I will be crowned king

"Anson! Anson, you're not dead, are you? If you're not, wake up!"

A hurried male voice sounded in my ears, accompanied by a wake-up call of "Pah!"

Feeling the stinging sensation of some swelling, Anson opened his eyes suddenly and tried to focus on the figure next to him - the panic-stricken Cole Dorian knelt down on one knee and raised his right hand high to his cheek. .

No wonder his face hurts so much. Speaking of which, artificial respiration should not be used to wake up an unconscious person at this time... Forget it... Rolling his eyes in his heart, Anson, who was lying on the ground, nodded slightly to the secondary inquisitor, indicating that the other person was fine.

"Very good!"

Cole Dorian looked happy, and quickly picked up Anson with his hands, lying half flat against the wall, and kept talking: "I knew you were fine! You almost scared us. It was broken, but Sierra said she heard you were still breathing, so she asked me to come over quickly and wake you up first..."

Anson, who was leaning against the wall, raised his head. He could hear the chatter of the inferior judge in his ears, and his somewhat blurry vision glanced around. The originally empty room was crowded with people with different faces, all of whom were begging for help. The judges of the True Order.

Among the crowd, he also saw Sera Vigil, who was also looking at him silently - a pale female inquisitor sitting in a wheelchair, her chest covered with bandages.

So why was it not her who woke him up, but this inferior inquisitor who talked a lot of nonsense?

Sighing again, the expressionless Anson looked at Cole, who was still talking:

"How's the situation?"

"The Black Mage is dead!"

Cole Dorian said cheerfully, completely unaware of Anson's expression:

"Sela immediately noticed the disappearance of his life signs. It was very clear and complete, and it was basically certain that the black mage, or Professor Mace Honnard, and his apprentice Bronn were no longer there. This world is over!"

"My lieutenant colonel, you are so amazing! Just when I knew that Mace Hornard was actually a blasphemous mage, I almost thought that we would all die gloriously this time. I even thought about the surviving family members... but it turned out It actually worked, it really worked!”

Anson's expression changed slightly.

It was unmistakable... Before he fell into coma, he did indeed see something come to life in the ashes.

At that time, Professor Mace Honnard was not completely dead.

So what's going on... Mace Hornard got away, or is there someone else behind this? And why would you let yourself go?

The puzzled Anson glanced at Sera Vigil, and the pale-faced female inquisitor nodded to him gently. The understanding Anson's expression immediately returned to its original state, and he continued to ask the next question:

"What's the situation outside?"

"The riot is over." The inferior judge chuckled:

"About the time Sera told us that the Black Mage was dead, the thugs who besieged Clovis Cathedral broke up for some reason, and then the group of looters followed and ran away; two companies of skirmishers Rushed out, followed the fleeing thugs and took back the entire red brick street."

That's because Professor Mace Honnard is dead, and his hypnosis on those thugs will naturally end... Anson said silently in his heart.

"The group of people who besieged the Ostria Palace seemed to have reached a certain condition with His Majesty Carlos II and the Privy Council. I heard that the great novelist made it happen."

"I don't know the details, but I only know one thing - those scumbags in the Guards are finally going to be completely finished."

Cole Dorian, who shrugged, suddenly showed an incomprehensible expression: "The situation in other neighborhoods is not clear yet. According to rumors, an army arrived in time on a steam train and is now clearing streets one by one. Woolen cloth."

"Guess who it is?"

He asked Anson with a smile on his face.

Anson frowned slightly and thought seriously for a minute:

"Ludwig Franz?"

"Uh..." The smile on the secondary judge's face suddenly froze, he frowned and looked behind him, and then looked at Anson in confusion:

"The High Septon told you?"

"No, but didn't he say that I only need to guard the cathedral until March 1st?" Anson replied matter-of-factly.

"Snapped!"

Cole Dorian slapped him in the face.

"You haven't told me yet, haven't you?"

"...Yes, that's him."

