Kingdom’s Bloodline

"Your grandmother wrote, she wants you to go back.{}{}{[}"

Father's words sounded in the dormitory, and the familiar tone made people sit upright.

"What?" he asked subconsciously.

Although he has gradually gotten used to the weekly reporting and is used to his father's businesslike tone, after the routine report, he couldn't help being stunned when he suddenly heard his father's "unprofessional" words.

The guard's duty room is located on the remote side of the Fuxing Palace. Compared with the noisy palace gate facing the King's Road and the breath-taking Hall of Stars, this place is neither noisy nor quiet, and the atmosphere is just right.

Father spoke lightly, with a hoarse tone:

"Your cousin is ill, in fact, very ill."

"His management of the fief is not going well, and he needs help."

Grandmother, cousin.

The echo of these two terms, which he hadn't heard for a long time, made him dazed for a moment.

It seems to go back to the long past.

helper?

But he just turned his head instinctively, and said without hesitation:

"No, I'm not going back."

Hearing his answer, the father behind the table crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair amidst the soft sound of the armor, his eyes were shining brightly, revealing the majesty he had cultivated over the years.

This made him a little uneasy—it had been a long time since he had been alone with his father and talked about housework without a third person.

But my father didn't frown, nor did he show any hesitation, as if he had expected his answer.

"Your grandmother means that if something happens to your cousin...the family's fief and title need to be inherited." Father said softly.

This made him frown.

Fiefs and titles...

Someone needs to inherit...

He frowned instinctively, then snorted softly, trying to suppress the disdain in his words:

"They won't be so kind, what about the conditions?"

Father's face was still as usual. I don't know if it was because his many years of career made him unhappy, or because he knew too much about himself.

I only heard my father say lightly:

"The condition is that you marry your cousin, who is your grandmother's grandniece."

"Give birth to an heir with her to maintain the relationship between the two families."

To marry... cousin's widow?

Hearing this, he frowned slightly, satisfied to find that he had found a reason for his disdain.

really.

"I understand," he also crossed his arms, with a slight contempt in his nasal voice:

"Tell them I'm not going back."

His father nodded unsurprisingly at his refusal, as if what he had just rejected was not the inheritance of a noble title, but simply "not going home for dinner tonight".

Father's gaze shifted to his bandaged fingers.

This time, the former really frowned:

"Are you still practicing that swordsmanship?"

He lowered his arms subconsciously, but before hiding them behind his back, he changed his movements temporarily, and naturally assumed a posture of propping up the arms of the chair.

He nodded and tried to answer in the most indifferent tone:

"Yes."

But the father's brows not only did not relax, but became more and more wrinkled:

"Do you think you have a chance to beat him in the next knight's contest, at least on equal footing, without losing the wind?"

This sentence made his heart tighten.

beat him.

beat him.

he!

That's right, that's it, beat him! Like that Northlander—he wanted to say it, in a confident, relaxed, steady tone.

But for some reason, before he said it, he temporarily changed his words, and his tone was slightly lower:

"We will know at that time."

Father was silent for a while, but his eyes were still fixed on him.

It made him very uncomfortable.

"I think you should know that skill is not the only criterion for the selection of watchmen." Father said slowly, his eyebrows still untied.

An ominous premonition hit my heart.

He unnaturally changed his sitting position:

"I know."

Father still looked at him steadfastly:

"But even so,

You're not looking good on Overwatch's competitive roster either. "

There seemed to be a string in his heart, which was stretched tightly.

"Sakel is the best in martial arts and is deeply trusted by His Majesty. Nolan Nur has the entire northern border and good popularity as a backing. Tony is Captain Cullen's favorite, and Cox's battlefield command and experience are well received. Prince Horace's appreciation and recommendation."

"They're all favorites."

His father stared at him, saying word by word what everyone knew, which was engraved into his heart like a seal.

"But you, all you have is a father like me."

