ninth dragon stone

There is fog everywhere.

A mass of dark, shapeless mist vaguely seemed to be revolving around something, or covering an indistinct face.They surrounded Inks in the middle, floating around him like a ghost, and occasionally a deep and chaotic sound like sea bubbles came from the depths of its core.Inks was cold, but not at all frightened, and he was much younger than his crown prince brother - perhaps that was why.

"I will give you a chance to take revenge," he said to the shadow, "if you help me achieve my goal, you will still be free."

There was a sound between whimpering and roaring from the depths of the fog, as if the vocal cords of some unknown giant beast were slowly vibrating, and a low voice came from the bottom of the habitat.After a while, it gradually weakened, and the floating black mist also gathered in one place, and finally disappeared.Inks turned around and asked, "Are you really sure?"

"I swear by righteousness." The answer behind him was as smooth as a rehearsal.

Inks curled his lips, neither believing nor disbelieving.He came to the man, grabbed his hand, put it on his lips and kissed it, and said half-truthfully: "Now my wealth and life are in your hands. You—— At least pray for me."

That person did not make a sound from beginning to end.

■

After winter, everything suddenly quieted down, as if the undercurrents under the Pinghu Lake had been frozen as the weather cooled down day by day.The crown prince wrote to tell Rolanders that he had already dealt with those priests, and that no one would easily confuse his father's sanity; not only that, Angrose passed through a critical period under the governance of him and his staff. The important harvest season is steadily entering winter.News from Bright City and Gloria also said that the "Seal of Ichelde" had regained its stability, and it seemed that the Knights Templar could take a good vacation in winter.

"Don't take it lightly," Jon's nib still condensed a lot of doubts, "Although it seems that the previous behavior of frequently calling the sealed manuscript was to strengthen it, judging from the current atmosphere in the temple, I don't think the Pope's idea will So simple……"

Both Tinosha and Rolanders received her message, but did not take any action for the time being.Inge and Veronica only vaguely knew that Rolandes had been in touch with Minghui City and Gloria, but they didn't know what information was conveyed in these magic-encrypted letters, and Rolandes did not tell them Reveal too much.The air in Silver Spring Town has become a little depressing and tense unknowingly, or maybe it’s just Inge’s unilateral feeling: Sometimes he stands in the atrium, looking at the snowflakes in the leaden gray sky, and he can’t help but wander into a piece of land. void.

"This snow seems to never stop." Veronica's voice came from behind.

"Yeah, this winter seems to be extraordinarily cold." Inge echoed.He turned his head and saw that Veronica probably just came back from the outside. There was still some unmelted snow on the furry cloak, and the whole body was covered with the cold air from the outside.

Veronica came to him, staring at the non-stop snowflakes, and suddenly said: "He is a little too confident."

Inge glanced at her speechlessly, the white snow light made her face paler than usual, and her dark lips and demon lines looked more stern and ominous.He looked away: "Maybe it's not self-confidence, but that there is no other choice."

"It's the stupidest choice to delay a fighter." Veronica's voice was tinged with impatience. "It's hard to seize the initiative. This kind of opportunity doesn't come along all the time. If he really wants to do that, should immediately—”

"And then?" Inger asked.

Veronica was speechless for a moment."Establish a new pope, or simply replace him? And do so without a name," Inge said.

Veronica asked coldly: "It's okay to be passive, but which one is easier to win?"

Inge stared at the vast expanse of white snow. "I'm thinking too."

But he was thinking more than that—or maybe it was just a prelude to arouse his doubts.The more he thought about it, the heavier his doubts became: he even began to have some doubts about the possibility of the Knights Templar winning.On the one hand, the Pope still holds the initiative so far, and the Knights don’t know what’s wrong with the “Seal of Ichelde”, nor what measures the Pope wants to take against them; on the other hand, neither the Crown Prince nor the Knights It is impossible to take the initiative to attack rashly. Even if the crown prince succeeds as king, he still has to take huge risks if he wants to do this.For all the human kingdoms are united under the dome of the Temple, to challenge the Pope is to be the enemy of all.Judging from the information that Inge has so far, he found that he couldn't find any good way to break the situation.Losing hope before a battle is a big taboo, so he can't say anything, and he even has to advise himself not to have such negative thoughts.But looking at those colleagues who at most only knew some gossip about the contradiction, he couldn't help but feel helpless.

