Even the manor of the declining royal family has a strong aristocratic atmosphere.
After the carriage passed through the gate, it trotted all the way around the garden and went straight to the manor house full of windows.
Schliemann followed John into the big house, and what he saw was from the open giant carved wooden door, to the hall with stone pillars carved with simple lines, to the living room with a wave-relief sofa on the armrests.
Schliemann had to admit that every part of the manor house exuded a kind of restrained classical beauty, and this classical beauty always exuded a solemnity similar to that of a temple.
When facing John's wife, children and other distinguished guests, Schliemann, who did not belong to this world, was so restrained that he did not know how to return the favor.
No one accused him of being impolite, but it was his silent smile that aroused people's favor. They all watched politely as the two walked through the living room and walked towards the stairs to the study.
There are no windows in this study. The three walls outside the door are covered with bookshelves. The bookshelves are full of books of different sizes.
A young blond man stood at the top of the ladder, staring intently at the book in his hand.
"Ampton, go out, I want to talk to Mr. Schliemann about something."
"Herr Schliemann? Is it the adventurer Schliemann von Ardenne?"
Apton looked excited. He quickly put the bookmark in the book, put it back in place, jumped off the ladder, and walked towards Schliemann.
From the hands that held each other, Schliemann felt not only Apton's enthusiasm, but also his pampered life.
In this world, these nobles are the only ones whose hands can be as soft as a newborn piglet.
"Mr. Schliemann, I often hear your stories in the Ray Bar. They are simply wonderful..."
"Ampton, don't waste Mr. Schliemann's time."
Before Upton could finish his words, John issued a stern expulsion order. Upton could only smile awkwardly and left the study with a slumped head.
After John pulled out some books from the bookshelf, he moved a switch, and a secret door opened. He looked at Schliemann, and after asking him to sit down and wait, he turned around and walked in.
John's self-revealed secret made Schlieman wary, but when he saw a dozen thick cowhide notepads in John's arms when he came out of the secret room, his wariness turned into awe.
"This is the effort made by each of our legitimate heirs to the throne in the past two hundred years to find the spaceship fleet."
Schliemann suddenly realized that the Cervisi royal family had been working hard to restore the royal power every moment for two hundred years after losing power.
Schliemann could not imagine what kind of huge wealth was taken away by the spaceship fleet back then.
"Have you not found it for two hundred years?"
Schliemann muttered, opening it and picking up a notepad from the top. The weight was beyond his imagination.
"As you know, apart from the trade lines linking three mainland islands, the flying ship's route covers less than twenty air islands.
This is not because people don’t want to explore, it’s because people don’t have perfect navigation technology. "
"Yes, there are no stars, no moon, only the sun that always hangs above your head. How do you determine the course..."
Schliemann was flipping through his notepad and casually said what he had been wanting to complain about, but after turning two pages, he discovered the problem.
The things on these notepads are too complex to remember.
He sighed and said, "It seems I can't take these things back to see, right?"
“In fact you can’t even take this study out.
I will provide you with a guest room. If you don't want to stay with me, I will send someone to take you there and back. "
Schliemann was stunned and laughed awkwardly.
"What's the use? Aren't you afraid that I'll go out and talk nonsense?"
John shrugged and said, "Just like the stars you mentioned, most people don't know what they mean."
Schliemann's eyes widened and he looked at John in disbelief.
"You know the stars?"
"I saw it in the family notes. It was a kind of small dot floating in the sky and glowing."
"Then where did he see it?"
“My ancestor read it in the Book of Timothy when our family still controlled the Moanke Continent.
But all that said, I agree that it was an interesting hallucination because I couldn't imagine such a thing existing. "
"It does exist, but it's not here."
Schliemann murmured, withdrawing his thoughts from the memory of the stars, and focused all his attention on sifting and filtering clues.
John looked at the silent Schliemann, stood up quietly, and slowly exited the door as if he was afraid of disturbing the madman who was silent at work.
Outside the door, his eldest son Ampton was waiting there, looking expectant.
"Don't bother him."
Upon hearing his father's words, Ampton showed excitement as should be expected of his age.
"Does that mean we're about to set sail?"
John glanced at his excited son lightly and patted his shoulder.
"We don't know how long it will take him from getting the clues to determining the course. Before that, we have to complete the throne passing ceremony."
Ampton froze in place until John looked back at him for a while before he spoke tremblingly.
"Father, you can retrieve the royal relics by yourself. As long as the royal relics are there, then we..."
"No!"
John interrupted Ampton firmly. He put his hand on his son's shoulder, his eyes full of envious reluctance.
"I know, my child, that our successive generations of heirs to the throne have been dedicated to finding the royal relics. The breadth of their footprints just shows how big this world is.
I am getting old, both my swordsmanship and my reaction speed are deteriorating. The sky above the blue sea is very dangerous. Schliemann alone is not enough. "
John said, patting his son on the shoulder, as if conveying some kind of will.
"Next, it's up to you to implement the royal family's beliefs."
The workload of screening clues was so huge that Schliemann only read one of them in half a day, which was only one-tenth of the total workload.
He stood up and stretched, and was startled by the silent John beside him.
"when did you come?"
"When you see page 547 of Birmingham's Notes."
Schliemann was a little embarrassed. He seemed to be a bit of a guest in someone else's study.
