I will be crowned king

"To the loyal Commander of the Colonial Corps, Brigadier General Anson Bach:

I'm really sorry that it took me so long to write you my first letter. There are so many things I want to say but I can't say them. You are far away in the colonies and you don't understand the causes of what is happening in the mainland. It cannot be explained by just a few letters. Clearly, it has been postponed until now.

Now that we have said this, I might as well tell you about the latest happenings in Clovis City.

Do you still remember the surprise dinner we had together at the college? Even now, many scenes from that time are still vivid in my mind, especially the last work of Saint Isaac, the steam-powered 'moving image', which has been promoted with the strong support of the church.

Just last month, I enjoyed a new 'moving image' at the afternoon tea party hosted by Mrs. Catarina. The content was the scene of the Iron Sky steam train entering the platform. It was very short, only a few minutes, but it was still very interesting. Surprised; several young ladies who usually call themselves "brave" were scared to death.

There is also our beloved Viscount Bognar, who is as calm as a knight from the classical era, but Lady Catarina told me that when he first watched it, he poured coffee on his head.

Oh, by the way, she told me while pointing to the burn marks on the Viscount’s forehead, haha.

The current 'moving images' are expensive to make, and the images need to be stored on something called 'photo cards'. Each second of images requires at least fifteen cards, and the cost of each card is close to one gold coin, which is literally true. The example of 'time is money'.

Despite this, I still feel that this technology has broad prospects; the impact of moving pictures on the general public is unmatched by newspapers and comic strips; as long as the cost per second can be controlled within one silver coin, Or by increasing the volume of communication and reducing costs, it will become the darling of the entire media industry.

To give a simple example, if the scene of you conquering Eagle Point City or defeating the Imperial Expeditionary Force could be recorded through it, I might not need to spend so much effort on publicity and soliciting investment for the Storm Division.

Speaking of Hantu, there has been a lot of news about them recently... Because of its alliance with Clovis, the empire has blocked border trade with them, leaving only Carindia Port as the only trading port, plus the army On the Chen Bing border, the country is very unstable.

Earlier this year, my dear brother Ludwig also proposed a plan to the Army. He would lead the Southern Army to support Hantu, remove hidden dangers on its borders, and completely defeat it from its current weakest position. However, it was ultimately rejected. .

Of course, this is not a secret, you must already know it.

I can only express my sympathy and regret for this result; not only for my dear brother, but also for Leon Francois and those who fight for the unity and freedom of Hantu; although the weak Hantu relies on its strength He won Clovis's friendship, but the assistance he could get was too limited.

Ansen, my loyal subordinate, you should feel the same way as me; after all, for the freedom and unity of Hantu, you have made far more efforts than I have, and you have experienced the whole process personally.

Even so, I still firmly believe that Hantu will never fall easily; not only its long history, but also the people living on this land; as long as there is a strong voice to unite them, they can burst out. Use unprecedented strength to defeat the invading enemies who came on an expedition.

You must think so too, right?

I haven't written a letter for a long time, and I said a lot of irrelevant things at once. I hope you don't mind and just look at the important points.

Remember to reply to me when you have time, but now you are probably having a headache with the reorganization and expansion of the army, and you are too busy to care about it, Brigadier General Anson Bach?

Do you know how many Clovis officers with your background have achieved the rank of brigadier general...less than one hand!

Not only that, the achievements each of them have made are five times or ten times greater than yours! Even before receiving this rank, they have already established a reputation, rather than being like some junior captain who was forcibly promoted and disliked.

So you should understand what a privilege this is.

Cherish this honor.

Sophia Franz

yours truly. "

The clean kraft paper is packed in a simple envelope. Perhaps it has some traces of moisture due to having crossed the ocean. Juan's elegant handwriting makes people feel like they can see the girl who sent the letter sitting on her own when reading. The person on the other side spoke loudly, talking about all the new things he had encountered since the two separated.

No matter from which angle you look at it, it is an extremely ordinary letter, and the content is extremely ordinary. From the appearance to every line of words and every punctuation mark, there is nothing special about it.

"So I really don't understand, what is it about it that makes you look like this?"

Throwing the letter on the table casually, Karl stood up suddenly with a puzzled face, his brows almost coming together: "Aside from the possibility that Miss Talia discovers your... relationship, what else is there? Big deal—besides, she must have discovered it long ago!”

"Well, even if there is really something hidden that us fools can't understand, then you should tell us instead of hiding in the bedroom for two days in a row, right, my brigadier general? !”

Slightly irritable words sounded again and again, echoing in the dimly lit living room, and then returned to dead silence.

After a moment of silence, the chief of staff, whose face became increasingly uglier, walked to the fireplace and stared at the figure curled up on the sofa:

"Tell me what's going on, or I'll give this letter to Miss Thalia and let her ask you - choose one of the two, immediately!"

There was another moment of silence. Anson on the sofa slowly raised his head, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes and a pipe at the corner of his mouth. He looked at his adjutant with an expression full of uncertainty:

"You definitely want to know."

"...No, I just think that working fourteen hours a day is too leisurely! So I plan to meet you to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes, and just chat and gossip to pass the time." Karl rolled his eyes:

"Do you think I have enough time every day now? I don't have the time to listen to your heart-to-heart talk, so I need to know now - there is something wrong with that letter, right?!"

"……Yes."

Anson sighed deeply, the heaviness on his face not diminishing at all.

"Then how did you tell?" Karl immediately sat down on the sofa next to him and stared at his expression intently.

"She... used a simple but very imperceptible way to convey the message she really wanted to convey in a content that only a 'specific audience' could understand."

