I will be crowned king

Inner city, St Isaac's College, night.

Thick dark clouds covered the moon, but the midnight sky in Clovis City was still sparse. Regarding this phenomenon, some conscientious scholars from non-ecclesiastical colleges believed that it was caused by the large number of factories and excessive coal burning around the royal capital; however, Bankers, aristocrats and workers had decidedly different views on this.

Looking at the few remaining stars in the night sky, Brohn, who was smoking a pipe, closed the curtains and stuffed an anonymous letter into the inner pocket of his coat; he walked slowly to the desk where the lamp was still on and took out the He took a piece of letter paper and a letter opener, and used the tip of the knife to lightly make a cut on his right thumb.

"Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock..."

Blood dripped on the letter paper. Staring at the strange red under the dim light, the young bachelor's ice-blue eyes showed a little confusion.

"Only darkness...can reveal light."

As he murmured softly, the blood dripping on the letter paper seemed to come alive: "fresh" small blood beads began to swim on the letter paper like worms, gradually converging into two or three. The original rune composed of circles.

Brone closed his eyes.

call--

When he opened his eyes again, the "Black Mage" wearing a tall thin hat and a monocle was already sitting in front of him.

"professor."

The young bachelor stood up very naturally, bowed humbly to the figure in front of him, presented the letter in his arms with both hands, and then sat back in his chair without saying a word.

The black mage lit the envelope he received on the purple candle between the two of them. As the letter turned into ashes, a slight smile appeared under his monocle.

"Our classmate Anson Bach is still good at bringing surprises to people." The black mage spoke slowly, his hands filled with ashes exuding embers:

"It seems that I still underestimate him - someone who can capture Thunder Castle in nineteen days has a grasp of the situation and an understanding of intelligence that is beyond the level of a 'student'."

"I don't understand." Bloen shook his head, completely unaware of the meaning of the letter.

In his opinion, Anson Bach's mission was basically a failure: not only was the whereabouts of the "Grand Magic Book" not found, but there was also no clue about Draco Vertes.

The only success was to attract the attention of the Tribunal, causing them to further relax their vigilance against Anson Bach. At the same time, they believed that the black mage's attention was still on the "Great Magic Book" in the capital.

"The Difference Engine—that's the only important thing in this letter."

The black mage opened his mouth to explain to his student: "Anson Bach...he already knows the 'true face' of the Great Magic Book kept in Clovis Cathedral, and the real purpose of me appointing him to get close to the Franz family."

"The reason for sending the letter anonymously is probably because of the surveillance of the trial court. At the same time, I am gently reminding you that it is best not to take the initiative to meet with him in the near future; when the opportunity is ripe, he will take the initiative to come to you."

"Then... when is the 'opportunity ripe'?" Blown asked after a moment of thought.

"The situation was chaotic enough for him to steal the "Great Magic Book" from Clovis Cathedral and use the St. Isaac's Difference Engine." The Black Mage said with a little admiration:

"This is the moment I've been waiting for!"

After the words fell, the young bachelor opened his eyes slightly in surprise.

After the surprise, his expression immediately changed to nervousness.

"So Anson Bach has completely figured out your purpose now. Isn't this dangerous?"

"Danger? No."

The black mage directly denied his guess: "Dear Broun, Anson Bach is my student just like you, so how could he harm me?"

"What's more, even if we think about the worst case scenario, he is a traitor who deliberately wants to kill me - with the current strength of Clovis Cathedral and the Truth Seeking Order, it can only cause me a little loss. "

Looking at the professor sitting in front of him, Bloen immediately realized his stupidity.

At present, the Clovis Cathedral and the Inquisition still only regard Professor Mace Honnard as a person between the fourth and fifth levels; according to the standards of the Church of Order, spellcasters at this stage still only "need to be vigilant. Surveillance and, if possible, arrest or kill."

They don't know that the professor has reached the level of "mentor" ten years ago, and if it weren't for the lack of sufficient preparation and materials, he would have started to attack the level of "apostle" as early as two years ago!

