A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

Putting on the hood of the cloak, Garlan and Shuros walked into the city gate on foot, because their horses had been lost on the mountain, and they were not seen until they went down the mountain.

Perhaps because of the earthquake that happened not long ago, the soldiers guarding the city gate were also a little absent-minded, and their eyes just swept across the crowd entering and leaving the city.Moreover, the flow of people entering and leaving the city is not much, and many people are in a hurry.

After entering the city of Twillur, Garlan raised his head and looked around. Near the gate of the city were all the mud houses of commoners and even poor people. Most of them were cracked or collapsed, and many people were busy resting. own house.However, although they were busy, most of their faces showed no sadness, and there was no mournful atmosphere in the whole city.

It seems that there were not many casualties in this earthquake, probably because there was an earthquake not long ago, and this time we have taken precautions.

Garland thought.

There was no sign of turmoil in the city, and there were no hooligans taking advantage of the chaos to rob. As soon as Garlan walked to the street, he saw a group of soldiers patrolling not far away.

Although it was after the earthquake, the whole city was not chaotic, but rather orderly.

Garlan thought of the lord of this city, Canile. He was a high-ranking nobleman. When he was young, he had fought with the former king for a long time. Later, he was injured and had to leave the battlefield. The city was given to him as a dominion.

It is said that he was an upright and strict man, and that he regarded the noble class very highly, so he did not treat the common people well.However, because he is used to strict control over his subordinates, he does not like them to violate the law and his orders, so the civilians under his rule will not be oppressed and plundered by powerful officials at will.

In his city, the civilians can live in peace and stability as long as they don't break the law.

"What are you going to do?"

While looking around the city, Shuros asked.

He roughly estimated that the pile of mud and rocks that collapsed and piled up at the mouth of the cliff can only last for five to six days at most, and then it will be washed away and a mountain torrent will erupt.

He was a little depressed.

Not long ago, he had warned Gal a thousand times not to approach the city, but now he slapped himself in the face.

However, since the lives of 10,000+ people in the city are at stake, he is not so cold-blooded as to turn a blind eye to so many lives.

He asked, "Should I just tell these people that there will be a flood on the mountain and tell them to flee?"

"No, doing so would cause panic and unrest in the city."

"What shall we do then?"

"Go directly to the executive government to find officials and tell them about this."

The matter was too urgent, and Garlan couldn't think of a better way for a while, so he could only choose the most direct way.

After all, I don't know when the waterfall will collapse, so we must race against time.

Schloss shrugged.

"Listen to you, I'm not good at official matters."

The two walked quickly along the street. Not long after they walked, suddenly a child rushed over too fast and bumped into Garlan, causing him to shake and the hood fell off.

The child was wearing a rag and was still dirty. He was obviously a child of the poor. He looked at Garlan with some fear.

Garlan didn't care either, and smiled and patted the child's head, telling him not to be afraid, put on the hood again and left.

Because he was anxious, he walked very fast, so he didn't notice a pair of eyes looking from the side.

Those eyes were first stunned, then doubted, then turned into anger, and finally stared at Garlan's back ruthlessly until he disappeared from sight.

Going forward, the mud houses gradually changed into spacious houses of wood and rock, and these solid houses were also damaged, but better than the mud houses.

As soon as they reached the gate of the consulate, Garlan and the others were stopped by soldiers guarding the gate.

"Who are you? What are you here for?"

asked the soldier.

"I'm sorry, we are traveling bards, and now we have something urgent to ask to see the chief guard of the city gate."

Taking off the hood, Garlan stepped forward and said.

He had thought about it, and it was absolutely impossible to directly ask to see the city lord of Tweilur City, and the soldiers would just drive him out as a madman, so he chose to ask the chief of the gate guard first.

The position of the city gate guard is not too big, but he is responsible for the safety of the city, and has the right to directly ask the city lord in case of emergency.

The soldiers' gazes paused on Garlan's face, and when they saw a handsome blond boy with red lips and white teeth, their expressions, which were originally a little impatient, slowed down a bit.

"There was an earthquake not long ago, and the city gate guard is very busy now."

One of the soldiers replied, and he kindly reminded, "Besides, everyone is not in the mood to watch your performance now, so you should change cities."

He thought it was a bard recommended by the city gate guard. After all, the city's drama performances and other activities were also under the jurisdiction of the city gate guard.

"No, we asked to see the chief guard of the city gate because we have something very urgent to tell him. It is really urgent, and it is related to the city of Twirul."

"what?"

The two soldiers glanced at each other, then shook their heads, and put on a rather kind face.

"Okay, this is the executive government, you'd better not make trouble here, hurry up!"

