The black iron door was slowly closed, and the alchemists who turned into skeleton warriors continued to slumber in the darkness.

“I thought you would wake them up?” The Devil watched the King order to seal the basement of the tower tightly, and curiously asked, “After all, the Holy Court has already begun to establish the Kingdom of God.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“No, not yet.”

The King answered calmly.

That army sleeping in the ground was a powerful sword hidden by mortals, it would be a cavalry, a sharp dagger that stabbed at the Holy Court and at the gods. Only when it was secretive enough and unexpected enough could it play an important role at the most appropriate and critical moment.

When to use it, the King already had a rough judgment in his mind.

But that time was not now.

After the Devil took his leave, the King did not leave the tower directly.

He walked up the black stone steps step by step. The windows of the tower were open and the wind poured in, bringing in the low and echoing sound of the evening bell, which vibrated the eardrums. The King climbed to the top of the tower, and from the highest point of the castle looked down on the city that belonged to him.

The Devil also told him another thing.

Among the castles of the Rose family, some castles were actually designed by alchemists, and Bomari Castle was one of them. After the talented alchemists formed an alliance with the dragon slayers, they spent a lot of effort constructing their castles.

The castle itself was a huge runic formation.

The spiers that the King saw were some important nodes in this formation. At this time, the King looked down from the highest point, and found that the streets of the entire castle followed a strange rule. The streets, large and small, were laid on the same surface, which was a magnificent picture made up of geometric figures.

That was why the Devil advised the King that it was better not to destroy the castle itself if possible.

However, after the Battle of God’s Punishment, the Rose family lost the Bomari Castle in the near disintegration of the empire, and the rebels who later occupied it obviously didn’t know this.

Believing themselves clever, they made quite a few changes to the castle in an attempt to make it more powerful.

In order for Bomari Castle to exert its due strength, they needed to make a series of repairs and restorations. In this regard, the King had a good candidate——Mr. James, who had become a military weaponist madman.

The end of the evening bell gradually faded among the mountains, and the King returned to the castle’s council hall.

General Sheehan had been waiting for a while.

After a whole day of cleaning, Legrand had completely taken control of Bomari Castle.

The reckoning had begun.

A few days later, two messengers arrived at Bomari Castle.

They were from Balboa State.

They brought news that the King wanted.

After the fall of Balboa Castle, General Edmund of the Ingres State faithfully carried out the King’s order, and the brave Ingres army thoroughly purged the royal family of the Balboa State to ensure that no member of the royal family of Balboa would survive. On that day, blood stained the stone slabs of the Balboa Palace.

The royal family of Newcastle was treated in the same way as the royal family of Balboa.

The rebels tasted the bitter fruit of defeat.

The purge of the royal families of the two states brought a little controversy to the King——because the members of the royal family of Balboa who died at the sword of the Ingres cavalry included male, female, young and old.

The King’s orders were extraordinarily cruel and held no mercy.

“Our critics will be having a carnival again.”

Before giving the order, the King had said to General Sheehan with a smile.

“I would have new eyes for them if they could quell this war by themselves.” General Sheehan replied angrily.

The King shook his head without comment.

What would happen next in the Northland would be an unprecedented reckoning. Balboa and Newcastle have lived under the rule of their respective states for too long. If Legrand wanted to rebuild a new order here, then the King must guarantee that no rebellious royal blood remained in this world.

Slaughter was only the first step in the purge.

When people in the Northland were debating about the killing of all the royal families of the two states, the King’s officials listed everything that the two royal families of the Balboa State and Newcastle State had done to exploit and oppress the people of the Northland over the years. It was organized into the “Document of Admonishment”, and sent with a large number of people to spread it all over the Northland.

In the “Document of Admonishment”, the officials of the King’s treasury conducted a rigorous argument, refuting the previous remarks used by the rebel alliance to encourage the rebellion:

——It was not Legrand that truly caused the poverty of Balboa State and Newcastle State, but the greed of the royal families. When the people of the Northland were suffering from hunger and cold, ones such as the King of Newcastle, Lantoft the Red Beard lived in a resplendent and magnificent palace, and his personal property was equivalent to the tax revenue of the entire state for three years.

It had to be said that after the King’s officials had been tormented by the King several times, their ability to debate had soared, and their argumentative ability was now impeccable.

The officials wrapped in black cloaks spoke impassionedly, as if they had become one of the Northlanders, and tearfully accused Lantoft and others about the exploitation and oppression.

But this part of the accusation was indeed not false.

Take Newcastle, for example.

