Spear and Cross

There are many ways to do this.

Although Francis is confident that he is not a weak-willed person, nor is he afraid of pain-and Hampton has promised not to use violence.However, since the other party can put forward the idea of ​​making this bet, they should be sure of winning.

Intuitively, he was unwilling to accept the bet anyway; but unfortunately, his pride would not allow him to refuse.

Fraxis was silent for a while, and said coldly: "I hope the knight commander will do what he says."

"It is, of course, one of the virtues of chivalry."

Hampton agreed simply, which not only did not let Fraxis relax his vigilance, but also made him more suspicious of his tricks.

The head of the knight order has never been a pedantic noble knight, he is a gun, you never know from what angle he will stab you.It is precisely because of his personal style that the current Knights Templar is much stronger than before, and it is completely unreasonable to play cards, which makes the heretics very painful.

So no matter what kind of tricks Hampton used to make him succumb, Fraxis would not be surprised—he did think so at first, but he immediately discovered that he had miscalculated the degree of shamelessness of the knight .

Hampton only needed one hand to clasp his wrists on both sides, and his free right hand stroked his side waist when Fraxis didn't expect it at all.

Fraxis' eyes widened in shock, and he almost blurted out a curse on Hampton.

He...how dare!Carrying out such a disrespectful behavior against nobles simply doesn't take the imperial law into consideration!

Fraxis has always disliked intimate physical contact with others. His body froze instantly, his mind went blank for a second, and then he was completely occupied by boundless embarrassment and disgust.

The muscles of his whole body were as tight as a bowstring stretched to the end, but the knight didn't realize it, and continued to stroke him with just the right strength, as affectionate and intimacy as he was treating his lover.Hampton's hand was still on his waist, as if he was sure that Francis would not sue him before the king, he chuckled lowly in his ear.

"Every member of the knight order has to go through this kind of test. Mr. Noble, are you afraid? You know... resisting temptation is a basic lesson for priests."

Fracis certainly knows this and has been executing it extremely well.But Goddess, who would have thought that this point would need to be applied to colleagues who disliked him?It seemed to him that even the most seasoned priest could not have foreseen such a situation.

While he condemned himself countless times in his heart for agreeing to the bet so easily, he struggled with his wrist, trying to save himself from Hampton's left hand.He tried a few times without success, and was about to change his method, but Hampton posted it in the next second.

The training room was very hot, and the body temperature of the two of them was not low, and the friction between their bodies was more likely to generate heat.At this moment, Fraxis almost felt that his back was on fire, and the instigator even increased the friction, his chest was pressed against his back, like a high burning wall, separated by two thin layers of shirt, Constantly send heat to him.

The straps on Hampton made Fracis uncomfortable, but none of this was as direct and serious as his psychological resistance.

The knight's rough palm rubbed against the skin of his waist through the shirt. He instinctively felt disgusted and resisted this, his mind was full of spells, and he wished he could open his mouth and shoot the other party into a sieve right now.However, at the moment when he was almost about to cast a spell with his bare hands to repel Hampton, the other party suddenly reached into the hem of his shirt, and supported his waist without hindrance.

Fraxis' waist is actually very sensitive, but he seldom gets in close contact with others, so it's a little secret...but not now.

"...Are you so sensitive, Mr. Noble?" Hampton whispered in his ear in a wet tone.

The guy even straightened up obscenely!Treat them like male whores!

Fraxis was furious, and could no longer care about the promise not to cast spells. He raised his hand and cast an instant holding spell, saving himself from this kind of indecent insult while Hampton avoided it. come out.Then he picked up his sword and walked towards the door without looking back.

The magic restriction in the training room naturally couldn't stop him. Hampton stood there and looked at his disheveled back, full of contentment and joy.

The aristocratic nobles who left the blood and the rights derived from the blood are just ordinary people who can only be dominated by the most direct and simple power.

And she's a beauty, and feels good.He hooked the corner of his mouth and laughed.

An unexpected visitor came to the temple that day.

A middle-aged man dressed as a traveling merchant ran to the door, dragged the patrolling knight at the door and babbled a lot of words.The general meaning of the words is that there is a devil in the Duken forest not far from the king, and his caravan was killed by the devil except him.But because he was not only slurred, but also a little delirious, the knights didn't take his words seriously at first-who knows if there is something wrong with his brain?People often come to report similar news, and they have become numb.

