Masked Knight

Chapter 225: Coincidence

The early morning sun was not very strong. A certain small city along the coast of the Sauron Kingdom was still shrouded with the quietness of the night. The soldiers on guard opened the gates early in the morning and were busy preparing for sentry duty.

The main street had only a few pedestrians. A group of Royal Knights galloped from the end of the street. Their neat formation surprised the pedestrians. 'What day is today? Why are the Royal Knights here?'

The soldiers had also been on the alert for a long time on the docks on the other side of the city.

This was the Sauron Kingdom’s military harbor. Although the city was small, it could accommodate one hundred warships. It was something the city took pride in. At that moment, the harbor was closed and only a few of the navy’s warships were at the docks.

A carriage slowly left the gates of the harbor while being escorted by cavalry.

The armors shone brightly as the Royal Knights led the way in front. At the rear, the exquisite carriage had the insignia of the Sauron Kingdom’s royal family. However, the small flag above them showed that this was Prince Aimar’s carriage.

The soldiers that were dragged out to guard the harbor in the middle of the night understood that His Majesty’s younger brother had come to visit. No wonder the security here was so strict. The respected Prince must be sitting in that fine carriage.

Only some of the old and experienced knights could see from a few clues that this was something different.

The twenty knights around the carriage were somewhat different.

Although they wore the honorary uniforms of the Royal Guards, their skills at riding and controlling the horses along with their valiant features and, most importantly, how they maintained their formation showed that these people were not those decorative guards of honor!

Their tight horseback formation was a special defensive formation. Although this formation was never used by the Sauron Kingdom’s troops, an experienced soldier could see the subtlety of this formation.

Without a doubt, if there was an emergency situation, those people in the honorary guard uniforms could quickly spread out, defend and counterattack with this formation.

Although they tried to conceal their postures, it was evident that they were not the good-for-nothing honorary guards. These people were experienced soldiers. Experienced cavalrymen!

Even more strange was that these people were emitting killing intent. This was a temperament that was only seen in excellent soldiers who had fought life and death battles.

From a certain point of view, these people were more of an elite compared to the show-off Royal Knights that were leading the group.

The carriage gradually reached the center of the city. The few pedestrians that were on the streets that morning crowded to the sides by the cavalrymen.

A lot of civilians who were loyal to the royal family stood at the roadside. They took off their hats and waved and bowed at the carriage. Some of them even shouted, "Long live the King! Long live the Prince! Long live the Sauron Kingdom!"

As more spectators gathered, the Captain of the Royal Knights became nervous. More pedestrians would undoubtedly make escorting the carriage harder. He gave the order to quicken the pace.

Within the small crowd were two peculiar fellows.

"Interesting…The Sauron Kingdom’s royal family seems to be very popular." A lazy languid voice laughed.

They gradually retreated from the crowd and entered a small building. They went upstairs, opened the window and looked at the soldiers speeding up from a distance.

The slender man gently touched his chin as if he was thinking of something. It was worth noting that his fingers were slender and his skin was fair. The owner of that hand was a high ranked noble.

After that, he placed his hand on his forehead in front of his disordered hair. Under the sun, his golden and curly hair looked magnificent.

The man laughed. His handsome face laughed as if it carried a profound meaning. His eyes that were like a deep lake twinkled with a wise and farsighted gaze.

"Interesting. Truly interesting. Don’t you see?" He turned around to look at the person behind him. He then pointed downstairs and continued, "In that formation, I saw a few familiar faces! I have seen those two people at the left of the carriage inside the palace before. They are all high ranked warriors of the Imperial Guards!"

He laughed happily and said, "Don’t you think that there are also interesting happenings here? My dear Old Mark…"

The man’s face was finally revealed under the sun. This person was the missing and genuine heir of the Tulip Family, Seth.

The old man behind him was the two-hundred-years-old monster. Old Mark seemed to frown, then he said, "Young Master Seth, is your curiosity acting up again?"

"Why not?" Seth shrugged his shoulders and laughed happily. "I have a premonition. Old Mark, it seems like there are some very interesting things waiting for us!"

Old Mark had an expression as if he was having a toothache. He then bitterly muttered, "Interesting? Hmph. In your dictionary, the word ‘interesting’ means ‘trouble’!"

…

Gasp!

Heavy breathing sounded in the hall as the Paladin knelt on the ground. He used his sword to support his body so that he did not fall over.

His hand, holding the sword, was red with blood. Blood flowed down along the sharp blade of his sword and onto the floor.

Augustine’s face was pale but his eyes were firm.

At his shoulder, a pale and delicate small hand supported him. Crystal-like tears dripped onto his bloodstained golden Paladin armor.

The Black Veil Saint looked sorrowful and her beautiful eyes and face were covered in tears. She bit her lips so that she would not cry out loud.

"Augustine, you…Why did you do this?" She tightly held Augustine’s body.

The Black Veil Saint shook.

She saw the Paladin she had respected since childhood stab himself with his own sword. Before she realized what just happened, Augustine’s next action made her completely understand his intentions.

After he stabbed himself with his own sword, he exerted himself to pull out the sword. He then put his hand over his wound and used his fighting energy to break the wound open!

The fighting energy not only broke his golden armor but also badly mangled his wound. This action covered up the fact that it was a sword wound. The wound looked the same as if it was caused by a sorcerer's attack.

After that, the Paladin squeezed out a smile. He looked at the Black Veil Saint and said, "This way, they would not be able to tell that I hurt myself."

