Why it never ends

Chapter 956 Beating someone up

"Whale man?"

"They are the wanderers coming from the south," Hesta looked at Ximoya's slightly puzzled face, "Don't you know?"

"I know there are gathering places for homeless people around many cities in the north," Ximoya's voice sounded a little irritated. She didn't like the second half of Hesta's sentence. "But why are they called 'whale people'?"

This time it was Hesta's turn to be surprised.

……

Trion took Hesta and his party around the plantation for more than two hours. They walked for the first half hour. After reaching a parking spot, they changed to a sightseeing train and slowly circled on the mountain path.

Trion kept reminding everyone to look at the crops grown nearby. He was very proud of the fact that his plantation only had coffee. At first, Hesta didn't understand what he meant, but when Fatima patched it up and explained it, Hesta realized that Trion was emphasizing that he never planted tobacco or some more addictive crops - and currently, more than 70% of the ordinary plantations in District 12 are doing these things secretly.

At a high point, Hesta looked far away and found that there seemed to be a small town at the foot of the mountain. After asking, he found out that this was the boundary of the plantation, and the location of the small town happened to be the junction of three plantations. Some farmers or craftsmen lived there for a long time and made a living by doing short-term work for the plantation.

The coffee fields also came to an abrupt end near the town. Ximoya pointed to the mountains and forests farther away and said to Hesta that there was a military base belonging to the Third District Army in that direction. It was not very confidential and was only used for training new recruits.

"I can't even remember which one this is," Hesta said, "Why are there so many District 3 military bases in District 12?"

“There are more in the north, mainly to protect the core city, and some industrial cities.”

"I can understand that the nobles don't have their own armed forces, but what about the Twelve Districts United Government? They don't have their own army either. Why do they have to send someone else's troops over?"

Ximoya did not respond.

The two stood on the side of the road until Fatima called their names, then they returned to the convoy.

Around ten o'clock, they finally arrived at the east area of ​​the plantation, where there was an old building with a style similar to other manors in Trion. Huge stones were built into a classical and solemn villa, and a black fence inlaid with golden iris patterns enclosed a huge green area near the building.

A red carpet was laid from the entrance all the way into the mansion, the sand on both sides was covered with gold powder, and crimson curtains were tied to the fence, which was much more luxurious than the small garden where Chloe's birthday was held. This area was originally planted with many cypresses, but now it has all been replaced with blooming gardenias and gooseberry trees full of fruits - these plants transplanted from the greenhouse will not survive here for more than a week, but now their roots are buried in the ground along with the flower pots, and they look like they grew out of the ground.

Hesta followed the crowd in, but before they could sit down, someone came running over to inform them that the guests felt the place was too cramped and had just moved to another location, which was in the Fountain Square not far from here.

Trion hurriedly led everyone to the Fountain Square.

Before the fountain came into view, Hesta heard the sound of fighting and the cheers of the crowd. A circle had been formed in the open space in front of the fountain, and two fully armed Hastings nobles were fighting in the circle. They had no weapons, but they were just grappling with each other, trying to throw each other to the ground or to the ground.

Opposite the enclosure was a high platform with some guests sitting on it. In the middle was a gauze curtain, and Kovicik stood outside the curtain. Hesta guessed that behind the curtain was the ten-year-old emperor.

Kovicik also noticed the gaze and looked towards Hesta.

When their eyes met, Hesta suddenly frowned. When she saw this person at the Trion family dinner a few days ago, perhaps because of the night light, she did not pay attention to the color of his irises. But now under the sunlight, she suddenly found that this person seemed to have a pair of gray-blue eyes like Meisnan.

The next moment, Kovicik turned his head and looked away. Hesta squeezed next to Fatima and said, "Madam, I have a question for you."

Fatima turned around and asked: "What did you say?"

"Did the tutor have eye surgery when he was a child?"

Fatima widened her eyes slightly. “You mean Kovicik… Uh, yes, what were you talking about? Why did you talk about this?”

"We weren't chatting, but I have a friend who also has a pair of eyes like this," Hesta said, "and because the color is quite special, I have an impression of it."

Fatima also glanced in the direction of Kovicik, her expression becoming cold. "I don't know the details very well, but I heard that his eyes were burned by something when he was young and he was blind for half a year... Later he got an artificial eye and it healed."

Hesta suddenly moved closer.

Fatima was startled: "What's wrong?"

Hesta looked Fatima in the eyes. "Do you hate him, madam?"

"...He is a talented young man, how could I hate him?"

Hesta smiled and whispered something in Fatima's ear. Fatima looked calm and glanced at the emperor's curtains.

After a while, she and Trion came forward to pay their respects to the emperor. During the conversation, Fatima suddenly suggested that such a pre-arranged duel was boring, so it would be better to shuffle the order and decide who would be the opponent by drawing lots.

The man behind the veil obviously liked this proposal very much. He called Fatima forward to discuss the details, and then personally ordered people to prepare the tools for drawing lots. Trion had already retreated to his seat, but he still had a smug look on his face when he saw his wife talking naturally with a group of nobles.

After a while, Fatima came out with a crystal bowl. Every warrior who wanted to take part in the fight only had to put his or her name in it and wait for Fatima to draw lots for a match.

After playing a few games like this, it was indeed more interesting than before. People in the stands were happily throwing fruits and vying for bets. Time passed towards noon, and the last match before lunch was about to begin. Fatima reached into the crystal bowl and took out a piece of paper.

“Koveshik,” Fatima said softly.

Kovicik stood up in the stands and said, "Why is my name here? I didn't vote."

"It was my idea." The man behind the veil laughed, "I asked Lady Fatima to write your name, Kovichik. I know you've always loved wrestling!"

"His Majesty--"

"Who is the opponent?" Fatima took out another piece of paper, slowly unfolded it, and looked at Hesta. "Ah, it's the inspector's accompanying family member, Eucalyptus."