The place where the queen will meet the great swordsmen is a lakeside town located southeast of Northern Aurora.
It is not connected to the main river. Like the Heinzwom Meteor Lake, it is an independent lake caused by meteorites.
Scholars speculate that the water source comes from the underground river at the bottom of the lake, but in short, it is impossible to get here by water.
Even if you take the land route, you cannot go south directly from Heinzwom Meteor Lake because it is blocked by the dense forest. You need to go around the entire forest and take a C-shaped curved route. It was on this way that the queen and her party encountered a giant. They fled in a hurry and jumped into the path, and then accidentally entered Talwar-Sutta.
After joining the team of Grand Commander Weimar Macnisto Dragonwing, the Queen still had no intention of changing her goals.
My own words are that "it is precisely because I have experienced hardships that I hope for peace even more" - but to be honest, not many others share her optimism.
The well-prepared leader Long Yi considered all aspects. Not only were medicines prepared, but there were also female knights in the team who carried simple tents and replacement clothes, so that the three people, including the archbishop, could finally return the clothes of Henry and Mira.
Maybe it's because the superior has more room to go, or maybe it's because his focus is different. After going through all this and finally returning to the plan, what Her Majesty the Queen cares about is whether she is dressed appropriately, and whether the unexpected delay of a few more days will make the other party dissatisfied.
It may be difficult for our Roan girls and Galeva, who are from commoner backgrounds, to understand all this. Of course, the latter was stunned for a long time when he later learned the identities of the three people his group encountered - or by his standards, he became even more stunned.
Although Mira, who came from abroad and was familiar with Edward at Avenella, was unaware of it, she had far more contact with high-level nobles than ordinary civilians. When I was still young, I went to Otolo and saw the empire-level scenes there. During the subsequent travels, various princesses, princes, grand dukes and counts also appeared in endlessly. The first mission after arriving on the east coast is also our noble lady. There seems to be no shortage of high-level nobles around her. It becomes natural to get used to it. The more people in high positions she meets, the Luoan girl will no longer have stage fright as easily as ordinary people.
This kind of confidence and ordinaryness seemed extremely incredible in the eyes of the members of the Dragon Wing Knights. Compared to her and Henry, Galeva's approach was more common among the knights.
The young man became very nervous after identifying Archbishop Roman through his clothes, but before that he had only thought that the other two were just wealthy businessmen traveling together. After the dragon-winged knight arrived and revealed his identity, Galeva found it increasingly difficult to breathe. He felt uncomfortable all over and felt that even the clothes he was wearing were inappropriate. He was fiddling with his clothes from time to time. An inappropriate wrinkle seemed like a huge offense to him at this time.
After all, he is a Suomir. Even though he was born and raised in Porusaro, Galeva still has the traditional strict hierarchy concept of the Suomir.
The huge class and lifestyle gap made the atmosphere in the entire team feel extremely uncomfortable for him.
The difference in vision and the world in contact becomes clear here. As a commoner, if Galeva encountered what happened to the queen, apart from mourning his companions, he would most likely be frightened and return to his original place of life, shutting himself up.
After everything the Queen has gone through, what she cares about most is whether her clothes are appropriate.
In the eyes of the angry common people, this may seem like another kind of naivety and self-centeredness. But if you understand the social style of the aristocratic upper class in various countries, you will understand that this is really a very important issue. question.
Nobles pay attention to appearance and pomp. This is not only a love of vanity, but also a display of one's own strength. The armor worn by high-ranking aristocratic military attachés when they went into battle to kill enemies was decorated with brass or even gold, as well as time-consuming and labor-intensive edge hollowing and inscription craftsmanship. This was all to show their wealth to their opponents and prevent them from being killed in the event of defeat.
People who can afford such luxurious armor must be very rich. It is more cost-effective to capture them and extort ransom than to kill them.
In contrast, mercenaries whose armor and weapons are tattered and dirty do not receive this kind of treatment. Therefore, from the perspective of preserving life, the gorgeous appearance is indeed very important.
In addition, the same is true in social class. Nobles like to compare and show off. The competition that takes place on this bloodless battlefield is sometimes more important than the encounter between swordsmen. Under such premise, we can change the concept and substitute the queen's thinking.
Angry civilians would think she was careless and self-centered, and even after so many people died, she still only cared about how she dressed up - because she valued these returning great swordsmen so much.
