Section 41 Coercion

As usual, Ashrufat received his guard equipment from the Grand Supervisor Skadra. He was now accustomed to this practice - probably for security reasons, all the people who worked in the palace could not leave the palace with their uniforms and belongings, nor bring anything else in. So it's normal to keep your belongings in the makeshift storage room at the main gate (the area where Skadra's office is located) every time you go in and out. As for the weapons and equipment, they were kept even more strictly, and the room where they were kept was next to Skadra's office.

Guards on duty outside also have the right to search all entrants. Thankfully, they all knew that Ashrufat was a relative of Skadra, so the body search did not fall on him.

Ashrufat was actually a little curious, because the venerable head of the court was always at his post - so far, Ashrufat had met him every time he came over, as if the old man had no concept of "rest" at all. As the head of the court, he undoubtedly had to deal with a lot of small and large odds, as he always had a thick stack of papers piled up on his desk.

"Today Jana is not here. As Ashruphat finished dressing and passed Skadra's desk, the old man suddenly spoke. "Pay a little attention. Today the queen is to teach herself, and lunch and dinner must be tested by you. ”

"Where has she been?" said Ashrufat, not thinking more, but asked casually.

"Some...... Family side trivia. Skadera replied.

Ashrufat came to the door of the queen's bedchamber, where Phalysis was, and seemed a little impatient. The whole handover process is no different from the past – that is, just a "no special accidents" is settled. By the time Pharysses was gone, there was only one person left in Ashrufat.

Shortly after Pharysses' men left, Ashruphat heard the door of the room open. The queen, or the little girl, came out of it. She had changed into a relatively ordinary dress, and although the texture could be seen at a glance, at least she would not be suspicious of her identity when she went out.

"Your Majesty, you are ......"

"I'm leaving the palace. The little girl said unceremoniously, her eyes fixed on Ashrufat. "Go out and take a look. ”

"This ...... For your safety, I'm afraid not. Ashrufat replied. He began to think about how he should face the situation. Maybe he should call Skadera over, or just throw the little girl back to his bed? Maybe he could threaten her to reveal what had happened outside the court, and let her go on a horseback ride or read a book so that she could spend the day in peace.

"This time I'm not going alone, I want you to go with me. You are my guard, and it is your duty to protect me. ”

"That's even worse, it's my duty to keep you safe, not to send you to dangerous places...... Many of the other parties in Wangcheng are quite dangerous, and I am afraid that I will not be able to protect you alone. ”

"Ashrufat, you only need to hold this position for a year before you can get the knighthood...... I'm guessing you don't want to lose that position. The little girl said.

"Of course. However, Your Majesty the Queen, I remind you that the only person who can decide my appointment or dismissal is Lord Skader, the head of the court. Even you have to give orders through him. Ashrufat suddenly felt that the little girl had become tricky. Seems like she wasn't that troublesome in the past?

"If I told him that you had scolded and threatened me before, what would he have said?"

“......”

"What do you think he would think if I told him that you had known that I had snuck out of Lu and didn't report it to him in time?"

“......”

"What if I told him that you had been so bold as to declare me your fiancée knowing my true identity...... What will happen, you say?"

“......”

"If I told him that you broke in and spied on me while I was bathing and cleansing in the temple of the church...... In particular, a high priest was a witness...... What do you think will happen?"

The four questions were sharper than the other, and Eshufaat couldn't help but feel his heart tighten. Indeed, he seems to have done too much to Meng Lang. No, it should be said that in his heart, he regarded this little girl as too insignificant.

"Even if you can quibble with the first three, the last one can't be explained. "The little girl already understands that she has an absolute advantage in this fight. "Don't worry. Today is my study day, and no one will come to me, and no one will find out that you and I are no longer in the court! You can make a choice, a simple choice, either listen to me or wait for me to uncover everything. Hmph, I'll be nagged by Scardera at most, and you'll have to ......"

Ashrufat looked at the little girl in front of him in amazement. From the other party's firm eyes, he could see that the little girl's determination was unquestionable.

“...... Go to the gallows!"

......

"Alright, Ashrufat, come out. ”

The little girl's voice came from above. Ashrufat looked up at a small stretch of sky at the mouth of the well—there was an old saying, "sit in a well and watch the sky," and he now truly understood what that meant. At the bottom of the well, the sky looks like a round, blue thing, like a blue full moon.

