The Sun King's Evidence

About 1,600 years ago, Charlemagne, who was more than 200 years old at the time, unified almost the entire continent and established an empire after a series of conquests. At that time, it was the golden age of mankind. Charlemagne was a full 400-year-old emperor. The human emperor announced his abdication in 2000. Before he abdicated, in order to calm the disputes among the tribes over the successor, he established the elector system.

The system of the empire was changed from a centralized system to a feudal system. The vast territory was re-divided to twelve electors. The emperor ruled the capital of the empire and the richest plain on the entire continent near the capital. After the death of the previous emperor or the war, After his death, the twelve electors and the three major churches of the Church of Justice, the Church of Life, and the Church of Magic will vote to select the next emperor from among several candidates for the throne. This elector system is still in use today.

"Speaking of Mr. Oliver, the empire is obviously a centralized and powerful country. Why did it establish such an emperor-electing system? Isn't primogeniture also an option?" Ryan looked at the wild scenery. In the distance, the pine forest was growing. Covered by heavy snow, it stands quietly on the mountains. The cold air makes the horses snort. The guard Mather in front is carefully alerting to possible movements. Fake's driving skills are not very skilled, because it turns out that he is not driving the cart. He is driving the cart. People had already died in that encounter.

The weather is already cold enough. Without chatting, people will only feel more uncomfortable.

"If the empire has no foreign enemies, and we are located on an isolated island, no one will come to see us, and we will not trade with others, then it is okay for the emperor's eldest son to be hereditary, but there are almost enemies on all sides of the empire. Yes, Now we have knight allies in Britannia, and we also have close dwarf allies, but what about other places? There are enemies everywhere. In this way, His Majesty Charlemagne hopes that the most capable heir can lead the empire to continue Move forward instead of raising a group of pampered wastes due to stupid blood discrimination." The imperial businessman said in a tone full of admiration: "His Majesty Charlemagne has never been taboo about his past. He directly told the ministers that he had herded cattle before. And we are proud of this. Isn't His Majesty Ludwig also from a small nobleman in the countryside? Origin is not important, what is important is strength, brave heart, and love for the empire."

"That makes sense." Ryan nodded without saying anything more.

After several hours of trekking, they finally arrived at Kalzenhaven, the seaport city of the Kingdom of Nord.

Compared with the small town of Ulan, which has only a few hundred households, the port city of Kalzenhaven is much larger. There are about 800 households living in the city. From a distance, the black smoke stretching straight into the sky is very impressive. The size of this city is roughly known. Although the gray city wall is not too high, it has changed from the wooden city wall in Ulan Town to a solid stone city wall. The guards on the city gate are obviously better equipped. The guards in Ulan Town They all wear breastplates, but Kalzenhaven's guards have a full set of scale armor. They hold spears and halberds in their hands, and their faces are healthier. The guard chief even wears a full set of chain mail, with a knife on his waist. He has a long sword, a shield in one hand, and a black robe on the outside. From a distance, he looks quite imposing.

"This medium-sized port can accept a dozen medium-sized merchant ships or large merchant ships. It has all the facilities that a port should have. There are one hundred and fifty standing troops and one kingdom knight stationed at the port. If necessary, up to six hundred can be recruited. A militiaman—if the lord here does not care about the consequences and costs." Ryan introduced to Theresa in turn.

"Have you been here before?" the sorceress asked curiously as she looked at this medium-sized port city.

"There is no place in Nord that I haven't been to. I've even been to Skydome Castle, let alone this port." Speaking of this, Ryan was a little proud. He has indeed traveled to many places, at least compared to just hanging out all day long. Teresa, who lives in several major cities and lives at home, is much stronger.

There were cargo ships setting off along the inland river, seemingly transporting goods, and the soldiers at the port looked very serious. They didn't know what was going on. In addition, Ryan noticed a group of caravans at the gate of the city arguing with the garrison chief.

"Liar! Liar! You deceived me! Since we can't go to sea! Why didn't you tell us and charge us the entrance fee? We don't plan to stay anymore, so we'll refund our money!"

