Charles thought for a moment and nodded again: "I understand. Your Excellency, I want to apologize to you again. You make sense, really... Although you are very young and Ms. Manello is very old, I still think Your opinion is more..."

Suddenly hearing a certain name, Burris was startled: "Manello?"

"Oh, that's the history teacher I just mentioned," Charles said. "He was a temple knight when he was young, and became a teacher when he retired in old age. Master Manello is very hostile to spellcasters, especially necromancers, sometimes even My father also thinks that he is too stubborn, and he thinks that the knights of my father's territory lack faith..."

"Manero..." Burris repeated the name gently, "Temple Knight Manero? He is an Elder, isn't he? The place where he served was the parish of the Otarot Temple in the north of the mainland. The place in the North Star City..."

"You also know Teacher Manello?" Charles was a little surprised.

Burris sighed: "No, of course I don't know him... my mentor mentioned him. Now he should be... probably 80 years old?"

Charles shook his head: "Ms. Manello passed away three years ago. Although some of his thoughts are extreme, in general, he is a very knowledgeable and responsible teacher."

Burris was in a daze. He was afraid that the boy would see something, so he urged him to go back and take care of his sister. The boy was too attentive to talk just now. He remembered his sister as soon as he was reminded. He immediately bowed to Burris and jogged along the garden path.

According to the flow chart, the banquet should have started, but now the door of the banquet hall is closed, and it is said that the dining table is not yet fully prepared. Obviously, there were some small episodes in the palace, which delayed the arranged process. Guests wandered around in the lounge area and garden promenade, spreading various versions of gossip to each other.

On the way back, Burris had been a little lost. Mage Haida silently led him in front, and did not ask him much about Tarina or Sir Charles. After performing his duty of leading the way, Haidado looked at Burris and finally couldn't help but said: "Your Excellency, forgive me. Your conversation with Sir Charles... I heard a small part of it."

"There's nothing to apologize for, and we didn't talk about any confidential matters." Burris shook his head.

Haida smiled: "You are worthy of being the apprentice of Lord Burris. What you said...looks like his old man."

"He really taught me that." Burris answered awkwardly.

After Haida left, Burris sat in a daze on the stone bench in the promenade until someone poked him in the back from behind. He turned his head, Lot squatted in the perfume rose bushes, looking at him expectantly.

The two stood in a stalemate for a while, and Burris couldn't help asking: "What are you waiting for?"

"I thought I could scare you..." Lot was a little disappointed.

"Oh..." Burris turned back slowly, "It's scary..."

Lott drilled out of the flowers and sat on the stone bench in the long corridor: "You are too perfunctory. If you are not scared, you say you are not scared... By the way, you heard that no, your good apprentice caught a group of assassinating the prince. assassin!"

"Esti caught it?"

"Of course she is not the only one. I just returned to the palace and listened to the guards at the sentry post talking about the whole thing... The prince found a quiet place to personally interrogate the fruit farmers and merchants who sent the durians. Originally, these people shouldn't Enter the palace, and the prince's guard brought them in..."

"Then, the merchant is pretending to be an assassin?"

"Yes!" Lott looked excited, "You are so smart, you are worthy of being a mage. The real fruit growers and caravans left the capital after sending the supplies, and a group of assassins were trying to get into the palace. At this moment, Tarin The news that Na was stunned by durian spread throughout the city. The assassins immediately thought that the prince would definitely not let the durian transporter. They took this opportunity to pretend to be the merchants and wait for the prince to interrogate. The princess went to check the durians, but the princess met these'fruit farmers' who were about to be interrogated."

Burris thought for a while: "Esti is quite powerful, but she can't deal with so many people alone... and she has to be careful not to be discovered as a mage."

"Of course it wasn't the assassin she caught with her own hands." Lott glanced at the far corner of the garden. "Did you see those in black sacrificial robes?"

"Otarot Temple Knight?"

"Yes, they are all of Sir Naylor. The thing is, that group of assassins had Nei Ying dressed as a soldier. After Nei Ying left the post without permission, his captain was looking for him everywhere. This abnormal situation caused Sir Naylor. Attention, he asked the captain about the situation and inquired about the prince’s interrogation of the fruit grower. Maybe he has more combat experience or something. He thought the matter was suspicious, so he took the Templar to search everywhere, and then assisted by the princess. Caught the gang of assassins. The prince's guard and clerks were injured, and the prince himself was fine."

"Why do they want to kill the prince?" Burris asked, "and why didn't they do it in the north, and went to the capital to do it? When the prince's family lived on the road or in the suburbs, the security was worse. It should be a good opportunity for assassination. Why bother to enter the palace with the prince?"

Lott shrugged: "I don't know about that. They must be interrogating the assassin right now, I guess the assassin hasn't confessed... I really want to see it! Burris, you know the princess so well, can you let me watch it? The interrogation process? I really want to watch!"

"The princess doesn't care about interrogation," Burris looked at him in disbelief, "Besides, what are you doing with that? It's not a circus performance, and it has no value for viewing.

