The name in the previous chapter was wrong, not (2) or (2), but today it is (2). It is the author 2... But if you want to change it, you need to contact the editor - that, given that the author is a social terror, this, I will contact you slowly...

—————

The Duke of Luxembourg is destined to be unable to receive the Duke of Orleans.

Although there are wizards who can use ravens, ravens, like all birds, can fly at night, but their speed cannot exceed people's common sense. Some wizards and Louis XIV said that in ancient alchemy, there are mirrors that allow people to contact freely - but this kind of mirror is like the fairy tale and legendary mirror. Both sides must be wizards, and one side cannot.

Another method is the kind that Mary showed to the king. The wizard could project what it saw in the crystal ball with the help of the raven's eyes, and mortals could also watch from the side, but this method can be said to be condescending supervision and peeping. Louis XIV is even unwilling to impose it on the ministers he trusted, let alone his younger brother, the extremely loyal Duke of Orleans? What's more, when the Duke of Orleans arrives in Catalonia, the Catalan nobles may not have one or two trustworthy priests around them. Given the subtle connection between the priests and the wizards, if they find that they are watching them continuously, will they think this is a conspiracy?

Prince Theodric also promised that the "Catzi" he handed over to the king could convey some more strong emotional messages. If the duke encounters an attack, the Catzi can at least guarantee to take him away and tell him where they are.

Also, although the Duke of Orleans was cautious enough in politics and battlefields, he might be the only person who would not be stabbed or dizzy by the sun king's light when he was with his brother. He made an appointment with his brother to return to Versailles to witness his nephew's wedding in time before the Assumption of the Virgin - but he did not follow the agreed time, but instead took a day ahead of the day.

This is because the sea boat the duke was about to take arrived in Barcelona two days in advance. According to the captain, they encountered Ottoman Turkish pirates when they were approaching the Gulf of Tunisia. Like the Britons, the Ottoman Turkish navy also used pirates and sailors as the main force or forwards. These merchants were not robbed because they happened to have a new ship and escaped quickly, so they did not go to Malta according to the scheduled route, but returned directly to Barcelona.

Another nephew of the Duke of Orleans was in Naples. After hearing the merchant's words, he immediately asked him to say more about the pirates. In addition, his return was like an arrow, and his scheduled departure date changed from the original August 1st to July 31st.

—————

The duke stuffed the cat into his pocket, and while boarding the three-masted ship with his servants, a black raven spread its wings and swept over the mountains and threw itself into the city of Barcelona.

But it failed to find its master. The wizard had already joined the boat with the duke. The raven shouted twice at the window and walked uneasyly for a few steps. When he was about to fly back to find his master, the window suddenly opened. He stretched out a hand from the darkness and pinched the raven's neck accurately. With the force, the poor bird tilted its head and died.

"Those wizards will find it," said a voice.

"So what if you find it? They have set sail." said the owner of the hand.

—————

The ship that the Duke of Orleans was called the "Escudo", which was simple and straightforward - the Spanish gold coins were called "Escudo", and for a long time it was circulated as a common currency in Europa. It was not until Louis XIV moved the Netherlands' world financial center to Paris that it was gradually replaced by Louis Louis.

The "Escudo" is a considerable three-masted sailboat. The sails are towering into the clouds and are as white as snow. Because it is a new ship, it exudes the scent of moving wood and gum everywhere. The sailors are all skillful, the captain is experienced, and a Frenchman. From any point of view, there is nothing to blame. They respectfully welcome the Duke and his party onto the ship and placed the Duke in the best cabin, which is what people often call the stern room.

This is a large room that can accommodate dozens of people and can also divide the bedroom and the living room. However, although the windows are open and the wind is burned, there seems to be an indelible smell of tobacco, alcohol and oil. This is because the stern room is generally a captain, but during the day, it is used as a restaurant. Even if not everyone is qualified to eat here, there are several batches, and the smell of tobacco, rum and bacon is the easiest to seep into wood.

The Duke was not concerned about this. He slept on the battlefield, woods and swamps, and had seen mud melted by flesh and blood. What is the scent of tobacco? He stared at the decorations on the wall panels with interest. The "Escudo" was not a pirate ship, but there must be weapons such as scimitars and short guns hanging from the wall panels in the captain's room. "Can these weapons be used?" the Duke asked.

The captain glanced at the musket, "Daggers are OK, and knives are OK, but sir, the musket is old-fashioned and cannot be fired immediately. Flints, gunpowder, and projectiles are all in the drawer below." If it were someone else, he would not say that. The reason why only the old-fashioned muskets were hung was to avoid his sailors from having conflicts with him here, and they happened to have sharp weapons that were available.

The Duke nodded: "Although ancient things may not be useful, they look very beautiful."

The captain hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether he should take the ivory-handled short gun and give it to the Duke, but who is this, the richest and most powerful person in France! Everyone except the king, would he bow to him. Will he like this worthless (to the Duke) gadget? Maybe he would be regarded as humiliation, and in a while, the Duke had already walked in.

A wooden door inlaid with iron bars separates the inner and outer areas. The captain's room has always been the most likely place to arouse people's fantasy. In later generations, some old hotels would still call the best room the captain's room, but unlike people imagine, any cabin, especially such sea boats, cannot have too many burdens and decorations. Because together with the storm, anything in the room without fixation will become deadly bullets and knives. Therefore, in this small cabin, there is only a small single bed, a hammock, and a wooden barrel - used for nighttime urging, which is the captain's privilege - ordinary crew members can only walk to the bow of the ship, where there will be a sharp mouth extending out to place the bow image and use it as a public toilet. Some of the decks are blank grilles - ropes are hung on them, and there are often novices who fall into the sea because they are running up to solve personal problems in a daze and fail to catch the ropes.