Anson smoked his pipe dully, and every word seemed to contain a huge burden.

"So, the 'real content' of this letter can only be understood by you. To others, it is just an ordinary and boring letter - because this information is crucial and must not be discovered, right?"

"...It can be understood that way."

“Can you give an example, such as the previous banquet, what does ‘moving image’ refer to?”

"It refers to the 'new things that have happened in Clovis City recently', that is, a meeting between Clovis high-level officials that just ended." Anson said in a deep voice:

"In this meeting, they reached an agreement on a certain point of view - and this meeting is closely related to our current situation."

Lady Catarina, Viscount Bogner, and the church—that is, Archbishop Luther Franz. Sophia used these three names to refer to the senior officials of Clovis, and the "afternoon tea party" was them. secret meeting between them.

The so-called "moving image", St. Isaac's last work, probably means that the outcome of this meeting exceeded her initial expectations; it also implies that the content of the meeting was very unfavorable to her, because she and herself were together twice. When they met at the "banquet", they were either attacked by the Guards, or they encountered trouble caused by the Old Gods, and they were all related to themselves.

Karl fell into deep thought, thought for a few seconds, and then frowned and asked:

"What about Hantu? What is Hantu?"

"What she wants to talk about is not Hantu, but Ice Dragon Fjord - the colony of the New World." Anson took a puff of his pipe and coughed as he said:

"Allying with Clovis means that we joined forces with the rebellious colonies and successfully established the Free Confederacy; the only trading port...may be Sailing City. It was probably because when the news was sent back, we had not yet been able to capture it."

"By analogy, it is easy to understand that the situation is unstable. This was indeed the case at the time. We were not sure of victory. It was very likely that we would be split into two parts with the empire, or that we would be unable to conquer the Sailing City."

Karl suddenly realized, then he turned his eyes and blurted out: "So, Major General Ludwig Franz's plan to break the Hantu situation refers to..."

"We were supposed to go north to support our local reinforcements." The expressionless Anson exhaled a long wisp of smoke:

"Due to various reasons, it was ultimately rejected by Clovis' senior management."

"The result of the rejection is most likely related to that meeting..." Karl, with his eyes widened, muttered to himself:

"The situation changed so quickly that Clovis changed its original mind."

"And this is not a secret." Anson nodded slightly:

"Since it is not a secret, it means that it is not just a high-level internal meeting, but has become a consensus within Clovis."

Even for fear that she would not be able to grasp the key points of the letter, the young lady specifically reminded herself, "Just look at the important points," risking the possibility of being discovered by mentioning this sentence.

So, who discovered it?

The letter was sent by the "Clovis Truth" and was delivered by William Cecil. In theory, it could not be safer.

Assuming that the truth report is absolutely one of her own, wouldn't it mean that the Cecil family has made some kind of compromise, and even... not even the Franz family can be absolutely trusted by her?

"The banquet is talking about a high-level meeting, and Hantu is referring to the New World Colony..."

As the content of the letter gradually became clear, the relaxation on Karl's face was completely replaced by solemnity, and an answer that was originally unimaginable was gradually revealed:

"Then I would like to remind you that the rank of brigadier general is very precious and should be cherished. This means..."

"That's what I mean." Anson nodded slightly, with a bit of helplessness in his eyes.

Karl gasped and immediately fell into silence.

The dimly lit living room seemed to be much colder than before.

Looking at the adjutant with a heavy face, Anson continued to smoke his pipe, staring at the flames dancing in the fireplace, lost in thought.

To be honest, it was not beyond his expectation that the situation would turn out like this. Anson had already begun to notice it starting from the local people's acquiescence to his various "cross-border" behaviors; the reason why he had never considered it in that direction, except Apart from some objective reasons, the most important thing is probably...don't dare.

He was afraid.

I was afraid that I would be used as bait and abandonment from the beginning, a target used to attract the enemy's attention.

Of course, this is not the first time this has happened. After all, it is one of the fates of cannon fodder, but this time it is slightly different.

Whether it was in Thunder Castle, Dawn Ice Peak, or Han Tu, I and the people around me knew their position very well. They were just a bunch of scum and cannon fodder that no one wanted. Their goal was to survive hard, and then Find a way to make a fortune that will last for decades.

Until the battle of the Elf Royal Court of Iser... I led them thousands of miles and finally captured the royal court. I finally won the status of the standing army, and even coaxed and coaxed them onto the ship to the colony, promising that they could Earn a lot of money and have a bright future...

Now that I have made money, I have a bright future; but with me, there is a truth that no one wants to tell me.

You, you... are still the same scum and cannon fodder that you were before.

If you work so hard and they work so hard, the final result may be to make the epitaphs of these hundreds or thousands of people look more respectable.

"This...this is so surprising."

Shock filled Karl's eyes. He raised his head and stared at Anson with an expression of disbelief: "You, tell the truth, you..."

"What is the relationship between you and Sophia?!"

"……Um?"

An Sen was stunned for a moment, then raised his head inexplicably, only to see Karl with a wicked smile on his face:

"W-what did you say?"

"What else can you say? Stop pretending, my Lord Commander!" The corners of the adjutant's mouth rose crazily and he smiled brightly:

"A letter that only two people can understand, such an obscure metaphor... If the relationship wasn't close to a certain level, how could they have understood the meaning so quickly?!"

"Tell me, how did you secretly contact each other?! All the Storm Division's letterheads have to be checked by me and the little clerk. It's impossible... ah! Could it be that you have other mailing channels? It shouldn't be... ugh, ugh you Don't draw your gun, don't draw it... Oh, hey, hey, hey, come on, help, the commander-in-chief is going to hit someone!"