I don't know if it was an illusion, but at the same time as he said this, he seemed to hear his father exhale gently from his nose.

He was a little bored, his father's eyes forced him to look away and look elsewhere:

"I know."

But his father doesn't seem to be ready to let him go:

"In the guard, people from the same family usually don't hold important positions at the same time, especially positions like deputy captain and watchman."

The father's tone was imperceptibly sad:

"You will most likely lose."

His breathing stagnated for a moment, and he barely recovered after a few seconds:

"I know."

Father finally cast aside his gaze and looked at the door of the duty room.

"But you still want to stubbornly try?"

For some reason, facing such a father, although he frowned, he felt a little indescribably relaxed.

"Yes."

He lowered his arms and remained still for a few seconds before taking a breath and replying:

"Finally have to try."

This time, my father was silent for a long time, and even the not-so-relaxed atmosphere in the duty room became serious.

It's been so long that he frowned, wondering if it's time to cut in and say goodbye...

"You know, the royal guard is not just guards around the king, it is a contract, a concept, a tradition."

The father exhaled slowly, but he didn't look at him, but at the wall of the duty room.

There, the roster with the names of the members of the guards was clearly visible: Cullen, Arend, Barney, Tardin, Garth, Tarren, Dastan, Norfolk, Godwin, Connie, Harvey Ya, Naki...

He didn't know why his father mentioned this, but his father's eyes seemed a little deep.

"Since the era of King Fuxing, powerful noble families have sent out their blood descendants, regardless of the eldest son, the second son, or the offshoot of the main line. They have guarded the king, cultivated the relationship with the royal family, and won the trust of the Fuxing Palace. The king also used this to maintain The tacit understanding with the vassal's family guarantees its influence on the subordinate fiefs."

Father sighed, his voice was a bit unusual, less tough and more helpless:

"In a sense, for hundreds of years, the royal guard has been the epitome of the kingdom's territory—from the six giants to the thirteen noble families, from the seven star attendants to the new nobles, the rise and fall of families, big and small, are reflected in it."

He frowned fiercely, feeling that his father today was a bit unusual.

From childhood to adulthood, my father has always been very serious.

It's never been so...sincere?

"Sir," he frowned and looked at his father, subconsciously shouting the most accustomed title:

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Seemingly being called back by the "sir", my father paused. ..

When he spoke again, he had already returned to the tough officer he was accustomed to.

"I know you don't have a good impression of your family, and your relationship with your cousin is not good."

His father looked at him again, sat upright, with a serious tone:

"However, if you go home and get promises from your grandmother and cousin, and let His Majesty know that you are likely to inherit the title and fiefdom from your cousin..."

He felt cold.

This again?

inherit?

Father continued to speak, telling the whole story with a blank face:

"That way, at least when considering the candidates for the watchman, His Majesty will look at you differently: I think he prefers that the person who takes charge of the kingdom's land for him is a loyal and loyal servant of the guard."

"Even, I can resign and retire, which may increase your chances."

Is it.

Just doing that, just accepting...my chances go way up.

He sighed silently,

A faint disappointment welled up in my heart.

After so many years, he and his father are certainly not a model of fatherly kindness and filial piety...

But at least, he thought that his father's perception of that land, that memory, and those personnel should be consistent with his.

But……

"That's why you want me to go back and inherit the family?"

He spoke silently, with a tone of alienation and hostility that surprised even himself.

But he didn't want to take back this emotion, but let it ferment slowly, turning into cold and biting words:

"Go back and inherit the so-called 'family' that forced our family to flee, caused our mother to die of illness, and caused our younger sister to die early due to lack of medicine?"

In his cold snort, it was as if someone had opened the window of winter.

The father on the opposite side suddenly turned into a terrifying ice sculpture.

There is only one pair of eyes left, aggressive.

"It has nothing to do with them." After a while, the father replied stiffly.

"What is that for?"