Maybe Rowlands was right, he thought, when he was appointed, how could he have expected that the work content of the Templars would include these things.

Veronica beside him saw his solemn expression, so she changed the subject and said, "I received a letter from Leiana yesterday."

Now Inge's attention was also attracted: "Really? How is she?" Leiana had been away for more than three months, and the weather had just turned cold when she left, and now it is severe winter.At first, no one noticed when she didn't leave, but as soon as she left, the few people who lived in the Rowlands house suddenly felt that life suddenly became deserted.When Veronica mentioned her like this, Inge suddenly felt a little missing her.

"From the letter, she is fine," Veronica replied, "There are delicious and interesting things in Minghui City, but she is very happy--what a childish temper. She is lucky, and there is a girl named Joan Ms. En treats her very well, and she will tell her the tricks of training her mental strength from time to time—” Veronica paused at this point, and glanced at Inge meaningfully, “If she didn’t mention it, even I wouldn’t Knowing that you stayed in Gloria when you were young, the news spread really tortuously."

Inge was a little dumb: "Jon even told her this?"

Veronica raised an eyebrow.Leiana spent a lot of space in her letter writing about Jon, which shows that she is really full of affection and admiration for this lady: Jon himself has studied in Gloria and Bright City for a long time, she She is very opposed to the distinct apprenticeship training model of the Holy See and the Master's Academy, because she feels that there is no strict boundary between attack and treatment in early mental training.She conveyed her own set of views to Leiana, who—probably out of a novice's ignorance and a natural awe of her predecessors—takes it very seriously.

"I studied in Gloria for a while when I was very young, about 10 to 12 years old, and Jon was my teacher at that time." Veronica's words obviously evoked Inge's distant memories, and her eyebrows and eyes suddenly became pale. It softened a lot, "But I only received the most basic mage training, after that she thought I really didn't have any talent in this area, so she threw me to Silver Spring Town to find you." He smiled at Veronica road.

This makes sense, she thought, Inge's level of spiritual power and sensitivity are much stronger than that of ordinary paladins, and it is because of this that he was able to accidentally establish a relationship with Leiana when he first met her. It resonated with spiritual power; Ganqing turned out to be a person who almost became a sorcerer's apprentice.

"Then what do you think?" Veronica pondered for a moment, before finally asking, "Should Leiana come back here after becoming a trainee priest?"

Inge was taken aback. "Technically speaking, I don't know, I'm not a pastor after all. But isn't her talent very good? If she comes back, it will definitely be a rare help to us..." He saw Veronica's expression , the topic changed, "But you probably would rather not."

"I agree. We don't even know what we are going to face, so why let her get involved? It's not an honorable thing."

Veronica looked up.She saw that Inge's expression was very calm, and there was even a hint of a smile, but this smile failed to enter the eyes after all.She also saw that the softness that appeared on the corners of his eyes and brows just now because of the recollection of the distant past disappeared in the cold wind.

"Let's go," she finally started to walk again, "I still want to talk to Rolanders, so you can come too."

■

Veronica seemed to change Rolanders' thinking to a certain extent. They discussed many possible solutions to change this dilemma in the following night, which made Inge feel that the situation was out of control. A little weaker.When the next day dawned, the snow stopped. He thought it was a good thing, it meant that this winter might not be cold anymore, and spring would come after all.

When he was walking down the stairs, he saw a few people gathered in the hall from a distance, and he couldn't help speeding up his pace curiously.Before he got close, surprised words blurted out: "—— Leiana? Why did you come back suddenly?"

Veronica and the housekeeper Dwork had already arrived one step ahead of him. At this moment, Dwork was taking a suitcase from Leanna, and at the same time ordered the servants in the mansion to tidy up the room she used to live in. fire; Veronica took her to her bedroom first to avoid the cold.When Leiana saw Inge, she greeted him with a smile, but it was too cold outside, her face was flushed from the cold, no matter how bright her smile was, she still looked a little embarrassed.

