A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

When Garlan said a word, everyone was shocked.

Those two royal knights were killed by the royal knight thrown up now?

It was hard for everyone to accept it for a while.

The Royal Knights have been passed down from ancient times to the present, and have a long history. They are almost one of the symbols of the royal family of Aaron Landis.

And the loyalty of those who have been carefully selected to become royal knights is recognized by everyone.

It can be said that even if any king in Aaron Landis is perverse and cruel to the extreme, even if the whole world rebels against him, the Royal Knights will still follow him and protect him loyally.

So when Garlan said that the murderer was actually one of the royal knights, almost no one believed it.

Especially Sage, who is the head of the regiment, his face turned livid as soon as Garlan's words came out.

"Prince Garlan, please be careful with your words!"

The way he looked at Garlan had changed. If there was only a bit of anger at the beginning, the way he looked at Garlan was now cold, and even revealed a bit of evil spirit.

The big lion Nega, who was keenly aware of the evil spirit released by Sage, turned around and roared at Sage, with a warning in his roar.

With its intelligence, it naturally knew that Garlan would not let it attack this person, but it couldn't bear it either.

Facing the low growl of the lion, Sage didn't even move his eyebrows, and stood firmly on the spot.His brows were raised upright, his square face was awe-inspiring, and he stared sharply at Garlan.

For him, the honor passed down by the Royal Knights is more than his life, more than anything else.

Anyone who dares to slander the reputation of the Royal Knights, even if he is a prince, he will not let it go!

"Some things cannot be said casually."

He stared at Garlan with a cold tone.

"Even you, you can't easily slander my subordinates!"

The Chief Secretary stood aside, watching with cold eyes.

Just now he was startled by the roar of the big lion, and then he was startled by the person who was thrown up by Kaihus. He was in a bad mood.

At this moment, seeing that Captain Sage and Prince Garlan seemed to be having a falling out, he naturally stood by without saying a word, watching the show, and waiting for the fisherman to benefit by the way.

Garlan didn't feel angry at Sage's cruel words. Anyway, he had already guessed that Sage's hard-headed leader would react in this way, so he didn't take Sage's words to heart.

However, he doesn't care, some people don't want their little prince to be wronged.

Kaihos took a step forward, his tall body blocked Garlan's face tightly, and faced Sako directly.

The blond hair that was slightly longer on one side was scattered on his dark eyepatch, and the handsome Sun Knight smiled at Sako.

It's just that in that smile is a confrontational toughness.

"Captain Sage, you are right, there are some things that cannot be said casually."

Keyhos said with a smile, and that was soft and hard.

"Even if you are the head of the Royal Knights, you can't easily offend His Highness, can you?"

Softly but hard, he said something to Sage, and the one-eyed knight changed the subject again, and immediately brought Sage's mind to the business.

"I know that you may not believe my words. In order not to be said that I led my subordinates to slander the Royal Knights with one word, let your subordinates speak for themselves."

Keyhos said while raising his hand and making a gesture.

Everyone thought that Kyhors was talking about the red knight lying on the ground with his hands bound, but they guessed wrong.With a gesture from Kehos, the group of guards who followed him moved, and a knight came out of it.

Also a royal knight in crimson armor, with a special lion emblem on his shoulder.

This is still a knight commander.

At this moment, the knight commander's face was pale, his eyes were in a daze, and his expression was even more ugly.

But even though his face was ugly, he still walked towards Sage step by step with a look of awareness on his face.

Then, under the eyes of everyone, only hearing the clang of the armor colliding with each other, the knight commander knelt down on one knee in front of Sako.

"Captain Sage..."

He opened his mouth with great difficulty, every word seemed to be swallowing a knife.

"What His Excellency Kehoes said... and what Prince Garlan said is true."

The hand he was pressing on the ground was trembling slightly because of extreme shame and anger.

"Among our Royal Knights, there is a traitor."

As soon as these words came out, there was another uproar in the square.

