I will be crowned king

Turbulent sea, HMS Crown, early morning.

In the brightly lit officers' mess, Anson was sitting at the dining table, staring at the steaming hot coffee, holding a knife and fork in both hands without saying a word.

Even with his head lowered, he could feel the young captain opposite him looking at him with very "wonderful" eyes - even though he was trying his best to hide it.

If possible, Anson usually doesn't like to explain some meaningless issues, because the more you explain, the worse it will be. But this time is different. The Cecil family is his very important partner. If possible, Anson would actually like to win over him. This young captain made him willing to join his side.

Considering that the "personality" he had finally built up might be destroyed due to the excessive behavior of a certain eldest lady, Anson believed that it was necessary to make amends.

Anson twitched his throat and slowly raised his gaze; William opposite him was obviously observing his every move, and his body trembled suddenly.

So Anson took a deep breath: "Colonel William Cecil."

"Um?!"

The young captain reacted hugely: "What...what happened?"

"Nothing, I just thought we might want to talk."

"No! I understand...well...I don't think...there's anything to talk about."

William started to act stupid.

Anson sighed:

"You may have misunderstood what happened to Miss Talia before..."

"No...no misunderstanding! I mean...we both understand...really."

"No, no, no... you have obviously misunderstood, the two of us... are not what you imagined..."

"I understand - really, you don't have to hide anything, I understand; many of the traditions followed by ancient wealthy families, they... do not fully conform to the... morals of the modern Kingdom of Clovis."

"No, you don't understand."

"I understand how you feel. This is nothing to be ashamed of; people who truly love each other only need to care about each other and don't need to consider... worldly perspectives."

"...You really misunderstood."

"I assure you that the Wang Navy is definitely not a prejudiced place, and we will never look at you differently; just rest assured, we will never treat you as someone..."

"Scum?"

"That's right... no! We... definitely didn't think so, really!"

"...I believe in you, thank you."

"No, it's me who should thank you! Uh... By the way, you and Miss Talia are just engaged. You shouldn't have... uh... I mean... ah! The Ring of Order is up there, I'm thinking about something. What... forget it... I was just talking nonsense... you... just pretend you didn't hear me."

"..."

Very good, this character seems to be completely bankrupt.

Looking at William Cecil's forced composure, Anson lamented in his heart and forced out a smile: "I'm going back to my room first."

Just as he stood up to leave, the young captain with a slightly red face suddenly shouted:

"Wait a moment!"

Stopping, Anson looked back without changing his expression:

"Please say?"

"Ah...it's nothing." William smiled unnaturally: "That's right, the kitchen told me that today's lunch will be later and may not start until twelve o'clock, so I will inform you in advance."

"Or if you need it, I can also have lunch delivered to your room...outside the door? Don't worry, our crew members know how to respect each other's privacy and will never engage in any disgusting behavior!"

"……Thanks."

Resisting the urge to beat the other person up, Anson turned and left the restaurant.

In the cabin, Thalia sat in front of the window and looked at the endless sea, with a glass of water in her hand, her expression was very leisurely; Lisa was sleeping soundly on the bed next to her, as if she was having a sweet dream related to food. ——The saliva has dripped onto the pillow.

How to describe it... Well, the sense of déjà vu is too strong, it's like a "happy" family traveling.

"Anson, you're back." The smiling Thalia turned back and stood up:

"How about breakfast?"

"……Not bad. What about you?"

"I just got up. The waves last night were so violent."

"How's Lisa?"

"Well, she's not awake yet... You know, children her age are quite sleepy."

"yes."

No, why is this sense of déjà vu getting stronger and stronger.

Glancing at the sleeping Lisa, Anson quietly locked the door with his backhand:

"Can we talk?"

"Of course." Thalia got up and walked to the side, hanging Anson's coat that was thrown on the bed on the coat rack behind the door, and poured another glass of Tirpitz Rum, smiling brightly:

"We can talk about anything, anytime, as long as you want."

"After all...we are an unmarried couple."

The corners of Anson's mouth twitched violently.

He can now be 100% sure that the appearance of the other party is definitely not a coincidence, but was planned from the beginning.

"You seem to have misunderstood something. Do you need Thalia's help?"

Putting the wine glass in front of Anson, the girl blinked her big clear eyes.

"Then can I ask why this is?" Anson said calmly as he took the wine glass.

"Why... doesn't Anson want Thalia to come?"

There was grievance in the girl's eyes.

"That's not what I meant!" Anson denied decisively.

"Then why ask why?" Thalia continued to ask.

"Because..." Anson hesitated.

The girl opened her eyes wide: "Because?"

"Because... I thought you would come back later." Anson quickly put down his wine glass and looked at the girl with extremely sincere eyes:

"You know, if you want to establish the power of the Luen family in the colony, you need a lot of preliminary preparations."

"And this is why Thalia must come." The girl showed a heartwarming smile:

"The situation in the new world is too complicated. Anson alone cannot deal with all problems - more importantly, we are unmarried couples. Shouldn't we join hands with each other and face difficulties together?"

"Of course it should, it's so appropriate!" Anson agreed decisively.

Seeing Anson's sincere expression, Talia shook her head slightly, turned around and walked to the window, looking out at the calm turbulent sea.

"No... dear Anson, you still don't understand."

"oh?"

Anson raised his eyebrows.

"At the very beginning, Thalia did not have any thoughts of interfering with Anson, and was prepared to wait until the most suitable time to officially appear. Showing up in advance may provide some convenience with her identity as the Rune family, but it will also intensify many conflicts. , creating more surprises.”