"I set off almost ten days ago, and I was delayed for two days because of the heavy snowstorm on the road. I stopped and stopped, and I arrived today." By the lively fireplace in Veronica's room, Leana Holding a cup of hot tea, he said.The warm firelight quickly warmed her whole body, and her cheeks returned to a healthy rosy color.

Veronica was surprised by her words: "You left ten days ago? I just received your letter yesterday."

Leiana blinked in confusion when she heard that, "The letter? I wrote it more than half a month ago, didn't it? Could it be that the person delivering the letter was also blocked by the wind and snow?"

Impossible, Yin Ge thought, the speed of the postman is much faster than that of ordinary travelers, and it can be delivered from Minghui City to Yinquan Town in three or four days. If the letter was written half a month ago, there was no letter at that time. It started to snow.what is that?Stopped halfway?This possibility is not impossible, after all, the recipient is Veronica.However, there are no "secrets" in Leiana's letter that cannot be seen by others. It should be fortunate that all letters from Jon are directly delivered through her familiar...

But he didn't say so much to Leyana, instead he asked half-jokingly: "I didn't even know that apprentice priests in Bright City now have winter vacation?"

"What! Lord Inge, you probably don't know," Leiana's tone was filled with the kind of elation that is unique to boys and girls, "I have already obtained the qualification of trainee priest!"

As soon as she said this, both Inge and Veronica realized that something had gone wrong.

"If I remember correctly," Veronica said leisurely, "The minimum number of years for priests and mage apprentices to graduate is two years. Is there a cap? I've seen people who have been mage apprentices for a lifetime."

Leiana seemed even more complacent: "My mentor said that I have relatively good talents, which is a special case. There have been such cases before."

"...It did happen," Inge replied calmly, "but it must have happened in the early days of the establishment of the Holy See, during the war, or the person involved was a magical creature like an elf. You are really extraordinary."

Leana just smiled. "Actually, you don't need to clean up my room," she said, holding a cup. "Since I'm a trainee pastor, I should move to the church. I came back in a hurry and didn't have time to meet with the bishop. After resting, I will Go immediately, and he will arrange a suitable place for me."

The word "Bishop" was immediately linked to "Minghui City" in Veronica's mind, and she instinctively stopped her: "Don't worry, you can rest here tonight, and it's not too late to go tomorrow .What do you want for lunch?"

Hearing Veronica's question, Leiana was in a daze for a moment, as if she hadn't been there at all. Those three months of fun in Minghui City now seemed far away like a daydream, as if she just because of Wanting to see the snow scene, Veronica has been waiting here by the fireplace waiting for her to come back.

By the way, Veronica herself said that she didn't want her to come back. Now that she did this without authorization, would she be unhappy?

Thinking of this, Leiana suddenly felt that she was not as happy as before.

After she casually said something, Inge left the room on the grounds of "go tell Dwork", leaving only Veronica and Leiana in the room.The air was silent for a moment, save for the crackling of the fire, and the scene reminded Leana of the day before she left.In the end, it was Veronica who sighed and spoke first: "So you came back on your own?"

Leiana pricked up her ears, but she didn't hear any accusation in her words-this was natural, Veronica was almost always very soft when speaking to her; so she also ventured to ask tentatively: "Would you be mad at this?"

Veronica couldn't laugh or cry: "Angry? Why am I angry with you?" How could I be angry with you, she thought, "I have explained the truth to you very clearly. Silver Spring Town is dangerous and poorly treated. You I want to come back, what can I do?" When she said this, she had secretly decided to resolutely exclude Leiana from the upcoming battlefield, no matter what method she used.Leiana was glad to have her back, because God knows it was only three months before Veronica realized how much she had changed her life; Only then did "protecting Leyana's safety under any circumstances" come first.

As for Rolands?Let Inge worry about it!

And Leiana obviously didn't know about her rich mental activities. When she heard that Veronica didn't blame her at all, she straightened her back happily, and her golden eyes seemed to be lit up by the fire in an instant: "That's really true." Great, I was worried that you would be unhappy because of this! In this case, can you do me a favor?"

She took out a small box from the pocket of her skirt, and Veronica recognized at a glance that it was the parting gift she had given her.She repeatedly urged the jeweler to make it before the day of departure without cutting corners, for which she was willing to pay a lot of money; she did it with the mentality that she would never see Leiana again.

