I will be crowned king

Looking at Thalia who was smiling beautifully, Anson couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart without changing his expression.

The girl’s words revealed at least two pieces of information:

The Luen family already knows about the situation on the eastern battlefield, and they have other sources of information besides themselves - of course this is nonsense.

The church has already launched an action against the actions of the Thirteen Councils and is about to intervene in this "Iser Punishment War", and has received the "tacit approval" of the Rune family.

Even though he knew this was bound to happen, it still made him shudder.

"Dear Anson, you don't seem happy." Thalia noticed something strange flashing in his eyes:

"Are you sympathizing with your enemies, or do you think the Luen family, your fiancée... are too ruthless?"

"Absolutely not!"

Anson, who didn't even think about it, immediately denied it categorically: "I'm just curious, will the Church of Order... also consult other Old God sects for their thoughts on this kind of matter?"

"Of course not." Thalia shook her head, with a hint of mockery on her innocent and lovely smile:

"But these blasphemers like to watch dog eat dog, and let the Old Gods fight against each other, so as to weaken the threat they can pose, and at the same time, their spotless white gloves will not be stained with blood."

Dog eat dog?

Anson raised his eyebrows and asked tentatively: "Are you referring to...those Old Gods who hate elves?"

"Dear Anson, you always give me a lot of surprises." Thalia smiled:

"The hatred of elven spellcasters...how should I put it, has a long history in Clovis, and to a certain extent it also overlaps with the struggle between Clovis and the elves of Yither in the past hundreds of years. "

"So although the earliest proposer of this theory has nothing to do with Clovis, he is very influential among Clovis's older caster families and some old god sect groups."

Understand, this is new hatred plus old hatred.

Clovis is a very young emerging power. What is an "emerging" power? That's when she became truly powerful, in the last hundred years or so.

Before that, she had always been in a state of being repeatedly ravaged by various powerful countries, or killing each other.

The impact of this history on ordinary Clovis people is that on the one hand they feel that they can be on an equal footing with the empire, or at least the major principalities of the empire; on the other hand, they worship the culture, customs, traditions and systems of the empire to the point of rigidity. Degree of rigidity.

Deliberate imitation of imperial etiquette is seen as high-class and noble, while rigid adherence to Clovis traditions is... well... because the Clovis people have a short history and don't have many "traditions" to adhere to.

For the Clovis Old God Sect, the feeling of being "weak" and "lonely" is even stronger.

Not to mention the oppression of the Church of Order, the Yser elves are moving eastward, and the "Clovis region" in the current sense is the area they must conquer; based on the elves' theory of "blood is everything", the human Old Gods are under their rule You can imagine what kind of treatment you can get.

It is not difficult to understand why the theory of "elves stealing the power of the three old gods" is so popular among the Clovis Old Gods; if the Church of Order really dares to let go of the reins and turn a blind eye, I am afraid that those Clovis's spellcasters will really go to any lengths and fight to the death with the Council of Thirteen.

As for the church... all they need to consider is how to end it after both parties are almost dead.

What a good calculation.

"So, what about the Luen family?"

After thinking clearly, Anson came back to his senses and cautiously asked Thalia: "Your father...how does he view this matter?"

"My father has no ill will towards any Old God sect, including the Council of Thirteen...but there is no goodwill whatsoever." Thalia smiled:

"As spellcasters who become 'apostles', their thoughts will gradually become disconnected from ours as time goes by; they will try to maintain some ways of thinking that are similar to ours, but even they themselves cannot guarantee how much. of."

"So it's my decision to accept this."

"And I think it is beneficial to the Rune family to accept the goodwill from the Church of Order and remain neutral - and more importantly, it is also beneficial to you, dear Anson."

She looked at Anson, her soft eyes becoming a little excited: "Take advantage of this opportunity, dear Anson, not only can you change the current situation and move towards victory; you can also get rid of the shackles and become a true leader."

"When she thinks that her fiancé is about to become the hero and savior of this war, bringing shame to both the Army and the Franz family, Talia can't help but get... excited!"

"Speaking of the Franz family, I met her at a charity party some time ago." Talia suddenly changed the subject, her eyes thoughtful:

"Sofia Franz."

Um? !

Anson was suddenly startled and immediately became alert, but his expression remained the same: "Oh?"

"She was organizing a charity sale at the time, and most of the auction items were Anson's trophies." Thalia still had the same innocent and sweet tone with a deep tenderness:

"Thalia can tell she cares about being able to help you."

"Really?" Anson smiled nonchalantly, his eyes unmoved:

"I always thought that she and I were just using each other."

"Taking advantage of each other?"

"Yes, I need an investor, and she needs someone who can help her escape Ludwig Franz's influence."

"Nothing else?" Thalia blinked.

Anson looked confused: "For example?"

"……nothing."

Thalia smiled softly: "Anson is Thalia's fiancé and Lisa's brother; Thalia has enough confidence that she will not lose to the daughter of an archbishop."

Anson also smiled: "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"It doesn't matter. Anson doesn't need to know this. Anson only needs to know that he is a member of the Luen family. That is enough." Thalia shook her little head:

"What Anson has to do is become Clovis' hero, and Thalia will take care of the rest."

There was deep love in the girl's words.

A love that makes Anson's hair stand on end.

………………………

Iron Bell Fort, outside the room of the deputy commander (temporary).

After once again seeing off the dejected and lost Grand Duke Myster, the little clerk slowly withdrew his gaze and took out his pocket watch from his coat. The hands stopped at six twenty-nine.

One minute left.

Alan Dawn muttered silently, while methodically tidying up the documents and miscellaneous items on the table, while counting the seconds in his heart, his clear eyes staring unblinkingly at the closed door in front of him.

"boom!"

The moment he silently counted from sixty to one, a dark figure slammed open the door.