After the King recaptured Bomari Castle, he immediately organized personnel to review the Newcastle financial files kept in Bomari Castle. The poverty and backwardness of the Northland were inseparable from the rule of Newcastle State.

The economic system of Newcastle State under the rule of the Lantoft family was dominated by the ancient feudal system. The land area under the feudal system varied from large to small. Some large fiefs have an area of several thousand acres, while small fiefs were only hundreds or even tens of acres. Among the fiefs registered in the “Hundred Household District Case File” of the Newcastle State, almost all the large fiefs with more than 1,000 acres belonged to the Lantoft family and their loyalists.

While the fixed land rent and land tax in kind have been generally implemented in Legrand, the state of Newcastle was still implementing the labor land tax of the last century. In the state under labor land tax, peasants were only nominally holders of free papers, but in fact there was no big difference from being serfs.

The fiefs had its own independent judicial court, and even because it was an independent state, it was difficult for people controlled by the fief to directly travel across the state to request the ruling of the Legrand royal court.

Harsh climate, ancient institutions…..The Northland indeed had a barbaric and poor atmosphere.

The King found what he wanted from the thick files:

——He found out about the system implemented when the Rose family ruled the Northland.

Victory in a war was only the first step in recovery. After the military victory, the King must also awaken the hearts of the people to return to Legrand.

This was also an invisible war.

After the “Document of Admonishment” spread, the King’s officials stood ready and started a second propaganda offensive.

In this propaganda offensive, bards played an important role.

A bard was received by the King.

At the conferment ceremony before the King’s battle with the Gulundi heavy cavalry, this bard plucked the strings of his harp in the square and sang the ancient ballads of Legrand. The King sent someone to pick him up from Benz City. No one was more familiar with the great legends and the ancient epics than the bards.

That was an ancient memory passed down in the strings.

“I hope you can sing about the former tranquility, peace and beauty of the Northland.” In the fire-lit hall, the King said to the bard, “Is there such a song?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The bard had gray temples, and he was wearing a pair of long leather shoes that were worn out from walking too much, and his face was wrinkled. But he had bright green eyes, “I’d love to sing those ballads…..”

As he spoke, he plucked the strings, looking for the tune in his memory.

The tune was melodious, like a piece of snow drifting down.

“What do you need?” the King asked gently, listening to the melody that reminded people of snow, hearth fire and deer hunting.

“I don’t need anything, Your Majesty.” The bard looked at the King with his bright green eyes. “In fact, I have a song I wrote myself, and I would like you to listen to it. If possible, this would be my greatest reward!”

“Please, sing away.”

The bard carefully tuned the strings, his expression became extremely focused and pious, and he hummed in a low voice.

“Tell me, tell me, people of Kriya

Who led you up the hill

Who led you to pick up the lances

——She is the young queen with the black hair

……”

The melody was low, and the bard’s voice was slightly hoarse. This was the song he was most familiar with. He sang it from the mountains in the south of Legrand to the snow-capped mountains in the north. Wherever he went, he spread this song that people didn’t know of. The melody was beautiful and sad.

He sang of a young queen.

A young queen with black hair and green eyes, she picked up the lance from the puddle of blood and led the people to defeat the invading enemies, so the people wove thorns into a crown and put it on her head.

The young queen met the young monarch at the age of seventeen. They met in the mountains with flaming maple leaves in Kriya, and they fell in love in the midst of blood and fire. In the end, the young monarch broke through the seven obstacles set by the people of Kriya for his queen, just like all the knights in fairy tales who want to win the love of their sweetheart. So the people of Kriya joyfully delivered their queen into the hands of that young man.

They played buoyant melodies and sang cheerful songs for the queen.

Those songs were still passed down from generation to generation in the Kriya city-state.

In the melody of the harp, the fire swayed, and there seemed to be red mountains all around. Under the maple leaf forest, the young monarch plucked the strings, and the young queen’s dress was blazing.

The bard finished singing and stopped plucking the strings, but the blurry figures still flickered before the King’s eyes.

The King looked at their blurred faces, and heard the faint melody of a lullaby in a trance.

It was as if there had been hands gently stroking his cheeks, as if someone had hugged him while he was still a baby. They sat by the bright fire, patted his back gently, and softly coaxed him to sleep…..so gentle, so warm, he was surrounded by love.

“Who is she?”

The King asked in a low voice.

“Queen Eleanor, our queen forever.”

The bard saluted the King, and he had the green eyes that were characteristic of the Kriyans.

Queen Eleanor.

The name touched a chord in the King’s heart.

That was…..

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

His mother.

