I will be crowned king

March 14, Inner City, Osteria Palace.

A unique banquet was being held in the palace. Rows of expensive carriages were slowly walking along the red carpet that extended from the palace gate to the inner court. The well-dressed gentlemen walked up the stairs holding the slender hands of their female companions. Before the ceremony official Amid the loud shouts of the royal family's attendants, they walked into this magnificent hall just like their ancestors did hundreds of years ago.

The crystal lanterns were bright and dazzling like stars, and the countless food and wine were dizzying. Amidst the beautiful notes flowing like streams, guests gathered in twos and threes at the dining table to chat and laugh, or stepped onto the dance floor to dance.

This is a banquet held at a special time, in a special place, for a special reason.

Even though this is the Palace of Osteria, and even though the king wearing a crown is sitting in the center of the banquet hall, accepting the audience of every guest, all the men and women will look at this place from the corner of their eyes from time to time. The real "protagonist" of the party.

Ludwig Franz.

At this time, he was dressed in a general's military uniform, and his smiling face was completely free of the cold look of the past. He was holding a wine glass and chatting and laughing with guests from all walks of life; his decent behavior and the sharp demeanor of a soldier made everyone who came into contact with him Everyone's eyes lit up.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle, the extremely young major general chatted with more than a dozen guests for nearly an hour before finally saying goodbye and leaving under the unsatisfied gazes of everyone, heading towards someone who had also just fought his way out of the spotlight. girl.

"What a surprise."

Sophia, whose eyes were wandering, looked at Ludwig who was sitting down, and chuckled:

"I didn't expect that not only would you be invincible on the battlefield, but you would also thrive in such social situations, Major General Ludwig."

"Just laugh at me."

Ludwig sighed, with a helpless expression on his face:

"If possible, I would love to lead the legion to the battlefield now, but without those people, even if there are only 10,000 people, it will have to wait until four months later."

"If I can add another artillery company and two thousand rounds of artillery shells to the legion, I won't mind holding a smiling face and holding another banquet for these people!"

"It's so realistic that it's really impressive." Sophia, wearing a light-colored dress, still maintained her extremely calm elegance:

"I guess if the Elf King Ysel promises to surrender unconditionally to Clovis if you are willing to marry his daughter, you will probably be very happy to accept it, right?"

"Maybe, be as sarcastic as you want."

Ludwig's face did not change as he picked up the wine glass. He had long been used to his sister who was covered in thorns:

"But when it comes to being impressed, isn't it our father who is most surprising?"

"How do you say that?" The girl tilted her head curiously.

"You have also seen how much effort he put in to pry the corner from the hands of the Privy Council and the Guards so that the Franz family could occupy a place in the Clovis Police Hall." Looking at the archbishop sitting next to the king in the distance , Ludwig said softly:

"But after I refused repeatedly, he actually accepted this. Not only did he not continue to force me, he was even willing to help me get the position of commander of the Southern Army."

"If this kind of thing happened before, I wouldn't even dare to think about it. Isn't it surprising enough?"

After the words fell, Ludwig couldn't help but sigh; although he didn't feel that he had done anything wrong, it was after all that his father's months of hard work were in vain.

The wide-eyed Sophia looked at the complicated expression on his face that was mixed with emotion and a hint of self-blame, and suddenly said "Pfft!" and couldn't help but giggle.

"Puff puff ha ha ha ha..."

Ludwig turned his head in confusion and looked at Sophia who suddenly covered her smile with a pearl folding fan:

"Is there anything funny about it?"

"Funny? No...just surprised." The girl tried her best to suppress her smile, and her shoulders and chest swayed slightly:

"After all these years, you still expect our father to change his mind?"

Ludwig was puzzled.

"I don't know the details because my father didn't tell me either." Sophia smiled gracefully:

"But if I'm not wrong, he would have already guessed that you would refuse the appointment as director of the National Police Agency."

"What's the meaning?"

