I will be crowned king

Empire, Xiaolong City Palace.

Under the dazzling sunshine, the solemn-looking Count Bernard Morvais fiddled with the envelope in his hand and stepped into the exquisite and gorgeous palace garden accompanied by the blond young man.

Looking at the shade of the lush flowers and trees around him, Bernard seemed somewhat absent-minded. The hot weather also made him feel a little irritated as sweat began to drip on his cheeks.

Although it wasn't just the weather and flowers that made him feel irritated...

"My dear brother-in-law, isn't it a bit wrong for us to come here so carelessly?" Arthur Herred, who was running all the way, followed closely, with an expression on his face that was more or less uneasy: "Your Majesty, although He said he wanted us to convey it, but it doesn’t have to be so direct..."

"Then I would like to know how to be tactful about this kind of thing?" Bernard, who didn't look back, looked impatient: "Although what surprises me even more is that you, who have always hated red tape, actually know how to be tactful. "

"Well... people always have to grow up. My sister has been nagging me all day long that I am not young anymore and can no longer do whatever I want like before." Arthur shrugged and twitched the corner of his mouth in embarrassment:

"How do you say that...ah, yes, maturity, maturity is the beginning of a knight becoming great."

"What your sister means by 'maturity' is...forget it, it's pointless to tell you this."

Bernard, who sighed heavily, stopped and suddenly turned around, causing Arthur to stumble, who was unprepared: "Tell me, how are you going to be tactful?"

"I……"

The blond young man who almost fell down was speechless. He opened his mouth but no sound came out: "...You asked me so suddenly, how do you want me to answer?"

"Then there's nothing we can do." Bernard said solemnly, directly handing the envelope in front of the other party: "It's better that you go back first. In fact, it's okay for me to go alone."

"What? This is absolutely not okay!"

The blond young man immediately spoke righteously and pressed his chest heavily with his right hand: "I am also a member of the royal family, how can I back down at this time?!"

"Very good, very chivalrous in facing difficulties." Bernard said expressionlessly: "Then you go and notify me alone, and I leave?"

"This, this is too..." Arthur's chest that had just puffed up immediately became less firm:

"Your Majesty, after all... he entrusted it to the two of us, are you right, my beloved brother-in-law Bernard?"

Looking at the young man's pitiful appearance, Bernard did not accommodate his thoughts at all: "Either you come up with a solution, or I hand the letter directly to them. There is no third way."

"I……"

"What letter?"

A bright voice suddenly came from the side of the flower bed nearby. The two people turned their heads at the same time in tacit understanding. They saw a young man wearing a red and black long-sleeved dress and holding a cane inlaid with turquoise metal. The gilded chest was The unicorn badge shines in the sunlight.

"Good day, Your Majesty."

"Uh...good morning, Your Majesty Nicholas!"

The two of them hurriedly greeted each other one after another. Arthur Herred, who was stunned for a moment, even forgot whether to take off his hat or hold his chest in salute, looking extremely busy.

But Nicholas Osteria obviously didn't care about this; as a guest of Snapdragon City, he already knew the identities of the two people in front of him: "No need to be polite, this is not a palace, we are still relatives, so we should be As a guest and a junior, I salute both of you."

"Don't dare, Your Majesty." Although the other party was polite in words, Bernard, who knew "never take the consideration of the superiors seriously", still did not neglect:

"At this time, it should be when the palace lunch begins. Why are you here alone?"

"It's nothing, I just feel a little irritable and want to go out for a walk. I specifically asked them not to follow me." Nicholas smiled and replied:

"So what is the letter you two just mentioned? Is it related to me?"

This...the two looked at each other. After a brief silence, Arthur Herred took a half-step back very smoothly, and the smile on his face froze.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Bernard simply handed the letter to the other party straightforwardly: "This is the latest information sent from the front line. Fernando Herred...the emperor's most trusted general is also the one who specially picked you up from Clovis. The person who came back, he..."

"Oh, what happened to him?"

