Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 362: Attendant
"Your Majesty really values ​​me. During this turbulent time, he first sent you to inspect the epidemic, and then summoned you to consult on how to eliminate the epidemic. I believe that you, the head of internal affairs, will be able to attend the court soon and discuss matters with the adults in the Sun Wheel Hall. When you do, please remember to help me."

“Too serious”

On the imperial road leading to the side hall, Xia Bolili listened to the eunuch's chattering all the way, occasionally responding with a few words, but in his heart he was completely disdainful.

He originally thought that the visitor would be a knight of status - after all, most of those who could become the king's guards were the eldest or second sons of noble families. This was a rule established since the time of the previous king.

For a confident war king like Ge Fulei, his purpose is naturally not to play tricks of the weak such as "hostages" and "checks and balances", but to fully demonstrate his trust in the nobles under his command.

At that time, from a few old dukes to all the noble families with a reputation for bravery in and outside the Asian arena, most of them wanted to send their most outstanding sons and daughters to the palace, to be taught by their invincible kings and to make their heirs the most outstanding heroes.

When the war king was driven out and the new king ascended the throne, although this system had long lost its former honor and sanctity, it was still regarded as an extremely serious matter by the traditional gold nobles.

Over the years, the families that were later called the "Old Party" were still willing to send their outstanding sons to serve as the king's guards, but Radagon rejected them. On the grounds that "a qualified king does not need too many people to serve him", he selected less than one-third of the original noble sons to fill the guards, and most of them came from the New Party nobles who rose with him since the Battle of the Moon Tree.

That would have been fine, but in recent years, the number of noble knights in the guard corps has been decreasing, and instead there have been an increase in eunuchs who are not worthy of being in the limelight.

Xia Bolili glanced at the toothpick-thin arms of the "king's guard" and thought to himself, this kind of rubbish can't even beat a civil servant like me, how can he fight? Is he qualified to guard their king?

Rather than being guards, they are more like a group of jesters who follow Radagon around, singing his praises and advocating the unprecedented prosperity under the so-called fundamentalism.

Indeed, Chapolili himself has been despised by many old-school nobles for many years. Ever since the late king promoted him to take over the internal affairs of the Eternal Palace, voices of doubt have never ceased.

Those old men who followed the King of War to expand the territory scolded him for being only able to flatter and curry favor, and for being unable to manage domestic affairs and take responsibility for taking care of the king's daily life. He never refuted the first half of the sentence, because he knew that what they said was true and that he really could not be compared with those heroes who fought on the battlefield. But as for the second half, he was always confident that he could do better than anyone else.

Before following the two Majesties, he was just a little beggar wandering the countryside. He finally caught up with the recruitment of laborers when Rodel was building the city. At that time, he only wanted to sell his limited strength for a living, so he sweated profusely on the construction site every day, and always used his frail body to complete two or three times the work of an ordinary person.

Until that day, the foreman took out fifty silver runes and slapped them on the table, recruiting three fearless men to be responsible for lifting a ten-ton boulder to the dome of the hall that was a hundred meters high, and he went.

The other two who were not afraid of death, one was over fifty years old, his son had been a rebel against the Golden Tree and died early on the battlefield of Yatan, and he had three grandchildren at home to feed, and the other was a teenage hybrid who was said to have applied for this life-threatening job in order to save money for his mother's medical treatment.

He was the only one who was free from all ties and could die - perhaps he thought so at the moment the huge rock fell, or perhaps he thought nothing at all.

Anyway, when he saw the old man sitting on the ground with a pale face, and the little hybrid trying to drag the old man's body while shouting at him to get out of the way, he turned around and rushed towards the slope where the boulder rolled down like a madman.

Run? There was no time to run. The landing platform was so small that the three of them would be crushed into a pulp wherever they ran.

The only way to survive was for him to step forward and lay on the roadside. After the stone ran over him, it would deviate a little, and at least half of it would roll towards the side of the roof and slide down.

One doomed life in exchange for six lives, it's worth it.

This way, he would have done something great before his death. The villagers who knew his name would brag about it when they mentioned it. A hero had emerged from their rotten, festering shack. He grinned with his cracked lips, headed forward, and lay on the edge of the slope, his teeth almost broken, but he did not wait for the falling rocks, nor did he wait for the severe pain and death.

Amid the whistling wind, a shirtless man suddenly appeared one step away. His back was still stained with brick and tile dust, and his muscles, as full as marble statues, were slightly bulging. With just one hand, he lifted the huge rock that was almost taller than him, strode onto the roof of the temple with big thuds, and dropped the rock into place with a bang.

Which labor team is this cargo worker from? How can he be so strong? This was the first reaction in his blank brain.

My second reaction was, with such great strength, could he be one of those legendary “heroes” who roamed the battlefield?

Will a hero come to save me? Save all these damn lives?

But the man told him that his life was not bad, and the moment he stepped forward to save others, his life was nobler than most people.

At that time, he did not know what noble meant, nor did he know what it meant to stand up for oneself. He just followed the orders of the man who was not sure whether he was a laborer or a hero, and became his attendant, responsible for helping him maintain his weapons, feed his warhorse, and wear his armor.
Later, he learned that his master was the Golden King, and he also met the Mistress, the only god of the new era, the Eternal Queen worshipped by all people.

In the gaps between the years of war, the master would often take out his spare time to teach him writing and history, and tell him about the ancient Dragon King he admired the most, who was said to be the most powerful warrior of all time.
He didn't understand what the Dragon King was, nor did he know why his master and mistress were so fascinated when they talked about the old times. He could only use the clumsy words he had just learned to praise his master for being more powerful than the Dragon King.

No, not the master, but the king - his king and god are greater than any king and god that has ever existed in this world.

Wang Xiao scolded him for being ignorant and talking nonsense, but he didn't take it seriously.

He worships them, believes in them, loves them, and even loves everything that extends from them. Therefore, he is not reluctant to prostrate himself beside them with the most humble attitude and to describe the world they create with the most enthusiastic praise. That is the real prosperity.

When he was just a close attendant of the king, no one said much. But when he became the head of the internal affairs of the Eternal Palace, people began to accuse him of being a flatterer. Flatterer as he may be, his flattery was only for Gefre, Marika and their children, and at most a Dragon King and Lucia Sanx, the son of the Dragon God.

As for the other members of the royal family, it was just a cover-up to appear to be "equally treated". After all, in the sensitive position of head of internal affairs, showing the slightest bias would be a heinous crime that cannot be tolerated in the world.

Radagan had seen this point long ago. When he sent me to give the golden token of law to Lucia, on the surface he was sending his "confidant" to show goodwill to Lucia, but in fact the information he conveyed was no secret at all. Any attendant could have done it. On the contrary, my identity as someone who could legally represent both majesties at the same time was not easy to find in the increasingly polarized court at that time.

But this time, if Radagan really regarded him as his confidant, he would not have sent him out for inspection for no reason, and would not have found such a eunuch to play the trick of showing off the emperor's favor.

Even if he really did everything the guard promised, why would he go to the Sun Hall?

Was he arguing with the New Party nobles about how to take back the East from the Ancient Dragon Dynasty and Kalia? Or was he discussing how to pin the blame of the plague on a group of innocent foreigners?
Thinking of this, he wrinkled his nose subconsciously. The space in the carriage was not big, and the sweet perfume on the other person was too pungent, even a little nauseating.

"We're here." The carriage slowly stopped and the guard jumped out first, opening the door for him while considerately covering the upper edge of the door frame.

"I wish you a smooth journey and a bright future."

(End of this chapter)