But not long after, more and more people came to report the same problem, and they had to face it squarely and report the matter to their superiors.

Fraxis, who happened to be on duty, was sitting in his room, frowning after listening to the report.

"The devil? This is no small matter..."

"My lord, such reports are not uncommon, and they may not be true." Feng Na, who was on standby at the door, carefully observed his expression, and said, "You know, there are often fanatic believers who regard their hallucinations as real events to report to the Temple, but these are often not true—”

"Even if this is the case, we still have to send someone to confirm, it's our obligation, isn't it?" Fraxis raised his eyebrows, put down the book in his hand and stood up, "Why don't you take your Let's take a look at your team, Captain Fonner?"

Sure enough, he is still angry at the Knights!Fonner wailed inwardly, saluted respectfully, and then exited Francis' room.

Needless to say, Fraxis' anger towards the Knights naturally came from the Knights' tyrant, Commander Hampton.

After the half-forced "competition" by Hampton that day, Fraxis never gave any knight a good face again-every time he met Mr. Priest, he would send a gentle smile, but now there is only one sentence Good day politely.The good-natured Fracis never showed his former friendliness to the knights.

So now every time he sees Fraxis's expressionless face, Feng Na wants to ask their knight commander, what happened to him in that mysterious competition where no one except them knew what happened? What kind of outrage did you do to the priest?

...Of course, just thinking about it.Francis was not easy to mess with, and Hampton was even more difficult to mess with. He didn't dare to touch the scales of the two of them.

On the other hand, because Hampton annoyed Fraxis, the entire knight order is now enjoying a low pressure. Everyone is cautious when facing Francis, for fear that he will rescue them from the pastorate if he is unhappy. removed from the list.

Fonner led his team from the temple, led by the latest witnesses to the so-called "devil-infested" place, but it looked like an ordinary forest, nothing unusual.

Maybe another believer in hallucinations as reality, like those before him.He rode a horse on the forest path stepped on by the traveling merchants, the horseshoes rustled the thick fallen leaves in the forest, and the wind blew through the forest tops, making a slight whirring sound.Everything seemed normal, as it should be in Dukken Forest this season.

Looks like they can go back and report to Fraxis now.Just as Feng Na was thinking this way, he suddenly felt that there was something unusual in the place he had passed behind.

That feeling lasted only for a very short moment, he was like a prey watched by a beast, and the sense of crisis gripped him tightly.Feng Na turned his head quickly, but he still didn't find anything unusual. The woods were still very quiet, except for the voices of their group, there was no other sound, like a quiet dream.

"What's the matter, captain?" the knight walking behind him asked suspiciously.

Feng Na frowned and looked back a few times, then urged the horse to move on.

Although he couldn't find anything unusual, he believed that the feeling at that moment was correct. In the forest just now, something was watching them, and he had an intuition that it was not a kind gaze.Maybe there really is something here that shouldn't exist, and they should go back and report to Francis and Hampton as soon as possible.

"Line up and go back to the temple as quickly as possible."

"Oh? Is there something abnormal?" Hampton leaned leisurely on the pillar, raised an eyebrow, "Fonner, are you sure it's not your illusion? This is a serious question, where is the garden of His Majesty the King?" It's too close, if something happens, the nobles won't let us go."

Fraxis, who was sitting on the side, didn't even bother to raise his eyes, ignoring his deliberate ridicule.

"Although it was only for a moment, there should be nothing wrong with it." Feng Na said seriously, "That feeling is very dangerous, assuming that the other party deliberately concealed his aura, so we didn't find it at the beginning...then we are all willing to find something in the forest To ordinary people, it may indeed be as scary as 'the devil'."

He has always been an excellent knight, and his ability is also very good among the many small captains of the knight order. His perception should not be wrong.But there is a prerequisite for this, that is, the opponent's ability is not much higher than him - if the opponent has a high-level spellcaster, then only a small illusion is needed to create the illusion that there is a hidden high-level powerhouse in the forest , even if it was only a low-level weak person who was there at the time.

Fraxis is very familiar with this kind of trick. As far as he knows, many mages will use this method to disguise their weak team, but if they can do this, they can even fool a knight of Vonner's level. The strength of a spellcaster should not be weak.