Even Prime Minister You Si, who had been squinting his eyes and pretending to be taking a nap, stopped pretending at this moment, opened his eyes suddenly, and stared at him sharply.

The Royal Knights, which has always been called the last line of defense of the royal family, has gone into trouble, and that is a big deal.

He thought awe-inspiringly.

Sako's mind was already in a mess at the moment.

He gritted his teeth and asked, "What's going on—"

The kneeling knight commander was silent for a while, and then directly said the matter.

………………

The time went back to not long ago, because Prince Garlan said that he would find the murderer on the Gods Square, so, apart from the team of knights guarding Prince Heymos, Captain Sako stayed in the temple of the Royal Knights. After the next team of knights was on duty, they took all the remaining royal knights to the Plaza of the Gods.

When he left, he would naturally leave behind a knight commander who was second only to him to sit here.

After the knight commander arranged the patrol routes and time for the knights who voluntarily stayed, he returned to the government office to handle some daily official duties.

He planned to go out to patrol by himself after processing all the documents.

Because many knights had left, the temple was extremely empty at this time, and the Royal Knights did everything by themselves, and there were no servants in the temple.So, at this moment, he was alone walking in the empty corridor.

Just when he reached the door of the government affairs room and reached out to push the door open, he suddenly felt danger coming from behind.

He turned his head subconsciously, and as soon as he saw Kaihos' face, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, and he fell into a coma.

After an unknown amount of time, the cold feeling around him made him wake up slowly.

As soon as he woke up, he found himself lying on the cold ground, his whole body was tightly bound and unable to move.And something was stuffed in his mouth, making him speechless.

When he turned his head, he found that this place turned out to be an ice cellar, no wonder he woke up from the cold.

Just then, a voice came from the side.

"woke up?"

When he turned his head again, he saw Keyhos smiling and looking at him.

The memory before the coma came back to his mind, and he immediately understood that it was Kaihos who knocked him unconscious and tied him here.

Mouth gagged and unable to speak, he could only glare at Kyhoes.

Kyhoes crouched in the corner of the ice cellar, something in front of him cast a shadow over the two of them.He couldn't see the face of this Keyhos, but he saw Keyhos raised his hand, put his fingers in front of his mouth, and made a silent gesture to him.

He who was suddenly knocked unconscious and tied up here was just in a state of rage, so he didn't care what this person meant to silence him, but because his mouth was gagged and the person was tied up, he couldn't help but use his fire-breathing gaze You can't do anything but stare at each other.

Keyhos came over and said in a low voice: "I'm sorry, I invited you here in this way, just to let you see the murderer with your own eyes."

He was stunned, and then he heard Kaihos continue to say: "If you don't let you see it with your own eyes, neither you nor Captain Sako will believe that there is a traitor among you."

As soon as Kyhos said this, the knight commander was stunned in shock.

traitor?

What do you mean?

That is to say...the ones who killed the two royal knights were members of their own regiment?

impossible!

This was the first thought that came to his mind.

Absolutely impossible!

"Your Highness said that there are other clues on the body to find the murderer on purpose. Only by doing so can the traitor among you be drawn out." Keyhos said, "Today is the best time, everyone All the attention is on the Plaza of the Gods, that person should not let go of this opportunity."

The knight commander didn't believe it.

He never believed that there would be a traitor among them, and he shook his head vigorously while glaring at Kyhoes.

And at this moment, there was a sudden noise from the entrance of the ice cellar, and he subconsciously turned his head to look, only to find that someone had come in.

The man's movements were very light, with light hands and feet, and he probed out to look out carefully, and then quietly closed the cellar door, giving people a sneaky feeling.

When he saw it, his heart tightened.

The person who came was wearing fiery red armor, and he also recognized him. He was one of the knights who asked to stay on duty today.

This person is usually taciturn, and his behavior is quite strict and self-disciplined. He has always had a good impression of this person.

