Heart of the Castle

Chapter 601 Battle Dance Arena, Master-Apprentice Showdown
When the first ray of morning light streamed in from the window, Li Wei woke up from the light gray sleep, then quickly got up from the bed, reached out and grabbed the saber placed by the bed.The sky outside the window is still gray, as if the haze has not yet opened. "It's still early," he told himself, but his mood still became like the sky, cloudy and heavy.

Levi thought he had gotten up early enough, but when he opened the door of the tree house, he found that many people had already gathered in the empty field below, including Sir Rodriguez, Master Dwarf Blacksmith Brabe , Sir Grace, the sniper archer, and the aboriginal leaders of the Rotten Swamp. More than 20 tireless griffin knights stood at the outermost periphery, their majestic bodies wrapped in heavy steel armor stood still, the cold morning wind ruffled the white satin-trimmed cloaks on their shoulders and the griffins on their helmets. The vulture's feathers look like a group of steel statues called "Loyal Guards".

To Li Wei's surprise, more than a dozen young wild elf sword dancers also appeared in the empty field, and everyone had a look of anxiety on their faces.They were originally Aguero patrols, tasked with protecting the safety of the human mission—or, more precisely, monitoring the movement of the human mission.Li Wei once tried to communicate with them, but was simply ignored.

The secret archer Larui Moonbow, who was dressed in grass-green attire, was talking with the wild elf sword dancers in a low voice.The order announcing his expulsion from Moonwhisper Forest was delivered by a high elf messenger yesterday evening, followed by several elf marksmen with contempt on their faces. The mission of these marksmen was to drive Lara Moon Bow brought some personal belongings, and at the same time "escorted" him to ensure that he left Moonwhispering Forest immediately as ordered.

Since Li Wei's appearance could only complicate matters, Marquis Osiris negotiated with the High Elf messenger on behalf of the Kingdom Mission.The elf knight spoke harshly and did not back down. His straight and slender body like a sword exuded a faint green grudge. Even the other members of the mission standing not far behind him could clearly feel the sense of coercion.The high elf envoy suffered even more, answered a few words in a hurry, and then wiped the sweat from his forehead and lost the battle.

Fortunately, the elf royal court had already expected this result. The high elf messenger muttered something like "willing to be a traitor to human dogs", and turned away with an arrogant look.Those elven sharpshooters followed closely behind, and threw the things in their hands on the ground before leaving. Larry Moonbow, who was standing beside Marquis Osiris, felt tingling pain in his heart with their contemptuous attitude.

This was the result he had expected when he missed the target, but when the attitude of those marksman's admiration and love turned into contempt and disdain, it still made Larry Moonbow feel a little unbearable.He managed to maintain a cold and expressionless attitude, but his face was pale, and he didn't dare to move until those figures disappeared into the jungle.

Larry Moonbow's personal belongings are not many. Apart from two sets of plain elf-style clothing, there are only a pair of soft leather combat boots, two protective daggers and some rose crystal and hardwood carved knick-knacks, which do not include His beloved red moon bow.This is also expected by Larry Moonbow, because the Red Moon Bow is not only the symbol of honor he obtained after passing the secret archer trial, but also the symbol of the leader of the moon-language forest elf sharpshooter troop.

Larry Moonbow is now carrying a dark steel war bow on his shoulders. In terms of range and power, this bow is not much inferior to the Red Moon Bow. Moreover, Mr. Dish promised that when he returns to the Kingdom of Arthur Afterwards, he will be made an Elven Longbow that is better than the Red Moon Bow.

But for this point, although Larry Yuegong verbally expressed his gratitude, he didn't believe that the old magician could do it in his heart.

Li Wei moved his hands and feet that were stiff due to poor sleeping posture, and then carefully climbed down the tree house along the rope ladder.His attendant knight, Glen Worm, immediately came up to him and helped him put on the light armor inlaid with the griffin's coat of arms.The armor of the human knights was too heavy, and it was difficult to climb up the rope ladder of the tree house, and it was even more difficult to climb down from it, so they were all placed in the empty field and guarded by the guard knights of the mission in shifts.

Seeing the appearance of the Griffin Lord, Larry Moonbow said something to those wild elves, and then hurried over. "Human chant... No, Your Excellency the Regent," he bowed in accordance with elf etiquette, "The situation may have changed. Since yesterday afternoon, no wild elves have seen the martial arts master of Unicenfizerd. trace."

Li Wei frowned slightly, and guessed in an uncertain tone, "Maybe this is Master Unicon's habit before the battle dance arena?"

"This is not in line with common sense. Because I can guarantee that Master Unicon will not show mercy in the battle dance arena, but he will not disappear before the start of the contest. He will at least come to meet his most proud disciple, and at the same time His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Lothien, whom he is loyal to—that is, the Marquis of Osiris." Larry Moonbow said anxiously.

