20 - Chapter 20

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 teacher Manero was very old, I still think your opinion is more…”

Suddenly hearing a certain name, Burris was startled: “Manero?”

“Oh, that’s the history teacher I mentioned earlier.” Said Charles. “He was a Temple Knight when he was young and became a teacher when he retired in old age. Teacher Manero was very hostile to spellcasters, especially necromancers. Sometimes even my father thinks he was too stubborn, and he thought that the Knights of my father’s territory were devoid of faith…”

“Manero…” Burris repeated the name gently. “Temple Knight Manero? He is from Ord, isn’t he? The place where he served was the parish of the Otarot Temple in the north of the mainland. The place is in the North Star City…”

“You also knew Teacher Manero?” Charles was a little surprised.

Burris sighed: “No, of course I don’t know him… my mentor mentioned him. Now he should be… probably eighty years old?”

Charles shook his head. “Teacher Manero passed away three years ago. Although some of his thoughts were extreme, in general, he was 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 had been talking so attentively that he remembered his sister only when he was reminded. He bowed to Burris and trotted along the garden path.

According to the protocol, the banquet should have started, but now the door of the banquet hall was closed, and it was said that the dining table was 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 corridor, spreading various versions of gossip to each other.

On the way back, Burris had been a little distracted. The mage Haida led him in silence and did not ask him more about Tarina or Sir Charles. After performing her duty of leading the way, Haida looked at Burris and finally couldn’t help but say: “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 an apprentice to His Excellency Burris. What you said…it’s very much like that old man.”

“That’s exactly what he taught me.” Burris replied awkwardly.

After Haida left, Burris sat in a stone bench on the promenade in a daze until someone poked him in the back from behind. He looked back, Roth crouched in the rose garden, and looked expectantly at him.

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…” Roth was a little disappointed.

“Oh…” Burris slowly turned back. “I’m scared…”

Roth got out of the flowers and sat on the stone bench in the promenade: “You are too perfunctory. If you are not scared, you can say it… By the way, have you heard that your good apprentice caught a group of assassins who wanted to kill the prince!”

“Estel caught them?”

“She was not alone, of course. I just came back to the palace and heard the guards 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 at all, but the prince’s guards specially brought them in…”

“Then, the assassins were disguised as merchants?”

“Yes!” Roth looked excited. “You are so smart; you are worthy of being a mage. The real fruit growers and caravans left the royal capital after sending the supplies, and a group of assassins were trying to get into the palace. At this time, the news that Tarina was pricked by a durian spread all over the city. The assassins immediately thought that the prince would not let go of the people transporting the durians, so they disguised themselves as merchants and waited to be interrogated by the prince. You asked the princess to check the durians, but then she met these ‘fruit farmers’ who were about to be interrogated. ”

Burris thought for a while: “Estel is pretty good, but she couldn’t deal with so many people alone… and she had to be careful not to be discovered as a mage.”

“Of course she didn’t caught the assassins with her own hands.” Roth glanced at the far corner of the garden. “Did you see those in black sacrificial robes?”

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“Otarot Temple Knights?”

“Yes, they are all Sir Naylor’s men. The thing is, one of the assassins disguised himself as a soldier. After the soldier left the post without permission, his captain looked for him everywhere. This abnormal situation attracted the attention of Sir Naylor. He inquired about the situation of the captain and heard about the prince’s interrogation of the fruit growers. Maybe he had some combat experience or something, he thought it was very suspicious. He took the Temple Knights to search everywhere, and with the help of the princess, he caught the assassins. The prince’s bodyguards and clerks were injured, but 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 specially to the royal capital to do it? When the prince family was on the road, and when they were in the Summer Palace in the suburbs, the security was far worse, it should have been a good opportunity for an assassination. Why did they have to enter the palace with the prince?”

Roth shrugged: “I don’t know about that. They must be interrogating the assassins right now, I guess they haven’t confessed yet… I really want to see it! Burris, you know the princess so well, can you let me watch the interrogation process? I really want to see it!”

“The princess doesn’t care about the interrogation.” Burris looked at him incredulously. “Besides, why do you want that? It’s not a circus, it’s not worth watching. ”

“I have always been very interested in human torture culture.”