Leiana opened the lid of the box, and inside lay a string of neatly cut blue gemstones, which were inlaid in delicate and intricate arabesque patterns to form a necklace.The blue is crystal clear, like the scales on the back of a blue dragon in the sun, from the sea to the clear sky.

"I thought it was just an ordinary jewelry, but after Ms. Jon saw it, she scolded me for being ignorant, saying that it was a dragon stone with a healing effect, so I went out of my way to find out what a dragon stone is." The girl With clean and white fingers, he carefully lifted it out of the box, held it in front of his eyes, looked at it gently, and said softly, "Master Veronica, do you like me so much?"

Veronica felt her chair start to heat up, making her fidget. "It's just a prize for the competition, and it's also a healing bonus. It's useless for me to take it. Thanks for knowing you, otherwise I would sell it..." Of course not, she sent people to Port Moen, but the artisans there She only knew how to use dragon stones to strengthen weapons, so she traveled here and there for a long time before finally finding a craftsman who mastered the unique cutting and polishing skills of dragon stones; after cutting, she sent those dazzling gems to her brother Go to Roja, the artisans there are good and the distance from Silver Spring Town is close enough, the disadvantage is that she has to worry about sending a dragon stone to Goroja, whether the meat bun will beat the dog and never come back.All of this happened in less than a month, and of course she wouldn't tell Leiana about it, she wanted to act calm and indifferent; Not as flustered as now.

Leiana's eyes fell on her, and she suddenly felt her skin was on fire, and she couldn't help looking away; but even if she didn't look, those golden eyes were lingering in front of her eyes, sweet and bright , like a spoonful of glistening honey.However, the girl's voice approached her again: "Then can you help me put it on, Lady Veronica?"

That upturned tail brushed Veronica's heart like a soft cat's tail, and it was so foul.Her hands, which can hold the two swords and pull out the beautiful sword flowers, were sweating uncontrollably, which made it take twice as long as expected.

Finally, I can appreciate how the necklace is worn on Leiana's neck. It fits well, setting her off as radiant as the sunshine in May.Maybe it's because she's so good in her own right, warm and bright without burning.

"It's beautiful." Veronica said from the bottom of her heart.

After hearing this, Leiana smiled and rolled her eyes: "Don't I have to thank you?" After that, she leaned down and kissed Veronica's cheek lightly. Ronika's arm also let go in an instant. "I like this gift," she said solemnly, and then she smiled sweetly again, "I like you too."

Alas—the fire was so hot that Veronica felt like she was going to melt!

■

Inge came out of Veronica's room with an excuse, of course not to find the housekeeper, but went directly to Rolandes.Rolanders happened to be there, and Inge briefly talked about Leiana's situation with him, and then expressed his own judgment: "It should be that someone in Minghui City wants to drive her back, and they are not afraid of being known by us. .The reason may be the fear that she is a Silver Spring agent—if that's the case, there's nothing to hide; let's do it first!"

Seeing Inge's solemn and somewhat urgent expression, Rolandes knew in his heart that it was time for him not to take action. "Let's block" that Episcopal Church first, block its communication with Bright City, and at the same time contact Gloria—" He was talking, a big bird with white feathers flapped its wings and slapped his window. Roland Both Si and Inge followed the sound and saw a row of bone spurs like dragon spines in the center of the bird's head.

"Tinosha's familiar." Rolandes said as he opened the window to let it in. The big bird landed on the table, folded its wings, and turned into a thin scroll.Rolanders took off the metal ring on the top and unfolded it to see that there were not many words on it, and even the paper turned into powder in a short while.

Inge was on the side and saw the above sentence.

The seal of Ishield has experienced large-scale abnormal fluctuations since the early morning. King Angrose died suddenly a day ago, and the crown prince's attendants confessed to murder.

The author has something to say:

And... the word count is over again... I originally planned to end it today, but the result is still short of the last battle...

I read something about writing today, and I suddenly felt that maybe I can’t actually write, because the characters I created are too single-minded and not attractive at all.

Even so, I will finish writing this article for the time being.