It's just two bards, what major events can they know about Twiller City?

What about bluffing them?

If they casually reported to the chief guard of the city gate, they would be the ones to be scolded.

"But……"

Just as Garlan was about to speak, Schulos patted him on the shoulder, pulled him away, and approached him with a smile.

"You two, we really have something very urgent and want to see the head of the city gate guard. Look, can you do us a favor and report to the higher-ups."

As he said with a smile, he moved a few Aaron silver coins into the belts of the two soldiers without a trace, and winked at them.

He has already had experience, as long as he stuffs more property, these soldiers will immediately soften.

You know, money can turn ghosts around.

He gave Garlan a smug look, which meant to let Garlan learn more from him.

But this time, Schloss made a mistake.

When the silver coins were stuffed in, the expressions on the faces of the two soldiers were not secret joy, but shock. They took out the silver coins and threw them on the ground, pointing their spears at Shuros.

"What are your plans?"

Schulos: "..."

Why?This development is wrong.

Garlan on the side had a headache, and he didn't have time to stop it just now.

You must know that the Lord Canile is an upright and strict person, devoutly worshiping Shamash, the god of justice, and extremely hates corruption.

Bribery was not the norm in other cities under his rule, for officials and soldiers who took bribes were severely punished in Twillur.

He hurried forward and said, "Wait a minute, we don't have any intentions, it's really something important about the city of Twirul..."

"Okay, stop talking, you guys get out of here immediately!"

The soldier holding the spear said with a serious face, "Leave immediately! Otherwise we will arrest you now!"

At this moment, a stern voice sounded.

"What happened, you are making noise in front of the gate of the Consulate?"

As soon as everyone turned their heads, they saw a sturdy middle-aged man standing behind them on a horse, followed by a group of soldiers.

His eyes swept across Garlan and Shuros, and then fell on Garlan.

"I'm the gate guard of Twiller City." He frowned and asked, "You said that you had something urgent to see me just now? About Twiller City?"

Garlan was stunned for a moment, then he came to his senses, and quickly said, "Yes, please give me some time, just a few words, it's really important."

The man looked at him again, got off his horse, handed the horse to a soldier, and walked towards the gate.

He said, "You two, come in with me."

Garlan breathed a sigh of relief.

The chief guard of the city gate is only a small official position, but for him who has no prince status, even if he is only a small official, it is extremely difficult to ask to see him.

However, his luck was not bad, and he just happened to meet the returning city gate guard.

He and Shulos quickly followed the footsteps of the city gate guard. Just after taking a step, they were pulled down by the guards behind the city gate guard.

"You are not allowed to carry weapons when you enter the executive government."

The soldiers said sternly, demanding that they hand over their weapons for safekeeping.

Garlan hesitated for a moment, but thinking of the flash flood that would erupt at any moment on the top of the mountain, he had no time to think, and handed over his saber.Although Schulos was very reluctant, he could only hand over his bow and arrows in the face of the soldiers' suspicious eyes.

They entered the gate, and the chief guard of the city gate led them into an atrium, then turned around suddenly, pointed at Garlan and shouted sharply: "Seize it!"

The forty or fifty soldiers around immediately swarmed up, and countless spears pointed at them.

Garlan, who had been thinking about how to persuade the chief guard of the city gate, was caught off guard. Two soldiers clamped his arms tightly, twisted behind him and tied him with ropes.

"What are you doing?"

He frowned and looked at the city gate guard.

"Arbitrarily arresting innocent people, City Gate Guard, are you not afraid of being punished by the Lord Kanilee?"

"No, you have committed a crime, and it is still a great crime."

"what?"

At this time, a familiar voice came from the side.

"Hey, young master, noble lord, we meet again."

A man came out from the corner of the wall with a smile on his face, and walked up to Garlan.

"How about it, are you surprised?"

He had a smile on his face, but he stared at Garlan with a sinister look.

Originally, when he saw this noble young master and his servants on the street, Cass was pleasantly surprised and wanted to go up to say hello.

Who knows, the next thing I saw was the scene of Garlan treating poor children, and the look of Garlan talking to Shuros, it was completely different from the proud young master he saw yesterday, it was a different person— —

He reflected back then.

been played!

So, without hesitation, Cass went to his boss, the city gate guard, and reported to him that someone in the city pretended to be a nobleman. .

"Young master, impersonating a nobleman is a serious crime, how dare you say you are innocent?"

"I do not……"

Cass stepped forward and tore off the malachite earrings from Garlan's ears.

"Besides, there's no way a lowly bard could have malachite. You must have stolen it. Stealing something from a nobleman is a serious crime!"

He said, his eyes were fierce and ferocious.

