A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

Basha and his men have been waiting in the secret passage for a long time.

He is like a poisonous snake hiding in the dark, patiently and quietly waiting for the opportunity to come.

In the battle two evenings ago, his fleet was beaten to the ground and countless pirates surrendered. Seeing that there was nothing he could do, he made a prompt decision, took a dozen of his henchmen, put on old clothes of poor citizens, abandoned the ship and jumped into the sea to escape.

Before escaping, he also ordered the pirate warships in the distance to break out with flags and fight to the death, attracting everyone's attention.

In the end, two or three warships successfully broke through and escaped. Everyone thought he was on those ships, so they pursued him one after another. But no one thought that Basha would do the opposite and sneak into the city as a poor civilian while people were busy after the war.

How could he run away with his tail between his legs like a lost dog?

This pirate leader who had the ambition to become a powerful presence on this sea sneered in his heart.

Don't think that you have lost just because your fleet has been defeated.

You know, the one who laughs last is the winner.

After capturing Taka, the former Tozes navy commander, he tortured him, completely breaking the guy's proud spine, and forced him to confess everything without reservation.

One of the things Taka said caught Basha's attention, which was why Basha made up his mind to sneak into the city.

Taka said that in order to secretly transport important slaves, hide large sums of finance, and secretly communicate with the consul, his brother and the consul secretly built a tunnel under the consul, one leading directly to his brother's home, and the other leading to the consul's house. Go to the ruins somewhere in the lower city.

Taka also said that the prince lived in the consulship.

So, Basha had a plan in mind.

Instead of running away in despair like now, completely defeated and never having a chance to turn around... He would rather risk his life and take a risk.

You know, pirates have always been desperadoes.

Instead of living in vain from now on, he would rather risk his life and take a gamble!

As long as he wins the bet, he can make a comeback!

After sneaking into the city, Basha and his party, led by Taka, sneaked into the secret passage and soon got into the underground of the ruling government.

What excited Basha was that among the exits in the consul's room, there happened to be one exit right at the prince's current residence.

It's like God is helping him.

He and his men waited patiently for a long time at the secret exit. Finally, when there was no one else in the room, they immediately filed out, knocked the sick prince unconscious and kidnapped him.

At this moment, the group of people had climbed out of the narrow section and reached a wider area.

Everyone moved forward quickly with their heads down, but except for Taka, who was tied up and had a sad face, the faces of the other pirates could not hide their excitement.

As Basha walked, he kept looking sideways at the sack carried by his subordinate. When he thought about who was in that sack, he felt extremely happy.

Even if he is as noble as the prince of a country, it has not fallen into his hands.

His narrow eyes narrowed slightly, Basha thought in a good mood.

As long as he has this prince in his hands, everyone in Tozes will be at his mercy.

He pondered.

First, the army must release all captured pirates.

Of course, all the ships must be handed over... Unfortunately, there are not enough manpower now to sail them all away, but it doesn't matter, the ones that can't be taken away will be burned on the spot.

Then, let them hand over enough possessions and women...

Basha's eyes flashed with ferocity.

However, even if the Tozeth man fulfilled all his demands, he would not return the prince who had ruined his good deeds.

You know, the reason why I ended up in such a miserable end is because of this brat!

Otherwise, Tozes City would have been in his possession long ago.

When the time comes, he will chop off the head of Prince Aaron Landis in front of everyone when he leaves with his belongings loaded with goods.

He wants everyone to know the consequences of daring to go against Basha!

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Not long after the pirates left with the prince, rapid footsteps came from outside the quiet room. The footsteps were very messy, and it was obvious that there was more than one person.

With a bang, the door was pushed open, and dark boots stepped into the room first.

The next second, the boots suddenly stopped.

There was no one in the empty room.

There was no figure of the blond boy who was supposed to be sleeping on the snow-white bed.

Several doctors who followed him through the door looked around in astonishment, but could not find the prince.

what happened?

They thought in confusion and glanced at each other.

Heimos rushed to the bedside in a few steps, reached out and lifted the quilt. There was still warmth in the quilt, and it was obvious that Gallan was still lying here a few minutes ago.

