Pillars of Ita

The carriage stopped on the straight avenue. The elf guard in silver armor raised his spear and stood around. He opened the carriage door with one hand, and the owner jumped out of the carriage. It was Brian.

The elf princess looked across the glittering Lele River at the towering palace on the other side. The outline of King Kaolin-Ithurion's city shone with a soft halo in the sun. In order to make it look magnificent, its designer deliberately flattened it. The surrounding buildings.

The silver maple trees adorn the complex with colorful flowers, and it will become the most beautiful landscape in Grande from October to November, but now that the summer is not over, this austere royal court will only make people feel oppressed.

Another person got out of the car.

His tall figure had to bend down as much as possible to prevent his long horns from touching the car door. Tenerik got out of the car with a stooped body, and then straightened up, standing on the ground even higher than the carriage.

This made it feel like a giant in a cage while sitting on the carriage before. This feeling made it not want to experience this human travel tool again, but this lizard prince was taciturn and was not always good at expressing his emotions. .

"Your Highness Teneric, I can only send you to this place," Brianne said. "If you want to return to the White Skull Clan, I can send you a ship, but now the empire has declared war on the Great Council. , that route is not safe.”

"No," Teneric shook his head, "There are traitors in the Great Council. I want to go to Asuka. Now that the sea of ​​light is extinguished, the prophecy has been fulfilled."

Brian turned her gaze back, "That's the territory of the pirates of St. Huan, but I know someone who can tame them. You can ask the Fenrisians to send you a fleet of blood ships to take you to that place. It just so happens that I have a ship under my command to go there. Cloudport, the Fenrisians should be glad to see their hero back, and you can bring them news of Eddard."

Teneric nodded, "Thank you, Your Highness."

"You're welcome, it's just on the way."

Tenerik's lizard-like vertical pupils stared at the golden fountain square outside the maple forest. The irises reflected the colorful sunshine, reflecting the scene there, the crowds gathered, the many carriages, and the people seemed to be welcoming some important person.

Brianne noticed its gaze and looked in that direction. "It's the coat of arms of the Mordekaiser family," she said. "The Duke of Phoenix is ​​rumored to be going to the royal capital for an audience. This should be because his envoy arrived first. His eldest son... the heir of this duke has been missing for quite a long time. Time was suddenly recovered recently, but the lost heir has at least temporarily eased the situation in the Southern Territory. After the turmoil in the Southern Territory, that person was extremely suspicious of the Duke."

The elf princess shook her head, not too optimistic about this meeting. The Duke is extremely loyal to the royal family, but such loyalty is worthless in the face of a real power struggle. The royal party and the prime minister can't wait to control the southern border .

It's fine if it's just Phoenix City, the royal party doesn't have room for a royal gatekeeper.

However, the Southern Council is unruly, and there are deeper undercurrents surging beneath it. Among the three families in the Southern Territory, only the Mordekaiser family has expressed its stance, which puts it at the forefront of the storm.

Brianne knew that this was because the old Duke was upright and responded directly to the royal family's suspicions.

But it was this kind of integrity that made her not optimistic. She knew very well what kind of person the royal party and the prime minister were.

The prime minister once proposed to marry the Duke's younger sister, but the latter did not look down on the former's behavior, so he sternly refused. This old incident more than ten years ago left a grudge, and the former has always kept it in his heart.

On the contrary, the long-missing eldest son of the Duke was very enthusiastic about this and facilitated this interview. He was even willing to go to the royal court as a hostage in place of his younger brother, the Duke's second son Enan Mordekaiser.

This made the new king very appreciative of the future Duke. He hadn't arrived in Grande yet, but the rewards had already been distributed.

The princess shook her head and stopped thinking about this.

Tenerik on the side was not interested in the politics of the Kaolin people. It only kept its eyes on a few people in the crowd. Those Chosen Ones with outstanding strength were very rare in the First World.

A few people even sensed Tenarik's gaze from a thousand meters away. Looking in this direction, they saw the carriage of Avenquin Queen's court parked on the other side of the river, and probably guessed that the princess His Royal Highness’s identity.

Then they looked back one by one.

“There have been more and more Holy Chosen people active recently,” Brianne also noticed that look. “Several elite teams have returned to Kaolin-Ithurian, but I heard that they left the First The second world, only recently returned to Grande——"

After returning from Xintaan, she felt a very different atmosphere in the kingdom.

