"The palace," Uriel heard himself say, "at the other end."
"Mom, you just came back from there."
"I have to go take a look."
"No! Are you going to leave me here?"
"Then let's go together." With the parchment in hand, Uriel could certainly tell that Ryan was telling the truth, but he had his own judgment on the actual situation.
They returned to the steps, above which was the exit, covered in straw and debris. Uriel listened carefully. There were no steps or breathing, and his heart was already beating. When he opened the gap and peeked out, this ominous premonition reached its peak.
Outside is a familiar scene. royal palace.
It's hard to deny the fear that grips your heart right now. Uriel did not venture out rashly, but quietly retracted into the secret passage. There were still steps under his feet, not a rusty iron door. Another conclusive proof.
"I told you!" Sir Ryan gasped violently, his eyes widening. "I told you. Damn, what's going on?"
[The problem of slow update of new chapters has finally been solved by changing the source. Download huanyuan to change the source here and view the latest chapters of this book on multiple sites at the same time. 】
"Mysterious phenomenon." What else could it be?
"Fuck it. I want to get out. You have a way, don't you? You have a way!"
Uriel was unwilling to intensify his panic. "Of course. But you have to choose carefully so as not to cause trouble to you."
"what do you mean?"
"Tell me about the palace." Uriel said, "It would be best if it is a mysterious legend, about your king, nobles, and lords. This may cause misunderstanding, but you know, sir, I can You’re not taking advantage of others’ danger.”
"Otherwise you will die before me?" Ryan smiled nervously, "Honestly, are you the Nightingale of the Tower, Uriel? I don't want to betray the Society. Tell the truth."
"A true nightingale asks more." Like the one in my pocket. The real nightingale will not come to your rescue.
He had to believe it. "The Holy Gate is the entrance to the palace." Ryan pointed to the bottom step. "On the left and right diagonally are the Whispering Tower and the Purple Sand Tower." This is the second level. "In the center is the long staircase leading to the king's audience, leading to the house of Abuna, which is the throne." Located in the middle of the third level. "I haven't seen it. Some of these stories come from hearsay, and some come from Handy. He told us that every night watchman will be appointed by His Majesty in front of the steps and then swear an oath in the temple." He finally pointed to the fourth step to the right square.
Uriel blinked. "How long does it take to meet the king?"
"I don't know, I've never been there!" Ryan's tone was very disdainful. "When I was a squire, Buyolo always mentioned Enspan's status as night watchman, and also said that the scene when he was conferring the title in the palace was all big words. He said it hundreds of times, what a throne, a majestic king, a gorgeous The treasure tapestry, starless night and heavy snow. He said that the palace was luxurious but dark, and the only light came from two metal rose trees standing next to the throne, with thousands of candles dotted among the branches. King Byrne In the boundary between shadow and light, he sits on the throne given to him by the ancient gods."
"Later we found out that the palace was not closed at that time, but the king had been in seclusion for a long time. The king we saw when the night watchman was conferring his duties was actually the undead lord. Can you imagine? He didn't even change the armor he had in life." Rui. En couldn't help but smile, "If you ask me, outsiders have never seen the world. When I was a child, I saw the king on patrol, and I would never admit it. Which king would wear the armor of a knight of the cross?"
….
Uriel breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Ryan relax. As for the information he provided, the apprentice agreed with the rumor regarding the image of the building. Even so, there is no denying the eerie silence of this place. He doubted there were even servants here.
Thinking on the bright side, at least I didn't break into the throne. The apprentice suddenly wanted to know how the king would answer if he had the opportunity to ask him how to deal with the coalition forces of order. "Handy Enspan has close ties with the Night's Watch. Why do we want to arrest you?"
"The Night Watchman is not alone." Ryan muttered. "The Ravens were created by Enspan. He needed money and manpower. Even though he usually goes to the manor in person, in fact
Like Bellugo and the others, he was considered a first-class person. "
"I heard that the association only has kings and lords, not nobility."
