A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

When the third arrow pierced his chest, the Knight Commander groaned in pain.

The moment his body froze because of the arrow, there was another whoosh sound of piercing through the air, and the fourth arrow shot towards Mittayas who was standing in front of Garlan.

Seeing that the arrow was about to hit Mittayas, a snow-white sword swung out from the side of the knight commander.

At the critical moment, Garlan swung his horse's head and went around, thrust out a sword and knocked away the arrow, saving Mittayas' life.

At this time, the knights nearby also reacted one after another, raised their shields and surrounded Garlan and Mittayas to protect them.

The scattered arrows that followed were all blocked by the shield, and then there was no more movement.

"Mittayas."

Garlan stretched out his hand to support Mittayas who was riding on the horse, preventing him from falling off the horse due to unconsciousness and causing more serious injuries.

"His Majesty!"

Suo Jia shouted and squeezed to Garlan's side.

While looking at Garlan nervously, he asked, "Are you injured?"

"I'm fine, Mitaias blocked it for me... His condition is not very good."

Garlan still supported Mittayas' shoulder with one hand, and replied worriedly.

"It's dangerous here, please return to the palace as soon as possible."

Seeing that Garlan was fine, Suo Jia heaved a sigh of relief.

He turned his head, narrowed his eyes slightly, and stared at the tall tower in the direction the arrow was shot from, with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"I'll take someone over there to investigate."

It was not easy for him to be reused by King Garlan, so that Nanna's temple could stand on equal footing with Shamash's temple, and maybe it will be famous in history in the future.

Suo Jia will never allow anyone to destroy the current excellent situation.

Although he had vaguely noticed something was wrong before, Suo Jia never thought that those people would act so recklessly in public.

Suo Jia led a group of people and rode quickly towards the high tower over there.

"Don't worry about me, Your Majesty, I'm not hurt."

The knight commander gasped, frowning tightly in pain.

He looked at Suo Jia's back as if he was going to rush over, and there was a trace of solemnity and suspicion in his eyes.

He sat up straight on the horseback, turned his head and shouted orders.

"Qier, take people to seal off the area around the tower." He pressed his hand on his injured chest, with a serious expression, and ordered in a deep voice, "No one is allowed to enter or leave without the permission of me and His Majesty. .”

A quarter of an hour later, the area around the tower was completely sealed off.

Because of this attack, the original plan to inspect Kanal King City in the morning was cancelled, and King Garlan and his party quickly returned to the temporary palace.

Then, the army originally stationed outside the city entered the city, and countless Aaron Landis soldiers poured into the city, occupying every street and alley.

Aaron Landis soldiers can be seen everywhere in the city, and the Kanals in the city can see them just by looking up.

When they heard that their king had been attacked, they were all unhappy, and they inspected every place in the city with stern eyes, checking all suspicious people on the street.

At the same time, they controlled all the commanding heights in the city, whether it was the tower, the bell tower, or even the temple, and no one was allowed to enter.

For a while, the people of Kanal in the city panicked.

…………

"Is this kind of movement too loud?"

In the room, Garlan sat on a chair carved from white jade.

Suo Jia stood in front of him and reported to him what happened not long ago.

"This will cause unrest among the people of Kanal," Garland said.

Knowing that the Kanar people were looking forward to and apprehensive about his arrival, that's why Garlan stationed the army he brought outside the city instead of entering the city.

This move is to appease the emotions of the people of Kanal.

After all, letting the army enter the city on a large scale can easily cause uneasiness among the delicate and sensitive Kanals.

"No, Your Majesty, compared to your safety, the emotion of the Kanal people is just a trivial matter, and we can appease you later."

Suo Jia shook his head and said.

"What happened this time, I don't think it's the remnants of the Gastadians, nor the opposition forces of Kanal, but our internal..."

The archer reacted quickly, probably retreating quickly after shooting those few arrows.So when Suo Jia rushed to the tower, he only found traces left by the other party on the tower.

Although the subordinates sent by Mittayas quickly blocked the scene and questioned and interrogated the nearby personnel, they did not find any useful clues.

"Your Majesty, I'll check again."

After Suo Jia finished speaking, he thought about it and added a few more words.

"I have sent additional personnel to patrol outside, and now Mittayas is injured, and there is no one guarding you, so please stay in the palace tonight and don't leave without authorization."

Suo Jia asked very worriedly, after all, he knew that this His Majesty had a lot of criminal records of secretly throwing off the guards and making private visits, and he himself had bumped into it several times.

He used to complain that Ximuer treated King Garlan like a mother-in-law who was worried about her mother-in-law, but now that Ximuer is not here, it is his turn.

"No matter what happens, please wait until His Majesty Kareni comes tomorrow."

Veteran Carleni will be able to lead the Sixth Army to arrive tomorrow.