Thinking of how he nodded and bowed in front of a lowly bard back then, he wished he could tear the boy who played tricks on him to pieces.

"I'm not pretending to be noble! I'm just—"

The chief guard of the city gate frowned and said, "You say you are a nobleman, then, show me your badge."

Every nobleman will carry his own noble badge with him, which is a symbol of their status and never leaves his body.

"........."

Garlan gritted his teeth.

At the beginning, he planned to completely cut off contact with the palace, so he naturally didn't bring out the golden token that symbolized his prince status.

Even if he said desperately that he was a prince at this moment, no one would believe him, and he would only humiliate himself.

He reluctantly said, "I don't have anything to prove my identity, but..."

"Look, you can't take it out, can't you cheat?"

Seeing Garlan being pinned down by the soldiers, Cass, who felt that he had avenged himself, was in a good mood.

He sneered and said, "Wait to cut off your tongue and hands!"

Anyone who dares to pretend to be a noble as a commoner will have his tongue cut off and his face branded.

Anyone who is a commoner and steals the goods of the nobles will have his hands cut off.

"Okay, put these two people in jail. I'm busy now and don't have time to deal with these shitty things. Let's talk about it later."

The city gate guard waved impatiently.

Cass nodded quickly, with a flattering expression on his face.

"Yes, you put them in jail quickly, don't disturb your lord, your lord is very busy!"

"Wait, City Gate Guard, you—"

Before Garlan could say anything, Cass in front of him suddenly raised his hand.

With a crisp slap, a blush immediately appeared on his face after being slapped heavily.

Cass scolded: "Do you know your identity? What do you think you are? If you want to call yourself an adult, do you understand?"

He was scolding to his heart's content, when suddenly the boy who had been slapped by him turned his eyes and gave him a sideways look.

The amber eyes were so bright that it suddenly shocked him.

When he came back to his senses, he was frightened by the liar again, and Cass' face became even more ugly. He wanted to slap the young man again, but looking at the young man's eyes for some reason, he felt guilty and didn't dare to do anything, he could only be annoyed shouted at the soldiers.

"What are you waiting for, drag it down and lock it up!"

"Wait! The city of Twiller is in danger! Mount Twiller collapsed during this earthquake, blocking the waterfall, and it may collapse at any time, causing a flash flood!"

Seeing that he was about to be dragged down, Garlan was in a hurry, and he no longer cared about causing a commotion, so he yelled out directly.

As soon as he struggled, he was grabbed by the soldiers around him.

He said anxiously: "This matter must be told to the Lord Kalieni immediately! If you drag it on, it will be too late!"

"It's really a dog jumping over the wall in a hurry, even telling such a lie in order to get out."

Cass sneered, and stretched out his hand to pinch Garlan's chin, one side of that cheek was still slightly flushed.

"You are so good-looking, why are you so stupid? Even if you lie, you have to tell people to believe it, Shan Hong?"

He poohed, "Why don't you just say that Mount Twiller is going to collapse and hit us?"

"Trust me! I don't have to lie to you about this! What good does it do me?"

Garlan ignored Cass, and just looked anxiously at the city gate guard, trying to persuade him.

"Although I don't know your plan, but for a guy who dares to pretend to be a nobleman and even tries to bribe him, anything he says is unbelievable."

The chief guard of the city gate said, with an indifferent expression on his face, then turned around and left quickly.

Garlan and Shuros were escorted by soldiers and locked in the dungeon below the Consulate.

…………

"A beautiful girl with long black hair? Riding a white horse? Sixteen or seventeen years old? No, I haven't seen it. I stay here every day, and I haven't seen the person you mentioned. In the past two days, even the person with the white horse None."

The peddler squatting by the roadside at the gate of the city shook his head again and again, and then happily took the dozen or so copper coins handed to him by the black-haired young man.

Heymos led the reddish-brown steed through the city that had just experienced an earthquake.

He and Keyhos chased for a while, but found no trace, and found that they seemed to be chasing in the wrong direction, then turned around and separated and chased in different directions.

He drove all night and came to the city of Twillur. Unfortunately, he asked a lot of people, but he didn't find any news about Garlan.

It seems that Garlan did not come to this city.

Heymos led the horse and walked towards the city gate, intending to leave the city and continue on to the next city.

Just as he walked out of the city gate, a gust of wind suddenly blew past his side cheeks, blowing back the black hair on his cheeks.

For some reason, inexplicably, he looked back.

Looking through the city gate, at the end of the avenue, the tall Consulate stands there.

The golden-red eyes reflected the tall building. After a while, Heymos turned his head, got on his horse, and galloped away.

As the sun went down, the city was gradually left behind by him.