"There's no one around, come up!" said the little girl a second time.

It was easy to climb up, as the edges of the walls were carved with small pits for climbing. Even a little girl with insufficient arm strength can easily climb up, let alone Eshurufat. And this well is a bit ingenious, there is an observation hole where the well fence is close to the surrounding situation, which allows people who climb up to observe the surrounding situation before climbing out.

Ashruphat leaped out of the dry well. As the little girl said, there was no one else around, so he had enough time to carefully examine the secret passage in and out of the palace.

It's not wrong to say it's a secret passage. An inconspicuous well inside the palace is connected to another equally inconspicuous dry well outside the palace. If you hadn't experienced this yourself, you'd probably not have thought of it. More importantly, there is a small mechanism between the tunnels, with a seemingly immovable stone in the center. Therefore, even if an outsider accidentally discovers this secret passage, then he will be confused by this illusion. But there's actually a clever secret opening and closing mechanism that can be opened from the inside, allowing an adult (and not too tall or too fat) to crawl through the ground. But if there is no opening mechanism inside, people from the outside cannot enter.

The little girl had left the palace many times through this secret passage before. However, in reality, there are not many such adventures, because there is always a female teacher, Jana, who supervises it. The last chance encounter with Ashrufat was the first time the little girl went out, and she was still turning left and right, and unfortunately forgot the way home.

All in all, through this secret passage, Ashrufat and the little girl could sneak in and out of the palace as much as possible, provided that no one could find out during the time they left.

"Let's go around the business district. The little girl said. "The last time I was there, I was attacked by bad guys......"

Ashruphat pondered for a moment, staring at the little girl's clothes. It must be said that the queen is the queen, even if in her eyes she is dressed as ordinarily as possible, and ordinary people are very different from each other. This time, he persuaded the little girl not to bring any jewelry, but this elegant dress was still too eye-catching.

"To tell you the truth, you're not going to go out quietly like this this this time, are you?" asked Ashrufat.

Honestly, it's silly to ask this question because the answer is obvious.

"Before we go where you want to go, we'd better get some of the more normal clothes. Ashrufat said. He had already left all his armor and equipment in the little girl's bedroom, so he was wearing his daily clothes at this time. "Otherwise, I'm worried about being recognized. ”

For this cautious proposal, the little girl fully accepted. As mentioned earlier, Eshuruphat has spent his spare time touring the entire city in his spare time since he came to Eagle Falcon City. So he didn't have much time, so he took the little girl to find a small tailor shop in the aristocratic district.

The tailor's shop was empty at this time, with no customers to care for it, except for a shopkeeper about forty years old leaning against the counter, dozing off with his eyes closed in boredom. However, as soon as Ashrufat entered, the shopkeeper opened his eyes.

"Ah, dear guest. The shopkeeper's eyes lingered on Aerufat for a second, and on the little girl's body for ten seconds, and immediately smiled. According to a deep-seated prejudice, tailors are the most recognizable of all by their clothes. After seeing the little girl's dress clearly, the shopkeeper's face showed indescribable joy. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Ah, I'm here to buy clothes, both of us. ”

"Ahhh To tell you the truth, the proprietor of the shop had ...... "was about to brag about the cowhides and then take two distinguished customers to see the most expensive and beautiful clothes (as an honest businessman would do), but Ashrufat stopped the tirade in time.

"Ah, I'm sorry, we'...... In fact, I am shy in my pocket and can't afford to buy clothes that are too good. Ashrufat said in a low voice. "The clothes we had on us were actually borrowed by a good Samaritan. ”

"Borrowed?"

"Hey, I met a thief in the city...... It's hard to put into words. Ashrufat said. "There's just a little bit of money on me. Please show us the cheapest ones. ”

The smile disappeared from the shopkeeper's face in an instant, replaced by a look of disdain. However, as the saying goes, mosquito meat is also meat, and although these two guests can't afford to buy any good clothes, they are here to buy clothes after all. So he led two customers to a corner of the store, where there was a considerable pile of old clothes—obviously stocks that had not been sold for a long time because of texture or style.

"Adult clothes for a big silver ollie. The shopkeeper said. "Clothes of the child...... Three Little Silver Ollie. He quoted a price of conscience, because the two men obviously didn't have much oil and water.

"This dress is good. "Ashrufat first found a set of clothes suitable for the little girl in this pile of clothes.