Chapter 550 The Real George III
join the Church of MissRaven and become a Sequence 9: Reader p atreon.com/KeyofStars for more chapters
Hobert glanced at Duke Bowen, judging that the cause of his illness also seemed to be related to a curse.
However, he didn't make a sound. This wasn't the only demigod in Backlund, and it was impossible that no one had noticed this before.
Hobert dutifully followed behind the Queen and Princess, diligently carrying out his task of protection and vigilance. The Bowen couple couldn't help but glance at this handsome young man.
Of course, they had seen Hobert, but they had only attended the ball hosted by the King on April 1st, and had not attended any balls since. They also didn't know that Hobert worked for MI9, so they were a little puzzled by his presence here.
More than half an hour later, the Queen's visit ended, and the group embarked on their return journey.
It was evident that the Queen and Duke Bowen had a good relationship. Duke Bowen was reluctant to part, and the Queen, sitting in the carriage, also looked worriedly in the direction of the villa after the carriage began to accelerate.
After the carriage left the manor, the Queen suddenly asked Hobert, "Have you discerned the cause of Duke Bowen's illness?"
Hobert was slightly stunned, thinking, 'Why ask me?'
He bowed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, my experience is shallow, and I have not studied medicine, so I have not discerned the cause of his illness."
The Queen looked at Hobert and nodded slightly, saying, "It is good that a young man knows to be cautious."
Then, she changed the subject, "It was I who specifically requested Georgina to transfer you here."
Hobert was slightly stunned again. He thought it was really because he was the only MI9 demigod available today.
After observing for the past few days, he had discovered that the others were indeed quite busy.
At the same time, he had a question in his mind: Why did the Queen do this?
After a moment's thought, Hobert said, "Thank you for your Majesty's consideration. I didn't think too much when I received the transfer order from MI9."
This was to express his position: I am a member of MI9, loyal to the royal family, and there is no need to win me over in private. There is also no need to privately assign me any tasks. Just have Georgina issue orders for any tasks.
Of course, this was also to indicate: I will not accept private solicitation, and I refuse tasks outside of my official responsibilities.
For other nobles, this would definitely be an opportunity, but Hobert did not intend to stay in Backlund forever, so he did not intend to tie himself to the royal family.
The Queen smiled and said, "The more cautious you appear, the more you fit my ideal candidate."
Hobert: I… I give up!
After all, these were the top ruling class, each one of them shrewd, and a single sentence had blocked all of Hobert's paths.
"I won't make things too difficult for you!" At this time, the Queen changed the subject, "You only need to secretly help me investigate who wants to harm Duke Bowen."
She sighed and said, "I have sent many people to treat Bowen, and even spent a lot of money to invite the bishop of the Church of the Earth Mother to diagnose him. Their diagnoses are consistent: Bowen is under a slow-acting curse."
"But they have exhausted all kinds of methods and have not been able to resolve this curse."
"Perhaps it's time to change our approach and find out who the caster is."
Hobert glanced at the Queen and then at Alice. Sure enough, he saw a hint of disapproval on Alice's face: 'You still have the nerve to talk about your daughter? Aren't you also conducting some dangerous investigations?'
But immediately after, Hobert felt that this seemed to be human nature. Even politicians with their minds full of political goals would have one or two people they cared about, and that would often be their bottom line.
He sighed and continued to decline, also speaking the truth, "But I am not good at solving curse problems."
The Queen didn't say anything, she just looked at Alice.
It was as if she was saying: 'Lying to my face.'
Hobert smiled wryly, "That kind of urgent curse is different from a slow-acting curse.
"Based on my limited understanding, slow-acting curses are more difficult to resolve, and it is also more difficult to find the medium of the curse and the caster behind it."
"The Queen should know that my abilities are not suitable for breaking this kind of difficult curse."
"Your ability is secondary to this matter!" The Queen stared at Hobert: "In fact, even now, I don't fully believe the diagnoses of those people before! Can you investigate whether Duke Bowen is really under a curse?"
Hobert thought for a moment and understood the Queen's meaning: "Because I currently have no power background and have not yet been tied to any interests."
The Queen nodded slightly, "As Georgina said, you are indeed very smart."
Then she promised, "As long as your investigation has a breakthrough progress, I will also promote you to Rear Admiral in advance."
For a demigod, promotion to Rear Admiral is only a matter of time. However, Hobert was not cultivated by the royal family, so he must go through the procedures and work in MI9 for a year or so before being promoted to Rear Admiral.
The hurdle of being promoted to General was once a concern for Christian, but Hobert was not very enthusiastic about this military rank.