The captain didn't need to worry about this, someone would come to deal with the dirt in the barrel for him, even if he gave the room to the Duke.

There is also a candlestick fixed to the bulkhead next to the small bed, with a candle fixed on it. The crew members' large cabin is made of kerosene lamps that can be crushed at any time. It is obviously not that safe, but cheap.

The captain also played tricks and pushed open a small box under the bed, and took out flints, tinder, dried rum, dried dates, jerky and so on from it.

"Don't you use matches?" asked the Duke.

"No," said the captain, "that's good, but it's too easy to get wet." In addition to this small box, there are several large boxes, which should be the captain's treasures - such as sugar, gold coins, spices, clothes, accessories, etc., but since the Duke of Orleans lives here, the captain doesn't think he will fall in love with these things, so he still stays in the original room. Now there are a few boxes piled up on these boxes, containing the Duke's clothes, cosmetics and weapons.

There is also a large shiny mirror hanging behind the door, which the Duke would use for dressing up every morning.

"We can return to France in just one day and one night." said the captain: "The wind is right."

The Duke sighed relaxed: "Yes," he turned his head and saw the long-term ailing of the ship: "Well, you can go back to Versailles with me, and I will let my servant arrange a window for you on Queen's Avenue."

The captain was so happy that he bowed repeatedly. He needed this, not just to watch the prince and his bride up close, but because he was able to get a window under the Duke's arrangement, which undoubtedly proved that he had climbed the golden branch and could make a fortune at any time. Next, he made up his mind to make the Duke live a satisfactory journey, so before the Duke went to bed, he could even be presented with a large bucket of hot bath water.

The Duke asked the attendants to open the windows - this was also a privilege that the most noble on board had. The cabins of ordinary crew members were under the deck. In order to avoid water intake, there were no portholes in the cabins, and the inside was black and the air was turbid.

The silver-blue moonlight poured in from the small window, and the sea breeze carried the wet fresh air across the Duke's skin exposed to the water, blowing away the steam. The Duke trembled comfortably. From here, he could even see Barcelona, ​​which was gradually moving away. Barcelona was not like Paris, without the street lights that lit all night. At night, there was only a black shadow, like a sleeping giant beast under the indigo blue sky.

Slight water foam kept pounced into the room, and the water in the bathtub was undulating. The duke inside was like a baby shaking in his mother's arms. He closed his eyes slightly - it was July and August, and it was on the south side of the Mediterranean. The temperature had risen to the point where the bath water could be warm for a long time. He asked the servant to bring him a glass of wine. Without wine, rum would be fine. The captain's wine was opened so he would not drink it. Although the captain was extremely eager and proud to claim that this bottle of rum was the white rum he had collected - the kind that could be ignited.

"I don't know what my brother is doing now." The Duke muttered. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that the candle lit before the bath had been shorter than the length of his thumb, but the attendant had not come back yet, and he whispered twice, and the attendant who should be guarding the door did not respond.

He stood up from the bathtub, walked quietly to the bed with barefoot, and put out the candle with a wet towel. The moonlight in the dark should be brighter, but the fact is exactly the opposite. The Duke bent down, quietly pulled open the small box, poured the rum into the small wooden barrel for urination, and took out the turquoise pistol from his coat he hung beside the bed. This turquoise pistol is similar to the turquoise box and the turquoise box, but is better than flint and matches.

At this time, he looked out the window and saw a thick fog, as if it had fallen into milk.

The Duke stood in the shadow, motionless, and the water in the bathtub emitted the last heat. Perhaps for this reason, a group of tiny black shadows suddenly rushed in from the window failed to find their prey and rushed into the water. They made anxious and sharp screams, colliding with each other, mixed with a large crackling and strange sound. When they were about to fly up from the bathtub, they bumped into a fire head-on!

It was lit rum-fortunately the captain didn't boast too much, it was indeed a high white rum. It might have been purified once, and the Duke could almost confirm it after sniffing it. It burned in the air like a bright curtain, allowing the Duke to see clearly what was coming.

A bunch of tiny moths.

They were a little on fire and some were stained with water, but most of them could shake their wings and drop dusty scales, so dense that the duke, who was a mortal, could see it. The duke was almost shouting, but he subconsciously suppressed it. He waved his wet underwear and rushed towards the door.

The scale powder fell on him, and the pain suddenly appeared on his skin as if it was burned by charcoal. The duke slapped his long underwear behind him and knocked several moths down in succession - although he didn't know what it was, he held up the empty wine bottle with his other hand and knocked hard on the mirror behind the door!

A cold breath gushed out of the broken mirror, rolled towards the moth, mixed with the scale powder, flooding the entire room, almost at the same time as the lens shattered. The door, which could not be opened for some reason, leaned forward - it opened, and the Duke could be said to have fallen out of the room. Suddenly, his eardrums were about to be penetrated - it was countless thin and sharp noises, like moths in a bathtub, but countless times larger. When the Duke lowered his head, he couldn't help vomiting. He tasted the smell of blood, his ears and eyes were sticky. He climbed a few steps on the deck with his hands and feet and ground, and saw his servant.

The young man fell in the middle of a pile of cables, holding the musket with one hand and the dagger with the other. Good man, he was still resolutely resisting at the last moment. Where is his enemy? The Duke did not see it. With the light leaking from the fog - perhaps the kerosene lamp that had not been extinguished, he saw the attendant's face and hands, densely covered with moths.
Chapter completed!