The girl with her back to Anson said: "But it's a pity that the current situation no longer allows Thalia to do this."

The current situation... Anson raised his eyebrows:

"Sea of ​​the Abyss?"

"Exactly."

Thalia's voice suddenly became heavy: "To be more precise, it is the world of the old gods in the New World. They are full of hostility and rejection of us 'outsiders' and are simply unwilling to accept a force from the old world. Establish a foothold in their land.”

"I tried to reach a compromise with them, and even lowered my profile and asked them for cooperation and help, but I was rejected; they were not even willing to start any form of negotiation, and their attitude was extremely tough."

"I see..." Anson sighed softly, but he was quite disapproving of this in his heart.

Of course they are tough!

Anson doesn't know much about the relationship between the old gods, but he also knows very well what an "apostle" means - that is the existence that stands at the pinnacle of the entire caster system, and is one of the three old gods who have fallen. The "true God" who exists externally in the world.

Of course, according to the evaluation standards of the Ring of Order, he...they are actually more like a group of evil gods...

what does that mean? This means that once the Luen family establishes a foothold in the new world, the first thing that the two sides will start will definitely not be some bullshit unity, the "blood is thicker than water, intimate" between the Old Gods, but a fight to the death to divide interests!

The reason is also very simple - no matter how much they claim to be "just", the Old Gods are a group with blood as the core of their rule; this means that except for family members who share the same blood, the rest are either enemies or even "people" no.

For example, Anson himself can barely be regarded as a "tool man" between "human" and "not human", and his status is slightly equal to Mace Honnard, who died at the hands of Thalia before.

For the Rune family, lowering their profile seems to be a compromise; but for the Old God sect in the new world, as long as the blood magic family with apostles sets foot on their own land, it is an outright invasion.

If you think about it this way, Anson can probably understand why nearly two hundred years have passed, and the Church of Order still cannot build a real cathedral in the New World.

For the Church of Order, they are probably facing a similar dilemma - either continue to maintain the church's presence in the old world, or launch a true "holy war" and call on the entire world of Order to march into the new world and eliminate it. This group of blatant old gods.

Now it seems that the Church of Order has chosen the former; indeed, compared to the outside world, the enemies in "home" are more hateful.

Thinking of this, Anson suddenly discovered another question: "So this time, our enemy is not only the empire, but also the... Old God Sect of the New World?"

"It's a pity, yes." Thalia turned her head and sighed softly:

"It's really ironic. The original purpose of our trip was to find our allies, but as a result, we have more enemies, and they are sworn enemies who will never stop fighting."

"The Land of Rest...that is, the Old Gods of the New World. They seem to have given up on the idea of ​​fighting against the false gods, or they do not believe that the Ring of Order will really extend its tentacles to their desolate land."

"The land of rest?"

Anson met the girl's gaze and suddenly became interested in this topic: "Why is it called such a name? Does it have any special meaning, or is it just a random name?"

Thalia was suddenly shocked when she heard Anson's question. She closed her eyes gently, sat down tremblingly while holding on to the edge of the table, and hid her head in silence in her chest.

Anson was a little flustered by her actions and said cautiously: "What's wrong?"

"nothing!"

The girl suddenly raised her head: "Dear Anson, if I want to tell you the answer, Thalia must first explain another question to you - why do you think the Ring of Order is a 'false god'?"

Why is the Ring of Order a false god... The confused Anson frowned slightly and thought hard:

"Because he stole the Original Ring?"

"No." A smile appeared on Thalia's face:

"Because no matter how the believers of the Circle of Order flaunt the justice of their beliefs, they can never explain the most deadly question - how did this world come into being?"

"Where did I...we...come from and where are we going?"

"They can't explain it all, but the Three Old Gods can."

"Only darkness can reveal light, only blood can achieve eternal life, and only destruction can achieve greatness."

"The three hymns are compared to the three true gods, which correspond to the 'original ring' that symbolizes the beginning of everything; the blasphemers cannot understand the meaning at all, and openly use the runes they modified as a symbol of faith. .”

"The original ring represents the origin of the true god's belief - evolution."

"We... were born from chaos, from the initial darkness to countless colors, from the first drop of rain falling from the dome to the entire world, from ants to powerful beings, we are always evolving, always evolving."

"This is the reason why true gods are true gods - this world is constantly evolving, and they have found three completely different paths of evolution for us; these paths are dangerous, cruel, and terrifying, and they require us to give up a lot. A lot of things…”

"But the moment we give up evolution is the moment of self-destruction." Thalia sighed:

"And this... is also the reason why the Land of Rest exists."

"Even if God has shown the truth to all creatures in the world, it still does not mean that everyone can understand the future they have guided; there are still a group of beings who have also embarked on this path and believe that they should 'evolve' while , preserve something.”

"They are destined not to become extraordinary and are destined to be abandoned by the ever-changing world, but they still insist on not giving up and stubbornly adhere to certain principles that cannot be abandoned."

So the world they live in is called the "Land of Rest" by the Old Gods, because they are destined to be destroyed... Anson couldn't help but guess.

In other words, the Old Gods in the New World... their power is very likely to be completely different from that of the Old World.

"Of course, this is only one of the reasons. For many true Old Gods, this is not even the real reason to call it that."

Thalia's tone suddenly became a little bleak, and there were some very unique emotions in her eyes: "For all of us, that land actually has some very special meanings."

"It...is still the tomb of the entire Old God World."

"Buried are the remains of the three true gods."