Horned Heron Eric, the leader of the Eric family, the governor of Feiyuan Province, the sixth sequence "Grand Mage", and the chief spiritual master of the Kingdom of Doguland.

The very special-sounding name "Horned Heron" is actually not his real name, or in other words, it was not the name given to him by his parents.

The lives of other heads of royal families are mostly smooth sailing. They are born with a father who is the head of the family, and they themselves have been trained as candidates for the head of the family since childhood. The only thing they need to be wary of is the brothers and sisters around them.

If you are an only child, that's even better. There will be no obstacles to your future and you can just wait comfortably for the succession.

However, the life experience of the leader of the Eric family, Horned Heron, can be said to be very tragic, but in a sense, it is also inspirational.

The horned heron was born as a freak, with a protruding nose and a pointed mouth, and high brow ridges on both sides of its forehead, just like a heron with two horns.

This kind of child born with a deformed face is often considered a cursed child in the Doguland culture, just like those demented children who can only say "Aba Aba".

Ordinary families are unwilling to accept a cursed child, let alone a royal family that respects blood. Therefore, Horned Heron's parents abandoned him shortly after his birth.

No one knows how the Horned Heron survived after being abandoned. Some say that he was picked up by kind people, some say that the animals in the "Ember Forest" in the provincial capital brought him up, and some say that the Cursed Child has someone.

A different way of growing than ordinary people.

No matter which theory is used, the Horned Heron never appeared in the public eye after being abandoned, and was soon forgotten by the family.

Thirty-six years after Horned Heron was born, in the year 486 of the Fire Moon Calendar, the "Osmanthus War" broke out.

Soul mages and onmyojis, these are the special long-range killing arms of Doguland and the Far Eastern Dynasty. They both have the power to use powerful spells.

However, the power mechanisms of the two are not the same.

Soul mages need to consume soul energy to release spells, and the so-called "soul" is rootless water, similar to human brain cells. Once it is consumed, it cannot be restored by any means.

Therefore, in order to be able to perform spells for a long time, a soul magician will do everything possible to avoid consuming his own soul and instead draw the souls of others as a source of energy. This is how the "soul slaves" of the Eric family were born.

But the Onmyoji of the Far East are different. They can draw magic power from the spells and form seals to release various types of Onmyoji.

Although soul slaves and talismans are both "consumables", after all, one is a person and the other is an object. There is an essential difference. People are limited and objects are infinite.

This gap in power mechanism was not obvious in the early stages of the war. Even the soul masters who used the soul as the source of energy were more lethal. But as soon as the long tug-of-war entered, the number of soul slaves became less and less, and the soul masters and Yin Yang

The gap between teachers has become huge.

In the later stages of the war, because the strength of the spiritual support was getting weaker and weaker, the royal army suffered a big loss in long-range attacks and killings. The Far Eastern troops were so powerful that they once reached the Cardinal Province and came to the royal city.

In the "Battle of Royal City Defense" that determined life and death, the Far Eastern Dynasty was led by a "Four-clawed Golden Dragon" onmyoji, and assisted by eight "Three-clawed Golden Dragon" onmyojis. It took a full month to lay out "Da Xumi" around the royal city.

"Nine Palaces of Mysterious Fire Array", intending to burn the kingdom's capital and the millions of living beings in it to the ground.

Just when the Eric family's spiritual masters were unable to resist, and the royal city was about to be reduced to a sea of ​​fire, Horned Heron, who had been missing for 36 years, appeared on the battlefield. No one knew what happened to him in the first half of his life. He was actually without family guidance.

Next, he single-handedly grew into the "Grand Mage" of the sixth sequence.

At that time, there were no soul slaves in the royal city to draw souls from, so Horned Heron resolutely sacrificed his own soul and cast a shocking spell to break through the Onmyoji's "Great Sumeru Nine Palaces Mysterious Fire Formation" and save the royal city from the sea of ​​fire.

The entire Laurel War also took the "Battle of the Royal City" as the turning point, and Doguland launched a comprehensive counterattack.

