Skeleton King

On the day Nuo Ou returned to Bremen, it was raining heavily.

It was late autumn at this time, and the rice fields outside Bremen turned into a golden ocean, and the melons and fruits in the city were not expensive, and all kinds of small businesses and hawkers were making a lot of money.Farmers who have worked hard for a year also have money to go to the city to purchase some things, and Bremen is becoming more and more lively.

A few big trees in front of the villa are swaying with withered yellow leaves, and the wild flowers in the grass are smiling in the wind.

Earlier this year, a white foal was sent from the eastern plains of the Louisiana province. It was the cub of the third-level wind attribute magic beast Gale Horse. The little Gale Horse had just turned one year old two months ago. Nou went to the province of Westphalia together.

Now, Nuo Ou rode the little Gale Horse back to the villa from among the fluttering golden yellow leaves that looked like butterflies.

The servants in the villa knew that the little master was coming back a few days ago. They not only cleaned up the villa early, but also added a lot of decorations, so that the little master would have a good mood when he returned home.

Nuo Ou personally sent the little blast horse to the stables, he walked back to the villa, all the servants lined up in two rows, respectfully said: "Little Duke."

Nuo Ou didn't notice the brand new castle, or he noticed it, but he didn't take these little things to heart. He skillfully found Angelica from the crowd and asked, "Where's Ace?"

Angelica: "Go back to the little duke, the young master is still in the room."

Nuo Ou: "I wrote back in advance, saying that I arrived today. Is he still sleeping?"

If someone else was questioned by Nuo Ou like this, he would be so ashamed to find a crack in the ground and sneak in. The master came back from a long journey, and the guest didn't go out to greet him, but he was still lying in the master's room and sleeping soundly.But Angelica is Ace's maid after all, she smiled slightly, acquiescing to Nou's statement,

Nou wasn't angry, he walked up the stairs with a little excitement, "I'll wake him up."

Although this was against the rules, it was not in Green Castle after all, and none of the servants in the villa dared to stop Nuoou.Although the butler has served the Green family for many years, he watched Noou grow up and knew how depressed the little duke was after his parents passed away, and even pinned his emotions on the illegitimate brother of the Duke of Green. I am so happy to see Nuoou, and I don't want to be too constrained by him.

Nuoou went up to the third floor familiarly, and knocked lightly on the door twice meaningfully. Seeing that no one in the room responded, he pushed the door open and went in.

Nou walked to Ace's bed, saw a big ball bulging on the bed, and jumped on it, "Hi!"

Nuo Ou rushed forward and pressed for a long time, seeing that the people under him did not respond, he directly pulled the quilt away, "Hi! Ace!"

Although the boy's face on the bed has not fully grown, but his bones have been formed, and he can get a first glimpse of the peerless beauty of the future. At this time, the boy's brows are frowned, as if he is trapped in a nightmare. Nuo Ou shook Ace's shoulder, "Ace S!"

Ace stretched out his hand and waved Noou away, "Don't make trouble." Although he was talking, his eyes were still closed, and he didn't know if he was awake or not.

Suddenly, Ace felt something cold in his abdomen, as if someone had stuffed ice into it.

Ace woke up with a jerk, and he sat up immediately.

After Ace woke up, the first thing he did was to look around. The room was the same as usual, except that there was a boy watching Qiu Jing by his window.Ace scratched his head in distress, "Nou, don't make trouble."

Nou looked back calmly, with a little doubt on his face, he looked at Ace, "Huh?"

Ace: ...

Ace: "Don't tell me it wasn't you just now!"

Seeing Ace rubbing his head, Nuo Ou asked with concern, "What's wrong with you?"

Nuoou was still wearing leather armor, and the sword around his waist was still on. The corner of his mouth was curled up, obviously unhappy.Seeing Nou like this, Ace's anger was mostly gone.

Ace: "It's nothing, I have a little headache these days."

Nou walked up to Ace, he stretched out his hand, gently rubbed Ace's temple with his fingers, and asked with concern, "Why do you have a headache?"

That cold hand was exactly the same as the "ice cube" that Ace felt just now.But at this time, the last bit of anger in Ace's heart disappeared, and he didn't pursue Nuoou any more.

Ace pressed Nou's hand and said, "It's okay, just get some more sleep."

These days, Ace frequently splits his soul onto the astrology doll, and then enters and leaves the world of death.But his soul power is not that strong yet, and he can't bear it, so there will be pain reflected in his head.

Ace put on his coat and went to the second floor with Noou, where the servants had already set up afternoon tea.

Ace opened the chair and sat down casually. He asked Nou, "How about the tournament with their knights in Westphalia?"

