I will be crowned king

Beluga Harbor Council District, in the living room of Rune Mansion.

Anson was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace, smoking a pipe as if from another world; William Cecil was sitting opposite him, talking to Anson, whose expression was almost dull, about everything that happened at sea.

David Jacques with a silly smile on his face, the black-robed priest who wanted to crawl into the cracks in the wall, the novelist who smiled half-heartedly... The three of them sat side by side on the sofa next to each other, and experienced what they had just experienced from the perspective of bystanders. "Tender review".

Thalia, who changed into a cute light yellow dress, took on the responsibilities of the hostess and prepared drinks and snacks for the guests together with Lisa - how many cookies will appear on the plate does not depend on the speed of Thalia's preparation. , depending on how fast Lisa eats.

The origin of the whole incident is not complicated, and it is even simple enough to be summarized in one sentence; but probably every sailor on the sea is an expert in telling stories. Under William Cecil’s vivid description, the whole incident becomes thrilling, and everyone Every step is a confrontation between the courage and determination of both parties, and every decision is filled with countless games.

Although he gradually developed the habit of smoking pipes, Anson was not a regular smoker like Carl Bain after all. He only smoked a little on social occasions; but in order to listen to William Cecil's ups and downs of "The Battle of the Sea" ”, I smoked two days’ worth at a time.

"So... you captured an Imperial battleship, plus an Emperor's envoy?"

Looking at the young captain who seemed to be able to continue talking, he kept smiling for a long time. Anson, whose facial muscles began to stiffen, couldn't help but said.

"The result is roughly like this, but the process is more complicated than it looks!"

William, who couldn't feel the passage of time at all, said happily, and gestured to everyone with excitement: "As I just said, we didn't know that the majestic Imperial battleship was actually..." when we encountered it.

"You only carry a pitiful amount of artillery shells?" Thalia interrupted him with a smile, while filling the cups of coffee for the third time for everyone present.

"Uh...yeah."

The young captain who finally realized something was stunned, looked at the smiling girl and everyone with different expressions, but they all seemed to be frozen, and said slightly apologetically: "I'm sorry, I, did I exaggerate? boring?"

"No, that's not the case at all."

Anson relaxed his stiff cheeks and forced a smile: "We have just spent a very fulfilling four and a half hours, right, Miss Talia?"

He looked at the girl holding the coffee tray in her arms, her smart eyes could almost speak - help me.

"Actually, it's five hours." Thalia nodded slightly and immediately came to the rescue for her dear fiancé:

"If you include the first thirty minutes of explaining the cause... Colonel William Cecil, your story-telling ability is really amazing. If possible, could I ask you to write a novel?"

Everyone present's eyes lit up instantly, they regained their consciousness at the same time as if telepathically, and they all looked at William Cecil.

"That's... my personal honor." The young captain's smile was slightly embarrassed:

"In short, we captured the battleship Green Dragon and a ship full of coal ore, as well as the envoy sent to Sail City by Emperor Herred; and the reason why he appeared there was Bernard, the newly appointed colonial administrator. ·Mollwischi commissioned him to contact the three countries of the North Sea and attack the Clovis colony from the west - that is, Beluga Port."

And Gray Snow Town... Anson thought secretly in his heart, and gently picked up the coffee that Thalia handed to him:

"He did this on his own initiative?"

"Of course not, it was the captain of the Green Dragon who told me."

William shook his head, picked up a sugar cube from the snack plate and put it into the coffee: "He happens to be an Edlandian, and the Cecil family still has some connections in Edland; after ensuring that he can return to the mainland safely, He told us everything that should be said and shouldn’t be said.”

"Just because of this?"

"Not entirely. At most, it can only be regarded as a reason for the other party to be willing to negotiate with us."

The young captain put down the coffee he was about to pick up, raised his hand and pointed to the sofa as a gesture to Anson: "The person who really convinced him was this - Mr. Draco Wilters."

