The small statue is indeed a variable that cannot be ignored, but this variable is obviously not under the control of Lin Ze.
"Is there any reaction from the public?" Lin Ze thought for a while and asked.
"Are you asking about public opinion?" Saira thought for a while.
"I've heard it several times while walking around the city in the past two days. Some people are spreading rumors about the Witch King, and some are asking about the origin of 'Merlin'."
"Actually, the people's support for Constantine's rule is more of a kind of inertia. After all, he has been the king for so many years, and everyone is used to it. It's neither like it nor hate it."
On the day of preparations for the Spring Festival, it was foggy in the capital.
Lin Ze stood at the door of the small courtyard, looking at the thin layer of white air floating on the stone road.
Sirius Today I wore a coarse cloth shirt that I found at a garage sale, and my hair was tied back casually with a strip of cloth.
Arthur stood next to him, wearing a dusty uniform that he found out somewhere, and the collar was frayed.
"Your outfit..." Lin Ze looked him up and down.
"It should be pretty decent, right?" Arthur tugged at the collar and shrank awkwardly.
"It's okay. Just don't stare at others all the time. Without that handyman, he would stare at others all the time. Remember to dodge your eyes."
The sun was halfway up in the morning and was blocked by gray clouds. People were coming and going in the square in front of the palace.
The handymen pushed carts to deliver food to the side door, and the craftsmen carried tool boxes to repair the leaky roof of the side hall. The carriages occupied by several veterans were parked outside the palace gate, and the coachmen gathered together to chat.
Arthur mingled among the handymen and followed the convoy carrying vegetables into the palace through the side door of the dining room.
What no one noticed was that there was a big black dog that entered with the convoy.
Lin Ze went around to the east side of the palace, near the temple, where there was a semi-abandoned narrow alley with a low wall at the end.
He cast Disillusionment Charm on himself, climbed over the wall and landed on the grass inside the wall.
Not far away was the backyard of the temple. The old man was pulling weeds in the vegetable field, his back turned to him, completely unaware.
Lin Ze Without alerting him, he walked dozens of steps south along the outer wall of the temple and turned into a stone passage.
The end of the corridor leads to the inner court of the palace. The stone walls on both sides are covered with moss, and the ground is not exposed to light all year round, making it very slippery to step on.
He removed "Disillusionment Charm", tapped it lightly on himself, and turned into an old priest in gray robes, holding a box covered with black cloth in his hand.
In the corridor of the front hall, several groups of soldiers patrolled back and forth. Lin Ze walked towards him. The soldiers just glanced at him and saw that he was dressed as a priest, so he didn't ask any questions.
The altar for the Spring Festival is being set up in the front hall. Several servants are moving bronze utensils. The table is covered with dark red velvet and the candles are as thick as an arm. Lin Ze walks around the altar and walks along the side corridor.
I met Arthur on the road. He was squatting in the yard behind the kitchen helping a fat cook chop wood.
Lin Ze walked past him without stopping his eyes, but paused in his steps.
Arthur looked up at him and found nothing unusual, so he lowered his head and continued chopping wood.
Lin Ze continued walking inside and was stopped when he reached the long corridor leading to the apse.
A short, fat man in a dark red robe stood at the entrance of the corridor, followed by four soldiers.
It was the fat man who directed the whipping in the square that day.
"Stop." The fat man looked Lin Ze up and down.
"Who?"
"The priests of the temple, by order of the high priest, present treasures to His Majesty the King."
"What treasure to offer?"
"The high priest said that the Spring Festival is coming soon, and this thing needs to be presented to His Majesty. The high priest got it from the overseas divine island not long ago."
The fat man glanced at the box covered with black cloth in Lin Ze's hand and hesitated.
"Open it and take a look."
"This thing cannot be passed on to others. The high priest said that it can only be revealed by your majesty."
The fat man narrowed his eyes and stared at Lin Ze for a long time.
Lin Ze's expression remained unchanged, and his hand holding the box was very steady.
"Wait." The fat man dropped these words, turned around and walked towards the inner hall.
Lin Ze stood on the spot and glanced outside through the gap between the pillars.
From the windows of the palace in the distance, you can vaguely see veterans gathering in twos and threes. Boqin is standing in the corner, talking in a low voice with a gray-haired old man.
Not long after, the fat man came back.
"Your Majesty lets you in."
The inner hall is smaller than the front hall, but the furnishings are more exquisite.
The floor was covered with thick dark-grained carpets, brocade tapestries hung on the walls, and several pots of pruned dwarf pine were placed on the windowsill.
Constantine is sitting on the high-backed chair in the middle.
It's older than Lin Ze thought.
His hair is almost completely white, his cheeks are sunken, the skin on the back of his hands is like crumpled paper, and his joints are extremely protruding.
But he sat very straight, his back was still straight, and he still had some of the toughness he had honed from years of leading troops in battles.
Standing next to him are two young men, in their early twenties, one is fat and the other is thin, wearing elegant velvet robes, with gem-encrusted daggers hanging on their waists, and their eyebrows can be seen to be somewhat similar to Constantine.
It should be two princes.
"The high priest asked you to come?" Constantine's voice was hoarse, as if there was a lump of phlegm stuck in his throat.
"Yes." Lin Ze held the box in front of him.
"What's in the box?"
"A sword," Lin Ze paused, "This sword is called "Sword in the Stone". It is said that the person who can pull this sword out of the stone will become the king of the entire Britain."
Constantine tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest.
"A sword can be in a small box? Open it and take a look."
Lin Ze lifted up the black cloth.
He placed the box on the ground, and as Lin Ze left, the black box turned into a huge stone in front of everyone, with a silver sword Winky stuck on it.
The sword body has been treated with the magic power of Lin Ze, and its silver-white luster flows under the candlelight. The sword grid is narrow and sharp, with a shallow blood groove. The hilt is wrapped with a dark leather rope, and a line of simple text is engraved on the sword body.
The hall was quiet for two seconds.
"There is indeed something magical about it."
"Whoever pulls out this sword will be the king of Britain." Constantine read out the words slowly, with no emotion in his voice.
He raised his chin and motioned to the attendants around him to give it a try.
The attendant walked up to "Sword in the Stone" and could see that he was very nervous. He held the hilt of the sword with both hands at the same time and lifted it up with force.
The blade of the sword was firmly stuck in the crevices of the stone and remained motionless.
His face turned red and the veins on his forehead bulged, as if he had used all his strength.
The sword still doesn't move.
The inner hall was so quiet that you could hear the occasional crackling sound when the candle burned.
Constantine waved his hand again, ordered several other soldiers to come forward and try it, and said, "Don't worry, it's just a sword. If someone really pulls it out, I will reward the five of Mei Ji with five hundred silver."
The attendant who had not drawn his sword before breathed a long sigh of relief, stepped away from "Sword in the Stone", and was replaced by another soldier with a nervous look on his face.