"Who told you that? This joke is outdated. Look, these people are born with the power of nobility, behave according to the etiquette of nobility, and speak with the tone of nobility. Even if they don't have real titles, what can you call them?"
That makes sense, Sir. "I see."
At this time, Ryan seemed to remember that he was under the palace, and even his voice became a little quieter. "It's true that Enspan is a night watchman, but so are his enemies. The night watchmen are governed by the Black Knights. They must maintain the city's defenses, manage order in the city, and find compatriots living outside the city. These all require the support of local forces. Don't Apart from that, we can’t let Gavash’s skeletons patrol the streets, right? Enspan’s Ravens, the Mighty Hands, and the Chamber of Commerce are actually all connected with the Night Watch, and no one can say who has a closer connection.”
Uriel's suspect coincided with him, and he was able to quickly locate the target. Handy Enspan should be interested. He hoped to get a chance to ride on the ladder so that he could send Lord "Yeyan" out of Bain.
"We can't wait any longer. Let's go," the apprentice said.
Ryan pulled him: "Let's go? Did you find a way back? The night watchman built a secret passage?"
"No. I guess it's someone else." Uriel turned sideways, "The Night Watchman is directly under the Black Knight. There must be no need to cover up when entering the palace, or to build any secret passage. This is more like the handiwork of a certain family."
"No one else has the guts! Probably the Night Watch. No, you can't go out."
"The secret passage is not needed to meet the king. It is not known whether he himself is in the palace." The builder's target is probably "Night Flame". Thinking of the ladders and fishermen of the Ravens, Uriel could probably guess the plan of the Byrne nobles. Thinking of this, the situation of the Ravens seems to have become dangerous.
Although Ryan should be more worried about the situation of the Ravens than he is, the explanation at this time is still too slow. "If you stay any longer, do you think there will be a new killer coming to complete the unfinished tasks of your predecessor?" Uriel reminded, pushing aside the debris at the exit.
"Go to hell!" Ryan cursed. "They better come faster and teach us the way back."
"Maybe they will get lost too. Do you really have nothing else to say about the palace?"
He shuddered. "Only one thing." The concealed panic gradually aroused, Sir Ryan crossed his arms, trying to calm down. "That's what I heard, but I'm not sure... They said that the palace has been closed for a long time, and the whereabouts of all the intruders are unknown. With the Holy Gate as the boundary, these people will not return to the human world again until the King reappears after stepping through the gate. , as punishment. Therefore, there are no servants in the palace, let alone courtiers."
….
"The night watchman can't get in either?"
"You mean investiture? No. The most they can do is lay a carpet on the long steps outside the Holy Gate to replace the long steps of the palace. As for inviting His Majesty the King to show up, don't even think about it."
In other words, the Night Watchmen were originally allowed to enter the palace without punishment, around the time Handy Enspan entered the job. And after an unknown period of time, people could not even enter the Holy Gate.
Uriel thought thoughtfully: "Enspan is a foreigner. Do you know when he came to Bain?"
"A long, long time ago, about before I was born." Ryan frowned, "Well, he doesn't look that old. I don't know that."
Few people know his origins. Uriel thought to himself, Sir Ryan was about thirty, and the mysterious creature always seemed younger. Calculating this, Handy Enspan joined the Night Watch at least thirty years ago. Nowadays, the "one-armed" Sir is still a high-ranking player and has entered old age, but he looks no different from Bunyoro and others.
Maybe it's mystical means, or the talent of the unknown. The Raven Group cooperates with the Chamber of Commerce, and Handy is a night watchman, so it is not difficult to obtain a method to delay aging. Just like Drew Yinez, he is the only living classmate of "Eye of Iron" Larsen and "Witch of Destiny" Helen. However, although these explanations are reasonable, this matter still makes the disciples doubtful.
"If we step into the Holy Gate, we will disappear." Ryan said, "In my opinion, if we wait any longer..."