That was completely different from before she led a group to participate in the Continental League. There were more senior holy candidates on the market, and there were traces of the elite team activities of the Great Guild that were rarely seen on weekdays everywhere.

All major forces are taking action, and the royal city is shrouded in the strange tranquility before the arrival of Duke Mordekaiser.

Teneric watched this scene without saying a word. The Imperials were in action, so he could naturally smell the stormy atmosphere in the air.

The tall lizard prince only nodded silently.

……

"Frost?"

Washing his hands was looking away from that direction, and the elf guard from Awen Quinn was standing beside the carriage in Maple Forest, 'she' obviously guessed the identity of the other party, so she turned her head.

They were not the only two selectors in the bustling crowd, but there were more envoys from the south. Archduke Mordekaiser and several knights around him, and guards wearing silver helmets guarded the group.

The only thing Princess Brianne guessed wrong was that it was not Duke Mordekaiser's envoy who arrived, but the Grand Duke himself.

The crowd was crossing the square.

The Duke's guards were shielded from the palace. The royal guards ordered them to stop. Only the Duke himself walked into the royal court with several knights. The latter was looking up at the lintel of Silver Maple Palace, his temples and eyebrows were all gone. Stained with gray frost.

It has been decades since the last time he came here, when he was still a young man, and he was also with the previous generation of Grand Duke Mordekaiser.But now the former king who shared the same goals with him is long gone, and there are only some stingy villains under this palace.

His complexion did not change, but he walked through the palace gate indifferently. The light changed and only fell on the thin face of Duke Durin Mordekaiser, like chopped shadows, with uncertain light and dark between the interlacing.

There seemed to be many murderous intentions lurking in the darkness. The royal guard held an ax and stared coldly at everyone who entered the hall through the hole under the helmet. The knight beside the Duke stood on his head with cold hair and subconsciously pressed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Only Dulin Mordekaiser looked calm and calm. He looked aside and looked at the eldest son of whom he was most proud.

The young man had a snow-white complexion and was wearing a gorgeous armor. Although he was a little nervous, he still held his breath. He pursed his lips and stared at the surrounding environment without saying a word.

A group of Chosen Knights followed the Duke's heir, but recruiting Chosen Knights as knights was nothing new nowadays. It was an honor to be recognized by the Holy Chosen.

The Duke only took one more look at the two girls with picturesque eyebrows. Most of these chosen ones were of extraordinary strength. He then looked at his eldest son and nodded in satisfaction.

The group of people passed through the long corridor, passed through the side hall, and entered the main hall, where the black and white marble floor was covered with blood-red carpets, extending to the end of the main hall, with steps leading up.

The young king stood in front of his throne, watching them condescendingly.

The young man appeared to be a bit too drunk on wine and had a sallow skin. He wore a disproportionate golden crown and a blood-red cloak. He held a scepter in one hand and had heavy dark circles under his eyelids, as if the wind had blown him away. fall.

But the young His Majesty the King was in high spirits at the moment, and seemed to be staring at everyone in His Highness with an abnormal excitement.

He saw the face of Durin Mordekaiser, but he did not speak, but stared at the latter sullenly.

Du Lin's expression did not change, he half-knelt on the ground with his sword and saluted him, and a group of knights behind him also half-knelt down.

The young king then grinned: "You are here, my lord duke."

"When Your Majesty calls, I will come naturally," Dulin replied: "It's just that the southern territory was in turmoil before, and the late king ordered the Mordekaiser family to guard the southern territory, so I have no shirking responsibility."

"That's good," the young king nodded. "I knew you were loyal to me and my father, so I hereby summon you here. I summoned the three dukes in the southern region, but you are the only one here."

The other party's expression turned gloomy again: "Du Lin, I want you to command the entire Southern Territory and lead troops to bring the people of the Erwin family and the Elingren family to me. I want to personally execute these rebellious people who despise the Wang family. Go against the party."

"You still have to bring my uncle's remaining party members here one by one, and bring Ma Wei's daughter to me. I want to see how many people in this kingdom dare to oppose us."

Du Lin remained silent, and after a long time he raised his head and shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, the Erwin family and the Erlinglan family are loyal to the royal family."

"Loyal?" the young king raised his voice, "Then where are they?"

"It is impossible for the three dukes of the southern region to come to the capital at the same time," Durin replied, "The Erwin family is responsible for monitoring the movements of the Eldron dwarves, and the Erlinglan family is responsible for checking and balancing the Yithians."

