A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

The sun is about to set from the distant horizon, the light disappears from the earth little by little, and the sky is about to darken.

A heavy horn sounded and spread far across the land.

The soldiers who surrounded the royal city like ants and gnawed at the city walls retreated amidst the sound of trumpets.

Like the sudden ebb of the tide, it evacuated completely in an instant, leaving only corpses everywhere and blood stains on the ground under the tall city wall.

The moat surrounding the royal city flows slowly, as always.

It's just that the originally clear water surface has long since become turbid, and the city gate has almost stopped flowing, and has been mostly filled with sand and soil bags.

Countless corpses and sacks of sand and gravel piled up in the middle of the moat, cutting off the river. The countless broken limbs and broken arms mixed with the sand and soil, like a mass grave, dyeing the nearby water a strange red sauce. .

It took the Gastard people three full days, leaving countless corpses here, before they could fill up the moat at the city gate.

This is because Tire ordered in advance to cut off the upper reaches of the moat, which was a living water, so that the amount of water in the moat was reduced and the difficulty of filling the river was reduced.

However, the Gastad people were not distressed.

Anyway, those who braved the rain of arrows to carry sacks of sand and earth to fill the river were a mixed army of soldiers from other countries who had surrendered to them.

To them, these surrendered troops are pure cannon fodder and have no use except risking their lives to help them open the way to attack.

Ming Jin retreated, and Gastard's army quickly returned to the camp.

Prince Tyr, the commander of the Gastad people, stood quietly on horseback in the sunset.

The fiery red sunset reflected his snow-like side cheeks, and the wind, which was unbelievably gentle compared to the far north, gently passed over his cheeks, lifting his velvety silver-white forehead.

Those pupils that looked like lavender gems reflected the huge city standing on the ground in the distance.

The royal city of Aaron Landis.

Unlike Kanal's exquisite and gorgeous but extremely fragile royal city, Aaron Landis's royal city gives people a majestic feeling.

The royal city of Aaron Landis has a long history of civilization.

It comes from ancient history, and has accumulated a vicissitudes and rich and simple atmosphere over a long period of time. The passage of time makes it more and more magnificent.

It is a towering giant.

It is a towering mountain that towers over the earth.

No matter how time passes, no matter how many years of wind and rain it has experienced, it is still so majestic and magnificent.

Even from such a distance, you can faintly feel the invisible pressure coming from that city.

It stood under the setting sun, like a black-red fire that was burning fiercely.

Hot, fierce, huge, as if it would never go out.

Looking at the magnificent city, Tire's slender eyebrows frowned slightly.

The attack on the royal city of Aaron Landis did not go as smoothly as he expected.

Nowadays, Aaron Landis's northern and eastern armies are tied to the border and unable to move because they have to resist Gesu and Yishu.

The legions in the west have been destroyed by him, and King Camos, known as the undefeated Lion King, has also been killed by him.

Although there are still scattered armies scattered in various cities of Aaron Landis, without a unified commander, it is impossible to organize forces to confront the Gastad people.

He has also led an army to the royal city of Aaron Landis.

The hundreds of thousands of troops under his command were like giants, while the garrison in the royal city was no more than 10,000 at most.

It is said that some of them are city guards who have little combat effectiveness from nearby towns.

In the eyes of others, the Gastad attack went as smoothly as a divine aid.

With such a balance of forces and no external reinforcements, the fall of the royal city of Aaron Landis would be a matter of time.

And once the royal city is destroyed, it means the death of Aaron Landis.

Now, almost the entire continent is paying attention.

Many people lamented that Aaron Landis would follow in the footsteps of Kanal and soon his country would perish and fall into the hands of the fierce Gastad people.

However, what others see as smoothness is a series of surprises in Tyr's eyes.

At this moment, he looked at the royal city in the distance with an expressionless face.

If it really went well, according to his plan, he should have entered the city by now and sat on the throne of Aaron Landis.

His cold pupils reflected the golden palace in the city, revealing the top of the city wall.

Garlan.

The Crown Prince of Aaron Landis should be among them at this moment.

It is said that he was seriously injured in an assassination not long ago and is still bedridden.

Therefore, it was another prince, the Black Knight Heimos, who commanded the war.