"It means that the things you were worried about before were probably just smoke bombs thrown by father - although he may have hoped so." Sophia picked up the handkerchief and wiped the tears from laughter at the corners of her eyes:

"Of course everyone would be happy if you became the director of the police department, but you refused; this means that all the wealthy families in Clovis who were rescued by you, invisibly owe the Franz family a huge favor!"

"If they don't want to be tightly bound by the Franz family's favor, they must repay in some way as soon as possible; so the first thing the newly appointed police director did was to find a way for himself A clerk who was born in a monastery also put all the churches in the city into the scope of 'key patrolling'."

"Then I guess this banquet and the investment in the Southern Legion are part of their 'return'?"

Ludwig was a little depressed.

"The same goes for the site on Whitehall Street - the land that my father got from the Railway Commission for almost nothing was sold to the newly established Police Department for a full twenty-fold increase." Sophia took a sip. wine:

"There is also one of our uncles and two cousins ​​who were originally bank clerks and monastery priests. Now they have become middle- and senior-level officials in the police department, working in civil service agencies. They will probably be promoted to assistants soon. A position like director or deputy director, right?"

Ludwig no longer even had the desire to roll his eyes.

"These are only the parts I know." Sophia shook her head, her gloating eyes never left Ludwig's cheeks:

"As for more private transactions that are not known to the public, I'm afraid you have to ask my father himself."

Ludwig took a sip of wine helplessly: "Seeing me so depressed must make you happy, right?"

"Where is that?!"

The girl immediately denied it: "We are on the same side when it comes to confronting my father's wishes!"

"It would be better to say that as the heir of the family, you still have the right to be willful and rebellious; if it were me, I probably wouldn't even have such a good thing as 'prior notice'."

"Dear brother Ludwig, I have always spared no effort to support you."

"Really?" The corner of Ludwig's mouth raised, obviously not believing it at all:

"This is not what someone would say to someone who is trying to pry away my deputy commander."

"It's just an investment given to him."

Sophia stressed: "Anson Bach is not as popular as you, and he is eager to send you money; if there is not even one investor, are you going to let him and the soldiers climb the snow-capped mountains in single clothes?"

"I know this kind of thing without you having to tell me!" Ludwig was a little irritated:

"So I have sent Roman to find him with an invitation. I will introduce him to those who sponsored me at the banquet so that he can establish his own network; including logistics and supply line issues, as long as he opens his mouth, I will have What's the reason for not agreeing to him?"

"He is my deputy commander, and I single-handedly promoted him to this position. I hired him specifically because I recognized his ability; do you really think I would just watch him suffer from such a small problem as lack of supplies? Have you done nothing during the entire war?!"

Ludwig couldn't help but shook his head, with a helpless look on his face again; in his opinion, this was just Sophia having nothing to do and wanting to have some fun, but he didn't know that this would make Anson embarrassed when executing the order. .

"Alms." The girl suddenly said.

"What?"

"I said... you are treating Anson Bach with a charity mentality." Sophia looked at Ludwig, who looked confused, and shook her head slightly:

"I don't know if you've noticed, but your tone is becoming more and more like our father, brother Ludwig."

"No." The girl suddenly changed the topic: "Even a father will give people the right to choose, and will never force others to work for him without any explanation."

"Why did I force myself?!" Ludwig frowned:

"You didn't see it with your own eyes at Fort Thunder, but I saw it; Anson Bach's strategic vision and ability to adapt to the situation. A capable officer like him should not be left behind in such a rear area where he is destined to do nothing. I’m giving him a chance to show off his talent!”

"You mean you lead the main army to attack Eagle Point City, and have him climb over the Dawn Ice Peak to support you from the enemy's rear?"

"Every officer has something he is good at and something he is not good at." Ludwig could only explain to his sister:

"I am an artilleryman and have some confidence in attacking cities; Anson Bach is a skirmisher. He is definitely better than me at leading a small army to maneuver in the wild."