He returned the salute unceremoniously.

"If it has nothing to do with them, why do you have to involve me? Why don't you just go back by yourself, inherit that title, marry that young and beautiful wife by yourself, and become a good son of grandma and a good servant of His Majesty?"

boom!

There was a loud bang.

He silently watched his father's fist on the arm of the chair.

The atmosphere became tense and oppressive.

He found that they were breathing slightly from each other.

And my father stared at him coldly with the eyes of an officer training recruits, as he did thousands of times in the past, as if he was about to take out a whip in the next moment.

But this time, he held his head high and looked at the officer without flinching.

After a long while, the father with twitching cheeks forced out a sentence from between his teeth:

"Because you are my blood."

Father let out a breath.

For some reason, the father slowly eased his stiff face, and Panasonic took a tense tone, and rarely looked away.

"I think it should be your choice."

"My son." The father said stiffly.

He shivered slightly.

son?

really weird.

This is not him.

He looked at his father in front of him and said silently.

For many years, no matter in public or private, the tough and strict father has always called him by his name or his position.

It's been a long time since his mother passed away.

my son?

This made him not know how to face it for a while: he was full of anger as prepared in the past, but at this moment he could not find an opponent to vent.

In the end, he could only force himself to snort coldly, and turned his head in disdain:

"So we still can't escape, right?"

"Even if you moved out of the family fief, came to the capital, joined the royal guard, and lived on your own for so many years," he glanced at the schedule on the wall, and said contemptuously:

"But we are still like animals in the wilderness scrambling to avoid the rain. Wherever we go, there is that dark cloud above our heads."

His father looked at him silently, sighed, and his tone was a little tired:

"No, we can't escape."

The father and son were silent for a while.

"You have two choices: accept the conditions of your grandmother and cousin, you can win a decent title and fief, and even become the next watchman, or even the captain of the guard," finally, the father breathed a sigh of relief, and spoke again, perhaps because Because of staying up late, there is indelible exhaustion in the voice:

"Or you can refuse..."

His father's words were interrupted by him.

"I refuse, I don't care about that title and title."

He was resolute, unquestionably authentic, and looked at his father without showing any weakness.

"I won't go back."

"Don't even want to have anything to do with them."

The so-called family that is so dark.

he thought coldly.

Father frowned: "Even if it means that you are likely to lose the watchman's competition, for the rest of your life, just be a little..."

"Yes."

He answered without hesitation.

This time, his father looked at him for a long, long time.

The father's gaze changed several times, and his emotions were unclear.

And he looked at each other quietly, unwaveringly.

Finally, my father looked away.

"Very good," my father snorted softly, and his voice was much lighter:

"Then don't go back."

This surprised him quite a bit.

In my memory, when the two got angry, my father never had the experience of giving up so quickly.

He could only fold his arms again, trying to resolve the anger that had nowhere to vent, feeling that today's air was particularly unsuitable for him.

The two seemed a little embarrassed and were silent for a few seconds.

"alright."

Father cleared his throat.

"Then, today's report is over, you can go," the father sat upright and said lightly:

"Quell Barney Herald Officer."

In an instant, his father's face returned to coldness.

It made him almost unbelievable that the tired father who claimed to be his son just now and this cold and indifferent serious officer were actually the same person.

He stood up stiffly, feeling that the disdain and resentment that had not dissipated in his body had an outlet again.

"Okay," he also returned to his most accustomed tone, and before leaving the duty room, he glanced at his father for the last time, and closed the door coldly:

"Sir, Vice-Captain Quill Barney."

click.

The door of the duty room slammed shut, waking up little Barney from his vague memories!

Gradually he regained consciousness and felt himself moving.

"Thanks to the sunset, you're better—I thought we were going to lose you."

This is Naki's voice, with a touch of joy, hazy as if coming from afar, not real.

lose me?

Is he still doing it?

Little Barney tried to open his eyes, but groaned in pain.