Nuoou: "I lost, I won."

Ace:? ? ?

Ace: "Did I lose or win?"

Nuo Ou: "We won the tournament, but we lost the tournament."

Ace: "Westfalen Knights training camp has very powerful generals?" The contest is personal, but the tournament is a contest between two knight orders.Of course, for such a rehearsal tournament, the training camps of the knight orders on both sides only sent a small team, instead of thousands of people like the big rehearsal conference.

Ace grew up in the province of Westphalia, and Viscount Neumann made friends with Governor Graf. Ace knew a little about the Knights of Westphalia. When he rescued Karl Caesar in the village of the Netherlands, Ace also had a close look at a squad of the Knights of Westphalia.In Ace's view, the Knights of Westphalia pay more attention to the personal strength of the knights, and they don't practice various battle formations like the Georgia Knights.

After all, the Georgia Knights have a long history, and there have been generals in the past.The Knights of Westphalia is a later-established knight order. It is famous for recruiting strong people everywhere, and is often called mercenaries by other well-established knight orders.Although other local knights look down on such things, it is undeniable that the Westphalian Knights used the powerful strength of the knights to fight a bloody road in the tournaments held in the previous imperial capitals.

However, in the tournament between the two training camps, usually only swordsmen from their respective training camps are sent to fight. Due to the characteristics of the Westfalenian Knights, they are often just companions in the fight, losing more and winning less. This time Why did you counterattack?

Ace thought so, and asked the same question.

Nuo Ou: "This year, a commoner of the Westphalian Knights passed the trial. At first, the knights in the training camp of the Westphalian Knights didn't pay much attention to him. He was a very ordinary young man who participated in the trial. At that time, he was already 18 years old, but he was still a level 2 swordsman."

Ace nodded as he listened.

Most of the children of nobles began to participate in the trials of the knight order at the age of 12, and fortunately they were eligible to inherit the title of knighthood when they became adults at the age of 18.Civilians are different. The threshold set by the Knights Trials for civilians is 20 years old. Generally, they have inexperienced swordsmen's mentality. They rely entirely on themselves not to practice through magic potions. Those with outstanding talents can become first-class swordsmen at the age of 15. Swordsmen; those with average talent can become a first-class swordsman at the age of 20.

This is also a relatively easy way for the Pansy Empire to give civilians military promotion.Go to the border of the empire, and fight to the death with the knights of the Finger Empire, that is, a soldier leader, how can he become a knight.

Although honorary knights are no more than real knights, with titles and fiefdoms, they are still very famous in small villages.

An 18-year-old level 2 knight is rare among ordinary people, but no matter whether he is thrown into the training camp of the Knights of Westphalia, or in the eyes of Nou, he is not a person who needs special treatment.

"You also know that the command level of the knights of the Westphalian Knights is only a little bit of ink in their stomachs. Two knights command two teams, and nine times out of ten the battle formations are the same. This How can it be justified?" Nou said: "The training camp of the Knights of Westphalia came up with such a trick, let the swordsmen participating in the trial elect the captain of their own team, and their captain will lead them to join forces with other teams. Tournament."

Nuo Ou: "In less than half a year, the Grand Knight Commander in charge of the training camp of the Westphalia Knights discovered something was wrong. There were four team competitions a month, and one team had never lost."

Ace: "He learned it before?"

"It doesn't seem to be. Thousands of soldiers are easy to get, but good generals are hard to find." Nuo Ou shook his head and said, "It is said that the head of the Westphalian Knights brought him to him, personally taught him military law, and dealt with the affairs of the Knights. When it was time, let him watch from the sidelines."

Ace: "The head of the Knights of Westphalia is not afraid that this is someone sent by other legions, or even the Finger Empire?"

"It's unlikely. Not only the Knights of Westphalia, but the entire Pansy Empire, and even the Finger Empire, haven't produced new generals in these years. Whoever has a general at this time can't protect them well." Wait, even if you want to send my brother, no one will send him to the Westphalian Knights. Besides, the head of the Westphalian Knights is not stupid. Clearly." Nuo Ou said: "However, that person rejected the cultivation of the head of the Westphalian Knights."

Ace raised his eyebrows and asked, "What do you mean?"

Nou spread his hands and said: "He said that he has someone who is loyal to him, and it is impossible to serve the Knights of Westphalia wholeheartedly."

Ace: "The face of the head of the Knights of Westphalia must be very exciting."

Although each provincial knight order is in the hands of the governor of the province, in fact, the real object of loyalty of the knight order is His Majesty.There has never been a leader of a provincial knight order who is loyal to other people. If that is the case, it is hard to say who the knight order belongs to.

