Blood tax

Chapter 241 Robber, Liar and Hunter
It was still long before the end of the ball, and the nobles present had dispersed into small groups, discussing the next proposal, the newly bought horse and the property of the Southern Continent.

Sonia glanced out the window every now and then, and at 09:30 pm, she tugged at Griffith's sleeve.

"Let's go back."

It wasn't like she used to be, at Byerland and Homewarts, she would hang out with everyone until late at night before going back to her room.

Griffith immediately reported to the Countess and escorted Sonia out of the hall.

They walked through the long aisle of Sanssouci Palace and the garden in the courtyard, and walked along the passage on the cliff to the rooms in the back garden.Griffith saw the king, who hadn't shown up for the whole ball, walking through the corridor on the second floor.Surrounded by the imperial guards, he cast his gaze towards the noisy hall on the other side of the garden, and then disappeared around the corner.He is like a tall sculpture, silently watching the busy ants.

Sonia held Griffith's arm, completely oblivious to the king's presence.On the opposite side of the fjord is the brightly lit town, where a lively summer night festival is being held, and it is said that there are many interesting things.

"That's the town of Bremi, where you fell during the day." She pointed at the town amidst the lights and noise. "It is said that there is a path leading there hidden on the cliffs and beaches below Sanssouci Palace!"

"Hmm." Griffith looked there in a daze, then looked at the towering cliffs in the darkness, and fantasized about the secluded path hidden in it.

Sonia pulled her quasi-knight and led him to the garden on the cliff.The gentle sea breeze blew her blond hair, tickling Griffith with wisps of fragrance.Looking at the sea of ​​lights on the other side, she was full of yearning: "I heard they will set off fireworks at ten o'clock~"

"With pyrotechnics, artillery was not invented earlier." Griffith said regretfully.He suddenly came up with an idea, smoke and fire, maybe it would be very good to use in battle, you can try it when you have time.

"..." Sonia looked at the quasi-knight expectantly, and found that he was staring at the sea in a daze, and there was no response after waiting for a while, so she couldn't help complaining and gave him a coquettish look.

The sea of ​​roses rustled at the feet, and the trapezoidal garden stretched from the foot of the palace to the sea under the cliff.They passed marble steps, low-hanging pomegranate trees, and cloud-like jacarandas to the quiet edge of the cliff.

There, Sonia unexpectedly found a way down to the beach, and happily ran up:
"Every priest of the gods will come. On this special day, if you pray to the storm, silver moon, contract, and holy light, you will get extra grace, honor, love, or bless transactions and research. It's amazing! To which god do you pray, Griffith?"

The prospective knight looked up at the sky and thought for a while: "Your Majesties are really busy. I, everyone must pray."

"Greedy~" The countess let go of his arm, took off her high heels, walked along the stone steps by the cliff to the beach, and danced on the fine white sand, "I can only choose one!"

"But I want them all, and if I only choose one, it won't work, it's a loss."

"Griffith, you believe in the kitchen god! There are many delicious things tonight, candied apples, grilled shrimp and marshmallows!"

Fireworks, rituals and sweets, oh-oh-oh!Griffith looked at the beautiful back of the girl facing the sea, thought for a while and said, "Sonia, do you want to play there?"

"Yes, no, yes, yes!"

"Have you been to a festival?"

"No, yes, yes!" Sonia said word for word, and walked towards the sea on tiptoe.Swim across the fjord from here, and on the high cliffs on the other side is a lively town.

The sea is ebbing, leaving sand and shells, and small sea crabs scrambling to escape back to the sea.Sonia grabbed them and buried them in fine sand.

"Sonia, it's low tide, come back soon."

"No, yes, you don't care!" The countess, who had always been obedient and obedient, suddenly turned into a rebellious girl tonight. At this rate, she should leave home early tomorrow morning for a long journey.

As soon as the words fell, a big wave set off spray and foam, making a rumbling sound and came over.It scared her who was playing in the sand.

"It's so exciting!" Sonia cheered.The sea water soaked the skirt, so she rolled it up as a matter of course, and cheered to Shutoral by the beach: "Griffith, you come too!"

Five, four, three, um, three, two... Griffith walked briskly while counting the time silently, watching a big wave come towards the bouncing countess.

The waves crashed and swept Sonia in.She heard the rumble behind her, and before she could close her small mouth, a salty and fishy taste poured into her mouth, straight to the depths of her throat.Sea water and foam splashed all over her body, and the irresistible force pushed her down into the water.

