71 changes

Ocarina of the Crescent

In the meeting room, the faces of several men looked unpredictable in the dim light.

Leaning forward slightly, I bent my fingers and tapped lightly on the conference table with the knuckles of my index finger, and then, when the four men focused their attention, I put on a crossed expression, "Why, you don't seem to believe it? "

"Do you not believe that the bloodline of Dumuzi has nothing to do with the summoning of the new moon?"

The atmosphere at the scene seemed to freeze for a moment, and then Polusalino's laughter rang in his ears, "Yeah~ I believe that the death of the substitute king and Bagua, Bai Sui, your performance is really impressive, so Mr. Zefa They believe it too."

Turning my head, the face of the person next to me with a meaningful smile came into view, met my gaze, the smile on his lips deepened, and his dark eyes sparkled strangely, "But, it's not enough for us to believe~"

"I know, that's why we have the next topic." I squinted my eyes and showed my big white teeth, pretending not to notice the undisguised dangerous look in his eyes that was completely different from the past.

The two looked at each other, the man snorted almost inaudibly, and suddenly grabbed my ponytail from behind, and the corner of his mouth curled up playfully, "Then let's start with the child in Shikoti's womb, how about it? "

"Century seems to have discovered early on that Shikoti's children are not descendants of Atashata."

I froze for a moment, feeling very helpless, "How much do you care about this?" After thinking about it, I looked around, and finally had to compromise and start from the beginning, "Bagua's eyes."

Of the four men in the meeting room, the remaining three showed interest in the topic Polusalino raised, although they didn't respond.

In this case, it seems that I can't get away with my original attempt to deliberately ignore it~ Since I can't avoid the important ones, I have to start from the beginning.

"When we first met and at dinner, although Bagua hid it well, Bagua's occasional glances at Shikoti still gave away the secret."

Before everything happened, the former Prime Minister of Dumuzi looked at me, it was really familiar~ that kind of vaguely sensual/desireful look, and the casual inadvertence when looking at Shikoti.

"You know, when a man looks at someone else's woman and his own woman, the meaning in his eyes is completely different."

At that time, I still thought it was funny, because the king present did not realize that the color of the top of his head was wrong.

Cursing the corners of my mouth, I raised my gaze, "The king's prime minister looked at the king's concubine the same way he looked at his bed partner, can there be any other answer?"

"Yeah~ At that time, I only paid attention to the stand-in king." Polusalino said leisurely, "His behavior misunderstood me, he was seducing you."

Enough of you bastard!The corner of my mouth twitched fiercely, and I gave him a dead eye. When others are so serious, what are you doing like a jealous husband, idiot!

Bathed in my murderous sight, the corners of Polusalino's lips curled up, his voice was lowered, and his voice was slightly hoarse, "I was very angry at that time, because the centenarian was mine..."

Slightly narrowing his eyes, there was a hint of wickedness in the depths of his pupils, he deliberately paused for a while, and then he pretended to be unintentional and continued, "Companion~"

……

After a brief silence, I clicked my tongue, and I turned away from Polusalino's eyes, and my eyes were flat in mid-air.

"The prime minister has an ulterior relationship with his concubine, and the king either doesn't know about it or can't do anything about it."

"At first, I thought so. After returning to the room, I remembered the special significance of the red berries and nesting dolls in Beihai. I felt something was wrong and left the room to confirm, but it was too late to save the poor man."

"It's not the king who is powerless, that person is a substitute, so Bagua showed his flaws, because in the eyes of the former prime minister, the substitute king is a tool, not even a person."

Putting both hands on the conference table, while thinking back, organizing and embellishing the fragments and details of those memories into words, and finally telling the four men present slowly.

"Actually, there is an important doubt about Bagua's death."

"If you find out that your lover has betrayed you, what would you do if you were someone else?"

"In addition to running away, I will definitely retaliate severely under the unsatisfactory hatred."

"Why didn't Bagua report it to the navy, but sneaked into Shikoti's room to find something?"

Bagua is a person with the door fruit ability, he can escape easily, and even if he wants to take revenge, if he finds the commander of the Ceylon in the first place, the second poisoning will not happen.

This is the strangest part for me, why Bagua didn't find the navy.

"Brigadier General Triton first found him in Bagua's cabin...uh..."

Pausing at this point, I looked at Triton on the other side of the conference table, hesitated for a few seconds, and then continued, "Half body, and then I found the other half in Skoti's room, right?"

Hearing my question, the man at the other end of the long table had weird and sharp eyes.

After a while, he nodded and said slowly, "The death of the devil fruit user caused the ability to disappear. The former prime minister of Dumuzi was cut off by the closed space, and he had already died at that time."

……

"Admiral Triton is a gentle man~"

At the scene of Bagua’s death, the situation is roughly the same as I guessed, because at that time Brigadier General Triton said that the death ability of the capable person disappeared, and that the young girl would be frightened. At that time, I thought that the corpse carried by the guards looked miserable.

