The Amber Sword

The inference from the young sergeant from Janilassou seemed to give you a glimmer of hope that, if they could easily reach Rune, they would have a good chance of leaving Anzlova, according to Brando; did everyone think that, as long as they went out on the boat, the Jogentigans would lose sight of the dust, at least on the surface of the sea - or in the empire's heavens - for those cave monsters from the ground? The discussion quickly became lively, but while everyone else was still thinking about how to get out of poverty, the Countess from Swallow Castle thought about the rest.

She asked, "What route do we take after we leave? To Metz or Cloak Bay? ”

Others silenced for a moment, ending with Euni answering: “I think we should go to Cape Bay, where Metz, under the control of the White Legion, cannot easily enter her sphere of influence until we have confirmed Her Majesty's attitude.” It seems that she has now finally accepted the possibility that the Queen has betrayed the Empire, taking the lead in replacing this speculation in the conversation.

“No, no, no,” Chiara shook her head: “The Cape Bay is the traditional sphere of influence of the Cecil family, controlled by the Temple of Fire, and appears to be the furthest from the control of the Queen, but in fact, now that everyone understands that, then, the Queen's lord is sure to understand that, if, on weekdays, it is naturally the furthest from the highest of the Empires, but now I think it may be the center of the vortex. ”

“That doesn't make any sense...”

“So we go to Metz, but what about the White Legion? ”

“Ignoring the White Legion, in addition to the White Legion in the north, there is also the territory of Ludwig and the Grand Duke of Helix, where the forces of power are mixed and deep-rooted, but where the imperial power is most difficult to intervene, the less likely it is for Her Majesty to release her hand to clear up the intricate relationship between these places at this time, so we go there, but it is safe.” Chiara replied.

Others turned their attention to Brando, who nodded softly, thinking that the noble descendants were not really useless, at least now that the solution they had given was feasible, and he thought, "Go to Metz. ”

Chiara is right, the aristocratic forces of the North are intricate, and the territories of several Grand Dukes are mixed with those of the military nobility. No matter how powerful Her Majesty is, it is impossible to clear them up in a short period of time, which is why the North is the best place to touch the fish. But he had a slight idea that Chiara had not guessed that Brando wanted to wait in the north for the situation to become clearer: as he had said, the Silver Queen had little to do with whoever she was dealing with - except for Sy, whether it was the Temple of Fire or a Duke, who could not stand in opposition to each other for anyone, so he least wanted to be involved in the vortex.

Confronting the dragon queen is a necessity, but in any case now that he knows of Her Majesty's ‘conspiracy’, all he has to do now is try not to go to sensitive areas to stimulate what Her Majesty has asked her to do, and in his view, Metz is fine - both under Her Majesty's control and outside her control, a safe distance for both sides, at least without misjudgment.

In fact, the civil unrest in the Empire was undoubtedly Brando's most desirable, provided, of course, that he was not caught by the flames, he felt that the next best thing to do was to see Her Majesty and the Temple of Fire fight at this safe distance, to defeat each other, and then to find an opportunity to rescue Sy. Of course, it was difficult, but it was good to relax, wasn't it?

And he thought about it, and he said, "There's one more thing, and I don't think you guys want to make it out of Anzlova and get sunk by the Imperial Navy, right, so we have to get in touch with the Imperial side, and we have to assume that we can stay at any port in Metz, and who can do that? ”

“Count… If you're relieved, I might try," Brando's voice just dropped and another stuttering voice replied. Brando looked back and found out that it was the wide-bodied and fat Young Master Avram. In his memory, he never spoke voluntarily on such occasions. He couldn't help but look at this guy with some surprise. “However," Avram was somewhat embarrassed: "It may only be borrowed to commercial ports…”

“Enough.” Brando waves: “Well done, Avram. I didn't expect your family to have a network within the Empire. Grand Duke Karasou is not a myth. ”

His words are not a compliment. Inside the Empire, apart from Fort Swallow, the aristocracy associated with the Empire is already Cape Phoenix in this era, even if it is the Grand Duke of Anlek who for a time is in the Empire, it is only a nobody, not necessarily how many people have heard the Grand Duke's name except those who are well-informed in some areas south of Anzeruta and within the Empire.

And Grand Duke Karasou was able to keep in touch with the Empire this time of year, and even maintain a network that looked pretty good, which is truly remarkable.

