White marble tiles embedded in the ground, extending from the gates of the city of Salion, finally meandered and disappeared north of the horizon, as if a jade-white python was crawling on the central plain. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 This is the military road built by King Alfred at the beginning of the founding of the kingdom of Saarion, which is also known as the "remains of the lion". Connecting Affendor to the north and Laria to the east, the four cities and eleven forts are connected by a large road, and the most elite knights of Sarion follow the skeleton of the lion to the front, as if they themselves have become lions.

At the gate, four horsemen stood side by side, both tall and burly, covered in blood-red armor, like four red fortresses, standing quietly in the cold wind. The knight's gaze from his helmet was cold, like a blade cutting through the air.

The horse's hooves tapped lightly on the pavement, and the sound of hooves rose and fell rhythmically on the stone bricks, like a seasoned blacksmith dropping his hammer unhurriedly. The old man on horseback let out a slightly warm breath of white air and stretched his body, as if he was about to shake off his fatigue. He raised his head calmly, and looked at the knight with pleasure, the cloak behind him like a red cloud curling in the wind, revealing the gold-rimmed embroidery of the sword and shield.

"Duke Elfwan," the knight at the head spoke coldly, his voice low and solemn, like a bronze bell shaking the air, "our army has suffered a crushing defeat on the plains of Callindern, and you are the commander-in-chief, do you have an excuse?" ”

Extremely rude interrogation, Kea, who was behind Duke Elfwan, was almost angry, and he just wanted to step forward to defend his father, but was stopped by Teresa with her eyes.

"There are no excuses. The defeat in the battle was due to our superiority and misjudgment of the situation, which made a big mistake. The Duke of Elfwan was not ashamed of the knight's disrespectful words, and replied respectfully, as if the opposite was a noble lord in high spirits, and he was nothing more than a defeated knight.

"Good." The knight took out a dark red silk from the groove of the armor on his side, slowly unfolded it, and said loudly: "The king's decree that the warplane will be destroyed due to the poor command of the Duke of Elfwan. 20,000 Salion's soldiers perished. As a result, the title of Duke of Elfwan ceased to be hereditary, and military power was transferred to the Duke of Brenus and Count Godric. The hearing was cancelled, and the Duke was required to spend a week in the Chapel of Order. Can you have any objections? ”

"There is no objection." Duke Alfwan was a little surprised in his heart, the verdict had already been handed down, and he had to repeat it to him if he couldn't do it. "Hearing cancelled", "Thought"? He keenly grasped the discrepancies between the edict and the verdict, and who could have mediated the outcome of it?

"Let's go into town, Duke." The knight did not look at the Duke of Elfwan's thoughtfulness in front of him, put away the red silk edict, turned and led the party away. From the beginning to the end, he never left the slightest affection for Duke Elfwan. Kia was already clenching his teeth with hatred, staring indignantly at the back of the knight's departure, eager to pierce the tin can. As if sensing the unfriendly eyes behind him, the knight at the head snorted coldly and turned his head to look at the young viscount.

Kia met the knight's ice-pick-like gaze, and his heart was suddenly stunned. There was not a trace of emotion in the pupils of the other party, like an abyss lying in a glacier, and the cold bloody qi rose up from the boundless darkness, making people shudder. This is a pair of eyes buried in the bloody rain! Kea saw such a look only in the eyes of the most stubborn, tough, and insane heathens. But why does a knight in the capital have such a look of disregard for human life? He is a person who has experienced bloody battlefields, and his intuition tells him that the other party is a person who has killed a way out of the sea of corpses and blood, or even more fierce than the corpse mountain and sea of blood, that is no longer an ordinary murderer, and it is more appropriate to call him "ghosts and gods"! Kia's expression was miserable, and the knight's abyss-like gaze pierced straight into his mind, and in just an instant, his momentum and spirit were shattered!

Teresa stepped forward and stood in front of Kia. The knight smiled contemptuously and mockingly, and rode away.

