I will be crowned king

Royal Court of Yser, West Gate, Storm Division siege position.

Twenty-three fifty.

"Dear Lord Philus, in the name of the Royal Clovis Army, I must lodge the most formal protest against you, the Knights of Judgment!"

In the choking smoke, Fabian, whose expression was extremely solemn, spoke extremely sternly to the young man who appeared in front of him.

The young man he called "Pheles" looked to be less than thirty years old. There was a less conspicuous silver Ring of Order badge hanging on his light gray coat; his soft facial lines and shallow smile made him appear... Very approachable.

Probably because he looked so unlike a Judgment Knight, but rather an administrator, a lawyer, or his past colleagues... So the first time he saw him, Fabian couldn't help but feel wary.

"According to your original promise, if it is finally confirmed that the Truth-Seeking Order and the Clovis Army cannot solve the incident of the Ysel Elf Old God Sect, the Judgment Knights should arrive before the 27th and arrive in the early morning of the 29th. Attack at zero hour."

"It is now 11:50 pm on the 26th, and there are still nearly fifty hours before the agreed deadline. If you launch a military operation now, it is tantamount to betraying your previous commitment to the Kingdom of Clovis and the Church of Clovis. All the promises!”

Fabian, who remained indifferent, deliberately took a step forward, showed the dial of his pocket watch to the other party, and said in a deep voice without any fluctuation:

"I ask you to carefully verify the serious consequences of this matter, as well as the heavy blow to the credibility of the Church of Order and the Knights of Judgment, which will greatly shake the trust of the entire Order World in the Church!"

"If things go on like this, this kind of damage to credibility is bound to have a variety of unpredictable negative impacts, including but not limited to completely severing effective communication channels between countries and churches; if rectification and repair cannot be carried out immediately, it will affect the entire world of order and even the world. Prosperity and stability!”

As he finished speaking, a drop of cold sweat broke out on Fabian's temples while he was trying to remain calm.

In the impression, this should be his first direct contact with the Church of Order or the Knights of Judgment; he is just an army lieutenant colonel who is not even the commander of a legion, and he has to be tough for the interests of the Storm Division, which makes him a little nervous.

But Pheles just smiled.

He took out cigarettes and matches from the pocket of his coat with the badge on it, and handed it to Fabian enthusiastically: "This is a specialty I sold on Friedrich Street on my last business trip to Clovis City. It is said that it is added with Some kind of refreshing tobacco... would you like one?"

"Sorry." Fabian, who had a "tough" attitude, raised his hand to express his refusal:

"I'm not used to this."

"Ah, a very good habit!" Philus's eyes lit up, he took out one and gestured to Fabian with a wry smile: "Actually, I didn't smoke before... The taste is strong and choking. In addition to providing a temporary anesthesia, it is good for It does absolutely no good to the body, especially the lungs and respiratory tract.”

"But after my parents died at the hands of a certain conjurer, and that conjurer was my biological brother, and I had to deal with him myself... haha... I couldn't quit anymore."

Fabian deadpanned.

Along with the bright light of the match, a faint smoke spread between the two of them, and the young man's face showed an intoxicated look.

"Dear Lieutenant Colonel Fabian - if I can call you that - you are mistaken... uh... let me see..." He frowned, giving a thoughtful expression, and then "POP!" Snapped his fingers:

"Ah! You got at least three things wrong."

"First of all, you mistakenly believe that there is some kind of agreement between the two of us, but the fact is that there is not."

"Yes, the Knights of Judgment did receive a letter from Archbishop Luther Franz, and the Grand Master responded verbally, expressing that in principle we are willing to respect and refer to the opinions of the Diocese of Clovis. ——It's 'respect', it's 'reference'... not compliance."

"Secondly, you think this will attack the authority of the Church of Order - it will not, because the Thirteenth Council destroyed the Cathedral of Praise. From a legal point of view, this is a clear act of 'aggression' and is transcendent. Secular matters of faith; if the church does nothing, it will really harm the authority of the church!"

