The Grey Lion, the royal capital, the former king's study

This room once belonged to the king of the country. But now, it's part of a mothballed property, and like the castle and the throne, waiting for the next person to own it. Compared with the servants who came and went in the castle in the past, the castle of the royal capital at this time was deserted and frightening, and it is no wonder that the abrupt end of the royal family made it difficult to sustain the breach in the king's hall with only a wooden plank, and the howling wind roared in the corridors of the castle, as if it would never stop.

Subsequent repairs to the castle were put on hold, and the workers were supposed to prioritize repairing the more damaged houses and walls than a castle without an owner. This was the decision of the nobles of the kingdom, and of course, the person who proposed it was Andrea. Nowadays, the construction of the royal castle is not accessible to anyone, and funding or proposing to restore the castle is regarded as a declaration of power. And the lords, who had just gone through an expedition and were anxious to bring their labor back to their realms to sow seeds, were no longer in a position to make such a declaration. Even the Kroger family, after the defeat in the Battle of Vale, there was opposition within the clan, and some even believed that it was a sign that the family should not plot the throne. And Andrea, as the patriarch, first wants to stabilize the family, so no matter how much he longs to ascend to the throne, he will have to wait a few more days.

This cheapens Marcus, as the hand of the king, since there is no new king on the throne, it means that no one has the right to remove him. At this time, although he was inferior to the major lords in terms of real power, his identity was above the various families. This is also destined to be the most indisputable of the people who can enter and leave this castle at will at this time. These days, Marcus spends most of his time in this study, reading the royal family's collection and looking for solutions to the problems at hand. Of course, it may be more about escapism. After all, in the current situation, his status limited him from easily revealing his position, otherwise there was no guarantee that someone would be angry and send assassins or play some other tricks. Moreover, this approach can also win the hearts of some people, and for the people of the royal capital, they see a Marcus immersed in grief for the king, and this is enough.

"Click" a heavy book with an oak cover is slammed shut. The King's Hand closed his eyes and rubbed his brow, soothing the discomfort of long-term reading. When he opened his eyes, he saw the door of the study and the window next to it, which was the cemetery of the knights of the kingdom. "So, that's how you feel?" said Marcus to himself, never expecting to one day sit in the seat that should have belonged to the king. But sometimes, the reality is just the unexpected. Who would have thought that the united kingdom would be separated in such a short time after the death of the king, and almost all the lords were knocking on their own calculations.

And it's all because of Cheese, the gray-robed mage. The Hand of the King smiled bitterly at the thought of this, he would not resent Cheese for this, because he knew that he would not be able to achieve Cheese's achievements if he changed places, and that day the sky and dragon were burning on the walls of the valley, and the entire army of the kingdom was defeated by one man, and the idea of confrontation could not be raised just by thinking about it. It's just that the mage did what he wanted to do, protecting the creatures he thought were worth protecting. And he is struggling in this big mess, which is really envious.

The fat King's hand stood up and walked to the window with his hands on the edge, "For the rest of my life, I don't know if I can restore the lion to the way it was when His Majesty was alive." I hope I can, otherwise I'm afraid I'll be laughed at by him when I die. Marcus said, his eyes suddenly focused on a small black dot, but it grew larger and larger, and soon, the figure of a carrier pigeon appeared in his field of vision. However, are there any breeds of carrier pigeons in the world that use leaves as wings?

The pigeon, which was made of branches as bones, leaves as feathers, and trees as eyes, fluttered its wings, which should not have been able to fly, and landed in front of the king's hand. He shook his head, as if to confirm whether the human in front of him was his target. When Marcus tried to touch the miraculous creation, it scattered and became a dead thing. At the same time, the letter wrapped in the bird's belly was revealed. Needless to say, anyone who can use such a thing as a messenger is probably the only protector of all the ratmen in the entire kingdom.

Marcus shrugged, unsuspecting him to open the envelope and read its contents. This was his first exchange of information since parting with Cheesedale, and although it was only a one-sided letter from the mage, it was enough to arouse the interest of the King's Hand. "Iron Castle, is it?" Marcus frowned slightly, he had heard about what had happened to Iron Castle, but he didn't have time to verify what the rumored lockdown city was like due to the chaos caused by the rat-man plague. Now, judging from the mage's letters, the city has been restored to normal in the presence of Cheese and the Hammer Archduke, and the nezumi in the city have been subdued and taken to the north.

This is undoubtedly good news. Many nobles in the kingdom coveted the territory and possessions of the Grand Duke of Hammer, especially after the collapse of the Molten Iron City. Fortunately, the Hammermen's loyalty to their lord did not change with the fall of the Molten Iron City, and the rest of the cities within the Hammer Lord, as well as actively began to contain the inhabitants of the molten iron, and began to repair their lord's castle. In such a situation, the more capital the Hammer Realm has to defend the western border, the more capital the kingdom can have without worrying about the nomadic attack.

However, the letter mentions the appearance of the Skinned Ones among the nomads, and although Marcus is not very aware of this anomaly, he can sense the seriousness of the matter from the tone of the cheese words. So he walked back to his desk, unfolded a piece of parchment, and began to write something with a quill pen, while muttering, "In this way, it seems that our gray-robed lord has not been idle, so I can't be left behind." I want to think about it, which families will help the recovery of the Hammer Leader? By the way, I can also let the Grand Duke take care of the affairs of the Black Mountain Territory at the same time, and it will be regarded as compensation for the loss of his Molten Iron City, I believe those guys don't dare to say anything! Ah, there are so many people who can use it this way, hehe..."

The pen slowly stopped. The smile on Marcus's face darkened, and he looked at the letters and papers on the table, and his eyes fell on the latest one of them, which was headlined with the words, "Proposal to Reopen the Kingdom Chamber."

"It's actually fitting that this matter should be mentioned by Old Man Atticus. I don't know if he's still mad at me. Just go and ask, I hope he won't cut me with a sword. The King's hand scratched his head and put the papers on the table in order. Preparing to walk out of the study, he turned his head to look at the contents of the room before leaving, and with a complicated expression, he blew out the candle in the lampshade.

"Good night. ”

The first volume of the Plague Mania of the Dawn of the Grey Tower has officially ended.

According to the opinions of book friends, after a day off tomorrow, the official update of the biography "The Boat Song of the Heartless Bay" will be updated, so stay tuned. The sheep in the lake salute