“She…..” The King’s voice was very low, he stared at the ground, “What kind of person was she?”

“She was Kriya’s best queen.” The bard looked at the young king, and found the shadow of their beloved queen on the King’s face, “If you go to Kriya, you can see her statue. The best bard in the world comes from Kriya, and the people of Kriya love her very much.”

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The countless pointed towers of Bomari Castle pierced the sky, and the dust on the ancient rose patterns engraved on the towers were wiped off, reappearing once again under the sky.

The soldiers of General Vulture and Lantoft almost all died in the internal strife yesterday. General Sheehan led his troops to conduct a comprehensive cleaning and search of the castle. While the King saw the “treasure” in the general’s carriage.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

It was a box made of unknown metallic material.

It was said that many of Lantoft’s soldiers died in order to unearth this chest.

The Marquis of Chavos State reported to the King what he had discovered. The box was taken out by Lantoft from the tower in the middle of the castle, but there seemed to be a strange curse on that tower. All those soldiers who participated in the excavation would all die within three days. If Lantoft hadn’t used the lives of his men to fill that tower, it was still unknown whether yesterday’s infighting would have been as successful.

On the night of the internal strife, the Marquis and General Vulture snatched the box from Lantoft’s own soldiers.

The whole body of the box was dark gold, but it gave people an unusually luxurious feel. On the dark gold box, there were countless budding roses engraved, and on the front of the box was a relief mountain ridge, with hideous and weird patterns etched on it——that was a giant dragon entrenched on the mountain ridge and roses were coiled around the bones of the dragon. When one sees this box for the first time, one would think of ancient and absurd legends, the breath of ancient times rushing towards your face.

With just one glance, one could tell that it definitely had a vital connection with the Rose family.

“Have you heard, this is a treasure that can make angels descend and aid you.”

The King walked around the heavy box, raised his head, and looked at the Marquis with a smile.

The old Marquis smiled wryly: “General Aldo and Lantoft are still young and reckless, and have the capital to squander time and energy. An old man like me only wants to be able to hunt and take a walk on my fief.”

“The Marquis’ fief seems to be near a dense forest and snowfield? I have heard people say that the scenery of the snowfield is quite peculiar.” The King reached out and tapped lightly on the box, making a dull sound.

“The snowfield is like that all year round. If Your Majesty is willing to pay a visit, it will be the honor of Chavos State.”

The old Marquis chose his words carefully. The young king before him was not a man to be trifled with. The Marquis was a little unsure whether or not the purpose of the King’s question was to take advantage of the situation and wipe out the Chavos State. One must know that the current Legrand’s could be called an irresistible force.

The King glanced at the old Marquis: “Is it too hot in this room?”

“Legrand regained Bomari and restored the long-lost Bomari to its old glory, even dispelling the severe winter cold as well.” The old Marquis replied with a smile, and he raised his hand to wipe his forehead, “You see, even an old bag of old bones like myself has started sweating.”

The King had a half-smile on his face, and he withdrew his hand: “Newcastle and Balboa will become the new county towns of Legrand, and the stability of the Northland snowfields will depend on Chavos.”

The old Marquis bowed: “Please rest assured, Your Majesty, Chavos State is at your service.”

After retreating from the luxurious hall, the old Marquis stood outside, shivering when the wind blew past. At this moment, his back was covered with cold sweat, the King was clearly giving Chavos State a warning just now. The King’s seemingly casual words already contained enough shocking news.

This time the two most powerful states in the Rebel Alliance would cease to exist from now on.

The Legrand Empire would no longer have the State of Newcastle, nor the State of Balboa, and would be replaced by the County of Balboa and the County of Newcastle. The old Marquis couldn’t help but think of the military castle built by the Rose royal family in the Northland. At that time, the castle was directly named “Newcastle”.

This couldn’t help but make people have some conjectures:

Had Legrand already been determined to recover its lost territory and put it fully under the rule of the King?

The old Marquis took a deep breath, and the cold air filled his lungs. He seemed to see a chariot, a steel chariot slowly moving forward, and all obstacles would be crushed to pieces in its path. The chariot was being driven with dreadful methods by the young king, the iron-handed and domineering monarch.

Going forward, where was Chavos State’s future now?

In the main hall.

Thick black fog poured out from the corners of the room like a tide, and the Devil in a black dress suit stepped out with a red rose pinned to his collar. He bowed gracefully to the King: “Good day, my dear Majesty.”

“Is this the treasure you mentioned?”

The King knocked on the box with his fingers and asked.

