Chapter 2:

From the outside, the fog tower is a long vertical shape, but the inside is a wide and straight road. The wizards went deep along the road, passed through a double-opening door, and came to an impossibly wide vaulted hall.
The Throne of the Bone Maharaja stood on a high step deep in the hall. The steps were paved with obsidian. The throne was made of numerous bones. A giant dragon's bones entangled above the throne, and the eye sockets above the skull were burning with eternal flames. .
Burris approached the throne slowly, stopped at a sufficiently polite distance, and bowed to the old man he hadn't seen for a long time.
The man on the throne wore a black cloak like Burris, with a hood covering his face. Seeing Burris, he slowly stood up: "My friend? Is that you?"
"My lord, it's me," Burris replied. "I kept my promise. I'm here."
The Bones Maharaja walked down the steps and slowly took off his hood.
After seeing his face, Esther, who was standing behind Burris, was taken aback. In her imagination, the appearance of the Bone Maharaja was roughly the same as that of the liches: the shriveled skin was clinging to the bones, and there were a lot of precious stones embedded in the bones... But the creatures walking towards them at this time Far beyond her expectation: his head does have the style of a lich, and his eyes also have the kind of flames commonly seen in lich and necromantic knights, but he has a pair of devilish horns more than those things, four To the beast-like fangs, his exposed skin was covered with black scales, the scales with reddish polarized light, which looked like ripples of blood from a distance.
The Bone Maharaja walked straight to Burris, reached out and picked off his hood. What happened next made Esther who was on the sidelines even more surprised: The Bone Maharaja was silent at first, and then stepped back a few steps, covering his mouth with his scaly hands, and the flames in his eyes kept flashing.
"Burris Gelshaw?" said the Bone Maharaja in a low and majestic voice, "No, this can't be you... In my memory, you have charming gray-green eyes and soft flax hair , Dexterous and beautiful hands... but now this... it can't be you! The mage in front of me is plain, without ears, one missing hand, and even no hair!"
Burris coughed awkwardly and pointed to the coffin behind him: "My lord, I am very old, and there is a risk of sudden death at any time, so I temporarily changed my body. My original body is over there."
The Bone Maharaja walked to the side of the coffin and looked at the old man's peaceful face in the crystal window: "But... he doesn't have hair either."
"I'm eighty-four years old, my lord."
So the Maharaja carefully identified it again: "Oh, yes! Take a closer look, this face does have your old look."
Burris bowed again and murmured: "My lord, I kept my promise and found a way to return your freedom. Now I invite you to leave the fog tower and go to my world. Why don't we slowly relive the old days? "
The maharaja nodded: "It makes sense. What is your method?"
Burris looked back at Estie again. Estee was inexplicably cold.
"I looked up a lot of ancient books and finally found this way," Burris said. "My lord, you have to be mentally prepared. This method is a bit indecent. I'm afraid it will make you laugh."
"I try not to laugh, you say."
"I have activated several spells in sequence in advance, and successfully weakened this person's to you... Uh, now... after this..."
"Why hesitating, keep talking."
Burris turned around, grabbed Estie’s wrist with her skinny hand, and pushed her to the Bone Maharaja: "I will offer you the silver blood, the morning glow, and the only descendant of the Knight King Pacia Princess Estelin Passia of the Sargo Empire!"
"What?" Esther exclaimed. When she was a child, she had always believed that "it would be no good for an adult to call your full name suddenly", which turned out to be the same in adulthood!
She subconsciously broke away from the mentor's hand. Burris's new body was crippled and weak, and her strength was simply inferior to her. When she wanted to escape, the Bone Maharaja held her shoulders. Estie didn't dare to look back. She could clearly smell the breath of death on the bone monarch, and her cold, scaly hands made her tremble.
The Bone Maharaja steadied the princess and looked at Burris blankly: "What did you just say?"
"I said, I want to offer to you..."
"No, what do you mean her name? Why is her name so long?"
Burris felt suffocated in his chest... What happened to this meeting? Why is the atmosphere completely different from previously imagined? His spells are all right, and the maharaja's attitude is good, but he has a strange feeling when he progresses...