"Sister, he's ......" Keia was dripping with cold sweat behind him, he trembled slightly, and lost his voice for a moment, as if ice had frozen his vocal cords.

Teresa took Kea's shoulders, gently soothed him, and whispered, "He is Dante, the 'Substitute of the King', the chief of the knights of punishment. The head of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse under the throne of the goddess. ”

"I didn't expect him to return to Saarion at this time, it must be for Samael's sake." Duke Elfwan was solemn, "Could it be that the matter has reached this point?" He looked up, "Let's go, go to Schneider!" ”

Schneider was sitting in his chair at this time, staring at Esher nicely. He always felt that this young man was too abnormal, even if he was bound by chains, he had no consciousness of being a prisoner. After seeing Schneider's ruthless method of taking things out of his heart, not only was he not frightened, but he also showed a look of sudden realization after seeing the Demon Orb, like a spectator who was out of the way! Yes, Schneider figured out something was wrong: the young man was too emotionally stable to look like a man behind bars. He was only a little confused after waking up, and then quickly accepted his situation, as calm as a rock.

Essho was also looking at Schneider, the merchant who had been dubbed the "Tiger of Gold and Silver" who seemed to be three points fatter than the figure that almost came out of the frame, and there was a familiar glint in his eyes from time to time. Essho had seen a similar light in Jeffrey's eyes, all the same shrewdness and cunning, but a little less cunning and a little more vicious. Thinking of the dead Jeffrey, he vaguely remembered that Schneider had said that he had been poisoned by the name "Blue Star". What kind of poison is that? The toxicity is indeed extremely strong, and Esher still feels that his right arm is sore and numb, like a bundle of straw on his body.

Schneider put down the teacup, slowly wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, and decided to interrogate Esher step by step first. He didn't expect to get any useful information anymore, Ulrique V was right, he was a good hand at business, torture was like that, and there were many capable people in the Inquisition who were a hundred times more ruthless than him, and Mother Teresa was said to be one of them. Estimated that the time should be met, it will be time for the Duke of Elfwan to arrive in Sarion.

"Can we start from scratch, your name?"

"Esher Barandoke."

"Huo, I'm still a little nobleman." Schneider sneered, Pandeguru, only nobles have the right to have a surname, and giving a surname is the prerogative of the king and the grand duke. Those who have been given surnames seem to be superior to others, but in the two hundred years since the founding of the country, there are countless people who have been given surnames, and there are countless people who have fallen into the mainland in their families, and there may be four or five small nobles with names and surnames living in the gutters of the lower town of Sarion.

"Identity?"

"As you say, a little nobleman." Esher said.

Schneider didn't get into a seizure because of Eshyu's unreasonable answer, he tapped his fingers lightly on the table, and looked at Eshy coldly. The eyes of the two met in midair, biting at each other like beasts, without giving in.

"Are you trying to provoke me, young man?" Schneider said slowly, "Or is it a parody of the main character in the Knight of Madigan novel?" ”

"Absolutely not." Estheu seemed very determined, "If you want to negotiate a deal with the Tiger of Gold and Silver, the status of a minor nobleman is much better than that of an imperial death row prisoner." ”

"Does it make a difference?" Schneider scoffed, "Deal? I'm more interested in your other identity. ”

"That's the chips I have." Esher said. "About how I got together with Jeffrey."

Schneider stood up, walked up to Estheu, looked down condescendingly at the young man trapped in chains, and snorted coldly in his nose: "Then what kind of chips do you think I have in my hand?" ”

"Your Excellency doesn't think you're holding my life in your hands, do you?" Essho looked up and looked directly at Schneider.

"Isn't it?"

"My life is not your bargaining chip, and you have never had any bargaining chips in your hands in the whole time." Eshua said quietly, "You need intelligence, the information that the gray wolf gave you before he died is just a name, and you need more information to refine your reasoning network." Jeffrey is dead, I'm his hired bodyguard, and I know some of the information he has, though I may not even be able to fill between your teeth, but," Eshu's face was expressionless, his eyes burning like a red-hot spear, "the hungry have no choice. ”