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Chapter 66: The Rainy Season in Langdon
That evening, as soon as the king arrived at the banquet hall, he went straight to Elizabeth, pulled her out of the circle of young ladies and dragged her aside.
The noble ladies looked at each other, and then started to shout and make noises at the same time.
After pulling Elizabeth aside, Wang immediately lifted the flared sleeve of her skirt and confirmed that the defensive wristband was indeed on the girl's wrist.
Then he checked Elizabeth's skirt again to make sure she was not wearing a whalebone bustle.
Elizabeth lowered her voice and said, "What happened? There are twelve electors, eleven of whom are here, and they have brought a bunch of nobles with them. My brother will not take action on such an occasion. At most, he will use snakes to scare those who are hostile to him at night."
The king asked quietly, "Who are the hostile electors?"
Elizabeth whispered, "The one cutting the steak is Lord Mirathion, and next to him is his wife, a warlock like me, but of a higher level. Next to her is their court wizard. Do you know how many wizards there are in this place? It will be fine."
Wang: "Keep telling me who else is hostile to your family."
Elizabeth could only continue, "The one holding the wine glass is the Duke of Vulture Valley. The Southwest War was fought on his territory. So he has a very close military connection with the emperor. Next to him is his wife, and the one eating cheese is their court wizard.
"Then there's Duke Mountain Eagle, who also became friends with the emperor during the Southwest War. His court mage is his wife. Then there's Duke River Valley, whose court mage was killed by Xiaobai, so he has no mage following him now."
Wang nodded gently.
At this time, he noticed that Bruce was looking at him. After meeting his gaze, Bruce grinned.
Then the Duke stood up and raised his glass high: "Everyone! Now I propose that we raise a toast to the hero who ended this war, the beloved disciple of the legendary great wizard, the great wizard king!"
Everyone stood up and raised their glasses.
Bruce continued, "Not only did he and his friends defuse the most dangerous attack, he also personally captured the dog emperor who broke the rules!"
Most of the nobles raised their glasses and cheered together, but the king noticed that among the lords Elizabeth had just named, only the Duke of River Valley raised his glass and cheered, while the others only raised their glasses symbolically.
The king lowered his head and asked in Elizabeth's ear: "Look at those electors who support your family. Do you think they are convinced by your second brother?"
Elizabeth also whispered: "Those dukes and their ladies are old foxes. I can't see through their thoughts. But I can see through the children they brought with me at once. They are very disdainful."
King: "I see, that's what I thought. Landon County has suffered heavy losses, and the only black dragon that can deter them was almost killed by the Disintegration spell. They are probably ready to make a move. I think your second brother is going to make a final move tonight to turn the tide."
Elizabeth whispered, "No. It's too risky. Even he wouldn't do it at a time like this."
“Others think so too,” Wang replied.
"Look!" Bruce said loudly, "The Archmage actually whispered with my sister in public! It seems that my warlock sister must marry into the Archmage Tower! After I, Kusaniya, establish an alliance with the legendary Archmage's Mage Tower, I'm sure even Monrovia won't dare to look down on us!"
This time, few people echoed Bruce.
Suddenly, a young noble stepped forward and questioned, "Is he really the disciple of the great wizard? Is it just because he can turn into a dragon? The information I got is that he has a magic staff artifact that allows him to turn into a dragon!"
Wang: “That’s indeed the case.”
This actually confused many people. The young nobleman who questioned him hesitated for a moment. Taking advantage of this moment, Elizabeth introduced him to the king, "He is the third son of Duke Luan. Luan is our ally."
The Third Master Luan continued to question: "So you admit that you are a fake?"
Wang: "I don't see any logical connection here. But I can prove my identity in a simple way."
After saying that, he took out the dimensional bag.
As soon as the dimensional bag came out, all the spellcasters gasped, and among the non-spellcasters, even the knowledgeable dukes became serious.
Wang introduced: "This is a gift from my uncle. It will return to me at any time. Once someone possesses it in some way, such as killing me, the bag will return to my uncle. Then my uncle will come back with the demon army and destroy everyone who has hurt me."
Duke Luan's son had no idea how powerful this dimensional bag was. After all, he couldn't see the magical aura, and he wasn't as knowledgeable as his father.
Little Luan: "Humph, you're blowing it so hard, but you can't die on the spot!"
At this time, Duke Luan stepped forward and slapped his son: "How dare you! How can you be so rude to the disciple of a legendary wizard!"
Little Luan covered his cheek, feeling extremely aggrieved.
The old Duke of Luan turned around and raised his glass: "Sir, I apologize to you on behalf of my rebellious son."
Wang: “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”
He put away the dimensional bag. Elizabeth pinched his elbow and said, "You are being too conspicuous. Remember, don't take out this dimensional bag without my permission in the future."
Wang: "Ah? I guess I'm the captain?"
Elizabeth: "I am your employer."
Wang: “Okay, I understand.”
At this time, music started playing.
Bruce clapped his hands, "Okay, let's get started! According to the rules, I and the female relatives of the guest of honor should lead the dance, and the guest of honor and my sister, who is acting as hostess, should enter the dance floor second. However, today is a special situation, so Ruth, the daughter of the Duke of Valley who just got engaged, will act as hostess!
"As for the guest of honor, it's of course the in-laws who are getting engaged today, my father-in-law!"
Bruce walked towards the Duchess of Riverdale, his mother-in-law, and held out his hand: "Would you like to dance with me?"
