A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

Because of the assassination of the crown prince, the atmosphere in the entire royal city suddenly became tense.

The number of guards patrolling the city has tripled compared to usual times, keeping an eye on all kinds of suspicious people. The city guards simply took this opportunity to carry out a severe cleansing operation against the royal city, severely cracking down on those ruffian criminals and arresting them. many people.

When the winter just entered, the atmosphere in Wangcheng was austere.

For this matter, the ordinary people in the royal city were extremely happy, but they couldn't help being a little worried about the news that the crown prince was assassinated and injured.

The prestige of Prince Garlan is almost two extremes among the dignitaries, some firmly support him, and the other regard him as a scourge, because over the years, the young prince's behavior of protecting the common people and the years of courtship to King Kamos Various proposals to benefit the people have harmed the interests of many nobles.

However, among the common people, the prestige of this wise prince is second only to Kamos, the Lion King.Especially in the royal city, there are many people who have benefited from the prince.They felt happy from the bottom of their hearts that Garlan could be made the crown prince.

Perhaps the heroic Prince Heymos had a great reputation on the battlefield and was admired by countless warriors, but for ordinary people, they hope to have a king who is wise and loves the people.

Therefore, when they heard that the crown prince was injured, the people felt a little uneasy.

I don't know whether the crown prince's injury is serious or not, if it's just in case...

I don't know where the news came from, saying that Prince Garlan was seriously injured and might pass away at any time. In order to avoid accidents, it is best to quickly recall Prince Heymos who is in the North to the royal city.

For a while, an atmosphere of uneasiness spread in the royal city, and the people who didn't know whether the rumors were true or false began to feel uneasy.

Because of these rumors, the atmosphere in the royal city became more and more tense.

"The crown prince needs to show up before the people."

Standing in front of Garlan who was recuperating in bed, the priest of Shamash said so.

"This is too dangerous, Your Excellency Shemuer."

Keyhors frowned in disapproval.

"The culprit who intends to assassinate the prince has not yet been found. Now that he hastily showed up in public, those guys will probably take this opportunity to attack again."

"The rumors cannot continue to spread."

Shemur said.

In today's court, many people have proposed to recall Heymos to the royal city.

Although King Kamos rejected the proposal without hesitation and forced those people back, it can be seen that this is just the beginning.

An undercurrent has been faintly surging in the palace.

"Perhaps this is the scheme of those guys, using these gossips to force the prince to appear in front of everyone, and then take this opportunity to assassinate the prince again!"

Facing the guardian knight who kept denying, Shemuer didn't say anything, but turned his attention to Garlan.

Obviously, he was letting Garlan make a decision.

Sitting on the bed, Garlan's injured arm was hanging on one side, and the other hand was on his leg.

He pondered for a while, then looked at Shemuer.

"You go and arrange it, I will come forward."

"prince--"

"Kayhos, I can't hide in the turtle shell because I'm afraid of those people, it's too ugly."

Said the boy, looking very calm, and smiled faintly at his knight.

"It was just an assassination, and I suffered a little injury. If you are scared out of your wits like this, it will make those people even more proud."

"I'm not going to let the guys who hurt me get their way," he said.

"..."

Kyhoes nodded slightly.

"I understand, Prince, I will do a good job of vigilance."

Shemuer on the side nodded, he was naturally satisfied with Garlan's decision.

…………

A few days later, when all kinds of rumors were flying around - even the rumors that 'the crown prince was actually assassinated on the spot, but the royal family covered it up and didn't announce it' all came out, King Kamos Suddenly ordered that the crown prince attend the winter festival on his behalf.

The so-called winter festival is a ceremony to worship Yademi, the god of hunting.

In Aaron Landis, hunting is generally off-limits in spring and early summer, while winter is the season when hunting is encouraged.When winter comes, it is the time for hunters to celebrate.

According to legend, when Yadimi, the god of hunting, was born, it was the first time that the warm land of Aaron Landis fell with heavy snow.

Therefore, Yadimi is also known as the god of winter.

The day of her birth is regarded as the beginning of winter in Aaron Landis.

As the son of the gods, King Aaronlandis must shoot the prey in the ceremony on this day, and offer the prey as a sacrifice to the hunting god Yadimi, pray to him, and let the goddess bless Aaronland. Diss hunters are able to obtain abundant prey in winter.

The ceremony was held in the huge Hunting God Temple on the side of the royal city.

In front of the temple, a tall stone statue of the hunting god stands on the ground.

It was a young goddess with a strong figure and a beautiful face. Unlike other goddesses with gorgeous clothes, her statue was wearing a short skirt with a sleeveless waist and hunting boots, and a crown made of cypress branches and leaves on her head.

She stands on the ground with a heroic posture, holding a snow-white bow and arrow, carrying a golden arrow, and the mighty hounds follow her.

