A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

Everything happened so suddenly, Garlan just breathed a sigh of relief after arriving at the port of the king city, thinking that he could finally relax completely and take a good rest for a while.

He was still thinking, by the way, he had to make a travel plan while waiting for Brother Kamos to come back, and also make corresponding arrangements for his followers and the female officer.

In this way, as long as Brother Wang nods, he can leave Wangcheng without looking back, and never come back again.

After all, the conversation with Heymos on the ship not long ago put too much pressure on him.

Heymos looked at him with deep meaning in his eyes, which even made him startled a little.

And the phrase Heymos said, "I can't guarantee what I will do", made him feel a great sense of crisis.

If this continues, if I have a girl I like in the future... With Heymos' paranoid personality, I'm afraid he will do something terrible to that girl.

That's why Garlan felt that he couldn't procrastinate any longer. No matter what, he wanted to stay away from Heymos as soon as possible.

It's just that he had made up his mind not long ago, but the sudden incident at this moment made his mind a little blank.

Finally defeated the pirates and defended the city of Tozes.

Garlan still thought, after such a big victory, there must be a grand welcome ceremony when returning to the royal city.

However, the welcoming ceremony was not seen, but the rare Royal Knights suddenly appeared, and took Heymos away in front of him without saying a word.

He subconsciously tried to stop him, but Heymos stared back at him.

At this moment, Garlan could only stand where he was, watching the figure surrounded by knights in fiery red armor disappear before his eyes.

He was speechless for a while.

Everyone who followed him seemed to be too shocked, and no one said a word for a long time.

It was a while before someone beside him broke the uncomfortable silence.

"It turns out...it turns out...that's how it is."

The little fat man who was stunned by this development opened his eyes and stuttered a little.

"I just said how could he rush there so early, that's impossible, I didn't expect, it was..."

As he stammered, the face of the blond knight beside him sank uncommonly.

Keyhos said nothing, frowning, with complicated eyes.

[Without the permission of King Kamos, stealing the soldier talisman and mobilizing the army...]

Garlan didn't speak, but clenched his fists hanging by his sides tightly.

He had asked Heymos twice why he came so early, but Heymos had said "I have my own way" to explain away.

At that time, Heymos spoke lightly and his face was calm, so he didn't think much about it.

In any case, he never thought that Heymos would do such a dangerous act.

...just to lead the troops to rescue him.

…………

........................

The ease of returning to the palace was swept away by the sudden incident just now, Garlan reluctantly said a few words to the ministers and nobles who greeted him, and then let them disperse.

He returned to his palace with a heavy heart. Not surprisingly, his female officer Taputi was already waiting outside.

However, in the past, when he came back, Taputi always greeted him with a smile on his face, gently and quietly, but this time, although she still maintained a calm appearance, she didn't have many smiles on her face, as if there was something wrong with her. mind.

"Your Highness, you are finally back."

When she said this, her tone seemed to be sighing deeply.

"Taputi, what happened?"

As soon as Garlan returned to the depths of his bedroom, he pushed the others away, leaving only Kehos in the room.

Then, he asked Taputi directly.

After all, they had been away from the royal city for a long time, and only Taputi who stayed in the royal palace knew what happened during this period of time.

"Your Highness, Prince Heymos may be in serious trouble."

"Because of stealing the soldier talisman without authorization?"

"It seems that you already know a little bit, but things are not that simple..."

Taputi nodded, then shook his head again.

She thought for a moment, as if thinking about what to say.

After a while, she finally explained everything.

At the beginning, after the black eagle Anu flew for a day and a night, he brought back the news that Tozes City was attacked by pirates and urgently needed reinforcements.

King Kamos is fighting outside.

Prince Heymos sits in the royal city.

After receiving Garlan's request for help, he immediately convened a meeting of several ministers and nobles, as well as several military generals, and demanded that the army be mobilized immediately, and he would lead the rescue to Tozes City.

Although everyone at that time had no objection to the rescue of Tozes City, the military general shook his head and rejected Prince Heymos' request to mobilize the army.