Of course the Duchess was not afraid of this situation. She took Bruce's hand and stood up.
The Duke of River Valley looked livid, walked up to his daughter and held out his hand to her.
In this way, two pairs of host and guest stepped onto the dance floor and danced to the music.
Amid the sound of cheerful music, a young nobleman came to Elizabeth and asked, "Would you please dance with me?"
Wang: "No, she can't go. She has to stay with me."
As he said this, he put his arm around Elizabeth's shoulders, as if he was afraid that the girl would be taken away by someone else.
The young noble waved his hand in boredom and turned away.
Elizabeth whispered, "You didn't let me go because you thought something would happen, right?"
"What else? It's safe to stay with me. The intimidation I just used should be of some use." Wang continued to observe the entire dance.
The first song lasted a full fifteen minutes. Except for the dancers, everyone else was holding a glass of wine, drinking and discussing something. In the noise, no one noticed the conversation between the king and Elizabeth.
When the song was almost over, the bard who had been thrown out of the Three Wild Boars Tavern by Gotrick appeared again in front of the king and the princess.
"Hey!"
Wang was shocked when he saw him: "I like women! Men are too advanced for me!"
The bard looked confused, "What?"
Although the king's reaction was puzzling, the young man still recommended himself earnestly: "I may not have much experience, and my music and performance skills are not very good, but I still hope to witness a legend!"
The king shook his head, took Elizabeth a little further away, and said to the bard: "If you want to see the legend, you will see it soon tonight."
Just at this moment, the song ended. The band in the orchestra pit stopped playing for a while to drink water and rest, and it was time for the minstrels to take the stage.
For the banquet, Bruce invited all the bards in the city.
The young man rushed to the stage where the minstrels were performing with his lude and shouted, "Everyone! I, the lark of the Monrovia Conservatory of Music, will present a song suitable for a banquet!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of rain suddenly drifted in from the open window of the banquet hall. The servants immediately ran in and closed the rainy windows.
Elizabeth, as the landowner, explained to Wang: "It is early summer now. It often rains heavily at night at this time. This is normal."
At this time, Wang heard the Duke's fiancée exclaim from the host's table: "Dad!"
**
Go back a little bit in time.
After the first song ended, Bruce walked his mother-in-law back to her seat, then returned to his own seat and picked up his glass.
His new fiancée, Ruth, has been sent back to her place by her own father.
"You are such a bad creature," said Rose, "to have thought of such an idea as to make my father dance with me! The last time I danced with my father I was a little girl!"
Bruce laughed, "You'll thank me later."
"Affection? Are you trying to tease me?" Ruth cursed, and at this moment she suddenly noticed something.
She looked at Bruce's hand holding the wine glass with a serious expression, and gently turned up the Duke's sleeve with her slender fingers.
The shiny chain mail reflected the bright candlelight in the banquet hall.
Ruth looked at Bruce in disbelief: "You..."
Bruce smiled slightly: "I told you that you would thank me for my kindness later, right?"
Ruth stood up suddenly: "Dad!"
Bruce hugged her and blocked his fiancée's mouth with a kiss.
Everyone was shocked at first, but then they started to make a noise. Because the kiss attracted attention, no one noticed that the mage from the Duke of Vulture Valley suddenly covered his throat, as if he was choking on cheese.
No one knew that this cheese was specially prepared after obtaining information that the wizard liked cheese.
Just as the long kiss attracted everyone's attention, the maid who was serving the plate to Duke Miratheon suddenly pulled out a dagger from under the plate and stabbed it into the Duchess' chest, and kept pulling out the knife and stabbing it again.
There were instantly more than a dozen bleeding wounds on the Duchess' chest, and the sorceress died before she could even scream.
The Duke's wizard threw down the wine glass and was about to take action, but found that the magic material bag had been cut away at some point. He immediately turned to magic that only required gestures and language, but was suddenly blocked from the back by someone's hand and stabbed several times in the waist.
The trigger spell was not activated because the equipment for the trigger spell was a self-carved wooden figurine, and the figurine must be on the wizard's body for the trigger spell to take effect.
As long as the little man infused with the trigger spell is stolen, the spell will become ineffective.
The Duke himself was the last to notice something was wrong. He only had time to shout "Assassin" before he was hit by seven or eight crossbow arrows.
At the same time, the crossbowmen on the second floor lowered the shield and fired intensively at the targets below.
The only court wizard who activated the trigger spell summoned seven illusions, but they were all shattered in an instant by the crossbow arrows, and the remaining crossbow arrows all pierced him.
The Duke and his relatives who were not the target of the attack reacted quickly. After all, they were all experts who had received anti-assassination training since childhood. Everyone fell to the ground.
In a blink of an eye, all the electors who were not allies - as well as their families and accompanying spellcasters - fell in a pool of blood.
In fact, in the servants' hall next door, all their servants were also killed.
Finally, Bruce's long kiss ended.
He threw away his new fiancée, who had completely lost her strength due to the sudden incident, like a rag, picked up the wine glass on the table and took a sip carefully.
The other six Electors' families slowly got up from the ground and looked at the mess.
The bard standing on the stage stood there with his lute in his hand, his knees shaking.
Kassande, who had been hiding somewhere, appeared. The king immediately recognized the spellcasting materials in his hand, which were the materials needed for the druid magic that was specifically designed to interfere with the magicians' spellcasting.