Lantorft and General Vulture had obtained this heavy chest successively, but when the King walked around it he found that the chest seemed to be in one piece, with no keyhole on it, as if the chest had been built like this since the first day of its casting and there was no plan to open it again.

The Devil approached: “Of course not, it’s just a key to open the treasure, Your Majesty.”

“Key?”

“Perhaps you can take it and go to the high tower where it was unearthed. Then use the ring of the Rose family to open it and the real treasure.” The Devil didn’t answer directly, he looked down at the dragon bones engraved on the dark golden box and seemed to be thinking about something, “A little request, when you open it, could you allow me to watch?”

The King looked at the Devil, who still had that masked smile on his face.

He withdrew his gaze, nodded slightly, and agreed to the Devil’s request.

“Then, let’s go there in a more convenient way.” The Devil said briskly. He snapped his fingers, and the nightmare carriage rolled out of the black mist. The Devil further explained, “Please believe me, Your Majesty, the thing you will open may not be suitable for ordinary people to see…..Of course, your Iron Rose Cavalry is probably not included in this range.”

With Mela the stupid crow as a bet, the King’s Iron Rose Cavalry was simply a group of fanatics brainwashed by His Majesty. Nothing builds the bond of trust and loyalty between monarch and his knights more than going through life and death together…..

Ai! It was a pity that this didn’t seem to be able to apply to the relationship between him and His Majesty.

Thinking of this, the Devil half-jokingly said in a complaining tone: “My dear Majesty, you are so fair and just, so could I implore you to place some trust in your loyal hell knight?”

“If that certain knight is not full of lies, and made of intrigue and cunning,” answered the King.

The Devil spread his hands helplessly.

This was really difficult.

The nightmare carriage carried the heavy box and the King, passing through the hard black stone walls easily. The King noticed that the Devil seemed to be very familiar with Bomari Castle, and as he drove the King through the ancient castle, he hummed an unknown tune softly.

The melody in that minor key was odd, full of a kind of gloom and ornate beauty.

The King listened quietly, and soon, the nightmare carriage stopped in front of the high tower in the center of the castle. General Sheehan had sent the Iron Rose Cavalry to take over all the high towers in the city. The Devil solicitously raised the curtain of the carriage for the King, and stretched out his hand to help the King down.

The King looked up at the tower.

Unlike other castles, all Rose family castles were designed and built without churches. In fact, almost all the churches in Legrand’s royal castles were built after the “Battle of God’s Punishment” when the power of the Holy Court expanded. Bomari Castle was no exception.

The tall tower in front of the King was the tallest tower in the entire castle.

The steeple towers above the black stone, with slender and sharp edges and lines, gave the impression that it was the horns of a dragon raised high. Behind it were mountains rolling and stretching on the horizon, surrounded by other high and low towers. The skylight fell on the black rock, and even the light was absorbed by it.

No wonder the Marquis of Chavos State believed this was a “cursed place”, it really didn’t look like a human creation.

So cold, so gorgeous.

The Devil carried the heavy box and led the King over.

The tower had two basements, and the box was excavated from the lowest basement. In the basement, they could still see the traces left by the previous excavations, as well as smell the faint scent of blood lingering still.

In the middle of the basement, there was a dark room that had been cleared out and the soil removed. In the middle of the dark room was a stone platform with complex reliefs. The Devil placed the box on the stone platform, and then bowed slightly, indicating that the King could open it up now.

The King stepped forward and stuck the rose ring on his hand to the box.

The Devil straightened up and stared at the following scene.

At the moment when the King’s rose ring was pressed to the box, the red color of the rose on the ring seemed to rush like a river in an instant, burning to the rosebuds on the iron box, followed by the sound of metal gears turning within the box. There should be countless fine gears, all rotating in an orderly manner, and the sound of friction they made playing like melodious music.

Scarlet flowed from the ring to each dark gold rosebud, as if the magic of time was fading, and all the rosebuds on the box revived at the same time, regaining life once again. When the last bud was stained with blood, the melody of the gears reached a crescendo.

It was a trick that even the best magician in the world could not outdo.

All the roses were in full bloom at the same moment, and the bright red roses seemed to form an ocean, submerging the dragon bones on the mountain ridge.

At the moment when the roses were in full bloom, the stone platform turned, and dust began to fall from the walls of the entire underground dark room. Dull vibrations traveled from under the feet. Amid the sound of boulders rubbing against each other, the wall facing the King slowly rose. A long passage was revealed.

As expected…..

The Devil sighed inwardly.

He had just opened the black umbrella to cover the King from the dust falling from overhead.