On the other hand, what is the reason for the other party to do so?Is there something hiding in Dukken Woods, are they repelling passers-by, or are they trying to lure someone there?

Fraxis frowned and thought about it. He didn't think it was a coincidence. Next month will be the 150th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the headquarters of the Temple in the Empire. The relationship between the temple and the empire creates a crack.

"...Maybe we should go to Duken Forest." After a moment of silence, he said.

Hampton raised his eyebrows, seemingly surprised.But he concealed it very well. This expression only lasted for a moment and then disappeared without anyone noticing.

"Since Mr. Noble doesn't dislike the dirty forest, let's go and see it."

Thanks to the aristocratic education that Fraxis received since he was a child, his riding skills are quite good, and his posture on horseback is elegant and calm, which is very pleasing to the eye.His blond hair was shrouded in a gentle halo under the sun, and his extraordinary appearance seemed to be carefully carved according to the appearance of a prince in a fairy tale, and his whole person seemed to be able to emit light.

Compared with him who exudes aristocratic atmosphere, Hampton on the horse looks more like a spear. He sits upright and has sharp eyes. He looks like a knight.Even Francis, who looked at him very disliked, had to admit that Hampton was a born knight. Even if he put on a foolish look, his back was still straight, tall and vigorous, which made people unconsciously Create a sense of security.

They took a team of knights under the direct management of Hampton to the direction of Dukken Forest, and did not bring any extra priests, because Fraxis alone was enough for such a survey, and the speed of ordinary priests was really not very good. He didn't want to slow down the team.

A group of people rode horses on the road opened by the merchants. There were some sparse trees on both sides of the road. They had already entered the area where the Dukken Forest belonged, but they were still on the outskirts of the forest, some distance away from the reported location.Fraxis kept an eye on his surroundings, a crystal ball for the detection illusion floating in his left hand, and the right used to control his horse.The farther you go into the forest, the narrower the road becomes. When you reach the real entrance of Duken Forest, the road can only accommodate two horses paralleling each other.

It didn't affect their team much - except that Fracis had to be at the front alongside Hampton.

He needs to scout the surrounding environment, and the behavior of Hampton following up really makes people doubt his motives.

"If there is any danger ahead, I will be punished if Mr. Noble doesn't dodge it." The knight said with a smile, and then walked beside him.

Although Fraxis found it strange, he didn't have the time and energy to deal with him for the time being, and focused on feeling the feedback from the illusion.

The forest was still very quiet, but soon Fraxis noticed something was wrong.

"Wait a minute." He raised his free hand to signal the team to stop, and then moved the crystal ball to the left front in the direction of the bushes.

The crystal ball instantly burst into light.

"What's wrong?" Hampton asked in a low voice.

"Everyone stay put and pay attention to vigilance." Fraxis tightened the reins in his hand, and drove his horse to turn around and walk towards the path towards the bushes. "There seems to be something unusual over there. I'll go and check the situation."

Hampton gave Feng Na a wink and followed.

Before Feng Na had time to ask if he needed to bring two more people, they had disappeared into the bushes.Feeling that he was left behind as a burden, the team leader sighed helplessly, and looked back at his team members, only to find that they had already started a heated discussion:

"The knight commander didn't take the opportunity to cause trouble for the priest, did he?"

"Don't talk nonsense, it's not safe for the priest to investigate alone, the knight commander should protect him."

"The two of them won't check and fight, will they? Will the priest be at a disadvantage?"

"Don't we really need to follow?"

"..."

Feng Na helped his forehead helplessly, feeling that he seemed to have done something wrong.

Why did he follow these two adults to investigate?Francois of the second team is obviously more suitable for forest survey...

Fraxis was a little surprised that Hampton would follow, but immediately felt ashamed of his unreasonable guess: a qualified knight would certainly not give up correct judgment due to personal grievances at such a time, he should not Question the chivalry of the head of the knight order.

...Although in some of the things that happened before, the knight commander didn't show much chivalry.

One after the other they crossed the narrow woodland path--Hampton found a gap in the way, passed Francis and went ahead--the path gradually opened up at the end, and at last they came to Came to a hollow where no trees grew.

"There is an enchantment here." Fraxis said, took out the materials needed for casting the spell from the space ring, and began to prepare to remove the enchantment, "It's all here, so I'll ask the knight commander to help me to be vigilant."

