On the Seven Towers

When Li Jia arrived at the gate of the castle, he found a middle-aged man in a wide robe waiting at the gate. He was large, but a little thin, but this made his face more contoured. His temples and mustache were dark red like wine, with some gray hair, but neatly groomed, and a pair of orange-red eyes were shrewd, just like Serinda.

The man stood lazily with a faint smile on his face, watching Li Jia and Serinda come to him.

"Welcome, welcome, today is a good day to meet a magician from the magic castle." The man opened his hands and greeted Li Jia in a very relaxed manner.

Li Jia hurriedly dismounted and performed a magician's salute, "You are Count Arias, right?"

"Yes, didn't the naughty little Serinda introduce her father to you?" The count winked at Serinda. The latter turned her face away angrily.

Li Jia looked at Serinda awkwardly, and then said, "She told me some of your deeds, but hearing about you is not as good as meeting you in person. I finally came to you today."

The Earl didn't care at all. He stepped forward and patted Li Jia on the shoulder and said, "I know, there must be nothing good to say. When the God of Nature created her, he must have used water to make her face, wind to make her legs and feet, stone to make her head, and finally fire to give her temper."

Li Jia was sweating in his heart. Is there anyone who "praises" his daughter like this? No wonder these two people can't get along. He laughed and said, "She just talked about some little things in the past."

"I understand, I understand." The Earl turned and led Li Jia inside, "In fact, I have a lot of her little stories, I can share them with you at the dinner."

Serinda snorted, ignored them, and walked into the castle alone.

Although Li Jia didn't expect the Earl's performance to be so weird, the Earl's attitude still made him feel at ease. So he walked side by side with the Earl behind.

"The God of Nature arranged a very legendary way for us to meet. The castle that fell from the sky was simply a miracle. Unfortunately, I was knocked unconscious and could not see the scene clearly at that time." The Count nodded his forehead helplessly. There was a scar of more than five centimeters near the hairline.

"It was just an accident." Li Jia said vaguely.

"It was also a great accident." The Count laughed and seemed to be completely unconcerned that his ancestral home had become a ruin under the school.

Li Jia was not sure what the Count meant, so he had to tell the truth: "We came here this time just to discuss with you about your ancestral home and the surrounding territories."

"Don't worry, don't worry, we have plenty of time to solve these trivial matters. Let me take you to visit this small castle first." Count Arias said.

The castle was indeed small. After entering the gate, there was a patio of ten meters square. The Earl pointed to the wooden swing on one side of the patio and said, "This is where Serinda often came when she was a child. I made that swing myself. At that time, she liked to play with her mother in this corner. Sometimes she knitted something, and sometimes she read a book. At that time, her mother wore a shell necklace every day."

"Shell necklace?" Li Xia subconsciously touched his neck.

The Earl looked at Li Jia's collar and said, "It's the one you wear in your collar."

"Did you find it?" Li Jia was a little embarrassed.

"Although I only saw the rope, I recognized it because it was originally a gift from me to her mother. It was a shell I picked up from the beach when I first saw the sea in the south. At that time, I suddenly felt that the world was so big. So big that it could easily arouse people's desire to conquer it. Later, her mother always wore this necklace. She simply liked the color of the shell. Later, after she died, this necklace became the thing that Serinda cared about the most." The earl asked, "Can I take another look at it?"

"Uh, of course." Li Jia took the necklace out of his collar and handed it to the earl. The earl took it in his hand, weighed it lightly for a few times, and returned it to Li Jia.

"Time runs faster than a wild horse." He said, then sighed lightly and smiled with an incomprehensible smile.

Walking along a low stone staircase into the gate of the main building of the castle, Li Jia found that this castle was smaller than Viscount Irus's, but much more delicate. The doorway of the main gate was carved with intricate vines and flowers, with some winged goblins flying in it. The door was made of thick wood with reinforced copper strips and nails nailed on it.

Entering the main building, Li Jia found that the entrance hall was very dark. The entrance hall was open all the way to the roof. There were some narrow windows on the second and third floors, leaving a few square spots of light on the stone floor. Several square pillars passed through the three floors on both sides of the entrance hall and went straight to the top. Some oil lamps emitted dim lights on the pillars and walls, slightly reducing the gloomy feeling of the first floor of the castle.

The earl took Li Jia into a side archway, and then came to the second floor of the castle from the stairs.

