Todd rubbed his fingers against the silver moon in his palm, rolled his eyes, and said to Sinclair with a smile: "Your Highness, don't worry, business will always continue, but my master is more concerned about whether this cooperation can continue?"

Sinclair asked, puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"

Todd shrugged: "Someday, if you ascend to the throne......"

Sinclair waved his hand impatiently: "I told him a long time ago that everything will be done according to tradition. ”

Todd asked, "Tradition?"

Sinclair looked at him a little strangely, frowned, and said, "Your master, didn't you tell you about the traditions of the Holy Acropolis?"

Tod said ominously: "The master has said something, but it is not specific. ”

Sinclair nodded: "Felichild, you and I are old acquaintances, you have helped me a lot in the past, and there are some things that I don't plan to hide from you." There has been a long history of cooperation between the monarchs of the Holy Acropolis and the Pope, and in short, we are more like a group of gardeners, whose main task is to help Heavenly Father 'take care of' his gardens on a regular basis. ”

Todd looked confused: "Take care of the garden?"

Sinclair stretched out his palm, palm upward, and his five fingers naturally opened: "A beautiful, elegant garden will always have some plants, and some branches or diseased branches will grow. The mission of the Sovereign of the Holy Acropolis is to regularly trim the fat that spends the beauty according to the will of the Father. ”

Todd's heart stirred up, and he pretended to have a flat expression on the surface: "What do you mean......?"

"The remote and small countries that are close to the pagan religion, the villages and towns that have not paid tribute for a long time, and of course, the aristocratic fiefs that have drifted away from the Heavenly Father are all useless vegetation in the Heavenly Father's garden. Sinclair slowly brought his fingers together and clenched them into fists: "The mission of the Holy Acropolis is to cut off these superfluous branches. By the way, we collect this waste and sell it to people in need. ”

Todd clenched the silver moon in his hand desperately, but said with a pretended ease of relaxation: "Then while you are pruning the garden, aren't you worried about being discovered and hostile by others?"

"Of course not, no one cares about small countries or fiefdoms that disappear completely in one night. Even in any case, the church can always find the right reason to solve any unnecessary problems. Sinclair's words were a little relaxed and a little helpless: "The Holy Acropolis is such a country, it does not engage in production, does not engage in commerce, and only survives from generation to generation with sword and fire. ”

Todd touched the tip of his nose: "It seems that your claim to fight for independence and freedom is just a façade. ”

Sinclair puffed out his chest: "This heir competition is nothing more than a hoax from beginning to end, and the ending has long been determined - the last king will definitely be me." ”

Todd asked, "Then why bother to make another move and involve His Highness Matild?"

"The Church had acted unwisely during the previous Battle of the Silver Ring, and many of the nobles of the Holy Acropolis were extremely unhappy with this. Sinclair shook his head and said: "The king's serious illness has made this discontent in the country no longer have the power to suppress it, and some nobles have begun to stir up, they are increasingly disobedient to the orders of the church, and even plan to mobilize the powerful military force of the Holy Acropolis, claiming to repeat the old path of the Silver Ring. ”

On the one hand, in order to alleviate contradictions and stabilize people's hearts, on the other hand, it is also to identify which people are loyal to the church, who are fishing in troubled waters, and which people are genuinely demanding independence, so it deliberately uses an heir battle to test the attitude of the aristocracy. ”

"So, this battle for the throne is more akin to a power shuffle. Todd added, "When you ascend to the throne, you can help the Church, either explicitly or implicitly, begin to purge the country of opposition, and at the same time collect the military power in the hands of these nobles." ”

"That's right, in your master's words. The Holy Acropolis has won too many victories and honors, and some people in the country have gradually been blinded by arrogance and forgotten the foundation of the country. ”

Todd's tone was tinged with a hint of sarcasm: "After all, the Holy Acropolis is just a sword in my master's hand. ”

Sinclair's face changed slightly in the night, anger flashed in his eyes, and after a moment he said casually: "Felichild, what you say is biased, it should be said that the Holy Acropolis and the Church are just a sword in the hands of the Heavenly Father." ”

Todd laughed dryly: "Speaking of which, your younger brother, His Highness Matild, is a target to attract firepower. ”

Sinclair snorted coldly, "A clown who jumps off the beam! A fool who starts dreaming of ascending to the throne after others praise him a few words! Sooner or later I will take off his head!"