There was chaos at the city gate. A whole caravan was dragging several carts of goods and was arguing with the guards at the city gate. Looking at the red-faced and thick-necked people on both sides, it was obvious that the result was not good, especially as many of the caravan guards had already reached out and held their hands. The hilt of the sword was lifted, and the guard's spear also changed from upright to gradually tilted.

Since this group of people was stagnant, the mercenary group's entry into the city could only be temporarily delayed. Ryan was a little impatient when he saw this. He was still waiting to enter the city to find traces of Belt.

So the knight of the kingdom dismounted his horse and stepped forward under the eyes of everyone: "What happened?"

The rest of the people did not move. They saw that many guards had their hands on the hilts of their swords. Wilt, the experienced deputy commander, knew that he must not stimulate the nervousness of the guards at this time. Everyone turned their attention. Putting it on Teresa, it means what should we do?

"Wait a minute, only Ryan's status is suitable for negotiation at this time." Theresa was riding on the horse, the hem of her long coat almost covered her long legs, only the toes and shoes of her high-heeled boots were exposed. and.

The Garland Council is only a recognized organization and has no power to directly interfere in national affairs. Strictly speaking, Teresa is not a noble of the Kingdom of Nord. It is better to resolve matters within the system.

A guard stopped Ryan: "Hello sir! You need to pay five silver dinars to enter the city. We will issue you a pass within five days... Good morning! Lord Knight of the Kingdom!"

Ryan flashed the White Wolf Knight badge, and the guards immediately saluted.

"what happened?"

"Well... Sir Knight, yesterday the Lord of the City announced a sea ban, prohibiting any ships from going to sea." The guard lowered his head and said softly.

"There's no way to go to sea here?!" Ryan vaguely thought of something. He frowned and yelled at the guard: "Then the city lord didn't notify or post a notice? Did he charge the city fee to let people know that he couldn't go to sea? What's the reason? Going to sea?"

Even so, the price of five silver dinars was too much. Ryan thought to himself that the city lord was really ruthless in collecting taxes.

After charging such an expensive fee to enter the city, but prohibiting going to sea, it is obviously to blackmail these businessmen who want to go to sea. Anyway, the money is yours. If you can't go to sea, you can't go to sea. This is my territory, you have to obey me. The rules of the game, right? If you don’t like it, don’t come!

This is the most typical approach of the lawful evil camp.

"Is the hotel still open?" The quarrel at the city gate had nothing to do with Ryan, and he didn't want to wade into troubled waters.

"There are adults who are open. Because there are not many customers, many hotels have reduced their prices. If you plan to stay, the city is basically full because of the ban on going to the sea. There may be rooms in the Butterbeer Hotel in the center of the city. The luxurious private room is definitely in line with your status as a knight. Of course, you can also inform the city lord..."

"Shua!" A sound of tearing the air came, and Ryan subconsciously looked at the city gate. There was already a quarrel between the caravan and the guard captain. After the guard captain gave the order, the guards on the city tower directly raised their bows and let go. The arrow hit the soil in front of the caravan's location.

The guard captain was very proud, thinking that you people don't know where you are standing now, do you dare to be so arrogant here?

"Phew!" At this moment, a sudden change occurred. A man in a cloak in the caravan suddenly pulled out an arrow from the quiver behind him, opened the bow and nocked the arrow with extremely fast hands, and almost instantly, the helmet of the archery guard on the city tower Just like that, it flew into the sky, but the guard himself was unharmed, but he was so frightened that he sat down on the wall.

This strength! This is an elite level ranger! And it is very likely that he is an elite high-level one! Ryan became interested now. He pulled his horse and stood like this, watching the farce at the city gate with great interest.

Under the cloak, the ranger's slightly pointed ears and slender face were revealed, revealing his identity as a half-elf. The ranger's face was full of arrogance, and he even smiled disdainfully at the guard chief, who said He subconsciously took a step back with an ugly expression on his face. He was just an elite person with basic strength. Facing this powerful ranger, he was not sure that he could win with a small loss.

If he actually takes action and loses his own life, or loses the lives of a dozen of his subordinates, then the lord will be blamed, and I, the guard chief, will not be blamed!

Collecting taxes is a small matter, but my life and future are a big deal.

The guard chief looked around subconsciously, and soon noticed Ryan who was watching the show next to him.