“Violence cannot be called ‘culture’, and it’s very inefficient. As far as I know, now Sago’s intelligence agency cannot hit people. They will first talk to the prisoner with sincerity to get their cooperation. If they really can’t get any information, they just will use truth serum.”

“Truth serum?”

“Yes. It’s not the psychedelic drug that makes people stupid. It’s a magic potion that allows people to answer questions accurately.”

Roth raised his eyebrows: “I guess it must have been made by your factory.”

Burris nodded: “Yes. And it’s exclusively for Sago, not for export.”

Roth sighed: “It’s amazing. Although there is no torture to extract a confession, I want to see it…”

“Really there is nothing to see…”

Just then, the door of the banquet hall opened. The string music could be heard, and the waiters in line began to invite guests in. Members of the Royal Family showed up late. Among them, little Tarina was the only one who could smile naturally. The rest of the Royal Family were as sullen as Estel. It was only when they were talking to each other that the Passians managed to smile, while Prince Lanto sat on one side, lifeless, without 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 the ‘Mage Burris Gershaw’ to the queen as the ‘apprentice Kreve’ –a sunstone necklace with protective magic. It could protect the wearer from miasma, poison, extreme cold and blazing heat. It could also balance the body’s magnetic field, maintain the skin and delay aging, eliminate fatigue and help sleep…

The Passias had received many presents from Burris, and each one was very pleasing to them. The queen put on the necklace and allowed the “apprentice Kreve” to kiss the back of her hand.

When Burris returned to his seat, Roth leaned over and whispered, “I understand the first few magic effects of your necklace. What about the last ones? Balance the body’s magnetic field, maintain the skin and delay aging, eliminate fatigue and help sleep…”

“Of course it’s fake.” Burris smiled.

“Can’t she perceive that it is fake?”

“I was her age once, and I know what ordinary people at this age are pursuing.”

“And you?” Roth asked. “didn’t you pursue health and beauty in those days?”

“I didn’t pursue that.”

“No wonder you had old age spots and no hair at all.” Roth patted the mage on the shoulder, and pitifully picked up a strand of blond hair.

While Burris was muttering nonsense with Roth, King Passia and Prince Lanto were looking at him from a distance, whispering something.

When the ‘apprentice Kreve’ presented the gift, King Passia saw the carnelian ring on his hand. The king had many years of friendship with the old mage, and he knew that Burris would not easily lend the ring to others.

The cold winter more than sixty years ago.

After entering the rime forest from the plains, Burris had been paying attention to his surroundings, fearing that a monster would suddenly come out. His worries were not unnecessary. After the death of his mentor Yriel, many strange experiments were out of control. The knights had cleared up the monsters in the tower, however, there were still several experimental sites in the plains and forest. The monsters in these places were likely to lie dormant in the misty wind and snow.

He told his worries to the knight who was walking by the wagon. He was a childish boy with a badge on his chest that was different from other knights. Maybe he was just a clergy apprentice.

The boy ran to the front and relayed what Burris had said to the knights leading the team. After returning, the youth’s expression was more nervous than Burris’s: “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 will be fine 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 cavalry line, but now the figure was gone. 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 me, I can cast spells to detect if there is any danger around, so you can prepare in advance.”

“No, it’s absolutely not.” Said the young knight, looking at the leader of the detachment while talking to Burris. “Don’t even think about casting spells. The moment you start to chanting, we have to put the spear into the prison wagon…all right, 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 own good. As long as you behave a little more obediently, and don’t use any spells 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 Gershaw?”

Burris nodded listlessly. The young man said: “My name is Manero. I’m from Ord. You must have noticed that I am much shorter than the average northwester.”

“You will grow taller” Burris said. “There are also people from Ord over six feet tall. I have seen them”… In the dungeon of the tower. He did not dare to say the last sentence.

“I wish I could grow taller.” The young knight laughed and seemed very happy to let the mage in the prison cart relax a little. “I don’t think you are a native. Where is your home?”

Burris shook his head. He didn’t know where his hometown was. From the beginning of his memory, he followed several adults to serve Yriel, until he found out his talent and turned him from a servant to an apprentice.

His ‘home’ was only the tower on the snowy field… He didn’t know if it was still burning at this time.

Thanks for reading! If there is any mistake please tell me 🙂