The mage secretly made a judgment: it must be because of the bone maharaja's temperament. The bone prince in my memory is noble and majestic, and his body is full of fearful power. Ordinary humans are as low as dust in front of him... But when you think about it carefully, the bone prince did not say much at all. Most of the time in the conversation was Burris himself talking non-stop...After the promises were exchanged, the Bone Maharaja had to return to the alien plane. Therefore, Burris believed that he did not understand the character of the Maharaja.
"She's Estelin Passia," Burris explained patiently as much as possible. "You don't need to memorize such long titles and names. I usually call her Esther."
"You said she is a princess?" The maharaja looked at the girl in his hand. "How do I think she is more like a mage? Just now she has been by your side. I thought it was your apprentice or daughter."
"She is indeed my apprentice, and she is also the princess of the Sargo Empire. My lord, you may not know those human kingdoms. The Sargo Empire is the most powerful country in the Confederacy of the Ten Nations. Their royal family claims to inherit the ancient demigods. Bloodline..."
The Skeleton Lord is not interested in history and mythology. He watched Esther carefully: the texture of her robe was better than that of Burris. The jewellery and hair accessories she wore were simple in style but very textured, coupled with long golden wavy hair and sapphire eyes. It is indeed a standard princess image.
"I'm still surprised," said the Bone Maharaja. "In my impression, human aristocrats will never be contaminated with secret magic, let alone study necromantic magic. What is going on now? What is your world? Now? The princess is actually a necromancer?"
Burris sighed: "My lord, let's continue to deal with the matter of restoring your freedom. Shall we talk about these details slowly in the future?"
"No, I want to listen now." The maharaja held his head high.
"Things are prioritized..."
"No way."
"I do it for your benefit..." A layer of sweat floated on Burris' bald head.
"It is not only my interest, but the mutual benefit of the two of us. I want to regain freedom, and you also want my help. So you speak up, I am curious."
"Well," Burris sighed. "That's it. Years ago, the king and queen of Sargo were invited to a settlement country in the southeast. Because of a barbarian ambush, they lost contact with the minister. They evaded all the way. Pursuing and killing, I wanted to return to my own country as soon as possible, but fled into the'Mountain of No Return' by mistake..."
"What is the Mountain of No Return?"
"This is where my mage tower is located. That piece of land does not belong to any country, it belongs to me alone. In short, the hungry king and queen broke into my test field, pulled out my dragon blood flower, and dug mine. Hei Shicao, boiled a pot of something that looked like beet and potato soup... Halfway through the meal, the queen fainted. The king also felt unwell. He took his wife to the mage tower with the last bit of strength, crying bitterly. I rescued her... the queen was already pregnant, and the situation was very dangerous."
The Bones Lord interrupted him: "Let me guess! The crops they eat must be the experimental medicinal materials you planted, right? You are very angry about this, so you cast a cruel curse on the queen's child..."
"I didn't..." Burris looked at Estie helplessly, and the apprentice stared at the ground calmly, seeming to have given up struggling.
The maharaja continued to speculate: "Otherwise, that's the case-you promised to save them, but you have the conditions, and the condition is that they give you the child that is about to be born! So you got Princess Esther! You put her in On top of your tower, she sits at the window and combs her long hair every day, and she often sings..."
"It's a bit close, but it's not like that," Burris said feebly. "I did mention the condition. The condition is that the mountains of No Return will sign an agreement with the Sargo Empire, and my land will be protected. The king agreed. I still have it. Tell him that the queen is in a special situation. Although I can save her, I cannot guarantee the future health of the child in her womb. The child was severely toxic before he was born and may not live to be 14 years old.
"I suggest that they send the children over when they are young, under my supervision and treatment. After confirming that the children are healthy, I will return them to them... but the king disagrees. Then the time passed year by year, and Princess Este's body became more and more serious. The worse. At first the royal family handed her over to the temple, but the people could not save her at all. Her condition was still deteriorating day by day... When she was thirteen, the king thought she might really not live to be fourteen. Now, I quickly sent her to my tower."
There was a very subtle expression on the bone maharajah's face. Because his facial structure was different from that of a human, Burris couldn't tell what the expression meant.
