I will be crowned king

When little Leon stumbled out of the door, Anson's mood collapsed.

Because he was the only one among everyone present who knew—of course Karl might have guessed it—that there was no news leaked at all.

The letter was sent four days ago. The messenger was a soldier of the Storm Division. He got the letter from a man who claimed to be Ludwig's "Guard Company Platoon Commander" in White Tower City; the letter was intact. It had not been touched, and the messenger had not received any command other than delivering the message.

So before 10:30 this morning, the only person in the entire Iron Bell Castle who knew the entire contents of the letter was Anson himself.

Then there is only one other possibility for Leon's appearance - things are changing.

And it’s definitely not in a good direction!

"...On the night of June 21st, our army was ambushed and attacked by the Yser elves on the way to the Cliff Fortress. The enemy's plan was very thorough, and our scouts and sentries were not aware of it until thirty minutes before the attack... "

"...The enemy used numerous artillery pieces to cover our legion's camp with indiscriminate firepower. According to post-war statistics, there were twelve-pound cannons... (The writing is illegible, and Leon accidentally soaked it with wine) There are no less than one hundred artillery pieces in total. ... conducted a shelling of our army camp for no less than fifteen minutes..."

"...no less than four infantry divisions of Ysel elves participated in this attack, including but not limited to the army of the local lords of Ysel elves, as well as the Guards Corps whose main force was annihilated in Eagle Point City and disappeared for a time ;Their nominal supreme commander is the daughter of the Elf King Yser, Freya Moses Field..."

"...The fierce fighting lasted until 3:55 in the morning. The enemy's offensive was completely repulsed, and their plan to encircle and annihilate our army was completely bankrupt. The Ysel elves who resisted stubbornly used evil magic without any limit in the battle... …”

"... During the battle, the total number of Old God cultists who can be clearly identified is no less than three digits, and their approximate numbers are..."

"...During the transition stage of our army, the despicable cultists not only tried to assassinate Major General Ludwig Franz himself, but also used extremely terrifying magic to turn our army's defense positions into a sea of ​​fire, killing thousands of people. Many Clovis soldiers were buried there..."

"...In this battle, all our army's heavy artillery was destroyed, only eight light infantry guns remained, all ammunition was lost, and the logistics supplies of each combat unit could only last two days..."

"...the whole guard company was wiped out, and the grenadiers suffered three-quarters casualties; the third, fifth, seventh, and eighth infantry regiments suffered one-fifth minor and serious injuries, one-quarter killed, and middle and lower-ranking officers were lost. Two-thirds; the remaining infantry regiments, cavalry regiments, skirmishers, and direct artillery battalions suffered casualties ranging from one-fifth to one-quarter in the first round of artillery. The total casualties of the regiment were approximately..."

"...the legion has moved into the Cliff Fortress and established a solid defense line; but the Ysel Elf army is following and is continuously gathering towards the fortress. Once the supply line with Eagle Point City is cut off, the southern legion can only hold on at best. Three months; and the enemy has shamelessly switched to the faith of the old gods, abandoned the glory of the Ring of Order, and is very likely to use more extreme methods..."

When little Leon realized that he seemed to have done something wrong unintentionally and began to try to make amends, the news about the "defeat and setback of the main force of the Southern Army" had spread to one-tenth of the ears of Iron Bell Fort.

Then, in a more efficient way - "I'll tell you a secret", "I just saw ** said it when he went to find **...", "You must never tell anyone else" ——It took less than a day for nine out of ten other people to know about it.

a bolt from the blue!

There is no doubt that once the main force of the Southern Army suffers heavy losses, the Kingdom of Clovis, which had previously been smooth sailing, will immediately adjust its eastern strategy; either it will find a way to stabilize the war situation and end the matter hastily; or it will increase its troops massively and use its absolute strength to crush the seemingly The Elf Kingdom of Yser regained a victory.

So Hantu, who has just drawn the curtain of war and welcomed the dawn of peace, what kind of changes will her future face in this "little accident"?

Everyone is waiting.

