Iron Powder and Spellcaster

[Time: now]

[Location: Agrippa Auditorium of the Republic of Van]

Captain Fritz shook his mind from his memories. No matter what happened in Guitu City, it has now settled.

He looked at Richard Milehouse who was walking towards the podium - what mattered was not the past, but the future.

…

It takes thirteen steps to go from the audience to the speaking platform. During these thirteen steps, Richard Malhouse walked very calmly.

The noise lingering under the majestic vault disappeared instantly. In the semicircular auditorium, everyone's eyes focused on the purple-robed man in the center of the venue.

Richard Malhouse stood still behind the podium, raised his head slightly, half-squinted his eyes, and looked at the representatives and envoys in the venue.

Representatives and envoys from republics and foreign countries also looked at him curiously, wanting to see how the new figure who had just stepped onto the stage of power would perform.

There are too many mysteries surrounding the new titular leader of the United Provinces: Is he a moderate or a radical? Is he a marionette of the federal military or a head of state with real power? What is his view on the tense situation within the alliance?

People are waiting for the Honorable Richard Milehouse to express his attitude.

But Richard Malhouse said nothing.

He stood at the speaker's table without saying a word, looking indifferently at the people in the seats, as if looking at a bunch of lifeless puppets and clay sculptures.

The venue fell into an uncomfortable silence.

Dead silence.

Dead silence.

If silence is the opening statement, then the opening statement of the new Speaker of the United Provinces will be too long.

After a brief period of surprise, the representatives and envoys in the auditorium became a little at a loss. People began to whisper and whisper to each other, trying to find answers to the emergencies at hand.

…

The first floor of the auditorium belongs to the sector of representatives of the federal provinces.

A federal soldier wearing a school officer's uniform turned his head and lowered his voice and asked another school officer beside him: "He has stage fright?"

The person being questioned looked at the new speaker who had been put on the throne of power by them, frowned imperceptibly, and waved his hand: "Don't worry."

…

The second floor of the auditorium is where foreign envoys sit.

Prince Richard looked at Count Varese next to him in confusion, and asked with interest: "Is this prearranged?"

Count Varese - the Empire's ambassador to Vane - looked embarrassed and bowed slightly to explain to the prince: "Your Highness, I don't know what the people of the United Provinces are doing..."

…

At the speaker's table, Richard Malhouse greeted everyone's eyes and tasted their emotions - he had been waiting for this moment for too long.

In the silent silence, he felt the people's uneasiness and confusion.

“There are too many people chattering,” he thought, “but no one knows the power of silence.”

The time was a quarter past ten, and the sunlight passed through the skylight of the vault, shining directly on the speaker's seat in the center of the venue, hitting Richard Milehouse.

He stretched out his hand, briefly flipped through the speech notes prepared for him by the "Interim Supreme Meeting", and then turned the thick stack of speech notes upside down directly on the podium.

Seeing the purple-robed man at the speaker's desk suddenly move, everyone in the venue realized that he was about to speak, and the dome suddenly fell silent again.

Richard Malhouse took a deep breath and let the sound explode into the dead silence.

"I know what you're thinking."

The voice of the new Speaker of the United Provinces is hoarse and low. The exquisite focus design of Agrippa's auditorium allows his words to be clearly transmitted to every listener's ears without magical amplification:

"You are associating my face with every famous traitor, oathbreaker, and conspirator in history, trying to find even the tiniest trait in common with them!"

Richard Malhouse's opening self-deprecation caught everyone under the dome off guard.

In the joint provincial seating area, the school official who had just said "Don't worry" frowned even more tightly; on the second-floor auditorium, the interest in Prince Richard's eyes became even stronger.

At the edge of the venue, Captain Fritz glanced at Mrs. Malhouse with some confusion, but he did not see any panic or nervousness on the latter's face, only a confident smile.

However, Richard Malhouse hadn't finished speaking his astonishing words. He paused briefly and scanned the venue:

"I also know why you think so - because, no matter what rhetoric is used to whitewash it, the regime change that occurred in Guitu City four days ago is undoubtedly a coup, a rebellion, and a well-documented treason. offense!"

"Buzz!"

As soon as this statement came out, the whole place was in an uproar.

No one would have thought that when the Supreme Speaker of the United Provinces, who had just gained power, made his first speech on stage, he would choose to publicly deny the legitimacy of his power.

