It's a thriving market for drunken money-goers.

The oasis on which it is based is located in the Gobi Plain at the junction of the Grand Duchy of Stuart, the Grand Duke of the Pontto Heights and the Holy Imperial Kingdom.

Due to its special geographical location, taking the rock fort of 200,000 troops stationed in the south of the border under the territory of the Grand Duke of Stuart as an example, the three major empires all built heavily garrisoned fortress checkpoints on the edge of this vast Gobi Plain.

In order to avoid friction and disputes leading to war, the three sides maintained a tacit understanding not to overly insert forces into the Gobi, and only occasionally sent troops to carry out small-scale sweeps to maintain the peace of the border, but maintained a balance point on the Gobi Plain.

Under the tacit understanding of the Three Kingdoms, a kind of deformed prosperity was born on the Gobi Plain, and the oasis dotted with the desolate Gobi Desert was like a shining pearl necklace tied to the slender neck of this deformed beauty.

The mangrove oasis where the market is located is the most dazzling jewel of this necklace.

Its original name, the Mangrove Market, has long been forgotten by many people, and most of the people who frequent the market are accustomed to gritting their teeth, loving and hating, to call it "Romesthal" in a local language, which means-

"Black Rose".

A small caravan of more than twenty people came from the horizon.

As the midday sun began to set westward, a little cool air from the sand and gravel of the Gobi, they reached the outer edge of the oasis.

The members of the caravan entering the oasis looked east and west, stunned by the complex of buildings that stood like a mirage in the desert Gobi in front of them, and anyone who crossed the vast desert Gobi would find it as hard to believe their eyes as they would see a palace-like semicircular vault and a high spire reflecting sunlight in the center of the desert.

"It's another team of newcomers, I hope they won't be deceived by those cunning guys in the dark street and leave naked."

The guards standing under a tall white marble semicircular arch saw at a glance that these people were all fresh faces. A malicious gaze swept over a few of them with long legs and thin waists.

Suddenly, the tall man beside one of them swept over as if he had a feeling, and his pinprick gaze made the cold hairs on the surface of the guard's skin stand up slightly, and the guard immediately withdrew his gaze, in horror. Secretly malicious. Hideous flashed across his face under his mask.

“…… I heard that there are also underground hot springs here. ”

"Great! I don't ask for anything else, a single bath will do...... After so many days, I couldn't take it anymore. I really miss being in ......."

“…… Is the hot spring pool already booked? Don't just be used - it's disgusting! ”

The caravan members walked under the archway with the reins of dromedary camels, and the few short men in cloaks and bags in the middle whispered to each other, and their voices were louder in excitement, and the shrill voice made it easy to identify that it was a rare woman in the desert.

"Oh, it turned out to be a group of young masters and young ladies who were idle and had nothing to do to change their outfits and run into the Gobi to "travel"! The dromedaries and bags of the camouflaged caravan are quite presentable. ”

The guards immediately dispelled the idea of killing and plundering just now.

Chaotic with the order of the chaotic zone.

On this gold-paved trade road, greedy merchants who risked their lives for huge profits could not be killed at all, and although murder and plunder happened all the time in this Gobi, it was as common as drinking water and eating. However, in the Gobi, especially near the oasis, there is a ban that strictly prohibits the noblewomen, masters, young masters, and ladies who "experience traveling", otherwise who will spend a lot of money to build such a large palace complex in the desert that is as luxurious as a royal palace?

Ruining people's wealth and wealth in the Gobi is a mortal enemy who does not share the sky, and does not wait for the background behind the victim to find out. Those who don't know whether to live or die will be turned into specimens hanging from the row of high crosses outside the oasis by the anger of the bigwigs behind the "Black Rose", and enjoy the treatment of being eaten by vultures and roasted into human jerky.

Of course, most of this "good treatment" is for those bandits and thieves outside the oasis to enjoy it, and for their own people inside the oasis. The bigwigs have another set of punishments that are more straightforward and make people understand the majesty of the ban.

The guards had seen one of their former colleagues, who had not intended to offend a veiled noblewoman who had come here to enjoy herself, dragged behind a horse's tail with a rope tied to her legs, and dragged alive into a ripe skeleton in the desert smoky under the midday sun!

……

"Although there was a cleansing scroll, it wasn't until I entered the oasis that I felt like I was finally alive."

Entering the pre-booked room, a moist chill hit her and her mind was refreshed, Princess Elizabeth pulled down her hood, untied her cloak, and a man's hand reached over and took her cloak.

"Thank you, dear."

"No thanks, Lizzie."

The blonde-haired and blue-eyed young man who answered also pulled down the hood covering his face, revealing a handsome and warm face, and his very aristocratic eyebrows had a touch of majesty unique to the superior, and he glanced at the furnishings in the room and looked at his new wife.