Avram was also a little embarrassed by Brando's compliment. He couldn't help but laugh. It was the first time since the mission had left Eruin that he had found a sense of accomplishment in a formal setting, and he was so proud of himself for a moment. Although earlier, he didn't necessarily see a hillbilly from a remote area like Brando, after this series of events, he felt he could be complimented by such a legendary Count, which was a kind of ability.

Brando didn't expect things to go so well, he didn't expect much hope for this combination, but he didn't expect the descendants of these aristocrats in the mission to be capable beyond his imagination - but it should be, too, that they were born into aristocratic families, educated and eyed far higher than the contemporaries of the civilian population, in an environment where, with the exception of a few geniuses, they were not really incapacitated, but merely depraved, yet once motivated, the knowledge and experience they had become an outstanding ability that, when united together, would not be incredible at the moment.

After the discussion, everyone started to act individually - organizing plans, arranging routes, counting food and stockpiles of weapons and ammunition in the mission, and most importantly, of course, appeasing the Kruze nobles, and not showing them how busy they were. Only the three women, Roman, Princess Magdalene and Silver Dragon Misserille, seemed extraordinarily idle. As for the merchant lady's idleness, it seemed as though she was born to find a way to laze. And Lady Silver Dragon looked at the way the human world was behaving, and asked Brando something like, "As a lord, is that how you manage your men on a daily basis?” Such a crying question.

“Isn't that what humans looked like a thousand years ago? ”

“There is a slight difference.” Misserille stared at the members of the Eruin mission in the woods and answered with a crowd of Cruz nobles.

“Miss Misserille, haven't you returned to the human world for a thousand years since then?” Magdall looked back at her with some surprise.

“As adult dragons, we need to interfere as little as possible in the human world. Besides, we are mostly lazy and lazy to leave the valley of dragons. This time, I would not have met them without something special.” Misserille didn't hide it, she answered honestly.

“It turns out...”

The three of them were quiet for a moment, but Princess Magdalene was intelligent inside and naturally understood that Brando had deliberately left her for another purpose. She stopped and asked: "Count, do you want to know something inside the Temple of Fire? ”

Brando looked at the latter with a little surprise and didn't expect her to guess what she was thinking. He nodded slightly after a moment.

“As we said before, as you have heard, Her Majesty behaved in a very unusual manner, and I wonder why the Temple of Fire does not appear to have reacted at all. ”

“Count, you're embarrassing me.” Princess Magdalene heard a slight frown and smiled bitterly.

“What, some secrets involved?” Brando asked, "If that's the case, Her Royal Highness won't have to answer. ”

“That's not true. ”

Princess Magdalene lightly sighed.

……

Temple of Fire Today's slight momentum really began 150 years ago, while the son of Grand Emperor Grantoti was still in power, under the advice of the old Prime Minister Nederweyn, to support and cage the local and military nobility, gradually formed the triple footing of today's empire, the temple of Fire has gradually collapsed for nearly six centuries since the Revelation. And the emerging aristocracy and the greedy leader aristocracy were pressing, dividing the empire from south to north into two, and the royal family finally won a breathing opportunity between the cracks. When the father of Queen Silver, the eleventh son of Grand Todi, passed away today, this world king held a sword on his bed and a scepter, as if to show his life's work.

After the death of His Majesty the Emperor, the Silver Queen took office and gradually began to reclaim the excessively overflowing power in the hands of the local nobility. While she continued to suppress the temple of flame, she began to be wary of the noble lords of the North. The hidden dangers buried by her father's radical means were resolved in her hands. The Iron Blood Queen, notwithstanding her notoriety among the nobility, was also a woman emperor with a strong wrist in the history of Cruz.

It can be said that she paved the way for Cruz's reform, and behind her, His Majesty Prince Leonard soared the empire's eagles - the only country in the Vaughn continent that could have been as powerful as that era, Madara, for a long and short time - a snowflake that the empire had accumulated for nearly three decades since the tragic defeat of the Silver Year's Four Realms, and since then the Cruz Empire has ushered in the height of its royal power.

This is the original history that Brando is familiar with, the rise of the Croatian Emperor and the sidelines of the Church, except that only a few people in this world know that this history has been completely invisible since the moment Jorgendigan set foot in the ground world.

Neither a saint who insights into the future, like Tess of Wadna, nor a man of wisdom, like Walla of the Lion's Sacred Palace, can perceive this.

