Alien Knights

Silver Ring City, Royal Gallery.

"Your Majesty, this is your favorite painting, are you sure?"

A one-meter-square canvas depicts a calm sea, a golden rising sun, and fishing boats going out to sea. This painting seems to have magical powers, allowing viewers to obtain a moment of peace and serenity.

Queen Mary's hands holding the paintings trembled slightly, and her eyes were full of reluctance and melancholy. After a long time, she put down the frame and said to the maid beside her, "Cathy, find someone to wrap these paintings. It's time to find a new owner for them..."

The maid glanced at the empty wall, and said to the queen cautiously: "Your Majesty, maybe we can keep a few of them? Don't we have to sell them all?"

"No...you don't understand. At this time, not a single painting can be kept." The queen waved her hand and said in a low voice, "Okay, go out, I want to be alone."

Cathy glanced at the queen, and exited the corridor as she said, and closed the door.

Queen Mary sat down on the armchair at the end of the corridor in frustration, watching the sunlight outside the window shine on the empty wall, she bent her straight spine, her arms were used as pillows, and her face was buried in her arms, her body rose and fell slightly, and she tried her best to suppress herself from making a sound.

Outside the door, Cathy leaned one hand on the handle and pressed her forehead against the door panel, her face full of sadness and intolerance.

Turning her head three times a step, the maid left the corridor.

Outside the main entrance of the palace collection hall, several guard knights and guards stood quietly at their posts.

The appearance of Cathy made everyone at the door divert their attention.

The leading knight went up to meet her, nodded slightly to the maid and asked, "Is Your Majesty still inside?"

The man in front of him was no more than twenty-five or sixteen, with a handsome appearance and bright eyes. Cathy blushed, bowed and said, "Chief Herman, Her Majesty is still in the gallery, and she said she wants to be alone for a while."

The man nodded, and just about to speak, the guards behind him, standing still neatly, attracted his attention.

An old man in chain armor and with a long sword on his waist walked towards him, with glaring eyes and an unfriendly expression on his face.

Herman was taken aback for a moment, then stood up straight and straightened his chest: "Baron Cumberland..."

Before he could say anything else, the old man kicked the knight on the butt, almost knocking the knight to the ground.

Herman blushed, looked at the old man with embarrassment and anger, and protested loudly: "Master Baron, it's humiliating for you to do this..."

Cumberland didn't even intend to give him a chance to speak. He bent his knee and hit the knight's ass with his second kick.

The surrounding knights and guards snickered softly when they saw the embarrassment of the officer.

Herman covered his hips with both hands, walked around behind the pillar, and said loudly, "My God! Father, stop!"

Cumberland stopped in his tracks, stroked the silver hair hanging from his forehead, and said with a sneer, "I didn't expect that you would still recognize me as my father. Let me ask you! Why didn't you go to the ball held by Viscount Cologne?!"

Herman raised his head: "Prom? I don't have time to attend such boring parties. As the captain of the guard knight, I have my responsibilities."

"You bastard! I told you to come! Do you know how much face I lost just now?!"

Seeing his father raise his leg again, Herman hurriedly took two steps back, and said, "I know, you want me to meet the Viscount's youngest daughter, right? I said a long time ago that I have no interest in getting married!"

The old man trembled angrily, and pointed his finger at his son: "If it wasn't for your deceased mother's sake, I would have tied you to a tree today and smashed your elm head with a horsewhip!"

Baron Cumberland glanced at the knights and guards standing beside him, took a few steps closer to Herman, tapped his forehead with a headache, and whispered, "Listen, bastard! I'm going to transfer you to the east!"

Herman's eyes widened: "You have no right to do that!"

"No, I can do that. And you don't understand, I'm doing it for your own good."

The knight clenched his fist tightly, gritted his teeth and said word by word: "If you insist on this, I don't mind being a deserter!"

"Asshole!"

The furious old man raised his fist above his head, but what he saw was a pair of resolute and unyielding eyes.

The father and son stalemate for a long time, and the father finally put down his fist.

Cumberland glanced at Herman, then at the direction of the Royal Gallery, sighed dejectedly, and left the spot under the gaze of everyone.

At the same time, in another corner of Silver Ring City, another father-son conversation was going on.

Viscount Kennard threw a grape into his mouth, crossed his legs and said to his father, Earl Nar: "The king withdrew his tax reform plan for the nobles, and we won."

