Chapter 1526

Xia De did not look back at what happened behind him, nor could he meet up with Dorothy and Tifa. The King's eunuch attendant hurried over, telling Xia De not to take off the armor on his body first, but to follow him to prepare to meet the King.

Since Xia De won, there was no question about this match. Five minutes later, amidst the applause of everyone standing up, Xia De, wearing armor, walked along the steps to the highest point of the spectator stands.

Wang Hou Diana, Miss Galina, Lei Qianya, and Ajelina were all here, and besides them, there were several Cavendishes whose names Xia De could not recognize. Ajelina looked very excited, Lei Qianya nodded at Xia De reservedly, and Miss Galina took the initiative to speak quite straightforwardly:

"Congratulations, Xia De."

"Thank you."

Xia De said softly, yielding the initiative of the topic to His Majesty the King.

This was one of the few times Xia De had seen Lei Qianya's father outside of the study and banquet hall of Yodel Palace. This man in his forties, who was a head shorter than him but looked very majestic, was dressed very formally, and behind him was a quite thick velvet red cloak decorated with gems.

"Congratulations, Hamilton of Rejiede. You have shown us your knightly spirit and exquisite knightly skills."

He said very kindly, while reporters took this opportunity to find a good position to prepare for photos.

At this time, the King's attendants had brought over the prepared championship rewards. According to the practice of previous years, that was a metal shield with Xia De's name and the Cavendish emblem—this needed to be prepared temporarily, so it would only be given to Xia De at the banquet in the evening—and the trophy symbolizing the "1854 Tobesk City Round-the-City Equestrian Competition Champion."

That trophy was cast in pure silver and gold-plated, and the shape was a knight riding on a horse.

"Hamilton, do you hope for Duchess Galina to present the award to you, or for my daughter Lei Qianya to present the award to you?"

His Majesty the King asked in front of everyone again. Xia De, holding his helmet, had an unchanged expression, but secretly glanced at the two ladies whose names were mentioned. Miss Galina was beside the King; after all, besides the King, her power was the greatest here. And Lei Qianya stood between Wang Hou Diana and Ajelina, with a very formulaic but kind smile on her face.

"Fortunately, we discussed this matter in advance; I was prepared."

Xia De suppressed the small pride in the corner of his heart, and then said very respectfully:

"Since I swore in the name of Her Highness Lei Qianya to carry forward the spirit of chivalry before participating in this competition, then please let Her Highness Lei Qianya present the award to me."

This was actually not something Xia De and the girls discussed, but something Miss Galina and Lei Qianya discussed. This was even related to Lei Qianya not minding a further breakthrough in the relationship between Xia De and Miss Galina.

Without needing to ask if she agreed, Wang Hou Diana pushed her daughter gently.

The Princess, wearing a sky-blue long dress, walked toward Xia De reservedly. Amidst the flickering of magnesium lights, she picked up the shield and trophy symbolizing honor.

Xia De put down his longsword and helmet, knelt on one knee on the red carpet under his feet to show loyalty, and his ears had already heard people talking about the grand banquet tonight.

He looked up at his Princess. Lei Qianya tried hard to endure the fiery passion in her heart:

"Hamilton of Rejiede."

She called out softly. At that moment, Xia De seemed to be able to see the scorching flame ignited in her soul.

After accepting the championship title, Xia De was finally allowed to leave the arena and met Dorothy and Tifa in his own tent. The blonde girl gave him a warm hug, and Tifa greeted the maids to help Xia De take off that set of heavy armor:

"There isn't even a scratch. Just now we all thought that relic's sword would scratch this set of armor,"

The trophy, which Xia De planned to put together with last year's "1853 Big City Player Championship Trophy," was placed on the table by him. Then Little Mia jumped over happily, and after being caught by Xia De, she meowed excitedly.

"She wouldn't know there's a big meal tonight, right?"

Xia De joked, and Tifa, while the maids helped him take off the armor, talked about what happened after Xia De left the tent.

The banquet in the evening would be held in the royal manor next to the Edward III Arena, where the opening ceremony was held last weekend. It was 3:30 in the afternoon; in fact, Xia De had plenty of time to go to Galina Manor to rest first.

But he didn't leave immediately, but told Dorothy and Tifa about 【Faceless Man】. After waiting for a while, sure enough, they soon saw Director Anluosi coming with two Ring Mages, but this time the thirteenth-tier Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the 【Church of Creation】 was not there.

The Director congratulated Xia De on winning the championship, and Xia De returned the dove-shaped pendant and the sword:

"This sword is really easy to use."