The truth that the federal military was unwilling to mention and that the republics were inconvenient to tell was bloodily displayed in front of representatives of the entire alliance.

Richard Malhouse waited patiently, waiting for the venue to return to silence, waiting for the delegates to close their mouths to hear what he had to say, and then spoke again:

"However, please also remember that on a ship that is about to sink, as long as it prevents the ship from sinking, it is reasonable to use any means!"

He looked at the representatives from the republics without fear, and then repeated word for word: "As long as it can save the Union from the fate of destruction! Any means is reasonable!"

The venue was in an uproar again, but this time, Richard Malhouse did not give the representatives time to be quiet again. He knocked on the podium hard and drowned out all the noise with his questions:

“Twenty-nine years have passed since the Founding Fathers signed the Charter of the Union.

For twenty-nine years, we have built one monument after another! One merit-recording pillar after another was created! Streets and squares were named one after another in the name of freedom and union! Countless celebratory parades were held!

We are immersed in the achievements of our founding fathers! Constantly deify their achievements! Push everything about them to the point of being untouchable! So much so that anyone who tries to face up to the legacy of the founding fathers will be branded a traitor and rebel! "

"Marshal Ned Smith defeated the Empire - this is of course a great achievement, but what is the legacy he left us?" Richard Malhouse's voice became more and more intense: "A country?"

"No!" Richard Malhouse almost roared the answer: "It is a loose and weak alliance! It is a fragmented alliance! It is an alliance that is tired of internal fighting! It is against each other! An alliance in name only! "

Every time he said a word, he would bang his fist on the podium. His voice became more deafening every sentence, and the sound of his fist hitting the podium became heavier every time, as if a hammer was hitting the hearts of the audience.

The venue fell into silence again.

Because Richard Malhouse told the truth that every league representative avoided but knew.

After scanning the venue again, Richard Milehouse spoke again. It's just that his voice is no longer as impassioned as before, but has returned to the hoarse, rough voice from the beginning.

"This country, this alliance, was established because of the defeat of the Empire." Richard Malhouse said: "It is also because of the existence of the Empire that you, I, and we - the republics can barely maintain the so-called Great Covenant. .”

The venue remained silent.

Richard Milehouse looked at the representatives and continued: "But when we are addicted to fighting and fighting with each other, can anyone raise their heads and look at the outside world? Can anyone cross the rolling shading mountains? See the world on the other side of the mountains?

If anyone had seen it - even just once - he would have understood - the Alliance is on the verge of destruction! Our freedom, our Republic, and the legacy of our Founding Fathers are at stake! "

Richard Malhouse stretched out his arm and pointed to the invisible north: "On the other side of the mountains, the once decadent and weak Mu Luo Empire has entered an unprecedented golden age under the rule of the Oathbreakers!

In Castile, the Oathbreakers subdued the beasts of the forest! On the eastern border, the Oathbreakers keep the Saracens from taking another step forward! In the far north, the Oathbreakers have conquered the last Norman kingdom and expanded their territory to the Narrow Sea!

Groups of large ships set out from the Far Western Colonies, carrying immeasurable wealth back to the Eternal City. That wealth turned into gunpowder and steel! Become flesh and blood fed to the beasts raised by the Oathbreakers! "

Question after question struck the hearts of the alliance representatives:

"But what about us? What are we doing?"

“What are we doing while our northern enemy expands its territory?

“What are we doing while our merchants are being squeezed out of one trading port after another?”

"What are we doing while the sword hanging over our heads becomes sharper and sharper?"

Richard Malhouse responded sadly and angrily: "We are fighting each other! We are fighting each other! We have exhausted everything in twenty-nine years of internal strife!"

"If anyone thinks I am alarmist, just raise your head and look at the son of the false emperor sitting above your heads! Look at the envoy with a fake smile on his face!" Richard Milehouse raised his head. His hand pointed directly at Prince William sitting on the viewing platform:

"Just when the Oathbreakers sent their own sons as a symbol of peace, the spies raised by the Oathbreakers set fire to the Steel Citadel and committed murder! Intent on starting a large-scale rebellion in Monta! How hypocritical! How ugly! How despicable! The Oathkeeper—never gave up on his ambition to destroy us!"

"And what about us? We are like five skinny wild dogs, biting each other for a few bones until blood drips, but we have no idea that on the other side of the mountains, a real beast is grinding its teeth and sucking blood! All the time! He is thinking about tearing us apart completely every moment!”