Cursing in a low voice for a while, Sinclair said to Todd again: "The nobles have already made their own decisions, and the announcement of the heir to the throne is just a few days away. When the affairs of the Holy Acropolis are over, tell your master that he will not forget the conditions he promised me. ”

Todd bowed slightly, and said respectfully: "Your Highness, don't worry, everything is ready." ”

Watching Sinclair's figure disappear into the night, Todd, who was full of anger and had nowhere to vent, threw the silver moon that had been crumpled into a ball in his hand into the distance.

On the way back to the feast, a depressed Todd walked through the corridor and saw a strange old man sitting at a stone table at the end.

He was tall, but he was thin with little fat to see, the outline of his bones showing under his scarred skin, and his eyes were sunken. What is surprising is that a pair of bright eyes, like a faint fire in the dark night, stared at a chessboard on the table.

The old man first played a move, then moved the board with his hand, turned the other side to himself, and played another move, and in this way, he played a game with himself.

Todd glanced at the other party a few times, remembering the current complex environment of the Holy Acropolis, and with the concept that more is better than less, he planned to take a detour and leave.

"Child, can you come and stay with me?"

Looking at the old man not far away, looking up at himself, Todd looked around vigilantly, found that there was no one else around, thought twice, and then walked cautiously.

Approaching the stone table and looking at the structure of the chessboard, Todd recognized that it was a popular "backgammon" in the Middle Ages, and although he hadn't played it much, he did know the rules.

After sitting down, Todd restacked the pieces and motioned for the old man to make the first move.

The old man was not polite, played a chess piece first, and said with emotion: "I can't remember the last time someone played chess with me." ”

Todd struggled to remember the backgammon move, and then landed a disc.

Seeing the position of the opponent's chess pieces, the old man made a slightly puzzled sound, slowed down his movements, and played another chess piece.

The two of you went back and forth a few more times, and the old man laughed and said, "Originally, I thought you were a veteran of the sword, but I didn't expect you to be a novice who didn't understand anything!"

Sure enough, a few more rounds went back and forth, and Todd was defeated.

The old man smiled and shook his head: "You don't have rules for playing chess, but this is interesting...... Whatever it is, if it's been locked up for too long, it's going to become boring. ”

Todd took advantage of the firelight to glance at the old man's appearance, and guessed the identity of the other party in his heart, and he was a little sure. He then set up the chess pieces and said, "One more game!"

"Good!" the old man picked up a chess piece with his hand, and was about to drop it, when a heart-rending pain made him bend down and cough violently.

Todd quickly stood up and walked over to the old man.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. The old man, who had recovered his strength, stretched out his hand to stop Todd's movements, lowered his head and began to look for the fallen chess pieces on the ground, but after looking for a long time, he still did not find it.

Watching Todd pick up the lost chess piece, the old man laughed self-deprecatingly and said to the former, "Child, there are many things in this world that can be tried. There is only one thing that should not be touched...... That's getting old. ”

"The body is getting worse day by day, and the spirit is getting worse and worse. During the day, people look at you as if they were looking at a rotting and stinking corpse, and at night, tossing and turning in bed, the whispers of death keep you awake. The old man looked at his trembling hands, began to wave his arms vigorously, and said helplessly and painfully: "This feeling can drive people crazy!"

The old man stood up tremblingly, declined Todd's support, and did his best to maintain the dignity he deserved, stepping into the darkness at the end of the hallway.