Alien Knights

Todd, who returned to the banquet hall, found that Tristan was looking for himself.

Stepping up and patting the other person on the shoulder, Todd gave Tristan a forced smile.

"Where have you been?!" Tristan paused, frowning and said, "Your face is so ugly."

Todd looked at the people in the hall, who were gradually leaving: "The banquet is over? So when shall we go back?"

"The carriage will arrive later, we have to wait for a while."

Hearing Tristan's words, Todd glanced at the almost untouched delicacies on the dining table, and remembered that he hadn't had dinner yet, so he sat down by himself.

Finding a clean fork and a knife for cutting hard bread, Todd skillfully cut off a slice of ham and put it into his mouth with the fork.

Tristan sat in front of Todd and sighed: "Your dining posture can be used as a textbook of noble etiquette."

Todd smiled and was about to find something to eat when he looked up and saw a familiar woman.

The glamorous Mary in full attire opened her mouth slightly and looked into Todd's eyes, as if she had discovered the most incredible thing in the world.

Todd looked at the knife and fork in his hand, and thought of Mary's "super memory" ability, he couldn't help but get a headache.

A woman who can remember all the details must have seen the clues from her daily habits and postures.

But right now is not a good time to recognize each other. Todd put his index finger on his lips and made a silent gesture.

Mary reacted quickly, and quickly looked away, pretending to be talking to someone else, but she kept looking here from the corner of her eyes.

Knowing that he couldn't stay here any longer, Todd hurriedly ate a few more mouthfuls of food, and hurriedly left the banquet hall with Tristan.

Sitting in the carriage, listening to the sound of the wheels turning, Todd looked at Tristan who remained silent all the way, and asked, "Aren't you going to ask me where I went at night?"

"Rachel only asked me to assist you, not to monitor you."

Todd adjusted his sitting posture, and with some inexplicable nervousness in his heart, he asked Tristan: "To be honest, I'm curious what kind of relationship you have with Rachel?"

Tristan glanced at him: "I have the same problem."

Todd leaned his head against the backrest and said in a low voice, "I used some of my authority to help her with some difficult matters; in turn, she did the same."

Tristan suddenly asked a question that caught Todd off guard: "Do you have special feelings for her?"

After a short period of shock, Todd nodded and admitted: "Yes, I admit that she is a special and irreplaceable existence to me."

Seemingly surprised by the other party's frankness, Tristan paused for a moment, then asked again: "So, does she have the same feelings for you?"

Todd hesitated for a long time, finally shook his head and said, "I hope the answer is yes. But honestly, I don't know, she is too smart sometimes..."

Tristan closed his eyes and said softly: "Yes, she is too smart sometimes, like a beam of light that you can never hold in your hands."

The two of them thought about their own thoughts, and then they never talked again, and went back to the church in silence all the way.

Todd returned to the room, sat in the soul space for a while, and then came out to wash up, intending to fall asleep early.

A knock on the door made him sit up in bed.

Came sideways to the door and put the mutated right paw behind him. Todd asked in a low voice, "Who is it?"

Tristan's voice came from outside the door: "If you haven't slept, come out and chat."

Todd opened the door and saw Tristan who had changed into a normal uniform. What surprised him most was that there was a small wooden barrel on the other's shoulder.

Todd stared at the barrel and asked, "What's inside...?"

"Red wine." Tristan seemed to be talking about a trivial matter: "I made good wine from the banquet."

Todd put on a coat, without any extra nonsense, spit out a word: "Where are you going?"

Tristan led the way, and Todd followed. The two walked out of the cathedral camp, bypassed several streets and alleys, and finally came to the bell tower of the Holy Acropolis.

Glancing at this towering building, and at Tristan, who was panting while carrying a wooden barrel, Todd reached out to him: "Let me do it."

Tristan handed the barrel to Todd, took a long breath, rubbed his sore shoulders, stepped into the clock tower, and walked up the spiral stairs to the top floor of the clock tower.

The two walked up the stairs to the bell ringing room on the top floor, and the howling night wind came towards them. Todd was amazed at the scenery in front of him.

Under the bright moon, the quiet and dark city fell asleep quietly, only the sound of the wind blowing in my ears.

Tristan leaned against the wall, panting heavily, and said intermittently: "These years, my body is really not as good as before, and it was no problem to climb stairs of this height..."

Todd put the wooden barrel full of red wine on the ground beside him, looking around for a container of wine.

Tristan sat down on the ground, took out two wooden cups from his arms, threw one of them to Todd, then opened the cork of the wooden barrel, and poured himself a cup first.

Watching Tristan drank the wine in the glass, Todd shook his head helplessly and poured himself a glass.

