Chapter 173 The restless wind

The rain started to fall heavily.

The cold airflow brings increasingly cold rain. According to the weather in this area in previous years, this may be the last rainfall before snowfall, and Kandel has always been the place with the most rainfall in the entire southern region. , this moment is no exception.

The raindrops have connected into rain curtains, hanging in the sky tilted by the wind, splashing in the wilderness, in the town, and on the outer wall of the ancient castle of the Kant family. The rainwater gathered into water flow, It flows down along the dark red spiers and black exterior walls that are mottled and convex due to the erosion of time, and presents a texture as shiny as black oil in the increasingly dim light.

However, the thick outer wall of the castle isolated the sound of wind and rain outside, as well as the increasingly cold atmosphere. In the lobby of the castle, magic crystal lamps illuminated all corners. The situation of being dim even if the lights were on has somehow disappeared. Now the entire castle is brightly lit under the magical lights. Coupled with the burning fireplaces and braziers everywhere, the entire family castle is filled with light. and warm breath.

The servants were diligently wiping tables, chairs, lamp stands, and statues everywhere, making all these things with history and family glory shine in the light. They talked about the getting colder outside. They talked about the weather, the harvest of crops and medicinal herbs in the territory this year, and also talked about the distinguished guests that the Viscount was going to entertain today - the entire castle had been cleaned two days ago, and everything was brand new. The identity of the guest was not ordinary.

Then they saw the old butler in the castle, Mr. Carter, who was old but still strong and strong, running down the stairs of the hall in a hurry, followed by the maid and the butler of the valet, who looked like She ran across the hall like a gust of wind and ran towards the door. At the same time, the head maid shouted loudly to the clumsy maids: "Put the bucket away quickly!" "Don't leave the rag on the table." "Silly girl. , Go back to the kitchen! You can’t let the Duke see a low-level maid in a dirty dress!” “Everyone, go back to your place!”

Wei! Viscount Côté de Conde walked down the stairs on the second floor. When the butler was about to reach the door, he happened to stand in the center of the hall. This position allowed him to open his hands at the most appropriate distance to welcome the distinguished guests, neither Keeping guests waiting for too long is embarrassing, and the owner of the castle will not be as solicitous as a lowly servant.

The old housekeeper came to the door, took out his handkerchief and wiped his hands carefully. At the same time, he silently counted the time in his heart. Based on the time when the guard in the tower delivered the message and his own speed of movement, he estimated that the knock on the door would be there. When does it ring.

When he silently counted to thirty, there was a knock on the door.

You cannot let a distinguished guest like the Duke knock on the door a second time - even if the person responsible for knocking is just the Duke's coachman or guard, you cannot open the door immediately. This would be unseemly, so Carter was there again. He counted three times in his mind, and before the second knock on the door sounded, he orderedThe soldiers on both sides of the gate pulled the wheel.

The "family door", which is extremely heavy and can withstand eighty-two strikes of the battering ram, opens under the power of hinges and roulette wheels. The heavy creaking sound seems to carry the three hundred years of the Kant family. of majesty.

And a man with seven hundred years of majesty walked into the door, and the cold wind and rain rolled into the hall behind him.

Immediately, a servant came forward to take the cloak or hat that the guest had taken off, and a servant ran out to pick up the carriage parked outside. Gawain walked into the main hall of Fort Conde with Amber and Knight Philip. , he saw an old nobleman with almost white hair, many age spots on his face, and wearing a long black and red coat, opening his hands to welcome him. This Viscount Victor Conde was older than he thought. But the legs and feet are obviously still fine.

“Ah, today this castle welcomed the most distinguished guest in history, a living legend!” Viscount Conde said loudly, “I’m so sorry to let you come in such bad weather— —It would be great if I could have the spell to control the sky."

"In fact, I like the rainy weather very much," Gawain did not accept the viscount's hug, but only shook hands with him. This was not indifference. It is the rules for meeting between high-ranking and low-ranking people: the person with lower-ranking rank must show a certain degree of enthusiasm and respect, but unless the two parties have a clear affiliation, the person with high-ranking rank will not accept it, but should return a certain degree of courtesy. These messy traditions seemed to Gawain to be extremely troublesome, but if you abide by them at this time, you won't lose a piece of meat. "Before the rain fell, I had seen the fertile land in the Kant Territory. After the rain fell, I saw the beautiful land." The rainy scene is quite worth it."

"It would be best if you are satisfied," Victor Kant smiled, with a calm and calm smile, like a perfectly normal, superior person. An old gentleman with good family education said, "I have prepared a banquet for you. It is in the restaurant behind this hall."

Amber kept standing behind Gawain with his head lowered, so She was not used to serious and "aristocratic" situations, so she rarely kept quiet. However, when she heard "eating", her ears still betrayed her. Her pair of ears came from elven blood. His pointed ears immediately twitched, turning around on his head like a radar, as if searching for more information related to "eating".