The Queen also saw this, and she reacted quickly: "At the same time, I will make you the most prominent member of the Kingdom of Loen."
Alice, who had been listening, suddenly bowed slightly. She understood the Queen's meaning. This meant that the Queen was already considering marrying a princess to Hobert.
The most prominent member of the kingdom is of course a member of the royal family!
If he marries a princess, Hobert will also become a member of the royal family.
Hobert did not understand the Queen. He thought the Queen meant to support him in entering the Upper House.
He knew that if he didn't agree now, he would be too disrespectful to the Queen.
Sometimes, dealing with superiors is so helpless.
Their gifts may not be what you want, but if you don't take them or show any disgust, you will definitely offend them.
"Of course, I will take the task assigned by the Queen to heart," Hobert said, incidentally stating his needs, "If there are any bad rumors about my fief, Long Tail Island, in the future, please don't believe them."
In the future, he will still focus his main energy on the territory, and many of the manor owners on Long Tail Island are operating for nobles, and some have business dealings with the wealthy in Backlund.
When Hobert cleans them up, it may cause condemnation in Backlund.
If the Queen can back him up, those nobles and wealthy people will definitely not dare to say a word.
The Queen readily agreed, "No problem."
For her, that was just an island on the Chaotic Sea that didn't even have a gold mine.
Rumors from that kind of place would not have much impact in Backlund.
Although Hobert had accepted the Queen's mission, he did not intend to investigate it too seriously.
Especially when encountering danger, he would definitely quit.
However, the necessary attitude was still there. Hobert immediately inquired about the specific situation of Duke Bowen and the investigation results of the previous people.
The Queen promised to send Hobert the relevant detailed information tomorrow.
Soon, they returned to King's Avenue and entered Backlund.
Hobert breathed a slight sigh of relief. As long as he sent the mother and daughter back to the palace, his mission today would be basically completed.
Just as he was thinking this, Hobert suddenly sensed danger again.
He suddenly stood up and pulled Alice from her seat.
Clang ~
Almost at the same time, the car window shattered, and two crystal-like short arrows broke through the glass and shot in, hitting the position where Alice had just been sitting, smashing a large hole in the carriage!
A horse's wail came from the front. The remaining force of the two short arrows actually killed a horse!
Chad in the convoy immediately said, "Protect the Queen and Princess!"
The guards surrounded the Queen's carriage in a well-trained manner, and several Beyonders immediately jumped onto the surrounding rooftops to find the assassin who broke the glass.
Hobert once again injected his spirituality into the button provided by the royal family, but he immediately realized that his spirituality seemed to be trapped in a quagmire, and he did not receive any feedback of power at all.
Hobert glanced at the button out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know when, but the surface of the button was already covered with a layer of frost.
Obviously, the other party knew about the Sealed Artifact in Hobert's hand and had made corresponding preparations in advance.
Hobert released the seal on his gloves: "Invisibility is prohibited here!"
Suddenly, Hobert felt that there seemed to be someone coming from the bottom of the carriage. He immediately grabbed Alice's collar, lifted her up, and placed her behind him.
Almost at the moment Alice's feet left the ground, an ice spear-like weapon pierced through the carpet and went straight for Alice.
Hobert kicked it away and stomped down hard, but he didn't hit any target.
Cough cough ~
Alice and the Queen coughed one after another, and they had a slight fever.
Hobert also felt a little uncomfortable in his throat. At the level of a demigod, one would almost never get sick.
The fact that he felt uncomfortable must have been caused by a Beyonder virus.
Since the other party couldn't 'hide' silently, they had to start using other methods to attack.
The two car windows suddenly became deep and dark, and you couldn't see the outside scenery, as if they had turned into a bottomless black hole.
From the left car window glass, thin and tough hairs stretched out, tightly entangling Hobert and Alice, making them unable to move temporarily, but the hair perfectly avoided the Queen.
From the right car window glass, clusters of black flames shot out, flying towards the two people as fast as bullets.
Hobert stared at the flames: "Disorder!"
The black flames perfectly avoided Hobert and Alice, burning off many of the hairs.
Hobert, who had regained some freedom, kicked the right car door away and faced the left car door, which was a little further away: "Banish!"
Under the push of a huge force, the left car door flew away and gradually became illusory, eventually disappearing.
Before everyone could catch their breath, two very illusory hands suddenly stretched out from the wine bottles in the carriage's wine cabinet, grabbed Alice's neck, and tried to drag her into the mirror in the glass bottle.
Hobert grabbed the other party's arm and yanked it outwards.