The royal family's scorching sun, the Regnom family's dragon roar, the Trojan family's courageous lead, and the Dagon family's sea raid. Although the royal army finally stopped in the eastern part of the current Beacon Province, unable to advance further east, the vast territory of thousands of miles was out of control.

It has completely become a paradise for desert horse bandits, but compared with the disaster of annihilation, this is already a great victory.

When the reward was given after the war, because the previous head of the Eric family had died in the "Laurel War", and because of his unrivaled feat in defeating the Great Sumeru Nine Palaces Mysterious Fire Formation, Horned Heron naturally became the head of the family, and became the leader of the Eric family.

The base camp of "Feiyuan Province" took over the position of governor.

Cursed as a deformed baby, abandoned at an early age, growing up against the will of heaven, becoming a savior in times of crisis, and being crowned leader. This is the legendary life of Horned Heron.

Of course, what exactly did he go through in the 36 years between when Horned Heron was abandoned and when he returned to the royal city, that is, during the period of "growing up against the will of heaven"? No one knows, and he has never mentioned it to anyone.

Horned Heron was born in the 450th year of the Fire Moon Calendar. He is already 63 years old this year, which is not too old for a nobleman. However, he used his own soul to cast a spell in the "Battle of the Royal City". This irreversible consumption has left a lasting impact on his body.

It caused huge damage and made him look older than his peers.

After the chief judge asked for his opinion, Horned Heron stood up tremblingly on crutches. He was just like the legend, with a protruding nose and a tip of his mouth, high bulges on both sides of his forehead, like a head with two horns, and sunken eye sockets that swelled and dropped.

The bags under his eyes were like two vesicles, and the wrinkles on his skin were deeper than the scratches carved by a knife, as if they could hold a handful of loess.

Horned Heron walked to Kino's trial seat on crutches, looked around at everyone, and spoke in an old-fashioned way, even the way he spoke was very retro: "I heard that this young man is very good at hunting aliens, and is especially good at counterattacks.

Using the tools of the blasphemer. The weapon called the 'gun' previously developed by Star Castle was based on the trophies he handed over. Is this true, Lord Lan Xian?"

Lan Xian on the stage nodded without comment.

"I'm not going to comment on this young man himself, I'm just saying a few words." Horned Heron tapped the ground with his crutch, and his cloudy eyes seemed to have a sudden sharpness, "The aliens from the outer world are blasphemers, and the weapons they use are also blasphemous."

It’s blasphemous. If you accept their weapons for research, don’t you think that this act itself is blasphemous?”

Before the others could speak, Andre had already stood up. He first saluted the Horned Heron as a junior, and then said righteously: "Master Horned Heron, I don't agree with your words. It's blasphemous.

What is the crime of the weapon itself? It’s like a criminal killing someone with a knife. In your opinion, is it the criminal or the knife in his hand that is guilty?”

Horned Heron asked slowly: "So, what do you think, His Highness the Prince?"

Andre looked around at everyone, his voice full of anger: "In my opinion, whether it is weapons or technology, these things are innocent in themselves. So what if they come from outside the world? As long as there is a place for us to learn, we should

We should remain humble and enterprising, analyze and utilize them, and should not one-sidedly interpret them as 'blasphemous things'."

"Hahaha, Your Majesty the King, Your Highness the Prince has such an innovative and enterprising spirit, it really makes us happy." After laughing, the Horned Heron's face suddenly turned gloomy, and his voice was stern, "But these remarks are really superficial and childish.

My humble opinion!”

Being scolded on such an occasion, Andre's face looked a little ugly. Before he could refute, the grumpy Burton slammed the table angrily and stood up: "How dare you scold my second brother?!"

"Bolton." Perseus interrupted with a cold face, "Sit down."

In front of his father, even though Bolton was indignant, he managed to control his temper and sat down angrily, but his expression was not to mention ugly.

