Alien Knights

"I don't think we'll get lost."

Hearing the words of Huggins sitting in the driver's seat, Todd looked around, shrunk his head and nodded slightly: "I think so too..."

The three royal guard knights were in front, and there were sixteen heavy infantry on the left and right sides, followed by eight light cavalry. Todd's five carriages were sandwiched in the middle.

From the corner of Huggins' eyes, he looked at the knight's badge in front of him, and said in a low voice, "It seems that as soon as we got close to Silver Ring City, we were being watched. Otherwise, the queen would not have appeared just after entering the cathedral."

Todd looked at the people on the street who were pointing fingers at this "strange team", and he was still thinking about Bishop Fabian's exhortation just now.

"Listen, Todd! No matter what happens, be patient! restraint! Of the three former bishops here, one fell to his death from a horse, one fell into a river after drinking, and the whereabouts of another is still unknown. These so-called nobles and royal families are all descendants of barbarians, and their nature is cruelty and greed! If you want to live, you must be patient! Learn to restrain! 』

Looking back at the five carts of "grafting roses" behind him, Todd gritted his teeth.

The banquet was arranged in the new house of the Minister of the Interior and Finance. There were many luxurious and gorgeous carriages parked at the door, and the servants and maids were constantly coming and going, giving Todd the illusion of returning to the reception in his previous life.

But what happened next quickly brought him back to reality.

A haggard man in shabby single clothes, urged by the whip behind him, walked to Todd's carriage, fell to his knees with a plop, bent his spine, pressed his forehead on the dirt, and curled up beside the carriage.

Todd opened his eyes and looked up at another nobleman's carriage not far away. A man with a round arm and a thick waist stepped out of the door and stepped on the thin woman who served as a "human floor mat". The latter's back was bent down, there was no pain, no sadness, but only numbness and hopelessness on his face.

"These people are civilians from the northern barbarians captured by the army..." Huggins whispered.

Todd understood the deep meaning of the other party's words, and he closed his eyes due to the great powerlessness, sighed, grabbed the handrail of the carriage with both hands, avoided the man on the ground, and jumped directly to the ground.

The servant who came to welcome him saw Huggins also jumped down, and reached out his hand to stop the latter from following, and said slowly, "Only Father Todd is invited to the dinner party."

Todd gave the angry Hudgens a calm look, turned around and followed the servants into the mansion.

Walking into the hall, a strong sense of incongruity in the decoration blows across your face. The columnar palace of the ancient Tyro period, coupled with the rough and wild gold and silver ornaments in the north, makes the whole space not at all like a residence of nobles, but more like a lair for storing treasures.

Drinks and dishes were served by the servants in whole plates, most of which were things Todd had never heard of. Those in need just nodded or raised their hands, and someone would deliver the small dishes of the meal to the guests.

Todd glanced at the participants of the dinner, most of them were young people, judging from their clothes and manners, they should all be children of noble families. Such a place was indeed not suitable for him, and he began to think of an excuse to get out while looking for Queen Mary.

In fact, finding the queen is very simple. In the thousands-square-meter banquet hall, the most distinguished guests naturally sit in the most prominent positions. Without any effort, Todd saw Queen Mary sitting in the center, sitting on the front seat, surrounded by a large number of dignitary women.

"Your Majesty the Queen..." Todd wanted to take two steps forward, but was blocked a few meters away by several female officers. Looking sideways, a group of men were separated from the periphery just like him.

Just when he was confused and didn't know what was going on. The gentle voice rang in my ears again: "Welcome, Mr. Todd."

Queen Mary's speech immediately attracted everyone's attention, and all kinds of whispers immediately filled the entire hall.

"Look, it's him! Defeated the pirates and regained the crystal relic! 』

"Is this the Holy Son who was tried for heresy? 』

"I heard he called us madmen who only knew war at the crusade!" 』

The queen ignored the voices around her and clapped her hands. The maids brought out a wooden table with a pot of colorful roses on it.

