Henry the gryphon soared over the Fallen Star Mountains, where the steep ridges, dangerous swamps, and towering snow peaks all became unobstructed flat land under its figure that stood shoulder to shoulder with the clouds.
Listening to the whistling wind in his ears and feeling the overwhelming pressure on his face, Todd lay on Henry's back, feeling so happy that he wanted to sing loudly.
This feeling that is difficult to describe with pen and ink belongs to those wanderers who have traveled ten years and are on their way home. The feeling becomes stronger the closer they get to their hometown.
This high-altitude journey lasted for eleven hours. After stopping twice to rest, with the third takeoff, one person and one bird quickly approached the border of Muxi Kingdom.
Watchfort, Silver Ring City, North Stone Fortress, these places that Todd was familiar with passed by one by one, and finally, in his field of vision, dotted villages and houses appeared.
Todd patted Henry's neck and shouted happily: "This is Muxi Kingdom! This is my kingdom!"
The latter let out a loud cry, flapped its wings faster, and accelerated towards the distant city.
Sitting on the back of the griffin, Todd looked down and saw the endless buildings on the ground, which made him secretly frightened.
Only half a year after leaving, so many immigrants have gathered in the surrounding area, flying all the way from the border, almost ten kilometers away. Muxi City has not yet arrived, but the housing clusters in the immigration area outside the city are getting denser and denser, and occasionally there are
You can see open-air theaters, parks, entertainment streets, markets, and other functional buildings that can only be seen in ordinary towns.
After flying forward for more than a minute, the buildings became taller and taller, the facades became more luxurious, and densely packed residents shuttled through the streets, like a gurgling river that never stopped flowing.
The urban area of Muxi City is already in front of you.
A huge castle under repair stands on the hills of the royal city; countless luxurious buildings are scattered in the center of the city.
Todd told Henry in the soul space that he could lower the height.
The griffin folded its wings slightly, tilted its body, and flew quickly toward the city below.
Suddenly, a deafening alarm bell sounded in Muxi City. People looked at the figure swooping down in the sky, screamed, and hid in the nearest building noisily.
Heavily armed soldiers lined up from the outpost, set up a shield formation, raised their spears, and tightened their bowstrings in the direction of the griffon's landing.
Todd, who was riding a griffon and swooping towards the ground, suddenly realized that he had forgotten something extremely important.
Before leaving, he actually forgot to inform Muxi City officials that he would return today...
He quickly ordered Henry to stop diving, spread his wings, raise his altitude, and each bird began to hover in the air.
Todd immediately entered the soul space, called Cumberland and Huggins, and asked them to order the army to immediately lift the alert and withdraw their weapons.
A few minutes later, a frantic Cumberland rode his war horse and galloped all the way from the Knights' headquarters to Muxi Square. While waving his whip, he loudly ordered all the soldiers to line up to meet him.
Huggins was the second to arrive. Unable to ride a horse due to a spinal injury, he asked his subordinates to drive a carriage and rush to the square as quickly as possible. As soon as they got off the car, they quickly arranged for government officials to clear the place as quickly as possible and mobilized the Kingdom's honor guard.
The residents hiding around saw this strange scene in front of them, and they became curious and talked about it. Some brave people even ran out of the building and hid on the edge of the square, looking up at the monster in the sky.
Ten minutes later, Todd, who was riding a griffin and hovering in the air, saw that everything was ready below, and then he allowed Henry to slowly descend, and finally landed in the center of the square.
Someone with sharp eyes recognized Todd's identity and shouted excitedly: "It's the Holy Son! The one riding on the monster is the Holy Son!"
After confirming the identity of the visitor, the residents of Muxi City rushed to tell each other, and the news spread quickly throughout the city as if it had wings.
The entire royal city was boiling, with docks, workshops, markets, taverns... people walked out of all kinds of places and gathered into a huge flow of people, rushing towards Muxi Square.
Watching Todd turn over and get off the griffin, Cumberland first looked at the legendary war beast in confusion, and then at the tanned king wrapped in fur. He was speechless for a moment and didn't know what to say.
Huggins was busy directing the soldiers and subordinates, trying his best to maintain order in the square.
Todd looked around at the familiar yet unfamiliar scenes around him, and laughed and said, "I'm back!"
Two hours later, the public bathhouse was opened.
Soaking in the vast and endless bathing pool, enjoying the warmth from the hot water, the fatigue all over the body seems to flow out of the body through the pores.
Todd exclaimed with enjoyment: "A long time ago, I wanted to book a bath by myself, and today I finally got my wish."
An unexpected voice ruined his rare and wonderful moment: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid I have to remind you that there are hundreds of officials waiting for you outside the door."
Todd glanced sideways at Huggins, who was sitting on the bench, and shouted angrily: "You can also wait for me outside, do you have to sit here and watch me take a shower?!"
"The officials in the kingdom are worried that you will slip away without saying a word again..." Huggins made a running motion with his hand, tilted his head and smiled: "You understand."
Todd shook his head helplessly, turned his face to the ceiling, and said softly: "Tell me, what happened in the kingdom while I was away?"
"Well, let me think about it, your palace has been basically completed, Muxi Cathedral is in the process of structural capping, the farmland in the immigration area has achieved a bumper harvest, nearly a thousand administrative staff have been recruited for the official examination, Muxi College is in the process of superpowers and
Great progress has been made in scientific and technological research..."
Todd waved his hand to interrupt Huggins: "You should know that these are not the things I want to hear."
Huggins sighed: "Just last month, a civil war broke out among the North Islanders. The cause was the distribution of trade profits between the tribes, and later evolved into a full-scale war for dominance. Including the Talon tribe, the Black Skull tribe,
Hundreds of North Island tribes in the tribe participated in this battle. Some members of the North Island Knights left the army and returned to their respective tribes. The successor scouts are currently investigating the specific details of the situation, so this matter is not
There was no discussion at the meeting.”
Todd frowned and asked, "What are the opinions within the kingdom?"
"The military faction headed by Mr. Cumberland hopes to use force to intervene in this civil strife, with the ultimate goal of conquering the North Island tribe and incorporating them into the Muxi Kingdom; Mr. Emerson's Privy Council hopes to use diplomacy to
Ease the conflicts among the tribes in the North Island and promote compromise and consensus between the various forces. Within the kingdom, the number of supporters of these two plans is about 50% to 50%."
Todd closed his eyes: "Both of these methods have problems with feasibility... Are there any more?"
"About Silver Ring City, we discovered some potentially important things during the cleaning and reconstruction process. You should go and see it if you have the opportunity."
With a lazy hum, Todd snorted: "If I have time, I will go. Is that all?"
"Just the day before yesterday, Pope Alexander sent an open letter..."
Todd opened his eyes suddenly, sat up from the water, looked at Huggins and said in a deep voice: "What did he say?!"
"The church claimed to initiate a mediation and ordered Muxi Kingdom to transfer Silver Ring City and allow it to be incorporated into the territory of Holy Acropolis as a reward for the latter's heroic resistance to the northern barbarians."
"A bunch of shameless bastards!"
Huggins shrugged: "The envoy from Holy Acropolis arrived in Muxi City a week ago."
With a face full of anger, Todd sneered: "Are you in such a hurry to take over the territory?"
A strange look appeared on Huggins' face, and what he said confused Todd.
The envoy from the Holy Acropolis has come to ask for your help.