally turned to Burris: "I heard that you are Burris' apprentice? Your name is Koref, right?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Judging from King Pacia's tone, he has probably heard the rumors about the "illegitimate child". Now that he looks at "Korev" at a close distance, he will definitely find that the young man's features are very similar to that of Old Burris. In his mind, the rumors of an illegitimate child should have been proven. This is also a good thing, saving Boris the trouble of making up his own life experience.
The king glanced at the carnelian ring on Boris' hand: "I heard that your mentor has disappeared again. He hasn't returned yet?"
Burris replied: "The mentor's return date is uncertain. Before that, I have full authority to manage the Mountains of No Return."
"How is your spellcasting ability?" the king asked, "I don't know if you, as an apprentice, can handle some things well..."
Boris replied: "My spellcasting ability is average..." For him now, this is true, "I can recognize all kinds of dangers, but I am not very good at fighting with magic. I am better at studying all kinds of knowledge , to provide some side assistance. The instructor still recognizes my ability, otherwise he would not trust me so much."
A mage, he is good at strategizing, being good at being an encyclopedia, but not good at attacking... My God, this is the mage that knights and nobles dream of! What a safe mage! Harmless mage! This kind of mage is a good friend of nobles!
After exchanging glances with the prince, the king said: "Okay, I understand. I am an old friend of your mentor, and I know what that ring means. If he trusts you, then I trust you too. Koref Sir, just now your companion raised several questions about assassins, and his questions are also the questions of many people, we called you here because we hope you can help us find the answers."
After speaking, the king raised his hand, and a guard soldier standing in the corner left the side hall. After a while, two soldiers walked in with a tall and strong prisoner.
The prisoner was one of the assassins who assassinated the prince today. His hands were handcuffed behind his back and his feet were shackled, but his body was clean. The prince went directly to the prisoner, kicked him to the ground, asked someone to help him up, and kicked him hard on the stomach. The strange thing was that the prisoner didn't respond. He neither yelled nor struggled. He even maintained a blank expression all the time, not even moving his eyes.
Burris saw the problem. He went up to feel the prisoner's pulse, and sure enough, he was not alive at all.
"Could it be... all assassins are like this?" He looked at the prince, who nodded.
This group of assassins knew how to spy on information, actively looked for opportunities, and even deliberately disguised their identities. After being discovered, they fought with the Otarot knights for a while... After being captured, none of them moved. They were interrogated by the Prince, and they neither cooperated nor resisted, neither threats of violence nor Veritaserum came in handy... On further inspection, the interrogators were surprised to find that none of the assassins had a pulse.
"It's a spell to manipulate the corpse... but it seems to be different." Burris cast a spell to check, and carefully observed the appearance of the corpse's skin. Typically, manipulated corpses can only obey explicit orders, such as "hold the door and allow no creatures other than the owner to enter or exit", or "kill the man in the armor". But these assassins can drive horse-drawn carriages, pretend to be fruit farmers and caravans, and know how to hide magic weapons under their clothes, and even make expressions and reactions that fruit farmers, merchants, soldiers, etc. should have under surveillance... This is not ordinary A zombie or golem can do it.
Burris took the corpse's hand and said a short incantation. The spell crawled from his fingers into the skin of the corpse, and quickly burrowed under the skin like a thin snake. A moment later, the spell returned, slipping from the corpse back into Burris' hands.
"They're like clockwork dolls..." Burris said, "Someone raised these corpses, used spells to keep them from decomposing, and then manipulated them to kill each step... Every step of their actions is determined by themselves, and no one is required. People give orders in every detail, as long as it is beneficial to complete the task, they can choose the best plan by themselves. The caster has not endowed them with a real mind, they have no emotions of their own, once the order changes, or the task fails completely, they will Reverting back to a loose-wound doll, unresponsive to external stimuli. In this way, the manipulator can make the corpse have sufficient intelligence during the execution of the task, and guarantee their absolute loyalty."
King Parcia made a gesture to drive away evil, and silently recited the holy name of Lady Day. Prince Lanto's face was pale, staring at the corpses on the ground with wide eyes: "Master... can you find out who the owners of these corpses are?"
Just as Burris was about to say that this was unlikely, Lott suddenly stood beside him: "I can do it. I can find out who these corpses are, where they came from, what detailed effects the spells have on them, and what kind of corpses are implanted. Combining these points, we should be able to deduce where the owner of the corpse is, and perhaps also deduce who the enemy is based on the order."
"Really?" Both the prince and the king looked at him.
"Of course. It's because I'm good at doing some strange things that Burris trusts me," Lott glanced at the real Burris beside him, "but...my casting process is very weird, I hope you two won't be too surprised... "
Hearing this, Boris immediately understood what he meant: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I beg you two to avoid it for a while! This spell-casting process is very disgusting, and it is not suitable to cast it in front of the noble royal family at all..." He especially looked at King, "You have entered my mentor's tower, you should know what I mean!"
King Pacia covered his face with one hand, as if he had thought of something particularly unbearable. He spoke a few words to the Prince, and the two went out for a moment and closed the door.
In the side hall, only Burris, Lott, and a demented living corpse remained. Burris sighed: "My lord, you are going to kiss the corpse again, aren't you?"
"Yeah." Lott had already knelt beside the head of the corpse. "Actually, I could just touch him, but now I can only kiss him. Well, I also hope that this sequelae will be cured soon."