-

"His Highness Dino Firesparrow asks to see—wait, you can't—"

Dino ignored the attendant's obstruction and raised his hand to knock on the door.

The moment Prince Manka opened the door, Mo Shi already felt that what the courtier said was true. He thought that Dino must have made his own judgment.

Manka still looked poised and dissatisfied.

But those grievances were not real, for he clearly knew that Dino Firebird was qualified to question him. It dragged on for a long time, too long, long enough for people to figure out something—despite the fact that the naïve Dino was not familiar with the mode of struggle within the court, and he did not think about it at all, and it had nothing to do with whether he was intellectually qualified or not.

But at least Dino knew some of the art of speaking, and he did not mention how he "guessed" or "learned", but went straight to the point: "I need to know if the king can receive me." ”

Manka looked at him for a moment and said slowly, "No. ”

"I guess 'no' might mean 'can't'?"

Prince Manka smiled instead, certainly not with a pleasant meaning: "I have sent someone to contact your father and brother, they are on their way to the royal city, but they will not be able to reach it in time anyway. ”

That's the default. About the fact that King Manlon has long since died.

That chaotic night was the time of the old king's death.

"Just in time?" Dino noticed that his voice trembled slightly.

"I've been putting it off for a long time, and I can't continue to cover up what has happened," there was not the slightest trace of guilt or emotion in Prince Manca's expression, "In this case, Mansey may-"

The words were interrupted by a commotion outside the house.

"Your Highness Manka! Your Highness! It's the cavalry and the escort! Prince Manxi with the cavalry ......"

Prince Manlun raised his eyebrows expressionlessly: "It seems that this is the time." The royal city is not a fortress and cannot be defended, even if all the guards in the castle obey my orders, it will not help me, and the knights of Manxi can drive straight in. ”

Then he shouted, "Firesparrow, go back to your room!" or—"

He said, "Come with me." ”

-

Dino's choice was to "go".

They followed behind the elder prince and walked quickly towards the northern wing of the castle.

Manca Golden Lion is one of the owners of this castle and he is familiar with the architecture.

Of course, they couldn't go through the front door, but Prince Manca wasn't heading towards the side door. Behind them was a small group of well-trained white-armored knights. Moshi had a staff in his hand, and Dino was glad he had a light sword tied to his waist - he knew in his heart that it would most likely need to be unsheathed.

Prince Manka led them to a passage in the northwest corner.

This should obviously be classified as a "secret passage".

Dense masonry forms narrow passages. Prince Manka mastered the torches that had been placed on the wall outside before entering the corridor. This torch is the only light source in the entire tunnel.

They moved forward silently and quickly, the darkness stretching out for a long time, but in reality it didn't seem to be long.

Soon, they saw the light ahead.

Upon exiting, Dino found them standing on a desolate, steep hillside.

The sky was overcast. From here, you can see the gray walls and the white roof of the Platinum Temple.

"This is the back of the castle. "Prince Manca is quick but still personable, and indeed very owner-like," before the palace was expanded, this passage was used for grazing horned goats. That was hundreds of years ago. ”

They began to go down.

There are no roads, just large bare rocks and short grass that has begun to wither, and sparse bushes. Dino had a hard time walking, and had to hold on to Moshi - his magic lessons didn't seem at all comfortable climbing the mountain, and the staff didn't seem to help much.

In any case, they have tried their best to climb down the steep slope as fast as possible.

But when Manka jumped off the last rock and came to the flat ground, the scraped dirt from the heel had not yet fully fallen to the ground.

"Dear Brother Manka, you're a little late. Is it fear that is stumbling on your feet, or is it a lie?"

A voice that sounded similar to Manka said. But more sharply, full of unpleasantness.

Dino stood on the rock, and could see Manka's body freeze for a moment. But only for a moment.

Manka quickly straightened up, and the person who had spoken earlier walked under the bushes that covered him.

With light blonde hair and dark eyes, he is indeed Prince Manxi.

The older prince smiled, "Manxi. I don't know if you remember a passage here? It's kind of touching. ”

The two Efaya looked calm, but in fact they were tense, and the oppressive smell they emitted almost made Dino, who had not yet differentiated, feel very uncomfortable.

"If it weren't for the fact that we came here as a kid and you deliberately left me out, I ended up groping my way through the walls through the dark tunnels back to the castle - if it weren't for this terrible experience, I'm afraid I wouldn't remember. ”

Oh, it seems that the relationship between the two brothers has always been very bad.

Dino had some thoughts.

Diffonor would never do that to him, and neither would Dia.

And he couldn't do the same to his young brother, even though they didn't come from the same mother.

"Come back with me and say you're not worthy of the throne, that's all, okay?" said Mansey Golden Lion to his brother as a large circle of soldiers surrounded him.

And Manka's escort jumped off the cliff at about the same time.

They began to fight.

Dino stood there stunned, should he jump, he realized his finger on the handle of the sword. But seriously, he didn't have a clear reason to fight. The old proverb says: Don't use force for what is unnecessary.

He watched what was happening below, and a great sword was raised and cut off someone's head, which was rolling off the knight's helmet...... But it was not destined to be a long battle, as the squad on the Manka side was clearly outnumbered. But he didn't look terribly panicked.

Manka pulled a bone flute with a rope tied to it from the collar of her coat.

The piccolo came to his lips and made a high-pitched sound.

After that, from somewhere in this steep mountain terrain came the cries of ravens and the neighing of two-wildebeests.

Apparently Prince Manca knows how to "be prepared". It was a familiar place for him, an escape plan he had rehearsed.

As the sound of horses' hooves approached quickly -

Manka looked up at him.

"Come here. He said to Dino.

The strong two-horned horse has arrived on the chaotic battlefield. Manca easily flipped on horseback.

Dino still hesitated, and this hesitation caused him to be too late to get on the horse. The enemies were not stupid, and they swung their weapons against the two-horned horse, which instinctively raised its hooves and broke out of the siege (if it had time to use the harness made by Mr. Mossy, it would have been more able to do what its master wanted, but it would have taken more time for new things to be accepted).

Dino had jumped to the ground, but he knew he couldn't catch up with the horse. The space around him was quickly taken over by Manxi's soldiers.

Dino placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

This time he was ready to draw his sword.

However. As he tried to draw his sword, he suddenly soared into the air.

To be precise, he felt someone lift his clothes, and the clothes were being dragged along with him.

He watched as he quickly passed the soldiers, who only had time to raise their heads.

Then the force sent him on the back of Prince Manka's horse.

"It's the sorcerer of the Firefinch!" someone shouted.

- Object-shifting magic.

It's Mr. Moshi, Dino thought. Only his magic could be so remarkable.