Li Wei pondered for a while, "You should let Master Osiris know about this situation immediately." He then scanned the crowd, but found no trace of the elf sky knight, so he asked with some doubts, "Larry Moonbow, Osiris Master Reese...hasn't he gotten up yet?"

"The Crown Prince woke up early in the morning and is putting on makeup now." Larry Yuegong replied.

"What? He's putting on makeup?" Li Wei couldn't help blurting out, and because of surprise, he didn't control the volume of his voice, and suddenly cut through the silence of the morning like a sharp sword, startling countless birds and beasts to run away, flapping their wings and screaming. The sound rang together.

Facts have proved that the lingua franca level of the elf secret archer should indeed be strengthened. Of course, Marquis Osiris is not the kind of narcissist who dare not appear without makeup.When the door of the tree house was opened, and the Sky Knight, who was dressed as a war dancer and whose face and upper body were painted with fancy textures, appeared in front of everyone, he was almost burned back by the scorching eyes from all directions.

In fact, if Mr. Dish hadn't appeared later and pushed Marquis Osiris, the Green Lion might have really done so.

"Don't say you suddenly want to change your costume back, Lord Osiris." Mr. Dish sounded a little irritable, so that there was a trace of anger hidden in his always polite voice, "Let me The old man has been busy for a whole hour, and it is ridiculous to re-erasing it for fear of being seen for such a funny reason!"

"I'm not afraid!" Elf Sky Knight retorted in a stiff tone, "I'm just worried about whether you, Master Frederick, can draw all these patterns correctly. The complexity of war dancer tattoos is not ordinary. Elders of wild elves in this way must act cautiously."

"As a master alchemist, I guarantee that these patterns are correct. If any wild elf elder raises objections, he must be wrong." Mr. Dish said in an authoritative and unquestionable tone.

Marquis Osiris looked at the complex and delicate tattoo on his arm uncomfortably. Even if he stood still, he would feel dizzy if he stared at it for a long time. This was indeed the effect of the tattoo of a war dancer. "But I always feel that something is wrong." Sky Knight muttered to himself, and jumped down from the tree house.

The tree house was 20 meters high from the ground, but for knights with fighting energy, it was not a high enough height to injure them, let alone Marquis Osiris, who was able to fly for a short time with the holy fighting energy.Mr. Dish then jumped down, and layers of fine white feather-like light surrounded the old magician's body, causing him to fall down like a feather.

The wild elf sword dancers gathered around one after another, and many of them looked at Marquis Osiris' cheeks and the exquisite patterns on his body in awe and envy.War dancers usually have to endure pain for several days or even half a month before they can have such intricate and delicate tattoos, but just now, according to the old human magician, it seems that it only takes an hour?

"Is this what you call makeup?" Li Wei cast a weird glance at Larry Moonbow, who spread his hands inexplicably, "Yes, Your Excellency the Regent, the makeup of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince... oh, I mean Said..." He used an Elvish word that resembled the cry of a yellow oriole to describe it, so Li Wei could only sigh, and then told him, "Let's learn the common language well."

It took Marquis Osiris more than ten minutes to get used to the feeling of his upper body being exposed to the cold morning wind, but the scorching eyes of those wild elf sword dancers still roasted his back, so he forced himself not to care. "Your Excellency, Guardian of the Realm," he greeted Li Wei with an elf's bow, "It's almost the appointed time, should we set off immediately?"

Li Wei looked up at the sky strangely. Flandara's golden face was blocked by the clouds, and it looked like a gold coin, but there was still a glimmer of red moon in the sky.It seems that it should still belong to the early morning category, and there are still more than four hours before the afternoon. "Marquis Osiris, let's start after breakfast, or the battle dance arena is too far away, do we need to walk for more than half a day?"

Marquis Osiris was stunned for a moment, "No, if you ride a griffin, you will arrive in half an hour at most." He shook his head vigorously, as if shaking the nightmare that confused him out of his mind, and his green eyes recovered wide awake. "Sorry, Your Excellency Guardian of the Realm, you are right, I was too impatient."

Li Wei gave him a sympathetic look, and his tone became heavy, "The news from Girnash is not good." The Griffin Lord tried his best to make his tone as frank and sincere as possible, but he couldn't seem casual, the complexity of it Emotions made him feel clumsy even when he thought about it. "Master Uniconfizerd is missing, Marquis Osiris, do you know his whereabouts?"

The expression of the Marquis of Osiris seemed a bit inexplicable, "Xia Lafei is missing? This is impossible! Xia Lafei will either not go anywhere, or he will come to Aguero to talk to me. I stayed up all night last night, waiting Xia Lafei's arrival, if he has been here, I can't even know about it."

"Larry Moonbow also judged in the same way, so..." Li Wei glanced at the people around him, "I'm afraid Master Unikenfizerd is in trouble, and it's still a big trouble."