…

The auditorium on the second floor of the auditorium.

The imperial ambassador, Count Vales, jumped up from his seat and shouted angrily towards the center of the venue: "Insolent! Slander!"

After shouting, Count Varese, who turned pale, wiped the sweat from his forehead, bent deeply towards the prince, and almost begged: "Your Highness, please leave with me!"

Prince Richard waved his hand.

Count Varese's face became even more ugly, and he kept chanting as if he was swearing: "This matter will not end like this! This is public slander and slander! You wait! You wait! I must let this happen." A bunch of uneducated mudbumps are so cute..."

Richard said calmly: "Count Varese."

Count Varese was stunned: "Yes."

"Sit down," the prince said softly, "you have made it impossible for me to hear what is being said on the stage."

…

Speaker's seat.

Richard Malhouse regained his stern mood.

"Gentlemen, on behalf of the citizens of the Alliance, raise your heads and look!" He said: "The last king of the Normans south of the Narrow Sea, Charles XI, has been crowned, and his kingdom has been included in the Murro Empire. territory.

The Oathbreaker has cleared out all those who would not bend the knee and surrender to him, only us are left! Once the armies of the Oathbreakers have recovered from their losses in conquering the North, it will be our turn! "

The venue was silent.

Richard Malhouse caught his breath and paused for a moment to make his final statement in his first public address.

"A house divided into pieces cannot stand, and a divided alliance cannot survive the attack of the empire." His tone was cold and his attitude was firm:

"The Alliance cannot remain in name only forever. I don't want to see the great Alliance break up, I don't want to see the house collapse, but I will never allow the Alliance to perish in my hands! I will never allow the legacy of the Founding Fathers to be taken away Go! I will never surrender to the oathbreaker!"

"On a ship that is about to sink, it is reasonable to use any means as long as the ship can avoid the fate of sinking! The Alliance and the Empire will eventually have a war! This war is inevitable! As long as the Alliance can achieve final victory, the Alliance can The Provincial Republic will use any means necessary and is not afraid of any charges!"

He concluded with a heavy voice: "Gentlemen, freedom is not free, freedom has a price, and the same goes for peace!"

"If war is destined to come! Then the sooner he comes! The better!

"Long live the alliance! The glory will last forever!"

Having said that, Richard Malhouse glanced at the audience for the last time, neither staying at the speaker's seat to accept greetings, nor paying attention to the different expressions of the people in the auditorium, and strode out of the center of the venue.

Representatives from the republics originally thought that the newly elected Speaker of the United Provinces would not make any big moves. At most, he would show his attitude towards the situation in Plato, and more likely, he would just deal with the situation casually.

No one expected to hear such a speech that could be called a "declaration of war on the empire."

After a moment of silence, sporadic applause broke out.

One blast, two blasts, three blasts...and then a roar like a wave. On the first floor of the venue, all the representatives in the joint provincial seating area stood up, cheered loudly and clapped.

Many representatives from other republics also stood up and applauded, and even a representative from Veneta followed suit as a courtesy.

Captain Fritz glanced at Mrs. Malhouse, who smiled proudly and clapped her hands reservedly.

…

The viewing platform on the second floor.

Prince Richard stood up with a smile and clapped his hands gently.

Count Varese stood beside the prince in embarrassment, not knowing whether to applaud along with the prince or to leave directly.

…

Veneta Republic seating area on the ground floor.

Consul De Bella looked at the back of Richard Malhouse and commented: "It seems that the new Speaker is not a puppet of the army, but an ambitious guy who wants to stand on his own."

"Isn't this a good thing? Your Excellency." The entourage asked in confusion: "How could the United Provincial Army allow him to form his own faction? Let them fight dog to dog. The harder they fight, the better it is for us."

De Bella sighed longly: "I'm just worried that we may have ushered in an opponent more difficult than Lionel."

…

Just as thunderous applause and cheers passed through the vaults of Agrippa's auditorium and reached the clouds.

The three travelers had just left Plainfield City and were riding westward along the road.

A tall man with blond hair and a sword, a thin man wearing a strange hat, and... a nun.

[It’s not over yet! ]

[The United Province, as the background force that has always been there, finally appears! Throw flowers! ]

[There are a lot of characters and forces currently on the scene. When this volume is finished, we will devote a week to sorting out the timeline and then draw a "power map\