Chapter 13 Explosion His exquisitely beautiful face seemed to glow, like a waterfall…
After a while, Sha Ling said to me in a very low voice, "Lana, discussing the lord is forbidden here. If you are caught, you will be executed."
I exhaled a breath of cold air.
“I’m risking my life to tell you this,” Sharin’s voice was almost inaudible. “I don’t know where you come from, but I’m sure you know nothing about this place. Every lord here is either the son or illegitimate son of the emperor. A lord is essentially a minor king in his territory, but they live on the edge. Because these minor kings are constantly at war, it’s either you taking my territory or me seizing yours. Sometimes a minor king will conspire with another to kill a third minor king and divide up his territory.”
I gasped again as Shaling continued, “The imperial monarch doesn’t care about these things; he’s happy to watch them fight, as long as the winner pays him three times the taxes the following year. The monarch only cares about his eldest son, who must live in the capital and not in his own territory, while he lets his other sons kill each other. In this situation, to protect themselves, the young monarchs will do everything they can to expand their territories so they can get more taxes to expand their armies and avoid being easily killed or having their territories annexed.”
I've discovered that I've fallen into a jungle world where the strong prey on the weak. This world is perhaps even more cruel and cold-blooded than the icy prison-like Black Castle.
"Is your lord very weak?" I asked. "So others can easily invade his territory?"
Sharin smiled upon hearing this, "Do you remember the silver-haired prince you saved back then? He's our lord, and the village belongs to his territory. He's also the son of the emperor of the empire, and his name is Bernot."
I was quite shocked.
Shaling's voice was soft and low. "The day the prince returned home after using the volcano to destroy the evil spirit, the whole country celebrated. But the prince did not receive much benefit. Instead, the king sent him to the most remote and bitterly cold place to be a lord, which is our place. Even the illegitimate sons were given better territories than him."
I was reminded of the story of the Elf Queen. If the Silver-Haired Prince was born to the Elf Queen and the King, then it was destined that the Silver-Haired Prince and the King would be enemies. The King could not possibly allow the Silver-Haired Prince to grow up. But what about "using a volcano to destroy evil spirits"? I didn't dare ask.
Shaling's brown eyes shone brightly in the firelight.
"That day you suddenly disappeared from the cabin, and everyone else was surprised, except for Prince Bernot, who remained calm. After crossing a black sea, we went ashore. It was a trading port, and also an important boundary point. Stepping onto the port was equivalent to leaving the elven lands and returning to our world. I worked as a waitress in the port's café for a long time to earn enough money to return to my hometown."
"The Crow Princesses were taken home by a carriage sent by their father shortly after they landed. But Princess Manboya and her adopted sister seemed unwilling to return home and stayed at the dock for three days before leaving."
I couldn't help but ask, "Why don't they want to go home?"
Shaling laughed. "Of course not, because Princess Manboya's stepmother killed Princess Manboya's brother. Princess Manboya and her brother were twins, the eldest princess and the eldest prince of their country. The eldest prince died suddenly on his tenth birthday. There are rumors that his stepmother poisoned him, but there is no evidence."
Just as we were getting into the conversation, there was a sudden bang, and the cold wind blew the old window open, making our hair stand on end.
Sha Ling quickly closed the window and used a wooden table to prop it shut. Suddenly, her voice trembled as she began to speak:
"Do you know? This most barren territory in the empire is my hometown. That's why I desperately wanted to escape from here, which is why I was tricked into coming to Black Castle. Someone was recruiting at the docks, saying that I could not only earn money but also have enough to eat and wear. I believed it and went there. I was taken to Black Castle, and then I and a group of girls were stuffed into sacks and thrown into the lowest part of the ship's hold. When we arrived at Black Castle after crossing the raging sea, only a third of us survived. After arriving at Black Castle, we learned that the people here had already used the same method to abduct hundreds of girls, first making them serve as maids for a while, and then turning them into meat patties. Those long-haired women of Black Castle were trapped on the island, unable to eat meat for a long time. The king who trapped them was unwilling to provide meat, so they used us as food. We are different from them. We age easily on the island. If they don't eat us, we will also die of old age."
Although I already knew about the meat pie, I still felt a chill run down my spine when I heard about it.
After the initial excitement, Sha Ling's eyes welled with tears, and her face showed exhaustion. "So, obviously, eating us is more worthwhile..." She stopped there, clearly not wanting to continue. She pulled the covers over herself, closed her eyes, and turned her back to me, unwilling to look at me anymore. I pulled the covers over myself, but tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep...
On a stormy, snowy midnight, the town's upscale tavern was bustling with activity. Alluring dancers performed seductive dances, musicians played their instruments merrily, while two distinguished guests clad in iron armor sat calmly at the table.
The light shone on one of the silver-haired beauties, making his stunning face seem to glow. His long, flowing silver hair, like a waterfall, shone with a dazzling luster, complementing his crystal-clear blue eyes, which were as beautiful as the ocean. He was otherworldly.
Everyone was secretly watching him.
