I will be crowned king

Grand Duchy of Mist, Iron Bell Castle, Hantu Supreme Staff Office.

Late at night, twenty-two thirty-five.

Alan Dawn, wearing a blue printed nightgown and a pom-pom knitted nightcap, was lying in front of the desk. The huge armchair made his already short stature even smaller.

When there are not many things to do, the humble and hard-working clerk usually only works until 22 o'clock sharp, and after that it is his private time; usually he will not stay in the office at this time, let alone wash his hands. After taking a shower, he came in wearing pajamas.

That would be disrespectful and quite unprofessional.

But for some special reasons, the little clerk decided to break the rules and do something very unconventional and rule-breaking - he would use the big desk in the office instead of the bedside table to complete his diary tonight.

This "habit" of imitating his immediate boss has become a "little hobby" that fascinates him; if he doesn't write something every day, it seems that the day is not complete.

Pulling out a stack of delicate parchment, unscrewing the pen cap, lighting the fireplace and all the lights in the office, humming a relaxing and pleasant tune of "The Joy of Documents", his two little feet hidden under the table swayed up and down, and used Cotton slippers embroidered with animal patterns beat the beat:

"September 28th, today is really an unusual day."

"The messenger reported that His Majesty Claude Francois and Archduke Eden have reached a private agreement with the deputy commander of the expeditionary force, Sir Bernard Morwes, to immediately release and return some prisoners of the expeditionary force - on the condition that The location chosen must be within the empire west of the summit tower fortress."

"As the 'mediator' between the two parties, Colonel Anson Bach and all members of the Storm Division will escort the Imperial Expeditionary Force out of the country together with the Hantu Army, and supervise the entire process of releasing the prisoners and signing the agreement."

"This is simply the most amazing thing I have ever heard of so far - even Lord Anson Bach defeating the Imperial Expeditionary Force does not surprise me that much!"

"In any case, this is definitely great news, and even the Church of the Clovis Order cannot suppress it. I can now fully imagine what level of turmoil it will cause when this news reaches Clovis City. Sensational effect.”

“As his humble and loyal clerk, I feel like my future is getting really brighter.”

"According to time calculation, they should have almost reached the summit tower now; it is really a pity that they were not able to accompany Anson Bach at this 'historic' moment."

"But as a private secretary, being in public is the last thing you should do...Ah, I still really want to go, even if I just sit in a corner and watch; a small corner without a chair and no one will notice."

"To alleviate this regret, I notified the maid in charge of my daily life and asked her to prepare a surprise for me at dinner."

"Obviously, she has no experience as an administrator, yet she actually asked me what kind of surprise I wanted."

"I wanted to tell her that according to the regulations, a bottle of 1982 wine is a 'surprise' - but considering that I am not an adult myself, I'll switch to hot milk with honey..."

After writing the last sentence, the little clerk who stopped writing picked it up and read it silently carefully, then closed the diary.

Just when he was about to enjoy the last moment of the day, drink a glass of hot milk and go to bed, there was a sudden knock on the office door.

Ten seconds later, a tall young man wearing loose formal clothes opened the door, holding a letter in a panic.

The little clerk was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes showed some dissatisfaction: "Clerk Bell, I remember I have reminded you at least four times that after ten o'clock is the 'off-duty time' - we do not handle any official business during this time. No matter what happens, we have to wait until tomorrow..."

"I know!" The young man named "Bell" quickly interrupted, his tone was very nervous:

"But this letter is really urgent and cannot be delayed for a moment - this is also what you requested. The most urgent letter must be notified to you as soon as possible, no matter what time it is!"

"I reminded you so, but at that time, before the Imperial Expeditionary Force was defeated, now they have..."

Before he finished speaking, Secretary Xiao, who suddenly felt a thump in his heart, suddenly raised his head, and his expression instantly became solemn: "Isn't it a distress letter from Major General Ludwig Franz?!"

"No!" Bell said without hesitation.

But before he could truly breathe a sigh of relief, the other party added: "It's an autographed letter from Archbishop Luther Franz!"

Um? !

Taking the letter from the clerk who hurried forward, Alan Dawn quickly opened the letter.