"So then I thought that Bagua didn't want to go back to find the antidote before he died, but for another reason."

And that reason... I still need to start from the beginning... It's really troublesome.

I pursed the corners of my mouth, thinking for a moment that I wanted to let other people understand my brain hole... Sometimes the language is really poor, don't these men with piercing eyes and fish lips use their own brains?

I've been talking to myself all the time, like a crazy person, isn't it?

I rolled my eyes to the sky, and in the end I still had to continue to play the two roles like a madman under the watchful eyes of four men with a ball of hair, asking and answering myself.

"Regardless of what Bagua was looking for later, he didn't expose his betrayed lover to the navy, mostly because the woman had something he wanted to protect."

"Atashata concubines are in groups but they can't even lay an egg. The women in the harem can't do it no matter how powerful they are. Besides, Shikoti, who has a lover, is pregnant with a child. The only answer is that Atashata can't do it." .”

"Reverse inference, both Shikoti and Bagua know who the child belongs to."

"For the sake of his child, Bagua wanted to find something that could coerce Shikoti and let the child's mother continue to be obedient, but he overestimated himself, and the result fell short."

"Then, why do adulterous men and women think that the baby will not be discovered after it is born, and it is not of the blood of Atashata?"

"After all, there is the inheritance of New Moon Summoning."

"Shikoti may be confident in Gu Enlude's blood, but isn't Bagua worried? If it is revealed in the future, his children will be the first to die."

"Prime Minister Dumuzi Zuo, a high-ranking official highly trusted by Atashata, that man may have discovered the secrets about the Crescent Ocarina from the king's actions, which made him confident."

"That's why I told him to venture to Shikoti's room to look for it."

……

"What is he looking for?" It was Sakaski who asked the question. At the same time, he reached out and rubbed the hairball that looked like a lynx, and there was a little threat in his gaze, "I can't find Shikoti's room." Here, go back to your room again?"

"Hmm~ I've studied a lot of information on Dumuzi these days." I quickly stared at the round ball of hair rubbing against Sakalski's fingertips, staggered my eyes, and tried not to change my face, "Including the founding king of the country, the hero king , Gurnlud, and portraits of kings, I found..."

"Bai Sui, wait!" Polusalino interrupted me again in mid-sentence, and leaned forward suddenly, with most of his face blocked in my field of vision, "Where did you get those materials? "

"Mail order da~" I blinked my eyes and raised the corners of my mouth triumphantly, "I know an executive from the Great Channel Vendor, he helped me get it~"

The Domzi regime collapsed, and the period of turmoil was a good opportunity for black market merchants to make a fortune. The army that captured the palace was generally only interested in jewelry and gold, and the atlas files in the imperial court were easy to get.

During the voyage of the Ceylon, I sent the news, and within a few days, the postal seagulls airdropped what I wanted~ Maybe it was because I laughed too hard at this moment?Polusalino's eyes suddenly became gloomy, "Why did Bai Sui get to know the senior official of the Great Waterway Trafficker?"

"A country's confidential dossiers, collecting them is an adventure in itself, and being able to take risks for you, that man..." As he spoke, he got closer, and then his tone became serious, "Is it your suitor or your lover? ?”

"When I was looking for the fruit of the operation, I gave him a way to save his life and make money." I shrugged innocently, "Now he has to return my favor~"

The great waterway trafficker sells everything, including information, and usually selling information, the risk is as big as the profit. I pointed out a way for the other party to save his life and make a fortune. No matter what, he always has to pay back the favor.

The archives of the Dumuzi court are not the main text of history, and now the country is in chaos, and collecting them is just a matter of effort.

What's more, among the things I asked the other party to give, some of the extremely precious ones are copies~...

"Are you going to kiss me directly?" Bai Bai glanced over at a close distance, I raised my hand and pressed my head that was almost touching my face, and pushed him away with force with my wrist, "Don't always bring the topic to strange places Ah you guy."

The face pressed against the palm was squeezed a little weirdly, he whimpered but didn't struggle, his eyes rolled around, and a wicked smile appeared in an instant.

As if by some coincidence, I let go of my strength, and immediately felt... my palm was lightly licked.

Quickly withdrew my hand like it was on fire, thought for a while, and rubbed my palm against his clothes vigorously. I didn’t know if it was intentional just after I wiped it off. I frowned on the wet part of the palm that he had licked with his tongue, and reappeared. Look away.

"Where did you just say?" Interrupted by Polusalino, I forgot what I said before.

"Portraits of the kings of all ages." Brigadier General Triton replied in a deep voice, his face seemed calm, but his eyes looked at Polusalino with something intriguing, half mocking, half ironic, as if he had noticed his small movements.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the person next to me looking back without avoiding it, with a faint smile on his lips, and there was an evil charm in his calm expression.