"I must say this is really amazing! I just asked the captain to be willing to chat with him, and the two of them stayed in the cabin for less than ten minutes, and the captain was willing to say anything!"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to the figure in the middle of the sofa; even Talia put down her work and stared intently at the future president of "The Good People of Beluga Harbor" who had been "recruited with a lot of money" by her. Chief Editor.

The novelist, who was in a trance, seemed to have just woken up. He looked around and realized that everyone's attention was on him. He was stunned and said a little embarrassedly: "Actually, it's nothing. I'm just talking to him." Just telling the truth.”

"be honest?"

"Yes!" Draco nodded quickly:

"Before chatting with him, I made two things clear: First, Bernard Morweis made a private decision that the Green Dragon would go to the Three Kingdoms of the North Sea. Second, the original mission of the Green Dragon was 'Escorting' Imperial envoy Ed Levent, nothing more."

"The next thing is very simple. Since it is a private decision, no matter what happens in the process, the responsibility will be solely between Ed and Bernard. The Green Dragon was just forced to perform the escort mission; don't say that it was Prisoner, even if the battleship is sunk, it has nothing to do with him and the entire crew of the ship."

"If he persists in resisting to the end, the best result may be to be tied to a cannon and sunk by the angry Clovis sailors; but if he is willing to confess, Clovis will try to ensure his safety as much as possible, and a man who has mastered the new world will A battleship captain with Imperial Navy intelligence will definitely receive considerable courtesy in White Whale Port.”

"So...why should he die for something that is not his responsibility, instead of trying to survive as much as possible?"

Draco considered the question before asking everyone, spreading his hands and shrugging: "Of course, I just tried to protect his interests as much as possible and gave him a fairly favorable choice - agree or not, It’s still the captain’s own business and has nothing to do with me.”

Nothing to do with you?

A big question mark appeared in Anson's heart, and at the same time he tried his best to restrain some impulse that had been accumulated in his heart for a long time.

But now this bastard still has some use value, or in other words, Anson has no time to care about his life and death at the moment - not to mention that he is the editor of the newspaper named by Thalia.

"So Ed Levent...he's still alive?"

"He did try to escape and commit suicide several times. Fortunately, we stopped them all." William nodded, his expression seemed to be filled with lingering fear:

"Levent is the direct bloodline of the Seven Knights 'Wind Knight'. Ed Levent has the ability to see the aura of everyone around him and hide himself; to be more straightforward, if he is standing next to you If a gun is fired in front of you, you may not even notice it until the gun goes off."

Hidden? This sounds somewhat similar to the leader of a certain Faithless Knights... Anson raised his eyebrows: "Then how did you stop it?"

"Speaking of this, we have to thank our great painter, Mr. David Jacques."

The beaming young captain pointed with his coffee cup at the giggling young man sitting on the right armrest of the sofa: "When we first met, he drew a half-length portrait of the special envoy Ed Levent. We found that the opponent's blinking frequency was very low - based on this clue, we found that every time he used the power of his blood, the condition was that he could not blink."

"For this purpose, we sent six sailors to take turns watching him, forcing him to blink in various ways every half a minute, even when sleeping."

"So if you plan to interrogate the special envoy now, I suggest you wait a little longer - he hasn't had a normal sleep for several days, is mentally weak, and occasionally talks crazy, and can't ask questions. What valuable information.”

David Jacques, who was praised, showed a shy smile and scratched his head in embarrassment: "It's just a little habit that's not worth mentioning. I specialized in figure painting when I was in college, and I developed the habit of observation and reference without knowing it... uh …I mean, what’s wrong with the subject of the painting.”

"That must be a habit only the best painters have."

Talia suddenly said: "I once admired a piece of your work at a public charity sale."

"Really? Which painting?" David said happily.

"Hmm... It seems to be "Storm Master Climbs the Morning Ice Peak"."

With a meaningful smile, the girl looked at Anson, who had a slightly sluggish expression: "That is an extremely excellent work. I bid 30,000 gold coins, but I failed to get it from Miss Sophia Franz - she I must really like this painting.”

