It was still very early before the end of the ball, and the noble people present had already dispersed into small groups, discussing the next proposals, their newly purchased horses, and the industries in the southern continent.
Sonia looked out the window from time to time, and at half past nine in the evening, she tugged on Griffith's sleeve.
"Let's go back."
This was not like her usual self. When she was at Bayerland and Homemonworth, she could play with everyone until late at night before going back to her room.
Griffith immediately reported to the count and his wife and escorted Sonia out of the hall.
They walked through the long corridors of Sanssouci Palace and the gardens in the courtyard, and walked along the passage on the cliff to the rooms in the back garden. Griffith saw the king, who had not appeared during the entire ball, walking through the cloister on the second floor. Surrounded by the Praetorian Guards, he cast his gaze towards the noisy hall on the other side of the garden, and then disappeared around the corner. He was like a tall sculpture, silently watching the busy ant colony.
Sonia held Griffith's arm and did not notice the king's figure at all. Across the narrow bay is a brightly lit town, where a lively summer night festival is being held, and it is said that there are many fun things.
"That's Bremi Town, the place where you fell during the day." She pointed to the town amidst the lights and noise. "It is said that there is a path leading there hidden on the cliffs and beaches under Sanssouci Palace!"
"Yeah." Griffith looked there blankly, then looked at the towering cliffs in the darkness, and fantasized about the quiet path hidden inside.
Sonia pulled her knight-to-be and led him towards the garden on the cliff. The gentle sea breeze blew her blond hair, tickling Griffith with wisps of fragrance. She looked at the sea of lights on the other side with longing on her face: "I heard they will set off fireworks at ten o'clock~"
"There were fireworks but artillery was not invented earlier." Griffith said with regret. An idea suddenly came to him. Smoke and fire might be very good to use in battle. He could try it when he has time.
"..." Sonia looked at the would-be knight expectantly, and found that he was looking at the sea in a trance. After waiting for a while, there was no response, so she couldn't help complaining and giving him a coquettish look.
The sea of roses rustled at the feet, and the terraced gardens spread from the feet of the palace to the sea under the cliff. They passed through marble steps, low-hanging pomegranate trees and thin cloud-like jacarandas, and arrived at the quiet cliffside.
There, Sonia discovered a path leading to the beach and ran up it happily:
"Priests of every god will come. Praying to the storm, the silver moon, the contract, and the holy light on this special day will give you extra favors, honors, blessings for love, or protection for transactions and research. It's magical! Griffith, to which deity would you pray?”
The would-be knight looked up at the sky and thought for a moment: "Your Majesty is really busy. I must pray for each one."
"Greedy~" The Countess let go of his arm, took off her high heels, walked along the stone steps along the cliff to the beach, and danced on the fine white sand, "I can only choose one!"
"But I want them all, and if I only choose one, it won't work. It's a loss."
"Griffith, you believe in the Kitchen God! There are many delicious foods tonight, including candied apples, grilled shrimps and marshmallows!"
Fireworks, sacrifices and sweets, oh-! Griffith looked at the beautiful back of the girl facing the sea, thought for a moment and said, "Sonia, you want to go there to play, right?"
"Just, no, there is, yet!"
"Have you been to the celebration?"
"No, there is!" Sonia said word by word, standing on tiptoes and walking towards the sea. Swim across the fjord from here, and there is a lively town on the high cliffs on the other side.
The water is receding, leaving behind sandy beaches and shells, as well as small sea crabs scurrying to escape back to the sea. Sonia grabbed them and buried them in fine sand.
"Sonia, the tide is low now, come back quickly."
"No, yes, you, no matter!" The countess, who had always been obedient and obedient, suddenly turned into a rebellious girl tonight. If things continue at this rate, she will run away from home early tomorrow morning and go on a long journey.
As soon as he finished speaking, a big wave stirred up spray and foam and crashed over with a rumbling sound. It scared her while she was playing in the sand.
"It's so exciting!" Sonia cheered. The seawater soaked the hem of her skirt, so she naturally held it up and cheered to Shutoral on the beach: "Griffith, come too!"
Five, four, three, um, three, two... Griffith walked forward quickly and counted the seconds silently, watching a big wave hit the bouncing Countess.
The waves roared and swept Sonya into it. She heard a rumbling sound behind her, and before she could close her open mouth, a salty and fishy taste poured into her mouth and went straight to the depths of her throat. Sea water and foam splashed all over her body, and the irresistible force pushed her into the water.