Griffith, who had been watching from the side, hastily cast down the arc-shaped ice wall, reached out and grabbed the drenched countess, carried it on his shoulders, and retreated to the safe beach.

Looking at the wet girl, Griffith couldn't help laughing: "Sonia, even if she is swept away by the waves, she won't rush to the town on the other side, she will just roll into the deep sea!"

Sonia wanted to refute, but after choking on a few mouthfuls of seawater, she couldn't speak.She tugged at her wet skirt, and looked sadly at the lights of the small town of Bremi on the other side of the bay.

"Boom~ bang!" A blue spot of light flew into the night sky, blooming into a petal-like orange light.Before the crystal light spots fell, the fiery fireworks flew up and fell like colorful raindrops.

"Look, look, fireworks!" Sonia shouted excitedly.

Griffith touched his nose a little ashamedly.

Sonia really wanted to go there to play!She implicitly said that she knew the path to get there, and then told each of the pyrotechnics and sweets one by one, hoping that Griffith would take the initiative to go to the town, and even dragged her there to play.

However, it may be too early for her to express her wish explicitly.

Griffith felt a little remorseful and remorseful. If he had proposed just now, the two of them would probably have already played in the town. As long as they could come back before 12:[-], the Earl and his wife would not care too much about it. will not be affected.

"Sonia, next time, I'll take you there." Griffith raised his chin towards the distant town.

"Really!" The Countess patted her knee excitedly, "Really?"

"The knight must do what he says," Griffith replied with a serious nod. "Just tell me where it's fun, and don't use candied apples, grilled shrimp, and marshmallows as excuses."

……

Griffith took a nap in bed for a while, and was awakened by a servant near midnight to prepare for duty.The Old Praetorian Guards of the Guard Banner Squad will be responsible for the security of Sanssouci Palace, but Shutoral still needs to patrol various areas of the palace according to conventions and systems.

Although there is no danger, the elite soldiers of the guard banner team are stationed outside the palace, and there are powerful people everywhere in the palace, but vigilance is still needed, otherwise, if you encounter two thieves, you can't just let Chaofan Let the hunters and elders take action.

Griffith was neatly dressed and patrolling the inside of the palace with his sword in his hand.As a quasi-knight with a high status.He is responsible for patrolling the safety zone closer to the inner circle.Occasionally, he would see one or two nobles walking through the corridor in the distance.There were several other guards not too far away from him, but none of them could see each other.

The boring night was silent and nothing happened.The cool evening breeze made his thoughts extraordinarily clear.Griffith walked along the corridor with his hand on the hilt of his sword, and looked up at the night sky from time to time. The silver moon hung in the sky, as beautiful as Galadia's thin eyebrows.

The summer triangle is as bright as that night, what is Galadia doing... next month, I can take a vacation, no, I can go to Canaan to perform official duties!Griffith thought happily while reaching out to touch his pendant.At this time, his hand touched the "Potion Preparation Notes" in his underwear pocket.He couldn't help opening it and flipping through it. He still has a lot of potions that have been displayed recently and he hasn't had time to make the finished product.

Recently, he also began to have some ideas and experiences about his own tactics and alchemy preparation, especially Roland's use of gunpowder weapons gave him a lot of inspiration - he can use the smoke and flashes of gunpowder explosions to hide himself during battle, and spread blood Golems and Tactics!As soon as this idea came up, Griffith felt that there was a lot to do, and carefully conceived a variety of recipes, ready to try it later.

Besides, this notebook constantly reminded him that the situation of the two demigods, Tiberion and Salorian, was also very bad. What measures should be taken to prevent it?
He slowly turned the pages, and a watercolor fell out of his notes.A watercolor of Griffith wearing his newly-acquired Iron Eagle, surrounded by Krista and her squadron mates.Unspeakable melancholy and sorrow immediately enveloped him.With a shake of the hand, the drawing paper fell to the ground.

Terrible!Griffith hurriedly bent down to pick it up, but quietly, the drawing paper flew towards the corner of the corridor at night when the wind blew it.He hurriedly took two steps, and stretched out his hand to the drawing paper.

Before him, an old hand appeared at the corner of the corridor, picking up the drawing paper first...

The vicissitudes and haggard elder held the drawing paper, looked at it for a moment without words, and showed a kind smile.

"Did you draw it?"

"No, no," Griffith was about to petrify in horror, "it was a gift from someone else, Your Majesty."

He immediately put his feet together and beat his chest with his right fist:

"Sieg Kaiser!