His eyes ached and wept when they opened, and there was a strange buzzing sound in his ears.

what happened……

"Naki, put me down..."

He reluctantly opened his eyes, and could only see a blur of light and shadow, vaguely a small team of several people, groping and staggering forward in the firelight.

And he was among them, staggering and walking with the support of Najijia.

"No, I don't think you're standing still, sir." Nucky's voice was a little tired, and his footsteps were not very steady.

Little Barney shook his head vigorously. Although his tinnitus did not subside and his eyes still hurt, his sanity recovered a little bit, and he vaguely saw Belletti's back layered and staggered walking in front of him.

He remembered something.

The Prison of Bones, Sackel, and...

Alchemy Ball.

"Where are we? Prison River?" Little Barney accidentally stepped on a gravel and staggered.

A somewhat unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar voice of a teenager came from behind feebly:

"of course not."

"Going to Prison River, you have to take a boat..."

Little Barney frowned, and extracted a name from his slowly recovering memory.

It's him.

Before he could turn his head, the owner of that voice came stumbling over.

It was a pitiful, blood-stained boy with a scary red and swollen cheek.

He rested his left hand on the shoulder of an impatient red-haired young man, and his right hand leaned on a smooth silver sword, limping:

"Is he all right?"

After hearing the boy's words, Naki frowned, turned to little Barney, stretched out his hand and shook:

"Can you see me, Barney? Baby Barney? Bunny Barney? How many fingers do I hold out now?"

Damn.

This poor fellow...

When I recover...

Little Barney blinked desperately, still unable to blink the blurred double image in his vision, but he saw Nucky after all.

"Four."

He snorted softly and said in a bad mood: "But..."

"Do you mean the you on the left, or the you on the right?"

Naki raised his eyebrows, put away his two fingers, and let out a happy "hmm".

He patted little Barney's arm, turned to the boy, and bared his teeth cheerfully:

"It's fine, he's fine."

The boy also raised his eyebrows and turned around.

God is so "very good".

at this moment.

"Wow oh oh oh!"

In front, the person supported by Belletti suddenly spoke loudly, surprised and delighted:

"I think I hear voices!"

The sound was so loud that it shook the passage, irritated the eardrums, and shocked everyone.

There was quite an uproar in the passage, most of them were complaining of dissatisfaction, and there was a lot of grief for a while.

"My God shut him up..."

"Shock this bastard..."

"Woo woo woo..."

"Chop him..."

However, Taldin, who was supported by Belletti, continued to shout happily:

"Hey, Naki, great poet, hurry up and say something! I think my hearing is recovering!"

His voice is getting louder.

The whole team staggered from side to side as if they had been hit by an earthquake.

Both Barney and Naki beside him shook violently:

"Damn it, keep your voice down, Tardin! My ears hurt when you talk..."

But Tardin seemed unconscious:

"ah?"

He turned around with a puzzled expression, and opened his mouth exaggeratedly:

"What are you talking about? What hurts? Can you speak louder?"

The lingering sound is deafening.

There was another burst of wailing from the crowd.

"Do not talk to me!"

Naki covered his ears in pain, and his voice became louder:

"I still have double images when I see things, and I hit the wall when I walk..."

The more Barney listened, the more irritable he became, but he slowly relaxed.

They are all there.

"Quiet."

Little Barney realized that his sense of balance was recovering, so he slowly stepped on his feet and took some of the weight off Naki's shoulders:

"what happens?"

Little Barney knew who to ask, he turned directly to the boy beside him:

"Your Highness, that alchemy ball..."

"what's going on?"

Beside him, Thales Canxing, who also had blurred eyes and bared his teeth, yawned in pain, exchanged glances with the "Waya" beside him, and smiled awkwardly at him.

"That is……"

Thales paused.

"You saw it," Thales shrugged his shoulders, and the sudden movement made both the fast rope and him shake, and hurriedly supported the wall so as not to fall:

"That alchemy ball is a..."