Andre calmed down and said in a deep voice: "Lord Horned Heron, I don't understand why you accuse me. In my opinion, if we can use the technology of aliens to transform people's livelihood and strengthen our army,

, Doguland’s national power will flourish, is there anything bad about this?”

Horned Heron raised his head and looked at Andre with the eyes of a junior: "The situation you mentioned has two premises. First, the technology of the aliens is better than our "runes" and "alchemy"

.Second, we can completely master the technology of aliens."

"About the first point, "Rune Carving" is based on the soul technique, and our soul technique comes from a ray of soul of the "Sun King", and "Alchemy" is one of the nine gods, the "Primordial Sage"

The crystallization of wisdom.”

"You leave these two technologies unused, but you turn your hands to study the technology of aliens. Do you mean that the wisdom of the blasphemers is superior to our gods?"

These words frightened Andre very much. If he admitted such a thing, it would be complete blasphemy, and he would be scolded to death both inside and outside the kingdom.

Although everyone knows that in the "War of Eclipse" 2700 years ago, aliens killed the Sun King, and the blasphemers were stronger than the gods.

But human nature is like this. Just because everyone knows it, doesn’t mean it can be said publicly.

You may think that blasphemers are above gods, and even most people have this understanding, but you can only acquiesce in your heart, saying it is treason and a heinous crime.

Why? No reason, social rules are just like this.

Before Andre could formulate his words, Horned Heron continued to expand his point of view: "As for the second point, can we completely master the technology of the aliens? What if we try our best? I was invited to the Star Castle not long ago.

, I have come into contact with weapons from aliens, their driving force is completely different from our core technology, it is an unfamiliar system."

"We scholars have studied runes and alchemy for hundreds of thousands of years, generation after generation, and still have not fully mastered their mysteries. Now we have to reduce the scholars' attention and dedicate their efforts to study a completely unfamiliar technical system. In this way

Whether it is to enhance national strength or to bring disaster, please consider it carefully, Your Highness the Prince."

Kino stared at the old and vicissitudes of the great mage, with a coldness in his eyes.

This person's words are full of sophistry, and he seems to be full of disdain for the technology of reincarnation, but underneath the disdain is fear.

In the Kingdom of Doguland, alchemy and runes complement each other and are inseparable. The former requires the latter, and the latter achieves the former.

For example, if the alchemist re-engraved the rune barrett, without the soul master injecting energy and carving runes on it, the gun would not be usable anyway.

If alchemy can be compared to the "technology" of the previous life, then the runes carved by soul magic are "energy".

Without oil, tanks are just scrap metal.

Without energy, technology has no value.

Similarly, without soul skills, no matter how powerful alchemy is, it will be futile.

This also means that no matter how the kingdom's structure develops, as long as alchemy remains the mainstream technology in Doguland, the Eric family's soul skills will never be replaced. They will have absolute say and be able to do whatever they want.

But once extraterrestrial technology is widely accepted, Doguland's technical system may undergo earth-shaking changes, just like machinery to manpower and electricity to steam.

By then, it's really hard to say whether the Eric family will still have the status it has now.

Horned Heron seems to be attacking the "blasphemy" and "strangeness" of reincarnation technology, but in fact it is trying its best to exclude foreigners and ensure the monopoly of soul technology in terms of technological driving force.

As a rejecter, Kino has no chance of giving up reincarnation technology. It is only a matter of time before they are accepted by the kingdom.

Therefore, there is no need to look at this Horned Heron, including the Eric family behind him. No matter what their attitude is towards this trial, even if they try their best to protect him and speak for him, these are still enemies.

Moreover, they are mortal enemies with fundamental conflicts of interest and almost impossible to reconcile.

As for the other person

Kino's eyes moved sideways, looking at Andre who was arguing hard.

Whether he is in the dark dungeon or in the current general meeting of the kingdom, this man speaks uprightly and is fair in every word. He is like a man of decency carved from a template, fully fitting the name of "a kind prince".

But is this person really who he appears?

Is he really kind-hearted and full of righteousness for the country and the people?
To be continued...