No matter how anxious Marquis Osiris was, he was at least sober and understood that the human mission was actually helpless.Although the status of the wild elves is higher than that of hundreds of years ago, except for the number one martial arts master in the Moon Whispering Forest, Junichen Fitzgerald, those old and respected wild elves elders, in the The status in the elf royal court is also quite low.They could not question the high elf nobles such as the Sun Chanter, nor could they search every corner of the Moonwhispering Forest.Therefore, apart from his face becoming extremely ugly, Marquis Osiris did not do anything impulsive, but persuaded Li Wei not to worry.

"In the Moon Whispering Forest, there is no one who can make Xia Lafei disappear without a sound, and even if they set up some vicious traps, they will definitely not make Xia Lafei lose his life, otherwise the battle dance ring in the afternoon will be very difficult. It became a joke." Marquis Osiris comforted Li Wei with these words, and at the same time comforted himself, "Girnash, have you informed the elders of the wild elves about this matter?"

The young elite sword dancer shook his head, "No, Your Highness the Crown Prince." He bowed deeply and said, "Master Unicon has ordered that if anything happens to him, we sword dancers trained by him will not stop Will obey the elders' orders, but yours."

Marquis Osiris felt his throat tighten, "Xia Lafei...has prepared for his own accident long ago? And he also used this to show that there are problems with the elders of the wild elves... At least it cannot be fully believed." The elf knight's mind With such thoughts rolling in his mind, his hands clenched into fists involuntarily, with such force that even his knuckles made a slight creaking sound.

"Lord Osiris," Li Wei looked at the expression of the green lion worriedly. Even though the cheeks have been covered by complex war dance tattoos, it can still be clearly seen from the side that the elf's uniquely handsome face has turned livid. One piece, there are even faint veins on the forehead. "We will go to see Her Majesty the Elven Queen now, and ask her to order to find the master of martial arts, Uniconfizeld." The Griffin Lord suggested.

"No, it's useless..." Osiris replied with empty eyes, his face was covered with traces of sadness, and his whole body seemed to be having a nightmare from which he couldn't wake up. "Of course Her Majesty will order the search, but no one can even try to find Shalafi... because there are too many places where a person can hide, and the high elves will never allow elf civilians and wild elf soldiers to enter those places."

Li Wei nodded heavily. He didn't know what to say to comfort him. The others were even more silent until a few wild elf sword dancers brought today's breakfast, and they all went to the tableclothed table. Pine table and chairs.

Breakfast was carried out in such a dull atmosphere. Although the food of the elves was still unappetizing, even the rudest orc leader, Strong Pig, and the werewolf chief, Wolf, did not dare to make any noise, and chewed it sadly with their sharp teeth. Bland radishes and vegetables.

Marquis Osiris's chest was filled with anxiety, he had no appetite at all, his eyes stared blankly at the things on the plate in front of him, but he didn't move a mouthful.Seeing his dejected appearance, Sir Rodriguez, who also had no appetite, but still had to pretend to be eating and drinking, suddenly had bad intentions in his heart, and deliberately used the words that everyone at the table could hear. the voice said to him.

"Hey, Your Excellency the Sky Knight, why don't you even eat a bite?" Sir Rodriguez showed an exaggerated surprised expression on his face, pointing to the plate in front of Marquis Osiris and said, "Ah, by the way, shouldn't it be Are you worried that those paints will be spent after being stained with oil and water? It doesn’t matter, you can eat first, and then apply makeup.”

"Sir Rodriguez!" Before the Marquis of Osiris could answer, Mr. Dish had already shouted excitedly, "Stop talking nonsense! Although these patterns are not tattooed, the paints used are carefully prepared by me. The alchemy potion developed is not afraid of oil stains at all, let alone soaking in clean water. Even if it is not applied with a special neutralizing potion, it will not fade or deform for 200 years!"

"So, in an hour, you can keep those wild elf elders busy for several days?" Sir Rodriguez put on an exaggerated expression of disbelief, and then picked up the wooden sculpture filled with wine Cup, "Ha, for this sentence, you should have a good drink!"

"An hour? Yes, it did take me an hour to draw these tattoos for Marquis Osiris, but five or 10 minutes were spent concocting potions and drawing patterns on parchment. Now if I print a new set It’s only 5 minutes at the most.” Mr. Dish snorted heavily, and then said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, “How about it, Sir Rodriguez, do you want to get one too? It’s crazy. Wild and charming style."

Sir Rodriguez choked when he heard the words, and almost spit out the wine in his mouth, "Keep it for yourself, ahem, old... Frederick." He smacked his tongue and replied in a low voice.But before the words finished, an elf-accented voice eagerly interjected, "Then, the human master of magic...can you please help us draw?"

When Mr. Dish looked back, his beard was almost scorched by more than a dozen pairs of fiery eyes. The wild elf sword dancers headed by Girnash were all staring at him with eager expressions on their faces.

"I seem to have said something wrong?" Mr. Dish thought a little sadly, but he couldn't think of any reason to reject those young wild elves, so he nodded his head with difficulty, so small that it was almost negligible.

(End of this chapter)