The Black Veil Saint fully understood Augustine’s intentions. She cried and hugged the person that was like a father to her. Her hand then raised a Light System sorcery spell to heal Augustine’s wounds.

He did not expect Augustine to raise his hand and push her away. As the Black Veil Saint did not expect him to push so strongly, it made her fall down at the side.

Augustine gasped and said, "Don’t. Do not treat my injuries! I was determined to stab myself. Do not let my efforts go to waste!" After that, he bit his lips and endured the pain. He stood up with difficulty and said in a hoarse voice, "Mouse! Go quickly! Do as you say you would. Leave this place. Leave the Temple. Leave the Roland Continent! Go to the Radiant Continent! That is the only way you can survive!"

The Black Veil Saint was distressed. She then stood up from the ground and approached Augustine, then grabbed his hand. Augustine wanted to push her away but he could barely stand because of his serious injury at his chest. The Black Veil Saint’s pure and holy white sorcery light flowed from her hand into Augustine's body.

"You, what are you doing?" Augustine was bewildered.

The Black Veil Saint held him tightly with a determined expression. "Augustine, I cannot let you do such a thing! Definitely not!"

Being the Temple’s strongest Saint, a Great Practitioner, her power was immense. Augustine’s chest wound squirmed and then healed at an extremely fast pace. He painfully closed his eyes and laughed bitterly. "In the end, what do you want? Don’t you want to live?"

The Black Veil Saint did not speak. Cold sweat dripped from her face. It was obvious that even though she had the strength of a Great Practitioner, it would still cost her a lot of her power to heal such a serious wound within a short period of time.

"Augustine! I do not have a cold-blooded heart!" The Black Veil Saint spoke in a low voice, "If the price for it is your blood, I cannot do that!"

Augustine frowned and replied, "I will only lose some blood. That way, I can go back and report. Even if they blame me for being unsuccessful, they will not kill me."

The Black Veil Saint shook her head. "Augustine, you do not understand that Elder. If he is brave enough to antagonize the entire Roland Continent for the position of Pontiff, do you think he will care about your life? Don’t you know? He had you dispatched here. If you do not kill me, you are dead! Have you not understood this? Killing me is a test for you. If you kill me, he would be assured of you!"

Without waiting for Augustine to reply, she laughed and said, "Alright."

She loosened her grip on Augustine. However, his face was still pale. Her body shook and she seemed to have trouble standing up.

Augustine’s expression changed as he asked, "What kind of healing spell did you use on me? Is it ‘Life Magic’? Why did you use such a demanding spell?"

The Black Veil Saint shook her head and smiled, "You are willing to bleed for me. In that case, I should also spend some energy for you!" She looked at Augustine’s eyes. Her indifferent expression turned into a lukewarm smile. "Since the first day I entered the Temple, you have always been my closest friend. Amongst the indifferent people of the Temple, you are the only one with a tender heart!"

Augustine laughed bitterly and said, "You have always been a willful person. Have you thought about what you are going to do next?"

The Black Veil Saint took a deep breath and suddenly said, "Even if you said I have changed, for you, I am willing to compromise once!" She then bitterly asked, "Do I just need to help you kill the Radiant Continent’s envoy?"

Augustine frowned. "You…"

The Black Veil Saint shook her head and lightly said, "You do not have to say anything else! Acting as the Temple’s knife to kill a person. Hmph. In the Temple, I would not be the first or the last one to do this."

Augustine tried to look at the Black Veil Saint’s face to see what was on her mind. However, he only saw a cold and detached expression.

"Have you truly decided?"

The Black Veil Saint nodded and said, "Yes, I have decided to do it! I will help you once just so that I can protect you! Augustine…" She looked at the Paladin and said, "You may be the last pillar of the Temple! Even if it is for my conviction, I cannot let you be destroyed by the darkness!"

"As for me…" She smiled and said, "I will leave once you report back! Whether I can escape or not is my own fate."

Augustine saw distress and despair beneath her cold smile. This stubborn and willful fellow. Does she really like to hide behind her mask?

Without waiting for Augustine to speak, the Black Veil Saint asked, "Where is the Radiant Empire’s envoy right now? What kind of person is he?"

"The news I received before coming here states that they would go ashore in that coastal city. They would then pass through the southern road on the way to the royal city. They would also be escorted by the Royal Knights."

The Black Veil Saint nodded her head and asked, "Who is that envoy?"

"He is an Earl. Supposedly, he is a youngster that the esteemed Emperor is recently fond of. He is the Commander of the Imperial Guards and also has a background as a military officer. Presumably, he is quite powerful."

The Black Veil Saint nodded with an indifferent expression. She could only use this masked expression to conceal her emotions. This would be the sad consequence of being another party's borrowed knife.

'Just kill one man?' Black Veil Saint seemed to ask herself. 'Just kill one man? Whatever it is, just killing one man would protect Augustine. This should be the right choice...'

However, Augustine’s following words were like a heavy hammer smashing her heart.

Although he did not speak in a loud voice, each of his words were like thunder in her ears.

"That envoy’s name is Rody!"

Rody…

Rody!

Rody?

She felt a severe pain in her head as if it was being torn apart. A piece of memory then became clearer in her mind.

'The youngster with a warm and brilliant smile who liked to call me an ‘idiot’, who looked at me and gently said on the wilderness in the Northwest …'

"Remember, my name is Rody! Only people close to me know this name!"

Her indifferent mask instantly crumbled and her delicate body started to tremble violently.

'Could it be him? Or is it just someone who coincidentally have the same name?'