Chapter 10: The Oath
Victoria followed her brother's voice, passed through the stone arch, and came to the garden outside. The garden was empty, and there was no sign of her brother. The girl ran into the corridor composed of sycamore trees, and the thick leaves blocked the afternoon.
The sunshine. She burrowed back and forth in the shadows between the trees several times, but still couldn't find her brother. She was a little tired of this game.
"Edward?" The little girl put her hands to her mouth and shouted loudly: "Edward, where are you?"
The girl screamed twice more, but there was nothing except the whistling of the wind across the treetops. She continued along the tree wall, stretched out her palms out of boredom, and let the branches pass through her fingertips one by one: "Come out,
If I miss your training, Sir James will be angry." There was the sound of breaking branches at the corner not far away, and Victoria smiled proudly. She pushed her thick brown curly hair behind her ears, bowed her body, and tiptoed closer.
.
"Ha, I caught you!" Victoria jumped out from behind the tree, but she had never seen the tall boy wearing a black coat in front of her. No, maybe it was just gray. "Oh my god, his clothes are so dirty."
.' Her unexpected appearance made the boy panic. He quickly picked up the bulging bag on the ground, turned around and was about to run away. Edward appeared behind the boy. Although he was a little shorter than the other boy, his brother didn't care.
Afraid, he put his little hands on his waist, and his tone was full of majesty: "I order you..." The thief pushed Edward down and ran away instantly. Victoria ignored her fear, she picked up her skirt and ran over, kneeling beside her brother.
Edward covered his head and groaned, and she hugged her brother tightly in fear.
"Someone is coming!" the little girl cried: "Someone is coming quickly!"
The queen took the hot towel from the maid's hands, squeezed out the remaining water, and then applied it to her son's head. The prince's servant stood in the corner, not daring to breathe. If Edward and Victoria hadn't repeatedly begged for mercy, it would be pitiful.
The servants had long been dragged out and whipped. Edward said that he ordered the servants and guards not to follow. As for Victoria, the queen sighed, who could ignore her daughter's big blue eyes.
The bishop came in person, and the effect was immediate. After Edward drank some cream soup mixed with ham, he fell asleep, leaving a room full of people who were worried about him. His sister sat on the stool beside the bed with her head lowered, still hanging from her waist.
She covered herself with her long hair. The queen wiped her son's face with a towel. She freed up one hand to touch the back of Edward's head, and the lump dispersed. "How dare you run into the back garden of the palace and steal my child."
Knock it out, this is my home!'
A forbidden soldier walked into the room lightly and whispered a few words in the Queen's ear. Victoria raised her head to look at them and found that her mother's expression had become stern. The Queen handed the towel to the maid and stood up.
"Victoria, my dear, take good care of Edward. Mom will go out for a while." The queen looked down at Victoria with a forced smile on her face.
"Mom, have you caught the boy?" the princess asked softly.
"Well..." the queen said perfunctorily and walked to the door.
"Can you forgive him? Mother." Victoria mustered up her courage and followed.
"Son, that person has done something wrong and must be punished. This is also our royal obligation. Have you forgotten what the teacher taught?" The mother stopped and spoke in a bad tone.
Victoria lowered her head and tangled her hands together: "But, but, I heard that many people in the city are hungry. Maybe he just wants to get some food." She raised her head and begged her mother: "Pastor Derek often also
He said, superiors must have compassion."
"...Okay." Mother's expression softened: "I will tell Manager Logan."
The girl's face lit up, she saluted gratefully, and sat back next to her brother. The queen glanced at the siblings for the last time, and left the room. The imperial guard who reported the news led the way, and the queen's face was stern. Even the maid who had followed her for many years was careful.
Keep your distance and follow suit step by step.
"Edward." Victoria held her brother's little hand: "I will protect you from now on, just like the Holy Knight Miss Christina..." The princess's last voice was almost inaudible, just like a whisper.
The soldiers repelled another wave of green-skin attacks. They gathered in groups in the forest, armed with crude weapons, and rushed over in a chaotic manner. Whenever a leader-looking leader was killed, the remaining goblins and orcs would
He ran for his life regardless, leaving behind corpses and injured companions.