Although the Beyonders of the "Demoness" pathway have agile skills, they are not known for their strength. She was obviously staggered by Hobert's pull, and seemed to be almost pulled out of the mirror world.
But at the same time, because of this pull, the force that almost broke Alice's neck finally eased.
"Exploit!" Hobert used the rules of Beyonder abilities to prematurely end the opponent's ability to travel through the world in the mirror. Her arms visibly became much more solid, and a head of beautiful hair emerged from the bottle.
Before she could see the opponent's face, the bottle shattered with a crash. Hobert, who was clutching the opponent's arm, was left with only a handful of broken glass.
At this moment, a phantom image was reflected on the window on one side of the street. Before she could see the appearance of the phantom image clearly, it disappeared again, jumping to the glass further away.
It wasn't that the opponent was driven away by Hobert, but that her purpose was assassination. After the surprise attack failed, she chose to retreat immediately.
Hobert, still on guard, realized that the opponent should be a Sequence 4, "Demoness of Despair."
Hobert thought to herself, 'Who are you looking down on? I am an "Earl of the Fallen." You sent a "Demoness of Despair" to assassinate me?'
It's not that the other party was careless, it's just that there was a certain deviation in their information. Currently, only Georgina and a few others in the royal family clearly know that Hobert is a Sequence 4, and others are not yet aware of this.
Being able to sit in the Queen's carriage and protect her at close range immediately exposed the information that Hobert had already advanced to a demigod. But the problem is that they don't have any information about Hobert's battle with other demigods, and they know nothing about Hobert's fighting style.
In addition, they were certain that Hobert had not performed any protection missions before, and believed that Hobert lacked relevant experience, so in the end, they still only dispatched a Sequence 4.
The reason why Hobert has such speculation is because the other party has already carried out two assassinations in a row. This is no longer a warning, but a real assassination!
Regarding this point, even Alice didn't seem to have thought of it. She was a little scared after she was safe: "Did he really want to kill me?"
The Queen also snorted coldly: "That's too much!"
Assassinating a princess in front of the Queen is indeed too much.
The Queen said to Chad outside: "Change the car! Return to the palace as quickly as possible!"
The three of them got into a carriage used by the guards, bypassed the already somewhat dilapidated carriage, and quickly returned to the palace.
When getting out of the carriage, the Queen specifically instructed Hobert behind her: "Come with us."
If there hadn't been this instruction, Hobert would have really planned to find a lounge to hide in. Anyway, they were back in the palace, so even if he didn't closely follow the Queen and Alice, it wouldn't be considered a dereliction of duty on his part.
But since the Queen had said so, he had no choice but to follow behind the mother and daughter.
Leaving the royal stables, crossing the square with the "Protector" sculptures, they arrived at the main hall of the entire Sodela Palace, the Thales Hall.
Only then did Hobert realize that the Queen was going to find the King.
He sighed in his heart: This is the right person to find! Rather than looking for the elusive Demoness Church, it's better to find the King.
This hall doesn't look very grand, but on the four walls of the building are majestic statues. The stone eyes of those statues seem to be looking at everyone approaching the hall with majestic eyes.
This makes the hall full of mystery, and anyone who comes here, including Hobert, who has already been promoted to a demigod, feels that they must submit to the master of this hall.
For the sake of caution, Hobert covered the "Order Wood" and the "Crystal of Order" with a wall of spirituality.
Although after reaching Sequence 4, Hobert can completely control the aura of the "Nation of Disorder," and even angels cannot detect anything unusual, he doesn't know why today, but he always feels a little uneasy.
Hobert was stopped outside the hall. The Queen and Alice simply tidied up their clothes. Alice pulled her collar down, deliberately exposing the ferocious red strangulation marks on her neck, and then they entered the hall together.
More than ten minutes later, the eunuch Bernie came out and said: "His Majesty invites Hobert Jeffrey in for questioning."
Hobert was stunned and handed his cane to Chad on the side. This move was perfectly normal. After all, it would be a little impolite to meet the King with a cane.
Seeing that he handled it very naturally, Hobert breathed a sigh of relief and followed Bernie in.
First, he passed through a corridor full of exquisite works of art and oil paintings, then passed through a banquet hall, and finally came to a spacious room full of birds and flowers, where the mist in Backlund still hadn't dissipated, but it was full of sunshine.
As soon as he entered the door, Hobert glanced at George III. He was obviously stunned, because he felt that the George III in front of him was different from the previous few times they had met!
He couldn't explain exactly where it was different, but he just felt it was different.
According to the court etiquette he had learned before, Hobert knelt on one knee: "Your Majesty, praise your kindness and majesty."