A slight breeze came from behind. He turned around suddenly and saw that the wooden window that he had closed with his own hands not long ago to prevent draft leakage was now wide open.

His breathing paused for a second at this moment, and his body also paused for a moment.

"What's going on? Why are you gathered here?"

A loud voice came from outside, and the blond knight reached out to push aside the doctor and maid who were blocking the door and talking to each other, and strode in.

A strong man with a dark complexion, rough skin, and an extremely burly figure came in behind him. There was a tattoo on the man's muscular upper arm that represented his status as a slave.

"Prince Heimos?"

As soon as he saw the scene in the room, Kehos, who had brought that special slave in his prime to see Garlan, felt a shiver in his heart.

He came over quickly.

"What happened? Isn't His Highness Garlan resting here?"

Heimos ignored him. He stood beside the bed, his face gloomy, and his whole body exuded a terrible aura.

Before Caijos reached the bed, he suddenly turned around and took a few steps to the large open window.

At a glance, he saw a torn piece of cloth hanging on the edge of the window, fluttering in the wind. He reached out and pulled off the cloth strip, holding it in his hand and looking at it carefully.

Cayjos had followed him to the window.

Seeing the current scene and Heimos' actions, his heart sank deeply.

He glanced at the piece of cloth in Heymos' hand and asked in a low voice: "Has His Highness been kidnapped? Is he a remnant of pirates?"

Heimos did not answer, but suddenly tightened the cloth strip in his hand, and the blue veins were faintly visible on the back of his hand.

The look from those golden-red eyes staring out the window was extremely terrifying.

He turned around suddenly and shouted sharply at the black-armored knights who heard the sound and were already standing at the door.

"The entire city is under martial law immediately! Close the city gates! No one is allowed to enter or exit!"

Caihos followed closely behind him.

"Let's search separately!"

The knight outside the door nodded solemnly and was about to disperse immediately. They guarded the door but did not notice that someone sneaked into the room and took the prince away. It was their dereliction of duty.

If they hadn't known that the most urgent thing at the moment was to find the prince, they would have directly apologized at this moment.

The middle-aged slave man who followed Caijos showed a puzzled look as soon as he entered the door. He sniffed hard with his nose, as if he smelled some lingering smell in the air. Then, he walked around the house, his sharp gaze like a beast scanning the entire house from top to bottom.

Finally, his eyes fell on one place.

When Huymos and Keyhos were about to rush out of the room, he stopped them.

"Sir, if you rush out like this, the prince will be taken away."

His words caused Heimos and Kehos to stop abruptly.

The two of them turned their heads at the same time and looked at him.

The man didn't waste any time, just grabbed a chair and smashed it. The wooden chair shattered with the sound, leaving only a chair leg in his hand.

The man quickly walked to the fireplace and stabbed the inside of the fireplace with his wooden leg.

After several pokes, there was a dull sound at first, but then there was a sudden popping sound. It was obvious that the place where the chair leg hit was not made of solid masonry, but seemed to be empty inside.

The man thought to himself, it is indeed so.

Cleaning dusty hearths was generally a slave's job, and he had done it many times before becoming a gladiator.

When he came in and took a look around just now, he felt that something was wrong with the fireplace. It seemed that it was too clean and there was no trace of years of filth.

The next second, he exerted more force, and there was a loud clang in the room. He used brute force to knock open the secret door, revealing a passage that was half a person tall.

Without saying a word, the man lowered his head and bent over and climbed in.

Leaving the situation of the executive government in the hands of Seth, who hurriedly arrived, Heimos and Kayhos went straight into the secret passage with their knights.

Seeing all the traces left in the secret passage, everyone felt nervous. It seemed that the prince must have been taken away from here by the remnants of the pirates. Suddenly, they quickened their pace to catch up.

But halfway through the chase, I encountered another problem. The secret passage bifurcated halfway and led in two directions.

Judging from the traces in the secret passage, there are traces of people leaving on both of these passages.

