In the prayer room in the side hall, Gawain was sitting on a chair, staring at the rosary on the hilt of his sword, and the catcher stood opposite him, reminding, "You and I are both the deputies of His Excellency Mikhail, the chief of the emperor's guard, and this magic sword of yours cannot be used, because all the dignitaries of the empire go to the theater to watch the martial arts competition, and once the magic sword spell appears, you will be unlucky." ”

Gawain removed the rosary and placed it in his hand, then looked up at Diognes, "Then will you immediately report me and the Demon Sword to His Majesty the Emperor?" ”

The catcher was silent for a moment, and then gave a clear answer, "I have already said that if I wanted to harm you, I would have shot you in the throat with an arrow in Nicaea. Do not think that a person who wields a bow and arrow will inevitably shoot a hidden arrow to hurt someone, because without a straight shaft, the cluster of arrows will never hit the target; Without integrity, a warrior can never achieve true glory - this is an Armenian proverb. Theognes was a loyal servant of the Emperor, but not a thoughtless dog, and your previous accusations against me were utterly false, Gawain. ”

So, Gawain smiled, high-fived each other with the guard, and patted him on the shoulder, "Then I blame you wrong." I know that the eldest princess secretly recommended me to be the deputy of the martial arts competition, and she still wanted me to show my skills, but now that everything is safe, there is no need for us to make extraneous branches. ”

"That's right, Your Excellency Mikhail, you will definitely defeat the warriors of Salian Caesar." Diognes clearly had a strong belief in the martial arts of the chief of the guard.

At this moment, the house slave knocked at the door, and after receiving permission, he walked in, and respectfully carried the box, "This is handed over by the mistress, saying that it is a gift from the palace to your guests." ”

Gawain then took the gown from the inside, put it over his chain mail, and fastened it diagonally around the outside in Norman fashion.

"The fiery red of Sirius, and the pattern of this falcon, is it possible? Why was it sent from the palace, His Excellency the Chief of the Guard did not have such treatment. When Diognis said a few words, it dawned on him, and he angrily shoved Gawain, who said what are you doing, and was soon blocked by the guards in the corner of the wall of the prayer room.

"Hey, what the hell are you trying to do?" Gawain was scared, he didn't expect that in this world, it was actually a Saracen, Greek mixed-race male warrior, who used a "wall knock" on himself.

"Don't have evil ideas against the eldest princess." Diognis gave the most solemn warning, "The eldest princess is not only the pride of the empire, but also the noblest woman, and the pillar of the Orthodox Church, who must be holy until marriage." You are a barbarian of a different race, you must recognize yourself decently, you can be like other Varyags, you spend all your time drinking, have many beautiful wives and concubines to fight for you, this is not a difficult thing for you, but the husband of the eldest princess can only have one wife, and can never divorce and like the new and hate the old. ”

"I didn't expect me to be such a person in your eyes." Gawain was very dissatisfied with the evaluation of "liking the new and hating the old".

"That's not the point!" Theognes slapped his palms heavily on the wall, and the dust flew up.

"I'm just swearing to the eldest princess to be her servant." Gawain eventually explained.

Diognis threw down the sentence, "That's for the best." Then he sat down, prepared his weapons and armor, and took out his wine bag and drank it himself, not caring that the icon was in sight.

Soon, Mikhail, dressed in military uniform, stood heroically in front of the door and shouted inside, "Heroes, let us go and see the heroes of other corners of this world!" ”

Three horses, including Sabina of Gawain, were in high spirits and neighed in front of Yudohya's mansion. Mikhail wears a traditional Byzantine style of a pointed helmet with peacock feathers, diamond-encrusted shoulder straps, and carries a long sword given by the emperor cross-body, with a leather backing and a unique Byzantine armor on the outside; Theognes wore a white cloak and sword given by the Emperor, and underneath was a light Saracen robe with a corset, and under the saddle hung a flail and an embroidered gold quiver; Gawain still had the same appearance as a guard, but his head was replaced by a Norman mask and helmet, a seal skin scarf, and his body was covered with chain mail that Anna described as the "Great Black Mackerel", a black hawk coat given by Anna, a scarlet cloak given by Eudoxia, a sword of phosphofire hung from Sabina's saddle, a heavy Varangian battle axe, and an incomparably sharp Turkic Damascus steel scimitar hanging from his shoulder straps.

Just as he was about to leave for the race, Eudosia walked out quickly and shouted to Gawain and Diognis, "I beg you, although I have prayed many times to Mikhail for victory before the Angel of Victory (after Christianization, the goddess of victory in ancient Rome became one of the angels of Orthodox worship), you should be considerate of the helplessness of a woman and assist my husband in the race!" I'll be there later. ”

Gawain, whose face was covered by the mask armor, only showed a pair of blue eyes, and turned his head back to Eudohya.

Although Sabina was glad to see her master, when she stepped on the stirrup, she could not help but feel that her master was much heavier, and felt that it was difficult, so she could only walk on a small walk. Under the guidance of the officials and attendants sent by the palace, the three of them avoided the noisy streets, turned into the royal archery, and walked towards Augustam Square.

Augustam was the founder of the city, Constantine the Great, built a porphyry colonnaded square in memory of his mother, on which stands a bronze statue of the woman and an eagle flying to rest, this is the eagle's favorite place, and when Gawain dismounted in front of the porphyry pillar, he saw an inscription on the pedestal below, "Because of the mother is born, because the father is great" - this inscription was told to him by a ruler who led his horse.

The circular square, after crossing the sacred forest, is an exquisite semi-circular theater, which is also a heritage of ancient Roman times, and is now a ceremonial place for the emperor to receive foreign dignitaries.

In front of the huge gates of the Brachna Palace, Yudohia and other ladies of the court stood in long rows until they reached the walls and moats of the palace. Eight cavalrymen dressed in red and holding horsewhips, shaking their feathers and holding flags, took the lead in walking out of the door, forming a road ban. All the noblewomen, eunuchs, and court officials bowed down one after another, and then the emperor, queen, princess, prince, and chief lady came one after another.

Alexios sat in the same seat as Anna, "I heard that you recommended a famous martial arts competition deputy for me?" ”

"Yes." Although Anna was proud in her heart, she didn't dare to make too much of a show, and only added vaguely, "He is also a swordsmanship talent recommended by Mikhail and Yagfi." ”

"Thank you, but for this competition, it is enough for me to have Mikhail." The Emperor laughed.