He behaved very naturally. After asking Hampton to help him guard, he really didn't take any precautions against the surrounding environment. He squatted down and began to draw a magic circle on the ground with the crystal in his hand.

Hampton raised his eyebrows, he was very relieved, and he was not afraid of making trouble behind his back?

The steps to remove the enchantment are not complicated, because the strength of this enchantment is not too great, but the concealment is relatively strong.Fraxis only used crystals to draw a small magic circle on the open space, and then muttered something silently, and Hampton felt that the barrier in front of him was gradually collapsing.

But at the same time as the barrier collapsed, he heard Fraxis let out an exclamation.

The exclamation was very short, and a dense fog that did not know where it came from was rolled up by the collapsed barrier, and it diffused in an instant, turning the field of vision into a vast expanse of whiteness.Hampton reacted immediately, but by the time he drew his sword, Fraxis was out of sight.

The fog was unnaturally thick, obviously a man-made magic product. Hampton's eyesight was very good, but even he couldn't see what was in front of him, let alone where Fraxis was.

He whispered Francis' name, but there was no answer.

"Mr. Noble?" He raised his voice and called again, but there was still no answer.

It seems that there is something wrong with the enchantment, and Fraxis didn't notice this before, and just thought it was a simple concealment enchantment... If this is the case, the person who set up this enchantment should be a high-level mage.As for what will be in the fog, he has no way of judging whether Fraxis is still in the fog.

After a short thought, the knight took a step forward and stepped into the thick fog.

As soon as he entered the range of the dense fog, Hampton immediately knew the reason why Francis didn't respond to him just now.

No sound can be heard here, it is not a soundproof enchantment, but the hearing is blocked.The armor on his body has a very high resistance to magic. It seems that it is not an ordinary spell. It is very likely that even Fraxis cannot find a solution in a short time.

He frowned, and searched a small area with the unsheathed sword, but found no trace of Fraxis.According to the distance between the two of them before the barrier was lifted, Hampton should have seen the person long ago, but no, he couldn't find Francis at all.He could feel the presence of Fraxis in the temple where the light elements were extremely dense, but in this dense fog, he did not find Fraxis with a high affinity for light elements at all.

Is there a problem with his own perception, or is the thick fog obscuring his perception?If you can't see people in the fog, what about anything other than people?

After thinking about it, Hampton activated the lighting technique on his sword, and then controlled the light to flicker on and off.

This is a spell that is pre-equipped on all knight sabers of the Knight Order. It only needs a little magic power to activate. It was originally used for calling for help, but there are also several specific flicker frequencies that can be used for communication.If Fraxis could see the light, he would know what he meant by the frequency of the flickering.

Sure enough, not long after, a little fluorescent light lit up not far from him.

As Hampton got closer and closer to the point of light, the figure of Fraxis gradually appeared in front of him-the mage stood beside a bare tree stump, his right hand was raised in front of him, and the tip of his index finger was shining. A faint light.

"What's the matter with you?" After asking, he remembered that he couldn't hear the sound in the fog, so he walked up to the mage and made a questioning gesture to him.

Fraxis obviously knew that voices were inaudible, but what he wanted to say could not be expressed clearly with simple gestures and the flickering frequency of lights.He tried to write on the ground, but immediately found that they could only vaguely see each other's faces in the thick fog, let alone the writing on the ground.

Why can they see each other's faces?Hampton's perception still didn't work, even though Fraxis was standing in front of him, he couldn't feel the existence of the light element on the other side.Is it normal to be able to see the other person's face in this situation?

Thinking of this, he took a very slight step back.

Fraxis raised his right hand and smiled at Hampton in the dim light of Hampton's sword and his own fingertips.

In the next second, a puff of gray smoke shot out from his fingertips, and rushed towards Hampton's face like a living thing!

Hampton nimbly dodged it sideways, and at the same time he raised his sword and slashed, he saw a ferocious arrow of light shoot out from behind him, hitting "Flassis" in front of him directly.

The "Flassis" that was hit disappeared like smoke, as if it had never existed, and the gray smoke that attacked Hampton also disappeared after several failed attempts.Hampton stood where he was, and the surroundings returned to a state full of thick fog, and he couldn't see anything clearly.