He said with a smile, and after pretending to ask if the "spy" who disguised as a knight had been arrested, he watched the three leave.

"Aren't you worried they suspect you are a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi?"

Dorothy asked softly.

"Not worried. I didn't use very excessive power; just now I didn't even dare to use my full strength. Moreover, thanks to that serious illness some time ago."

Xia De said, and the blonde girl showed an expression of realization:

"When Priest Augustus went to your home to visit you, Bishop Owen of the Dawn Church also sent others to your home to express condolences; after all, you can be considered a core believer. Since you would suddenly get sick, you definitely wouldn't be a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi... What a coincidence."

Tifa asked from the side:

"What will happen to 【Faceless Man】 in the end?"

"According to the information I obtained, he won't be caught, but will hide again and fall into confusion until he completes self-devouring."

"Then what is going on with this Angel-tier relic? The mainstream view of the Church and the Academy is that he probably doesn't have a brother at all, but had a disease like personality disorder before becoming a relic, so he fell into a crazy desire to complete himself."

Dorothy said, which was seen from the materials passed from the Academy to the group.

Xia De shook his head, so Tifa let the low-tier and ordinary girls who were not suitable for knowing Angel-tier relic information avoid it first.

"【Faceless Man】 did have a twin brother in the Fifth Era where he lived. But that brother didn't go missing, but was eaten by him."

Xia De recalled the information given by Grace and Helen:

"I don't know exactly what happened, but when the two merged into one, he directly changed from an ordinary man in the Fifth Era into some kind of inhuman faceless monster whose gender was even uncertain. This might be a conspiracy of an Evil God, or it might be some kind of extremely ancient transformation ritual. He completed himself, and then went crazy."

"So, the person he is looking for has always been in his stomach?"

"You can say that. These humanoid relics seem to have their own tragedies."

After tidying up a bit at the camp, the group hurried back to Galina Manor to prepare the evening gowns and long dresses for the banquet.

The grand banquet that night, in Xia De's later recollection, only left behind the gorgeous banquet hall reflecting lights everywhere, the light and pleasant dance music, and dozens of handkerchiefs and private clothing like garters stuffed into his pockets.

At the banquet, he accepted an interview with the "Tobesk Morning News." As the champion of this year's Round-the-City Equestrian Competition, he expressed his thoughts on the knightly spirit of the steam era. And the most sincere part of Xia De's speech was the hope that in future Round-the-City Equestrian Competitions, they could consider adding Rod Cards as one of the events.

And Earl Liu Yisi, who had an accident on the first day of the competition, was later assassinated, and even broke a leg during his recuperation, actually appeared in the banquet hall in a wheelchair. The Follen brothers appeared with the Earl. The preliminary negotiation work had ended, and they were about to head to the Green Lake area. Taking advantage of the Earl being temporarily pushed away by servants, the twin brothers also expressed their congratulations on Xia De's championship and invited Xia De to visit Wyndael when he had the chance. Besides playing Rod Cards again, he could also visit their family's horse racing track—the Follen family was quite rich.

Even though he was injured, Earl Liu Yisi was still trying to approach the beautiful Duchess of the North. But this time, the Outlander, who had sufficient reason to show his high spirits, went up and extended his hand just like at the opera house. This time he didn't wait for the Earl to shake his hand, but quite impolitely took the initiative to grab the Earl's hand.

At that time, Wang Hou Diana and King Larus III were both there, so out of politeness, Earl Liu Yisi had a very reluctant expression, wanting to shake their tightly clasped hands. But he didn't expect Xia De to smile at him, and then suddenly exert force, and then the Earl's scream startled everyone.

Of course, Xia De only almost crushed his hand bones; he still remembered he shouldn't have great strength.

Although Earl Liu Yisi's expression was very ugly at the time, no one reprimanded Xia De for this. After all, he was the champion tonight, and he was maintaining his lover, so enjoying a small privilege was even a very romantic move in such a social occasion.

Of course, the most romantic time that night was when Princess Lei Qianya invited Xia De and his companion Dorothy. After enjoying the dance music of the ball, they went to the lounge together, letting the Knight show them his exquisite riding skills again. Lei Qianya kept her promise. To reward Xia De for his victory, she not only brought the "goods" sent by Miss Sylvia from Wyndael City, but also allowed Xia De to do some very excessive things using the Living Rope Trick...

Because there wasn't enough time, after the banquet ended, they went to Galina Manor together to continue this long-lost Day of the Red Butterfly. Of course, if there hadn't been the astonishing sound like a gas pipeline explosion coming from afar in the middle of the night, disturbing the interest of the three, that would have been even better.