Atlas Battle Song

Chapter 42

In the Knights, colleagues always joked that Trande had changed, and he joked: "Marriage will change a man."

Fortunately, this non-existent "marriage relationship" did not attract too much attention.After all, Trand was a young man, almost at the age of marriage.After training, the older knights sat together and talked about their wives and children, and they would also chat with Trand by the way.

The irascible knight commander taught Trander a lot, but he still spared no effort in promoting him.It's a pity that Trander no longer has that ambition.He planned to take Master Egg out of the empire when the spring warmed up, and the two of them went to live in the academy together.Before escaping to a truly safe place, his nerves were tense every day, and he couldn't rest assured.

The rebellion continued, and the power of the earl and his party was clearly beyond the emperor's judgment.The rebellion, which was supposed to be quelled within a few months, has lasted for more than half a year.Fierce battles occurred from time to time.So far, the two sides have been deadlocked in Ambaro province.

In order to compete for a bridge on the Heihe River, more than 500 knights and more than 3000 soldiers died on the river bank.The blood flowed down the river until it reached the imperial capital by the bay.Many citizens ran to watch the tragic scene tremblingly, and Trand also went.When he saw the broken arrow's stump floating along the water, he couldn't help feeling chills down his back.If he hadn't eloped with Master Yige back then, he would have been conscripted into the rebel army, and he might have been part of the blood in the river...

For the rebellion to last for so long, there must still be an intertwined force in the dark.Trander inquired carefully, collecting all kinds of small and detailed information in the court.

A court wine merchant told him: Recently, the palace hardly buys wine, and large parties are no longer held.Trand felt strange.The Sibyls like to drink the most. According to the custom, during the war, the emperor and his counselors will also have dinner and wine together to discuss military affairs.Why not now?Has the relationship between the emperor and the nobles in the court changed?From another point of view, the knight commanders staying in the imperial capital had to go to the palace to meet the emperor every day, which was also unprecedented.

Trand guessed that the climate inside the palace should have become more delicate.He heard that several big nobles who had not rebelled against him were also watching the situation, ready to make a move.Rumors about the empress have been around for a long time, but they have become more rampant recently: she was not an orthodox monarch, she poisoned her husband and took the throne from her son.

I'm afraid that His Majesty the Emperor is in danger in the palace... So she is strengthening the central military power while stabilizing the princes.

From this point of view, the Earl really played a ruthless move, even the iron-fisted empress couldn't stand it.

People say that this is a war between two giant snakes: the golden snake of the imperial power, and the swamp green three-headed snake of the Gorgon family.

Those huge shadows are everywhere, making the humble people under them have to bow their heads, and so is Trande.He felt helpless every day when he went to work in the Knights Order.

The number of new casualties, the blood-stained river, desserts, plague and crows, the rapidly rising prices of daily necessities, conscription, the pain of training...

Everything is lingering in his mind, constantly torturing him:

What should I do next?

But back home is different.Master Egg hugged the puppet every day, sat obediently at the door and waited for him, stretching out his arms for a hug.

These are two worlds: war, and a small picture book of fairy tales.

He had to resist all the pressure to protect the small room where Master Egg was.

This burden is too cruel for any teenager.But Trander doesn't think so, he has long been burdened with too many things: the wandering experience in his childhood, the impure blood, the humiliating status of an illegitimate child, extreme poverty and the charity of the nobles... His life is a struggle, and he has never changed.

The only difference is...

"Silly lion, silly lion!"

As soon as Trand entered the house, Egg ran over and threw himself into his arms hastily.Although the beautiful young master has no expression on his face, he still behaves like a child.

"Well, I'm back."

Trent smiled, first kissed the young master's forehead, and then kissed those soft lips.

"Play with me," Egg stretched out his finger and poked the little lion's dimple when he laughed, "Come and play."

At this moment, Trende felt that everything was worth it.Those heavy and fiery tortures instantly ceased to exist.

Trand was 14 years old and had almost grown into two different people.When he was with Egg, he was still a boy who could play with puppets and carve wood.Besides, he has long been a sophisticated man, trying his best to survive the fierce battle between giants.

He has something to protect...

The emerald in the box, his beloved Master Egg.

The two had an early dinner together.Egg brought some puppets and picture albums, and motioned for Trand to perform a puppet show for him.

Trander smiled and brought out his hat and cloak: "Did you forget? It was agreed that we will go out today."