With this veteran staring at His Majesty, it is somewhat reassuring.

Garlan, who was told by Suo Jia with a worried face, was a little bit dumbfounded.

In the past, he sneaked out of the royal city because it was his territory. The intelligence network established by Tal allowed him to control the situation of the entire royal city, and he was always accompanied by one or two strongest knights as a reliance. , so he was unscrupulous.

Now staying in a strange place with no security around him, of course he wouldn't do that kind of stupid thing.

... I always feel that Suo Jia has a tendency to develop towards Shemuer.

Even though he was thinking this way, in order to reassure Suo Jia, he nodded, indicating that he knew.

Watching Suo Jia leave, Garlan pondered.

Before going to Kanal, Tal also told him that he had found some news about the restlessness of the powerful.

However, because the intelligence network established by Tal was only spread in Wangcheng and surrounding areas for the time being, and had not yet extended to Kanal, Tal could not find out what they wanted to do.

And he also believes that those people have not yet been able to extend their power to Kanal.

Just didn't expect...

Garlan was contemplating when suddenly a guard walked over quickly.

He said anxiously, "Your Majesty, something has happened to Lord Mitaias."

……

"No! Master Mitaias, even if you didn't hurt your vitals, your injury is not serious. You must rest well."

"Bring me my clothes."

As soon as Garlan walked to the door of the room, he heard a voice coming from inside.

As soon as he entered, he saw Mitaias trying to get off the hospital bed, while the doctors and guards on the side were trying to stop him.

It's just that Mitayas is the most brave knight commander under Kayhos's command. Even if he is injured, he is far more than ordinary people, so he can't stop him. The knight commander got out of the hospital bed and stood on the ground.

His upper body was naked, with a thick bandage wrapped around his chest.

It's just that when he moved, the arrow wound split open, and the blood couldn't stop at all, and the snow-white bandage that he had just put on was almost half stained red.

But even so, he still insisted on refusing to rest in bed, and ordered the guards to bring his clothes and leather armor angrily, and put them on for him.

"Mittayas, what are you doing?"

Garlan walked over quickly and spoke.

The people who were confronting each other in the room noticed the presence of the king, and quickly knelt down to salute.

Before Mittayas could answer, the doctor on the side had already complained first.

"Your Majesty, Master Mitaias refused to stay in bed to recover from his wounds, and insisted on going to your place, saying that he would guard your door at night. In this way, his injuries will only worsen."

Garlan turned his gaze to the knight commander.

"Mitaias, I know your loyalty, but you are injured now and need to rest."

The knight commander shook his head.

"No, Your Majesty, Your Excellency Kehoes' order is for me to stay by your side every step of the way."

Since leaving the royal city, he has been faithfully carrying out the orders of Kyhors.

He slept at the door of King Garlan's tent every night, and this night was no exception.

"But you've been hurt for protecting me."

Garland said,

"This is my order, now lie down on the bed and go rest."

The knight commander shook his head stubbornly.

"Your Majesty, someone wants to murder you now, and I will never leave your side."

Excessive blood loss made his lips pale, and the pain caused beads of sweat to appear on his forehead, but he still knelt firmly on the ground, with a stubborn expression on his face, refusing to get up.

Garlan looked at the single-minded knight commander in front of him with a headache.

He really deserves to be the person selected and sent by Keyhors.

With that in mind, he looked at the blood-soaked bandage on Mittayas's chest, and could only choose to back down a step.

"Well, you will sleep in my room tonight, so you can be regarded as guarding by my side, and you have not violated Kaihos' orders."

"This……"

The knight commander hesitated for a moment, but still shook his head and refused.

"It's better for me to stay outside your door."

"Either I'll have someone knock you out now and stay here."

"... I understand, I will follow your order."

…………

………………

In a blink of an eye, it was late at night.

The whole city fell into silence, but there were still many Aaron Landis soldiers patrolling the streets.

Suo Jia hadn't gone back to rest yet, and led his people to search for clues of the assailant around the tower.

Although there is no definite evidence yet, he can already conclude that the person who attacked King Garlan must have come from within.

From those dignitaries whose power has been weakened little by little since King Garlan succeeded to the throne.

Although as a subordinate of the loser who failed to fight for the throne, Soga had not been able to participate in political affairs for more than a year, but he had been paying attention to every decree issued from the royal court.

He knew that the decrees issued by King Garlan over the past year had seriously damaged the interests of some nobles.

They have long been dissatisfied with the fact that King Garlan has always favored the common people and paid attention to protecting the rights and interests of the common people, and they just kept holding back.

And King Garlan's establishment of the Commerce and Trade Office, which deprived the nobles of their bread, became the biggest trigger.

Their resentment rose like never before.

What finally touched the bottom line of these people was King Garlan's attempt to centralize power through reforms.