Thales searched and racked his brains, and finally found a similar and easy-to-understand word:

"How do you say... a flashbang?"

flash……

Little Barney was silent, chewing on the word for a while.

"Flashbang?"

Thales frowned, looked at him and shook his head, like a group of drunkards supporting each other and the royal guards going home, he said embarrassingly:

"More than flash."

"Maybe there are some sound effects of shock bombs... It took me a few minutes to recover my hearing, and it's still buzzing...

And that light...

Thales closed his eyes in annoyance.

Although I covered my eyes in advance, it still hurts...

Little Barney pondered for a while, then asked the question he was most concerned about:

"What about him?"

The team fell silent.

They knew what he was going to ask.

Thales glanced at Barney lightly, seeing anxiety and longing on his face.

Little Barney had a bad feeling.

"Tell me, what about him?"

The vanguard officer frowned: "Did you kill him?"

"Barney, that..."

Naki said in embarrassment: "Um, Sackel..."

Little Barney hastily asked:

"What's up with him?"

The team was silent for a while, and Belletti finally spoke.

"Let's put it this way," the penal officer's calm words sounded, sometimes big and sometimes small, and it seemed that he hadn't recovered from the shock of the alchemy ball:

"Sackel's perception and attention are more sensitive and focused than ours..."

"After losing his sight and hearing, he was more affected than anyone else, yelling into the air..."

Little Barney felt that something was wrong, so he threw away these details and asked directly:

"You killed him?"

The whole team was stunned by his question.

Semir, who was at the front, coughed and said lightly:

"He went berserk - but his fighting instincts continued unabated and he became more aggressive, slashing wildly with his weapon."

Samir took a breath and seemed to ease the painful eardrum:

"You should see what he looked like at that time. He desperately searched for every living thing, trying to chop everything within two meters into pieces. Naki tried to get close, but he almost chopped off his head, and I..."

Samir patted the bloody bandage on his left arm and sighed.

Little Barney paused and gritted his teeth:

"Remotely?"

Belletti shook her head and said softly:

"Tried it."

"That guy, Taldin's fake nephew, remember? He tried to shoot an arrow from a distance, towards the head. I don't know why he missed it, but only hit the shoulder."

Thales felt little Barney's eyes shot towards him, and the fast rope that was helping him forward shyly lowered his body and lowered his head, as if he wanted to put his whole head into Thales' arms.

Belletti sighed:

"Sackel felt the pain, touched the direction of the arrow, and fled into the darkness in the opposite direction."

Little Barney's expression froze.

"Tell me," after a while, little Barney stared at the darkness under his feet, and said in a daze:

"You killed him."

No one spoke, and Thales subconsciously took a step behind him.

Many members of the guard also bowed their heads.

Little Barney exhaled heavily, gritted his teeth and said:

"Why?"

He chopped off his feet fiercely, causing Naki on one side to stagger:

"Why...why don't you catch up and kill him!"

The tone is hateful, and the voice is quite loud.

The shock caused another burst of pain in everyone's fragile eardrums.

"Barney!"

Belletti said calmly:

"That alchemy ball is very powerful, and we have been greatly affected."

Many people, including Quick Rope, stared at Thales subconsciously, causing the prince to raise his eyebrows.

It's not my business?

"For several minutes, all of us were deaf. It was like someone was blowing a conch in our head. There was a problem with our balance. When we stood up and took three steps, we would be crooked..."

Belletti sighed:

"Even though our situation is better than that of Sackel, it took a long time to stand up and escape down here."

Barney looked at Belletti in disbelief, then at the others, but many turned their heads under his gaze.

"Don't worry," Samir said softly:

"Thakel's perception is more sensitive than ours, and he has been affected more. I guess he will need more time than us to recover, maybe not fully recovered."

"At least we're alive."