Air poured into the passage that had been dusty for too long, and as the air flowed in, candles lit up on both sides of the passage. There were black iron candlesticks inserted on the walls of the passage. Don’t know how the candles were made but they kept their original shape for such a long time. Those candles ignited automatically, as if the inexorable heroic spirits illuminated the way forward for the King.

“Your Majesty.”

The Devil and the King stopped at the entrance of the passage, and he bowed slightly.

“Please prepare yourself.”

He seemed to know what was hidden behind the passage, and believed that he should not step side by side inside with the King——what laid ahead belonged only to the Rose family.

The King glanced at him, and stepped into the passage.

The Devil straightened up and watched the King’s back melt into the warm firelight. The flames swayed slightly, as if rejoicing.

The Devil smiled slightly and followed.

………………

At the end of the passage was a black iron door, engraved with dense magic runes, which were exactly the same as the magic runes in the Rose Palace. The King vaguely felt that behind the iron door, there was a piece of ancient history hidden.

He reached out and touched the rose ring to the black iron door.

The door swung open.

A strong air current gushed out from inside, and the King’s robes were whipped by the wind. The sound of the wind was like galloping horses, like the shouts from heroic souls, like a dead army being revived.

The King’s pupils were illuminated by the cold light, and in the huge space behind the iron door, pale stone pillars stood vertically, as if propping up another hidden space. Just as the truth of the Rose Palace was revealed in front of the King that time, now, the age of ancient legends had traveled across time and space to appear in this world again.

In front of the King, in the underground space, was an army.

An army that seemed as if only the most insane bard could imagine up. The combination of heavy armor and pale skeletons formed a terrifying army that would only exist in nightmares. The armor of the ancient Gulundi heavy cavalry was ferocious enough, but in front of these armors, there seemed to be a gulf of difference between a beast and a hound. All the armors were engraved with complex and exquisite magical runes, and light flowed through the runic formations, illuminating the entire space.

The King looked up at these armors.

Skeletons, cavalry, armor, magic runes…..

All this was obviously so terrifying, but it only made the King feel so warm.

Where did this warmth come from?

The Devil behind him sighed softly: “Sure enough, the Rose family has managed to preserve it.”

The King turned to look at him, and the Devil stopped smiling. He also stared at the sleeping skeleton army, and said in a low voice, “Or I should say, the Rose family are dragon slayers, as well as guardians.”

“Remember the ghost ships owned by those pirates?” The Devil twirled the black umbrella in his hand, and he spoke as if he had experienced everything himself, “This was the power left by the people of the Age of Legends for later generations.”

The “ghost ships” owned by the Walway pirates were actually relics of ancient alchemy. At that time, the King learned that in the Age of Legends when the Holy Court had not yet expanded, alchemists had not disappeared from the earth, and half-living alchemic magic ships traveled back and forth across the Abyss Strait.

What kind of era was the Age of Legends?

There were dragon slayers, and there were half-living ships…..was it magnificent and romantic like fairy tales come to life?

“The alchemists of the Age of Legends tried to surpass the taboo.”

The Devil said.

In the Age of Legends, some mortals gained power from the gods. But the limitations of mortals themselves were too great, and their power was very limited. So some people tried to use knowledge and wisdom to make these powers play a greater role. Those people were the alchemists at that time.

It was they who built the half-living ships that the Walway pirates contracted with today.

The alchemists of that era were allies of the dragon slayers, and together they fought against the gods and all extraordinary powers.

At the end of the Age of Legends, the first “Millennium Kingdom” came, and the Kingdom of God, Hell, and the mortal world were all swept into the flames of war. The first frontal resistance of mortals failed, so the Age of Legends completely turned into the stuff of myths, the Code spanned the world, and alchemists withdrew from the stage of history.

Originally, the most powerful among the mortal rebels was not the dragon slayer represented by the Rose family, but the alchemist. But the power of alchemists originated from the gods, and they did not expect that their power could be easily stripped away by the gods, so they became the first batch of mortal rebels who died in the flames of war.

Since then, there had been no alchemist to walk the earth.

“The power of these armors comes from their own souls, not the gods.”

The Devil held up the umbrella and said flatly.

In that failure, the alchemists finally understood where they had gone wrong. The power bestowed by the gods was a Pandora’s box full of lies. This batch of armor was a part of the last fruits of alchemy produced by them that still remained.

They had cast themselves into the armor, and at the end of refining these armors, they threw themselves into the furnace and turned into skeleton warriors who directed the armors.

This was the fire of civilization left by the mortal rebels of the Age of Legend.