The reason is simple. All the legions of Aaron Landis are directly under the king of Kamos, and only the king of Kamos has the right to mobilize the army with a word.

If King Kamos is not around, there is only one way to mobilize the army, and that is to show the soldier talisman.

Aaron Landis has two soldier symbols.

Carved from the lapis lazuli that symbolizes the sky, one piece is carried by King Kamos, and the other piece is strictly protected in the deep palace.

The lapis lazuli soldier talisman hidden in the palace can only be taken out and given to others for use by King Kamos.

Without a soldier talisman, the generals of the military would never dare to let Prince Heymos mobilize his troops.

They could not bear the responsibility of dispatching troops without the permission of King Kamos.

Therefore, even though they knew that they were sending people to the eastern border to obtain the will of King Kamos, the city of Tozes would fall after a delay of two or three days, but they still refused the prince's order.

However, what everyone didn't expect was that Prince Heymos took out the lapis lazuli soldier amulet in public in the meeting hall.

According to Heymos, when King Kamos left the royal city to go to the border to fight, just in case, he gave him the soldier talisman in advance, so that he could do it cheaply when he encountered important things.

Since Prince Heymos was holding a military talisman, the generals had no objections.

Heymos moved very quickly. Almost at night, he left the royal city with tens of thousands of cavalry and rushed to the city of Tozes.

At the same time, the royal navy fleet, which had received the expedition order, also quietly set sail in the middle of the night, sailing towards the city of Tozes.

Heymos moved too fast.

In order to prevent the news of the war from causing chaos in the royal city, the news was blocked again.

Therefore, when Heymos left the royal city, many people did not know what happened.

It wasn't until the court meeting the next day that everyone couldn't see Prince Heymos that they felt something was wrong.

And at this moment, a group of royal knights in fiery red armor suddenly appeared in the courtroom and announced the crime of Prince Heymos to everyone.

"Guilty?"

Hearing this, Garlan couldn't help interrupting Taputi's words.

Taputi nodded with a complicated expression.

"Yes, guilt."

Her voice was very deep.

"They say that Prince Heymos killed the two royal knights who guarded the talisman and stole the talisman."

"impossible!"

Garlan's first reaction was to refute.

He shook his head vigorously and said, "Heymos can't do that!"

He would still believe it if Heymos stole the soldier talisman.

But, saying that Heymos had killed the royal knight—he would never believe it!Heymos couldn't have done something so stupid.

There was also a bit of doubt on the face of the female officer Taputi.

"I don't really believe that Prince Heymos would do such an obvious stupid thing... However, the Royal Knights seem to have confirmed this."

"........."

Garlan pursed his lips tightly and did not speak.

Kehos, who was listening on the sidelines, opened his mouth after pondering for a while.

He said: "Prince, just stealing the soldier talisman, and taking the soldier talisman after killing the royal knight guarding the soldier talisman... The nature of these two things is very different."

The former can be big or small. In the final analysis, it is just a matter that can be determined by a sentence of King Kamos. As soon as King Kamos returns, he will be punished symbolically and it will be over.

And the latter... the nature is much more serious.

King Kamos' guard knight army is regarded as a sharp sword in the king's hand, and he follows him to fight north and south.

The royal knights symbolize the dignity and royal power of the king, guarding the royal city.

Its number is less than one hundred, but it has a very long history in Aaron Landis, and they have existed for generations.

The Guards are going to fight on the battlefield, so only the strong are eligible to join the Guards.However, the criterion for selecting members of the Royal Knights is not force, but loyalty to the king.

Each of the knights regards honor as their life. When they enter the Royal Knights, they will swear in front of the statue of Shamash to cut off all ties with their relatives. King Landis.

The meaning of their existence is to protect the throne.

In other words, the act of killing a royal knight is tantamount to provoking the royal power.

It can even be said that this is an act of intentional rebellion.

Even King Kamos could not shield Heymos in this matter.

Because doing that is equivalent to King Kamos denying the majesty of his own kingship.

At this moment, the little fat man Tal ran in.

"Your Highness, I found out!"