"Mr. John, I am a rough man. If there is anything rude about me, please point it out to me in person."
John waved his hand, and the smile on his face was not a perfunctory politeness, but the joy of getting the key to a secret treasure.
“On the contrary, I am very happy that you can devote yourself to your work.
However, it's time for you to take a proper rest. Meals and rooms have been prepared for you. If you insist on returning to your flying ship, I will arrange for someone to take you back. "
Schliemann pulled out a piece of paper, scrawled a few words on it, and handed it to John.
"I was in a hurry when I left the flying ship, but I didn't want to go back before sifting through the clues. Please give this note to my crew chief, Hilpeter."
John took the note, picked up an envelope from the desk and put it in.
The whole process was surprisingly humble, as if he was serving a superior person who could not afford to offend. There was no royal arrogance at all, which made Schliemann feel uncomfortable.
A few minutes later, Schliemann was led to a room with thick black curtains. The room was not large, but it was well prepared.
Schliemann immediately saw that John was deliberately creating a dark environment similar to his own captain's cabin.
He smiled at the other person and said, "It's really time to worry about it."
John made a gesture of invitation, and after Schliemann sat on the sofa, he bowed slightly.
"I will ask a servant to bring your meal. After that, this servant will stand at your door. If you want to continue working after you wake up, tell him and he will bring you to me. "
This is often the case with people. When you devote all your energy to something, you often don't feel the passage of time, and you don't even feel tired. But when you turn your attention away, the accumulated fatigue will disappear all at once. burst out.
Such was the case with Schliemann.
He didn't wait for the meal brought by the servants, so he fell asleep sitting on the small sofa.
John covered him with a blanket, his gentle movements seeming to cover a precious work of art.
Ampton was already waiting outside the door. He no longer had the excitement of yesterday. He was worried and had a look of reluctance.
"Father, the ceremony is ready."
John is in the front, walking firmly, like a warrior ready to die at any time.
"You...don't think about it anymore?"
John could hear the reluctance in his son's heart, but he did not stop.
"My child, what I have to face is not death in the secular sense. You will understand this after completing the throne transfer ceremony."
The location of the ceremony was a deep underground cellar, a dark corner where even the supreme sun could not shine.
John's wife Omo was holding a book, her eyes were red, and she obviously knew what this ceremony meant.
John's youngest son, on the other hand, held his sister's hand and naughtily tried to touch the flickering candle.
John took a dagger and made a bloody incision on his wrist, and dripped the blood into a crystal cup with a simple texture. While he was waiting for the blood in the cup to be enough to draw a magic circle, he told Apton on the side something. .
In fact, he has nothing to explain, because all his important things are recorded in the family records written by successive generations of heirs, both completed and unfinished.
Even so, he still reminded some trivial things, like a parent who is about to travel far away, telling his children who are alone at home to remember to eat on time.
Ampton was also collecting his own blood. He dripped it very slowly, as if this could save his father. Although he knew it was in vain, he still hoped to hear his father say more.
"By the way... Schliemann has a leaf-shaped pendant. It should be a cursed object. It can make anyone who touches it tell the truth involuntarily.
Do not reveal any hostility towards him until you find the royal relic, the Brilliant Heart.
After finding the Heart of Glory and before completing the restoration of the country, my original plan was to kill him. Now the decision is left to you. "
Ampton listened quietly and thought seriously, because he was not the child at home alone, and his father who told him to eat on time would never come back.
"What about the navigation skills he mastered?"
"That doesn't help rule. It's dispensable."
Even if there is more, there will be an end, and the blood trickling out of the wrist is like the time that will never come back.
Amid Omo's sobs and under the terrified gazes of the two children, the two began to draw their own magic circles in silence.
The silence was so heavy, like sticky asphalt that it was breathless.
Even so, Ampton spoke.
"Father, won't you say goodbye to mother?"
John chuckled, his hand movements still precise and as steady as a mountain peak.
"Boy, don't underestimate your mother. She is the king's woman. She already had consciousness the moment she married the king."
Gradually, the two magic circles intersected, forming two connected circles with complicated inscriptions. The two stood in the center of their respective magic circles, holding hands together.
"Let's start Omo."
Following John's instructions, the tearful Omo's expression became determined. She held the classics and read obscure French word for word.
Light emerged from John's chest, piercing his clothes and illuminating the entire cellar as bright as day.
Omo read French faster and faster, and his tone became more and more firm. John's whole body began to glow with a blazing white light, his eyes, mouth, ears, and entire face...
As Omo shouted out the last sentence in French in a high-pitched voice, the light from John shifted to Ampton.
Apton seemed to be under immense pressure, first breathing heavily, and then roaring like he was venting his anger.
In the end, Apton was enveloped in the blazing white light emitted by himself, and his father, who was holding hands with him, had disappeared.
At the end of the ceremony, Apton walked out of the magic circle. He was still exuding a blazing white afterglow, floating upward like wisps of blazing white steam.
At this moment, there were many memories in his mind that did not belong to him, and he finally understood why his father had been hiding his identity and why he had been enduring the troubles made by the usurper.
Because he saw the deliberate plans of his father and even the kings who had lost their thrones throughout the ages.
He looked down at his mother, but he couldn't say "Mother", as if something was hindering him.
In the end, even he couldn't believe what he said, but he felt it was so reasonable.
"Omo Kelly, your king is back."