He had never seen such a spell before, and only felt that the current environment was somewhat similar to a disappearance case that had occurred in the history of the temple.In that case of disappearance, a small group of knights and their chaplains who undertook the investigation task disappeared quietly into the thick fog and never came out again.

And who was the one who attacked the fake Francis just now?

That direction was now covered in thick fog, and Hampton couldn't tell if anyone was still there. Just as he decided to go over to check the situation, a hand grabbed his arm.

The reason why he knew it was a hand was not because he could see it, but because the other party tapped his arm with his fingers in a specific rhythm.

Hampton paid attention to this rhythm and quickly understood what the other party meant.

it's me.

Francis?

In fact, we can’t be sure it’s him just because of this, but this person’s feeling to Hampton is different from that of the fake Fraxis just now, just like the dazzling sun being forcibly suppressed into stars, forced to reduce its brightness, Form a very discordant feeling.

Since this is the case, it should be Fraxis who is right. In the dense fog that isolates perception, he will indeed be compressed to "brightness" and hide his existence.After confirming his identity, Hampton felt relieved and let the other party take off one of his gloves and began to write on his palm.

"I already know roughly what kind of spell this is, but it takes two people to undo the spell, so you have to operate it with me."

Hampton shook his palm to express his understanding, and Fraxis continued to write: "I finished the preliminary work of breaking the curse alone, you follow me and don't get separated. The last spell is an ancient text, maybe you won't know how to write it out." Read, can the Knight Commander speak with lips?"

Of course, Hampton can lip-talk, but in such an environment, he can't see Fraxis' face at all, so what do you think?

He reached out to touch Fraxis' arm, and expressed his doubts with the same tapping method. Fraxis did not answer immediately, but said that he would tell him the method at the end.

Since the two sides would lose direct contact without physical contact, Hampton could only let Francis hold his hand and move forward.And Francis has obviously found a way to perceive the direction, which is reflected in the fact that he didn't hesitate when he led Hampton in a certain direction, which seemed to have been confirmed before.

It is not easy to walk in the forest filled with dense fog, because you don't know whether there are potential dangers around you, and you don't know where you will go.Under such circumstances, Hampton did not doubt that Francis would retaliate against his previous "joke", just as he also put away his prejudice and completely trusted the other party in the matter of breaking the curse.

What caught his attention was actually another thing. After taking off the gloves, he was in direct contact with the mage's hand, and Fraxis's hand was rougher than he expected—although it was indeed slender and well-defined, it was just He could feel it just by touching the skin. There were so many calluses on the fingertips and the palm of the hand that it was abnormal, almost like a rough man's hand.

It's more different than he imagined, Mr. Noble.

Hampton raised the corners of his mouth and laughed silently.

Of course, Francis didn't realize that the knight he was leading was thinking about something that had nothing to do with the current situation.He quickly secured a position, motioned for Hampton to stand there, took Hampton's hand, and placed his fingers in an unknown place.

The touch was so delicate, soft and elastic that Hampton couldn't think of what he was touching for a moment.

It wasn't until the two soft pieces under the fingers moved one by one that Hampton suddenly realized that they were Fraxis' lips.

It is undoubtedly very difficult to recognize what this mouth is saying just by the touch, not to mention that the knight started to have a very rude imagining almost at the same time he reacted.Fraxis repeated the same sentence several times before Hampton said slowly that he understood what he was saying.

"Next, I will recite the curse-breaking spell twice. Due to the inability to speak out, the intonation may be biased. Please do your best to learn it in the shortest possible time."

It's not bad to learn a few times.The knight thought so hopelessly.

The knight commander's learning ability is undoubtedly very good. It didn't take him much time to figure out all the mouth shapes of the spell, leaving only the problem of tone that was difficult to solve.Hampton couldn't see Fraxis' mouth shape, and could only judge the pitch of the other party's incantation by the touch. He tried to put his two hands on Fraxis' lips and Adam's apple, but he couldn't make an accurate judgment. , had to give up.

...But Mr. Noble's Adam's Apple is very sexy when it vibrates.he thought silently.

Fortunately, Fraxis couldn't see his current expression, so the study of breaking the curse could proceed smoothly.

"Tell me, let me see if there are any obvious mistakes." After Hampton said that he had roughly learned it, Fraxis responded like this.

