I will be crowned king

"Your Excellency Anson Bach, I finally see you again."

The young knight sat under the dim candlelight, his handsome face showing a faint smile towards Anson who walked into the cell.

The life of a prisoner who had not seen the light of day for more than ten days made Louis Bernard a little haggard, but his clear eyes were still shining, and his body sitting upright still looked full of energy and not too dejected.

"You knew I was coming?"

Looking at the confident Louis, Anson sat down in front of him and was full of surprises.

"I don't know, but the fact that you are here can explain a lot of problems." Louis' tone was very determined, and there was even a little pride in his twinkling eyes:

"Now that you have received all the information about the power of blood from me, and are unable to ask me about the defense of Thunder Castle due to conditions, what will be the reason for your reappearance?"

"There is only one answer - you who besieged the fortress were mercilessly attacked by my brother Kroger, causing the battle to make no progress or even risk failure. That will remind you of me, the captured guy, right?!"

"..." Anson.

Even Louis, who is extremely naive and innocent, has deduced so much important information from his appearance. Anyone who says there are fools in this world is really lying.

"Yes, you are right." Without hesitation, Loren admitted decisively: "We were beaten badly by your brother. It can even be said that we are almost completely defeated."

"If the fight continues in the current form, let alone retaking Thunder Castle, it will be impossible to safely bring back thousands of people from outside!"

Louis was a little surprised by the overly candid "opening statement", but then a trace of vigilance appeared in his immature brows.

He knew very well that the person in front of him would not and could not give up so easily.

"So, may I ask, what do you want from me now?" Louis leaned forward slightly and looked at Anson nervously:

"If it is for a safe retreat, I can ask my brother on your behalf; but I think this is not what Sir Anson wants, and you cannot let me, a prisoner, leave easily, right?"

"No, this is what I want." Anson shook his head and said with a very sincere expression.

Um? !

Louis was stunned for a moment, and his serious expression instantly collapsed.

"It can also be said...that's not exactly the case." Anson suddenly changed the subject and stopped to think about it for a while:

"But you can understand it that way, because the requirements are basically the same."

"What on earth are you going to do?!" Louis, who was confused, couldn't bear it anymore.

Anson looked at the other party carefully: "Can I explain in detail?"

"……Speaking!"

A simple word, almost squeezed out from the teeth of the young knight.

Anson nodded and relaxed slightly... Alas, this is the case with Louis, and the same is true with Ludwig; why are people who listen to his own explanations so easily impatient?

"...I won't go into the specific details. The situation is roughly like this." After coughing twice, Anson's expression became serious again:

"In the past few days, your brother has relied on the firepower advantage of Thunder Castle, which has greatly weakened our morale. At the same time, it has made it difficult to advance the siege position, making us very passive."

"So now my plan is to exchange you for Thunder Castle to stop the bombardment in the next few days - do you think this condition is acceptable?"

"Of course there are other additional terms besides these, but that has nothing to do with you." Anson said very sincerely.

Louis was silent for a while biting his lower lip, and then spoke in disbelief after a moment:

"...Are you really going to let me go?"

"right."

"What about your commander? Will he agree?"

"Don't worry, I will find a way to convince him."

"..."

No one chooses to die when they can survive, even the naive and simple knights are no exception - at least in Louis Bernard's fantasy, he should die on the battlefield of charge and be killed just before victory. Stray bullet hit.

At least being secretly executed by the enemy in the cell or committing humiliating suicide were definitely not among his options, but...

"I have one last question." Taking a deep breath, Louis, who was vaguely aware of the possible conspiracy here, said solemnly: "If you let me go back, how will you ensure that the empire's army will abide by its promise instead of immediately What about falling out?"

Anson's face showed a smile that "I guessed you would ask": "Like the question just now, this has nothing to do with you, but it doesn't hurt to explain."

"The basis of negotiation is of course trust. We will deliver the news to the defenders in the fortress that you are still alive. Then we will only be willing to negotiate if they are willing to cease fire for one day."

"The next step is to rely on your efforts - although we are enemies now, can a noble knight easily break the promise he made because of hostility?"

After the words fell, the tangled young knight's expression was extremely complicated.

……………………

"I disagree!"

Before Anson could finish speaking, Roman, who looked slightly shocked, looked at Ludwig: "General, Louis Bernard's status is very noble. We cannot take such an important prisoner without the permission of the Privy Council..."

"He is the emperor of the empire, and now the general is not worth as much as a cannonball!" Anson interrupted forcibly and bowed slightly towards Roman, who was glaring at him:

"Louis Bernard, who doesn't understand the situation of the defenders of Thunder Castle, is currently worth almost zero to us, and we are always worried that he may escape from prison. It would be better to exchange him for a promise from the imperial defenders."

"It doesn't matter even if they don't keep their promise. Even if it can only be used to test the situation in the city, it can be helpful in the subsequent battles."

"As for the Army and the Privy Council...they were just going to laugh at you from the beginning, so why do you care what they think?"

"But if it is discovered afterwards, the general will also be held accountable!" Roman said coldly:

"Using a mistake that will inevitably be accused in exchange for information that cannot be judged as true or false, is this what you call 'everything is planned'?!"

Anson spread his hands and looked at him innocently: "I only promised that I would be able to capture Thunder Castle. I never guaranteed anything other than that. Besides, even if I was accused, the price I would bear would definitely be smaller than the consequences of defeat. Much more!”

"There was no comparison between the two before..."

Roman, who couldn't bear it anymore, was about to charge forward, but Ludwig raised his hand to stop him.

Under the brigadier's firm gaze, Roman pursed his lips tightly and silently took half a step back.

"Even if I promise you..." Ludwig immediately grasped the most important question: "But this Imperial Knight is very stubborn and not afraid of death. He can definitely guess that there is a conspiracy here."

"Yes, even if he can't guess it, it's not difficult for the garrison commander in Thunder Castle to realize that our purpose is not to cease fire, but to make them relax their vigilance. This is inevitable."

"But regardless of whether they discover it or not, and whether they are willing to abide by their promise, we can all get a short period of precious time to completely complete the defense of the forward position - as long as the garrison commander still cares about the life and death of his brother, this can be guaranteed .”

Exchanging a worthless prisoner for a day's ceasefire is definitely worth the money.

Having figured this out, Ludwig no longer had any doubts:

"How quickly can you convince Louis Bernard?"

……………………

"no problem!"

The young knight who had thoroughly thought it through sat up straight and nodded solemnly: "If it is just a short-term ceasefire and does not involve city defense, I believe that I can convince my brother."

"I will convey this news to the Brigadier immediately and start exchange negotiations as soon as possible - it won't be long before you can regain your freedom!"

Anson was smiling, but his heart was filled with huge waves.

At this moment, he was absolutely sure that the Imperial Army and the Old God Sect in the city were forcing the conscription army to attack the city as soon as possible, so that they could find a way to put the blame on the Kingdom of Clovis and himself.

Now that the enemy is almost ready and has reached the stage of "urging" them to attack, then start attacking the city immediately before they are fully prepared!

Tonight... perform the ritual yourself and become a spell caster!