Chapter 16

Joyce laughed, walked over, knelt on one knee, Uther raised his hand lazily, asked Joyce to kiss his hand, and said, "May the dame light bless you."

"May the Holy Light be with you too, Your Majesty." Joyce laughed.

Alex saluted Ibran, and Ibran just nodded and said, "Sit down, we have to wait for a few more people to start the meal."

The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier. Joyce and Alex sat on the sofa by the side of the stove, playing cards casually. Uther got up and went to the study. Joyce glanced at Alex and curiously said: "I thought he would invite all priests passed the test to dinner."

Ibran was sitting at the dining table with a deck of cards in his hand, and said, "He just fond of you very much."

"Who are we waiting for?" Joyce asked curiously, "Bishops?"

Another guardian knight came over, sat down beside Alex, and said, "Wait for my brothers."

Joyce understood. The Pope planned to wait for all the guardian knights to start the meal. Alex smiled and said, " Angros, didn't you go to the Duchy of Tucker?"

"Temporary mobilization brought me back." The knight named Angros in his thirties, with a beard, replied: "The undead army in the Northern Rift disappeared overnight, and we did not continue to pursue further."

Joyce asked in surprise: "But haven't you already won the battle and returned with the Saintess of Light?"

Alex explained: "Only most of the trainee knights came back. They are trying to find the enemy's lair. If nothing else, there might be an eternal cemetery under the Klan Mountains. What about Ray? I haven't heard it for a long time since last have seen him."

Ibran said: "He was sent to Shangri-La Port to pass the Pope's secret order to the alchemists. If nothing happened, he should be back tonight. You can ask him yourself."

As he was speaking, another knight came in, covered with rain and thunder outside.

"This damned weather!" The long hair knightly said and nodded to Joyce, patted Alex on the shoulder by the way. Apparently, he also knew Alex during the training camp.

Then came another blond knight. He had a hair color similar to Odin. He was very handsome and unsmiling. He came in and said, "Where is Uther?"

Ibran asked: "In the study, what's the situation in the Duchy of Tucker?"

"Not very good." The blonde knight replied, "But the mercenary king still agreed to borrow us troops, they are already on the way." Finished the talk, he went to the study next door to find Uther.

Ibran, Angros, Long Haired Knight, Blond Knight, there are four, and three more. Joyce recalled that the seven Paladins seemed to be there when Uther canonized him as a priest that day, but he only had a quick glance at that time and couldn't remember what they looked like. It seems that these knights are all living in Pope's home together, so how do they allocate it every night? One night per person? Or will Ibran account for a few more days?

Ibran seemed to see through Joyce's thoughts, and said casually: "You will know later."

Joyce was immediately embarrassed, and Alex smiled: "Joey said, I will be more than enough for him."

"Uther used to say the same thing." Ibran spread the cards indifferently and said to Alex: "But sometimes, only relying on the strength of the knight commander obviously puts too much pressure on him. On your shoulders, sometimes, you have to make a choice."

Joyce hummed, and Ibran said again: "Alex is your loyal knight, but he is not an omnipotent god. Fate makes people drift away, and sometimes they have to be separated by fate. The power is too weak if there were only two people. Use your holy light to gather those who love you around to fight against stronger enemies. I believe you will gradually understand this truth after the upcoming field travels in the near future."

"The power of the Holy Light is bestowed." Angros smiled: "How many wives does your father have?"

Joyce thought for a while, and knew that his father had four wives. Except for Joyce's mother, there didn't seem to be any major problems in his palace.

Ibran wanted to say something more. At this time, another knight rushed in, wrapped in wind and rain. Then, a flash of lightning illuminated his face. It was Ray.

"Sitar and Shago won't make it tonight." Ray took off his cloak and said with a gloomy profile: "I suggest we start dinner now."

Uther came out from the side, and Ray stepped forward and kissed his lips.

"I'm praying for you," Uther said worriedly and touched his face.

Ray replied: "There is no major trouble, but I ran into a hell knight who seemed to be here to scout. I chased him and lost him."

Joyce frowned, but Alex asked, "Hell Knight?"

"Riding a nightmare horse." After Ray said this sentence, he walked into the study. After a while, the five knights all changed into normal uniforms and came over to sit down in the dining room. Uther took the main seat, with Ibran on his left. There are several knights in sequence, the third and seventh places are empty.

Joyce and Alex sat on his right hand side, and the maid brought supper and began to eat.

After a few greetings, it was nothing more than expecting that Alex would be promoted to the guardian knight, and then asked about the lives and traditions of Shaq Kingdom, Joyce answered with a smile, thinking of the hell knight incident, He always a little worried. He wanted to ask Uther, but didn't know how to say it. Instead, Uther asked first: " The Shaq Kingdom has been guarding the treasure of the King of Heroes for generations, Do you have any more records about him?"

Joyce hesitated: "More... records..."

Uther said casually: "I mean except for the official documents and legends."

Ibran interfaced: "For example, , is there any news about the King of Heroes leaving the mainland circulating in your families."

Joyce recalled the family legend about his mother's origin, after all, the queen of Shaq's kingdom was a side branch of the hero king.

"I remember you warned Odin." Alex took Joyce's plate, cut a piece of meat for him, and asked, "Using the Dragon God Magic Orb will curse the body."