Hampton readily agreed, offering to take his hand and put it to his lips, allowing Francis to "read" what he was saying with his fingers.The latter's lip language was no better than him, so of course he couldn't find any major mistakes, so he quickly withdrew his hand after "reading" it twice.

Fortunately, it won't have any bad effects if they say the wrong spell, and it doesn't take much time for them to try a few times. The slight difference in pitch is just a small problem, and they can always find the right one after repeated attempts.After failing five or six times, Hampton finally found the right tone. The moment the two of them uttered the incantation at the same time, the spell-casting materials placed on the ground by Fraxis began to glow, and then the dense fog dispersed at a speed visible to the naked eye. go.

The long-lost sunshine caused both of them to squint their eyes, but in the next second they were simultaneously attracted by the scene in front of them.

"...I see." Fraxis sighed in a low voice when he finally saw the true face of this depression.

Now he can confirm that what the two of them saw before triggering the illusion just now was also a deceptive illusion.It's just that due to the high level of the spellcaster, the protective illusion was well hidden, and even he couldn't find the illusion magic circle hidden in it in time.The traps set in the magic circle are enough to trap most spellcasters. On the other hand, the law of depriving sight and sound also makes it much more difficult to unravel the spell—this spell needs to be unlocked by everyone in the circle, if The Hamptons don't understand lip-reading, and they're sure to be stuck in it for their inability to do that, too.

As for why they set up an illusion circle here, they all understand now.

Looking at the magic cage in front of him and the things locked inside, Hampton sighed, "No wonder it scares away passers-by. It turns out that there is a big guy hiding here."

"Send someone back to inform the temple, let them send someone to reinforce." Fraxis looked at the level of the magic cage and the big guy imprisoned inside, estimated its destructive power, and said, "Maybe We need to make a temporary passage to transport it back to the temple for disposal, and it is a bit too dangerous to be transported back directly."

In fact, the knight commander doesn't have much interest in this big man who is locked up now, anyway, it is still locked up well.Rather than taking care of this stinky big guy, he wants to tease the nobleman who looks like "nothing happened just now", but anyway, it's still off-site time, so he should deal with the situation in front of him properly first. It's business.

He called Feng Na, conveyed Fraxis' meaning to him, and then asked him to go back and inform Priest Moxi, and he took the remaining knights to surround the depression to ensure that there would be no accidents during this period. occur.

Fraxis is doing some reinforcement work around the magic cage. Since the big guys inside are not friendly, he is afraid that there will be accidents breaking through the cage during the transfer—this place is not far from the imperial capital, and there are civilians out of the forest. The village, if it accidentally escapes, it is very likely that an irreversible accident will happen.

"This magic cage is often maintained and strengthened. The person who hides it here should come to check its condition every once in a while." After completing the simple reinforcement work, he straightened up and patted the white robe casually. I didn't pay much attention to the dust and dirt, and went back to my horse. "We triggered and dispelled this illusion. The other party must already know that we found it, and they will definitely hide it deeper in the future."

"How do you know that the other party will continue? What's the use of hiding this guy?" Hampton raised his eyebrows.

"It's very useful." Fraxis sneered, "Knight Commander, don't forget, this is the 'back garden of the imperial capital' Duken Forest, which is far away from the bustling area with a large population... It doesn't take half an hour. able to cross."

The knight frowned.

"The target is the temple's ceremony?"

"I'm just guessing. Let's transport this big guy back for research first. I don't know if there will be any new progress." Fraxis raised his chin and motioned him to look in the direction of the cage. "I'm not good at observing monsters. The specific situation It has to be studied by Priest Gut. But its eyes are cloudy, obviously it has been controlled and domesticated for a long time, raising this kind of thing can't be a good deed, can it still contribute to the grain harvest of the residents of the imperial capital this year?"

Disturbed by his words, Hampton took a closer look and found that it was indeed as Fraxis said, the big guy in the cage was very different from the wild monster, and there was probably a conspiracy in it.

"Priest Moxi should send someone over soon, let's talk about it when we go back." In the end, he could only say this.

Francis nodded.

Neither of them mentioned what happened in the magic circle. After the mage sent by Priest Moxi arrived, they successfully made a temporary "passage" and transported the magic cage together with the big man inside. temple.