"Don’t change the subject. Did you really do nothing?" Suzanna could not look into Anfey’s eyes, but she still could keep a serious tone.
"At that time, Ahab’s people were ready to attack us. I did not have time to think about anything else. You know what, even if I had done something with her, I would not have to deny it." Anfey gave her a spicy smile. "Why are you in interested in me and her? Suzanna, are you…? Hahaha."
"You wish." Suzanna rolled her eyes at Anfey. "It was not just me. Everyone is interested in you and her. We have talked about it behind your back many times." Suzanna seemed to answer with a sense of justice, but for some reason, she suddenly felt relaxed.
"Don’t you guys have anything better to do?" Anfey felt helpless, since he thought he really had done nothing inappropriate with the girls. Back in his world, he had sex with women, but never had any serious relationships. In this magic world, he never had sex with any woman. He thought to himself, "How could people gossip about me when I am already so strict with myself? Is it because gold will shine no matter where it is."
Suzanna suddenly had a smile on her face. "Oh, right, what are you looking for me for?"
"What do you know about griffins?" Anfey asked.
"Griffins? Why are you suddenly asking about griffins?" Suzanna asked.
"Black Eleven will ask me a difficult question soon. I have to get more information about what kind of magic beasts the griffins are, so I can decide whether I can help him," Anfey answered.
Suzanna thought for a while and said, "Griffins are vicious intermediate magic beasts. They live in groups. They can fly freely in the sky for a long time. They rarely fight among their own species. The male griffins are very protective of female griffins, and not just if they are a couple. Strong loyalty and pride have made griffins better companions than war horses and other flying mounts. Griffins are born for battle. They are very brave."
"Flying a long time in the sky? I think I know what kind of army it is." Anfey nodded. "Continue."
"Compared with war horses, griffins are not easily startled by wild rabbits, birds and shadows. They would not hunt rabbit, wild deer or other horses when they are hungry. They would not eat their riders out of anger, even when their riders beat them. Griffins are brave but vicious. They are loyal but stubborn." Suzanna slowly said, "You can ignore a griffin, but the fighting ability of a group of griffins is tremendous. Even a senior magic beast would have to flee in front of a group of griffins."
"Do you know about the Griffin Aerial Unit in Shansa Empire? How is their fighting ability?" Anfey asked.
"You do not even know about Griffin Aerial Unit?" Suzanna looked at Anfey in surprise. "It was a well-known military on Pan Continent. The comprehensive fighting power of Griffin Aerial Unit was just below the Dark Moon Magic Legion in Ellisen Empire. However, they have incomparable advantages over Dark Moon Magic Legion. They are very flexible. Griffin Aerial Unit was composed of about a thousand griffins and four hundred Silver Knights. It would only take a day for them to show up and attack their opponents in surprise from a thousand miles away. Even if the powerful Dark Moon Legion were attacked in surprise by Griffin Aerial Unit, they could end up with many casualties."
"What do you think if we attack Griffin Aerial Unit?" Anfey asked.
"Are you crazy? We would be so dead," Suzanna yelled. "Do you know how people describe Griffin Aerial Unit? A never-annihilated military. They could escape dangerous areas at any time. Even top powerful people do not want to have conflicts with Griffin Aerial Unit. Five griffin riders with the cooperation of griffins could easily kill us."
Anfey was frustrated. He thought Black Eleven was ridiculous to ask him to fight with Griffin Aerial Unit. Suzanna usually did not make comments or judgement. Her comments on any matter were usually fair. If Anfey and Suzanna together would be no match for five griffin riders, there was no way Anfey’s legion could fight the whole unit. They would be asking to be killed.
"Anfey, don’t gamble everyone’s life on it," Suzanna said seriously.
"I know," Anfey nodded.
After Suzanna left, Anfey sat on the bed and thought for a quite while. He got up from the bed and walked out of the room to the hallway. Blavi was on watch. Anfey called him over and asked him a few questions. After talking to Blavi, Anfey walked to a room. He hesitated for a while before he pushed the door open and walked in.
