Hearing Huggins' words from the driver's seat, Todd looked around, shrank his head and nodded slightly: "I think so too..."
Three royal guards knights were in front, with sixteen heavy infantry on each side, and eight light cavalry behind them. Todd's five-horse carriage was sandwiched in the middle.
From the corner of his eye, Huggins looked at the knight's badge in front of him and whispered: "It seems that we were targeted as soon as we approached Silver Ring City, otherwise the queen would not have appeared just after entering the cathedral.
."
Todd looked at the people on the street pointing at this "strange team", still thinking about Bishop Fabian's previous instructions in his mind.
"Listen, Todd! No matter what happens, be patient! Restraint! Of the three former bishops here, one fell from his horse and died, one fell into the river after drinking, and one is still missing. These so-called nobles and royal families are all
They are the descendants of barbarians. Cruelty and greed are their nature! If you want to live, you must be patient! Learn to exercise restraint!』
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 valets and maids were constantly coming and going, giving Todd the illusion of going back to a cocktail party in his previous life.
But what happened next quickly brought him back to reality.
A haggard man wearing shabby single clothes, urged by the whip behind him, walked to Todd's carriage, fell to his knees with a plop, bent his spine, put his forehead on the soil, and huddled next to the carriage.
Todd opened his eyes wide and looked up at another aristocratic carriage not far away. The man with a thick waist stepped out of the car door and stepped on the thin woman who was acting as a "human foot pad". The latter's back
He was bent over after being stepped on. There was no pain or 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 person's words. The huge feeling of powerlessness made him close his eyes, sighed, grabbed the armrests of the carriage with both hands, avoided the man on the ground, and jumped directly to the ground.
The servant who came to greet him saw Huggins jumping down, stretched out his hand to stop the latter from following, and said slowly: "Only Father Todd was invited to the dinner."
Todd gave the angry Huggins a calm look, turned around and followed the servant into the mansion.
Walking into the hall, a strong sense of incongruity in the decoration comes over you. The column palace of the ancient Tyro period, coupled with the rough and wild gold and silver ornaments from the north, makes the whole space not at all like the residence of a noble, but more like
It is a nest where treasures are stored.
The drinks and dishes were served in trays by the servants, most of which were things Todd had never heard of. Those in need only needed to nod or raise their hands, and someone would deliver the small plates of the meals to the guests.
Todd glanced at the attendees of the dinner. Most of them were young people. Judging from their clothing and behavior, they should all be children of noble families. Such a place was indeed not suitable for him. He began to look for Queen Mary while thinking.
An excuse to get away.
In fact, finding the queen is very simple. In a banquet hall of thousands of square meters, the most distinguished guests naturally sit in the most prominent positions. Todd easily saw the queen in the center, sitting on the main seat, surrounded by
Queen Mary, who had a large number of distinguished women.
"Your Majesty the Queen..." Todd wanted to take two steps forward, but was blocked several meters away by several female officials. Looking sideways, he saw a group of men, like him, separated from the outside.
Just when he was confused and didn't know what was going on, the gentle voice rang in his ears again: "Welcome, Mr. Todd."
Queen Mary's speech immediately attracted everyone's attention, and all kinds of whispers filled the entire hall.
"Look, it's him! Defeated the pirates and took back the crystal artifact!"
"Is this the Holy Son who was judged by heretics?"
"I heard that at the sermon meeting he called us lunatics who only know war!"
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 there were endless sounds of admiration, curiosity, and questions.
"Mr. Todd, I heard that this pot of roses is a product of Muxi Town, can you tell me in detail?" In response to Queen Mary's question, the priest used the rhetoric about heavenly Father blessing and miracles happening, which caused everyone present to wonder.
There was a lot of discussion.
A young man with a mustache, wearing a woolen shawl and large gold jewelry on his waist, walked up to Todd, squinted his eyes and smiled: "Let me introduce myself first, I am Viscount Kennard, this time
The organizer of the dinner, Father, it’s a rare occasion for you to come over, why don’t you come and join us in our entertainment activities?”
"Entertainment activities"?
Todd sneered secretly.
While pretending to refuse, and half accepting at the same time, Todd sat at a round table placed in the center of the hall.
The next thing that Mustache took out from the sterling silver square box surprised Todd.
A stack of playing cards made of silver and copper alloy.
Seeing the surprised expression on the other side, Viscount Kennard started to introduce the so-called "entertainment activities" with a satisfied expression: "The name of the game we are going to play next is called 'Knights and Pirates'. This is the current silver ring.
The hottest thing in town.”
"The rules may be a little complicated for you, but once you get started, it will be much simpler." Listening to the Viscount introducing the rules of playing cards that he had set, Todd suddenly felt like he couldn't laugh or cry.
The only thing that made him feel fresh was that these nobles also added gambling. If the knight (landowner) won, he could collect gambling chips from the pirate (peasant); if the pirate (won), the knight (landlord) would collect gambling chips from the pirate (winner).
Two pirates (peasants) pay bets. The amount of bets is calculated by multiplying the number of remaining cards by the corresponding coins. If one party loses and a card is not played, three times the bets must be paid.
Viscount Kennard found another noble acquaintance, and started the game of "Knights and Pirates" with Todd and the other three.
In the first few games, the two nobles deliberately let the situation slip, and Todd won a lot.
Soon, the gambling chips increased from one silver coin per card, to 5 silver coins per card, and finally to 10 silver coins.
Todd lost more and more, and after losing all the cash, the nobles asked him to use the "grafting rose" on the carriage outside the door to offset the debt.
Knowing that these two bastards were definitely cheating, Todd suppressed his inner anger and silently chanted patience and restraint in his heart.
One pot, two pots, three pots... until the tenth pot was paid off, what surprised him was that these greedy Silver Ring nobles had no intention of stopping.
Todd pinched his thigh with his fingers again and again, knowing that now was definitely not the time to act impulsively.
That's what he thought at first, until he saw something.
When Todd went to the eleventh basin, the excited Viscount Kennard took a sip of the red wine in the glass, frowned, shook the warm liquid in his hand, and snapped his fingers. Under the surprised gaze of the priest, the servant
People used chains and collars to lead out a thin girl of eleven or twelve years old.
The girl was barefoot, wearing a coarse linen garment, an iron spike collar around her neck, and a wooden cross hanging on her chest. Her face, arms, and legs were covered with old and new wounds.
The viscount handed the bottle of red wine to the servant, who put the bottle into the girl's hand. He tugged hard on the iron chain on the hand, and the iron thorns on the collar penetrated deeply into the wearer's skin, and the dripping blood suddenly
Wet the victim's collar.
The girl cried loudly in pain, and her hands slowly released the cold air, cooling the liquid in the bottle.
Seeing the shocked look on Todd's face, Viscount Kennard took a sip of the red wine with ice floating in it passed by the servant, touched his mustache happily, and said to the priest in a mocking tone: "I really can't do this.
I understand what the church thinks. It would be too wasteful to kill all the alien species. No matter how rotten the wood is, it can always find its own place in the furnace, right?"
Something was broken in Todd's mind.
Queen Mary counted the number of flower pots and nodded slightly. Just when she was about to announce the end of the bet, Todd stood up and said to everyone expressionlessly: "Don't you think this bet is too slow?
?Since you want to play, why not play in a big game?!"