Was it really this man who killed his companions, as Keyjos said?

Seeing this man walking straight towards the corpses of the two knights, his heart sank deeply.

But he still had a little bit of hope in his heart, thinking that this person might just have a sense of responsibility, and he didn't even let the ice cellar go unnoticed when he was patrolling... Or maybe it was because he had a good relationship with these two knights, so he came to mourn them What about?

Thinking so anxiously in his heart, he no longer cared about the fact that he was kidnapped by Kehos, and just stared at the knight's every move with wide eyes.

For a moment, he was so nervous that he even held his breath.

He watched the man walk to the long box containing the body, bent down, and groped for the body of the knight whose neck had been twisted.

The man didn't have the slightest respect for the corpse. He not only groped from the front to the tail, but also pulled out the corpse, threw it on the ground, turned it over and touched it, and finally even started to take off the armor of the corpse. .

Anyone could tell that that person was looking for something on the body.

The knight commander watched his subordinate who was good in his eyes desecrate his companion's body without mercy, and his heart was full of sadness.

He has never felt that this ice cellar is so cold, so cold that his breath and beating heart are cold.

He closed his eyes painfully.

Having reached this point, he can no longer deceive himself.

Yes, his trusted subordinates betrayed him, betrayed the leader, and betrayed the honor of the Royal Knights.

And when he wanted to understand, Kaihus, who had been waiting beside him for a long time, suddenly got up and jumped towards the man.

At the same time, several guards who were also lying in ambush on the opposite side also rushed up and pushed the royal knight who was still trying to take off the body armor to the ground.

…………

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

When the knight commander knelt on the ground with a painful expression, but said all the facts with great firmness, the surroundings were completely silent.

The knight commander didn't care about the eyes of others.

His heart is clear.

They protect their shortcomings, but that doesn't mean they will cover sinners.

The honor of the Royal Knights cannot be tarnished by sinners.

Now there is a traitor among them, and it is their own dereliction of duty.

They don't cover up.

Covering up the rotten flesh will only make the rotten infection worse, and they must face the rotten flesh calmly, and goug out the rotten flesh no matter how painful it is.

This is the correct way to protect the honor of the Royal Knights.

And his thoughts are also the thoughts of Captain Sage.

After listening to the knight commander's report, Sako's mind was blank.

He regards all the members of the Royal Knights as companions and trusts them deeply.

He never expected that it was one of his trusted members who fought in the same room and killed his companion.

After a moment of trance, Sako took a deep breath to wake himself up.

A resolute look appeared on his face, he suppressed the pain in his heart, and looked away from the knight who was still lying on the ground motionless.

Then, he took a step forward and put one hand on his chest.

Sako leaned over and bowed his head deeply to Garlan in salute.

"Prince Garlan, I apologize to you for my recklessness and ignorance."

He lowered his head, with a bit of annoyance, and said very sincerely.

"You found the murderer of my subordinates, but I offended you because of my stupidity and prejudice."

"No matter how you punish me, I have no complaints."

Sako apologized to Garlan very frankly.

Right is right, wrong is wrong.

He misunderstood Prince Garlan, so he should apologize.

He's always been that way.

But Captain Sage didn't think there was anything wrong, but his behavior surprised the noble ministers on the side.

They didn't understand Sage's character. After all, Sage didn't interact with anyone at all, unless it was business or the order of King Kamos, he didn't respond to anyone.

So in everyone's impression, Sa Ge is a very proud person.

However, the head of the regiment, who looked down on anyone except the king, actually bowed his head to people other than the king at this moment.

This is simply incredible.

Everyone looked at Garlan with strange eyes.

Seeing Sako's sincere apology, Kyhos was satisfied and stepped aside.

And Garlan shook his head at Sage.

"It's okay." He stretched out his hand to help Sage up, smiled, and said, "After all, half of the reason why you are like this is because I have been hiding it from you."