"Get up." George III was also looking at Hobert, and then asked with a curious tone: "Are you the Hobert who performed well in the battle of Feynapotter?"
Hobert realized that George III was actually asking: Are you a believer of the "Creator"?
"There was a "Protector" present at the time, and my contribution was really insignificant." Hobert got up and glanced at the Queen sitting on the King's side and Alice standing by the Queen's side out of the corner of his eye.
George III didn't pay much attention to Hobert's answer, but asked: "Did you solve the two assassinations that Alice suffered?"
"Yes."
"Was the assassin a Demoness?"
Hobert cautiously replied: "The first assassination used curses, I'm not sure, but the assassin on the way back was indeed a "Demoness"!"
George III was a little angry: "These lunatics dare to assassinate the princess! Not driving them all to extinction is my biggest mistake!"
He looked at Alice, his eyes full of doting: "Don't worry, I will definitely find the murderer for you."
Alice, who was originally very noble, was now crying like a pear blossom, nodding pitifully.
At this time, the Queen said meaningfully: "Your Majesty, I know you are busy with affairs, but no matter how busy you are, you should be cautious when choosing cooperation partners."
Hobert understood that the King had never admitted that he had cooperated with the Demoness Sect.
And the Queen should know some inside information, but not much, otherwise she wouldn't be so advising.
The Queen didn't completely expose it, but just expressed her dissatisfaction in the direction of the King: "Today they dare to assassinate the princess, maybe tomorrow they will assassinate me, and the day after tomorrow they will assassinate the King!
"Such a force must be severely Strike!"
The Queen's direction was correct, she just reminded the King: I know you have a certain degree of cooperation.
Then she pointed the contradiction to the Demoness challenging the King's authority.
Hobert interjected: "Your subordinate takes his leave."
George III nodded lightly, and Bernie winked at a guard, who led Hobert away.
After leaving the hall and taking the cane from Chad, Hobert thought of George III he had just seen again: Could it be that the George III's he had seen before were all fake?
He thought about it carefully, and it wasn't impossible.
Hobert remembered that before the Godhood Ceremony, George III seemed to have exploited certain loopholes to advance from Sequence 5 to Sequence 1 all at once, which made his state very unstable. He should be like those Sanguine Dukes in poor condition, and can only be active in certain areas.
Then, those who occasionally appear in public may be his substitutes?
Because Hobert blocked his memories of Adam, he didn't realize that those who appeared in public may also be phantoms conjured up and manipulated by George III.
About twenty minutes later, the Queen and Alice came out, and Hobert followed them back to the main hall of the Queen's palace.
Just as he was about to take his leave again, the Queen suddenly said to him: "Thanks to you being by Alice's side today. I don't know what your preferences are, so I'll reward you with a few trinkets."
For the Queen, Hobert, who seems to have no desires, is the most difficult person to deal with.
Hobert did not refuse: "Thank you, Queen!"
Alice on the side said: "Mother, let Hobert go back with me and protect me throughout the day, okay?"
The Queen smiled and said: "Do you think I, the Queen, am just a decoration?"
She had sternly warned the King today that if the Demoness Church continued to assassinate Alice, then the King would be equal to despising the political power of Duke Bowen!
Hobert, standing below, thought to himself: That's not necessarily true. You only thought of political games, but not the games of Beyonder powers. Besides, it's a well-known fact that George III is a waste of children. Two princes have died last year alone, directly turning the prince into a "high-risk occupation."
"Of course I believe in Mother." Alice sat on the Queen's side and said: "I actually want to ask Hobert for detailed information about the Demonesses."
The Queen glanced at her daughter and then at the sunny and handsome Hobert: "I know, then let him protect you next."
Hobert was a little helpless. He originally thought that today's mission was not difficult, but it turned out that he seemed to be approaching a dangerous vortex all the time.
So Hobert had no choice but to follow Alice back to her palace.
It was a very exquisite courtyard in Sodela Palace. As soon as Alice entered the door, she said to the chief servant who greeted her: "Prepare an extra lunch."
The chief servant, a capable woman in her thirties, glanced at the stranger Hobert behind her and said: "Yes."
"What I mean is, prepare a lunch of the same standard as mine!" Alice added: "Put Earl Jeffrey's tableware in the dining room."
The chief servant couldn't help but glance at Hobert again: "Yes."
It's no wonder that the chief servant was so surprised. Alice had only entertained the late Prince Edessak in her dining room. Today, she made an exception to entertain this Earl, which shows how special this Earl is, or rather, how important he is in Princess Alice's mind.
join the Church of MissRaven and become a Sequence 9: Reader p atreon.com/KeyofStars for more chapters