According to the information collected by Tyr over the years, the crown prince, who was not even a minor yet, had a beautiful appearance and was a handsome young man with an appearance that was praised by the world.

This crown prince is completely different from the brave and powerful King Camos. He is a prince with very weak military strength, not even as good as the knights under his command.

Generally speaking, Tyr has no interest in weak people.

The weak have no right to enter his eyes.

However, Tire was somewhat interested in this crown prince who was not rumored to be powerful.

Because the crown prince has ruined a lot of things for him in recent years.

This is why his attack on Aaron Landis did not go well.

Not to mention other trivial matters, at least three of his important arrangements were disrupted by the crown prince.

If it hadn't been for the crown prince's interference in the Tastar mission, Tastar country would not only have been in civil strife for a while, but should have changed its ruler long ago.

And the new ruler should have joined him at this time, divided his troops into two groups, and marched into Aaron Landis together.

Then there is the city of Tozes in the south, where his people spent several years lurking, corrupting local powerful officials and secretly allying with pirates.

After he decided to attack Aaron Landis this winter, he directly ordered the people lurking in Tozes City to summon the group of pirates. If Tozes, an important maritime trade city, is occupied by pirates, Aaron Landis will not only suffer economic losses, but also contain some of Aaron Landis's forces, including the navy.

Even when he attacks at this moment, he can let the pirates attack Tozes City again and start a war in the south, making Aaron Landis even more distracted.

It's a pity that this important chess piece was also destroyed by the crown prince.

And the most important chess pieces are the people he sent to lurk in the royal city.

It took him more than seven years to secretly open a large net in the royal city, just to make those people riot in the city when he attacked the royal city, and help him open the city gate from the inside, thus easily breaking the city.

Who knew that even if the crown prince was stabbed and injured, he could still fight back, set a trap, follow the clues, and catch all his people in one fell swoop.

Without the people inside and outside the city who should cooperate with each other, Tire could not break through from the inside, so Tire could only attack the city by force.

All of the above were all done by the crown prince.

As a result, Tire's attack on Aaron Landis did not go as smoothly as he had expected.

Moreover, there is another point that makes Tier quite puzzling.

He should have succeeded in instigating the relationship between the two princes and dividing them, so he forced the distinguished prince Heimos to go to the North.

Who knew that Heimos would rush back to the royal city at the critical moment, and help the injured Prince Gallan defend the city without saying a word.

This kind of behavior that doesn't care about past grudges... is completely unlike this person's character.

Or is there something crucial that he failed to notice?

Just when Tyr was staring at the royal city in the distance and lost in thought, suddenly a rapid sound of horse hooves came from behind.

A general looked anxious and hurried towards him on horseback.

When he arrived at Tire's side, the general leaned over eagerly and whispered a few words in Tire's ear.

Tyr's gaze paused.

He seemed a little distracted at this moment.

"Your Highness?"

After seeing and hearing this shocking news, Tire remained silent, and the general shouted nervously.

"Your Highness Tyr?"

The constant shouts from his subordinates brought Tire back to his senses.

He raised his head to look at the royal city standing under the setting sun, then turned his head and looked to the west.

His lavender eyes seemed to have a strange light surging at this moment.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

He suddenly laughed.

Under the stunned eyes of the general, the prince of Gastad, who always looked indifferent, laughed loudly.

"very good."

Tyr's eyes shimmered, his eyes were bright, and he was full of energy.

He seemed to have discovered something extremely interesting and looked at the west with interest.

That was the direction he came from, and it was also the direction where the crown prince he was most interested in now.

The man he thought was in the royal city was actually the man who led his troops thousands of miles away to recapture Rudas City in one fell swoop on the night he arrived in the royal city three days ago.

"Garlan."

He said the name carefully and carefully.

Then, he once again repeated the name that made things escape from his control countless times.

"...Garlan."

For some reason, when he said this name, something destined to flow into his body, making his usually cold chest become extremely hot at this moment.

That was the first time he felt the burning fighting spirit pouring out of his body during his journey.

Thin silver hair was scattered in the corners of Tyr's sharply raised eyes. He looked into the distance with a cold smile on his lips.

Garlan.

Crown Prince of Aaron Landis.

my enemy.

There is bound to be a battle between you and me.

I look forward to the day when I can meet you.