Those alchemists who failed proved to be just as powerful at the last moment of fate, and they were worthy of being called heroes. They were refined by crimson fire and turned into skeleton warriors, just to make the road of resistance for future warriors to go more smoothly.

“They chose the Rose family.”

The King said softly.

He walked forward slowly, and stopped before the first armored skeleton warrior.

In front of it, there was a stone pillar placed by the later generation, with a brief introduction engraved on it. The alchemist who turned into this skeleton warrior was named “Al Alfa”. The Rose family carved this monumental stone pillar for him.

“I am willing to entrust myself to the dragon slayer, I am willing to be transformed into a sharp sword in the hands of humans, I am willing to sleep forever in the eternal night for mortals, until I wake up and die in battle again.”

These were his last words.

The Devil watched the King read the inscriptions on the stone pillars.

Mortals were truly strange, they were so insignificant and their lives were so short. A single breath taken by a god was the lifespan of a mortal. They were like ants, and would be reduced to ashes with just a light crush of the foot. But why was it that such ants could struggle to stand up again and again from the ashes?

The King walked past the stone pillars.

The war of resistance had been burning since a long time ago, and it had never stopped.

The King finally understood why Bomari Castle was called the “Pearl in the Crown”, and why Henry the Mad King, Charles the Lion King, William III, and the Duke of Buckingham worked hard all their lives to regain this lost territory.

Therefore, in the previous era, there were some people who trusted the Rose family so much that they entrusted everything to the Rose family, and even engraved the Rose family’s emblem on their armor.

“When the day has come that we are needed most, please revive us.”

“Can it be that I am now considered a knight of the Rose family?”

“If possible, in the next war, let us stand side by side again.”

……

Words after words.

What an era it was.

The proud geniuses made a vow that would not change for a thousand years.

So, some people slept forever in the night, turning themselves into swords, and a family stood on the earth, passing on the vow from generation to generation.

After turning into skeleton warriors, the alchemists no longer have their own will, they have completely become swords for people to use, and the Rose family had never used this sword for themselves. This was power left for the mortals, and only to be used to end the war. The Rose family had proved that they have lived up to the trust of their original allies with their persistence for thousands of years.

No one broke their vow.

What kind of a long road was this?

From doomsday to a prosperous age, from darkness to light, so many people used their own bones and blood to fill up the gaps for the future generation, just for the sake of a vague hope.

So foolish, so stubborn.

The King stood before the last stone pillar.

This was the youngest alchemist among all the skeleton warriors, and her lover was a knight of the Rose family. The one to engrave the tombstone for her was her fiancé who had exchanged rings with her.

“Dear Vino:

When I am sleeping, please play a Rose melody in front of my armor. I will sleep in the dark until I wake up in a world without you…..Yes, I know that when I wake up, you will no longer be by my side, but I will be fighting for our world.

As long as there is still a rose blooming in that world, I will be able to feel your existence.

We used to have fights, and like most alchemists I used to distrust you all.

As you know, the dragon slayer was synonymous with pride, intrigue, and unscrupulousness in our eyes back then. It can’t be helped, Vino, you dragon slayers are too proud, never willing to explain anything. Now, I have to be honest, you are right——there is no fairness in this war, and we have to do whatever it takes.

But I am very happy that the dragon slayer and the alchemist finally solved the misunderstanding and finally fought side by side.

You guys must be surprised, all the alchemists have engraved the rose flower on our armor…..It is very beautiful, and we are willing to accept it.

Vino, please don’t feel alone, I am with you.

——Love you, from Hisay”

Below this text, there was another text, which was left by the knight of the Rose family:

“Because you love me, I’m never alone.”

Overcoming the gap between one’s beliefs and methods, at the end of that era, people who could not understand each other finally stood side by side. They took the rose as a symbol and engraved a vow that spanned life and death.

The King closed his eyes.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

A proud and silent family, a family that endured everything, a family that stood like a rock in the long river of time…..Did his ancestors feel extra warm when he guarded this castle?

They were dragonslayers and guardians.

The heroic souls were by his side in the long night, and even if all the warriors died until he was the last one left, he would never be alone.

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The King led the Iron Rose Cavalry to station outside the gate of Bomari Castle, and they watched the flames of the castle ignite from various places the entire night.

The King’s army surrounded the entire castle, and the castle became a cage for the rebels at this time. The lions circled their hunting grounds, and then watched indifferently as the prey in the hunting grounds put up the last struggle of a trapped animal. Conspiracy and betrayal, the armies of the three kingdoms who turned against each other ended up fighting each other in the inner city.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Any soldier who intended to leave the city gate would be accurately reaped by Legrand’s longbowmen.