"In this way, you are so kind?" The maharaja exclaimed, "Why do you help the king and queen for no reason? You save the princess?"
"It's not for nothing," Burris glanced at Esther again. He had a foreboding that the following words would make her very uncomfortable. "Helping the king is to sign an agreement with Sargo, and saving the princess is to consolidate the country with them. Relationship. I can’t just want to benefit but refuse to pay, right? Originally Estie was just my patient. Later I found out that she had a talent for casting spells. She also showed great interest in the secrets between life and death. ...In this way, she was a princess in the empire and an apprentice with me. I admire her and she can also help me."
Sure enough, Esther said bitterly: "Teacher, I finally understand. What do you say about admiring my talents... are all fake? You agree with me only because I am useful?"
Burris looked at her with love in his eyes: "No, my princess, you are really talented, I did not lie to you. You are the youngest of my apprentices, but the best qualified . At the same time, you are indeed very'useful', these two reasons are not contradictory. Many things in the world are not either one or the other, but the result of many reasons. You are still young, you will understand when you are old ..."
Esther sneered and shook her head: "You said before that you need an important assistant, so you want me to come here with you. As a result... you just need to sacrifice a princess, and I happen to be a princess..."
Burris was shocked: "Sacrifice? Who wants to sacrifice you? This silly boy...what are you thinking about?"
"Eh? Isn't it..."
"No!" Burris cleared his throat and looked at the Bone Maharaja. "My lord, you interrupted my explanation just now. Now I explain to you again. In addition to the spellcasting I completed in advance, I want to break the curse, Taking you away requires an indispensable step... This step is what I found in an ancient book. It sounds very simple, very classical, and... somewhat funny. The specific method is... Cough, blood is needed The noble princess volunteered to give you a kiss."
The Bones Maharaja was stunned: "Am I a frog?"
"Of course you are not," said Burris, "please think about it. This may seem simple, but it's actually very difficult. Who can find a real princess at random? Who can connect to the door of an alien plane at random? Who can weaken the restraint of the cursed plane? Who can easily bring a living princess to the off-plane guardian? Who can make the princess voluntarily kiss without forcing? I have been preparing for this for a long, long time, to see it like this It's easy to get up."
The maharaja nodded, feeling very reasonable. He looked at the princess in his hand and asked her: "Then, come and kiss me, and I can get rid of the curse on my body."
Estie raised her head, stared at him for a while, and kissed the back of his hand helplessly. After the kiss, of course nothing happened.
Burris reminded: "Of course not with your own hands, you have to kiss, my child! You think it's forgivable that you don't read too many books on art, don't you even read a fairy tale book? The princess' kiss must be kissed to succeed!"
Esther looked disgusted: "Teacher, I have always respected and trusted you, but you didn't tell me anything in advance. You tricked me into here, let me inexplicably kiss a higher undead creature who has no lips... …I am Sargo’s princess anyway! My father has no other children, so I am not only the only princess, but also the future first heir to the throne! Do you treat the future queen like this? The princess or the queen can kiss whoever they kiss Who?"
Burris reminded her: "Your uncle has two sons and a daughter, he might do something to you in the future..."
"Didn't we say that, if one day you will help me..."
The necromancer said: "So, my child, in order for us to continue our cooperation and harmony in the future, you have to give something now, right? It just needs a kiss, not for your throne or chastity. Do you know who the adult in front of you is? The Bone Lord was born in God’s Domain and appeared in the Black Lake in front of the Hall of the Dead...Do you know how many spellcasters have tried to find him? Now he is willing to condescend to be our ally, and you are not even willing to give a kiss Is it? My child, you have also promised before the of Austrian law that you wish to respect magic as the only truth, and take the worldly interests second... We can even sacrifice our own souls when necessary, but now you are stingy kiss?"
I heard this for a long time... the princess listened indifferently and sighed: "Okay. I can kiss him. But... I have never kissed any man in my life, I don't know how. It’s the right thing to do. Tutor, you kiss the Maharaja first and give me a demonstration."
"What?" Burris shook his hand holding the staff.
"You kiss the Maharaja Skeleton once, as long as you do, I can do it."