Gawain agreed with a smile while secretly sizing up the old viscount in front of him.

Old, but still healthy, with a calm smile, and a gentle temperament that is a little relaxed, there is no aura related to a cultist in his body.

But this cannot be used as a basis for judgment.

He smiled, accepted the banquet invitation from the old Viscount, and took Amber and Knight Philip towards the depths of Kant Castle.

......

At the same time, in the Silver Castle in Saint-Sunil City, the old King Francis II was frowning at a sealed letter in front of him.

ThisThese secret letters come from "royal nobles" directly canonized by the king throughout the kingdom, including the three border grand dukes. There are also such figures around the territory, or more directly, "eyes". This inheritance has been passed down since the founding of the country. The monarch's system has continued for seven hundred years, and it is an important reliance of the Ansu royal family on the control of the entire country. The civil strife in Wuyue and the "illegitimate weakness" of the second dynasty once made this system lose its effect. However, after a hundred years of reconstruction, Especially due to the compromises made by several dukes for the stability of the kingdom, this intelligence network belonging to the king is still operating as effectively as it was during the First Dynasty.

Most of the nobles directly canonized by the king are located in the south, and the remaining small number are distributed in other parts of the kingdom. On weekdays, the secret letters sent back by these informants report on the situation in their respective lands. Those situations are all very different, and basically have nothing in common. However, the secret letters sent recently have shown a trend that makes Francis II vaguely uneasy——

About the activities of various dark sects There are more and more reports, and they are increasing all over the country.

Although to this day, these increased reports only account for less than 10% of the country, they are so widely distributed that it is enough to make the old king worried.

Anzu does have a corrupt system, but the kings are basically smart people.

Now, what he has in front of him is a secret letter from Viscount Andrew Leslie of the Southern Territory. The content of this secret letter is more important than what other nobles reported:

The old king will not know that Viscount Andrew Leslie has concealed many truths in this secret letter, such as the eternal stone that has fallen into Gawain's hands, and that he himself is controlled by cultists. details, and he also consciously lowered the criticality of the whole matter a lot - but even so, the information revealed in this secret letter was still enough to frighten the old king.

The cultists who originally only dared to operate in the dark, this time actually directly invaded the residence of a real noble!

No matter whether they used human sacrifices or performed rituals with dead bodies, they would not make real nobles nervous, because those actions all happened to "untouchables", and those cultists seemed to He knows how to abide by the bottom line of the game and has never reached out to the aristocratic system, but now... the direction of the wind has changed.

It happened at this time, when the relationship between Anzu and the Typhon Empire was at its most tense. Originally, Francis II was a little relaxed when he knew that the Typhon Empire would not launch a war this winter. tone, and thought that he could take this opportunity to further strengthen border armaments and lay a solid foundation for war, but now he suddenly felt that those cultists probably did not want him to have this luxury.

Just when the old king was frowning, there was a warmthA warm feeling suddenly filled the room.

He raised his head somewhat unexpectedly and saw Veronica wearing a white priest robe walking into the room.

This "Saint Princess" walked towards her father with a smile and a little bit of coquettishness: "Father, I asked Lord Ayden, and he said that you are still in the study."< /p>

"Veronica, my daughter...why are you here today?" Francis II looked at Veronica a little surprised. Although his daughter still retains the status of a princess, But she is already a formally converted believer of the God of Holy Light. She spends most of her time in the Holy Light Cathedral and rarely returns to Silver Castle.

"Have you forgotten? Today is the day when I leave the cathedral and come to the castle to see you," Veronica said with a smile and drew the emblem of the God of Holy Light on her chest , "Serve the Lord, and you must not forget to serve your parents. This is the teaching of the Holy Light."

"Look at my brain," the old king couldn't help but patted his forehead, "I remembered the wrong date. !"

"It doesn't matter, the burden of the kingdom is on you, you should put the responsibility of the king first," Veronica said while noticing the tired look on Francis II's face. , she raised her hand to summon a ray of holy light, using magic to relieve her father's mental pressure, "Father, what happened?"

Francis II sighed: "Cultists, The Society for the Death of All Things, the Order of the Eternal Sleepers, and the scattered small sects like the Blackstone Sect and the Abyss Followers, all of them started to look for trouble in these winter days. "

When she heard the word "cultist", Veronica, a devout believer in the Holy Light, immediately couldn't help but frown: "May the Holy Light save those poor people who were violated by the thugs... Cultists are always spreading everywhere, but unfortunately, except for the Holy Light Sect and the God of War Sect, the magic of other sects is too weak to face the sorcery of those cultists."

Francis sighed: "Don't worry. Well, those evil people dare not cause trouble in the royal city."

Veronica glanced at the secret letters with special seals from all over the kingdom, folded her hands on her chest, and prayed. Said: "The Holy Light will protect Ansu."