He said: "But there is no way. If I told you from the beginning that the murderer is someone from within you, you would never believe it, and you would startle the snake. I have no choice but to hide it from you."

The Prime Minister You, who had been looking at this side with his eyes open, suddenly spoke.

"Prince Garlan, why did you think the murderer was a member of the Royal Knights from the very beginning?"

"Because of the injury."

Garlan said, "Kayhos inspected the remains and told me that the two knights were killed almost instantly, so apart from fatal wounds, there were no other wounds on their bodies. The scratches on the armor should have been intentionally drawn afterwards for camouflage, otherwise, when the sword was scratched on the armor, it would have already alarmed people."

"So I think that if you want to kill the two knights in an instant without disturbing the other knights on patrol, it means that the murderer is very close to the two knights, so close that they don't even have time to warn them when they die."

"And the only ones who can make those two knights defenseless, apart from Brother Kamos, are probably only members of the Royal Knights."

Most people have relatives and friends, but royal knights are special cases.

They severed all family ties and became royal knights at the cost of not marrying wives and having children, and serving the royal family for life, so there are no close people.

And with the indifference and repulsion attitude of the royal knights towards the noble ministers, even if Prime Minister You, who is the head of civil servants, went to see them, they would keep a certain distance, let alone those military generals.

Therefore, the only ones who could make them off guard were their companions who were also royal knights.

Hearing this, the knight commander who was still kneeling couldn't help asking.

"But that time, Lord Kehoes didn't just..."

He didn't say anything halfway through, obviously unwilling to say that he had no power to resist in front of Keyhos.

Gallan smiled.

"How many 'Knights of the Scorching Sun' do you think there are in this world?"

How many people can be as strong as non-human like Heymos.

By the way, he secretly hurt Heymos in his heart.

The knight commander thought about it, and it was true.

Although the force value of the royal knights is not as good as that of the elite guards, they are not weak either.

Aaron Landis is one of the few powerful warriors who can easily instantly kill the opponent even when the two knights are on guard.

And warriors like Kaihos are well-known, and they will never be reduced to the point where they are instigated by others to frame others.

Garlan didn't speak anymore, but You Sixiang, who had already guessed the cause and effect to the side, smiled slightly, and continued talking instead of him.

"So, if you have a prince to guess, you should spread the word that you will find the murderer in front of everyone on the Plaza of the Gods, and draw everyone's attention to it."

"Then deliberately told the way to find the murderer through the scratches on your hands. The leader of Sage trusts his subordinates, so he will not deliberately hide this matter from the regiment. Those who are interested will definitely find out about your remains. From the conversation next to it, I naturally understood the sentence you said 'there are other clues on the body'."

He said with a smile.

"A murderer, after killing someone, no matter how calm he is on the surface, he will always feel a little uneasy in his heart. When he heard this, he couldn't help but wonder if he really dropped something or missed some clues .”

"As for the prince, you have made a big fuss and searched in the wrong direction at this time, so he will naturally feel more at ease."

"You deliberately asked Captain Sage to bring the Royal Knights here. The door is wide open. If you give him a great opportunity, he will naturally seize the opportunity to destroy the so-called 'evidence'."

He said with a smile, knowingly or unintentionally, he praised Prince Garlan among the crowd.

His words caused everyone in the square below to show a look of sudden realization, and then whispered to each other, admiring in a low voice.

"I see."

"His Royal Highness is amazing."

"You just said that His Highness is unreliable in doing things."

"A fool like me is not as wise as the prince, so I can't understand what the prince is doing."

Everyone was discussing and admiring, and Prime Minister You raised his head slightly in satisfaction, and retired after completing the work.

As expected of him dragging his old body out to give such a wave to Prince Garlan, this should make the prince have a good impression of him.

He thought contentedly, and he didn't feel that there was anything wrong with being an elder to curry favor with the young prince.

Anyway, as a subject, isn't it natural to please the future King Aaron Landis?