There was really no time to think carefully now, and there was no room for mistakes. Heimos and Kayhos simply divided their forces into two groups, each picked a path and hurriedly pursued them.

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After rushing in the secret passage for a long time, Basha, who was always thoughtful, deliberately divided three or four of his men at the fork and asked them to tie Taka to the secret passage leading to Taka's brother's house in the upper city.

Although he felt that it would take a while for the secret passage to be discovered, but if it was discovered, this could delay or reduce the number of pursuers.

He got in from the entrance of the secret passage in the remote ruins of the Lower City. He left two confidants guarding the entrance and ordered them to do two more things while they were guarding there.

Now that the prince has been successfully kidnapped, he naturally has to get out from there.

When they reached the end of the secret passage, the entrance to the secret passage was blocked by two wooden boards. Basha squatted in the corner and knocked on the wooden boards again and again, using the knocking sound to send out the agreed-upon code. At the same time, his hands tightened on the waist. With the scimitar, he tensed his body and was ready to attack, assuming an attack posture ready to explode at any time.

Not long after, there was another signal tapping sound outside, which was the code he and his men had agreed upon in advance.

He breathed a sigh of relief and put down his scimitar.

Soon, the wooden door was opened, and firelight shone in from the outside.

It was already dark outside, and two men arranged by Basha were waiting at the door with torches.

When they saw Basha coming out with his companions, the two men also breathed a sigh of relief.

Basha climbed out of the secret passage with the four people behind him.

Because they were so nervous and rushed all the way, everyone was sweating profusely and panting. Especially the pirate carrying the sack was so tired that his forehead was soaked with sweat.

He put the sack he was carrying on the ground, sat down on the ground, and gasped for air.

Basha wanted to confirm whether the prince was still unconscious, and was a little worried that he would be suffocated in the sack, so he stepped forward, tore open the sack and released him.

The young boy who was released lay on the ground, tilting his head slightly, revealing the slender and white side of his neck.

Her long golden hair was scattered all over the floor, like molten gold dripping all over the floor.

The light of the torch reflected on the soft and fair skin, and the bit of bright red it burned added an indescribable color of temptation to the fair complexion.

The loose clothes fell loosely, revealing half of the graceful shoulders, and the curve of the sunken collarbone outlined was extremely attractive.

The boy closed his eyes, slightly opened his pale pink lips, and breathed out quickly.

Fine sweat oozed from the thin red skin. He frowned, with a somewhat suppressed expression of discomfort. His eyelashes like butterfly wings trembled slightly from time to time, and the tips of the eyelashes inexplicably seemed to sweep over people. Deep in my heart.

The air around them seemed to be still for a moment. Several pirates kept their gazes fixed and their breathing stagnant. Even Basha was quiet for a moment.

After a while, the pirate with the torch swallowed a mouthful of saliva and spoke softly.

"Boss, this little prince... is so handsome."

"idiot."

Basha gave the pirate who spoke a hard slap on the head and said sternly.

"Hurry up, don't rest. If those guys find out that the prince is missing, and the whole city is under martial law, it will be difficult for us to get out."

While he ordered a pirate guarding the entrance of the secret passage to carry the prince on his back, he urged the pirates who were resting on the ground to get up and rush on the road at night.

Under his stern urging, several pirates who had only rested for less than a few minutes stood up.

A pirate was bending down and reaching out, intending to carry the unconscious prince on his back.

The other pirate holding a torch turned around and found a rope next to the secret passage. It was something the two of them had arranged according to the boss's instructions when they were guarding the secret passage.

He drew his scimitar and planned to cut the tight rope.

Basha looked up at a distant place in the night. In front of him was a huge area of ​​ruins, which were the ruins of the temple. The incomplete hall was still standing, and the broken pillars collapsed. There were many ruins in the ruins of the temple. A few wooden boards and fabrics were scattered.

Bypassing the ruins, he rushed to the river not far away, where a fast boat would be waiting to pick him up.

As long as he takes the prince hostage on the ship...

The startling glimpse he had just seen under the firelight flashed through his mind, and he felt a little warm in his heart.