Waiting for Anson Bach to come forward, waiting for him to clarify the truth, or admit the facts; waiting to see the Stormtrooper packing his bags in a panic, like a bandit whose home has been stolen, trying to escape in panic after just winning a battle. Go back to avoid being cut off by the enemy.

And then... they waited a whole day.

Under the arrangements of Grenadier Commander Fabian and Chief of Staff Karl, the commanders of each regiment and even the middle and lower-level officers at the company level collectively received the hush order and kept silent about the "news"; the entire Storm Division seemed extremely quiet, so quiet. As if nothing happened, we were gathering, training, eating, and resting as usual.

As for Anson Bach himself, he seemed to have disappeared from the world. After kicking little Leon out, he did not show his face for a whole day.

All the guests who tried to visit could only see the little clerk who always wore a formulaic smile, dressed in a black and white formal suit, a top hat on his head, and holding a briefcase in his arms.

Is it because I was too shocked, too emotional and then...desperate?

Lenore Emmanuel, who came to the door for the third time but was turned away by the little clerk, looked at the closed door and couldn't help but guess.

………………

"I'm more confused than shocked."

In the dark conference room, Anson was lying flat on the table, hugging his shoulders, staring at the ceiling and talking to himself.

"Confused?" A voice came from his mind.

"The Council of Thirteen... or the elves of Yser, where did they get the courage to be so brazen, in broad daylight... uh... it seems to be at night... in full view of the public, and use magic in battle without even the slightest covering up?"

Anson frowned: "They don't know that by doing this, wouldn't it be equivalent to giving Clovis an excuse to invade Yser?"

In his opinion, Her Highness Freya Moses Field seemed majestic and invincible, but in fact she was already a dead person... er... a dead elf.

Judging from the description in the letter, she is indeed very strong, so strong that she is a reinforced artillery regiment; but the people who rule this world are not spellcasters and believers of the Three Old Gods, but the Church of Order.

An apostle as powerful as the Rune family, Miss Thalia's father, only dared to live in seclusion in Lund Manor outside Clovis; he could destroy the city with just a raise of his hand, but he still abided by a certain relationship with the church. time commitment.

Now, Her Royal Highness the Princess has taken the initiative to self-destruct. Not only the Church and the World of Order cannot tolerate her, but the other Old God Sects who want to continue to hide and continue will not let her go. The Thirteen Council has made itself a target. .

"Maybe, this is their purpose?"

"Well... we cannot rule out the possibility that the goal of the Thirteen Council is to overthrow the power of the church in the Elf Kingdom of Yser; if you want to defeat the church and rebuild its glory, a certain degree of 'showing off strength' may really be necessary. Otherwise, they will not be able to prove that their methods are better than the church." Anson thought for a few seconds:

"In this case, the intervention of the Church must be expected by the Thirteen Council; in order to suppress the Old God Sect, the Church of Order will definitely spare no effort to do its best, and I am afraid that it will not be stingy at paying some price if necessary - then let What is the trump card that gives the Thirteen Council the confidence to do this?”

"Empire?" The term came to his mind.

"I think if even the Old Gods of the Empire can't convince His Majesty Herred to support them, a bunch of Ysel elves... probably won't be able to either." Pouting Anson shook his head:

"But...if the Iserl elf can really be 'great again', she can indeed help the emperor share a lot of pressure, causing Clovis to fight on two fronts. In the end, he exhausted his strength and had to surrender."

"So, it was actually the empire that took advantage of the Elf Kingdom of Yser?"

The voice in my head asked again.

"Well, it's not impossible - since the Elf King Yisel has completely handed over the construction of the army to the Imperial Instructors and made Louis Bernard the commander of the army, then maybe they even formulated the battle plan."

Anson touched his nose and put his right hand under his head: "Let an outsider directly command an army. Why haven't I encountered such a good thing... Ahem!"

"If this is the case, it means that Clovis's war against Israel has been within the empire's plan from the beginning, but it may have been advanced due to some accidents."

"Then..." The voice in his head dragged out a long tail.