People's emotions were ignited again, and voices of admiration, curiosity, and questions were heard endlessly.

"Mr. Todd, I heard that this pot of roses is a product of Muxi Town. Can you tell me more about it?" Regarding Queen Mary's question, the priest said that the blessing of the heavenly father and the miracle happened, which caused another burst of discussion among the people present.

A young man with a mustache, wearing a woolen shawl, and a large gold ornament on his waist walked up to Todd, squinting his eyes and said with a smile: "Let me introduce myself first. I am Viscount Kennard, the host of this dinner. Father, it is rare to come, why don't you join us in our entertainment?"

"Entertainment"?

Todd sneered secretly.

While pretending to decline, while half pushing, Todd sat down at a round table placed in the center of the hall.

What Mustache took out of the sterling silver box next surprised Todd.

A stack of playing cards crafted from an alloy of silver and copper.

Seeing the other party's surprised expression, Viscount Kennard began to introduce the so-called "entertainment activities" with a satisfied expression: "The game we are going to play next is called "Knights and Pirates". It is the most popular thing in Silver Ring City right now."

"The rules may be a bit complicated for you, but after you get used to it, it will be much simpler." Hearing the Viscount introduce the rules of playing cards he set at the beginning, Todd suddenly felt dumbfounded.

The only thing that made him feel a little fresh was that these nobles also added gambling. If the knight (landlord) wins, the pirates (farmers) can be charged for stakes; if the pirates (landlords) win, the knight (landlord) pays the two pirates (farmers) for stakes. The amount of the bet is calculated by multiplying the number of remaining cards by the corresponding coin. If a party loses without a card being played, the bet is tripled.

Viscount Kennard found another acquaintance nobleman, and started the game of "Knights and Pirates" with Todd.

In the first few rounds, the two nobles deliberately released water, and Todd won a lot.

Soon, the stakes increased from one silver coin per card to five silver coins per card, and finally to ten silver coins.

Todd lost more and more money. After losing the cash, the nobles asked him to use the "grafted rose" on the carriage outside the door to offset the debt.

Knowing that these two bastards must be cheating, Todd suppressed the anger in his heart, meditating on patience and restraint in his heart.

One pot, two pots, three pots... until the tenth pot was paid out, what surprised him was that these greedy silver ring nobles had no intention of stopping at all.

Todd pinched his thigh with his fingers again and again, and he knew that this was definitely not the time to be arrogant.

He thought so at first, until he saw something.

When Todd was exported to the eleventh pot, Viscount Kennard, who had won the excitement, took a sip of the red wine in his glass, frowned, shook the warm liquid in his hand, and snapped his fingers. Under the astonished sight of the priest, the servants pulled out a thin girl of eleven or twelve years old with iron chains and collars.

The girl was barefoot, wearing a sackcloth, a collar of iron spikes around her neck, and a wooden cross hanging on her chest. Her face, arms, and legs were full of old and new wounds.

The viscount handed the bottle containing the red wine to the servant, who stuffed the bottle into the girl's hand, pulled the iron chain in his hand, and the iron spikes on the collar pierced deeply into the wearer's skin, and the dripping blood immediately wet the victim's collar.

Under the pain, the girl burst into tears, and slowly released the icy cold air from her hands, cooling down the liquid in the wine bottle.

Seeing Todd's shocked expression, Viscount Kennard took a sip of the red wine with scum floating in it from the servant, stroked his mustache comfortably, and said to the priest in a mocking tone: "I really don't understand the church's thinking. It's too wasteful to kill all the alien species. No matter how rotten the wood is, it can always find its own place in the stove, can't it?"

A string in Todd's brain... snapped.

Queen Mary counted the number of flower pots and nodded lightly. Just when she was about to announce the end of the game, Todd stood up and said to everyone with a blank expression: "Don't you think this game is too slow? Since you want to play, why don't you come to a big game?!"

"Fucking patience and restraint! 』