A few seconds later, the nervous little clerk suddenly narrowed his eyes slightly and his expression became more solemn.

He slowly put down the letter and jumped down from the chair: "Clerk Bell."

"exist!"

The young man was all excited.

"You did the right thing. I want to praise you on behalf of the Clovis Order Church and Lord Anson Bach." With his hands in the pockets of his nightgown, the little secretary raised his neck and said sternly:

"And now, I have to give you a more arduous mission - prepare a carriage for me. Come back to the office in an hour, and we will go to the top of the tower together."

"Go to the top of the tower?!" The shocked young man looked at the dark night outside the window and couldn't believe it:

"Now?"

"That's it now!" The little secretary nodded heavily:

"We can't afford to lose a minute!"

……………………

On the outskirts to the west of the Summit Tower, the prisoner handover ceremony that symbolized the temporary truce between the Hantu Kingdom and the Empire had just concluded.

Although both sides agreed that the Hantu and Clovis armies would escort the imperial expeditionary force out of the country and hold the ceremony within the empire, there were still some differences between the two sides on more specific details.

And it's huge.

The Imperial Expeditionary Force hopes that the ceremony will be held outside the Summit Tower Fortress. At the same time, except for relevant high-level people, other casual people - such as some Clovis people who are obviously watching the fun - should not participate.

But doing this is obviously not going to satisfy the Hantu Kingdom - they prefer to hold it in a large imperial city, preferably on the outskirts of a seaport city, and it must be done with great fanfare, and the more lively the ceremony, the better.

Such an obvious intention to humiliate seriously irritated some Imperial knights who had not realized that they were already prisoners; they clamored to organize an army and "fight to the end" with Hantu.

However, before the Storm Division and the Hantu Allied Forces could figure out what was going on, this group of "warriors" had already been "suppressed" by other relatively rational expeditionary officers and soldiers.

After negotiations, the two parties chose a place called "Black Rock Village" to hold the ceremony.

This small settlement, which cannot be found on the map at all, is less than three kilometers away from the Summit Tower Fortress and has a sparse population. However, because it was previously used as a logistics base for the expeditionary force, all facilities are very complete and suitable for holding large-scale ceremonies. , and "occupied".

In this way, it not only satisfies the Hantu people's vanity of "counterattacking the Empire", but also allows the Imperial Expeditionary Force to avoid the embarrassing situation of being embarrassed.

In addition, although Black Rock Village is indeed imperial territory on the map, the locals are actually residents of Mount Ayden, and they have been paying taxes to Duke Ayden.

In the empty military camp, the released prisoners of the expeditionary force, the Hantu Army of the victorious side, and the Storm Division as the "middleman" formed three dense square formations in the open space around the Hantu and Clovis army flags on the flagpole.

In the center of the three square formations, the representatives of the three parties also sat down in front of a long table prepared in advance according to the positions of their respective armies; and very "coincidentally" the position of the Storm Division was right behind the main seat of the long table. .

Therefore, if you look at it from the front of the long table, it looks like this important ceremony related to the armistice between the two powers was conducted under the supervision of the Kingdom of Clovis.

However, except for the storm masters who came to join in the fun, everyone else present did not care about these insignificant details; after the flustered greetings, the two parties exchanged the documents in each other's hands, and stamped and signed the papers handed to each other.

The content of the agreement is very simple: from the date of signing, the Hantu Kingdom and the Empire will cease war for ninety days, 20,000 expeditionary soldiers, 8,000 advance army soldiers, 5,000 fleet soldiers, all survivors and all who can still be found. A quarter of the body of the deceased shall be returned.

Of the remaining three-quarters, two-thirds will be returned in batches after Hantu receives all the ransom; one-third will be handed over to the Stormtroopers, and the Kingdom of Clovis will decide their fate.

As a condition of return, during the ninety-day armistice period, the empire is not allowed to allow its troops to approach any area within ten kilometers of the Dengding Tower Fortress, and it is not allowed to impose trade restrictions on the Hantu Kingdom.

If the conditions are violated, the armistice treaty will be deemed invalid, and Hantu will no longer guarantee the personal safety of the remaining prisoners.