"Yeah, let's go to the theater."

"Well, the theater ticket that the Duke gave us is today. Does Master Egg still want to watch it? To be honest, I have some doubts about that guy's style, maybe it's some kind of messy content. But..."

The two teenagers were silent for a moment, thinking about the young man who was always smiling.

"I want to see it." Egg nodded. "Maybe he fell with a trick again?"

"People's wrestling is not a show... Okay, let's go out, we still have to pay attention to safety on the road, because recently..."

Trender paused, but decided not to speak out about the rebellion.

After going out, there were hardly many pedestrians on the road, and there were no patrolling soldiers.

Trande sighed. The flames of war have not spread to the imperial capital, but the tension brought by the rebellion is still quite obvious.

They walked to a secluded path and met a pair of younger brothers.The elder brother looks seven or eight years old, and the younger brother is about three or four years old, or even younger.The two children should live nearby and go out to play after dinner.

While running, my brother fell on the snow and burst into tears.

"Cry again!" My brother scolded impatiently, "If you cry again, the rebels will take you away. Earl Gorgon loves to eat children the most, so he will make you into meat pie!"

The younger brother was so frightened that he cried loudly.

"..."

Hearing his father's name, Egg's expression suddenly changed.

Trander quickly put his arms around his shoulders, and said in a low voice, "It's okay, the stinky brat is just joking, let's go."

The elder brother heard it and yelled and threw snowballs at them: "You are the brat! Traitor! Idiot! Earl Gorgon's lackey! Tomorrow they will behead you!" I don't know where I learned the swear words .

The young child was infected by his brother's high spirits, and imitated it in a decent manner, as if he was really throwing stones at traitors.

Don't argue with children.Trand admonished himself.But the snowballs kept coming, and one hit Egg on the hat.

Trand turned back immediately.

"Little friend, did mother teach you how to be polite?"

He bent down, rolled up a huge snowball, and looked down at the two terrified little ghosts with a smile on his face.Trander is tall and strong, and in the eyes of younger children, he is a complete adult, not to mention that he holds a boulder-like snowball in his arms.

The mischievous little boy was petrified, nodded frantically, his mouth seemed to be sewn shut.

"Really?" Trander smiled, "That's great, I want to be a good brother who loves my younger brother."

He put the big snowball on the ground, and then put a smaller snowball on it, making a snowman for the two children.Egg took out two red fruits from his handbag and put eyes on the snowman.

The children were happy and applauded around the snowman.

"Let's go."

Trand took Egg's hand and left the alley.

The Rose Theater is located on the north side of the city, close to the port.

In addition to merchants and sailors from various countries, commoners and nobles also like to come here to watch operas for fun.There are several great theaters here, as well as traveling circuses, bards, and fortune tellers.Along the way, you can hear the sound of music everywhere, monkeys playing on the flute, southern poets strumming the tar, or exotic sailors singing around the bonfire.The gorgeously dressed West Plateau girls are smiling sweetly, waiting for the right guests.Although the nobles passing by would not participate due to their status, they would occasionally stop for a while.

The joyful atmosphere is like a moving flame, making people forget about sorrow and war.

"..."

Yi Ge pulled Rutland's sleeve and pointed at the dancing circus monkey, wanting to watch it for a while.Trander smiled and kissed the young master's eyelashes.

"Come on honey, or we'll miss the beginning of the play."

When I came to the entrance of the Rose Theater, the ticket checker was a dwarf, wearing props and pointed ears, dressed as a guardian of the underworld.Whenever a guest handed out a ticket, he would pretend to stuff the ticket into a snakeskin pocket marked "Pass".

"Ah, dwarves of Joel!" Egg whispered happily.

"Who?"

Trande squinted his eyes and thought about it carefully, and finally remembered that his tutor had mentioned the "Sybyl War Song" to them before: "Giltega", the temple of the underworld, is located in the golden void.Around the void are ten rivers of death, filled with the souls of sinners.Only a long ice bridge can cross the river of death and welcome the hero's soul to the glorious and magnificent Hades.The dwarves of Joel are the keepers of the bridge, with black dogs and giant snakes.If the vile dead try to sneak across the bridge and into Hades, countless hounds will tear the stowaway's soul to pieces.

Trander has never liked the great epic.The values ​​of the Sybils are too strange. The living heroes always talk about the underworld, and the dead also talk about the hierarchy.