Christina vigorously shook the sticky blood on the sword blade, and raised her hand to stop the pursuer. There were civilians in the camp who needed protection, and her own team was sparse in numbers and could only maintain a defensive line. Fortunately, the greenskins seemed to have lost their attack.
With their courage, they escaped without a trace. Some brave women came to help. They took over the task of taking care of the wounded, but they were so frightened by the corpses everywhere that they covered their eyes. Although most of them were green-skinned, some were young.
Because the girl couldn't stand the smell of blood, she squatted on the ground and vomited.
'It's inconvenient to bring a group of common people,' the elf thought. 'After this battle is over, find a place to put them as soon as possible.' The soldiers walked back and forth, poking the greenskins lying on the ground with their weapons, and anyone who reacted
, all of them were hit by last hits, a small group of greenskins dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground. An orc spoke a broken Imperial language, begging for his life. Hank's soldiers surrounded them and beat them with spear handles and sword blades.
The orcs and goblins huddled together holding their heads. The militiamen felt they had enough fun, and some raised their swords.
Christina gritted her teeth. The Paladin could not tolerate the dishonorable killing of prisoners. Just as she was about to stop her, a stone the size of a shield came through the air and hit a few steps away from her, making a loud noise. She raised her sword.
The eager militiaman was stunned for a moment, and the greenskin who begged for mercy took the opportunity to knock him down and escape.
The second rock came flying, and Christina turned to the side, barely avoiding it. The person behind her did not have the reflexes of a high elf, and the rock passed over a woman's head, taking away half of her face.
After knocking down two more soldiers, it reluctantly stopped rolling. Then, the third, fourth... rocks of different shapes streaked across the sky and hit the crowd with a stable and deadly frequency.
"Take cover!" I don't know who shouted, and everyone reacted and ran towards the nearest big tree or boulder. There was a little girl squatting on the ground holding her head. Christina rushed over, picked her up and ran away.
, stone bullets came one after another, and the elf felt the splashed soil, which hit her back hard. She pulled the little girl and ran behind a rock, and the elf recognized it as helping to distribute dinner yesterday.
The little girl's face was pale and she was breathing heavily. She held the knight's hand tightly, and Christina could feel her fear and helplessness through the iron glove.
There was no one in the clearing, and rocks stopped coming. Christina poked her head out from behind the bunker. There was a forest in the distance, and greenskins could be seen scurrying between the trees.
"Green-skinned trebuchet." Emily quickly ran to her from under a tree, as agile as a mage in robes.
"Is there anything you can do?" Christina hugged the little girl to her chest and comforted her.
"How can you cast a spell if you can't see the target?" Emily stared at her like an idiot: "Have you even forgotten this?"
The people who were knocked down shouted for help, and some brave soldiers rushed out of the hiding place to help. However, the stone bullets came again, so there were more horrible corpses in the open space.
The elf was furious, but the little girl underneath her was clinging to her waist. Emily also held her hand and told her not to be impulsive. The injured person's desperate and pitiful cry for help tortured Christina. She looked at her with pleading eyes.
Looking at the mage, hoping that her old friend could do something. Emily pouted, how could you reject a creature that you want to hug into your arms after just a few glances.
The female mage stood on tiptoes and poked her head out from behind the rock. The forest was so dense that she couldn't find the location of the trebuchet. The short figure ran back and forth among the trees. 'Perhaps these goblins guided the trebuchet to its target.
The cover of the forest can also protect us from our bows and arrows. Even spells may not be able to solve them all. Wait, they are hiding in a pile of wood, hmm..." The female mage thought of something. She snickered and pulled out the gun from her waist.
He took out spellcasting materials from his pocket.
The thick smoke produced by the violent burning of the trees obscured the sky, and the trebuchet hidden by the green skin was temporarily unable to shoot. Emily clapped her hands and rubbed off the remaining sulfur powder in her palms. People lifted the injured and moved them to the rear.
At the camp, the women followed worriedly. The mage saw someone bringing the knight's white horse. 'Are you crazy? Does she still want to attack?'
Emily took the knight's hand and pulled her aside. The mage didn't want others to hear her questioning the de facto leader, so Emily lowered her voice: "Retreat now."