"My father is a carpenter." Tristan raised his neck, and drank the second glass of red wine: "His craftsmanship is praised by everyone. He can make birds with flapping wings or fish swimming in the water from dead wood."

Todd took a sip of red wine and listened to his narrative quietly.

"Later, my father spent all his savings and sent me to the Royal Academy in Tyrodu City, hoping that I would make a name for myself." Tristan looked at the Holy Acropolis under the night, and memories became streamers in his eyes: "It was a time that I will never forget. I saw the power of knowledge and understood the meaning of truth."

Pointing to the big clock behind him, a smile appeared on Tristan's face for the first time: "At that time, what I wanted to do the most was to become a great engineer. Using the knowledge I had learned and relying on craftsmen like my father, I could create a miracle that the whole world would look up to!"

Todd asked, "So you and Rachel met at the academy?"

Tristan's smile gradually receded, he swallowed a sip of alcohol, and said softly: "No...things are more complicated than you think..."

"In my spare time while studying, I usually work as a helper for my father. When I was sixteen years old, I once went to a noble manor to help repair the terrace. On the way to fetch water from the lake, I got lost and accidentally walked into the forest behind the manor."

"In the middle of the forest, there is a well-tended garden. In the middle of the garden, there is a small building made of stone. The small building has no doors or windows, and only a few ventilation openings sealed by iron fences."

Hearing this, Todd asked in surprise, "Could it be that there's...?"

Tristan didn't answer him, but grabbed his throat with his hands and made an exaggerated expression: When I approached the small building, a huge suction force made me fly into the air and was dragged directly to the fence. "

"I saw a beautiful girl not yet ten years old, with a red face, yelling at me 'let me out, let me out'."

Todd asked, "You let her out?"

"How is it possible?!" Tristan waved his hand and said, "I was so scared that I ran away."

Todd laughed.

"A month later, I couldn't help being curious, and ran into that forest again, and found that small building." Tristan touched his chin and said, "But this time, I only dared to watch from a distance. I didn't take out the sweet cake I prepared until I saw the girl's face appearing in the iron bars, and told her 'I brought food.'"

Todd's eyes widened.

Could it be that Rachel has developed a gluttonous problem since then?

"For a long period of time after that, except for some of the daily expenses, most of the rewards I paid for working for my father were used to buy food and sent it to the girl. I also learned about the girl's origin from the servants of the noble family."

Todd helped Tristan top up his glass of red wine and nodded for him to continue.

"When she was born, her mother died of dystocia. Her father married another noble daughter when she was one year old. Two years later, the girl gradually showed signs of supernatural powers—the ability to control objects around her at will. Her father and stepmother were greatly alarmed by her alien identity."

Tristan looked at the swaying red wine in the glass, and continued: "The girl's stepmother suggested that she be handed over to the Inquisition immediately, but her father couldn't bear to do so. This prominent nobleman built a hidden small building in the forest behind the manor, imprisoned his daughter in it, and lied to the outside world that his daughter had a sudden illness and died."

Todd sighed, and asked again: "You haven't told me why you joined the church?"

"A few years later, Pope Alexander came to the throne. His strict attitude towards heterogeneity and truth made the church's activities to eliminate heresies more frequent. One day, the dean of the Royal Academy found me and recommended me to the then Archbishop of Aborough, and let me take the holy rank of deacon under his name. But the main task is to be in charge of the liaison between Lord Aborough and the academy. What I didn't expect is that this work lasted for more than ten years..."

Todd sighed for a while, then recalled what happened to Rachel, and asked, "What happened to that girl?"

"On a stormy night, a small building in the forest was struck by lightning and caught fire. When people went to check the next day, they found that it had become a pile of ruins, but no one's body was found." Tristan drank a few sips of red wine one after another: "After that, a few years later, a woman named Rachel came to me and said that she wanted to cooperate with me. Although she changed her name, I recognized her identity at a glance. It was the missing girl."

After a moment of silence, Tristan smiled and shook the cup at Todd: "I don't think I need to elaborate on what happened after that."

Todd frowned and looked at each other: "Well, I have one last question, why are you telling me these things?"

A hint of drunkenness appeared on Tristan's face: "You have the right to know all this, 'Felicchild'."

The tone of the other party's emphasis when he pronounced the name at the end gave Todd the illusion of being seen through.

Tristan stood up unsteadily, shook the few remaining wooden barrels, threw away the wine glass in his hand, and patted Todd's shoulder hard.

"Rachel is a good woman, cherish the happiness in front of her."

After saying this, Tristan turned away, smiled and walked down the stairs.

It's just that this laughter, to the ears of others, is a bit bitter, a bit regretful, and a bit decisive.