…………

……………………

It was already night, and Rudas City, which had been jubilant all day, returned to silence.

The people who had vented all their negative emotions on this day fell into a dream early, tired but extremely relieved.

Their eyebrows and eyes were finally able to relax, and even though they had fallen asleep, there was a slight smile hanging on the corners of their mouths.

The castle in the city was still brightly lit, and the light exuded a hint of warmth in the dark night.

There was a crash, that was the sound of chains hitting.

Located deep underground in the castle, the door of the dark iron prison was opened.

The old man in the prison was kneeling under the only skylight in the dungeon, and the starlight came in and fell on his gray hair.

He knelt there with his hands clasped against his forehead.

That is the posture of prayer.

The old man kneeling to pray was like a stone sculpture, motionless under the starlight. No one knew how long he maintained this posture.

"Lord Yunus."

The voice of someone coming came from behind.

The old man who had been praying to the gods raised his head and opened his eyes.

The faint starlight fell into his eyes, and there seemed to be many things entangled in his eyes, converging into an extremely complicated look.

He stood up slowly, put one hand on the ground, raised his legs that had lost control due to kneeling for too long, and stood up with difficulty.

He turned his head, and the familiar face of the One-Eyed Knight fell into his eyes.

His slightly cloudy eyes stared intently at that face, which had a white complexion that was different from his.

Knight of the sun.

A powerful knight renowned across the continent.

Aaron Landis is one of only four remaining cavalry commanders.

In a great battle, the Lion King died, and almost half of the seven knight commanders who symbolized Aaron Landis's strongest power died.

Three of the six legions have been lost, especially the destruction of the first legion, which caused Aaron Landis to lose almost more than half of his military strength.

Gastard's army has approached the royal city, and seeing the danger of national destruction right in front of him, Aaron Landis is in danger, and all the people are sad.

And the culprit that caused all this...

Yunus closed his eyes to cover up the pain in his eyes.

He said nothing and followed Kehos out of the gloomy dungeon.

He walked up the stone steps slowly, step by step, unsteadily.

Walking through the familiar halls and through the long spiral staircase, Kehos took him to a room above the castle.

As soon as he entered the door, Yunus saw a familiar face.

His former subordinate Juta.

At this moment, the high-spirited general who once stood outside the prison with his arms tied behind his back by ropes was kneeling on the ground with his head lowered. His whole person exuded an aura of decadence and looked miserable.

As soon as he saw this despicable traitor, Yunas felt a surge of hatred in his heart.

His eyes turned red when he stared at Juta, and he wanted to rush over immediately and devour his flesh and bones.

But as soon as he took a step, Caijos raised his hand to stop him.

As if he was suddenly hit hard by someone, Yunus froze in place.

Yes, he hated Juta, the traitor.

But what qualifications does he have to hate?

As the culprit who killed King Camos, what is the difference between him and Juta?

Yunus stood in the room blankly, with a blank look on his face and a blank look in his eyes.

After a few minutes, footsteps sounded from outside, the door opened, and Garlan walked in.

Tevar, who was following him as a guard, glanced at Caihos in the room, and did not follow him in. Instead, he closed the door outside and stood guard outside.

As soon as the young man entered the door, Yunus, who was standing there blankly like a wooden stake, subconsciously raised his head and looked at the young man.

Prince Garlan, the beloved younger brother of King Camos.

It was this prince who rescued Camos from him a month ago.

The reason why he made up his mind to betray Camos was because King Camos made the prince the crown prince.

And he does not allow white people without noble blood to inherit the throne.

But it was this fair-skinned prince whose bloodline he believed was not pure and noble enough, who saved the city of Rudas.

Yunus' eyes fell on Garlan's head.

His pupils contracted violently.

The familiar lapis lazuli gold crown was placed on the young prince's head. The bright red of the blood beads on the azure gem made his eyes ache.

Yunus looked at the crown steadily, his eyes in a daze.

"I always thought... what I did was right..."

He said, "King Camos has strayed from the will of the gods, and I will bring him back to the right path."

He closed his eyes, his face was haggard, and his voice was hoarse.

"I have no son, and my only daughter has sworn never to marry because she serves the gods. I have no descendants who can inherit the throne... So I think I sit on the throne not for myself, not because I want to be a king... I think , after I become the king and redirect Aaron Landis to the right path according to the will of the gods... After my death, I will hand over the throne to Prince Heymos."