The secondary judge with a frustrated look muttered, feeling very disappointed:

"The archbishop's own son did not follow the army's order to stay put. He led eight thousand people north to grab a train in Oak Town and rushed all the way to the royal capital."

"Now that the Major General has become the savior of Clovis City, all the credit for quelling the riots has become his alone. A group of reformers and radicals in the Privy Council are about to blow him up, and the army is not even Dare to mention him disobeying military orders."

"What time is it now?" Anson asked suddenly.

"Uh... nine-thirty, of course nine-thirty on March 2nd."

The inferior inquisitor glanced at his pocket watch and glanced up at Anson: "What's wrong?"

"Oh it's all right."

That's it... Anson finally understood why Luther Franz had to stick to the church until March 1st.

After he realized that the situation was starting to go wrong, he immediately started preparations for Major General Ludwig Franz to go north; the Church of Order had no right to interfere with the Army's decision, but it bribed a few people to allow the Thunder Castle levy force to be deployed at a certain location. Luther Franz would definitely be able to find a location close to a major traffic road and convenient for "catching a train".

The next step was to confirm when the riots would occur and when Ludwig Franz could arrive at the royal capital... Hence the requirement that "the cathedral must not fall before March 1st."

As for the purpose... isn't it already obvious?

Anson even suspected that all this was Luther Franz's plan from the beginning. Taking advantage of the distrust of the Guards and the security situation in the outer city of Clovis, the Franz family had the opportunity to intervene in the security forces of the royal capital.

He spent a lot of effort and a lot of money to get the Privy Council and the Army to agree to the church establishing a security force to protect the cathedral. As a result, Ludwig was unwilling to come back and recommended himself, so there was the following A series of troubles...

"Okay, that's all that needs to be said."

The downcast Cole Dorian did not feel lost for long, and soon regained his usual happy expression:

"My leader, do you have anything else to ask? If it's nothing, we will have to send you to the hospital!"

Looking at the shining eyes of the secondary judge, Anson, who was silent for a few seconds, slowly said:

"Lawrence Bernat..."

"How...how is he?"

As soon as the words fell, the atmosphere in the secret room suddenly darkened.

"Captain Lawrence, haha..."

Cole Dorian was still smiling, but his voice suddenly became hoarse, he pursed his lips, and said with evasive eyes:

"He...well...he's not as lucky as you."

Anson didn't say anything, but quietly and slowly raised his gaze. The inquisitors in the secret room silently moved to both sides, making way for the figures hidden behind them.

Laurence Bernat was still leaning against the wall quietly, biting the pipe that Anson handed him at that time. The sparks in it had long been extinguished, and the smoke could not be seen.

The ax gun and saber that were originally nailed to the ground were taken out, and lay flat on his left and right hands together with the "dagger" revolver that he had thrown away; the eyes that had lost their luster seemed to still be looking at him, and the corners of his mouth were frozen at the last moment. of arc.

"...Well...it's pretty much as you can see. Captain Lawrence is a talented person of the 'Knight of the Wild Hunt' bloodline. It is impossible for ordinary physical attacks to leave serious injuries on his body, so it is mainly on the mental level..."

"Serra said it was because he had suffered excessive mental damage and had reached a state where he could not repair himself. When he was about to collapse and lose control, he chose...that...that..."

"Self-termination."

Looking at the secondary judge who was suddenly at a loss for words, Sera softly "reminded" him.

"Yes! That's it, self-termination."

Cole Dorian stiffly twitched his throat: "Because he knows very well how much damage a talented person like him can cause once he becomes a puppet of negative emotions and black magic; compared to that ending, Lawrence I’d rather die.”

Before Anson could speak, he took a deep breath and shrugged vigorously, and said quickly: "Of course, you don't have to be too sad, let alone feel sorry for Lawrence...because this is his choice."

