Superpowers of Sky City

Chapter 348 The Day of the Duel
July 7st, Wangdu, East District.

Days of rain finally stopped last night, and there was still moisture in the air in the morning.As the night passed, the rainwater that hadn't yet dried up had frozen on the walls and roads, and the rising sun shone on the ice, shining golden light from afar.

Snapped!The cart's wheels fell from the steps, smashing a piece of ice into pieces.The orange-haired cart pusher stepped on the crushed ice and almost slipped and fell.He cursed a few words in a low voice, then turned his head and shouted: "Capulo! What are you dawdling about?"

"Here it comes, big brother! Just accidentally dropped one."

Capulo carried the last few cans and carefully put them on the car. The green hair on his head was shaking in the cold wind, making him even more dazed.With a guilty conscience, he swept through a cart full of goods—fake antiques repurposed from broken furniture recovered from junkyards—and whispered, “Let me tell you, Brother Tyros, why don’t we sell it back to Little Yellow Books?” If this is discovered, you will be sentenced to fraud, maybe you will go to jail... Oops, don't hit me."

"Pig, slug!" Tyros smacked his little brother on the forehead. "How stupid are you to think of selling Morton's Tales on the most patriotic day of the year? The police didn't come to the inner city Tourists will smash your stall first! Today you have to sell Wei Guangzheng’s stuff, understand?”

"Oh oh oh." Capulo nodded again and again, pushing the trailer behind with all his strength.

The two went to the exit of the narrow alley.The damp and cold air penetrated into the hole on the side of the down jacket, making the orange-haired man shiver. It was a hole made by moving goods yesterday, and the patch was not secure.It's fucking unlucky, I have to change to a new one when I earn money in the past two days...

Do you want to wait for the two-month seasonal discount?The man thought to himself, but money may not be able to stay for so long.This day goes by day by day, who knows what will happen in summer.It's better to focus on the present, let's buy it first.

"Brother, I have a hole in my boot..."

"Use your chivalry to overcome it." Tyros laughed, "or go back and change your flat shoes."

"You mocked me again."

Capulo mumbled and went back to their broken house to change his shoes. Tyros patted the icicles on the wall and leaned aside for a while.The old cleaning man on the avenue outside the alley was clearing the remaining ice, and a group of burly men in costumes walked by on the ice, everyone wearing funny and weird masks.

"Hey, man!" he accosted idly, "Parade troupe?"

The leading man stopped when he heard the words, did not take off his mask, and replied slowly but cheerfully: "Morning...! We... have to catch the parade in the morning. On the first day... there are the most people."

Tyros laughed: "The invited troupe still cares about the number of audiences? Don't they all take a count?"

Every year at this time, there are various celebrations on the streets. The main road is often filled with official performance teams and knights, and the unplanned areas are full of various street performances, the most popular of which is often theatrical.Tyros thought to himself that these people should be foreigners invited by some company or non-profit organization to support the show. After all, local actors are mostly thinking about vacations and don’t want to take orders, while foreign theater troupes are willing to take this job, and the rewards are generous and they can also travel by the way.

"Acting... the more audiences, the merrier." The burly man said a non-standard saying in the kingdom with a rustic accent, "It's time to go... the Holy King bless you, buddy."

Tyros couldn't help laughing, and corrected: "The Holy King protects you. Good luck!"

"Ha ha……"

The men in the troupe laughed and walked away.Capulo rushed over after changing his shoes, and pushed the car up.

"Brother, I still don't understand. Can we really sell this crap..."

Tierus quickly changed his attitude: "Why don't you say you're stupid! Today is a big business opportunity every year. Any junk that is painted in the colors of the national flag will be bought willingly."

"why?"

"Master is willing! People are willing to spend money!"

The trolley came out of the alley, Tierlos wiped the sweat from his brow, and looked up into the distance.During the speech, the sun has completely risen, and the warm sunlight shines on the royal capital in winter.At this time, the bell in the East District rang, announcing the beginning of a new day to the subjects of the capital.The national flags fluttered along the street with the morning wind, and all you could see were the mighty lion on the dark blue flag and the stars in its palm, like an ocean floating from the street.