Nou smiled and said: "So, he cannot be sent by other forces. However, no matter how the head of the Westphalian Knights asks, he refuses to say who he is loyal to."

Ace sighed: "It's a pity." I don't know who the young man is loyal to, and whether there is an army for him to display his talents. Otherwise, it would be a pity that this general's talent will be wasted.

However, unless the young man's allegiance is a certain duke or earl, other nobles cannot and cannot support the Knights.

Ace asked again with great interest: "What about the martial arts competition? You won the championship in the martial arts competition, and the process went smoothly?"

Nou shook his head.

Ace raised his eyebrows and said, "The Knights of Westphalia have gone against the sky this year. Are there a lot of talents?"

Nou said: "It's still him."

Ace: "But... isn't that man a second-level swordsman?"

Nuo Ou glanced at the sunset outside the window, and sighed: "Maybe there really is such a genius in this world. The head of the Westphalian Knights cherished his talent and wanted to give that person the training equipment in his own name." The magic potion, but was rejected."

Ace: "What's the point?"

Nuo Ou: "'I accepted the leader's magic potion today, and I owe the leader's kindness. In the future, the leader entrusts me to do something, and I will definitely not shirk it. But if at the same time, the lord has something to order, I must disappoint the leader. Master.' That's what he said, unwilling to accept the magic potion from the Master of the Knights of Westphalia."

Ace: "There are such talents under him, but they are not even willing to provide magic potions. This lord is too stingy."

Nou: "The leader of the Westphalian Knights asked, who is his lord and where is he? After all, elementary magic potions are worthless, but those are the golden years of a swordsman. You know what he said What?"

Ace shook his head, "I can't think of it."

Nou: "He said he wasn't sure where the lord is now. However, the leader of the Westphalian Knights didn't have to worry about it for a long time, so he didn't have to worry about the problem of magic potions. The swordsman created his own mental method and could practice At the same time dissolve the impurities in the body."

Ace: ...

Ace: "I feel like I'm listening to a story."

Nuo Ou: "When I arrived in the province of Westphalia, he was already a third-level swordsman. He had an epee in his hand. It was so heavy that I didn't dare to block it directly. If I had Hailan Fighting Qi, it's really hard to say who will win and lose in that martial arts competition."

Ace said: "By the way, what's the name of that person?" Whether in martial arts or in leadership, that young man has outstanding talents. More importantly, he has a firm mind and is not tempted by the outside world. .Such people who are destined to have great achievements, and even become famous in history, have to be remembered in advance.

Nuo Ou: "His name is Art."

The setting sun shone in through the window, half of Ace's face was normal, but the other half was a little coquettishly red.

Nuo Ou: "I sometimes think that if I were a commoner, I might have his achievements."

Ace smiled, "If he is the son of the Duke, he may not be as good as you. Besides, he is six years older than you. After six years, your achievements will be hard to say."

Now, six years later, they should be in the imperial capital.Nuoou looked to the north, which was the direction of the imperial capital and the center of power of the Pansy Empire.

Nou said: "Yes. I still have six years, no, I have more than five years."

Nou and Ace looked at each other and smiled.

Nou asked, "Ace, will you stay with me all the time?"

Ace: "Of course. I also want to hug the thigh of the future Duke Grimm."

Nuo opened the warm wine at the table and poured some for himself, "However, I can't go back to the eastern plains of the Louisiana province empty-handed." Even if he got His Majesty's edict, he must do the worst. If six years later, his uncle has completely controlled the fiefdom of the Green family, and he has no soldiers in his hands, he can only be a puppet duke.

Ace guessed Noou's intention at once, "Do you want to train your own swordsman?"

Nou didn't hide it from Ace, "My father started to train me as a guard when I was very young. But except for dozens of people who came to Bremen with me and now live in the suburbs, everyone else is in Green Family fiefdom. Since my uncle gave me an early 13th birthday gift last time, and I didn't return the gift, we have actually torn our faces. There are also some knights, and I have not contacted them. There is already an industry of the Green family in the province of Georgia, and the family will no longer give me any financial support."

"The money is more than enough for myself, but with the knights in the suburbs, their attendants, and horses, it is just enough, let alone recruiting new swordsmen. If I recruit temporarily in a few years, let alone Whether you can find strong ones is their loyalty, and whether they were sent by other people with ulterior motives is also a question."

Ace: "After all, it's still a matter of money."

Nou: "Yes."

Ace thought of the foundations of the city in the Deadland, and his cooperation with Carl Caesar, Ace said: "Don't worry, there will be gold coins, there will be troops, and everything you want will be there."

Nou smiled, he thought Ace was comforting him, but he didn't take it seriously.