In the empty hall, the sun shone in through the skylight, and the dust flickered in the pillars of light, and between the columns stood many Germanic nobles in fine clothes, their eyes were focused on the center of the hall, and they saw two knights in chain mail coming up from both sides, in addition to the chain mail, they were wearing their own family coat of arms, each with a sword at his waist.

The knight who came from the west was in the prime of life, his bulging arm muscles were full of tension, and when he walked, the chain mail and his dress that reached the upper thigh made a rattling sound, and the parts on the saber and the armor gently rubbed against each other and made a clanging sound, and the knight's blouse had two rows of small shields on the upper left side of his chest, and each shield represented the glory he had obtained by participating in the knight's jousting tournament.

And the knight who came from the east, with a delicate and young face, a straight figure, but there was an indescribable majesty on his body, he wore a pair of plate armor gauntlets on his arms, the black lion coat of arms with teeth and claws, and two squires handed him a pointed shield, and the surrounding nobles looked at him with complicated emotions in their eyes.

"Honorable Champion Knight Andrew, and our esteemed Court Minister, Lord Arrod, today's duel will be presided over by our most honorable Duke of Abel, and with the presence and witness of all the courtiers and nobles of the Duchy of Mason, justice and fairness will surely be done in the hands of God." The herald announced loudly, his voice echoing above the vault of the lord's hall, a powerful voice that resonated with the gut.

Although the ceremony of succession to the duke had not yet been held, Abel was already embraced as a duke by this time. He only needs to complete the anointing ceremony in the church to officially become the Duke of Mason, I saw him sitting on the lord's throne and looking at Arold in the venue with concern, but this is a duel that Arold himself promised, the duel between nobles is sacred, it is a matter of personal reputation, even he cannot cancel it, under the left hand of Duke Abel, a high-backed wooden chair slightly smaller than the lord's seat, Princess Josie wears a gold hair ornament and wears a long white fringed pleated dress. It is covered with a green woolen and gold-trimmed robe. Her hair and chin were wrapped in a white turban, and her beautiful eyes were always on Arrod in the field.

Count Rauzitz stood on the lower right of Duke Abel with a gloomy face, I don't know if it was intentional, Duke Abel didn't even let people arrange a seat for this related earl. This also seems to indicate that the Count of Lautzitz is gradually losing his power in the Mason court.

Arold tightened the leather strap of his gauntlet on his arm slightly. He looked at Andrew, who was physically strong in front of him. Like a menacing bull, if his gaze could kill people, Arold believed that he must have been chopped to pieces. There was resentment and jealousy in that gaze.

"Sir Andrew."

"Lord Arrod." The two drew their swords, gave each other a knightly salute, and called each other titles, Sir Andrew pulled out his saber with one hand behind his back, and then gently rotated the sword in mid-air, then threw the sword from front to behind him, and then quickly caught it from the front, and completed this series of actions completely with one hand, although he knew that this was testing the balance of his sword, but this dazzling action caused a round of applause from the nobles in the hall.

"Huh." Arold watched Andrew's best performance, I don't know if this is Sir Andrew's influence from the West Francs, fancy show off to attract everyone's attention for the purpose, and when the nobles looked at Arold with unfinished eyes, hoping that Arold could have a more brilliant move, the result made them disappointed, Arold just plainly pulled out his sword and put it on his waist to pose in a plow position, and the other hand put the shield tightly in front of his left body, his knees slightly bent and his center of gravity shifted downward.

"Hmph." The corners of Sir Andrew's mouth showed a contemptuous smile, he seemed to take a step forward slightly, and his heart was full of contempt for this hillbilly outburst, Andrew's swordsmanship grew up in the exchange with the West Frankish knights, not only focusing on practicality but also very ornamental, after all, in West Francia, in addition to fighting each other to gain wealth, it is more important to attract the favor of the noblewomen, because these rich and generous ladies will spend a lot of money to buy equipment for their favorite knights, It's like those crazy star-chasers in later generations.

And Arold is just the opposite, since he came to this world, he and the men of the Wendell family wielded their swords on the battlefield together, the Wendell family as a rural nobleman pursued simple and unpretentious swordsmanship, how to defeat the enemy to save themselves is the first choice, which is also in line with the customs and traditions of the Germanic people, in order to survive in this world, even if it is to obtain today's status and dignity, Arold did not forget to wield the sword every day.

The ornate sword and the unpretentious sword finally collided, and Sir Andrew raised his left hand, and the sword in his right hand struck like a wind sweeping leaves, sometimes slashing head-on, sometimes turning and blocking with dexterous steps, attacking from all directions around Arold.