There are cheers and cheers coming from the inner city. Soon people will take to the streets to celebrate, and soon a series of exciting activities will begin. At this moment, the atmosphere of joy and solemnity has been exaggerated, making everyone A man from Wangdu had a smile on his face, and his heart was filled with glory.Tierlos puffed up his chest, and his proud attitude made his mouth unconsciously more proud: "Today is the day of the imperial duel, the whole country celebrates, and everyone is happy!"

·
"Gentlemen, has anyone seen my horse?" exclaimed Gaffrey at the top of his voice.The young knight on the side hurriedly replied: "Your horse caught a cold last night. The veterinarian is doing an emergency check. If you can't make it in time, you may have to transfer to... a motorcycle."

Gavri almost popped his eyeballs: "The captain is riding his black horse, the queen is sitting in a golden carriage, and then I, the deputy captain, ride a motorcycle and follow beside the two nobles? What will people think? ?”

"Well... I don't know what people will think, but I think you will be on the headlines of the newspaper tomorrow." Gongsun Ce used his telekinetic power to help the knights pass the documents, and he said, "The first page of the Lieyang Daily, "" Replacing horses with motorcycles, Cavalier Gaffrey is quite a crowd-pleaser." The third version of the girls at that time wore rider leather jackets."

"They really did it!" The deputy captain gasped, "Knight Sara, are you still there? Ask the horse for me!"

The headquarters of the Knights Order was literally a mess, the flying paper documents dyed the hall white, and everyone was like rice grains jumping in the pot of porridge.

The knights had already made preparations in their free time before. They cleaned the Shadow Mist City in advance, took good security control, and ruled out all potential threats as much as possible.The old troupe leader and the Dawn Knight even went to the troupe in person to supervise Situ Yi's fulfillment of the agreement - he made an appointment with the official when he came, and would leave the capital before July.

But it was only on this day that everyone discovered that there were still a bunch of unexpected problems (McCollough said: it always happens every year anyway), and everyone was still busy.Orianna was held in a corner by a group of make-up artists to dress up "the majestic image that the Seventh Knight should have". Confirming the defense for the last time; Raquel's body has already stepped forward to the scene to prepare, and the knight Yulia is silently standing beside Gongsun Ce and Mo Yuankai.Hearing the deputy head's call for help, he turned his head to look at the corridor on the right: "Knight Sara!"

"Woof?" A female voice came from the corridor, "Oh! Sorry, I didn't change too much."

A woman with long black hair came out of the corridor. Her hair was disheveled, her back was hunched, her arms were drooping, as if she was about to lie down on the ground in the next second, like a female ghost returning to her ancestors.She wobbled to Yulia's side, lay on him, and moved her nostrils: "It's strange, Yulia, why did your smell fade so much?"

Yulia blushed a lot, he straightened his colleague's shoulders to make him stand up straight, and said seriously: "Be sober, you are the main body now!"

"Aww?" Sarah shook her head like a large dog, and the hair covering her face was spread out to the sides, revealing a soft face.She patted her face, and suddenly said: "I said, why can't I find the tail... here you come, deputy head!"

Sarah hurriedly went to check the deputy head's horse. Yulia coughed twice in embarrassment, and turned her head to see the two superpowers showing him subtle smiles.

"I must emphasize that the fact is not—"

"I understand." "I understand everything!"

Gongsun Ce and Mo Yuankai pressed his shoulders from left to right, and their smiles became more meaningful, leaving the honest knight speechless.He turned around angrily, and saw the old regiment leader approaching, holding a speech in his hand: "I'm going to trouble you today, Knight Yulia."

"The responsibility lies." Yulia glanced at the speech script, hesitated to speak, "...I am also happy to be free."

"Treat our distinguished guests well." The old captain patted him on the shoulder, turned his head and said, "Okay, knights, if there's no big problem, we'll—"

Yulia couldn't help reminding: "Leader, you have taken the wrong speech."