"I have always been very interested in human torture culture."

"Violence cannot be called'culture'. And beating is very inefficient. As far as I know, now Sargo’s intelligence agency can not beat people without beating, they will first talk to the prisoner with the sincerity of cooperation. When chatting, if you really can’t get any information, you’ll use Veritaserum.”

"Veritaserum?"

"Yes. It's not the psychedelic that makes people silly. It's a magic potion that allows people to answer questions accurately."

Lot raised his eyebrows: "I guess it must have been made by your factory again."

Burris nodded: "Yes. And it's exclusively for Sargo, not for export."

Lott sighed: "It's amazing. Although there is no torture to extract a confession, I want to see it..."

"Really nothing to see..."

While talking, the door of the banquet hall opened. The moving string music floated out, and the waiters in line began to invite guests in. The royal family members only appeared late. Among them, only Little Tarina could smile naturally, and the other royal family members were all sullen like Esty. Only when they were talking to someone, the Pacias could barely squeeze a smile, while Prince Ranto had been sitting on the side lifelessly, not even eating much food.

The queen gave a short speech, and then the nobles took turns to offer her blessings and gifts. When it was Burris' turn, he presented the gift of "Mage Burris Gelshaw" to the queen as the "Apprentice Kreve"-a sunstone necklace with protective magic. It can protect the wearer from miasma and poison, from being hurt by extreme cold and heat. It can also establish the balance of the body's magnetic field, maintain the skin and delay aging, eliminate fatigue and help sleep...

The Pacias received many gifts from Burris, and each of them pleased them very much. The queen put on the necklace and allowed the "apprentice Kreve" to kiss the back of her hand.

After Burris returned to his seat, Lott came over and asked in a low voice: "I understand the first few magical effects of your necklace. What are the last ones? Build the body's magnetic field balance, maintain the skin, delay aging, eliminate fatigue and help sleep ..."

"Of course it's fake." Burris smiled.

"Can't she feel that it is fake?"

"I have also experienced her age, and I know what ordinary people at this age are pursuing."

"What about you?" Lott asked, "Did you not pursue health and beauty?"

"Don't pursue it."

"No wonder you have old age spots and no hair at all." Lott patted the mage on the shoulder, and pityingly pinched a strand of flax hair.

While Burris was muttering nonsense with Lott, King Pacia and Prince Ranto were looking at him from a distance, whispering something.

Just now when "Apprentice Kreve" presented a gift, King Pacia saw the carnelian ring on his hand. The king had had friendship with the old mage for many years, and he knew that Burris would not easily lend this ring to others.

======================

The cold winter more than sixty years ago.

After entering the rime forest from the plain, Burris has been paying attention to the surroundings, for fear that a monster will suddenly come out. His worries were not unnecessary. After the death of Teacher Illil, many weird experiments broke free of control. The knights have cleared the weirdness in the tower, but there are still several experimental sites in the plains and forests. These places The monster is likely to lie dormant in the misty wind and snow.

He told this worry to the knight walking by the prison wagon. It was a childish-faced young man. The badge on his chest was different from other knights. He was probably just a clergy apprentice.

The boy ran to the front of the team and relayed what Burris had said to the Cavaliers leading the team. After returning, the young man's expression was more nervous than Burris: "Master Kanter said we might have been being followed by something... It doesn't matter, we are all prepared, and the other party is just testing. He should not dare to approach us easily. It’s good after passing through the woods, and the view will be much wider."

A few hours ago, Burris felt that there was a man following them at the end of the Cavaliers lineup, but now that man is missing. He didn't know if the stalker the young knight was talking about was that person, if not, who was following them now...or, what?

"Sir, can I cast spells?" Burris asked.

The boy looked at him in horror: "Of course not!"

"If you allow, I can cast spells to detect whether there is danger around, so you can prepare in advance."

"No, it's definitely not possible," when talking to Burris, the young knight looked at the leader of the detachment in front. "Don't even think about casting spells. The moment you start to chant the spell, we have to put the spear into the prison wagon. . Okay, don’t look at me like that. If you don’t want to be escorted by a broken finger, don’t think about casting spells."

Burris lowered his head in frustration, and the young knight lowered his voice and said, "This is for your good. As long as you behave more obediently, don't use any magic on the road. In the future, all of us can give testimony to the temple in your favor... By the way, your name is Burris Gelshaw?"

Burris nodded listlessly. The boy said again, "My name is Manero, and I am from Elder. You must have noticed that I am much shorter than the average Northwester."

"You will grow taller," Burris said. "The Elders also have more than six feet. I have seen them."...seen in the dungeon of the tower. He did not dare to say the last sentence.

"I hope I will grow taller." The young knight smiled, seemingly happy to relax the mage in the prison car, "I think you are not a local, where is your home?"

Burris shook his head. He didn't know where his hometown was. From the time he remembered, he followed a few adults to serve Yrill until Yrill discovered his talent and turned him from a servant into an apprentice.

His "home" is only the tower on the snowy field... I don't know if it is still burning at this time.