I will be crowned king

Little John, whose identity was revealed at once, was a little distracted, but he was not nervous, but completely relaxed - like a pressure tank whose valve had been unplugged to release all the steam, and he collapsed directly on the ground.

This organization called the "Truth Society", he heard mentioned by his nominal father, the worker John who was protected by betraying "whispers" in exchange for trial.

For this father who was not related by blood at all, but protected himself and his mother with his life, little John had no other thoughts except heartfelt gratitude; although the other party told him from the beginning that mother and son were just tools for his disguise. , but he really protected this family, even at the cost of blood.

He will never forget that afternoon... his mother was preparing dinner in the kitchen, and his father was half-reclined on the sofa by the fireplace, holding a half cup of hot coffee in his hand. His eyes met the busy mother from time to time, showing that they were the only ones The two of them smiled when they understood the reason.

He lay on the carpet in the living room, absentmindedly flipping through the newspaper he bought in the morning. His mind was full of images of his mother just getting the can opener, thinking that he could see marinated pork in the stew for dinner.

The golden sunlight gradually slanted, and suddenly there were two knocks on the door behind him. Thinking that it was the "judges" who came to discuss matters with his father again, he quickly got up and proactively opened the door for them.

Just before she could hold on to the door handle, her father, who was still sitting motionless on the sofa behind him, was holding a cup of coffee and said in a casual tone with no expression on his face:

"...run quickly!"

………………………………

"I really thought it was so easy to take that thing and escape from under the eyes of several spell casters." The trainee priest rolled his eyes: "...Without the help of this priest, do you think you can still talk to me like this now?"

"You saved me?!"

"Nonsense, not only did I save you, but I also specially arranged an escape route for you so that you could avoid the pursuit of those gangsters by the trial court later."

Karin Jacques wiped the dust off his body and glared angrily at the little John in front of him who had no idea what politeness was: "You think you can escape by hiding behind the door, but I prepared the props in advance. And an inconspicuous spell, which made the thugs mistakenly think that you had your head blown off, and delayed them for half a minute... As a result, the trial court almost caught up with you!"

"I also persuaded the inquisitors with whom I was close in advance to treat the prop as a real corpse when reporting to the superiors. Otherwise, you would not be staying in this ruins now, but someone in the Truth-Seeking Club. Private room."

"Hehe... don't think this is any loss. Do you know what will happen if you become the last trump card of the judges against Whispers? Yes, they will provide you with a pretty good living treatment, and maybe even You can still study, but from now on, you won’t have any freedom.”

"I know what you kid is thinking. As long as 'Whisper' dies, you will be of no use. They will still set you free... Stop dreaming, and don't think about how much you know; the Old God Sect, the Truth Society , there are many other true identities of the members of the Clovis Inquisition, and any one of them is worth at least one of the Inquisitor's revolvers."

"The best outcome for you is to become a girl like Alfred's tailor shop, running a store and serving as the logistics for the trial. The worst… I think your kid is quite smart and doesn't need me. Tell me clearly?"

Little John's expression was gloomy, and he nodded while swallowing hard to try to calm down.

"That guy John would rather die than let you live... I respect his decision, but that's all." Karin Jacques took a deep breath: "Now, hand over your things obediently."

"I……"

Little John, who was being stared at, hesitated for a moment and looked at the very suspicious savior in front of him: "Then what will you do to me after I hand it over...do I have to join the Truth Society?"

"Ha! Are you kidding me?" The trainee priest said with disdain on his face:

"You don't think that we are the same as the 'Whisper' gang, that any scum can get in, do you? Just tell me, we are only interested in the thing in your hand, not you; call the thing out , I can give you a sum of money according to the market price, and you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want, no one cares about this."

"Really?"

"I don't care whether you believe it or not." Looking at Little John's doubtful face, Karin Jacques rolled his eyes again: "Anyway, you have no other choice... Ah, or rather, you prefer to go to trial Officials making deals?”

Little John was shocked, as if he recalled something.

That's right, because of the relationship between the War Department and the Whitehall Street Police, the "Whisper" public actions of the Inquisitors are already one-way and transparent; if a deal is made with them, who knows whether it will still have the same result, or it will be like Card Like Lin Jacques said, completely losing freedom?

After hesitating for a moment, he finally chose to believe the trainee priest in front of him. He solemnly reached out to the chest of his clothes and took out a thin card with irregular gaps from the innermost part.

"This is……"

"As long as the memory card is inserted into the differential engine, the contents on it can be read. Otherwise, it is of no use - my father told me." Little John's eyes were burning:

"He stole all the cards from 'Whispers', but he didn't dare to take them with him and hid them in a factory; he only left one on himself. Without it, who else but him and 'Whispers' I don’t know what’s inside.”

"In addition to this card, he also left a special note, saying that only those who can read ancient runes will know what is written on it."

"I didn't dare to keep the note on me, so I can only remember it this way."

As he spoke, Little John raised the wrist of his right hand, on which several symbols that had been soaked by the rain and his sweat were crookedly written with ink.

The moment he saw the above content, Karin Jacques had a flash of panic on his face. ,

After deliberately pausing for a few seconds, he silently raised the card handed to him by the boy and said in a forcedly calm tone: "You...just said that no one knows about this card except John and 'Whisper'" What’s in the card, right?”

"Then can I understand that 'Whisper' or his gang has a machine that can read these cards..."

"...Difference engine?"

…………………………

Seven o'clock in the evening, outer city.

After leaving the shotgun club, Anson jumped off the carriage and walked straight towards the tavern across the street alone.