McCullough was taken aback: "Oh my God! This is the one about eggs the day before yesterday! Gaffrey, where is my manuscript?"

"Wait a minute, wait until I get my horse done!"

Yulia glanced at her watch, it was 30 seconds before the scheduled departure time.He suddenly felt that it would be nice to give up the glory of patrolling the whole city to take care of the two guests, at least at this moment he didn't have to be in a hurry like his colleagues.He confirmed the status of the two "distinguished guests". Mo Yuankai was encouraging Orianna not to be nervous, while Gongsun Ce passed documents absently, looking in the direction of Dawn Knight from time to time.

After checking the defense situation, the knight Elandia hurriedly said goodbye to him, and then walked away with the large army.The black-haired young man responded cheerfully, beckoning to her, and slowly lowered his hand until the knight walked away.

After delivering the documents, he watched the knights in heavy armor walk out of the gate one by one. After that, he didn't talk to anyone, just stood there quietly, like a tourist who went to the wrong place for sightseeing.

Yulia frowned, stretched out his hand, and deliberately raised the volume: "I will be in charge of the two guards today, and I hope we can get along well."

Gongsun Ce raised his head as if he had come to his senses, and shook hands with him: "Pull it down, whoever gets along with you is happy."

This appearance made Yulia feel much more pleasing to the eye, and he increased the strength in his hand: "Everyone, each other."

·
The imperial duel is an annual major event in the kingdom. The whole country has a two-day holiday, and celebrations are held in major cities across the country. The most lively atmosphere is undoubtedly the royal capital where the knights sit in person.The star knights will lead the cavalry to patrol the royal city like in ancient legends, accept the cheers and cheers of the people, and highlight the glorious history of the kingdom.

Naturally, the Knights of Dawn could not be absent from such important occasions, and Mo Yuankai had just repaired the holy flame armor, so no matter what, a high-level person in the regiment had to stay behind as a guard to show respect.The knight Yulia took the initiative to stand up and fill the void.Nominally, he is a guard, but actually the distinguished guest is superior in strength and does not need to be protected. The main purpose of this task is to prevent his followers from going crazy and sabotaging in the crowd - after all, Gongsun Ce is a dragon of the Lonely Phase.

In order to make sure that her judgment was not wrong, Yulia asked her colleagues for their opinions on this person. Knight Rakel thought he was not bad, but immature; Sara said he was a very interesting kid; A good civil servant; and Knight Orianna says he's a "very powerful psychic"...

Only this comment made Yulia unable to understand, and he couldn't see the brilliance from Gongsun Ce no matter what.This young man is flamboyant, unstable, and his eyes are erratic when he is not talking to people, as if he is about to float away like a balloon if he is not paying attention.He is just a child who has not grown up, an adolescent boy who is always depressed due to lack of sense of achievement, naive and fragile.

But Gongsun Ce didn't know what the knights around him thought of him, and he wasn't interested in paying attention to what the other side thought.He leaned on the railing beside the road and said, "How long will this last?"

Mo Yuankai flipped through the manual: "It seems that the whole morning was a military parade. The knights didn't gather in front of the palace until 12 o'clock."

"Then what's so interesting about it?" Gongsun Ce complained, "Why are they so excited?"

Now the three of them are huddling on the side of the avenue separated by iron bars, watching the glorious red coats and black hats and shiny leather boots of the soldiers of the Kingdom up close in the crowded crowd.The excited cheers of the people around were endless like the tide, and everyone wanted to squeeze forward to get a better view. Gongsun Ce clutched the iron railing and felt like a poor rock, with nowhere to hide and could only greet him with his back The lapping of the tide.

"Everyone's excitement is due to the dual effects of the festive atmosphere and the collective sense of honor, just like the students are very excited during the cultural festival!" Raquel's wax figure shouted loudly.He had to shout, or the people around him couldn't hear him.

"It turns out that you, a man from the Kingdom, are talking about Mao's cultural festival, have you ever seen it?"

"I've seen it in anime!"