She was worried that the clothes she put on were not enough to show the dignity of the king and would make the other party feel that she was being looked down upon.
The delay of several days due to the encounter with the giant and getting lost will also have the same effect. As the supreme leader of the country, she is indeed qualified to make the other party wait, but these people are already dissatisfied. If they are left to hang out, I am afraid they will become more and more angry as time goes by.
She must show enough attention, so appearance and appearance are very important, and the timing also needs to be mastered.
Now the plan is almost completely in disarray. In order to prevent the pent-up dissatisfaction among the great swordsmen from exploding, the Queen tried her best to get everything back on track, and immediately set out on the road after joining the Dragon Wing Knights. This is not a cold-blooded disregard for those who sacrificed, but there are more important issues in her heart that must be solved personally.
Naive, maybe a little. Doing things impulsively is not an overestimation. But Her Majesty the Queen is not ignorant. She knows what she is doing and hopes to achieve certain goals.
——But this may just be the queen's wishful thinking. Under her command, even the most loyal to her, Grand Master Weimar Macnisto Dragon Wings, could not be so optimistic.
Her Majesty the Queen, who lacks military knowledge, cannot understand, but the location chosen by the great swordsmen is very suspicious.
There are no waterways, and the lake is an independent lake formed by meteorites. There is only an underground river at the bottom of the lake. The land route is basically surrounded by forests. Although there are trails extending in all directions, this is a bad thing, because a small army can easily reach behind it.
The neighboring dukedom had conflicts due to previous incidents. Although the queen had been rescued, the duke's army was fully armed and ready for war, while the Dragon Wing Knights only had two brigades. Although Manisto felt that it was impossible for them to attack the Queen directly, in order to avoid danger, he still chose to lead the team to go around the path.
Without a reliable noble army to support them nearby, the number of these great swordsmen who quietly sneaked into the country was unknown. The location they chose was remote and isolated, with a lake behind it and various dense forests in front. Although it can be explained in terms of avoiding suspicion, secret meetings and negotiations.
But the Grand Master was not so naive.
In military terms, this kind of location is called pocket terrain.
It can only be entered but not exited, making it an excellent location for an ambush party.
Manisto would not speak out to block his monarch's opinions. As the most typical outstanding noble representative of Suomir's class relationship, the Dragon Wing Knights are the sword of the gods and the royal family.
He is professional and can also arrange warning methods, but it is not like the mercenary-style direct intervention that our Mr. Sage would do. Even though he knew that the monarch's naive and optimistic views might lead to death, he could only do his best to pave the way with blood until the monarch decided to withdraw.
Some of the troops were divided and walked to other trails. They carry horns and some ranged weapons.
This is Manisto's approach to prevent a single large force from being outflanked. Having additional vigilance and pathfinding scouts will make them react faster and be more capable of resisting attacks.
He thought about many ways to deal with those great swordsmen. Because the great swordsmen were good at fighting on foot, this team of all cavalry still had at least a mobility advantage.
If the situation worsens, Manisto has countless combat methods in his mind that he can use.
- But that's not all he does.
Captain Longyi in front turned his head and looked at the group of people surrounded in the middle.
The three queens who could not ride horses rode together with the female dragon-winged knights, and beside them were Henry, Mira and Galeva.
He nominally volunteered to join the guard, and indeed received a high reward of 10 gold coins from Manisto. But in fact they did not give the sage and others a chance to refuse.
The opportunity was the Queen's invitation out of gratitude, but the person who prompted the idea was obviously Manisto.
Her Majesty the Queen, the Archbishop and the Princess did not notice that when they were invited, the dragon-winged knights formed some kind of encirclement formation. After that, whether they were camping or marching, Henry and others were placed in the center of the queue together with the queen and three others.
The benefactor who is euphemistically called the queen must be escorted in a safe area. In fact, this escort team has also become a cage preventing them from escaping.
The keen Luoan girl noticed all this, not to mention Henry. As for Galeva, he was as dull as ever, unaware of all this, and still only cared about whether he behaved appropriately in front of his superiors.
"Keep my friends close, but stay closer to my enemies." The sage said this military saying in the ancient Laman language when he took the bag of gold coins, and Cong Menisdo raised his eyebrows. It seems like he obviously does know this statement.
The word “closeness” in the Lamani language is not only used in social relationships, but can also be understood as close in real distance.