"Then it's not that the empire is not prepared for the war, but that the plan has not caught up with the changes - interference from the empire is just a matter of time and extent!"

"They invested so much for the card of Iser, and now the card has been played out in advance, and a bunch of self-destructing old god sects have exploded. The empire...do they still dare to interfere in this war like they did before?"

"Emperor Hred, does he dare to bear the consequences of confronting the church head-on?"

Anson

He didn't think that the Empire would offend the Church for the Yser Elf, but if he did, in order to punish the Emperor, would the Church definitely turn to support the Kingdom of Clovis?

Hard to say.

From the church's standpoint, they probably hope that the Kingdom of Clovis will lose this war and merge into the empire; because this will weaken the impact of Clovis's rise on the entire world of order and maintain the stability created by the church.

For the church, this was a "rare" opportunity to intervene in secular disputes; but if they wanted to intervene, they would inevitably stand on the opposite side of the empire and support the Kingdom of Clovis.

As for the Kingdom of Clovis, the Church is also an ally that is urgently needed but not wanted very much; it is justifiable to bring the Church into battle, and it can also deter the empire from acting rashly.

But once the church is involved, the final fruits of victory will be greatly reduced - the church definitely hopes to expand its influence in the Elf Kingdom of Yser - and it is equivalent to opening a church after forty-seven years in the calendar of saints. Interfering with worldly evil.

All forces hope to gain more from this battle of the Ysel elves, but before they can get the victory they want, they must first pay a heavier price and face the situation they least want to face.

unless……

There is another person who stands up at this time and uses his own power to completely change the current situation; on the balance of the three parties, put a small, inconspicuous weight that is not enough to crush the balance but can change the balance. .

Who will be this little weight?

The three dukes of Hantu, the rebel fleet of Carindia, the Truth Society behind the novelist, Freya Moses Field, or...

"Anson?"

The sudden sound behind him made Anson startled. He turned around suddenly and saw a small figure appearing behind him.

"Lisa?"

The girl is wearing her black and white pleated skirt, with a small round hat on her little head tilted to one side. Her calves wrapped in white knee-length stockings are tightly held in her arms, with her feet together, like a cute girl. She squatted on the chair like a doll, a pair of red eyes staring at herself.

This kind of dress made Anson extremely happy. He always felt that Lisa like this was what she should look like. The problem was that Lisa didn't think so; it didn't matter to her what she wore, only the Borne rifle and cans. Never throw it away.

I just always feel like...something's not quite right.

"When...you came in?"

"when?"

The girl raised her head and thought seriously: "I don't remember."

"Can not remember?"

"Yes, I saw you lying there, talking to yourself for a long time. It was so scary. I didn't dare to interrupt you for fear of scaring you."

Anson: "...So you've always been here, right?"

"Yeah." Lisa nodded.

Anson: "...So I just talked to myself, did you hear it?"

"Yeah!" Lisa nodded vigorously.

Anson: "..."

For a moment, Anson's heart collapsed.

As a gifted person and a qualified conjurer - at least in his own opinion - he was still completely unaware of the person he knew best walking behind him from the front door!

Wait, that's not right.

Lisa is not such a well-behaved child. Unless she sleeps, eats, and "commands", nothing can make her stay somewhere quietly for several hours; it is even less likely that she will not be held in her arms at such a quiet time. Holding her Bolney rifle.

Such a well-behaved Lisa cannot be the Lisa in Anson's memory.

Anson's expression suddenly condensed. Some kind of speculation that made him suddenly panic was gradually emerging from his mind. With the smile of the girl in front of him and her red eyes, it became more and more... Become clear.

Yes, in his memory, there was such a very quiet, polite and "well-behaved" little girl. Her name was...

"You finally came to your senses, Your Excellency Anson Bach."

"Lisa" tilted her little head and smiled. Her soft words and childish voice reached a subtle harmony at this moment, mixed with a trace of resentment:

"I thought I had to chat with you for a longer time before I bothered you to take a look at her."

"Dear fiancée, sir."

Anson was so frightened that he trembled all over!