The wax figure of Raquel also followed as a guard, and Yulia and Yulia sandwiched two superpowers on the left and right, like guardians on the left and right.The three incongruous A Zhai discussed with great interest. From the campus cultural festival to the maid cafe, Yulia, who was silent at the side, felt that her brain had been seriously polluted, so she couldn't be disturbed.

The messy discussion continued until Gongsun Ce suggested something else to watch, and Yulia felt relieved and offered to go to the non-active area outside the main road.So they fought their way through the crowd and headed for Wood Park.Fortunately, the two knights were armed with camouflaged minds, otherwise they would definitely not be able to get out if they were recognized.

"Speaking of which, I've been curious about one thing for a long time." Mo Yuankai said as he walked, "Generally speaking, impermanence is hidden in the dark side of society. Why are knights in the kingdom public figures?"

"This is related to the tradition of the kingdom. You know that before the establishment of Shadow Mist, the kingdom was plagued by wild beasts and ghosts, and the knights often killed evil in front of people. Now the barrier is established, but the activity of the knights has long been engraved into the culture , We have become a symbol of safety." Raquel explained, "The knights' non-stop patrols day and night are also a ritual to maintain the stability of the enchantment. These complicated factors make it impossible for us to hide from the public's view. Up to now, in the eyes of citizens, we are not only an elite force fighting against the dragon phenomenon, but also a stable cultural symbol. In our daily work, we are also responsible for eliminating violence, upholding justice, and providing free help to the people.”

"It sounds exhausting." Gongsun Ce commented, "It's all about impermanence that makes those mage apprentices happy to fish. Why do so many people want to be knights?"

"Because of justice and honor." Yulia said with a straight face.

Raquel rubbed his fingers and said with a smile: "It's also because our treatment is a little bit higher than that of people in the same realm."

Gongsun Ce said "Oh" and nodded clearly.When they entered the park, they found that it was much more lively than usual. Just like the streets, there were citizens waving small national flags everywhere. Many people spread a cloth on the lawn and sat down to chat, and many people were playing musical instruments.An old man dressed in rustic clothes was playing the accordion. His eyes lit up when he saw them coming, and he walked over excitedly and asked, "Hey! The Empire is still a child of Zero Island? Did you come to our celebration from so far away?"

"Imperial, ours just had summer vacation, and I came to travel with my classmates." Gongsun Ce stood up to talk, and the other "classmates" smiled cooperatively, "Before I came, I heard about the celebration of the Day of Duel, but I didn't expect it to be better than the one shot in the video." more lively."

The uncle blew his beard in disdain: "The promotional video only shoots places like the Royal Palace Museum, most people can't squeeze in! Let me tell you that the best place today is the bar, with jazz music, free snacks and 'Punch and Judy' ’. The bosses will generously give each customer a big glass of beer. When I was young, I went to drink a whole street of beer with my friends, and I couldn’t sleep until the next day.”

Punch and Judy is a puppet show in the Kingdom folk, a tragicomic story performed by multiple glove puppets.There is no fixed script but several small stories spliced ​​together. The plot is vulgar but popular with the public.

"It sounds really good." Gongsun Ce said, "I'll try it in the afternoon."

Yulia immediately realized that he was lying, because the knights who finished the surface duel in the afternoon were going to Shadow Mist to prepare for the real duel, and Gongsun Ce would not have time to go out and play.But the young man showed great interest, without any embarrassment when lying.He chatted happily with Mo Yuankai and the local middle-aged and elderly people, and made everyone laugh with witty remarks from time to time.The old man with the accordion was so happy that he took out a small flagon and said, "Let's have a toast to the young people in foreign countries!"

"I wish our Majesty the Queen and the Kingdom peace and prosperity! I also wish a few young people... um..." The old man wanted to say a sincere and practical blessing, "A safe adult, and stay away from the curse of superpowers forever!"

Mo Yuankai's smile froze for a moment.Yulia's heart tightened, she didn't expect something to happen here.He secretly made preparations to protect the citizens, but was surprised to see that Gongsun Ce's face remained unchanged, and he only smiled and nodded in agreement. "Thank you everyone."