"Excuse." The young king's face turned blood red. He turned around and with a strong wave, he knocked the utensils on the throne to the floor. A golden ball rolled down from the armrest and rolled down the stairs to the Duke. What do you say to the rebels?”

The young man stared directly at the Duke, "You also admit that there is still unrest in the Southern Territory, then I want you to uproot the Southern Territory Council and return the Changhu region to the Kingdom."

"Your Majesty, the Changhu region has never been separated from the kingdom's rule," Du Lin raised his head and said, "The history of autonomy in the southern border can be traced back to before the establishment of Kaolin, but people in the southern border have always considered themselves members of the Kingdom of Kaolin, please Your Majesty." Don't listen to slander."

"Oh?" A gloomy voice came from the hall, "Your Excellency thinks I'm trying to confuse people?"

A man walked out from one side of the young king. He was about 50 or [-] years old. He had tall eyebrows, deep eyes, and a hooked nose. You know, you want to help them excuse?" Du Lin said nothing, the young man behind him - the Duke's heir seemed a little nervous, with one hand palely pressed on his sword hilt, with bruised veins, the Duke turned his head to the side She glanced at him silently, and pressed him down with her eyes.

"What does Your Majesty want?" Du Lin asked.

"I want you to go to war in the south," the young king said. "The war is imminent, and the northern states are still hesitant. I will not allow rebellion in the south. I need you to kill the chickens and scare the monkeys, so that the Istanians, Ivan The Quinn elves and the dwarves are reconsidering their decision."

"Your Majesty," Dulin looked to the king's side, "actually there is a simpler way."

"Durin!"

The Prime Minister said gloomyly, "Are you questioning His Majesty's decision?"

"I don't dare, my lord," Du Lin lowered his head, "but it is not the Southern Territory that arouses suspicion among the various states. Using weapons against the Southern Territory will only aggravate the division of the kingdom."

"Durin," the young king shook his head and looked down with gloomy eyes, "I am very disappointed in you. The Mordekaiser family has been loyal to the royal family for generations, and that is why I am willing to give you a chance."

Du Lin was startled for a moment, and suddenly his expression changed drastically. He felt a sharp stabbing pain in his back, and then a blood-stained silver blade stabbed out of his chest.

The Duke turned around in disbelief and looked at the girl who made the move. The girl stood behind him with a cold face, holding a sharp knife, and looking at him was like looking at a dead person.

"Miss Shuangtian?" The Duke's heir was also taken aback and exclaimed, "What did you do to my father!?"

He wanted to call the knights around him, but the summoners moved faster. Before the native knights had time to react, they held down the opponent and slit the opponent's throat with a knife, causing blood to gush out.

Immediately, the hall was filled with a thick smell of blood.

Shuang Tian coldly pulled out the sharp blade from behind the Duke. Although she was an elemental user, her skills were clean and neat. With a push from her hand, the lifeless body of Dulin Mordekaiser fell to the ground.

The duke's heir was completely paralyzed with fright, but the hand washing his hands walked over to pick him up from the ground, and then looked at the supreme being on the throne.

The young King nodded with satisfaction: "Son of Dulin, I know that your father still has a chance to be resurrected. Go and surround the Temple of Life and bring your father and his knights here."

"From now on, you will be the next Duke. With my will, you will go to war against Erwin, the Ellingland family, and the Southern Parliament, and bring those rebels before me. After that, I will make you do King of the South.”

He was condescending and looked at the young man coldly: "Do you understand?"

The eldest son of the duke who was paralyzed from fright looked at the sharp knife dripping blood in front of him, and nodded numbly.

"very good."

"Shuangtian," the young king said, "take him away."

There was a dead silence in the hall.

Only the corpses of the knights scattered around were left, turning into a faint white light.

……

Fang Plover's eyes were looking through the gloom in the forest, watching the group of people walking out of the camp in that direction.

The afternoon sun is passing through the cold woodland, passing the mottled light through the pine needle leaves, forming a few clusters that fall on the thick fallen leaves and humus layer, and reflected on the moss, a few silver-gray iron foot guards Walk through these fallen leaves and shrubs.

It was a line of Chosen people wearing silver-gray cloaks, including spellcasters and heavy-armored warriors. The heavy-armor professions all wore uniform silver-gray armor, carrying a long sword hanging behind their backs, and they occasionally lowered their heads. He communicated with each other, and looked around vigilantly.