"The secret passage leads to the palace, sir.
. We have already passed the Holy Gate. Let's go. "
After walking out of the secret passage, the atmosphere became even more profound. They walked carefully through the corridor, taking care of every detail. Sir Ryan wanted to speak several times, but failed to muster the courage. When he saw the blank portrait, he had to rely on Uriel's support to move.
"This is not normal," he mouthed, "Did you see that?" That painting! what happened"
"It's just a painting, no, it's just a blank sheet of paper."
Ryan stared at him: "What I saw was a portrait."
"There are many ways to give paintings mysterious phenomena." Uriel sighed, "This is scary, but not unreasonable. You are also a mysterious creature, and you are also a nameless one, sir. It is not suitable to stay here for a long time, and we are walking too slowly. .”
"Lower your voice." Ryan blinked desperately, "Damn it, you don't have any associations?" 』
"I would love to find out, Sir. I have been an adventurer, and I am an expert in curiosity. But now is not the time."
"If you're not curious, why don't you go ahead? ” Ryan dripped. But now that the matter has come to this, it is absolutely impossible for him to turn around and go back.
They quickly returned to the cell where Yeyan Misflan was imprisoned. The surroundings were freezing and Ryan refused to come close to him no matter what. "It's too cold." He shivered, and it wasn't just from fear. "Is this an ice cellar? I didn't see any frozen meat." He saw several hanging iron hooks.
"That hook is for hanging people," said a strange voice from Uriel's pocket, "but I don't have a use for it."
Suddenly, our Sir Sir screamed like an ignorant girl. The apprentice motioned for him to calm down. "Not a ghost."
"But they're almost the same," the other person said.
A gust of hot wind drove away the chill, and the temperature in the cell rose slightly by two degrees. A soft and illusory halo dances in the bottle, roughly forming a small human shape. He flashes regularly like a living creature, and the colors are difficult to distinguish. Sir Ryan looked at it warily. It was obvious that Byrne's life had not taught him to recognize the race of light elemental beings.
….
Uriel regretted letting the fire burn so brightly. If Sita had stayed dormant until after leaving the palace, I wouldn't have had so much trouble. "Your Excellency Ye Yan." He had to say.
"I recognize you, Uriel." After truly waking up, Lord Nightingale stopped talking nonsense, "You are the apprentice of the White Envoy."
After deciding to help the secret society, Uriel hopes the world will forget about it. But this is impossible. "I am a friend of Tekapo, Your Excellency."
The other party was silent for a moment. "Have you seen her recently?"
"In Burris, the Teacup Lady rode under the banner with the Alliance warriors. There was a big battle there, but she was safe." Uriel didn't tell him about the Glitter Pool.
Queen Theta refused to arrive at Knox early, and the disappearance of "Night Flame" was one of the main reasons. He also didn't want to think about the deterioration of the secret society's situation after "Night Flame" returned to the Flickering Pool. The apprentice knew that he still did not have the courage to stand decisively.
"You have done enough as a friend," Sita said tiredly. "Take me with you and you can't escape. Put me back and you will be able to leave soon."
"What is the principle of this?"
"Oath." Sita dissipated, leaving only weak fire floating in the air. Despite its weakness, the mystery of the sky still brings an unspeakable sense of oppression. Ryan took a step back, away from them.
Uriel stretched out his hand and touched the fire. It contains strange emotions, agitating, transmitting, and surging everywhere without any hindrance. He switched to using magic power and suddenly felt ripples in his heart.
Sir Ryan could also feel it and couldn't help but frown: "Compatriot? But... who is this guy?"
The hero of order, your enemy. "Don't think of him as a compatriot, ser." Uriel told him. Before being caught by the Black Knight, Ye Yan must have revealed a lot of information to the Fulcrum of Order, and he might have had a hand in restarting the demon hunting movement. "Wait for me to look for it." He continued to fumble, spreading his senses, and finally touched the "oath".