"Salute to you, His Majesty Mark Aurelius Antony!"

"Don't be nervous, kid. I won't tell anyone. Who hasn't lost their minds yet?" The king glanced at the drawing paper before returning it. "What's your name?"

"Griffith Blanton, Commander, [-]rd Class Assault Squadron."

Griffith was at a loss for a while.The chief citizen of the Senate, the ruler of the kingdom, and the leader of the army were actually chatting with him.

The king himself didn't care.There were no guards or servants around him, no weapons or accessories with him, he was wearing an ordinary yellow-brown robe, and if he didn't wear a unique crown on his head, he would be no different from an old village chief in the countryside.He said as usual:
"You're so young, that's great.

"When I left the army, I was just an unknown corporal. I wanted to go to the Academy of Fine Arts to become a painter, but they said I had no talent. Well, there are many things they didn't think of."

King Mark Aurelius Antony holds his left hand behind his back and waves his right.He first talked about some trivial matters, and then changed the topic, talking non-stop in the corridor.

The king was supposed to be in his chambers, or even in his office, surrounded by senators and generals.However, he talked to a quasi-knight in the middle of the night, talking about his fighting and ideals.

"In front of me, stands a civilization, a civilization struggling in distortion!

"After that war is over, our pride is gone. Those robbers and crooks ride on our necks, they trample on our dignity, the dignity of a civilization! We should choose to be a freedom fighter , or a slave?!"

Griffith followed in the king's footsteps.The king was speaking to him, but it seemed to be addressing tens of thousands of citizens during the day.King Aurelius' language is vague and eerie, with hints that would make a would-be knight shudder.

"You may say, Aurelius, we just need a home and a good meal. Yes, you are right, life is too important. But I want to tell you. There is another kind of There is something more important than life, and that is freedom, equal freedom!"

In just a few minutes, the king's topic became more and more frightening.His gaze seemed to penetrate Griffith's plate armor and strong chest, and then passed through the wall and palace.

He began to speak incoherently:
"The disaster will come. I have seen the future. This crown has shown me many things. Those robbers and liars are the predators and the sad survivors. The stronger they are, the faster the hunters will come.

"There is no peace! Robbers and liars are hungry, and after devouring the world they begin a long journey, evading hunters."

Griffith couldn't understand what the king was saying at all.

However, he can roughly guess that, according to Professor Heinz, spirit and emotion will form powerful energy, and even be the key for evil gods to tear apart the plane.A king who is expected and applauded by countless citizens, will his mental state be distorted?

"Someone is betraying me, Beyeran, do you know? The bravest and most loyal fighters, we have to be ready, the third-level assault squadron leader," King Aurelius said in a hurried tone, "They are watching me , to monitor the left and right people, not to let me speak. They even want to erase our memory and eat us up.

"These robbers, liars, I will not back down!

"Their plot will be smashed, and I will not be defeated by them. My Bajelan, my people are invincible!"

He waved his right hand while speaking, giving people unquestionable convincing power.He looked ahead, not at Griffith, as if he was looking at a large group of courtiers and elders gathered around him.

"Arm up, my soldier.

"Get ready for battle."

Griffith was terrified, but managed to maintain his demeanor.An extremely terrifying thought lingered in his mind irresistibly-the king was crazy.

"We will always be loyal to you, Lord Commander," the quasi-knight shouted in a voice that could be heard from half the palace, replacing the sound of the police whistle.

"Yes, loyal, always loyal." King Aurelius patted Griffith on the shoulder, turned and left.The moment he turned around, Griffith found that his left hand, which had been hidden behind his back, was trembling.

Immediately, hurried footsteps sounded in the empty palace.Heavy boots pounded the ground, armor and weapons clashed majestically, and a troop of Praetorians hurried up to surround their commander.Then came several powerful wizards and clergymen, who surrounded the leader and left, leaving a few officers to inquire about Griffith's situation just now.

No one seemed to care what the king said to him, the group came and went quickly, and Griffith was the only one left in the empty corridor in a blink of an eye, as if the scene just now was just an illusory dream.

In any case, the whole night was shrouded in thick terror and unknown...

　Note: Since the "sanity collapse caused by Griffith's visual tentacle monster" did not occur in the Belomon ruins, the "Griffith offered to go to the town" event and the "Bremy" event will not occur on the evening of July 7 The "small town" event group, related characters and forces will not appear; the "Canaan" event group will remain, and relevant important people will not die or disappear.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)