"Your Majesty, you seem to think that I am the person in charge of negotiating with you..."

Philus suddenly burst out laughing: "No...I'm not here to negotiate with you. I'm just a small herald. I'm responsible for informing you of something that's about to happen and giving you advice." Get ready as soon as possible.”

"What preparations?" Fabian's face looked a little ugly.

The corners of the young man's mouth raised, and his right hand holding the cigarette slowly raised above his head.

"Prepare to avoid accidental damage."

accidental injury?

The confused Fabian subconsciously raised his head and looked at the starry sky along the light of the smoke floating from his fingertips.

The night sky of Iser in October is far clearer and brighter than that of Clovis; compared with the dark land, the dome filled with stars is not only beautiful, but also dreamy; the dazzling brilliance seems to be a projection of another world , and it’s so accessible.

The former Guards officer even recalled that when he was very young, he went with his family to visit relatives in Beigang; that was the first time he knew that not all the sky was shrouded in thick fog all day long.

The dome full of stars and the sea reflecting the bright starlight buried a deep meaning in the heart of the still young Fabian...

Wait a moment!

Fabian suddenly frowned and squinted his eyes to look at the sea of ​​stars, as if his childhood memories caused him to have some kind of hallucination.

No, it wasn't a hallucination...there was something there.

In the dark dome, you can vaguely see its outline, slowly approaching here, looking a bit like a special, especially huge, huge...

Battleship? !

Floating in the sky...flying...battleship? !

Fabian was stunned.

As the huge black shadow continued to approach, more and more Storm Division officers and soldiers noticed the "abnormality" in the sky...exclamations and commotion spread uncontrollably on the siege position.

Until this moment, all the previous confusions and puzzles about the Judgment Knights had all been "answered"; but what they suddenly realized was not surprise, but panic.

After a long time, Fabian, who finally restrained his inner shock, lowered his head, tried his best to restrain his trembling body and looked at the young man opposite:

"What it is?!"

………………………

"Empty boat."

Staring closely at the small "black spot" in the starry sky, the Elf King Igor Mossfield sitting in front of the window said softly, with a very natural smile on his relaxed lips:

"The most outstanding idea of ​​the former 'Truth Society', the top derivative of the 'Steam Core' that was Saint Isaac's lifelong effort, one of the most powerful war machines of the Church of Order; in addition to its original scientific name, it is also known as the 'Ark', 'Cloud Whale', 'Dome Sanctuary', 'Mobile Holy See'..."

"You seem to understand it well."

The cold voice interrupted the Elf King's soliloquy.

"This happened many years ago... I was still studying abroad in Xiaolong City at that time. I had the honor to accompany His Majesty the Emperor to welcome the envoys of the Church of Order who came to the palace, and to send several selected Judgment Knights to the Holy See."

The Elf King slowly looked back and looked at Cole Dorian who appeared behind him.

At this moment, the Chief Inquisitor looked very embarrassed - his three-cornered hat was missing, his wet hair clung to his scalp, his gloves were missing, and one of his boots, trouser legs and socks were missing; the black windbreaker on his body was in tatters. Rotten, as if it had just been rescued from the mouth of some hungry hyena.

He stood in front of the door that he had kicked to pieces with an ax in one hand and a spear in the other. He was breathing heavily, and his whole body was as dirty as a temporary worker who had just gotten off work from the slaughterhouse; The blood formed a small "puddle" at his feet.

"If I remember correctly, the airship at that time should be the 'Steam Hammer', which was slightly...larger than this one."

The smiling Elf King gestured to the inquisitor with the space between his thumb and index finger.

Cole Dorian's expression was extremely ugly.

He didn't expect that the Judgment Knights would temporarily regret it, but he never expected that all of this would actually be...

"It was all planned...right?" The Elf King stood up from his chair, turned his back to the stained glass window, and looked at Cole Dorian outside the door:

"Dear Judge, although I don't know why you appear here; but you must believe that everything that is happening outside now is the outcome I least want to see."