Egg liked it a lot.

"good evening."

Seeing them coming, the dwarf at the entrance of the theater held a bell calling for Hellhound in one hand, and a snakeskin pocket for a "pass" in the other:

"Dead, answer me—are you sinners, or heroes who are qualified to go to the Golden Hades?"

Egg was about to speak excitedly, but held back.

Trander blinked his left eye at the young master, took out the theater ticket exaggeratedly, and replied loudly:

"Dwarves of Joel—we are the heroes of Sybil, the masters of the Golden Serpent Ring, and we will continue to guard the Underworld Giltega as undead knights after death."

The juvenile's cooperative performance made the dwarf actor very happy. He accepted the tickets for the two of them and bowed again to welcome the distinguished guests.

After entering the theater, many audience members were already seated.Egg's eyes were good, and he saw the Duke at the side of the stage at once.He was discussing something with the announcer seriously.

"Is it really his play?" Trander waved his hand, "Hey—Mr. Caroiallo!"

The audience next to him gave the boy a dissatisfied look.

"Ah!" The Duke was overjoyed, and hurriedly ran from the crowd, almost bumping his foot. "You are here! You are here! Please take a seat. Today is my play "Lamp of the Storm". Do you know the story of the great hero Yarong?"

Egg shook his head, and Trand nodded.

The Duke smiled and said, "Haha, this story is a bit old for your age, so you must have heard of the title 'Navigator', right?"

Egg nodded, and the lion cub shook his head again.

"Okay..." the Duke breathed out helplessly, "Anyway, please sit back and enjoy, the members of this troupe are all very good, they are real artists!"

It was almost time to start, and the three of them sat down.

Trand naturally took Egg into his arms and let the young master lean on his shoulder.Seeing the young couple so affectionate, the Duke seemed a little embarrassed and kept shaking his legs.After shaking for a while, he found an excuse and went to sit elsewhere.

The candle chandeliers on the stage were raised and the play began.

An announcer dressed as a ghost appeared on the stage, introducing the new drama "Lamp of the Storm" by "Prince Anderan" to the audience.

"Prince Andran?"

"Maybe it's one of the guy's pseudonyms, after all he has 'a friend' who writes erotic knight novels."

"The pseudonym he used to write "The History of Poseidon's Erotic Love" is 'Duke Cat'."

"..."

"Maybe he's not the real Duke of Vulkan, but just borrowed this title as a pseudonym? No matter how I look at it, he doesn't look like the favorite of His Majesty..."

The two teenagers were speechless for a while.

There was a metallic sound like lightning and thunder on the stage, and they came back to their senses.Actors in ancient Ibagne costumes on the stage are fleeing, and the world-destroying tsunami is coming—the glorious ocean empire is destroyed, farmlands and temples are completely submerged, the holy fire is extinguished, and the majestic monument sinks to the bottom of the sea in the waves. People wept, fled, and died.The huge waves are raging, this is the revenge of the old gods.

Just when Ibane was about to be destroyed, the mages of the Academy stepped forward and led the survivors to take a large ship and flee to the unknown land in the north.

In the storm and night, it is the two heroes who lead the crowd——Aron and Endymion.

"Ah, the Navigator..." Egg whispered in Trander's ear, "It's said in the Sybill's Battle Song: 'The Navigator brought us out of the bones and the waves...we were misfortunes Ibanese, we are also long-lived Sibyls'."

"Who remembers those!"

Trander was very frank. Anyway, he really couldn't memorize it, and he was often taught by tutors in the past.But he knows the story of the great hero Yaron, and there are other versions circulating in the dance dramas of the West Plateau, which are basically stories about the adventures of the great hero and his companions.

They continued to watch intently.

After the first and second performances of "Lights of the Storm" ended, there was quite enthusiastic applause in the theater.Egg and Trand also applauded heartily.The stage design is very exquisite, and the coordination of different musical instruments makes the audience feel immersive, as if the tsunami is behind them, and the whole theater is a big ship nervously fleeing.The actors work very hard, the lines are dignified and elegant, but some places are too exaggerated, but it doesn't hurt.

"Not bad." Master Egg was in a good mood.After all, this drama is very in line with the aesthetics of the nobility.

"That's right, I thought it would be about love triangles, love murders, revenge, boys and girls..." Trand was a little disappointed. In fact, he wanted to see this type of work more.