However, one of the battle craftsmen who commanded several clockwork fairies did not notice the eyes hidden in the forest. Those small things emitting yellow light whizzed past the forest canopy and returned to her hands. The craftsman wore a Silver gray coat.

On the collar of the coat is a sea forest morning star.

"What a high-level caller," Alisa couldn't help sighing in a low voice while watching this scene from afar, "We don't seem to have seen an adventure group of this level before, what happened recently, elite callers have changed There are more."

"A member of the Falcon Regiment." Miya recognized him.

In fact, it wasn't completely absent. During the July War, Fang Plover had seen more elite brigades, including even the top [-] top brigades, such as the team led by the omniscient person in the Crown of the Silver Forest, Silver Shadow.

They also fought side by side with several elite brigades of the Great Guild during the Battle of the Northern Territory, but those were all new generations.

The Falcon Group is the top 20.00% team in North America, which is generally referred to as the adventure group at the top of the leaderboard. Top notch team.

But the Falcons are one of them.

They belonged to the CE club. The gray area where FOX was located was actually a guild under the jurisdiction of this club, but most low-level clubs did not have only one guild.

This guild ranks in the top 30 in the North American division, but the elite brigade under the guild is top-notch, or if it weren't for this brigade, Sea Eagle Feather might not have been able to enter the top [-] in the first division. .

As far as Fang Yan saw, the battle craftsman was at least level 35, because there were other decorations under the Hailin morning star on his neckline, and that battle craftsman was not the highest-level recruiter in this adventure group—this is also normal.

Because of the scarcity of combat craftsmen, it is quite rare for a combat craftsman like Fang Plover to serve as a team leader and have the highest level in the team.

However, the sea witch had no expression on her face. In her opinion, a team of this level was no more than a bunch of fish.

"This is the second team we have seen ranking in the top 20.00% in these days," Tian Lan asked in a low voice, "Are they coming to see us?"

"The empire didn't react that fast," Fang Plover shook his head, "there is an adventurer's guild in the camp, and there is no news from there. The empire is preparing for a big war, and it is unlikely to pay too much attention to us. "

"Then who are these people?"

"They came for the obelisk," Miya said, "The guilds returned from the Second World precisely for this secret."

"But is there really an obelisk in this place?" Tian Lan asked.

Mia shook her head.

She didn't know much about the obelisk, and she didn't care too much about it, but there were many rumors about the obelisk, most of which were false.

The Redcoat Team of Jeffrit and the Crown of the Silver Forest fought in the Dragon Roar Mountains. There were many rumors about the July War, but in the end, no obelisk was found there.

However, Sylvide knew this quite well. The ship officer glanced at her and said with a smile: "It is rumored that four of the seven obelisks are located in the first world. The Empire, the Hill of Giant Trees and Corin-E There is one each in Xiurion, and another under the sea of ​​clouds.”

She squinted her eyes and looked deep into the forest. "Although there are some reports claiming that the obelisks of the Empire and the Giant Tree Hill have been discovered, most of those reports are half true and half false. Judging from the rumors here, most of the Empire's obelisks have not yet appeared, otherwise they cannot be seen here. To such an elite team.”

"Do you know the obelisk very well?" Miya turned around and looked at her curiously with silver eyes.

The noble daughter nodded.

Fang Yan felt that the atmosphere was a little strange, and said quickly: "The obelisk of Fenris has sunk under the abyss. Are these people still so enthusiastic when they know that there is a lack of an obelisk?"

Miss Nightingale secretly laughed at the side, and then added: "People are always unwilling to see the Yellow River, and maybe these grand guilds have other means, but in fact, it has nothing to do with us, after all, we are not To find some obelisk."

Only then did Fang Ying realize that this was indeed the case. It took them a lot of effort to find Alisa and Tianlan who joined them, but since they saw them, the Seven Seas Traveler should be nearby.

He watched the Falcons go away through the wind-up goblin, and then turned around and asked, "Tian Lan, Miss Alisa, is Miss Tata around here?"

Alyssa nodded, glanced at the tit-for-tat aristocratic daughter and the wolf girl, and then said: "It crashed into a nearby canyon when it was teleporting. The place is a bit secret. Miss Tata is worried that it will be difficult for you to find. That’s why I took Tianlan out to look for you.”

She paused: "The damage to the Seven Seas Traveler is actually not bad, but the situation is a bit... weird..."

"eccentric?"

Fang Qiu was slightly startled.

... (end of this chapter)