"Retreat?" The paladin repeated her words and narrowed his eyes.
"Cortana, we are bringing so many civilians..." Emily seemed to be coaxing an ignorant child.
To the mage's surprise, Christina suddenly laughed, but very bitterly: "I know that it is for them that the soldiers must fight. The greenskins have always bullied the weak. If we retreat now and they chase us, those women and children will be able to escape."
How far can we go? A soldier with a group of common people can't go very far." The female mage closed her eyes, feeling dejected because she had ignored this obvious fact. The knight took the reins from the soldier, and she got on the horse.
.
"Soldiers!" the elf said, and the crowd fell silent. "We can't stay here, the smoke will dissipate soon." She pointed to the woods ahead, where the fire caused by magic was gradually weakening.
"We have to take the initiative to destroy those catapults." The elf woman said briefly and then fell silent. The soldiers from Walker's camp found their horses and lined up in two lines in front of her.
Not enough, too little. The elf looked at Hank. The lord's youngest son put on his helmet and joined the team. The militiamen behind him were dragging their feet. Only a few people came forward. Hank called the names of the others, and those people lowered their heads.
head, avoiding his sight.
The young nobleman gritted his teeth. He took off the whip from the saddle and went to teach his unsatisfactory subordinates a lesson. Christina stopped him.
'What I asked them to do was too difficult. These people saw the smashed corpses, so they were scared. They were not soldiers who were accustomed to obeying. Many of them were just hunters, farmers in the noble territories, and it is said that there were also prisoners who had redeemed themselves.
.'The elf unbuckled his chin,' If it were Leon, he would just have to raise his sword and everyone would be willing to go anywhere with him. But to them, I'm just a little girl playing a knight's game.
’ She took off her helmet and threw it to the ground. The white helmet decorated with phoenix wings hit a hard stone and made a crisp sound. Everyone raised their heads.
A gust of wind swept across the battlefield, ruffling the elf woman's long platinum hair. She tied it up with a ribbon: "If we don't destroy these greenskins, they will keep chasing us. Women and children can't run fast.
None of them can leave." The elf woman asked: "Is anyone planning to leave the woman and run away?!"
"Never!" Many people shouted angrily.
Emily, who was wearing a purple robe, was very conspicuous in the crowd. She nodded to the elf. Christina drew her sword: "Are you with me?"
"As you wish, ma'am!" Hank responded in a loud voice, holding his neck.
"Are you following me?!" Christina raised her sword and pointed to the sky.
"I will follow you to the death, my lord!" More people jumped on their horses, and the soldiers without mounts also gripped their weapons and stood upright.
"Cowards, do you want a girl to fight for you? In this case, go home and drink milk from your mother! Before it's too late!" The veteran who had been impatient for waiting roared. Dozens of militiamen were behind the crowd.
He broke free from the pull of his family and ran forward with a livid face.
The paladin came to Hank's side. The young noble's face turned red, and his mind was filled with passionate thoughts. Christina leaned down from the saddle, and Hank swore that she smelled of osmanthus. The elf's next words made the young man
He was feeling cold from head to toe: "Mr. Schmidt, you stay behind with the infantry. If we don't come back, you must cover the civilians to escape."
The noble looked at the elf in shock. The girl tilted her head and waited for the answer. Hank came to his senses and performed military etiquette on Christina: "The Schmidt family has never had anyone abandon its people, even if it needs to be...
A life for a life.”
The high elf smiled, "Men are always like this, promising one heroic word after another, and then losing their lives, leaving us women guarding the coffin and crying." The elf's memory of that day was only heartbreaking in his chest.
The sharp pain, and Leon's retreating back. The elf returned to the assembled team, her eyes swept over each soldier, and silently recorded their appearance. The elf waved her hand, and the cavalry team began to move forward. The veteran
Green held a red flag embroidered with an eagle and walked alongside her. The mage also climbed on a horse and followed the team.
The smoke dispersed, the red flag was waved down suddenly, the cavalry accelerated their sprint, in the distant woods, a large number of greenskins raised their crossbows, and the loud sound of trebuchets was heard in the sky.
Chapter completed!