"he died."

"died?!"

"According to the information we have, he betrayed the emperor for some reason, and couldn't bear the pressure in his heart and chose to commit suicide." Bernard said expressionlessly:

"Because of the death of the commander, the 50,000-strong army of the Empire attacking Clovis had no choice but to withdraw from the occupied Red Moon Town Fortress. The action to help you regain the throne may be delayed."

"Ah...then, that's probably unavoidable."

Even though Nicholas was not completely unprepared when he asked, he was still slightly stunned, then quickly calmed down, covering up the flash of disappointment:

"Just let the traitors and thugs in Clovis City be more arrogant. The people of the entire Order World will definitely be more inclined to us who are just."

The purpose of his words was of course to win over the two people in front of him and let them see that he, as the legal king of Clovis, was not panicked and that he was full of confidence in his allies.

But the reactions of Arthur and Bernard were slightly different from what he imagined...

"As for the people's hearts in the Order World, I would also like to ask you not to be too optimistic about this matter."

After awkwardly looking at each other with the blond young man, Bernard's expression began to become strange: "Sometimes a more cautious attitude is the more correct choice."

"……What does it mean?"

"Well, you'd better see it for yourself."

Bernard didn't know what to say, so he handed the letter directly to Nicholas; the slightly confused young king opened the envelope gracefully, glanced at the contents quickly, and then...

"Heretic Assassin?!"

The ear-piercing screams resounded throughout the entire scene, and the shocked Nicholas even had his expression distorted: "He, they actually said that my mother, the emperor's sister, was an old god sect, or the murderer who killed my father?!"

Bernard said nothing, but his expression explained enough.

"How can he, they slander like this!" The young king was furious: "Who can agree with such baseless rumors?!"

"This... is probably more than you imagine." Although he said it indifferently, Bernard was still a lot more tactful: "Lord Franz, the Archbishop of Clovis, claimed that in Ost Telia Palace found conclusive evidence.”

"Archbishop Luther Franz!"

Nicholas was even more shocked: "He, why would he do this?!"

"Uh... because he is the Archbishop of Clovis?" Arthur, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke, scratching his head and guessing: "Church members cannot participate in secular affairs, but if they are related to the Old Gods or heretics, If so, then the situation is not necessarily...ah! I-I am definitely not saying that Her Royal Highness the Princess is a heretic!"

"In any case, please rest assured. No matter how many rumors are spread by Clovis's thugs, the empire will try its best to clarify them as soon as possible and never let you and the eldest princess suffer unjust injustice."

Turning aside the panicked Arthur and rolling his eyes, Bernard began to comfort Nicholas expressionlessly: "We have contacted the Archbishop of Snapdragon City and asked him to communicate with the Holy See, so that this problem can be solved soon. "

"Ah...that's good, then..."

"But for the time being, please be patient and avoid going out as much as possible to avoid causing some unwarranted trouble." Bernard directly intercepted:

"The rumors spread by the Clovis thugs are indeed believed by many uninformed people; especially many Clovis people have been completely bewitched by them, and the situation cannot be underestimated."

"Although this makes you somewhat aggrieved, for the sake of the overall situation, during this period, you and Her Royal Highness, please try not to accept any more major ceremonies, banquets or evening parties in Xiaolong City..."

…………………………………………

Although Bernard had tried his best to describe the situation as serious as possible, he actually knew best in his heart that this was actually an understatement.

In fact, due to the sudden incident, when the imperial court received the news, the news that "Queen Mother Anne Herred was a member of the Old Gods" had already been flying all over the sky, and it spread from Clovis to the Imperial Palace at an alarming speed. The border area spreads inland.

Having experienced the developed "media industry" of the Clovis people in the New World, Bernard was not surprised by this result, so he knew very well that once the news spread, it would greatly shake the royal family's prestige in the empire, and previously the emperor " The banner of "defending the ancient laws of the ordered world" will directly turn into a self-slapping joke.