"Or this is the choice of all of us. We asked to do this on our own initiative, no one forced us, and we also know how risky this industry is - it is said that the mortality rate is about the same as that of the most risky mines, haha!"

"Of course there are a lot of rewards. I get one-third more salary than a civil servant. I receive six subsidies a year. I can apply for a small interest-free loan from the church, and then..."

"If you unfortunately die, you can still be regarded as a hero."

Cole Dorian chuckled, but the smile became more and more forced.

Anson nodded slightly and looked at him calmly:

"Can I be alone here with Lawrence?"

"It doesn't take long, ten minutes will be enough. I...have something I want to say to him alone. Could you please leave for now?"

"Of course, no problem, it's understandable!"

The second-ranking judge immediately stood up and said, quickly turned his back to Anson, and greeted all the judges: "You all heard it, everyone leaves for fifteen minutes, and then comes back to clean up the scene!"

No one objected... In the silent chamber, the judges turned and left one after another; some did not forget to nod to Anson before leaving, with understanding and a little admiration in their eyes.

After learning about Anson's background, many of them had doubts about this "suspected spellcaster" security force commander, and worried whether he might actually be a spy of the Old Gods when the mob besieged the cathedral. Cooperate with the black mage inside and outside.

But when the facts were put in front of us, all the worries turned into double respect - even for the Inquisition, it is extremely rare to completely eliminate a blasphemous mage, let alone being isolated and helpless. Down.

Cole Dorian pushed the female inquisitor's wheelchair and stood silently in front of the dead Lawrence's body. He waited until everyone had left before following him.

"correct."

Arriving in front of the gate, the inferior judge suddenly stopped and said in a very relaxed tone:

"There is something I forgot to tell you, that is, Lisa...is missing."

"disappeared?"

Anson looked stunned.

"Yes, to be more precise, we couldn't find her - we didn't find her when we came down. We only picked up the key to the secret room on the ground. After asking around, no one saw her or knew where she had gone; originally, I thought she was also in the secret room, but it turned out that she wasn’t either.”

Col paused for a moment and said in a somewhat consoling tone: "But you don't need to be too nervous. We have checked it again. There are no signs of fighting outside the secret room or on the stairs, and Sierra has not found any other spells." The breath of the killer, so she must be fine now."

"She...probably ran to a certain room in the cathedral and accidentally got lost. In fact, the cathedral is bigger than we thought. I believe that with Miss Lisa Bach's strength, she can be trapped in this world. The place where she lives has probably not been built yet.”

"puff--"

Anson couldn't help but smile, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up: "Indeed."

Three people laughed in the room.

Anson chuckled and stared at Cole's back, his tear-stained smile reflected in his mind.

It wasn't until the inquisitors walked away that Anson's eyes returned to Lawrence's body.

Looking at the eyes smiling at him, Ansen, who had been silent for a long time, twitched his throat and said silently:

"Feel sorry."

"I didn't tell you the truth when I was explaining before, or... I didn't tell you the whole truth."

"That's right, I actually didn't want to be a spellcaster at first. I was indeed forced by Mace Hornard, and the situation at the time was very critical. I had to make a choice immediately."

"But...Mace Hornard, he didn't force me, I did it voluntarily."

"There is no reason or excuse. There is only one thing I have to say - I want to live."

"To be more precise, it is to live without being controlled by others. This is what I want to do; if things are really like what Draco Vertes said, the storm is coming, and I will never do it. The one that dispossesss and transforms.”

"That's all."

"So I'm very sorry for lying to you before, although judging from your expression, you probably already guessed it."

With a slight sigh, Anson stood up slowly and looked away from the inquisitor; the St. Isaac's steam differential engine that was affected by the explosion was still intact. Apart from being slightly blackened, it still maintained its original appearance before the explosion. state.

In the quiet secret room, Anson silently reached his right hand into the shirt pocket under his coat and took out three white cards.

It is exactly the same as the memory card inserted into the differential engine that records the "Great Magic Book".