Unlike the squares paved with white stone or bluestone slabs in other temples, the square of the Hunting God Temple is a vast grassland, covering a very large area, and there are many animals in it. It is not so much a square as a place. A small hunting ground in the city.

If the dignitaries want to worship the hunting god, they must enter it to hunt in person, and then sacrifice the prey to the hunting god Yademi.

In today's ceremony, Garlan who replaced King Kamos will also enter it.

At this moment, he was standing at the entrance of the hunting ground on horseback, and the snow-white steed stood quietly under him, occasionally scratching the ground with its front hooves.

The weather in the royal city is always warm, and it is only early winter. Many people are still wearing short-sleeved robes, but Garlan is dressed in strong clothes. He is usually wearing light-colored clothes, and he is currently wearing a dark brown long-sleeved tunic. , Even the cloak was changed to a dark one.

The periphery of the hunting ground was already crowded with people who came to watch the winter festival. Many people saw the crown prince standing on horseback at the entrance of the hunting ground with their own eyes, and immediately let out excited cheers, shouts, and encouragement.

"The crown prince is obviously very good, but I don't know who is talking nonsense."

"Yeah, I think the crown prince looks like he was injured at all, doesn't he?"

"Probably just a small wound."

"Ha, that's true. King Kamos loves the crown prince very much. Maybe he really went to war just because of a small injury."

"Stop arguing, stop arguing, look, the crown prince has already entered the hunting ground—"

"God of hunting Yademi, please give my family enough prey in winter."

Amidst the cheers of the people watching from a distance, Garlan bowed slightly, and galloped his horse into the hunting ground like a sharp arrow.

The cool wind brushed against his cheeks, causing the long golden hair behind him to fly in the air.

Even though it has entered winter, the sun in Wangcheng is still shining brightly, reflecting bright light on the tuft of blond hair.

As a one-in-a-million steed, the white steed ran very fast, and in the blink of an eye, it had already rushed to the location of the prey with its owner.

By the small stream in the distance, a group of antelopes and a group of deer are drinking water with their heads down.

Winter is coming, and they are all fat and strong.

The hounds that came running suddenly broke their leisurely time. Amidst the barking of the hounds, the panicked animals ran, driven by the hounds, and ran in one direction.

Not far away, the white horse galloping towards them had already slowed down.

The dark cloak fluttered high behind him, and the blond boy on horseback raised his bow at the prey driven by the hounds.

As soon as the arrow was shot, a gray-white antelope's neck was splashed with blood, and it fell down in response.

The cheers of the people outside suddenly increased.

At the same time, a sharp tingling sensation came from his left arm, causing Garlan's bow-holding hand to tremble.

He took a deep breath, resisted the pain in his left arm, took out the arrow from the quiver behind him again, and continued to shoot with the bow.

A sharp arrow shot away in the sunlight.

Amidst the barking of the hounds, the animals running in panic fell to the ground one after another.

After Garlan gritted his teeth, endured the pain and shot all the golden arrows in the quiver, sweat was already dripping from his forehead.

The left arm holding the bow was trembling slightly, and a dark mark like a water mark slowly spread on his sleeve, but he was wearing a dark brown long-sleeved coat and was blocked by the cloak, making it difficult to see clearly That trace.

Only ten arrows can be carried in the ceremony, and they are special golden arrows with hunting runes engraved on the tail.

The more prey you shoot and dedicate to the hunting god, the more you will get the hunting god's praise, so as to protect the people of Aaron Landis during the winter hunting.

There are only ten arrows, which also means that the hunting god warned everyone not to hunt too much.

With a long whistle, the hounds stopped driving, and the surviving animals fled in all directions, and soon disappeared without a trace.

The people outside the hunting ground counted the number of prey lying on the ground, counted to ten, and cheered again.

The crown prince's arrows are not in vain, and he will surely win the favor of the hunting god, so that the Aaron Landis people will have a good harvest in winter.

Soon the priests of the Hunting God Temple came over, lifted the prey, and sent it to the statue in the temple.

After worshiping the statue overnight, they will cook the prey and share it with the people as a gift from the hunting god.

Garlan could finally leave the field. Amidst the cheers and shouts of the people outside the hunting ground, Garlan waved to them, and then galloped away from the hunting ground.

The guardian knight who was also waiting at the entrance of the hunting ground rode his horse and came towards him. His gaze fell on the water stains on the dark clothes on Garlan's left arm, and his eyes were terrified.

Noticing his gaze, Garlan raised his hand on the cloak, hiding his left shoulder under the cloak.

Garlan rode his horse all the way to the direction of the temple. Under the sun, he smiled brightly and behaved calmly.

Sweat oozes from his forehead, and the blond hair at the temples is almost wet and stuck to his cheeks. From the perspective of others, it should be the sweat from the vigorous activity during the hunting just now.