What is even more dangerous is that this will inevitably cause the principalities in the empire to refuse to participate in the war, or even refuse to provide troops to the emperor. If Anne Herred is really a heretic, then if they participate in the war, wouldn't they become accomplices of the heresy?

Originally, the majority of the nobles in the empire supported this war. Once this situation was allowed to spread, the consequences would be unimaginable.

At the same time, Bernard was also shocked by the madness of the Clovis people: slandering a member of the imperial royal family, and a direct member was suspected of heresy. This was not a hatred that could be easily revealed, and even a president was bet on it. The bishop's personal reputation and even his wealth and life would be irreversible if there was even a slight deviation.

What exactly did they do? What kind of "irrefutable evidence" gave the Clovis people such great courage, or was it a last resort in desperate situations?

Bernard couldn't imagine it at all, but he understood one thing, that from now on, the empire...more accurately, the Herred royal family, would completely enter into a life-and-death situation with Clovis.

Now that they have reached this point, I am afraid that Clovis is already preparing for the next war; taking advantage of the empire's recent defeat to assemble troops to prepare for the upcoming counterattack.

According to the rhythm of previous wars, Bernard guessed that the Clovis people would gather a counterattack army at the end of August, complete all preparations in mid-September, and the first battle would most likely break out in early October.

Even this time is already as overestimated as possible... First of all, Clovis is passively facing the battle, and secondly, the two battles in the Iser Elf Kingdom and the Red Moon Province have just ended, and the country is in chaos because of the royal family's departure... Gram No matter how efficient the Lowi people were, they would not be able to assemble enough troops to counterattack in an extremely short period of time.

Then...then he received information that the situation in the direction of Red Moon Town was critical, and that it was suspected that the Clovis people were increasing their troops on a large scale.

……………………

"...At present, in addition to the Red Moon Guards and the Ranger Corps, the other three legions are already on their way; among them, the Signal Flag Corps and the Rising Sun Corps have entered the territory of the Red Moon Province, and the Silver Bayonet Corps has I’m coming from the north, and my trip will be delayed for a day and a half..."

On the wall of Red Moon Town, Fabian, holding a roster, reported the situation to Anson while quickly taking notes: "All legions have abandoned their weapons and equipment and only come with necessary luggage. All weapons and equipment are required." The headquarters provides it.”

"As for the base camp, the messenger sent by Ludwig's administration said that because the scale of weapons and baggage that needs to be prepared is too large, it will take some time to collect it from various fortresses and warehouses, so only thirty additional infantry regiments can be provided for the time being. , two artillery regiments plus five cavalry regiments of weapons and equipment.”

"Thirty? Too few." Anson shook his head: "Tell the base camp, at least sixty."

"Equipment for sixty infantry regiments, I understand."

Fabian closed the roster with a faint smile on his face: "It just so happens that I have a colleague who I met when I was in the Guards. He happens to be responsible for logistics work in the base camp. He secretly told me that the base camp reserves The infantry equipment can arm at least a hundred regiments, and equipment for at least five regiments can be stably produced every month."

"Oh, why would he tell you this?"

"Maybe it's because of the deep relationship between us, or..." Fabian showed an understanding smile: "It's because your secretary secretly promised him to arrange a clerical job for him in the Ministry of War in half a year. , and there are generous enough allowances.”

"Personally, I prefer the former."

Anson also smiled: "By the way, I'd like to ask Alan Dawn how many people there are who value friendship as much as this officer does. We should be good at discovering them instead of waiting for these kind and good people to take the initiative to show their unique talents."

"Speaking of 'unique talents', our Minister of War is the one who really shines." Fabian suddenly emphasized: "It only took ten days for the news that Queen Mother Anne Herred was suspected of the Old God Sect. The news has spread throughout most of the world of Order, so the people in Xiaolong City are probably very worried, right?"

"But the most important thing...from now on, no one in Clovis will oppose this war; from nobles to civilians, the existence of rebels under the banner of the royal family has been completely eliminated!"