"That's proof that I didn't betray King Camos just to covet the throne..."

Garlan looked at him quietly, Kehos was also silent, and the kneeling Juta shrunk his body.

No one else spoke in the room, only Yunus's voice echoed.

"I told myself that I betrayed King Camos not because of my own selfish desires, but just to bring order to the chaos..."

"My daughter also encouraged me, saying that this is God's will for me and this is what I should do."

"That convinced me that everything I did was for Aaron Landis, to establish the right order, and to restore the glory of the royal bloodline."

"I've always told myself this..."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door outside, interrupting Yunus' words.

Tewa's voice came from outside.

"Your Highness, the daughter of Lord Yonas is here. She wants to see her father."

Garlan pondered for a few seconds and glanced at Yunus who suddenly turned his head to look at the door.

"Let her in," he said.

The door opened, and a woman who looked to be in her twenties walked in, and the door closed behind her.

Her fluffy brown-black hair was spread behind her slender shoulders. She clasped her hands in front of her body, and her large goose-yellow skirt swayed gently.

Her face was slender, and her slender eyelashes cast rosy shadows on her cheeks. She pursed her lips slightly, and her eyelashes trembled slightly, making them look as weak as feathers.

The three maids, who were also slender, followed her, lowering their heads quietly without saying a word.

This woman who looked weak and beautiful glanced at her father Yunus with a heartbroken expression.

Then, she took two steps forward, leaned over, and her skirt spread out on the ground.

She lowered her head and knelt in front of Garlan.

"Your Highness, please, Your Highness."

She begged urgently, with a slightly choked voice.

"Please forgive my father. He is old and cannot bear the pain. Please, Your Highness, I can accept all punishments on his behalf. I just ask you to forgive him..."

Caijos, who was standing aside, frowned. He took a step forward and was about to say something.

But suddenly, something happened.

The maid who was standing quietly and humblely with her head lowered suddenly suddenly rushed towards Caijos. The two of them, one on the left and the other on the right, tightly entangled Caijos.

The remaining maid took out a dagger from her chest and rushed towards Garlan.

Caijos raised his hand to get rid of the two maids, but what shocked him was that the seemingly fragile maid was surprisingly strong and was able to hold him in place.

A stern look flashed in his eyes, and the knight immediately struck cruelly.

He raised his hand and smashed the ribs on the chest of one of the maids who was holding his arm with his elbow.

However, something surprising happened.

The maid whose ribs were smashed by Caijos still held Caijos tightly, without even a whimper. She stared at Caijos, with the whites of her eyes taking up most of them, looking quite terrifying. And that look in his eyes was even more weird to the extreme.

When the maid rushed over, Garlan, who reacted very quickly, had already pulled out the sword from his waist, knocked the dagger out of the maid's hand, and then pierced her chest with the sword.

If he were an ordinary person, he would have fallen to the ground long ago.

But at this moment, the maid whose heart he had pierced actually stretched out her hands and grabbed his hands that were holding the hilt of the sword.

Her strength was astonishingly strong, like an iron pincer, and Garlan could not break free no matter what.

The maid's red eyes were staring straight at Garlan, and blood was flowing from her pierced chest. However, she seemed not to feel the pain at all, and just grinned at Garlan with a strange expression. Horrible laugh.

"My great god, Timyat, the mother goddess of creation."

Yunus's daughter, who had been kneeling on the ground and crying, had stood up at some point.

That weak look disappeared without a trace. Her face was extremely excited at the moment, with a hint of madness, and her eyes were terrifyingly bright when she looked at Garlan.

"Your loyal followers will offer you the most precious sacrifices! Offer the blood of the gods!"

She shouted like a chant, holding a short sword and stabbing Garlan who was restrained by the maid and unable to move——

"prince!!!"

In Caijos's shouts of surprise and anger.

The blade of the sword flashed a cold light in the air and stabbed hard.

In an instant, blood splattered.

The blond knight looked shocked.

Garlan's eyes suddenly opened wide.

Yunus suddenly rushed over in the chaos and stood in front of Garlan, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The dagger in his daughter's hand had completely penetrated into his chest.