Chapter 29: Confession Before the War

  (Second update. The emotional scenes have exhausted me, so I'll only post one update tomorrow. After checking the collection data, I owe two more double updates. I will fulfill my promise!)

  Jian Dun Tavern is open all night, but there are not many people who stay up all night. Even old drunkards have times when they stumble home. Aisutieru and Joanie, these two guys, are probably the rare customers who stayed up all night in recent years! Fortunately, the boss knows them, so he didn't disturb their rest. And that's how this awkward scene happened in the morning.

  How much Astrid remembered, Johnny wasn't clear. All he recalled was saying he'd marry her and then taking her hand... At this point they were still sitting at the bar, apparently having passed out directly. The boss here is really something, not even bothering to clean up. Johnny muttered to himself.

  Coming to, Johnny felt terrible. Sleeping on the desk was a comfortable thing, but sleeping for a whole night was a disaster. On the other side, Astrid was also rubbing her arm non-stop, seemingly having the same trouble as Johnny.

  But this is not the most important thing.

  "What happened last night?" Astrid rubbed her arm, eyeing Johnny warily. "Why did you grab my hand?"

  As the saying goes, wine can make a man bold. Now Joanie is indeed suffering from a splitting headache and has some hangover symptoms, but after all, the intoxication has passed, and if he wants to be as uninhibited as last night, unless someone puts a knife to his throat. So at this time, he can only pretend to be "I don't remember anything" and silently look around in embarrassment.

  Astrid doesn't really remember much about last night, she recalls Johnny telling her a lot of weird things, like how the world is round? How interesting, heaven knows where he heard that from. And what else... the key thing is, how did he manage to grab my hand?

  "Astrid." Johnny thought that such silence wasn't the way to solve problems, "I think, probably I accidentally grabbed it while I was sleeping?"

  Accidentally? Astrid looked at the claw marks on her hand that hadn't faded yet and eyed Johnny suspiciously.

  "How could I possibly have grabbed it so tightly by accident? Johnny also noticed the evidence he left behind and thought to himself, 'Oh no!' But now wasn't the time for regrets: "Oh, uh... Astrid, do you remember what happened?"

  Astrid's fingers pressed against her lips, and she lifted her head to mutter to herself in recollection: "Yesterday you told me a story first, then talked about many strange things, and then...". She closed her mouth, as if trying to recall something that had slipped her mind.

  Joni watched her tensely.

  Astrid gazed into the void, her expression solemn.

  The corner fell into silence once again.

  Finally, Astrid remembered. She stared at Johnny in surprise, her mouth agape. Johnny was made somewhat uneasy by her gaze, his body slightly shrinking back while his eyes conveyed the message "What's wrong?"

  "I remember you saying last night that you were going to marry me?" After a while, Astrid swallowed her saliva and asked Joanie.

  Qiao Ni's face turned red instantly. This psychological age of nearly forty, two generations of men, in the emotional field is still a novice after all. Confession this kind of thing, in the face-to-face non-alcoholic situation, is really a kind of torture.

  "Hey, I'm asking you something. You said you wanted to marry me?" Astrid asked, pushing Johnny and raising her voice as she saw him lower his head with a red face and remain silent.

  At this time, the tavern owner had just gotten out of bed and was about to go downstairs to start the day's business when he suddenly heard from over there Eisatis' daughter say "You said you'd marry me?". He instantly petrified on the spot, then silently walked to the staircase entrance, perked up his ears to listen in on the live broadcast of the youth romance drama unfolding below.

  It's an era of entertainment scarcity, as has been mentioned countless times before.

  Jony felt his face burning even redder, as if it was about to catch fire. He took a deep breath, looked up at Astrid's beautiful eyes, and then let out the air, saying weakly: "Yes, I said it."

  Astrid leaned back in her chair, eyeing Johnny up and down. "You're serious?"

  Jony felt uneasy seeing Astrid's behavior, but since they had already acknowledged it earlier, he might as well put on a thick face and say everything.

  "Yes, I'm serious. From the moment I first saw you, I liked you, I liked your elegant and refreshing appearance, I liked your spirited black ponytail. Later, I liked your cheerful and lively personality, I liked your seriousness, I liked everything about you!"