"Maybe the duke wrote it too, but with a different pseudonym."

"It's really possible. After all, that guy is the 'Duke Cat' who writes pornographic novels, and the 'Prince Andran' who writes dramas. Maybe there will be a certain 'Countess' in the future... I think he is enough." In my free time, I have to date, write nonsense, and accompany His Majesty in the palace."

"Then he should be a nobleman."

The Duke came over with a smile: "Hey, I heard you two little guys talking bad about me!"

Trander hurriedly laughed and said:

"Yeah, you're gorgeous tonight too. Yo, this light red eyeshadow suits you very well."

"Huh?" The Duke took out a small mirror and took a look in a little confusion, "No way? I didn't wear makeup today? If I'm not dating, I usually... eh!!"

When he came back to his senses, the two teenagers had already run away.

The crowd was bustling, still excitedly discussing tonight's performance.

Following the leaving crowd, Trand and Egg came to the small square outside the Rose Theater.The moon has risen, the tavern is still lively, and the bonfire is still lit in the square, and the sailors are sitting by the fire talking and laughing.

"Why did we run away?" Egg asked.

Trander said with a smile: "Because that guy will talk endlessly when he gets excited. I want to take you to another place and visit the Duke another day. He is an interesting guy."

"silly."

"It's not good to call others stupid, young master."

"Silly lion."

"Okay..." Trander could only smile wryly.

He took Egg's hand and walked all the way to the bay.The moonlight illuminates the obsidian-like sea and the snow-white cliffs in the distance.

The two teenagers looked at the vast sea and listened to the sound of the waves.

"We came to the seaside together...I never thought before that we would come to see the sea." Trand scratched his chin embarrassedly, and peeked at Egg.

"Egg," he couldn't help calling.

"?"

Just like back then, Egg tilted his head and looked at him intently.

Trander opened his mouth, wanting to express all the restlessness in his heart, but he didn't know where to start.

"What kind of person do you want... I become?"

Then I become that kind of person.

he thought.

Egg looked up at the moon and smiled faintly:

"That's fine."

On that deep black sea, silver waves shone, and that vague brilliance was also reflected in the pupils of the boy's eyes.The first time they kissed, Trand remembered...seeing the Milky Way and the Aquila, the eyes he loved.

A strong emotion was about to emerge, and Trander couldn't think of anything else, but subconsciously pulled Igor into his arms——

Before a passionate kiss could take shape, Egg suddenly bit Trand.

"Hey, it hurts—!"

"Ha ha ha ha."

"What! You ruined the good atmosphere! Do you have a conscience!" The little lion became furious and stomped on the spot.

Little Leopard stuck out his pink tongue expressionlessly: "Slightly slightly slightly."

Being ridiculed like this, Trander became even angrier, and suddenly picked up Master Yi Ge and spun around: "A person like you is not suitable for dating at all! At this time, you should kiss affectionately! Isn't it like this in all the stories? A date, a kiss in a beautiful place, and then..."

Trander suddenly stopped talking and put Egg down.

After a fierce nonsense, the two teenagers now have fast heartbeats, gasping for breath, and looking at each other a little at a loss.

Their chests were very close.

"Then?" Egg demanded.

The flushed Trander shook his head and deliberately looked away: "It's nothing..."

"There's something wrong with the silly lion!"

Egg hugged Trand again.But this hug is not the same as usual... The teenagers groped intentionally or unintentionally, and their bodies were lightly pressed together, clumsily and without meaning.Gradually, breathing became short and anxious.Trand knew what he wanted, but he was hesitant.

"do not……"

The string is still there, it's just about to snap.

As if some kind of wrestling, the two boys were in a stalemate, listening patiently to each other's gasps and the violent heartbeat in their own chests.

"Huh...?" Egg rubbed against him again.

Trander's breathing was completely disordered, like a fire covered with oil.He hurriedly took a step back, withdrawing from his thoughts of crossing the line.

"Excuse me."

He was very polite, as if two people were meeting for the first time.

The moonlight illuminates the faces of the boys.

Rarely, Yi Ge's face was also flushed, his eyes were moist, and the corners of his mouth that were joking just now were uncomfortably tight.

"Wow."

Trander's heart was pierced at once.For he distinctly heard Master Egg saying in a very faint voice:

"Wait to go home..."