Unable to shirk Leoric's invitation, Todd sat down in front of the chessboard and looked at the chess pieces in front of him. What he was thinking about was the situation in the Holy Acropolis. For a while, he didn't know how to move the pieces.
Leoric looked at the opponent, slowly put down the chess piece in his hand, and said slowly: "My child, I want to thank you."
Todd raised his head in surprise: "Thank me?"
Leoric sighed: "I have never spoken to my daughter since the day she got married. But this morning, Mary suddenly came to me and said she wanted to meet someone... that person is you.
"
Todd suddenly understood and opened his mouth to explain the relationship between the two: "She and I..."
Leoric stretched out his hand to stop him and said with a smile: "I don't want to know what's going on between you. What I know is that Mary has a trustworthy friend in the Holy Acropolis. That's enough.
Already."
After hearing what the other party said, Todd gave up his intention to explain and fell silent.
Leoric raised his head and looked at the blue sky, threw the chess pieces in his hand into the chessboard, and stood up with difficulty: "It's rare to have such good weather, it's such a waste to play chess, take a walk with an old guy like me.
Bar."
Just as he took the first step, Leoric's aging joints and weak muscles made Leoric's legs weak and he almost fell to the ground.
Todd quickly stepped forward and stretched out his hand to help him, but unexpectedly Leoric pushed his hand away and growled in a low voice: "Don't touch me! I can still walk!"
The murderous aura that had been immersed in the battlefield for a long time, and the majesty displayed by being in a superior position, made Todd look at Leoric for a moment, as if he really saw a ferocious beast that chose people to eat.
Seeing the astonishment on Todd's face, Leoric shook his head helplessly and whispered: "I'm sorry, my vigilance regardless of the occasion has already destroyed my etiquette. Please forgive me for this old man's unintentional mistake."
Leoric took trembling steps and recalled: "When I was young, I once traveled to the south. I rode a horse all the way to the southernmost point of the parish, set foot on an endless prairie, and...
Saw a group of lions there."
"There is a lion king among the lions. He is majestic and arrogant. He dominates the most abundant territory on the grassland. There, he has the right to enjoy food first, the right to choose his mate first, and the right to control the life and death of all living creatures.
." Leoric was hunched over.
He stretched out his wrinkled hands and gently stroked the blooming flowers in spring: "However, the Lion King will grow old one day. His teeth fall off one by one, and his sharp claws begin to become dull. Even if he should
His proud roar became hoarse and weak."
Todd listened thoughtfully to the old king's words.
"The sons of the Lion King began to challenge authority again and again. They robbed the food from their father's mouth and disobeyed everything their father asked. Even the little ones around the lion group - hyenas, foxes and wild wolves, because of the Lion King's
Weak and ready to move, they found the sons of the Lion King and began to plan
How to seize territory and food. Finally one day, the lion king fell to the ground under the bite of his son and accomplices. In less than a day, his body was eaten by vultures, and his bones slowly sank into the earth.
, no animal can remember that there once was such a lion king who dominated the grassland."
Leoric stopped in front of a sculpture, looked at the majestic and majestic king sculpture in front of him, and sighed: "Child, do you still remember what I said to you last time? Aging is the most terrifying thing in the world.
The horror of things does not lie in the physical pain and torture, but in the fact that you watch everything disappear in front of you, and you have no power to fight back."
Leoric turned around and looked directly into Todd's eyes: "The Holy Acropolis is a huge killing field. Intrigues, intrigues, and plunder have already turned this city into a hell. But
There is only one exception, and she is my daughter Mary..."
Leoric took a step towards Todd: "Since Mary was born, I have isolated her from this dirty world. I have prohibited her from entering the war of power and forcibly kept her away from those treacherous people with ulterior motives.
.When she was still young, she was married to a wealthy place as soon as possible in order to let him leave here as soon as possible."
"But she didn't understand my painstaking efforts." Leoric's eyes flashed with pain: "She thought that I had restricted her freedom, determined her life without authorization, and pushed her into a pit of fire.
...But she never understood my true intention..."
"That child has only trusted two people since she was a child. One is my sister Tania, and the other is my first wife Gemma. But both of them have passed away. I originally thought that she would never be seen again in this world.
Someone I could rely on...until she came to me this morning and told me of your existence."
Todd secretly wondered, what did Mary say to her father this morning to make the old king trust her so much?
Leoric took out a small brooch from his arms, put it into Todd's hand, lowered his voice, and said solemnly: "This brooch is an amulet to avoid disasters and protect life. I am now
I give it to you. Remember! A week later, the Holy Acropolis will hold a successor election ceremony. When you attend the ceremony, you must wear this amulet!"
Todd lowered his head and glanced at the brooch in his hand. Both in style and weight, it was the same as Mary's.
Leoric waved his hand: "My child, go ahead. May Heavenly Father bless you and me."
Amidst the sound of the heavy iron door turning, Todd walked out of the back garden. When he looked back at the cold castle under the sun, an inexplicable chill passed through his body.
————————————————
Soul space, institute conference room.
Rachel turned the 3D model of the Holy Acropolis brooch and looked at it for a long time without saying a word.
"How about it, have you ever seen this kind of thing?" Todd asked doubtfully while drinking the ice-cold Coke in his hand.
Rachel looked at Todd and asked, "You mean, after Mary takes this brooch away from her chest, you can have a soul connection with her?"
"That's right."
Todd called up the last clip of his meeting with Leoric and listened to the other party mentioning words such as "avoiding disasters", "amulets", "must wear" and so on, and said in confusion: "It sounds like,
The function of this brooch is not only to isolate the contact between supernatural powers, but also to play a protective role."
Rachel checked it carefully again and finally gave an answer: "This may be a relatively rare power confinement material in the Presbyterian Church - magic magnetic crystal."
Todd rubbed his eyebrows: "Magic... what is it? Can you explain it?"
Rachel said with some uncertainty: "I don't know much about this substance. Generally, only high-ranking members of the 'Legion of Disputes' have the right to use it. It is mainly used to imprison powerful alien species, and is generally used when capturing or escorting prisoners.
.”
Todd looked at the brooch in the 3D model and asked, "Do you know how this item works?"
Rachel shook her head: "I only know that this object has a strong magnetic field and can interfere with the release of supernatural powers in the alien body. Other than that, I'm afraid I don't know anything about it."
Todd frowned: "How much of this substance is there in the Presbyterian Church?"
"You want to ask whether magic magnetic crystals have been mass-produced, right?" Rachel smiled and shook her head: "This kind of thing is very precious. Legion soldiers need to ask the elders for it every time before using it. Because the magic crystal
Only the elders know where the magnetic crystals are stored..."
Todd heard Rachel's voice getting lower and lower, and couldn't help asking strangely: "What's wrong?"
Rachel raised her head, the expression on her face was solemn as never before, even a little panicked: "Among the three elders, Lawrence is dead, and one of the remaining two elders is located in the Eastern Holy City.
We are dealing with a difficult matter with the leader of the Dispute Legion, so it is naturally impossible to take out the magic magnetic crystals from the headquarters. Then, the source of these magic magnets can only be the remaining elder..."
"The remaining elder?"
"Eleanor." When Rachel said this name, Todd noticed that her body was shaking.