"But he helped you defeat Thunder Castle." Sophia continued to tease Ludwig's nerves.

"That's right! That's why I trust and respect him so much. It's not a... charity like you said."

Ludwig's stern cheek twitched slightly: "Roman has already sent the invitation anyway. If there is anything you want to know, you might as well ask him in person!"

"But I still don't understand. Why do you care about him so much? In the letter I sent before, didn't you always complain to me that this guy is a liar and that you have been fooled several times?"

"Yes, this guy is a real liar."

Sophia snorted softly: "But even so, it doesn't mean that he has no advantages at all."

"What's more, I have already sponsored him a large amount of money. If the army is wiped out due to unfair treatment by the commander-in-chief, wouldn't all the money I have worked hard to save be in vain?"

A very reasonable explanation, but it couldn't convince Ludwig, who knew her very well.

He slowly looked back at his somewhat absent-minded sister, and a strange feeling gradually came to his mind:

"I think I guessed wrong, Sophia, could you be..."

Just when Ludwig wanted to say something, a familiar figure came to the two of them, with his hands behind his back, he nodded slightly and saluted:

"Major General, and Miss Sophia, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, Roman." Ludwig nodded slightly to his most trusted lieutenant:

"Did anyone bring them in? The Wang family's attendants outside didn't make things difficult for you, right?"

"No."

Roman shook his head slightly: "Because Anson Bach was no longer in the military camp when I arrived - to be more precise, he had left the royal capital with the army; the door to his room was locked, and only a message was left on the door. this letter."

"gone?"

Ludwig looked stunned and quickly opened the letter Roman handed over. Sophia, who pretended not to care, also straightened her waist and looked at the contents of the letter with her peripheral vision:

"Dear Major General Ludwig Franz:

I'm sorry to say goodbye to you in this way. This is mainly because the next battle plan requires me to arrive at the back of Eagle Point City in advance and assist you in capturing this fortress behind the enemy's rear.

But I have never been to the Southern Seven Cities Alliance, and I have no experience climbing the Dawn Ice Peak. If we set out at the same time as you, it is absolutely impossible to complete this task under the current situation.

Therefore, after much consideration, I decided to lead the army and set off in advance, arrive at the fastest possible speed and climb over the Dawn Ice Peak, to find out the combat readiness status of the Southern Seven Cities Alliance and the Yser Elves, and lay the solid foundation for your upcoming victory.

Of course, crossing snowy mountains and fighting independently in enemy territory requires adequate preparation to deal with various situations. I am sure you know this better than me.

Therefore, according to your previous promise to me to "get as much light weapons and equipment as you can," those three regiments of grenadier equipment still have a thousand Borne rifles, so I won't be polite to you.

In addition, there are some necessary supplies for crossing the snow-capped mountains. I also took some of the supplies from the Southern Army; all of them have white stripes on the seals. You can check them one by one to see if there are any missing ones.

In addition, if there is anything that needs to be notified to me, please do not send light cavalry to deliver the order; in order to rush for time, I directly chartered a steam train at the Royal Capital Central West Station. I was lucky, and it could accommodate all the soldiers without adding additional carriages. and supplies.

Of course, it's in your name and that of the Southern Legion. Look out for the Railway Board bill.

I wish you all the best for the banquet and the out-of-city ceremony tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you in Eagle Point City.

Your loyal deputy commander, Anson Bach.

yours truly. "

The stunned Ludwig froze on the spot, involuntarily raising his head and looking out the window of the banquet hall.

In the wilderness dozens of kilometers away, an equally noisy and lively banquet was taking place in the "Pan Rock" steam train: Anson and Carl, dragging supply boxes, shuttled through one carriage after another, cheering as the soldiers Bottle after bottle of rum was blown open.

"The target is Dawn Ice Peak, let's move forward - Storm Group!"

"Oh oh oh--!!!!"

The steam train whistled like a carnival, and the dark war beast spewed thick smoke and rushed towards the land that was about to be ignited by the flames of war.