The mere cathedral and a small truth-seeking order can no longer pose a real threat to Mace Honard.

"I have benefited a lot from my recent research on the August family." The black mage suddenly changed the topic:

"Although they are just some one-sided speculations without supporting evidence, after searching a large amount of data and research, I found that the records on the number of 'apostles' in the past are very close."

"For example, there never seem to be more than three apostles of blood magic. Does this mean anything?"

"You mean..." Blown immediately followed up:

"Is the number of apostles limited?"

"Perhaps it is because of this that the apostles of the August family fell - except for another apostle, I can't imagine the existence that can cause them to perish." The black mage nodded slightly:

"But if this is all, it will not result in the entire family being wiped out; even among the ancient spellcasters with the blood family as the core, this kind of extermination behavior is too suspicious."

"No, there must be other reasons, more important reasons why they have to do this; for example, the influence between bloodlines, maybe after reaching the level of 'Apostle', one's own existence will undergo another 'qualitative change', and the power can be inherited. To a certain descendant, another apostle must eliminate potential dangers..."

Looking at the black mage talking to himself, Bronn sat motionless; he had become accustomed to situations like this in the past few years.

Ten minutes later, the black mage gradually woke up from his deep thoughts and looked at Bloun slightly tiredly:

"In short, I will continue to search for documents about 'August' in the next few weeks; you will continue to assist Anson Bach and look for opportunities to obtain the "Great Magic Book" book."

"Finally, remember to urge our dear 'funders' to let them understand that they must speed up the progress of the Urban Public Administration Bill and reach an implementation agreement in the Privy Council as soon as possible; only by maintaining the vitality of Clovis City can this war be more effective. Keep going for a long time!”

"Understood." Bronn nodded slightly:

“It’s all for the big plan!”

"For the big plan!"

The black mage raised his right hand and lightly snapped his fingers.

………………

"Bang——! Bang——! Bang——!!!!"

On Whitehall Street, on the open range of the Storm Regiment barracks, line infantrymen wearing gray military uniforms held brand-new Leopold breech-loading flintlock muskets, lined up in three horizontal lines, and fired at a fixed target 80 meters away. Three rapid volleys were fired.

After the roar, thick white smoke immediately enveloped the entire company; the soldiers who completed the salvo stood motionless in the smoke like stone sculptures and clay sculptures.

Looking at the basically undamaged fixed target and the smoke and dust exploding on the surrounding grass, Anson stood beside him holding a copy of the "Clovis Truth Reporter" and nodded happily.

After half a month, these new recruits were finally able to pull the bolt and mastered the basic skills of firing without being knocked down by the butt of the gun or killing one of their own.

This is really not easy.

After the shooting ended, the bugler wearing a flat-top military cap carried a military flag, trotted to Anson, and respectfully performed a very standard military salute:

"Reporting to the leader, this shooting training has ended successfully. Please give the next order!"

"Very good!" Anson put the newspaper behind him, nodded and gave him a military salute:

"Tell me, which company has the worst performance?"

"It's the Fourth Skirmisher Company!"

"Then let the soldiers of the Fourth Company stay and pick up all the lead bullets from the shooting range." Anson said with a serious expression:

"The rest of the company gathered up their formation and ran in four columns to the canteen for dinner!"

"yes--!"

After receiving the order, the bugler ran back to the shooting range excitedly:

"The regimental commander ordered that the fourth company stay to clean the shooting range, and the rest of the companies ran in column to the canteen! Turn left!"

At the command, the soldiers of the seven companies uniformly turned to the right and ran towards the canteen with rifles on their backs.

Looking at their desperate figures, Anson suddenly felt a little emotional... If they could have this kind of momentum when charging on the battlefield, the Kingdom of Clovis wouldn't have to be afraid of the Empire's cavalry.

“What a wonderful performance!”

Allen, the secretary who had always been standing aside, knew the timing and came closer, and boasted unabashedly: "It only took thirteen days to turn a group of malnourished homeless people who had never received formal training into well-trained homeless people." You are indeed an excellent military strategist."

