"I heard that the oracle has indeed come," said the guard, who sat near the door, in a low voice, "Yesterday someone came out of the oracle's cave, and they saw new footprints in the doorway. ”

"New footprints?"

"Yes, and the smoke bombs left behind by the oracle."

"That's not called a smoke bomb, that's called a signal flare, and what?"

"And the sacks left by the gods to eat, the kind of ...... with patterns painted on them"

"Yes, yes, we've all seen it."

Elise II hid behind the door, and listened with chills, he was going to go out, but now he didn't have the courage to push it.

No, these must be rumors, and if the oracles had already arrived, they would have come straight to me! Just like when they found my father! I am the king of the kingdom of Elis! The only living king!

"If the oracle has arrived, why haven't they come?" The outermost one, the shivering guard complained, "Now we can't even eat mushrooms." ”

Although they had an extra ration supply as the prince's personal bodyguard, it was only a small amount of rat jerky left over from the past, and the amount of mushrooms seemed to be too large to be enough to eat. Under the pressure of their stomachs, they have recently had to start learning from many civilians, and began to find some edible ones from some of the newly grown weeds in the mountains and eat them mixed with mushrooms.

The guards exchanged eye contacts, but no one said a word.

But the meaning in everyone's eyes was almost undisguised - they all agreed with what the rumor-mongers were saying, and the heart of the matter was in the little cave they were guarding, in their second king.

Elise II coughed softly at this time, and several of the guards immediately stood up, and Elise pushed the door open, and the guards did not dare to look at him, but just followed.

Elise didn't speak, but walked straight in the direction of the gallows, and when he reached the site of the site, he saw that the workers who were supposed to work overtime here had all returned, leaving only a large pile of lumber and carpenter's tools.

"What about the workers?" Prince Elise held back his anger and asked a few of the guards who had come with him, "Go and call the affairs officer here!" ”

The clerk soon arrived, and he didn't look like he was awake, and he walked like many hungry civilians, his body fluttering and shaking. It wasn't until the prince came that he used some strength to make a standard salute to the prince.

"What about the workers?" The prince asked, "There is not enough for me to ask for!" ”

"Your Majesty understands," replied the clerk in a whisper, "it snowed for a while in the first half of the night today, and the wind picked up, and it was so cold that the workers could not stand it. ”

"If they can't do it, don't eat this urgent ration!" Elise was furious, "Go now, call them back, and get to work!" If you can't finish it after dawn, you will be the first batch of gallows to try it."

The clerk had a big mouth, and he was stunned for a while, not knowing what to do.

Even the guards behind the prince were stunned.

"Guards!" Then the prince pointed to the two guards beside him and said, "Go, gather all the guards, come and assemble, and let them bring all the magic lamps, armor, shields, and weapons!" ”

After the guards left, they found a stool and sat down in this temporary construction site where the gallows was made.

After a few minutes or so, there was movement on the hillside behind the prince, and the pillars of light produced by the magic lamps were particularly obvious in the dark night, and behind these magic lamps were the fully armed guards.

Because of the famine, it had been a long time since the Guards had been so heavily armed as they were today, and the weight of the armor was a burden in such weather, let alone when everyone was barely fed.

But yesterday was an exception, and last night the prince threw a great dinner for all the guards, at which he brought out almost all the food left by the oracles, including non-perishable biscuits wrapped in shiny soft cloths, sweetened sodas, whole packets of peanuts, and some remnants of liquor.

Now that most of the day has passed since the dinner, the things that the soldiers have just eaten have been completely digested in their stomachs, and many people's physical strength has basically recovered. However, when they came here and saw the new king waiting for them in the night, they were still not sure what had happened.

After making sure that all the guards had been assembled, Prince Elise began to rise from his stool and began to patrol the front of the queue.

The faces of these guards were unfamiliar to the prince, some of them he had remembered, some of them not, and the personnel of the guards had changed greatly since the oracles took over, but even before the arrival of the oracles, Prince Elise was not very familiar with them.

Most of the Guards were just his father's old subordinates, as well as the sons and even grandchildren of these old subordinates, and this team of only a hundred people probably consisted of nearly one-third of the important nobles of the entire Elis Kingdom.

