The Thirtyth Ceremony

The next morning - as Essin said before, Ashu Rufate had three days off, but unfortunately this was just theoretically - the court director Scadra sent a messenger to ask Ashu Rufate to meet him.

So later on this day, Asu Rufate came to Scadra. As mentioned earlier, Scadra's first impression was that she was a very conservative and stubborn person, and now Asu Rufate fully confirmed this. Because he found that Scadra dressed the same way every time she stood in his office. She had never changed since the first time she met him.

"Ashrufate," the court chief said this time, without wasting any extra time. "You may have heard that two days later, there was an open religious ceremony." Scardra seemed quite disgusted with the church of the gods of the Star Realm, so he did not even mention the name directly. "According to tradition, our queen must hold a torch and light the sacrificial fire."

"Ah, what do you want me to do? The torch is too heavy?"

"The ordinary torch is very heavy, but this time I tried to get a small torch." Scadra frowned because he noticed the rebelliousness in Ash Rufate's voice, but he tried to ignore this detail. "This is not the key issue, the key is... According to tradition, there are always people around the king. So this time I arranged for you two, you and Essin, to accompany the queen."

"Why me?" Ashu Rufat asked.

"Because you are relatively close," Scadra replied. "Falis is too big to match."

"What should I do at this ceremony?"

"Nothing is necessary," Scadra replied. "Just follow the queen and walk with her for a while. Be careful not to wear armor or helmets, but you have to carry a sword and a shield. By the way, there is a special uniform..."

Scardra's words stopped because at this moment he saw Essin coming out of the room inside the office, holding a stack of things in his hand. It was a small package made of clothes, weapons and shields mixed together.

"Okay, Daddy Scadra, I've got the things done." Essin greeted Scadra politely. He spoke politely, but he didn't feel the feeling of his subordinates towards his superiors at all.

"Ah, Ashurufat, you are here too." Essim greeted Ashurufat enthusiastically, as if he had completely forgotten the unpleasant meeting with Ashurufat yesterday. "I have also sorted out your stuff for you."

After saying this, he left with his own things. Scardra kept watching Essin leave until his figure completely disappeared, and then turned his gaze again to Ashrufate.

"Go and see what equipment you need." Scadra said.

Asu Rufate turned into the next room as he said. As mentioned earlier, this room actually had various items in the utility room, which could be used as a locker room temporarily. Essin did not lie. The whole set of outfits that Essin needed to use, including uniforms, swords, shields, cloaks, boots, etc., were tied into a small and neat package and placed on the shield. The other pieces were worn by Essin twice, but the only uniform was brand new. Essin did not untie the bag, but measured the width of the uniform with his eyes. Based on this, he could see that the clothes were quite fit. Scardra must have found a good tailor to make this dress.

"No problem." Ashu Rufate walked out of the room and said to Scadra.

"In the early morning of two days later, I will report to the temple in the city. I will wait for you there." Scadra said. "I will take the things for you... This is just a routine ceremony every year... it is just a very simple job, and it should be fine." His last sentence was not so much for Asu Ruffat, but for himself.

Not to mention Eshu Rufate, after Essing went out, someone came up to meet him. It was the stranger who appeared and chatted with Esshu Rufate yesterday after the negotiations with Esshu Rufate collapsed yesterday.

"Hey, Essin." The stranger greeted him. He was wearing the costumes of internal officials of the palace, which showed that he was also a person working here.

"Ah, Cleo." Essin also responded. Both sides clearly knew each other well and had no sense of alienation.

"How is the matter going?" The man named Cleo approached Essin, walked shoulder to shoulder with him, and asked in a very light voice.

"I believe it's successful," Essin replied. "But to be honest, is it necessary to do this? Our Dad Scadra is also a good person, if you do this..."

"He is a good man, we all know. But he has formed obstacles for the Duke," Cleo said. "You should think about it. If you say that our Lord Scadra is quite old, and it is the time to retire and return home to enjoy a peaceful life. Don't worry, I will definitely convince the Duke to arrange a retirement position for him and a suitable pension..."