"Master Anson Bach, I am now more and more convinced that under the cultivation of Archbishop Luther, you will have a great future and a bright future!"

"In the next month, I believe that the entire Storm Regiment will have a combat effectiveness that is no less than that of the regular army, and will steal the show in activities to maintain law and order in the royal capital."

The little clerk became more and more excited as he spoke, and his sparkling pupils seemed to have seen that day coming: "When the Urban Public Administration Act is officially passed, there will definitely be a place for you in the new 'Guards'!"

"As your loyal secretary, I will definitely fight for you to have the most authority, the largest budget, the best office and allowances in the New Guards; you will stand tall on the tall buildings with unparalleled splendor and will be unparalleled for a while. , becoming an indispensable and important figure in the royal capital!"

A month?

Looking at little Allen, whose eyes were shining and who had already begun to dream about the future, Anson, who was smiling bitterly inwardly, twitched the corner of his mouth.

The storm group...and myself probably don't even have a month left.

Although the war has begun, thanks to the prosperous security industry in the inner city, the security of the entire inner city has still been maintained in a very good state; the demand from the royal family, aristocrats and the middle class has also kept business thriving, and has not been affected by the war at all. .

But in the outer city beyond the Old Wall Street... it's a completely different scene.

In today's "Clovis Truth Newspaper" in my hand, a street riot in the outer city was published:

A group of unemployed workers who went bankrupt due to the war attacked the factory owner who wanted to collect the money and run away for wages and compensation; according to the sketches and text descriptions in the newspaper, the factory owner's family who left in a carriage were attacked by homemade bombs made by the workers. Heaven.

The husband was killed on the spot, one of the two sons was killed and the other was severely disabled, and the wife "missed"... The only surviving younger son escaped by hiding in a garbage dump with a broken leg.

And this is just one of them. With the bankruptcy of factories similar to the war that has lasted for several months, and the closure of chambers of commerce, unemployed workers have begun to spontaneously find a "way to survive" for themselves.

Attacking shops, robbing in the streets, storming banks, burning warehouses... The unemployed in the outer city are rapidly turning into gangs, and the gangs are rapidly turning into thugs. The remaining factories and chambers of commerce are in danger, and everyone is starting to arm themselves desperately. .

Regarding the situation in the outer city, the royal family completely ignored it, the Guards completely gave up management, and there was no relevant content on the Privy Council's agenda. Only the Church of Order began to try to issue small loans and increase the intensity of the welfare home.

And then...gone.

There was no relief, no rescue measures, and no troops were sent into the outer city to maintain law and order. The dignitaries in the entire Clovis Kingdom seemed not to know the existence of the "outer city."

When he saw the news, Anson immediately realized that it was only a matter of time before the "Red Brick Street Riot" happened again. Archbishop Luther would soon remember that he had spent tens of thousands of gold coins on this incident, and he hadn't yet. A tool to achieve results.

Just when Anson wanted to interrupt the clerk who was still talking to himself, he suddenly saw a carriage parked outside the gate of the military camp, and a very familiar figure got down from it.

Soon Anson recognized the identity of the person - a leather trench coat, a three-cornered hat, a flintlock ax on his waist and a surprisingly large revolver... Laurence Bernat, who was walking in a hurry, was seeking truth from the Order. The captain of the inquisitor and his "artillery company commander" stood in front of him and asked:

"Do you know Viscount Bognar?"

"I met him once, but I know his ex-wife." Anson immediately became wary and asked immediately:

"What's wrong?"

"Something happened to him - the rioting workers blocked him in the factory and used him as a hostage to demand unpaid wages, otherwise they will blow up the factory together with him!" Lawrence said in a hoarse voice:

"When I came, the Guards had already set off... This person is related to the Iron Sky incident but does not belong to the Old God Sect incident. It is not convenient for the Tribunal to come forward, so they can only let the Storm Group go."

"Viscount Bognor is an important supporter of the Public Administration Act. He also has information about Draco Wirts. This person cannot fall into the hands of the Guards under any circumstances. We must get ahead of them. Front!"