This was the King’s sand table, and everything in the sand table obeyed the King’s will.

“It’s almost dawn.”

General Sheehan, standing beside the King, looked up and said.

In the deep shadows, a vulture circled and soared.

The vulture was a large bird of prey in the Legrand Northland high forests. It was fierce and greedy by nature. Balboa’s general was nicknamed “Vulture” not only because he had a huge hooked nose, but more importantly, his character was just like this black raptor in the Northland, greedy and cold-blooded.

General Vulture was not the kind of person who would rather die than bow his head. If he was just told about the crisis in Balboa Royal City, General Vulture would indeed surrender when the situation was not good for him.

However, the King did not need the surrender of General Vulture.

From the very beginning, the King ordered the Ingres State to assist Earl Henry in attacking the Royal City of Balboa, which was a “plot” on its own. But the target of this plot was not General Vulture or Lantoft the Red Beard.

The King’s ultimate goal was the state of Chavos.

Chavos State was located in the alpine region of the Northland, with a sparse population, insufficient food, and the weakest military strength. And all these years, the King of the Chavos State had always been greedy, but at the same time too cowardly. It was a chess piece that the King chose to keep from among the three rebel states.

With the defeat of the powerful Newcastle and Balboa to force Chavos State, forcing it to fear and retreat, making it feel that even Newcastle and Balboa have failed, and so they could not resist Legrand’s army at all. The storming of Blackstone Fortress the day before yesterday was also to strengthen this sense of urgency.

The reason why the King deliberately let go of General Vulture was to let the old Marquis of Chavos feel the power of Legrand more intuitively through General Vulture.

This was more convincing than the King directly and secretly contacting him.

In order to bring about complete turmoil in Bomari Castle, another fuse was needed, and this fuse was the treasure of the Rose family in the castle.

After learning from the Devil that there was treasure in Bomari Castle, the King realized why Lantoft was stationed here and insisted on holding onto it. There was a certain connection between the Rose family and mystery, and the fact that the treasure of the Rose family could be valued by the Holy Court——perhaps the treasure of the Rose family was one of the holy objects that the Holy Court was looking for. After Saint Val never returned, Lantoft was especially anxious to find the treasure of the Rose family, thus gaining angelic support for the second time.

When freeing the captives, the King took advantage of the presence of this treasure.

With the character of General Vulture, after learning that there was a treasure in Bomari Castle that could allow them to get help from the Holy Court, the choice he would make would definitely be to fake surrender first and then ally with the Marquis. After killing Lantoft and snatching the treasure, he would then take advantage of the confusion and make his escape.

Greed was an endless sin, and the King took hold of the knife called “humanity”, and gently placed it on the necks of General Vulture and ‘Red Beard’ Lantoft, just waiting for the time to behead them.

In the whole scheme, a small and insignificant person played an especially important role.

The King needed someone to act as a bridge between him and the Marquis of Chavos, and the King had made preparations early on. But after breaking the Blackstone Fortress, the King had a better choice.

——The soldier who was abandoned by General Vulture without hesitation when Blackstone Fortress was captured.

When faced with life and death, money, and aristocratic title, this soldier betrayed General Vulture and became a hidden pawn of the King.

Through this personal guard, the Marquis of Chavos, who was already in a state of anxiety, eventually chose to abandon General Vulture and defect to the King. And tonight, General Vulture’s original order was that after the King arrived at the Blackstone Fortress, to disconnect the bridge connecting the second Blackstone Fortress and the castle, and trap the King in the second Blackstone Fortress in order to gain time for their retreat.

But the personal guard and the old Marquis changed this order.

The betrayer was eventually betrayed by others.

The fire in the city burned until the sky became gray with smoke. When General Sheehan saw the smoke in the city gradually subside from outside the city, he knew that the internal strife in the city had ended. He took a deep breath, suddenly feeling a little nervous for some reason, and fixed his eyes on the city gate in front of him.

“It has opened.”

The King said flatly on horseback.

The suspension bridge was lowered little by little, and when the suspension bridge was laid flat on the moat, there was the sound of metal gears twisting. As the jewel in Legrand’s crown, Bomari Castle was composed of black stone and metal as a whole, so it was indestructible. The heavy boulder city gate slowly opened with harsh screeching sounds.

The King stood still, as did the Iron Rose Cavalry.

Those who survived came out of the city.