The chunky earl read the documents on the table and frowned when he saw his eldest son looking like a villain. "In order to avoid intensifying conflicts, withdrawing the tax reform plan at this time is the king's only choice. Otherwise, he will offend a large group of people and have to face the anger of the people and the nobles at the same time. By the way, those rumors against the queen can be stopped."

Viscount Kennard sat up straight with a face of reluctance: "Hey? Why? Every time I see that woman, she is always aloof and annoying. I want to see more of her panicked look."

The count put the document aside, tapped the table with his knuckles, and said in a deep voice, "Don't mess around! At this time, you should accept it as soon as you see it. The purpose of spreading rumors is to beat the king. If you continue to make trouble, it will only be self-defeating!"

Viscount Kennard tilted his head back and said regretfully, "It's a pity, I heard that she sold all the paintings today, and if there is more trouble in a few days, maybe she will sell all the jewelry..."

"Wait a minute!" The earl raised his head in surprise and shouted, "What did you just say?!"

Kennard looked at his father inexplicably, and slowly said: "The queen sold all the paintings in her collection, saying that she wanted to support the king..."

The count stood up from his seat, and walked around the room with his hands behind his back, with an uneasy and nervous expression on his face.

His son opened his mouth, looked at his father's abnormal behavior, and asked suspiciously: "Um, what happened to the queen selling paintings? Dad, do you want to buy them all?"

"Fart! You idiot!" The count shook his head, with a look of resentment, and walked back and forth a few steps. He said to himself, "I seem to have underestimated that woman..."

He thought for a while, then turned his head and said to Viscount Kennard: "Listen, the rumors continue, our plan needs to be changed!"

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San Sidro's Abbey, Council of the High Friars.

"Masters, thank you very much for your willingness to meet me in your busy schedule."

Todd, who took off the priest's robe and put on the monk's robe again, bowed to the five respected master monks in front of him.

The oldest monk in the middle returned the salute with a smile: "Brother Todd, we are very glad to see you again. I don't know why you came to the monastery?"

Todd glanced at the five friendly old monks in front of him, and understood that the other party was so polite. On the one hand, it was because he had studied in the monastery, and on the other hand, it was because he left the method of refining silver to the other party before leaving.

Thinking of this, Todd didn't rush to put forward his request, and first asked a question: "Excuse me, masters, have you ever worked as a scribe?"

The so-called copyist is an extremely boring but very important occupation in the monastery. These people sit in small dim houses all day long, with only a wooden platform, scriptures, white paper and ink in front of them. They need to carefully, stroke by stroke, copy the contents of a scripture or manuscript onto white paper, and compile it into a book.

This job not only has to endure the sweltering heat and cold, but also needs to be fully focused at every moment. If any word is wrongly written, it may mean that half a day of hard work is all in vain. In addition, not to mention the harm of mice, snakes, ink, myopia, etc...

Moreover, this is a job that almost every monk has done.

Seeing the five old monks nodding their heads in confusion, Todd asked the second question: "May I ask you, how long will it take to copy and complete a copy of the 'Bible'?"

The oldest monk stroked his beard and said after thinking about it: "If you are a skilled copyist, if there are no mistakes in the copying process, it will take about a year at the earliest."

Todd took out a piece of paper from his pocket, with 24 lines of scripture neatly printed on it, and handed it to the monks: "Masters, this is the first page of the Bible, please judge."

The old monk took the paper, looked at it repeatedly, and expressed his sincere admiration: "The font is straight, the lines are even, and the running script is smooth. The most difficult thing is that the same letters can be written exactly the same! It takes at least three hours to write like this. In my opinion, this scribe is a senior and serious expert."

The monks circulated the paper, and they all gave out praises, agreeing with the old monk's judgment.

"What if I say that it only takes a week to transcribe such a perfect 'Bible'?"

Todd's words immediately stunned everyone in their seats, forgetting to speak.

After a while, some of the monks shook their heads in doubt, and some even laughed out loud.

Todd leaned forward with a smile on his face: "Masters, why don't you let us cooperate?"

The monks stopped talking, stopped laughing, and waited for the other party's next words.

"I hope to recruit fifty monks in the monastery to convey the true knowledge of the Heavenly Father to the people of Muxi Town; in addition, I also hope to borrow 50 books from the library of the monastery every week." Todd raised a finger to the monks: "In return, I will give the monastery a beautifully copied "Bible" every week."

Todd's tone was sincere and pious: "Masters, please think about it, what a wonderful and fair cooperation this will be!"