Before the invisible flames of war in the air became more intense, I said in a muffled voice, "There is a common feature among the portraits of all the kings of Dumuzi."

"In all the portraits of kings, they have a bland ring on their left hand."

"However, before the King of Heroes became the king, that ring was worn on Guen Lude's hand."

After the words fell, Polusalino and Brigadier General Triton staggered their eyes, and turned their attention together with the others.

"The only portrait handed down from Guen Lude, her movements are very weird." While talking, I raised my left hand, simulating the posture on the portrait, raised the palm to the side of the face, raised the little finger, and pressed the fingertips in the air What.

"Perhaps the portrait has been carefully tampered with, but the general layout cannot be changed. Does this posture look like she is playing?"

"That ring?" Sakaski was the first to react. Contrary to the magma fruit he ate, the man's presence was always icy cold, and his voice also carried a chill that would last forever, "The key Is it a ring?"

"Maybe—" I put down my hand, and tickled the corner of my mouth, "I can't confirm it if I can't see the real thing, so I say it's only [-]% sure."

After a while, teacher Zefa showed a hint of enlightenment on his face, and said in a hoarse voice, "You collected Dumuzi's dossier and studied it to find the answer, but you kept silent."

"If it wasn't for the failure of the coronation, you actually wanted to keep hiding it?"

His gray-blue pupils looked straight at him, just like his expressionless face, his calm pupils seemed to be able to see through everything, "It's only now that I confess, what do you want the navy to do?"

"Protect Shikoti." I replied calmly, and I didn't reveal my purpose until now, "If my guess is correct and I find that ring, the Navy will protect Shikoti until the child is born."

After a while, Teacher Zefa showed deep anger on his brows, and his tone became even colder, "Thousands of years, if the coronation is successful, New Moon Summoning will use dozens of young women including you."

……

Teacher Zefa's questioning speech caused the remaining three people to cast their gazes over for a moment, and the gazes that fell on them were as sharp as a knife, as if the sharp chill that wanted to cut apart the flesh and bones of a person.

I tightened my fingers unconsciously, pursed the corners of my mouth, and replied coldly, "I'm not the savior."

Perhaps my attitude was too tough at this moment, and the conference room fell into a kind of stalemate.

After a long time, the hand protruding from the side covered the back of my hand. With the warm callused hand, I slowly opened the fisted fingers, "I don't expect a hundred years old to save the world/ host."

Polusalino's voice came with a smile, and there was a slight strange emotion in it, "It's just that your concealment is an expression of distrust, which makes me very sad~"

I was stunned, looked away awkwardly, lowered my eyes, and said in a muffled voice, "I'm sorry—" I chose to hide it, it was indeed my willful act, after all, I once swore to give you trust, and now I am self-destructing my promise.

"Really, I'm sorry." I just can't trust, I can't lie to myself, I can't trust anyone, so, "I'm very sorry."

Turning my head slightly, I found that he was also looking at me with his head tilted. His eyes reflected the light, and there were some spots of light in the blackness. The usual laziness and frivolity faded away, and his expression became soft.

It didn't take long for him to look away, and laughed, "Yeah~ In fact, the Navy headquarters also intends to protect the baby, right? So stop pretending, Mr. Zefa, it will scare her."

"Hundred years old just can't turn the corner occasionally~"

……

"What... what?"

I was stunned for a few seconds, fully digesting the meaning of Polusalino's words, I raised my eyes and looked around, and finally looked at Brigadier General Triton at the head of the conference table.

He looked at me for a few seconds, shrugged, and said calmly, "The headquarters has intervened. Shikoti is temporarily detained on the main ship, and the center also agrees that Judiciary Island will take over instead of the Chitu Continent for direct judgment."

After finishing speaking, there was a long silence, and then he sighed inaudibly, and shook his head helplessly, "Bai Sui, you girl's thoughts are really unpredictable~"

"Justice, does it seem so feeble to you?"

After hesitating for a while, I couldn't ignore the vague helplessness and disappointment cast on my body. I lowered my voice and replied in a low voice, "I believe in justice, but I can't believe in politics."

The so-called [two evils whichever is lesser], no matter in which world, "sacrifices" due to trade-offs can be seen everywhere, and countless grievances are wiped out in the darkness for a greater goal.

Where is the pure distinction between right and wrong, I have experienced it a long time ago~ I closed my eyes, I smiled, suppressed the broken picture that was churning in the depths of my mind, opened my eyes again, and raised my gaze, "In this case, it's okay There is no need to exchange."

"Let's go find clues to that ring."

……

"clue?"

"Isn't it in Bagua's cabin?"

The two classmates, Polusalino and Sakaski, asked questions almost in unison.

"Actually, I really need to go to Bagua's cabin, but—" I stood up and shook my head slowly, "The answer should be with the stand-in king."