At that time, I was in a hurry and didn't pay much attention to see it. But now I see that this little prince is indeed good-looking.

In all his years of life, this was the first time he saw such a beautiful person.

Although I decided not to return the prince, it seemed a bit wasteful to chop off the head of such a beautiful boy.

Basha thought.

Anyway, he has always been indifferent to men and women.

It's better to hide this little prince, train him well, and make him his favorite...

Just when Basha was smugly imagining a future where he would lead countless pirates, drive countless pirate warships, and take the beautiful young prince to the sea, suddenly, there was a sound of breaking through the air.

A sense of crisis suddenly surged into my heart.

Basha instinctively hid.

With a whoosh, a sharp arrow missed his back, but still pierced his body hard, piercing his chest all at once.

Several wailing sounds were heard around him, and then there was the sound of a heavy body falling to the ground.

He escaped this fatal arrow, but his men did not have the same ability and luck as him, and they were pierced through the throat and heart by sharp arrows shot from the secret passage.

As soon as Basha turned around, he saw that his men had fallen to the ground, their eyes wide open, their pupils dilated, and they were breathless.

They were all killed by one arrow.

His pupils shrank violently, and he subconsciously looked into the secret passage from which the sharp arrows were shot.

In the dark passage, in the weak firelight, a pair of golden-red eyes looked from a distance full of evil intent.

The cold light in his eyes was extremely frightening.

That look actually made him, a vicious pirate, tremble in fear for a moment.

But after that moment of fright, Basha's ferocity as a pirate was completely aroused.

With a ferocious look on his face, he actually faced a few more arrows that were shot at him, letting the arrows pierce his shoulders and legs. He desperately slammed the wooden door at the entrance of the secret passage with a fierce sound. .

Then, he turned around and slashed hard with the scimitar in his hand, cutting off the rope that his men had not had time to cut.

With a loud bang, the rubble piled up above the sloping tunnel entrance suddenly fell, burying the tunnel entrance tightly.

Basha stood panting at the entrance of the secret passage holding a scimitar, with several arrows stuck in his body, one of which penetrated his chest.

He stood in the dark night, looking at the tunnel entrance blocked by rubble, looking at the corpses of his men on the ground, and listening to the crashing sound coming from the buried tunnel entrance.

The bet was lost.

He gritted his teeth and thought.

He lost the bet again.

His eyes turned to the young man who was still lying quietly on the ground and sleeping.

His eyes were ferocious, and his face was even more ferocious.

Basha made an extremely terrible and crazy decision at this moment.

He bent down to pick up a torch that fell on the ground, then bent down again and lifted Garlan on his shoulders.

Then, he used his last strength to stagger towards the ruins of the temple not far away.

Behind him, in the entrance to the secret passage blocked by rubble, dull crashing sounds continued to sound in the night.

On the road he walked, drops of blood fell on the ground.

…

Step by step, fighting for his last breath, Basha carried Garlan into the depths of the ruins of the temple.

The road he walked on was stained with blood.

His burly body was swaying all the way, as if he would fall down at any time. But he gritted his teeth and held on for dear life.

He clenched his teeth so hard that the muscles in his face began to spasm and twitch.

After making several detours in the ruins of the temple and walking deep into the ruins, Basha put Garlan down.

Then, he walked back step by step.

Walking around the outside of the ruins, he smelled the faint smell of oil in the air.

He grinned.

That's what he asked the two men who stayed behind to do, spread oil around the ruins, and set it on fire when they escaped, so as to distract the pursuers.

Basha stood at the entrance to the ruined hall.

Blood was oozing from the corners of his mouth.

He stood there grinning ferociously and threw the torch in his hand onto the pile of discarded wood.

With a bang, the oil-stained wood suddenly burst into flames, and the flames spread in all directions in an instant.

In just a few minutes, the ruined hall burst into flames.

In the dark night, red flames surrounded Basha in the ruins.

He stood in the flames, laughing hysterically and maniacally.

I lost.

Don’t even think about winning!

I want all of you to just watch your prince die in the sea of ​​​​fire with me, a damn pirate!