If there was one of the most important things that his father left to Prince Elis, it was probably the loyalty of more than a hundred people.

They had all fought with their father on the battlefield, and when he was there, every sword in the Guards could be unsheathed for him and stabbed at any target he commanded.

Now that the father is dead, the power to command them is naturally left to his heirs.

When he inspected Tallinn, the chief of the guard, Prince Elis's gaze deliberately stayed for a few more seconds, and there was no hesitation or dodging in Tallinn's gaze, which somewhat relieved Prince Elis.

"Glorious Guardsmen," said Prince Elis, "you must be alert by now, and there is a part of the enemy who are plotting a conspiracy against me, and against your new king!" ”

Prince Elise raised his voice and said, "God has guided us out of purgatory, but he cannot stop the demon that grows in everyone's hearts. Hunger has caused some people of low moral character to spread rumors and slander my devotion to the new gods! Just two days ago, I even heard the saying that if this king is not pleasing to God, then we should quickly change it. ”

Prince Elise had rarely spoken in front of so many people, and he had only seen the oracle and King Elise try it before. Now, for the first time, he felt how amazing it was to be in front of so many people, to say what he wanted to say, and to gain loyalty and recognition from their eyes. The gradual excitement made Prince Elis's voice more and more sharp: "In the name of God, they wantonly slander the honor of the royal family, and the most heinous thing is that they also spread rumors that their father was killed because of God's will...... As the son of my father, I will never allow anyone to tarnish his honor with such a filthy excuse. Guardsmen, you have all sworn to be the sword and shield of the king, and now tell me if you will raise your sword when your king commands! ”

After Prince Elise finished speaking, he was so excited that he had already drawn his sword and swung it in the air.

But in the queue in front of him, there was not even a sword unsheathed.

A gust of wind blew, and the prince suddenly felt that his blood was cold, and his eyes searched the faces of the soldiers eagerly, and he could not help but shout again: "Can't your king command you?" ”

"No, Your Majesty, of course you can order us," Tallinn, the chief of the guard, stepped forward, "but we don't think the situation is bad enough now...... If the enemy really dares to draw his sword against His Majesty, of course we are willing to kill His Majesty. Just now...... They're just hungry......"

"Will we be in time when they draw their swords?" Prince Elise cried out eagerly, "200,000 Elis, and the Guards are only a hundred, or can you alone deal with 2,000?" ”

Tallinn was silent and did not speak, but did not draw his sword to show allegiance.

When the clerk who had just left returned, the prince looked behind him, and saw that only one or two workers had followed, and he screamed in a loss of voice, almost without respect, "What about the others?" Are they all dead? ”

"The workers said it was too cold today...... They said they were going to work in the early afternoon...... What you ask, they can't do right now. ”

"You didn't tell them that those who don't come will have all their mushroom quotas removed?"

"I said," the clerk whispered, after an awkward pause, "they said...... Anyway, the quota is not enough at all...... As you see fit. ”

"Whatever?" The prince felt his two rows of teeth rub against each other, making a oozing sound.

The prince turned to Tallinn and said, "The carpenters directly refuse the king's order, and now I order you to go and arrest them, and they will be caught here, and you will not carry them out?" ”

Tallinn glanced at the prince and said in surprise, "Your Majesty, are you talking to me?" ”

"Of course, not with you or with whom?"

"The affairs of the workers are naturally in the hands of the ministers, how can we meddle rashly," Tallinn said with a sympathetic look, "I hope Your Majesty will not rashly deal with them, and let the ministers deal with it tomorrow, whether it is killing or punishing, and there will naturally be results at that time." ”

The prince's face was full of disappointment: "That is, you refuse to carry out the orders of the king, to whom you are allegiant, is it so?" ”

Tallinn's eyes hesitated slightly, and just when he was still thinking about whether to delay his thoughts or decisively tear his face and refuse, two dazzling white lights suddenly appeared in front of him, and then, a dull roar of a giant beast came from the darkness, and all the guards subconsciously unsheathed their swords and pointed towards the location of the beast's attack.

A smile suddenly appeared on Prince Elis's face, but before it could fully bloom, it stiffened on his face, for then he heard a loud, familiar voice in the direction of the beast.