"There is a shortage of manpower, we have set you the same bath, you and Victoria will settle first, the bath should be clean if the water is changed three days in advance."

"It's okay, that's enough, don't let us leave the legation for pleasure."

Elizabeth pursed her lips and smiled, and followed Randster's words to find her sister, and behind them a maid in a court dress stood behind them, her eyebrows lowered as if she could not hear their conversation, and she bowed down and opened the door appropriately, and followed Elizabeth away.

Lancet untied his cloak, casually placed it on the back of his chair with Elizabeth, and clapped his hands gently.

In a flash, four people jumped out of the corner of the originally empty room.

Medium stature, so ordinary that he disappeared into the crowd, as if he was a twin brother with the same indifferent expression, although he had appeared in sight, the sense of existence was still as thin as if there was nothing.

"How's Shadow Four and Shadow Six's injuries?" Lancet asked.

"Not yet healed, still twenty miles away, arriving at the oasis by night." Eichi, the closest of the four, stepped forward and bowed slightly in reply.

His voice remained featureless, and his brief speech showed that they rarely spoke.

"Did you find a tail?"

"Not yet, there is news from the second side of the shadow, two days ago, an assassin seems to have discovered that His Highness is no longer in the envoy group, but has been led to another path by the previous arrangement."

Hearing this, Lancet nodded slightly, "How about the person who answers, don't let people mix with their own people." ”

"Behind the Black Rose is the forces supported by Merlin, Merlin's intelligence system is stationed here, and the current personnel serving His Highnesses are subordinate to Merlin's intelligence system, and they have all been screened through multiple layers and monitored each other. In addition, like this station, three oases have been prepared for the next station, and before His Highness arrives at the oasis, even if there is an internal response among the responders, it is impossible to determine the route of His Highness and plan the assassination in advance. ”

"Okay, stand down."

The four shadow guards bowed and disappeared in place.

Lancet sat down and pinched his eyebrows.

Originally, on this mission, his uncle brought him eight of the most elite and loyal members of the Shadow Guard, but before leaving Merlin, two of them were injured, and two of them remained with the stand-in of the official envoy corps.

However, after leaving the team, they did not suffer any more assassinations in the rest of the trip, so Lenster let the injured Shadow Four and Six not need to follow him at all times, and created as many conditions as possible, so that they could recover from their injuries during the period when they had just left the envoy and the assassin had not yet reacted.

Otherwise, when they leave the Gobi Desert, the journey may not be so peaceful.

Although the assassination attacks before leaving Merlin's territory were frequent, the intensity was far less than they had expected, and the severity of the first blow was far less severe, except for the emperor Saxon who was wounded in the arm by a cold arrow on the opposite bank when he asked his mount to drink water by the river, and was quickly rescued and detoxified.

Although it is said that there is no danger at present, there are reasons such as the shadow guards around them, the intensive protection of two thousand elite royal knights, the accompanying of the strong and the proper preparation of the pick-up along the way, but they discussed it privately, and they also have a common conclusion:

I'm afraid that what I'm experiencing so far is just an appetizer, and the real assassination will probably come after I leave the country.

"Pere and the Holy Empire have always been an offensive and defensive alliance when facing Merlin, but there is a lot of friction between the two countries, and if it weren't for Merlin's threat, the old feud between them would have already turned the two countries against each other. At present, the war on the northern front is stalemate, and the shape of the three mainland countries has not yet become clear, and with the scale of the main members of the diplomatic mission this time, both countries must hope that the members of the diplomatic mission will have an accident in the territory of the other country -- this is a crisis, and it is also an opportunity that we can take advantage of. ”

Randster knew that Estuat's current weakness, even if he had firmly held the Grand Duke's title in his hands, and if he was united, once Merlin was overthrown, the weak Stuart would not be spared.

Therefore, after His Majesty decided to add him and Elizabeth to the legation, Lenster did not refuse, but reached a certain agreement with the emperor, and with the current strong support of Emperor Merlin, he officially inherited the position of Grand Duke during the period of his return to China.

If Uncle Adolf can take advantage of the period when the Grand Duke's current subjugation of the 200,000 southern troops of Merlin and Rock Fort can quickly sort out the internal affairs of the Grand Duke, and he can return intact after the mission is completed, then with the Grand Duke's in hand, he can at least have a self-preservation power and protect the people he cares about in the coming war.

And Stuart's future undoubtedly depends on Merlin, and this mission, he is in the mission, and he may be able to directly exert influence, and even influence the situation on the mainland.

This mission was a key for him and for Merlin.

(To be continued)

ps：

Ten o'clock two.