As the only representative of the expeditionary force, Deputy Commander Bernard Morweis looked unusually calm, even a little relaxed and cheerful, which was in sharp contrast to the gloomy and gnashing Imperial knights behind him.

"To be honest, if we had known earlier that Hantu's purpose was only to become independent and establish a unified kingdom of its own, the empire probably would not have sent out an expeditionary force, and this ridiculous battle would not have happened."

Putting down the pen for signing, Bernard had a wry smile on his face.

"But it still happened." Claude Francois on the opposite side said coldly, his physical condition was visibly exhausted:

"After all, there are no ifs in this world."

"That's what you said, Your Majesty." Bernard nodded respectfully and turned his gaze to Anson, who was always "watching" from the side:

"Ah... I'm sorry, Your Excellency Anson Bach, haven't I thanked you for mediating the matter for you?"

"You're too kind." Anson smiled softly.

"No, no, no... I still have to say thank you." Bernard suddenly became serious and said with a serious face:

"Sir Louis Bernard has told me everything you said, and I think you are absolutely right - although we are now hostile to each other, this does not affect our friendship."

"Therefore, although there are many voices of opposition within the expeditionary force, I finally decided to believe in the friendship between you and Louis - I believe that you will never betray the promise you made to your friends and protect those who must remain in Han for the time being. The Turkish expeditionary officers and soldiers can have absolute personal safety and corresponding treatment."

Bernard's expression was extremely sincere.

Anson's smile was slightly stiff.

"There is no need for His Excellency Anson Bach to vouch for this." The tired Claude Francois interrupted, his bloodshot eyes glancing at Victor Emmanuel, the Grand Duke of Eden, beside him.

The latter immediately understood: "Yes, as long as the empire keeps its promise, Hantu will never harm any imperial person in the prison camp, let alone abuse them; but if you still don't believe it..."

"I fully believe in your promise." Bernard immediately interrupted with a smile and raised his hand, but his eyes never left Anson:

"It's just that I'm a little jealous of an outstanding young man like His Excellency Anson Bach, and I can't help but want to make things difficult for him a little bit."

"As far as I know, you not only helped Hantu defeat us, but also recovered Eagle Point City, which had been controlled by the Yser Elf Kingdom for more than fifty years. Helping your allies win so many victories will definitely make you famous in the country. Noisy?"

This guy... Anson reluctantly kept a smile and "reminded": "I'm sorry, but Eagle Point City now belongs to the Kingdom of Clovis."

"Ah...that's it!"

Bernard "suddenly realized" and quickly apologized: "I'm sorry, it seems that the information I got is slightly biased - to be honest, I have always felt that an emerging power with few allies like the Kingdom of Clovis is in trouble in attracting allies. It must be that no effort is spared.”

"Hmm... It seems that the friendship between the Kingdom of Clovis and Hantu goes beyond interests. Although they are enemies, they can't help but be deeply admired!"

In a "joyful" atmosphere, the ceremony was over; what followed was a grand cocktail party and celebration banquet, as well as a military parade to show off force.

In order to participate in this real "founding ceremony" of the Hantu Kingdom, almost two-thirds of the Hantu nobles mobilized: lords and city-state leaders from all over the country, regardless of whether they had military positions or not, all dropped their work and squeezed their heads. I want to get into the banquet scene.

The officers of the expeditionary force present also seemed very calm and relaxed, but they were very conscious of "high-priced meat tickets" - for them, the war was over, and as long as Hantu did not intend to completely break up with the empire, the next To them, life as a "prisoner" is almost the same as visiting a distant relative's house.

The only ones who seemed a bit unsociable were the Clovis people who came over to join in the fun.

As soon as the banquet started, a certain "Clovis representative" disappeared from the scene without a trace, which made the officers of the Storm Division slightly embarrassed. They had to rely on the Chief of Staff Carl Bain and the former Chief of Staff Carl Bain who came back temporarily. Guards officers supported the scene.

"What, bad news?!"

In a very secret corner, Anson looked at the little clerk who hurried over and said with a look of horror: "Isn't it a letter of distress from Major General Ludwig Franz?!"

"Uh... no."

Facing his boss who had a surprisingly similar reaction to his own, Alan Dawn showed a slightly embarrassed smile:

"But in a sense, it can be said that."