The dancers were also vying for his best position.
The other distinguished guest was also a handsome man with silver hair, but compared to his exquisite and delicate features and ethereal temperament, he was simply inferior.
The music gradually stopped, the dancers left, the musicians departed, leaving only a few guards, and the hall fell silent.
The silver-haired, handsome man raised his glass first, "Lord Roshi, congratulations on taking another village from me."
Luo Xi slowly toyed with the wine glass in his hand, without saying a word.
The handsome silver-haired man chuckled and sipped his drink. "That's your skill."
Rosie sneered and tossed her glass aside. "Bernot, you said in your letter that you wanted to make peace with me. I didn't believe a word you said, but I still came." Her implication was that she wanted to see what tricks Rosie would pull.
“I invited you here because I really want to make peace with you.” Bernard, like Rosie, began to tossing his wine glass. “You have already taken three of my villages, and next you will attack my castle. How can I not make peace with you?”
Luo Xi scoffed coldly, "Enough with the nonsense, just say what you want to say."
Bernard poured himself a second glass of wine. “You are the most favored illegitimate son of the King, so naturally I have to show you goodwill.”
Luo Xi still sneered: "You need to have something to offer in return." This man currently has nothing.
“You’re right.” Bernard smiled charmingly. “So I’ve prepared a special gift for you, on the condition that you don’t covet my territory for at least a year.”
"Oh, what gift?" Rose asked, intrigued.
"This town we are in now. If you agree, I will give it to you. If you don't agree, you can still take it, but it will take three times the number of troops."
Luo Xi paused for a moment, but did not reply.
Bernard didn't urge him, and elegantly poured himself a third glass of wine.
He said that if Roxi had to send three times the number of troops, that would be three times the number, and Roxi should know his strength.
Luo Xi chuckled. "Okay, it's settled then. I'll have someone write the contract right now."
“No problem.” Bernard elegantly set down his glass, seemingly oblivious to the mockery and ridicule in Rosie’s eyes.
The contract was quickly drafted. These gift contracts had templates; you just needed to change the relevant clauses. Rosie laughed, holding the parchment contract in her hand, "Bernot, you really went all out this time! I'll definitely sing your praises to Father's most favored mistress."
"Oh? Thank you." Bernard remained noncommittal.
“But Bernot,” Rosie suddenly changed the subject, a half-smile on her face, “I want your town, and I want your life too.”
Before Bernard could react, a deafening roar of fighting erupted from outside the hall, followed by the screams of Bernard's guards. Rosie burst into triumphant laughter.
"Lord Bernard, our men are all surrounded."
"They're completely surrounded."
Panic-stricken shouts continued to come from outside the hall.
Rosie pointed at Bernault and laughed wildly, "Once you're dead, everything you have will be mine."
"Oh?" Bernard elegantly crushed the empty wine glass into pieces.
This seemed to be a signal, as all the floor tiles in the hall were simultaneously broken open, and a large group of armored guards "emerged" from underground, rushing towards them with weapons. Rosie's expression changed drastically, "Bernot, how dare you ambush me!"
"Why wouldn't I dare?" Bernard asked with a smile.
Luo Xi didn't have time to retort; he brandished his sword and fought fiercely against the charging guards.
Protected by a dozen or so guards, Bernard took out an empty wine glass and elegantly poured wine.
"Damn it! You're just as cunning and treacherous as your dead mother!" Luo Xi cursed as he was escorted by guards to escape from the hall.
With a whoosh, a wine glass slashed through the air and struck Rosie hard on the head, accompanied by Bernard's cold laugh, "You're just like your bitch mother."
Rosie suddenly blew the whistle around her neck in a fit of anger, which quickly attracted a large swarm of black bats. Even more strangely, the bats' claws were all clutching small black pouches.
The moment they flew into the hall, some of the bats simultaneously grabbed Rosie and flew out of the hall... The remaining bats all released their claws at the same time, and the small black bags all fell into the hall.
"Damn, a powder keg!" Bernard moved with lightning speed, just as he vaulted out the window, a deafening explosion rocked the entire hall before the guards could even react...
Rosie's arrogant laughter rang out again, "Bernot, I don't want anything, I just want your life..."
In this world where soldiers are valued above all else, even Bernard never imagined that someone would blow up his own elite guards for personal gain.
As dawn broke, a few scattered figures appeared on the street outside the upscale hotel.
Shalin, Aya, and I were hurrying away from the town. A large number of guards appeared here last night, and Shalin suspected that this place was about to be occupied by people from another territory.
“Two villages have been wiped out this year, and our village is the third,” Sha Ling said. “I’m afraid the town won’t be able to be saved either.”
We immediately decided to leave this place of trouble.
We were still a short distance from the town entrance when we passed a beautiful white tavern and saw two groups of people fighting. We immediately turned in another direction, but before we knew it, a deafening explosion rang out.
boom--
Boom—
Amidst screams and cries of terror, Sha Ling, Aya, and I, terrified, were all "blasted away" by a sudden, fierce gust of air...
A note from the author:
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