Only the blond knight, who was staring at the wet hairline, clenched his fingers tightly on the rein.

The ceremony for the priests to offer sacrifices will continue for a long time, and the crown prince can go to the room inside the temple to rest for a while.

Garlan led Kaihos into the house, while the guards stood guard outside the room.

As soon as he entered the room, the seemingly relaxed and indifferent smile on the boy's face disappeared instantly.

He stood there, holding his left shoulder with his right hand, closing his eyes, pursing his lips, with a pained look on his face.

Kaihos stepped forward quickly and pulled off Garlan's cloak.

The piece of dark brown clothes on Garlan's left arm near the shoulder was already stained red, and the blood was still faintly spreading.

Keyhos gritted his teeth.

In the final analysis, the Winter Festival is just a ritual, and the requirements are not high, so it is actually very simple to shoot those domesticated prey in the hunting ground.

The difficulty is to shoot ten arrows in one breath in a very short time.

Anyone who knows how to shoot arrows knows that continuous shooting is extremely exhausting. Generally speaking, when an ordinary person shoots the fifth or sixth arrow, the muscles on the arm will be sore, and after the seventh or eighth arrow, it is difficult to lift the arm.

The further you get to the back, the more you have to rely on perseverance.

On the contrary, the place where Garlan was injured was his arm.

Kyhos quickly changed Garlan's dressing and re-packed the wound.

With the prince's injury, the injury on his arm might have split open halfway through the shot.

The replaced bandages were almost all stained blood red, which made people feel horrified.

After tidying up the blood-stained items, Kaihos looked at Garlan.

The young prince was sitting on a chair, with only the right half of his jacket on, leaving his left shoulder exposed, and a trace of blood had already leaked from the freshly wrapped snow-white bandage.

The boy raised his head, leaned on the back of the chair, closed his eyes as if he was resting.

With his mouth slightly open, his breathing was a little short.

The slender eyelashes moved slightly, obviously enduring pain.

Kyhoes' eyes fell.

He thought that King Kamos had mentioned to him a few days ago that he was promoted to cavalry commander to command a legion, and he had to be prepared.

Military power is an indispensable part of controlling power.

The prince must have his own military power.

…………

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

Large flakes of snowflakes drifted down from the gloomy sky and fell on the snow-white ground.

It was an endless frozen land.

The majestic and huge stone castle stands on the frozen land for thousands of miles, becoming the only dark color in the dazzling white.

The cold wind was blowing fiercely, passing through the window of the stone castle, and pouring into the castle.

In the depths of the castle, in a spacious room, the walls on all sides are made of black stone, and there are almost no decorations, not even tapestries.

Rows of gleaming weapons hung on the stone wall, giving people a more icy feeling.

The flames in the huge fireplace on one side of the wall were burning, and the crimson flames were reflected on the weapons and also on the cheeks of the few people in the room.

The silver-white hair was dyed with a little flame, and the slightly slender Danfeng eyes were slightly drooping.

The faintly shining silver hair scattered on the slightly raised corners of the eyes, and the young man with snow-like complexion stood in front of the fireplace.

The other two knelt in front of him on one knee, bowing their heads deeply.

"Your Highness, there is a message from Aaron Landis' royal city."

The thick light-colored eyelashes were raised, and the young man looked at his subordinate kneeling in front of him.

"Following your instructions, our people lurking there have successfully provoked a struggle between the two princes of Aaron Landis."

The kneeling man reported.

"Prince Heymos has been expelled from the royal city."

"The matter of instigating those Aaron Landis people to assassinate the Crown Prince Garlan has also progressed smoothly."

"The crown prince is sick in bed, and our people are still encouraging those people to continue to assassinate the crown prince."

After one person finished speaking, the other continued.

"The crown prince disrupted your deployment several times, especially the time in Tozes City..."

The man had a look of regret on his face.

Their people have been lurking in that city for several years. If the prince's secret deployment in the city of Tozes is successful, the city of Tozes, which is an important seaport, falls to the hands of pirates, which will not only weaken Aaron Landis The national power caused panic, and it could also greatly damage Aaron Landis's reputation on the mainland.

The silver-haired young man in a thick snow velvet cloak stood in front of the fireplace, a little reddish flame was reflected on the edge of his pupils like lavender gemstones placed in the ice and snow.

Thin lips, the tone is like flames, but it gives people an extremely ruthless feeling.

"Prince Garlan..."

He repeated the name in a low voice with indifference.

Then, he turned his head and looked at the wall on one side.

A huge map hangs on the stone wall.

The handsome young man's face was cold, as if he had no emotion.

But in his eyes staring at the map, the flame of ambition was burning deep in his pupils, as if it could devour and burn everything he saw.

"The Kingdom of Kanal will be available soon."

He says,

"The next one is Aaron Landis."