Arold frowned and used his shield to cover his body firmly, ignoring the aggressive sound of being stabbed on the shield, he took a steady T-step under his feet, and stabbed his sword from the standard plow position in the interval between Andrew's attacks, everyone was puzzled, because Arold's attack was too conservative, which was completely inconsistent with his reputation for wit, Baron Wendell was also a little puzzled when he stood next to him, he taught Arold all the swordsmanship, including the deception sword, which was not used by Arold, It's completely like he's being pressed and beaten by Andrew.

"Arold." Looking at Arrod, who had been suppressed at the beginning, Princess Josie clenched her hands nervously, and stretched her neck to look down worriedly.

"Whew~." Andrew finally stopped his fierce attack, he exhaled a cloudy breath from his chest, and looked at Arold hiding behind his shield, at this time he felt like he was throwing a fist into the air, and this frustration and anger made him finally explode.

"Drink." Andrew shouted violently, flew up and kicked on Arrod's shield, kicking Arold out with the shield, and then he clenched his sword, and the blade of the sword slashed through the pillar of light that shot down from the skylight, glowing with a little blue light, slashing at Arrod, who had lost the protection of the shield, and at this moment the surrounding nobles exclaimed, and the expression of Count Lauzitz became very strange.

Arrod's gaze never took off Andrew's sword, and when the blade slashed through the bits of blue light revealed by the sun, it finally verified the news that Harvey had brought him, that it was the night before, when everyone was asleep, Harvey knocked on the door of Arold's room.

"Count Lauzitz has done something in tomorrow's duel." Harvey didn't care about Arold's surprised expression at all, and said to him bluntly.

"Hands and feet?" Arold was still wearing a smooth silk pajama, a gift from Duke Abel to him, not to mention that it was indeed much more comfortable to rest in it.

"Yes, he gave Sir Andrew a saber coated with poison in his hands, and in tomorrow's duel Sir Andrew will use this sword to kill you, and then take the opportunity to kill Duke Able." Harvey looked a little nervous, she didn't expect Count Lauzitz to be so bold, this assassination method was simply blatant.

"If Sir Andrew had killed me with a poisoned sword, Lord Duke's guards would have protected him immediately, so how could he have done such a stupid thing." Arrod felt a little incredulous and asked puzzled.

"When Madame Yolanda overheard the conversation between Count Lauzitz and his men, she heard that this poison is very special, and at first it will make people weak as if they have been injured, and it only takes a little skin to penetrate the poison and cause people to die on the spot."

"Hiss~~~." Arold listened to Harvey's report and took a breath of cold air, is there really such a terrible chronic poison/drug in this world? He paced back and forth in his room, thinking about how to deal with the situation, and after thinking about it, he finally came up with a good idea.

"Arold you have to stop this duel, no one will be in the hands of the champion knight Andrew, as long as you get a little skin scratched, you will be killed." Harvey's words were hurried and anxious, although she never seemed to take Arold seriously on weekdays, but it could be seen from here that she valued Arold very much.

"No, the duel must go on, this is a good opportunity to expose the evil face of Count Lauzitz, as long as I seize the evidence of his guilt, I can wipe out Count Lauzitz and his henchmen this time." Arold suddenly raised his head and said firmly to Harvey.

"Bell~~~." Seeing that the blade of the sword was about to slash at Arold, he saw Arold raise his sword to block, and the collision between the sword and the sword made a metallic sound, seeing that his attack was blocked, Sir Andrew opened his eyes and put his sword on the top of his head, and was about to slash it fiercely, but at this moment, two hounds ran out of the side for some reason, and pounced on Sir Andrew.

"Wang~~~." The sudden appearance of the hound disrupted the duel, and Sir Andrew dodged left and right, but the two hounds only bit around him, and in desperation he swung his sword and struck one of the hounds, and the hound whimpered and rolled some distance to the ground.

"Who was it that put the dog in?" Duke Abel stood up and scolded in shock.

"I'm sorry Lord Duke, this is my dog, huhu." Arold struggled to get up from the ground, he took off his helmet and gasped.

"Arrode, why is that?" Duke Abel asked, puzzled, and a buzzing sound suddenly sounded in the hall, and the nobles turned their heads and ears to each other, not understanding what was happening.

"Because I suspect that Sir Andrew used a sword coated with poison, and it was a duel full of intrigue." Arold stretched out his hand and pointed at Andrew, who was a little pale, and said loudly to the nobles in the hall.

"Lord Gongxiang, the dog's wound is black, and it is obviously poisoned." Ron, the knight of the Inner House who released the hound, ran to the dead dog in a few steps, examined the wound and said to Arrod. (To be continued......)