But for every generation of clergy who lived through the entire temple from the height of the frog to the depravity of the age of the frog, the past history was so heavy and unhappy that the words were filled with helplessness and exclamation in the many literature documenting this history that it was dust sealed in the candle lobby; and every clergyman who read this history would have had to give birth to too much of it voluntarily.

If the priests of the previous generation were not so arrogant and arrogant, if the priests of the Roschen generation had been able to face the power of themselves and local nobility sooner, if the temple had not believed so lightly in the so-called absolute control of believers and faiths for centuries, perhaps today Cruz would be something else.

And like some low-ranking clerics, Rawa likes to read about the temple's past in the hallway of the candle lobby, but as the head of the throne of the Lion's Sacred Palace, he still enjoys some small privileges - for example, a special place, a comfortable chair, and a special candlestick; the monks are mostly familiar with some of the little habits of His Holiness the Grand Cleric, so they arrange all this in advance, and this big man, who has been in power since the year of the piano, enjoys this small special treatment.

It's not about comfort, it's a symbol of power.

Unique and supreme.

Rawa is not a man of power, his life is actually more like a true monk of suffering, less enjoyment, even a little too poor for those in his position, he rarely appears in the eyes of the faithful, although he is famous for his emperor, but there are few who really know him, among his few opponents and allies - perhaps even the queen.

Rawa, however, attached great importance to his authority, which he regarded as one of the most important things that the Temple had lost over the past century because of its lack of focus.

Today, as usual, after reading the last part of the text, the great priest placed a silk bookmark, closed the book, bounced it gently with his fingers, flashed the flame on the silver candlestick and put it out. He put everything back in place meticulously, but did not stand up from his chair, but placed his hand on the red monk's robe and waited quietly.

A moment later, Sidney, known as the statue of the Virgin of the Lion's Sacred Palace, came from the other end of the corridor like a ghost.

The lady first glanced at the books on the shelf with traces of movement —— as usual, the books Walla read most often were still some records related to that history, and she frowned slightly with no expression, but did not say much, answering only in an endorsement: “Lord Helix was only assassinated and now lives in the Rose Garden, and as for the rumors, they were made up by a man named Nicole. ”

“Who's that?” Walla asked.

“An unimportant little figure who has been hiding in Accordion Lane for some time now. ”

“Now what? ”

“In the dungeon of the courtroom...”

“Did you get anything? ”

“This man approached Eugene half a month ago. ”

Walla seemed to be thinking about a problem, so her eyes also focused on the silver candlestick, motionless. Half an hour later, he asked, "Is it Eugene, the high-ranking priest of Kocha? ”

Sidney nodded.

Wallach tightened his lips and snowy white eyebrows wrinkled. Sidney's answer made him feel that this was due to division and betrayal within the temple. The importance of the high-ranking clergy in the area around Rusta was self-evident to the Temple of Fire: “He was the one who first responded to His Majesty's call, and eleven others who arrived with him in Rusta to investigate them. ”

“Caesar, he's already done it. ”

“Did the man who assassinated the Duke of Helix find out? ”

“It seems to be the same people. ”

Walla frowned slightly and smelled a bit of a conspiracy, which was no longer just a betrayal; someone was targeting the temple, and he was acutely aware of it.

The temple's enemies in the Empire are nothing more than tripartite, untamed military nobles in the north of Metz, southern nobles in the south of Anzeluta headed by the Palut family, and Her Majesty the Queen, who did it?

“His Majesty and Prime Minister Nederweyn have come very close in recent times.” Sidney said again this time.

Wallace raised her eyebrows: “Who told you that? ”

“Duke Cecil. ”

“What else did he say? ”

Sidney didn't say a word, she wasn't a verbal person, but Vala seemed to have understood what she meant.

Your Majesty, what does she want?

“One more thing. ”

“Hmm?”

“About a month ago, Nederweyn's daughter went to Anzlova.” Sidney replied quietly.

“Nederwen's daughter," Vala thought for a while before realizing that Sidney was talking about Little Nederwen, and he was slightly tranced, somewhat puzzled, “It was that stubborn little girl, I remember her name, Delphine, yes, that's the name.” Vara tapped her finger on her forehead and suddenly frowned: “She went to Anzlova, what was she doing there a month ago? ”

……