This is the most intolerable thing for the powerful nobles who control the city.

And the fact that the Kingdom of Kanal was about to belong to King Garlan completely aroused their fear and uneasiness.

Because these nobles know it very well.

King Garlan intends to bring the whole of Kanal under the direct control of the central government, instead of enforcing part of the city as before—if things go smoothly, then King Garlan's power will become so powerful that no one can resist it the point.

The power of the central government will completely overwhelm the power of the enfeoffment-style real power aristocrats.

Kingship will completely override everything else.

In this way, they will have no power to fight back, and King Garlan will gradually deprive the city of real power in the future.

Therefore, they desperately chose to take the risk.

They want to kill the Boy King in the cradle before he fully grows up.

Although he knew that they would do something, Suo Jia, like Garlan, didn't think that these guys' hands could be stretched so far into the territory of Kanal.

It seems that these guys may have secretly colluded with the remnants of the Gastadians and the opposing forces of Kanal...

You must know that only a limited number of insiders knew about King Garlan's itinerary to the ruins to pay homage to the heroic spirits of Aaron Landis' soldiers.

In other words, there must be an internal response.

He must find out this guilt as soon as possible.

After all, the knight captain sent by Kayhos to protect King Garlan was injured and fell down. If you don't find out the insider quickly, His Majesty will be in a very dangerous situation.

He always felt very uneasy in his heart, thinking about whether he should wait for the veteran Carleni to arrive tomorrow, and replace all the people around His Majesty with the generals under Carleni's command, which might be safer...

Then again, that big stupid knight was lucky.

In order to protect His Majesty from being injured, and the injury is not serious, he will definitely gain His Majesty's trust and reuse in the future.

Maybe it's the second Teva.

…………

and many more.

Suo Jia's heart sank suddenly.

Not right.

Always feel something is wrong.

Everything seems too much of a coincidence.

And, was Kareni's delay on the way here really an accident?

Someone else did it on purpose?

If it was really deliberate, they must have done it before Kareni arrived.

And Kareni will arrive tomorrow...

Suo Jia's heart beat violently, and he suddenly turned his head to look.

Not good, King Garlan——! !

…………

It was late at night, but there were still many people in the garden courtyard under the darkness of night.

Groups of soldiers patrolled the white palace back and forth, enclosing this area so that no water could enter.

Not only outside, but also inside the palace, there are many guards patrolling up and down to ensure the safety of their king.

The quiet moonlight fell on the earth and fell into the room from the skylight.

The boy lay quietly on the bed, his long golden hair spread out on the snow-white bed.

He was breathing evenly, and his brows and eyes were peacefully asleep.

The silence in the room made the echoing heavy breathing extremely clear and harsh.

A tall figure stood beside Garlan's bed.

The figure moved forward, bent over, and slowly stretched out a pair of thick hands.

They trembled, as if they were in fear, but also as if they were struggling.

Then, he grabbed the sleeping boy by the throat.

The sound of breathing in the silent room became heavier, and the man gasped violently as if he couldn't breathe.

Originally, with his strength, he could end everything with a single effort.

But the huge sense of fear, shame, and guilt made his fingers tremble unreasonably, and he couldn't control them at all, making him unable to use a quarter of his usual strength.

The severe pain in the throat and the suffocation made Garlan suddenly wake up from the dream.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the person standing beside his bed.

Pupils dilated slightly.

Under the bright moonlight, he clearly saw the angular face.

Mitaias!

He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat was tightly clenched and he couldn't make a sound.

Seeing Garlan wake up, the knight commander trembled in his heart.

Originally, he was in an inner battle, full of fear and struggle, but now he met Garlan's eyes, and realized that he had no way out, and his face immediately revealed a look of despair.

Then, the despair on his face completely turned into a fierce light in his eyes.

The knight commander's hands stopped trembling, and he exerted all his strength, almost crushing the boy's neck——

A cold sword light flashed in the dark night.

The blade suddenly cut a scar with deep bone visible on Mittayas' arm.

If he hadn't dodged back in time, maybe it was his throat that was cut open.

At the critical moment, Gallan drew out the dagger hidden under the pillow and swung at the opponent, forcing Mittayas back with a sword.

Turning around, he quickly rolled over and landed on the other side of the bed.

He opened his mouth, wanting to call the guards outside to come in.

Throat--

Can't make a sound--

He opened his mouth, but couldn't make a sound.

Garlan couldn't see the shocking purple bruise around his neck, but he felt his throat was in severe pain.

He was stunned for a second when he realized that he had lost his voice, and Mittayas had already rushed towards him like a tiger.

Before he had time to think, Garlan instinctively raised the dagger in his hand to try to resist.

But Mitayas was already the strongest knight commander under Kayhos's command, and Garlan's force could not compete against him at all.