He said out of breath, "Prince Heymos is imprisoned in the dungeon of the Royal Knights!"

Garlan was silent for a moment, then got up.

"No matter what, he ended up like this because of me, and I can't leave it alone."

His eyes swept over everyone, and he said in a deep voice: "Anyway, I have to go see him first and ask the matter clearly."

…………

The station of the Royal Knights is located in the depths of the palace, a slightly remote place that few people go to.

It was a large palace that looked like a temple.

All the royal knights live in it, they strictly demand themselves, live a very self-disciplined life, and are not moved by external objects.

Apart from performing the necessary duties, they are devoted to honing and improving themselves, with little contact with the outside world.However, as long as anyone has the slightest possibility of offending the royal power or rebelling, they will be dispatched.

Perhaps, only such a royal knights can gain the trust of every Aaron Landis king in the past.

When Garlan, who was a prince, came to the temple of the Royal Knights, the Knight Commander who came to greet him bowed slightly to him with a blank expression.

His attitude towards Garlan was not much different from that of other people, just like they were able to imprison Prince Heymos in the dungeon without hesitation.

The status of the Royal Knights is detached.

In this world, they only obey the orders of two people.

King Aaron Landis, and Prince Aaron Landis, who has been fully confirmed as the next king.

The status of the prince does not make them feel jealous.

You must know that in the thousands of years of Aaron Landis's history, there were not a few princes who attempted to rebel and died at the hands of the Royal Knights.

Regarding Garlan's request to see Heymos, the almost expressionless knight commander thought for a while, then nodded in agreement, but did not allow Kaihos, Tal and the others to follow along.

Afterwards, he led Garlan through the wide hall and into the depths of the hall.

There is an oval stone opening that leads obliquely underground.

The knight commander led Garlan down the sloping stone steps. Along the way, he didn't make a sound except for the sound of his footsteps, like a silent stone sculpture.

With a click, the lock was opened.

Garlan pushed open the iron door, and as soon as he entered, he saw Heymos.

In the slightly dim dungeon, although it was clean and tidy, it was still a crude dungeon.

In that prison, there was nothing but a narrow stone bed.

The black-haired young man sat quietly on the ground with his back leaning against the wall.

One of the slender legs stretched forward, and the other stood up with its knees bent.

He put one hand on his bent right knee, lowered his head slightly, not knowing what to think.The fine black hair fell down to cover his face, making it difficult to see the expression on his face.

The sound of opening the door startled Heymos, who seemed to be in deep thought. He raised his head and licked his lips when he saw Garlan.

"You came."

He says,

"I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Heymos' tone was extremely firm, as if he believed that Garlan would definitely come.

On the contrary, Garlan didn't know what to say for a while.

He hesitated for a moment, then took two steps forward, half-kneeling in front of Heymos.

"Give you."

Garlan stretched out his hand, holding a small cloth bag in his palm.

He told Heymos, "The pills I boiled out, you remember to take them morning and night."

Heymos was taken aback for a moment, then laughed dumbly.

He probably didn't expect that the first thing Garlan said when he came over was actually this.

Although he laughed, he still reached out and took the small cloth bag.

He said, "Okay."

He said yes, looking at Garlan with golden red eyes.

Even in the dim light, there was still an indescribably gentle gleam in his eyes looking at Garlan.

Garlan opened his mouth.

He had a lot to ask, but because he wanted to ask too many things, his throat was blocked in a mess, making him speechless.

He was dazed for a while, and for some reason, he suddenly couldn't help asking the question he didn't intend to ask.

He asked Heymos, "Why are you doing this?"

Why do you want to do this?

And... to do this?

Gallan was confused.

He always thought he knew Heymos well.

But now, he felt that he didn't seem to understand Heymos at all.

A hand reached out and stroked the head of the bewildered boy.

The fingers wrapped in snow-white bandages were wrapped around the flowing golden hair, and the fingertips sank deep into the hair.

"Because you were waiting for me."

Heymos said, speaking lightly.

One sentence, six characters, simple and simple.

Of course.