Little Barney fell silent, lowered his head silently, and the whole team continued to move forward slowly.

"Where did that come from?"

Just when Thales thought it was over, Little Barney suddenly spoke:

"Alchemy ball?"

Thales' eyelids twitched, and he exchanged a glance with Quick Rope.

this……

How to say?

"The Canxing royal family, there are always some stocks..." Thales muttered...

Little Barney frowned:

"Why not use it sooner? Or just leave it to us?"

Thales frowned, then let go again, and said confidently:

"Isn't it the best time to release it at the moment when he is fully focused?"

"If I wait until Sackel sees it and then throw it out, I don't think it will be so effective."

Am I telling you because I forgot before?

Fortunately, Barney pondered for a while, and then stopped asking.

Thales withdrew his resentful gaze,

Moreover, including Sackel and Kuaisheng, they always thought it was a powerful explosive alchemy ball, just like the one that Raphael used in the secret passage of Dragon Clouds back then.

But actually……

"Hey, how do you know that this alchemy ball only has flashes and sounds?"

Sure enough, Kuai Rope stabbed him in the ribs restlessly, and asked in a low voice:

"When the drill was taken out, he clearly said..."

Thales sighed silently in his heart.

See, that's his biggest concern.

"I just know," Thales Mimi smiled, shrugging like "I'm well-informed":

"I know it's not lethal."

Seeing this, Kuai Rope frowned.

"But what if it is the kind that explodes? You should know, there is no obvious mark on the alchemy ball, only a few people..."

The rookie mercenary looked at him dissatisfied:

"Many years ago, I saw one..."

Thales coughed lightly, and stopped the topic decisively:

"It is not."

"The Canxing royal family has a long history, and they have a way to identify alchemy balls."

He smiled mysteriously:

"Like our blood is golden..."

Kuaisheng showed a disgusted expression of "you can forget it if you don't say it", and turned around boredly.

Thales breathed a sigh of relief.

That's right, he was trembling at the beginning when the brazing rod was brought out to threaten him and the alchemy ball.

But all the mysteries were revealed after he found the anchor and rationally entered a state of loss of control.

In that miraculous state, Thales could clearly see the inner layer of the alchemy ball:

It was a swirling mass of energy.

And at that time, he somehow knew that the rotating energy inside was actually very empty, even if it was released completely, it would only shake away a few feet of dust around it...

more importantly……

No obvious markings?

In fact, when Thales looked through the cover and the interlayer, he found that in the inner ring covered with the metal shell that the mysterious alchemy ball couldn't see, there were a few sentences of modern imperial texts that he was not familiar with engraved:

[Blinding glare + film]

[The Tower of Alchemy, honored by the Battle Mage, No. ee09-8-7, Producer: First Class Master, d·e·Surridon]

[used to suppress perception, repression,,, etc.]

[Unification, only for use in the tower, export and outflow are strictly prohibited, the scope of prohibition includes but is not limited to the Tower of Soul, Myojin Church,, the third ring, the gate of hell, the Temple of Knights, the Empire and]

This line of strange text contains a huge amount of information, such as the surname of its creator.

There are also many unfamiliar words in it, but it is enough for Thales to understand its function.

Ever since, it came in handy when he thought of something to use to restrain Sackel, who had excellent perception.

Kuaisheng frowned and said thoughtfully:

"So, just now, Qianzi threatened you with a fake chip and dumped us?"

"It seems so."

Thales shook his head angrily when he thought of that cunning brat:

"Actually, that's right, I should have thought of it earlier."

"How can a person like him have the courage to die together..."

at this moment.

step, step...

Thales was the first to be surprised.

Under the torment of that mysterious "chip", everyone's consciousness recovered at different speeds, and they staggered forward with mutual support.

But at this moment, almost everyone's nerves tightened!

step, step, step...

Just behind the team, in the dark passage, a series of undisguised footsteps suddenly sounded.

step, step, step...

Getting closer.