"Song of Fire, Chords of Winter"
"The words of the oath are as strong as iron"
Uriel was somewhat familiar. Curse. Tinder. Starless night. Something like those from thousands of years ago
Memories gradually awakened, lighting up these clues in series, but at this moment he had to gather his mind and get rid of distracting thoughts.
"Those who have been harmed by evil..."
Before he finished reciting the spell, there seemed to be a "buzzing" sound in Uriel's ears. Invisible ripples passed through the stone wall and spread out of the cell. He felt a sharp sword light flash before his eyes, and in an instant he hit the iron fence behind him with a clang.
After a brief moment of confusion, Uriel withdrew his hand and saw dark blood flowing from the scar on his palm. He clenched his fists, and the biting cold penetrated into his blood vessels and hit his scalp, causing him to gasp for breath and force his heart to pump out new heat.
A few seconds passed, and he could still hear the sound of gold and iron echoing in the void. "It broke."
"Yeyan" was the first to feel it. He was really surprised: "How did you do it?"
"I'm pretty good at picking locks. However, it seemed to have disintegrated on its own before I had a chance to do anything." Uriel only touched it lightly before being counterattacked by the contract. However, the result of the counterattack was that the contract disappeared, and no one knew why.
….
"It's meaningless." Misflaran didn't hold out hope. "Even without the contract, I can't leave Bain."
Uriel could not refute. "Let's get out of here first. Let's go see if that road is open. Let's go, Sir."
But the traces of the secret passage disappeared, and they could only move in the opposite direction along the corridor, and finally saw the long stairs. Looking down, a huge fortress-like gate loomed in the night fog, and the flag looked like a ghost. Sir Ryan took a breath and almost fell.
"Someone is in front," the apprentice concluded. It has nothing to do with ghosts.
Ryan forced himself to calm down, "The way out is right in front of us! We don't need to face each other, just run away."
Uriel shook his head. "Follow me." He grabbed Sir Ryan and dragged him into the nearest building. "That's the back entrance of the palace, not the front entrance." The apprentice explained as he ran.
"But the steps..."
"It's much shorter than you think. I think stairs should be everywhere in the palace, and of course you will only take the front when you meet the king."
Ryan rubbed his arms and looked around suspiciously. "Who is that? Where are we?"
"Yeyan" answered him: "Temple."
"I'm the only one who doesn't know, right? You have a common secret, and the biggest use is to keep me in the dark." Ryan said sarcastically, "Who is this person, Uriel? The one in front of you is not the one in front of the door."
"I..." Before Uriel could answer, he saw the figure in front of the door approaching quickly, barely touching the ground. Damn it! He was startled. Who is in the palace? The missing person, or the king? It's more likely to be the ghost of Gavash. It's never a good thing to meet anyone anyway.
The strange thing is that someone actually recognized the other party first. "Zeppe Brunken." Lord Ye Yan said in surprise. Uriel couldn't help but stop.
People come to recognize people by sight. Compared to the incorporeal Sita, he was the first to discover Sir Ryan. This is probably what a living person looks like. He was dressed in riding attire, holding a command rapier in his hand, and looked as if he was taking a leisurely stroll. But in this dark and deserted palace, he unintentionally had an indescribable aura.
Zeppe Blenken said, "Look who this is, Ryan! The missing member of the Ravens, Bunyoro's new boots for his stinky feet." He laughed mockingly. "So you broke into the palace. One-armed's excuse was just an excuse, eh? Did he send you here?"
"Blenken brat," Ryan said defensively, "What are you doing here?"
"For some little thing." Zepe came closer, the rapier still in his hand. Ryan clearly didn't see it as a threat.
This person was only a low-level person, Uriel discovered. He had not yet changed his profession, and his posture did not resemble that of a warrior. If Ryan and Yeyan's judgment is correct, he is a member of the Blenken family, and there is a nameless noble in Bain City.