  For the first time, Joanie made a serious confession, saying that her heart was racing, her little heart beating rapidly, and her face turned bright red.

  Estelle listened and fiddled with her smooth ponytail behind her head. Johnny felt like his nose was going to bleed.

  "Jony." Astrid hesitated for a moment before speaking, "You are a good person."

  Johnny's throat was sweet, a mouthful of fresh blood gushed out. - This is his imagination. At this time, Johnny's face remained unchanged, and his chest surged.

  Is this the legendary good person card?

  "I also like you." Eh? Got a chance?

  "But I've always considered you a good friend." A friend card flew over from afar.

  "You suddenly say this, I think it's strange." The final blow, retracting the move.

  Jony felt a sense of utter despair. His parents were gone, and even Astrid...

  "But I really think you're not bad," Estelle said suddenly, "Hmmm... so when you become a knight, come find my father to propose. Anyway, daughters have to get married off, and I think you're quite acceptable."

  She spread her hands and shrugged, but a flush rose to her face.

  Joni was not very satisfied with this answer, but he was still excited. The two of them settled the bill and left, all the way their faces were red and their hearts were racing, but they didn't say anything.

  In the afternoon, rumors about Lord Aisats' daughter and Lord Odara's attendant had spread throughout half of Tabri City. This became a topic that people would talk about with relish for the next few days. Just as the rumors were getting more and more outlandish, another piece of news brought the entertainment news to an abrupt halt.

  The shadow of war loomed over the city of Tabriz, like a summer cloud, low and oppressive, occasionally flashing lightning and thunder to frighten the people in the dark.

  The nearby lord replied, and news also came from the Solarian Church on the side of Count Raissez.

  The lords all stated that Count Raisis is someone they know well and would never do such a despicable thing. The people of the mercenary group caught by Count Darras may have acted on their own, violating the noble lord's teachings, to commit this heinous crime. And hope that Count Darras will remain rational, not violate his oath from back then, and recklessly launch a military attack on the innocent Count Raisis, making a contribution to the peace of this small place in the southern part of the empire, and jointly dedicating their strength to the eternal prosperity of the empire.

  These hypocritical responses can be summed up in one sentence: This has nothing to do with us, and you shouldn't take the opportunity to send troops.

  As mentioned earlier, the excellent armor of Tabor City is the strongest on this land, which not only guarantees twenty years of peace but also makes the nearby lords extremely wary of Earl Delas. And Earl Delas had also sworn in the name of the Sun God that he would never be the first to use force.

  But this time, Earl Laice has bullied XX to the extreme!

  It doesn't matter, just a mercenary band, there is no evidence that Count Ratzis is targeting your Dalaran lands.

  Is there really no evidence?

  Message from the Solarian Church: Count Ratzel swore in the name of his family and the Sun God that he had nothing to do with the attacks on trade routes and the slaughter of civilians, and that he never gave such orders. As for hiring wolves, it is true, but it was to train his own army.

  At the same time, Earl Raisys expressed his willingness to donate 500 gold coins and 50 hectares of good land, including peasants on the land, as a symbol of his piety to the Sun God.

  The second half of the message perfectly explains why such a clumsy statement would be believed.

  So, there really is no evidence.

  Furthermore, the most important thing is that Earl Raisis angrily stated that he wants Earl Darras to apologize for his wrong accusations and compensate him with 5,000 gold coins for damaging his reputation. Otherwise, "I will wash away the shame on me with iron and blood!"

  What a coincidence, twenty years ago that ransom was exactly this amount. From this we can see the true intention of Count Laissez.

  Unfortunately, the nearby lord was blinded by the false reputation of the wild wolf, and the church was temporarily blinded by the thick piety of Count Laitz.

  "Can't the true god see? Isn't the sun god a just god?" Joni asked Odara in puzzlement upon hearing the news.

  "Child, after the War of the Gods, all surviving and newly born true gods gathered together to make a vow: never again to interfere in any mundane affairs of humanity."

  "What? What's the use of having a god?" Johnny raised his voice involuntarily.

  Odara fell silent for a moment, patted Joni's shoulder: "Man proposes, God disposes, be careful what you say, child, God knows everything."

  The army of Count Rais has set out.