They threw the white salamander flag into the moat to show their allegiances, and then the group of people untied their swords and threw them on the ground. This meant giving up all resistance and surrendering in the Northland.

The Marquis of Chavos came out holding a wooden tray, on which was placed the head of the rebel alliance, Lantoft and the vulture of Balboa, the head of General Aldo.

The moment the city gate opened, the cold wind poured in with the morning chill. The Marquis of Chavos fought a shiver.

Outside the city gate.

The young King Legrand was sitting on his horse. The sun had just risen, and the first rays of sunlight fell on the King’s scarlet robes. The knights with roses engraved on their armor were neatly lined behind the King, their lances pointing straight to the sky, forming a ferocious forest of spears, glares of cold light reflecting off the tip of the spears. The north wind blew fiercely through this torrent of steel, fluttering hundreds of Rose Royal flags like a bloody undercurrent.

At that moment, the Marquis of Chavos felt that he saw a sea of burning fire, or an ocean of boiling red blood.

Austere, fearsome.

So long as his actions were even a little suspicious, these proud knights, led by their King, would charge ruthlessly and trample him into mud.

The chill ran up his spine to the top of his skull, and the Marquis knelt down in fear, raising the wooden tray high:

“Chavos State is willing to be at His Majesty’s disposal!”

The King urged his horse forward, and he looked down at the heads of the rebel leaders on the wooden tray. The Marquis only felt his heart beating like a drum, and even though he had surrendered, he still only felt fear.

“Nail it to the city gate.”

The King pointed at the heads of the rebel leaders on the wooden tray with his whip, ordering coldly.

The Marquis only felt the weight in his hands lighten, and a soldier had already taken the heads away.

When the soldiers were nailing the heads to the city gate, a group of Iron Rose knights in full armor stepped out from the ranks and solemnly lined up on the road leading to the city gate. The Marquis retreated to the side and prostrated himself on the ground. When he looked up it was to see in shock, the Iron Rose Cavalry suddenly parting down the middle.

A total of eight knights in scarlet cloaks walked out of the ranks carrying a black coffin.

At this time, the world was barren and cold, but around the coffin, there was visibly a ring of fiery roses.

No one spoke, and the world was quiet and solemn.

The King dismounted from his horse, and walked alone to the coffin.

Those who carried the coffin were former subordinates of the Duke of Buckingham. They used to fight side by side with the Imperial Lion, and earlier they had knelt before the King and begged the King to entrust them with this task——they failed to accompany their former general in death, so they must now personally bring him into the territory of Legrand he had wanted to recover all his life.

The coffin was heavy and contained the soil from the place where the Duke of Buckingham was last buried.

The King reached out and touched the coffin, and it felt as if a scalding fire was passed from the coffin to his palm. He withdrew his hand and ordered:

“Enter the city!”

He took his uncle to step on the road to Bomari Castle.

The world was silent.

This was Bomari Castle. The former Duke of Buckingham followed William III on an expedition and once made it less than twenty miles away from it. This was the territory that the Duke of Buckingham wanted to take back all his life. He had guarded Legrand his entire life, fought for Legrand until his death, but had never been able to set foot here.

The King walks behind the coffin.

The lion of the empire, the Duke of Buckingham, surrounded by his soldiers, was the first to step onto the territory that the Rose family had lost for too long.

After the eight old knights stepped through the city gate, they slowly lowered the coffin and placed it on the grounds of Bomari Castle. They knelt down on one knee, raised their hands and clenched their fists to beat their hearts: “My lord, we have taken back Bomari!”

“We have taken back Bomari!”

They shouted.

They were sent by the Duke of Buckingham to assist the King in the King’s army, and lost the chance to accompany the old general in his final battle. They fought silently all the way, and fought bravely at the forefront of all battles. They wanted to fight for their general, and to realize the greatest wish of the Duke of Buckingham when he was alive.

This was February 1432.

On the tail end of the biting winter chill, the lion of the empire finally set foot on the territory he always longed to recover. The King’s left-wing army broke through Balboa’s royal city, and the heads of the rebel leaders were nailed high on the city gate. The flames of war ignited on the last day of the old year finally came to an end in the north.

Roses bloomed in the embers of the fire.

The King reached out and took a brand-new royal banner from the knights, and held it up high: “The glory of Legrand is eternal!”

This was Legrand.

Legrand that was unmatched anywhere in the world.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

In this land where the dragon’s bones were buried, a family marked by roses had ruled for generations.

The long wind was fierce, blowing the tail of the flag and fluttering it violently.

“The glory of Legrand is eternal!”

The knights raised their swords high and shouted loudly in unison.

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