Griffith, who had been watching from the side, hurriedly threw down the curved ice wall, reached out to grab the soaked countess, carried it on his shoulders, and retreated to the safety of the beach.
Looking at the wet girl, Griffith couldn't help but want to laugh: "Sonia, even if you are swept away by the waves, you will not wash away to the town on the other side, you will only roll into the deep sea!"
Sonia wanted to retort, but after choking on several large mouthfuls of seawater, she couldn't even speak. She pulled on her wet skirt and looked sadly at the lights of Bremi Town across the bay.
"Bang~bang!" A blue light point flew into the night sky and bloomed into a petal-like orange light. Before the crystal light spots fell, the brilliant fireworks flew up and fell like colorful raindrops.
"Look, look, fireworks!" Sonia shouted excitedly.
Griffith touched his nose in shame.
Sonia actually really wants to go there to play! She implicitly said that she knew the path there, and then told them about the fireworks and sweets one by one, hoping that Griffith would take the initiative to go to the town, or even drag her there to play.
However, it may be a little early for her to express her wishes clearly.
Griffith felt a little remorseful and blamed himself. If he had taken the initiative just now, the two of them would have already started playing in the town. As long as they could come back before 12 o'clock, the count and his wife would not care too much, and the night duty would not matter. will not be affected.
"Sonia, next time, I will take you there." Griffith raised his chin toward the town in the distance.
"Really!" The Countess clapped her knees excitedly, "Really?"
"The knight is true to his word," Griffith replied with a serious nod. "You just need to tell me where it is fun. There is no need to use candied apples, grilled shrimps and marshmallows as excuses."
…
Griffith took a nap in bed and was awakened by a servant near midnight to prepare for duty. The Old Praetorian Guards of the Standard Guard will be responsible for the security of Sanssouci Palace, but Scitoral still needs to patrol various areas of the palace according to conventions and regulations.
Although there is no danger, the elite soldiers of the guard flag team are stationed outside the palace, and the palace is full of powerful people, but vigilance is still needed, otherwise if you encounter two thieves, you can't just let Chaofan Let the leaders and elders take action.
Griffiths was neatly dressed and patrolling the inside of the palace with his sword in hand. As a quasi-knight with a higher status. He is responsible for patrolling the safety zone closer to the inner circle. Occasionally, he would see one or two nobles walking under the cloister in the distance. There were several other guards not too far away from him, but they couldn't see each other.
The boring and quiet night. The cool evening breeze made his thoughts extremely clear. Griffith walked along the corridor with his hand on the hilt of his sword, sometimes looking up at the night sky. The silver moon hung crescent in the sky, as beautiful as Galadia's thin eyebrows.
The Summer Triangle is as bright as that night, what is Galadia doing... In a few days, I can take a vacation, no, I can go to Canaan to perform official duties! Griffith thought happily as he reached out to touch his pendant. At this time, his hand touched the "Potion Preparation Notes" in his underwear pocket. He couldn't help but open it and look through it. It was recently shown that he still had a lot of potions that he had not yet had time to make finished products.
Recently, he has also begun to have some ideas and insights about his own tactics and alchemical preparations. In particular, Roland's use of gunpowder weapons has given him a lot of inspiration - during battle, he can use the smoke and flash of gunpowder explosions to hide himself and spread blood. Puppetry and tactics! As soon as this idea came up, Griffith felt that there was great potential, and carefully conceived a variety of formulas, ready to try it later.
In addition to this, this notebook reminded him all the time that the situation of the two demigods Tiberion and Salorion was also very bad. What measures should be taken to prevent it?
He slowly turned the pages, and a watercolor painting fell out of the notebook. The watercolor depicts Griffith wearing his newly awarded Iron Eagle, with Krista and her squadron mates surrounding him. Unspeakable melancholy and sadness immediately enveloped him. As soon as his hand shook, the drawing paper fell to the ground.
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It's terrible! Griffith hurriedly bent down to pick it up, but quietly the evening wind blew the drawing paper and flew towards the corner of the corridor. He took two hurried steps and reached out to the drawing paper.
Before him, an old hand appeared at the corner of the corridor and picked up the drawing paper...
The old and haggard elder held the drawing paper and looked at it silently for a moment, showing a kind smile.