The air suddenly became quiet.

Feeling the girl's scorching gaze, Anson's heart strings were still tense as if nothing had happened, and he tasted the black coffee without milk or sugar very naturally, which was so bitter that it was indescribable.

"Oh, you're talking about that painting!"

As if he couldn't feel the surrounding atmosphere, David Jacques showed an expression of sudden realization, and said with a slightly embarrassed smile: "In fact... that painting was actually a rush work."

"Miss Sophia was eager to have a large-scale oil painting that could be exhibited at auction. The construction period was very short. I could only refer to some previous works in the gallery of the college and try my best to piece together the image of crossing the snow-capped mountains in my imagination. Picture."

"So thank you for your appreciation, but that painting is probably the work that is least in line with my style, and it contains almost no realistic elements and is full of unrealistic fantasies."

"It doesn't matter. Now that you have arrived at Beluga Port, you have ample opportunities for copying." Thalia chuckled and said:

"If you don't mind, I hope to hire you to be the illustrator of "The Good People of Beluga Harbor", and at the same time provide the Beluga Harbor Council with a batch of realistic landscape paintings, which will greatly enhance the taste of local people... Dear Anson, what do you think? Woolen cloth?"

"I think this is a great idea!"

Anson replied quickly, without even having time to put down the coffee cup in his hand: "It just so happens that Mason Wetzler, the chief member of the parliament and the head of the Trade Committee, is planning to find a painting teacher for his son. I think these two The pieces of work can be combined into one - what do you think?"

"Me? Of course!"

Facing the "double invitation" from the commander-in-chief of the garrison and the Luen family, David Jacques, who had an extremely bright smile, decisively agreed without much thought. He stood up inexplicably excited and rubbed his right hand on his clothes. To Anson:

"I... I have always had a wish, that is to make up for the regret of not being able to see you in person during the "Storm Master Crossing the Morning Ice Peak", and to draw a portrait that can truly reflect your charm."

"Of course, I believe there will be such an opportunity."

Anson shook his hand with a smile on his face and swore to himself that he would never stay in the same room with this observant painter for too long.

"In addition to the Green Dragon battleship and the Imperial Envoy, we also obtained mountains of coal ore piled on the ship." William Cecil continued:

"When we first discovered them, everyone was frightened by them! Just a little bit, the three warships would be blown into the sky by these dark rocks."

"But fortunately, the Believer's collision angle opened a large enough hole in the Green Dragon's hull, and only detonated the coal in half of the cabin. The excess explosion was offset by the incoming seawater, and it did not cause a tragic disaster... To be honest, , I can still feel the lingering fear in my heart."

The young captain with a complicated expression wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "But when everything settles, these exploding stones will turn into black gold."

"I entrusted my adjutant to make an inventory. The entire ship's load is quite huge; if it can be successfully transported to North Port, it will be a huge sum of money."

"Then what do you mean..."

An Sen's eyes lit up, and the meaning of the other party's words clearly revealed that he wanted to cooperate with him.

"I plan to invest this money in Beluga Port." The young captain gave the answer:

"Because of the capital chain incident of the Royal Bank this year, the local people hope to open a private bank in the colony. At that time, the Osteria Palace will consecrate an honorary governor, led by the governor, and gather funds from all parties to jointly form the bank; the bank will refer to the new world's The peculiarity is that not gold but coal mines are used as collateral to maintain the economic operation of the colony.”

Coal Mine Bank? It sounds like it will be very interesting... Anson continued to ask: "Are there any restrictions on the participation of this bank?"

"There are no detailed requirements yet, but it should be possible to obtain permission from the honorary governor himself." William said solemnly:

"For specific details, you can directly ask Mr. Karin Jacques. He is the representative of the Honorary Governor in Beluga Port, and can also be regarded as the 'special envoy' of Osteria Palace."

"Oh, then who is this Honorary Governor?"

Anson asked extremely curiously.