The princess of Shansa Empire was sitting on the bed with her feet against the bed footboard. Her knees were bent and her arms crossed and tucked under her legs. She put her upper body against her thighs. She rested her head on her knees while her eyes were fixed on the ceiling. It seemed as if there was something interesting on the ceiling. She looked somber sometimes and confused other times.
She had not cried after learning that Isis had committed suicide. She became unusually quiet. No matter whether they were in transit or in the station, or even after they arrived at White Mountain City, her facial expression was dull and rarely changed.
Anfey coughed quietly and took a seat on the edge of the bed. He smiled and said, "I still do not know your name. Can you tell me your name?"
The princess of Shansa Empire slowed turned her head to Anfey. She glanced at Anfey and then looked up at the ceiling again. It gave Anfey an illusion that he was far less interesting than that light red ceiling.
"Where are you from? Where do you want to go? If you want to leave, I can send my people to take you home." Anfey sounded very gentle. "What happened was history. Don’t worry about it. No one can hurt you anymore."
Anfey waited for a while but still did not get any response from the princess. Anfey frowned. "No matter what is bothering you, you need to eat regularly. You have to learn to take care of yourself."
There was still no response. Anfey smiled as he shook his head. He stood up. He could not spend too much time on this princess. He rather needed to go back to his own room to meditate. A somber and healthy princess would be helpful for his plan, but this was all he could do.
Anfey turned around and walked out. As his hand touched the doorknob, the princess said slowly, "If I say I am a princess, do you believe me?"
"Of course, why not?" Anfey smiled. He calmly turned around and stared at the princess.
The princess was shocked for a second and returned Anfey’s smile. "I’ve been thinking for the past few days."
"If you want to, you can tell me what you’ve been thinking about. Don’t worry. I will keep your secrets." Anfey slowly walked back.
"When I was little, I knew I wanted to help my father and my country." There was a smile on the princess’s face, but coldness showed in her eyes. "I did help. One year, plague broke out in the eastern part of my country. It spread super fast. Many people died and many fled away from their hometowns. The later ones brought the plague to other places. To control it, my father ordered the epidemic area to be cordoned off, but the people inside the epidemic area did not want to stay in that hell. They organized to try to break through the cordon. After a few big confrontations, many soldiers were infected as well. My father coldly ordered first to have them quarantined, and later even sent those infected soldiers into the epidemic area that had been cordoned off.
Things were getting worse and worse, since the soldiers organized those rebels, which posed a tremendous threat to the country. My father found out those rebels were planning something big. He needed someone to totally represent him in the cordon-off epidemic area to comfort those rebels. None of my siblings wanted to go, and many officials went on "sick" leave. Finally, I took that challenge. That year, I lost my best friend. She was also Isis’s sister."
Anfey could not help giving a closer look at the princess. He knew what the plague meant at that time. A girl who dared to enter the cordoned-off epidemic area deserved others’ respect. Anfey knew he would not have wanted to go into the cordoned-off epidemic area himself. "There was another time that the western part of my country had a gang. Maybe it was because the chief and mayor were too vicious and greedy and people lost faith in them. The gang expanded very fast as a result. A few chiefs united to try to convince the gang to dissolve and work for them. When the leader of the gang, named Ahmed, went to negotiate with them, the chiefs attacked Ahmed in surprise. They not only wanted to get rid off the threat posed by the gang, but also wanted to earn their meritorious military service, with the head of Ahmed chopped off. They failed and Ahmed escaped.
After their dirty tricks became known by people, more people felt bad for Ahmed. Ahmed got stronger and stronger. My father was worried that sending troops to suppress him would be very costly. He sent officials to convince Ahmed to work for him, but Ahmed did not trust any government people. He asked to directly speak with the people from the royal family.
My siblings pushed me out again. In fact, Ahmed already had become ambitious by then. He only wanted to have the conversation to buy himself time. I became the lamb jumping into his trap. Do you know I almost got raped by him. Other leaders in the gang did not like Ahmed’s tyranny. They never wanted to be the enemy of the empire. The reason they joined the gang was because that was the only way to survive. With the help of other leaders, I killed Ahmed and successfully convinced the gang to work for my father.
Oh, right. I forget to tell you what happened to those leaders. After they became government officials in the empire, my father sentenced them to death with all kinds of accusations."