"What's the matter? Shaohu is teasing me."
"You?" Blenken snorted, revealing nothing.
Ryan narrowed his eyes: "You're really uneducated, boy. Even if your father were here, he would still call me knight."
These words teach
He stopped. "Buyoro said you were a knight, and he even doubted his own status as a knight. That outsider has long been a joke, especially after he decided to accept a squire." Zeppe glanced at him contemptuously, "I didn't expect that, Rui Well, there is really someone willing to be his partner in jokes. Are you worthy of being called a knight?"
….
Ryan grabbed the kid's collar with one hand. "You ungrateful brat!" Zepei raised his hand to stab, but missed. Ryan was stuck mid-sentence and had to let go and avoid it. Now he was even more angry and wanted to fight back immediately.
Uriel frowned and looked at the two of them. "Have you forgotten where this place is?"
"Where did you come from as a beggar?" Zepe adjusted his collar, "Trespassing into the palace without permission is enough to kill you three times."
"He is my subordinate." Ye Yan said.
Zeppe Blenken raised his eyebrows and finally looked at them. It seems that he recognizes "Ye Yan". "Lord Seroma."
The Black Knight did not disclose the news of the traitor. Uriel remained silent and watched the situation develop. He was very curious about the reason why this person appeared in the palace. Is it true that only the Holy Gate is the whole story and the back door of the palace is safe? The relationship between the Blenken family and the Ravens was not harmonious, and he only heard that the former was a member of the Byrne Chamber of Commerce, but did not know the inside story.
"What are you doing in the palace, Blenken?"
"Of course I have an audience with His Majesty the King, Your Majesty. Oglethel has fallen, and Byrne is in danger. I am here on my father's orders to ask His Majesty to end his seclusion and come forward to deal with the coalition forces of Order."
"His Majesty is not in the palace. No one knows his whereabouts except the Undead Lord."
lie. Uriel thought to himself. Perhaps the king was indeed not in the palace, otherwise he would not have ignored their actions. But no one knows his whereabouts. These words were used by Lord Ye Yan to deceive the other party. He did not want to see the King at Brunken Palace. It seems that Mishfaran still remembers his mission as Nightingale.
But compared to Zeppe Blenken, Lord Yeyan's lies are more solid. Uriel thought carefully, if the former's lies were to excuse "Lord of the Flame Moon", then what would be his real purpose? After all, is there a secret in the palace that is more worthy of concern than the whereabouts of the king?
He suddenly remembered the secret passage under the Night Watch dungeon and the killer chasing Ryan. The person the other party wants to take away is actually "Night Flame" Misflan who is imprisoned in the palace. Someone knew that "Lord of the Fire Moon" had betrayed the Guild and sent someone to rescue him.
"This is really bad news." Zeppe sighed and turned to Ryan, "Please kill him, Your Excellency. The men sent by my father are waiting outside the palace. As for your men, sir, with his help, our actions It will be more hidden."
Ryan looked like he was about to turn around and run away any second. Uriel quickly caught him to prevent him from wandering into the palace regardless. Ye Yan asked calmly: "This is unnecessary, why?"
"This man is a member of the Raven Staff established by Night Watchman Handy Enspan." Zepe explained, "Originally we had a happy cooperation with the Ravens, but Enspan... is quite secretive. , loyalty is unpredictable. My father does not trust him."
"I have heard of this person." Ye Yan said, "He is well spoken among the Night Watch and seems to have a channel to leave Byrne."
"His channels have nothing to do with the Night's Watch." Zeppe stared at Ryan. "After the fall of Ogrethal, his own value has become irrelevant. When Bellugo takes control of Vivici Manor, we can I’m sending you away, my lord.”
The Blenken family knew that "Lord of the Flame Moon" was "Yeyan", Uriel realized. They actually wanted to help the traitors escape. Combined with the words of the fisherman of the Miaoshou Group, he finally understood Noble Byrne's plan.
Cold Moon Era