The reason for choosing this time is certainly not an accident... According to the order of the Privy Council, regardless of whether the day's suppression mission is completed or not, it must be completed before seven o'clock. All soldiers do not need to return to the military camp, but they must immediately report to the temporary station, and No outings are allowed without additional orders.

This arrangement is certainly not because the Privy Council is concerned about the soldiers' work and rest, and is afraid that their long working hours will affect their health; now the entire outer city is crowded with tens of thousands of troops, and except for the Storm Legion, all of them are executing unilaterally. They don't care about the authority of the War Department.

To put it bluntly, now is the most insecure time for the Privy Council - if the War Department really intends to overturn the table without considering the consequences, then the Privy Council, which has only a few guards and Whitehall Street police, will never be able to serve tens of thousands of people. Opponents of para-armed army soldiers; setting such requirements that obviously affect mission efficiency is partly based on the idea of ​​​​finding a sense of security for oneself.

In addition, even if the Ministry of War is willing to continue to "obey the rules of the game," it is not easy to manage tens of thousands of soldiers in a city with complex streets; if no curfew is set and night operations are carried out, a small number of soldiers will Getting lost or even falling out of the group is not easy to manage and is a major security risk.

Yes, at least in the eyes of the Privy Council, these tens of thousands of soldiers who are loyal to His Majesty are a greater threat than those gangsters in the outer city.

Therefore, if there is any private action to avoid the attention of others, especially the Ministry of War, it is of course more appropriate to do so at this point in time.

Taking the address provided by Professor Erich, Anson pushed the door open and walked into the tavern. Under the astonished gaze of the bartender, he ordered a glass of rum mixed with water, and incidentally gave the bartender a tip of two silver coins.

Although it is not an expensive drink, drinking rum is indeed a habit only in the coastal areas of North Port. Of course, cheap taverns in the mainland like Clovis City cannot get many genuine products; You have to taste delicious fish near rivers and lakes, and you can imagine the price and quality.

Not long after, the bartender who had just received a huge tip ran back sneakily, deliberately approached and asked:

"Excuse me...do guests not come here often?"

Of course, Anson, who was sitting in front of him now, had specially changed into a clean dark brown coat, a peaked cap that hid his broken black hair and beautiful and complicated lace, and a silver pocket watch chain could be seen next to the sapphire blue tie on his chest. …completely standard inner-city middle-class attire.

"I want to find someone." Anson, who had no intention of wasting time, smiled politely at him:

"I know he is near here and should be quite conspicuous, so I hope you can help me look for him."

"No problem at all, it's my honor!"

The bartender hurriedly patted his chest: "Can you tell me some of his...beautiful things?"

"I guess what you want to say is characteristics, right?" Anson took a sip of the light ice water and put down his glass: "I can't tell you the specifics. I only know that he is a trainee priest, but he often meets in taverns. Haunted, and…”

"And they often preach a bunch of unbelievable doctrines that are never taught in churches!"

The bartender answered the question very smartly: "Yes, I know who you are talking about!!"

It's that simple? If I had known, I would have used money to clear the way last time. Of course, I didn't have much money last time... Anson chuckled and handed the other party a pen and a piece of paper.

The bartender stared blankly, then showed a wry smile: "I...I can't read."

"I know." Anson nodded slightly, turned the note over to reveal the check stamp, and lightly tapped on the empty amount:

"Write how much you want."

Ten minutes later, an expressionless Anson appeared in front of Karin Jacques, who was as shocked as if he had seen the Ring of Order coming.

"Are you...are you crazy? This is the outer city, the territory of 'Whispers'!"

Looking at the neatly dressed Anson, the trainee priest hurriedly closed the door behind him: "Do you know that there are his spies everywhere here, and if you do this, we may be exposed at any time!"

"I know."

"You know..." The trainee priest almost choked to death: "Then, what are you looking for me for?!"

"It's very simple, debt collection." Anson looked up and down in the room where the other party was hiding, and could vaguely detect something: "You owe the military academy the balance of a batch of goods, and I'm here to ask for money - well, you're not the only one here. Live?"

"No way, I don't have any money left. Unlike the Brigadier General, you can live wherever you want." The trainee priest's expression twitched as if he was frightened:

"The final payment...you mean Erich, is he related to you?"

Anson did not answer his question directly, but looked at the dishonest trainee priest with his arms crossed: "Do you need me to remind you to remember that your brother David Jacques is still in the mission of the Free Confederacy? ——Don’t you think that the prerequisite for his personal safety is that we can cooperate happily with each other?”

A contraband dealer who is always cautious will take the initiative to leave his address to a customer, and it is also a customer who has a direct relationship with Anson himself. This behavior is enough to explain everything.

Sure enough, Karin Jacques' face immediately revealed an embarrassing smile: "I...I just thought he would tell you this information later, I really didn't expect..."

"I didn't expect that things would progress so fast. The Ministry of War would be forced to take the initiative so early. Most of the Privy Council and many conservative nobles would be dragged into this matter?" Anson directly intercepted his words:

"Your Excellency, Trainee Priest Karin Jacques, I thought that after such a long time of cooperation, we already had a little bit of tacit understanding between each other."

"I completely agree with this!" The trainee priest twitched the corner of his mouth: "It's just that you don't seem to have considered that such a large-scale operation, using all means to pursue and intercept 'Whispers' instead of outright assassination, can easily put his Another backer forced him out."

"Another backer? Are you talking about...an old god organization trying to infiltrate Clovis City, or a family of spellcasters?"

"None of them." Karin Jacques took out the card from his arms:

"I'm talking about the Holy See."