A knight of the kingdom!

"Lord Knight! These profiteers do not abide by the laws of our country! They blatantly flout the rules of the Lord of the City!" The guard captain immediately confirmed that this was a Lord Knight from his country, so he immediately came up to ask for help. Not only did he bow deeply, He also flattered Ryan with a face full of flattery, and at the same time looked at the group of caravans with resentment, which sounded as if he had been humiliated.

Ryan raised his eyebrows. Everyone in the caravan was also busy arguing, and then they noticed him. Many of the guards showed vigilance and uneasiness when they saw the kingdom knights appearing here. The half-elf ranger tightened his grip. He took out the long bow in his hand and looked at Ryan with an evil look. The merchant's guards all grasped the hilts of their swords, but the mercenary team looked a little hesitant. After all, no one wanted to offend a kingdom knight.

As a knight of the kingdom, Ryan is indeed obliged to uphold the laws of the Kingdom of Nord, even if the laws are not so reasonable. Seeing that the matter has finally spread to him, Ryan gently raised the war hammer and said to the guard chief in a bad tone: " Oh? Is the entrance fee of five silver dinars stipulated by Nord law? Your city lord is so ruthless in collecting taxes, and even I, a knight of the kingdom, almost have to pay this amount."

"I'm very sorry, sir, but this is the city lord's order, and we can only obey it!" The guard chief apologized quickly.

"That's right! Sir Knight, we came here because the commodity tax here will be lower than in other ports, but now we have been charged such a high city entry tax and told us that we cannot go to sea! You said this is not fair at all Ah!" Oliver also came up to argue.

In the end, with Ryan's mediation, everyone settled with three silver dinars for the entry fee. Teresa paid for the mercenary group's entry fee, but the sorceress really didn't care about the dozens of silver coins. As they entered the city one after another, Ryan said hello to everyone and rode quickly to the Lord's Mansion in Kalzenhaven.

The lord of Kalzenhaven lives in a large wooden longhouse in the city. This building has three floors. The first floor is used to receive guests and serve as a restaurant. The top two floors are personal spaces. Most of the building materials are wooden. Structure, Ryan informed the guards at the city gate, and soon found the clerk to inquire about the sea voyage records.

"Yes, Mr. Lane, yesterday there was indeed a tall and thin man who rushed into the town just before closing time. He did not stop and immediately offered to take a boat to Marienburg. The ship owners were originally unwilling to do it, but this The guy took out fifteen gold dinars and asked to go to sea. This was already several times the normal price of going to Marienburg, so a ship owner decided to accept the money." The lord's secretary looked through the sea voyage records and said, Said to Ryan.

"I'm going, I lost you!" Ryan said angrily. In fact, he had a vague hunch before. After being slowed down by the beastman, he had a hunch that he might not be able to catch up with Belt.

"Then why can't we go to sea?" Ryan then asked.

"It's like this. This morning the high priest of the Ocean Church told the lord that there are a large number of sea monsters gathering in the nearby sea area, and the barbarian fleet in the north is also constantly plundering the caravans. For safety reasons, the lord ordered this period of time No going to sea,” continued the clerk.

"Okay, I understand." Ryan knew that he couldn't catch up with Belt. Even if he could convince the lord to arrange a special ship for his group to go to sea, the risk would be too great. The only solution now is to take a long-term approach and report to Innocent first. Say it again, Archbishop.

When we came out of the tower, it was noon. The dark clouds rarely faded away. A few rays of sunlight stubbornly broke through the clouds, bringing a little warmth to the earth. It was already so cold in November. If we waited until the Winter Curtain Festival, At that time, I really didn’t know how long I would not see the sun.

"Archbishop Innocent, I lost Bert." Ryan said helplessly as he pressed the gem on the bracelet.

"I know that Belt took the opportunity to leave Nord by boat yesterday. I don't blame you for this. When I informed you, it was already two days after the incident, and..." That very majestic voice seemed a bit... Tired: "Now is not the time to pay attention to Belt. The barbarians in the north are making big moves. At least 20,000 barbarian troops are gathering. Let's stop this matter."

What? Are the northern barbarians going south again?

This is really not good news.