The lively old men left after chatting for a while, and they walked in the park for a while.Mo Yuankai suggested to go to the palace to have a look at the royal family when the Queen comes out. Gongsun Ce said that it's not like the princes and princesses have never seen anything interesting, you go first and I will find you later.

So the wax figures of Mo Yuankai and Raquel took a step forward, and Gongsun Ce sat down on the bench in the park, with his back slightly arched, staring at the big lake not far away.The ice on the lake has not yet melted, like a huge mirror.

"I'm surprised," Yulia said.

"Because I didn't get mad?" the superpower said calmly, "The old man didn't mean it, it doesn't matter."

Gongsun Ce behaved as calm as a lake, as if wearing a mask, hiding all his emotions in it.However, Yulia felt a kind of oppressive depression from his words and eyes, and he had a vague sense of déjà vu.

Yulia remembered how he used to babysit Sarah's pets in his spare time, including a large black dog.It is very gregarious, everyone plays with it and everyone calls it.But when it is resting, it never stays with the other dogs, but lies quietly by itself, looking decadently at the flowers outside the window.Sarah said it was a little blue because it didn't fit in here.

Gongsun Ce looked very much like that black dog at this time, and Yulia stood quietly by the side, not knowing what to say.He accompanied the superpower to watch the lake for a while, until there were noisy voices in the center of the park.

"Is there any activity?"

Yulia glanced at it from a distance: "It may be an impromptu drama."

"Then let's have a look." Gongsun Ce got up and walked to the center at a leisurely pace.They saw a wooden makeshift stage on which several burly actors played different roles.They wear costumes and use different masks to represent the identities of the characters. The person in the middle wears a golden mask and looks majestic. It is a classic image of King Morton at a glance.

"...young Morton learned wisdom from the old man by the sea, and practiced martial arts with warriors in the wilderness..."

is the play of Morton's founding, the kingdom's most popular traditional repertoire.The hard work of the hero 800 years ago was mentioned by the actors in a few sentences, and the plot progressed to "Morton Forging the Sword".

"The young craftsman went to the crystal mountain to seek materials, but there are many dangerous beasts in the mountain, his teacher and companions are determined to go on the road with them..."

This troupe seems to have made a bold adaptation of the myth, which further enhanced the rationality of the story and added a lot of eye-catching fights.King Morton and his friends stepped into the mountains together to kill all kinds of terrible monsters, which attracted applause from the audience.Soon the scene came to an end, and the narrator used a black cloth to cover the important props, which would be a bright treasure mine, as the material of the holy sword.

"After untold hardships, the group finally arrived at the mountainside. They searched for the highest material, but at this time they made an amazing discovery."

The narrator shakes the black cloth, and the treasure in the mountainside appears in the eyes of the audience.It is not a precious ore, but a long black sword.The appearance of the sword was imprinted in Gongsun Ce's eyes, and he felt a little familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere...

"——!" He remembered, it was the Dust Troupe, the drama he had watched in a hurry, and the black sword thrown at the end of the first act!

"In the midst of the mountain, there is a sword; it is invincible, and it is better than all ordinary soldiers!" The voice of the narrator suddenly rose, singing, "The long sword is powerful enough to slay dragons, and there is more than one person. Who holds the sword? Who is the king? "

On the stage, the adventurers showed greedy eyes one after another. They reached out to the black sword at the same time, but they were blocked by each other.They pulled out the long swords at their waists, and they pointed the sword tips at each other!

Off the stage, Gongsun Ce clenched his fists. He realized that this was not a charity performance, but Situ Yi's work!Invisible power was aroused and attacked the actors on the stage and the wooden stage at the same time.However, the narrator held up the black cloth, emitting a dark brilliance.The light formed a translucent barrier, and the power of thought was isolated!
At the same time, several streams of blood spurted out.The adventurers fell down one by one, and the only survivor abandoned the blood-stained long sword in his hand and raised the black sword high.The golden mask was stained red with blood, making it look hideous like a devil!
"Greed is better than friendship, power over justice! Artisans kill friends and monopolize the power of the holy sword. The millennium dynasty begins here!"

(End of this chapter)