"Yes." Joyce pondered for a moment, and then said: "But this is not a legend, just a speculation, the power of the Dragon Magic Orb is too strong."

"After he buried the fragments of the Dragon God Magic Orb, he obviously disappeared from the mainland." Uther thoughtfully said: "Are there any songs that say where he went?"

Joyce remembered and said: "He once said that he would sleep in the Northern Rift to suppress the undead army. Your Majesty, do you think they are...hiding in the catacombs of the King of Heroes."

Uther did not speak. On both sides of the long table, there was only the sound of knives and forks hitting the plates. Joyce said: "I don't think it is possible. After all, he was once a Paladin and knew how to use the Holy Light. It stands no reason that his corpse could be profaned. I prefer to believe that him to be close to the pure spirit form of light before he died, just like..."

"Light of Saintess." Ibran said: "This is consistent with our analysis."

"What about his dragon?" Uther said again.

Joyce was quiet, and Uther's idea made him feel a bit dangerous, but since the King of Heroes is dead, he shouldn't ignore his mount.

"Say something relaxing." Angros smiled and said, "Where are you going to travel?"

"Your travel documents are still in my study." Uther said lightly: "I used it as a cup coaster. I will give it to you tomorrow."

All the knights laughed, and Alex replied: "It doesn't matter, we are thinking of staying in the Golden City for a few more days."

"Let's go after the Festival of Grace." Angros threw a piece of bread, and Alex raised his hand to take it. Ibran nodded and said, "By the way, you can take a look at the fireworks."

Uther said again: "If you are willing to set the first stop in Shangri-La, you might as well send me a message to the alchemy master Hilma."

"What are you talking about?" Joyce was full, put down his knife and fork, wiped his mouth, and took a sip of wine.

Ibran said: "Please come to the Holy See in person if he has time, I believe he will be willing."

"Okay." Joyce said: "If I meet him smoothly, I will tell him."

"You know." Angros smiled: "thanks to his temper, Ray is always blocked by him."

Alex saw that several guardian knights seemed to have something to say, so he stopped delaying, got up and said politely, "May the soul of the King of Heroes be with you, let's call it night."

Joyce stepped forward again and kissed Uther's hand before leaving Alex.

In the dark, Alex said, "I will carry you on my back."

The two were wearing a cloak, and Alex walked through the corridor with Joyce on his back. Joyce said, "Did you hear what they said? If the King of Hero's mount... the ancient ice dragon, after death was resurrected by the Lich, what should we do?"

"Probably not." Alex said, "I don't know much about magic, but they also need to make complete preparations, Joey, you see, they obviously came back from a task trip tonight, maybe they are prepared for the worst. "

Joyce hummed, when he returned to the room, Alex was almost wet, took off his clothes, embraced Joyce naked, whispered love, and rubbed each other's skin, Joey was panting and said, "I like the feeling of rain."

"You will feel it often," Alex whispered in his ear.

They breathed each other's breath and were entangled in one place on the rainy night in winter.

Thunder and lightning became more frequent. In the middle of the night, Joey awakened again. Hearing that there was something torn up in the distant sky, the holy energy was shaking violently.

"Teacher?" Joyce found that Alex was not by his side, and immediately sat up anxiously. The quilt still carried Alex's body temperature and a faint smell of sweat. He got dressed and saw a mess in the hallway. People are running towards the tower.

"Where you go?" Joyce asked.

Another flash of lightning flashed across the sky, Joyce's face was full of water, and he felt that Alex was in a high place. Before he had time to ask, he ran into the tower and climbed the spiral staircase to the top.

"Go down, the priest! It's none of your business!" someone shouted.

"Teacher!" Joyce shouted.

Alex was on the Feather of Uriel, one of the two tallest towers in the city. When he looked back and saw Joyce, he walked through the crowd in the rain, took his hand, and walked barefoot to the edge of the platform. His sturdy body is only wearing a trench coat, and Joyce is wrapped in the trench coat, and it closely adheres to his warm body.

The entire platform is full of knights who were awakened in the middle of the night, and in the dark distance, bolts of lightning strewn across each other, forming a huge vortex. In the whirlpool, there seemed to be some dark beast roaring hoarsely.

"What's that?" Joyce couldn't believe it. Everyone stared at that scene in torrential rain.

"Knights! Put on your armor! Ready to fight--!" someone shouted.

Everyone on the platform ran up to the stairs, and Joyce immediately said, "Wait!"

Alex took Joyce and said, "Go back to the room and pray for me, Joey."

"Not now!" Joyce said, "That's a teleportation array! They are about to teleport something!"

"So they must kill their magicians in advance..." Alex looked out from the window of the tower, and saw that the flying horse had rushed out of the city of gold, dressed in holy light.

"I can't find them!" Joyce replied anxiously, covered in water, "The Space Mage will hide himself in the light. Only during the daytime you can locate them by the distorted outline of the air. It is night now..."

"Listen to me," Alex said seriously.

Joey nodded. The knights in the courtyard had already gathered. Alex stopped talking, and asked Joyce to go back to the room and say, "Take care of yourself."

"If it doesn't work, don't force it," Joyce said, and he put his arms around Alex's neck and leaned forward.

With a deep kiss, Alex put on his armor and rushed out of the courtyard.

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