Just when everyone below was discussing and the square was buzzing, on the high platform, Sa Ge looked at his subordinates who were lying on the ground.

"Fal, why did you do such a thing?"

Sako asked.

Although he wished to kill the guy who tarnished the honor of the Royal Knights with a single sword, he knew that the most important thing was to find out who was behind the corruption of the Knights, so he suppressed the anger in his heart and asked.

The red armored knight who had been bowing his head on the ground raised his head.

His face looked sharp and upright, but at the moment his eyes were red and red.

Like a beast with red-hot eyes, the eyes are full of hostility.

"I'm not……"

He also wanted to resist, to try to deny.

However, before Farr could finish speaking, Kayhos sneered, stepped forward with a sword and split the rope binding his hands, and then pinned him to the ground.

No matter how hard Farr struggled, he couldn't free the hand that Keyhors was holding down on him.

Kehos pressed him with one hand, and twisted Farr's right arm with the other hand. With force, he tore off the gauntlet on his right arm.

As soon as the gauntlet was pulled off, Farr struggled desperately like crazy, even ignoring the danger of dislocating his arm.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that there was something wrong with his crazy look.

The next second, with a chirp, Keyhos tore off his sleeve.

Under the bright sunlight, the four clear scratch marks on the arm appeared in front of everyone.

At the moment when the sleeves were torn apart, Farr, who was still struggling crazily a second ago, seemed to have vented all his strength, and collapsed into a ball on the ground.

He seemed to be completely desperate, and the whole person just lay on the ground, motionless.

Everyone looked at the scratches on his arm, and his appearance at the moment, and they all knew it in their hearts.

…………

That old guy who can only flatter!It's still the same as before!

Hearing the discussions all around him one after another, the Chief Secretary hated him very much.

He was waiting to see Prince Garlan's reputation ruined, but things deviated from his expectations, and at this moment, under the special praise of this old guy, Prince Garlan's reputation was raised to a higher level.

At the beginning, this old guy had been crushing him all the time because he could please King Kamos.

Now that he is so old, it is shameless to flatter a prince who is not as old as his grandson.

The Chief Secretary was still slandering Prime Minister You in his heart, when he raised his eyes, he suddenly saw a pair of bright golden eyes looking at him.

His heart skipped a beat.

But before he could figure out how to deal with it, Garlan had already smiled at him.

"Although it's just playing games with me and Nega, this game has a good result, and it's not a waste of your time, is it, chief?"

The boy looked at him with a smile and said.

The chief's face froze for a moment. Prince Garlan's words were obviously aimed at the sentence he said not long ago, 'Let everyone waste time here playing games with you and your lion'.

The corner of his mouth twitched, and he managed to suppress the anger in his heart, pretending to be nonchalant.

"Hey, I'm old, I don't have as much energy as you young people, and my brain is not flexible enough."

He paused, and reluctantly said, "The next thing is up to you young people to toss about."

Although his heart was very angry, but under the current situation, he had to take a step back.

What he said was implying that he would take a step back and would not participate in this matter again, so don't hold on to him.

This is considered a tactful admission of defeat.

After finishing speaking, he returned to his seat and sat quietly without making a sound.

It's just that his eyes were fixed on Garlan's figure, and his eyes were full of gloom.

Look away.

This little prince is not easy to play with.

The Chief Secretary thought gloomyly.

He originally wanted to support the controlled Prince Garlan to ascend to the throne, so that he could control the power in the future.

But looking at it now, Prince Heymos and Prince Garlan are not easy to deal with.

...he had to do something.

Everyone present had their own thoughts, and no one noticed that the red-armored knight who was lying on the ground like a dead dog opened his eyes at some point.

Those eyes stared at Garlan, and the eyes were full of resentment.

It shouldn't be like this.

No one would have found out.

He has already designed it.

No one will find out that he did it.

Without this prince...

If it wasn't because I was deceived by this prince...

Yes, all because of him!

It was because of this Prince Garlan that I fell into this situation!