This is a long corridor, and the light shines in from the narrow windows on one side of the outer wall. It is much brighter than downstairs. On the wall near the inside, there are seven or eight large and small oil paintings. Li Jia noticed that the painting closest to him at the beginning of the corridor was particularly large, two meters square, and the protagonist in the painting was a shirtless man holding an axe high. The man had a resolute look and a tall stature, and was leading countless soldiers to charge.

The composition of this painting is very strange. The direction of the man's charge is actually the audience outside the painting. Li Jia stood in front of the painting, looking at the man's tiger-like eyes, and could clearly feel the indomitable momentum. After paying attention for a while, I felt a sudden palpitation in my heart, as if the man was about to rush in front of me and behead him in the next second.

The Earl stood aside in silence until Li Jia came back to his senses, and then he said: "This is Melo Arias, the history of our family in the kingdom started with him, and I am already the eighth generation. "

"I heard that your ancestor was the most powerful berserker at that time?"

"Not only at that time, but even now. The power of this ancestor of mine has reached the holy realm and exceeded the limit of mortal power. Now the territory of the kingdom is him, together with the magician Matthew Doria and Alan Dias Beaten down."

"Ellen Dias, Dias, is that it?"

"Yes, it was the founding king. The three of them were very good friends, as good as a pair of pants. They fought together, overthrew the unfortunate Black Dragon Empire, and swallowed up the lands of countless lords. In that era, they But the true pride. However, the final fate of the three people was very different. Alan Dias became the king, but my ancestor and Matthew Doria disappeared shortly after the founding of the country."

"Missing? Both leaders disappeared suddenly?" Li Jia asked in surprise.

"Do you smell a conspiracy?" The count stood beside Li Jia with his hands behind his back and looked at the portraits of his ancestors together. "I have read a lot of historical materials and feel that if it is not a conspiracy, it is difficult to imagine that these two such powerful people are inexplicable. The ground disappeared. Not only did their personal force reach the peak of mankind, but they also had their own army. It would be a world-shattering battle if they wanted to use force directly."

"Have you found any clues in historical records?" Li Jia asked.

The Earl shook his head, "No, there are no records. History is like this, like a loach wandering at the bottom of the lake. Whether it is mud, water plants or waves, you will not be able to see its shadow clearly."

"However, your family has passed it down." Li Jiadao.

"Yes, yes. Come and see my family, Duke Carter Arias." The count led Li Jia forward and pointed at the old man in the second painting and said, "This is Merlot back then." When Arias disappeared, Carter was only five years old. To the nobles, he was just a little fat pig on the dinner plate. Many of the heirlooms in the surrounding lords' families were 'exchanged' from 'Carter'. "

"This is the 'forever young' Francisco. He always liked hunting in the forest. He was only seventeen when he was killed by goblins. Fortunately, he had a son when he was fifteen." The third portrait is a A young man carrying a hunting bow and hunting dogs.

The man in the fourth portrait has a strong figure, but there is a lot of anger between his eyebrows. "Ah, this is Francois the Bug. It was during his time that our family changed from a duke to an earl, and a large part of the territory was cut off. This idiot has no one to discipline him since he was a child. In the royal capital and territory, He did all kinds of bad things, and in the end he killed a prince out of jealousy and was beheaded. Well, his only contribution was to give birth to a son in time. "

Who are these people? Li Jiazhen didn't know how to comment on such a family so as not to disgrace his master. However, he found that the person in the latter portrait was much more normal. It was a knight leading a march.

"This is my grandfather. A man whose personality is completely opposite to that of his father. Maybe Merlot's bloodline is stronger in him. God knows how he was able to organize the family territory and vassals at the age of fifteen or sixteen. , and re-raised a berserker army. He fought with the empire for a lifetime, and finally died of illness on the battlefield of the Guanzhi Fort." When the count said about his grandfather, he was obviously more solemn, "At least this is a good thing. It’s much better than dying in the conspiracy of a sinister villain.”

The last portrait is of a thin old man. Although he is wearing exquisite armor and a luxurious sword, with a straight posture and a dignified appearance, deep melancholy can be seen in his eyes. The earl stared at him for a long time and said: "My father is a guy who is jealous of others and always has no ambitions. He is sharp when he is young, but when he is old..., haha."

He didn't know why he didn't say any more. He patted Li Jia on the shoulder and said, "To hell with these ancient things. Come, my friend, try my wine. This is a good old thing."

Li Jia was pulled by the earl, but there were some disturbances in her heart. It always felt like there was a completely different side behind this count's laughter.