"I can only think so. As for Ashu Rufate..."

"Of course, just let him leave." Cleo smiled.

"You didn't get those medicines yesterday..."

"Oh, to be honest, although I am not a good person either," Cleo said. "But it is always a better choice to solve problems without bleeding. After all, people cannot be resurrected." He said in a half-true tone.

...

"You said... Byron was going to attack Scardra?" Rafa looked at his subordinates who were bringing new news in front of him with interest.

"Well, General, I only found out about this news through various channels. I guess it was the last imperial meeting that made him further more vigilant against Lord Scaldra, so he wanted to get the other party off the stage by playing with conspiracies."

"Getting Chief Scadra off the stage... this is not an easy thing." Rafa replied in a tone of self-torture. "Yeah, unless there is a very perfect excuse, it will be difficult." He thought. "I hope he can use some violent means, because in this way, those neutrals will probably get closer to me. However, Byron is not a stupid person, he will not do such a thing. But it is not an easy thing to make up a perfect excuse... What do you continue to say, what will Byron plan to do?"

"I'm sorry, General, the secrets over there are very well kept. People only know that Byron is going to take action against Scardra, but the specific methods are only in the hands of a limited number of people."

"Well, no matter what, it's a great achievement to find out about this news." Rafa replied. "I heard that you are having a headache for your daughter's dowry?"

"Ah...General, this..."

"Well, she's a cute girl..." Rafa picked up a red purse from the table next to her. The bag itself was small, and even if it was filled with gold coins, it was not of great value. The key was that a huge diamond was connected to the mouth of the purse. "This bag of money should be regarded as a gift I gave her."

Seeing the spy he arranged to leave happily, Rafa couldn't help but smile proudly. Money is such a good thing. No matter from which perspective, it was a mistake for Byron to give up his control of this year's budget. At least this year, he can take the initiative to attack, while Byron can only defend passively.

Today's news is actually not particularly important to him, but it has great significance. Because everyone knows that political struggle is a struggle of intelligence in a sense. One more qualified spy in his hand is equivalent to one more chance of victory. As for Scadra... he certainly won't waste time saving that rigid old man. In fact, if Scadra makes a big mistake and is driven out of the court, then he will be happy to see it.

The only question is who the person is. No... Byron will never do such a thing, he will make this position vacant... But since Byron gave up his financial power this year, then...

It's strange that for the first time I felt that I couldn't see through this old opponent. What was the Duke of Byron thinking in his mind? Forget it, no matter what he was thinking, at least in this year, he would not be able to cause any storms. Needless to say, public funds, but private money is the same. In order to fight against himself, Byron organized a new army in the south of his powerful south. It is not an easy thing to build a large army. This alone has exhausted the financial resources of Byron and his allies.

The time for vacation always passes quickly. Take a little longer in the city and learn about the general situation nearby. Two days pass in a flash.

Ashurufat came to the temple when it was still dawn. It must be said that although he felt that he had come early enough, Scadra was actually a step earlier and was already waiting for him in the temple.

Asu Rufate had known the entire ritual process and his responsibilities before, but this did not prevent Scadra from explaining him carefully. In fact, the whole thing was a routine, very simple: before the ceremony began, Asu Rufate also needed to bathe and cleanse his body like the queen. Of course, the "purification" ceremony of the guards was far less troublesome, and it didn't take three days. Just rinse it with water and then change into the uniform prepared by Scadra. When the queen finished dressing and appeared, the two guards would follow the queen and follow the ceremony square. The guards did not need to do anything or say anything, just follow the queen. When the queen ignited the sacrificial fire, the entire ceremony was completed.

To be honest, Ashu Rufat felt that Scadra seemed to have an unnatural tension. Such emotions were rare for such an old-fashioned and conservative old man. And because of his age, the old man had participated in this ceremony at least twenty times.
Chapter completed!