"The whole army of the Guards was annihilated. The armies loyal to me were defeated by you Clovis people one after another. The Seven Cities Alliance turned against them. The Thirteen Councils expanded rapidly..."

"I...have no choice."

"Instead of waiting until the Clovis conquered the royal court and signed a treaty that was humiliating and humiliating the country, so that the Ysel elves lost hope of rising again and were completely devastated; I asked myself... what should I do to force the church to intervene in this war?"

"Because the empire will not get involved. All they need is a target that can contain the Clovis people, a lackey with a little strength. As for whether this lackey secretly believes in the Ring of Order or the Old God, they don't care."

"But the Church of Order... you... care about this very much, don't you?"

"So I made a small backup plan. After the battle line was defeated, I made sure that the troops still loyal to me would not get close to the royal court, and then let the troops of the Thirteen Council in."

"And their level of stupidity is indeed what I expected... The only surprise is probably Freya."

The Elf King said calmly, with unconcealable sadness in his eyes.

Cole frowned and was silent for a long time before he couldn't help but say: "...Why are you telling me this?"

"Why..." The Elf King's expression suddenly became a little groveling:

"Dear Judge, from now on, the Elf Kingdom of Iser is willing to re-believe in the Ring of Order, is willing to let the church take over more secular power, implement stricter faith standards, and accept the settlement of the Tribunal and the Knights of Judgment... …”

"I... Igor Moses Field promises the church with my life and blood that as long as my family still rules the Ysel elves, this kingdom will never go against the will of the church!"

"As a condition... No, not a condition! Just a request, I beg you, please let my youngest daughter go - I know she is already a very powerful spell caster, you can imprison her! Keep her somewhere A place that is permanently isolated from the world, or in some way so that she does not become a threat to the church... Whatever you want, but please be sure to spare her life, because she is really innocent!"

"Dear Judge, can you agree to a father's only request?"

………………………

At 0:15, the airship bridge.

Across the glass window, a middle-aged man with slightly gray temples was smoking a pipe and looking thoughtfully at the Yser Palace at his feet, which was almost in ruins.

"Unexpectedly... Clovis's army actually ceased fire. It seems that Sir Philus's negotiations were very effective."

A young knight who looked exactly like Philus walked up behind the middle-aged man, with a smile similar to his on his lips: "Or, the impact of the airship on these Clovis country bumpkins was too much. Intense? Hmm...I lean toward the latter."

"You're really rude." The middle-aged man couldn't help but smile bitterly, and glanced at the young knight reproachfully:

"He is your brother."

"And he killed me...or almost killed me." The young knight snorted softly, revealing an extremely ferocious wound on his straight neck, and an even more ferocious metal neck ring.

If Anson were here, he would probably be able to recognize at a glance that this thing is of the same type as the "decoration" on the neck of the female inquisitor Sera Vigil.

"Kill you because you deserve it."

"I'm not denying this either." The young knight shrugged and showed an extremely sunny smile to the middle-aged man:

"The most important thing is that he will never know that I am still alive, just like he never knows that in addition to the 'dirty' Tribunal, the 'honest' Judgment Knights, there are actually many loyal to the Ring of Order. Same as a spell caster.”

"But having said that, I have always been curious about what the Church of Order's attitude is towards the Old God Sect - we obviously know all the apostles and Old God Sect organizations, and we even have contact with them. But on the surface, they are sworn enemies who will never stop fighting, so why..."

"Are the combat troops ready?"

The middle-aged man whose face suddenly turned cold interrupted the young knight who was talking incessantly.

"Everything is ready." The young man smiled slightly:

"As long as you give an order, our 'Heart of Mercy' can raze the entire area of ​​the Yser Royal Court except the cathedral to the ground."

"But isn't it a bit ironic to say it - the name is 'Heart of Mercy', but it has the most powerful firepower among all airships. This..."

"Now that you're ready, let's do it." The middle-aged man interrupted again:

"Don't let me down, Sir Pheles."

"I will never let you down." Pheles bowed respectfully:

"Grand Master Grad Manfred!"