"Did you draw it?"
"No, it's not," Griffith was about to turn to stone in horror, "It was a gift given to me by someone else, Your Majesty."
He immediately put his feet together and beat his chest with his right fist:
"er!
"Hail, Your Majesty Mark Aurelius Antony!"
"Don't be nervous, kid. I won't tell anyone else. Who's distracted?" The king looked at the drawing paper again before returning it. "What's your name?"
"Griffith Blanton, Commander of Level 3 Assault Squadron."
Griffith was at a loss for a moment. The chief citizen of the Senate, the ruler of the kingdom, and the leader of the army were actually chatting with him.
The king himself didn't care. There were no guards or servants around him, no weapons or accessories, and he was wearing an ordinary tawny robe. If he didn't wear a unique crown on his head, he would be no different from an old village chief in the countryside. He said like a regular chatter:
"You are so young, so good.
"When I left the army, I was just an unknown corporal. I also wanted to go to art college and become a painter, but they said I had no talent. Well, there were a lot of things they didn't think of."
King Mark Aurelius Antony put his left hand behind his back and waved his right hand. He first talked about some trivial matters, then changed the topic and talked non-stop in the corridor.
The king should be in his palace, or even in his office, surrounded by senators and generals. However, he was talking to a would-be knight in the middle of the night, talking about his battles and ideals.
"In front of me, standing is a civilization, a civilization struggling in distortion!
"After that war, our pride is gone. Those robbers and liars are riding on our necks and domineering. They trample on our dignity, the dignity of a civilization! We should choose to be a freedom fighter. , or a slave?!"
Griffith followed in the King's footsteps. The king was speaking to him, but he seemed to be addressing tens of thousands of citizens during the day. King Aurelius's language was vague and strange, containing hints that would make would-be knights shudder.
"You may say, Aurelius, we just need a home and a full meal. Yes, you are right, life is so important. But I want to tell you. There is another kind of food in this world. Something is more important than life, that is freedom, equal freedom!”
In just a few minutes, the king's talk became more and more terrifying. His gaze seemed to penetrate Griffith's plate armor and strong chest, and then passed through the walls and palace.
He began to become incoherent:
"Disaster will eventually come. I have seen the future. This crown has allowed me to see many things. Those robbers and liars are plunderers and pathetic survivors. The stronger they are, the faster the hunters will come.
"There is no peace! Bandits and liars are hungry, and after devouring the world they begin a long journey, hiding from the hunters."
Griffith had no idea what the king was saying.
However, he could roughly guess that according to Professor Heinz, spirit and emotion would form powerful energy, and could even be the key for the evil god to tear apart the plane. Will a king who has received the expectation and cheers of countless citizens also have his mental state distorted?
"Someone is betraying me, betraying Beyelan, do you know? The bravest and most loyal warrior, we must be prepared, Captain of the Third-Level Assault Squadron," King Aurelius said in a rushed tone, "They are watching me , monitoring the people around me and not letting me speak. They even want to erase our memories and eat us up.
“These robbers and liars, I will not give in!
"Their plot will be shattered and I will not be defeated by them. My Beyelan, my people are invincible!"
As he spoke, he waved his right hand, giving the impression of unquestionable conviction. He looked forward, not looking at Griffith, as if looking at a large group of courtiers and senators surrounding him.
"Be armed, my soldiers.
"Be prepared for battle."
Griffith was horrified, but tried to maintain his composure. A most terrifying thought haunted him irresistibly—the king was mad.
"We are forever loyal to you, Commander," the knight-to-be shouted in a voice heard across half the palace, in place of the whistle.
"Yes, loyal, always loyal." King Aurelius patted Griffith on the shoulder, turned and left. The moment he turned around, Griffith discovered that his left hand, which had been hidden behind his back, was shaking.
The sound of rapid footsteps immediately sounded in the empty palace. Heavy boots struck the ground, armor and weapons clashed majestically as a squadron of Praetorian Guards hurried over and surrounded their commander. Then came several powerful wizards and clerics, who surrounded the leader and left, leaving a few officers behind to ask Griffith about the situation just now.
No one seemed to care about what the king said to him. The group of people left just as quickly as they came. In an instant, Griffith was the only one left in the empty corridor, as if the scene just now was just an illusory dream.
No matter what, the entire night was shrouded in thick terror and uncertainty...