Allen, who was sitting behind the desk, smiled and looked at Lenore Emmanuel, who rushed into the room, and politely placed a glass of mulled wine in front of him that had been poured a minute and a half ago.

The gloomy-looking little Leno didn't "notice" the other party's politeness, and glared at the little secretary with a frown:

"Where is Anson Bach?!"

"The deputy commander is currently resting and refuses to meet with anyone." The little secretary said with a formulaic smile:

"If you really need to meet the deputy commander, you can sign here and keep a record; as soon as the deputy commander leaves the room, I will report the matter to him immediately; you see, besides you, there are also grenades on the list. Corps Commander Fabian, Chief of Staff Karl, Grand Duke Myster and Hantu Heir Lai..."

"boom!"

Before Allen could finish speaking, Lenore punched the list: "I want to see him now! Now!"

"This is impossible." The little secretary said without changing his expression:

"I am Lord Anson Bach's secretary. As long as I have not been dismissed, it is impossible for you to see Lord Deputy Commander without an appointment - this is against the regulations."

Not in compliance with the regulations... Renault's cheek twitched slightly. He took a deep breath, suppressed his anger and looked at the little clerk:

"Listen, I have a very important piece of information to tell An... Deputy Commander, it is very important! This matter is not only related to Hantu, but also related to the interests of the Kingdom of Clovis and himself, and even life and death!"

"So now you tell me, when exactly did he come out, or where exactly is he now because we really don't have time, understand?!"

"Understood." The young man nodded slightly:

"I fully understand how you feel at this moment, and I also understand the importance of the matter. In fact... you are not even the first one to come here for this matter."

Um? !

Renault looked shocked: "Then why hasn't he come forward yet?!"

"I don't know." The little clerk shook his head: "I'm just a humble clerk, not worth mentioning."

"But I think since the deputy commander refuses to come forward, he may have his own considerations... What do you think?"

Alan Dawn raised his head and winked at him.

Lenore fell silent.

To be honest, although his intuition told him that the little clerk in front of him was just fooling him, for some reason, Lenore still felt guilty.

Not to himself, but to his father, Duke Eden.

As the second person who knows him best in the world - the first being Duke Eden himself - Lenore knows very well what kind of guy his father is; in the dictionary of the Emmanuel family, treachery and despicableness are , are complimentary words that often appear in the biographies of previous dukes.

The Principality of Ayden is located in the westernmost part of the land, guarding the first line of defense against the empire. Once the empire really makes up its mind to launch an invasion, Renault... is really not very confident about what choice his father will make.

Normally Renault wouldn't care about anything, but now Hantu has changed from the Seven Cities Alliance to the Three Kingdoms Alliance, and the eastern and central parts are firmly controlled by the two grand duchies of Mist and Thun.

Of these two countries, one is Anson's relative and ally, and the other has completely become his vassal and lackey.

If I insist on saying "outsider", it's really just Aiden.

Now the little clerk told himself that Anson Bach... probably knew about that.

Now that he knew it, what was his reason for deliberately not showing up?

Because "three" alliances are still too many?

Because you think Aiden doesn’t know how to trust?

Because the Francois family of Thun wants to take the opportunity to annex the entire land and crown them king?

Lenore's expression became more and more panicked, and his breathing gradually began to become rapid; he now even felt that everything in front of him might be a trap, a way to lure him into a trap, so that Anson Bach could justifiably get rid of him and embezzle the eight thousand people. Aiden's soldier's trap!

A picture gradually emerged in Lenore's mind: he was so angry that he knocked the little clerk to the ground, and ink mixed with blood flowed on the floor.

He opened the door aggressively, and there was only a weak kerosene lamp lit in the dark room. Anson Bach sat in front of the lamp, looking at himself standing in front of the door, his cold eyes as if looking at a dead person.

He slowly raised his right hand, and the door behind him closed with a "bang!"; he looked back in panic and found that the room was already crowded with people, pointing rifles of different lengths at his body. .

And standing at the front was Leon Francois.

Little Leon held up the gun and silently recited words like "faith" and "dream" with tears streaming down his face. He silently pulled the bolt, loaded the bullet, locked the bolt, and placed the index finger of his right hand on the trigger. Up, then...

"Your Excellency Emmanuel?"

"ah!"

Renault, who suddenly woke up, was shaken and almost fell to the ground in a daze. When he came back to his senses, he found that the little secretary was still sitting in front of him intact, looking at him with a worried face:

"Are you okay?"

"No...I'm fine!"

Renault waved his hand repeatedly, hurriedly picked up the pen on the table, and wrote his name on the registration list - behind Grand Duke Mist.

After completing the registration, he turned around and left in despair, leaving only an uneasy figure behind, drifting away from the sight of the little clerk.

Alan Dawn, who still maintained a formulaic smile, watched him leave and continued to clean up the chores on the table in an orderly manner; he poured out the full glass of mulled wine and replaced it with ice-cold Tirpitz rum.

Two minutes later, before the ice cubes in the wine glass had completely melted, the door behind the little clerk was opened.

Looking at Anson who slowly walked out of the room with a very complicated expression, the young man pushed the rum on the table in front of him and picked up a stack of documents: "Dear Mr. Anson Bach, there are two pieces of news that you need to decide what to do now. Disposal."

"Let me guess..." Anson picked up the wine glass:

"One bad news and...another even worse news?"

"You can say that." The little clerk holding the document nodded slightly:

"It turns out that the Carindia fleet did not rebel. They were just temporarily hiding to prevent being controlled by our army; now the nobles in Carindia Port have set off a rebellion and massacred the Carindia we left there to maintain law and order. Lindia Regiment'—this is the information sent back by the cavalry company."

"Then?"

"Their backer...is the empire."