After resisting for a few moments, Mittayas clasped his right wrist tightly.

The severe pain forced him to let go of his hand, and the dagger was thrown far away, drew an arc, and fell on the soft bed.

Mittayas had a ruthless expression on his face, and his whole body exuded the evil spirit formed by fighting in the battlefield all the year round.

He grabbed Garlan's right hand tightly with one hand, and with the other, he clasped Garlan's throat and pressed him against the open window.

Garlan leaned back.

The toes barely stepped on the ground, and the waist rested on the window sill.

Mittayas pressed his throat, causing his upper body to fall backwards, almost hanging in mid-air.

The boy's long golden hair scattered in the air.

Under the suspended back is a height of tens of meters.

Below, is the hard stone ground paved with white jade.

"Forgive me...forgive me, Your Majesty..."

Even though Garlan's throat was tightly grasped with his hands, Mittayas seemed to be in a state of collapse.

While murmuring nervously, he forcefully pushed Garlan's body out of the window sill.

"I have no choice...forgive me...I was forced, they forced me, I really have no other way..."

With a look of madness on his face, he babbled incoherently, not knowing whether he was speaking to Garlan or talking to himself.

He bent down to look at Garlan, causing half of his body to stick out of the window.

pat, pat.

Big tears flowed from the eyes of this man who seemed to have completely collapsed, and fell on Garlan's face.

The man wept bitterly, looking at Garlan with tears in his eyes.

But his hand was still firmly grasping Garlan's throat.

Garlan struggled to prop up his body, and tightly grasped the opponent's hand that was holding his throat.

It was difficult for him to breathe.

Consciousness gradually blurred.

He saw that the clothes on Mittayas's chest, which was pressing down on him, had been stained bloody by the blood oozing from the bandages, reflecting the moonlight, dazzlingly red.

Mittayas cried bitterly for ten seconds.

Suddenly, a loud banging on the door from outside woke him up.

Accompanied by the banging on the door and nervous shouting, the guards outside the room sensed movement in the room and were trying to rush in.

The madness in the eyes of Mittayas who was awakened dissipated and he became sober.

The more sober he was, the deeper the pain in his eyes became.

With tears in his eyes, he looked at Garlan whose throat was held by himself.

"Your Majesty, forgive me..."

There was a pause.

He said, "No...don't forgive me."

As the knight commander said so, his eyes were full of despair.

While showing a desperate look, he wanted to squeeze Garlan's throat hard.

But his hands were shaking, and he couldn't exert any strength.

With a loud bang, the door was knocked open, and many people rushed in.

Mittayas gritted his teeth and exerted force with his right hand, and he simply pushed Garlan away.

A ruthless color flashed across Garlan's golden pupils who were about to be pushed out of the window sill, and a second before his feet were forced to leave the ground, he kicked Mittayas hard on the knee.

It was a kick with all its strength, and the knight commander, who was immersed in pain and defenseless, staggered a step forward, and fell headfirst from the window.

"His Majesty--!!!"

Garlan fell from the sky.

Mittayas, who was pulled out by him at the last moment, also fell from the sky with him.

The sound of the wind whizzed by.

The blond hair was messed up around the cheeks.

The strong sense of weightlessness seemed to paralyze his entire body.

No sound came out of the severe pain in the throat.

Garlan opened his eyes.

In the pitch-black night sky, a full moon sprinkled silver-like brilliance on the ground.

Boundless starry sky, thousands of stars.

It was as if everything was reflected in his eyes at this moment.

ended.

he thought, closing his eyes.

…………

In the dark night, a figure passed by like a gust of wind.

The speed is so fast that the traces of afterimages left behind can almost be vaguely seen.

The figure jumped out from the high platform on one side.

He stepped on the knight commander and kicked him away.

And he used his strength to move forward, stretching out his left hand to hug the fallen Garlan by the waist.

With a wave of his right hand, the hook rope in his hand was thrown upwards and rested on the stone railing of an extended balcony.

With one arm around Garlan, he drew an arc in the air following the force of the rope's swing.

Then, let go of your hand.

Holding the person in his arms, he quickly landed on the hard stone ground.

One second before he landed, there was a bang, and not far behind him, the knight commander fell headfirst from a high altitude on the stone ground, and his brains were blown apart.

The wind blew violently, causing the dark brown cloak behind the man to fly high, like the wings of a black eagle.

The wide hood slipped off.

The moonlight slid down on this person like water.

The jet-black shattered hair flew to one side, revealing half of the sharp eyes with the color of burning flames.

A deep scratch at the corner of the eye, extremely ferocious, stretched all the way to the ear, adding a touch of evil spirit to that handsome face.

He half-kneeled on the ground, his dark brown arms tightly and forcefully embraced the boy he had just caught in his arms.