The sage secretly mocked the leader of Longyi for restricting them as enemies - he had just said before that he would not take any side, but it was obvious that Manisto didn't really buy it.
Staying where he can see, surrounded by his knights, this is how he feels at ease at this critical moment.
It was true that they couldn't help themselves, but fortunately they didn't have too much trouble, and traveling together was considered to be in peace.
"You know, these feathers are dragon feathers!" Maybe it's because the age gap is not that big, or maybe it's because he feels at ease under the protection of the knights. The little princess Lola turned her head and said to our Luoan girl in a showy tone: "It's not a dragon, it's a real dragon's feathers!"
"These feathers are magical. They can make the armor half lighter and charge faster!"
"Do dragons have feathers?" Mira looked a little curious, but this topic was obviously beyond the scope of the little princess' ability to answer. She frowned and began to think hard, but at this moment, Archbishop Roman next to her took over: "Yes, according to the records of His Excellency H.H. Sekesiyutu, dragons are warm-blooded creatures. , dragons in the north will be covered with soft, white feathers.”
"Most people have the impression that dragon scales all over the body are like lizards. Most of them come from dragon lizards and various sub-dragons. Real dragons look and feel more like mammals."
"It has a huge body, but it can easily fly into the sky."
"It's amazing." The archbishop said to our Luoan girl, while looking at the sage: "These feathers have a history of more than 200 years, but they always look like new, and It also sparkles in the sun.”
"Dragon is really a magical creature."
"More than 200 years? But from what I heard in Green Lake Town, the establishment of the Dragon Wing Knights was only more than 50 years ago?" Mira looked a little confused, and the one who answered the question now was Zai Zai The female knight of the little princess Lola.
She is a typical Suomir, with a height of over 180cm. Compared with the petite queen, she is more like the Suomir race. However, the Suomir royal family has mixed blood, so this is inevitable. In short, this female knight, who is dressed almost the same as the male knights, has a cool and cool look. The stiff Laman language said: "That refers to the time when the dragon dies."
There are some problems with her grammatical structure, and her sentence is a bit confusing. While Mira was confused, Archbishop Roman next to him added in time: "It's the dragon that protects the country."
"The white dragon of Suomir - Rumi Qi, this word means white snow in the Suomir language."
"In local legends, it is a wise dragon that guides travelers lost in snowstorms and also guides kings."
"It is said that the Suomir people originally followed the white dragon's footprints to the Heinzwom Meteor Lake and settled here." Archbishop Roman said this, and Mira nodded, looking thoughtful. .
"After the death of the white dragon, its white wings scattered around the place where it fell. In the past, it was a forbidden area guarded by the great swordsmen. Its status was almost as important as the holy land of the Lakeside Church of my Yetina Sect. Later, the great swordsmen The position began to be shaken, and there were no manpower to defend the forbidden area, so magicians sneaked in to steal the dragon's feathers."
"They found that it had lasted for more than a century but was completely incorruptible and shiny like new, and that it had strong air magic capabilities."
"Yes, the time came when the great swordsman was ordered by His Majesty to give up and leave Suomir. From then on, it was us, the Dragon Wing Knights, who took over." The female knight took over the words of the archbishop and continued: "We guard We entered the forbidden area, sealed the entrance and exit, and then collected the feathers outside."
"The white wings made of dragon feathers are the pride of our knights. Although they are prohibited from entering the forbidden area and only these can be passed down, they are more important than armor and swords."
"Damaged armor and swords can be replaced, but white wings cannot." Although there are some flaws in the grammar and wording of Lamani, you can deeply feel the hidden pride in the female knight's tone.
But none of them mentioned a key issue.
"Then how did it die?" Mira asked. Huge dragons always give people the impression of being invincible. She knows this even more after having encountered a dragon. The magic contained in these two hundred-year-old feathers alone can make the Dragon Wing Knight's 28 kilogram armor half lighter. It is conceivable that this dragon is still alive. How strong does it have to be?
"..." Archbishop Roman couldn't answer, and so did everyone else.
"Die of old age."
In the silence, only our sage, who had been silent for a long time, spoke.
"Dragon is also a living thing, and its lifespan will end."
"What's the matter?" Henry shrugged: "I've read some books too."
"Is it really just like this..." Archbishop Roman stared here with her beautiful eyes and did not move away for a long time.
"Really, it's just that." The sage shrugged again.