The knight's pupils contracted violently, he gritted his teeth, his facial muscles convulsed, showing a crazy look.

When things got to this point, he was bound to die.

He certainly wouldn't survive anyway.

Well, why not—

Taking advantage of this moment when not many people paid attention to him, and taking advantage of this moment that the prince was only a few steps away from him, the red armored knight who had been lying motionless on the ground suddenly jumped up.

He jumped forward suddenly, and stretched out his hand in Garlan's direction.

The gaze he stared at Garlan became extremely ferocious at this moment.

Even if he dies, he will drag the prince who has caused him misfortune to his back!

His eyes were red, thinking fiercely.

As long as he grabs the slender neck, he can crush it in an instant!

At the moment when the red-armored knight rushed towards Garlan desperately and desperately—

Clang, the sharp sword at the waist of the blond knight has been unsheathed.

The hand of the royal knight commander who had just stood up was already on the hilt of his sword.

Sage on the other side reached out his hand eagerly, grabbing the hand that was reaching out to Prince Garlan.

But they were all slow.

A huge but extremely swift figure rushed towards him.

Brown manes flitted through the air.

The male lion opened its mouth, revealing its ferocious sharp teeth, and bit the arm that was reaching out to Garlan.

There was a crackling sound that made everyone's hearts tremble.

The red-armored knight fell to the ground and let out a scream. There was only a bloody piece on his right shoulder, with bones exposed, and the entire arm below the shoulder was gone.

Before he let out a second scream, a sharp claw stepped on it heavily, and only heard another slight click, obviously his ribs were broken by the step.

The lion stepping on the red-armored knight held a bloody arm in its mouth, and the blood stained its mane beside its sharp teeth, dripping and dripping on the ground.

Seeing that scene made everyone's heart tremble.

The male lion opened his mouth and threw his bloody arm to the ground.

It still stepped on the human body beneath it, raised its head, and opened its mouth wide.

A roar.

Deafening, shocking to the extreme.

The earth seemed to tremble in its roar.

Everyone changed their faces in shock, and some even knelt on the ground with their legs limp in fright.

The lingering sound of the roar seemed to be still lingering in the air.

The gigantic lion stood proudly on the high platform, its thick mane fluttering in the wind, and its burning eyes condescendingly looked down on everyone.

That lion's roar shocked all directions.

It stood majestically in the wind, its majestic posture, terrifying figure, the blood dripping from the corner of its mouth, and the bloody severed limb thrown on the steps made everyone who looked up at it terrified.

A hand reached out and pressed it on the lion's head.

Pat it lightly.

The ferocious aura of the big lion, which was still daunting just a second ago, dissipated. It turned around and rubbed the hand like a baby.

Then, it bent down and lay down on the side of Garlan who patted its head docilely and quietly.

The ferocious lion leaned over and lay quietly beside the slender blond boy.

The picture that should have made people feel weird, but at this moment, for some reason, it gave people an indescribable sense of harmony.

...Moreover, it seems that I have seen or heard of this picture somewhere...

Many people have this strange feeling in their hearts.

...Where did I read it......

"Shamash..."

Someone muttered to themselves.

"...Shamash's punishment..."

Someone murmured in a trance.

"...the legend...the legend of the myth...of the sun god Shamash..."

"This is not..."

"Ah, Shamash..."

More and more people are waking up.

They know why this image is familiar to them.

Under the bright sunlight, the blond boy stroking the lion's head.

A brown male lion lying docilely beside the boy.

The liar whose wrist was bitten off by a lion.

The bloody severed arm rolling on the steps...

This seems to be the myth and legend about Shamash that has been handed down since ancient times.

[The liar will be bitten off by the messenger of Shamash. 】

The scene in front of them seemed to be the reappearance of ancient myths and legends before their eyes.

They opened their eyes wide, unbelievable, but inexplicably, there was a trembling feeling from the bottom of their hearts for this scene——