I will be crowned king

The moment the words fell, the three figures visibly paused.

The Wild Hunt Knight, who was following closely behind, had a blush on his face, veins on his neck and forehead popped out, and his slightly trembling shoulders seemed to be trying to contain the anger in his heart.

It was obviously you who took the initiative to threaten us, why did you ask us why we came back? !

Faced with the humiliation of Anson Bach's "knowingly asking questions", Sir Carno, who was standing next to him, had no expression on his face and just silently moved to his side, blocking the Wild Hunt Knight who had not yet entered.

"Dear Commander-in-Chief, where do I start with this?"

With extremely sincere eyes, the leader of the Knights (former) Ian Clemens smiled slightly and sat down on the sofa in front of Anson naturally: "After all, we still keep our original promise and have never left White Whale. port."

Anson paused slightly and narrowed his eyes, with a slight smile on his lips:

"No?"

"Absolutely not." Ian's tone was extremely certain:

"We just calmly judged the situation and decided to leave the city temporarily to avoid the limelight - but we never had the idea of ​​leaving."

"Why?"

"……Feel sorry?"

"Why didn't you think about leaving?" Anson asked: "With the chaotic situation at that time, you can leave with Louis, and you will never have to come back here, and you will never have to deal with the Faithless Knights, the Cressy Family, and the Guardians. Wouldn’t it be nice to be related to the Grave Man and all of this, and start over in a certain pattern?”

At this time, Anson's expression was also extremely sincere - he really couldn't think of any reason why the trio in front of him had to come back.

But when the words reached the ears of Ian and others, it had a completely different meaning.

"Of course not!"

Without waiting for the companions behind him to express their opinions, Ian said decisively: "According to the agreement between us and you, we cannot leave without your consent."

"Perhaps this is just a dispensable verbal agreement for you, but since you have made a promise, you must abide by it. This is our consistent purpose!"

"That's it." Anson suddenly realized, with a bit of respect in his eyes.

If it was just suspicion at the beginning, then he is now basically certain that it is definitely not because of this.

"So...the reason why you came to me is to hope that I will terminate the agreement and allow you to leave freely?"

"On the contrary, Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief." Ian smiled: "We are here to further cooperate with you."

"...Can you speak more clearly?"

Anson was even more confused. He could probably guess that the trio in front of him did not come back voluntarily, but encountered some kind of threat or coercion and had to continue to work for him.

The question is who is threatening?

The Gravekeepers were defeated and were unable to make trouble for the time being; the Cressy family was destroyed, and no one wanted to hunt down these "traitors" - now the entire White Whale Port was covered by Rune's magical aura. If there was any hostility, When outsiders appeared, it wasn't even Anson's turn to deal with them personally.

Looking at the commander-in-chief's questioning expression, even Ian, who was trying to remain calm, couldn't help but frown slightly.

Although he was the one who was in the wrong, the difference between Anson Bach who was so aggressive and his previous approach, which at least left some room on the surface, was too obvious.

Is it because he became a blasphemous mage?

The leader of the Knights (former) was in a mess inside, but he didn't show it at all on the surface: "Intelligence."

"Although you are already the youngest brigadier general and commander-in-chief of the Colonial Legion, as well as the de facto ruler of Beluga Port, the information you have is still insufficient compared to those who have been entrenched on this land all year round."

"At least a hundred years ago, the Crecy family has taken root in this land of ice and snow. You have witnessed their power with your own eyes."

Ian tilted his head slightly, deliberately looking up at Anson: "As the leader of the Knights, I can hand over this complete intelligence network to you."

Anson's pupils shrank suddenly.

This is no longer "cooperation", but surrender; Ian is taking away the capital that they can use to save their lives.

Could it be a trap?

But judging from the expression of suppressed anger and unwillingness on the part of the Wild Hunt Knight, it doesn't seem to be fake.

Sir Carno who was standing beside him didn't seem to have much reaction. His drooped shoulders and cold eyes seemed quite indifferent.

But this reaction itself can prove that Ian is not lying - otherwise, as the most inconspicuous of the three at this time, he should always observe his own reaction to judge whether the plan has been exposed, rather than being indifferent.

"Not only that, we also know that in order to recruit soldiers for the Shooting Army, you are vigorously promoting the movement to free the indigenous people in order to suppress the price of beast slaves." Ian continued:

"Beast slaves are one of the most valuable commodities in the New World, second only to coal mines and iron ore; colonial representatives and wealthy businessmen have either directly or certainly indirectly benefited from the beast slave trade. Even if you threaten them with force, they will not I won’t let go easily.”

"But... what if there are some minor problems in this business, causing their interests to be damaged?"

"oh?"

Anson raised his eyebrows and showed an interested expression: "You mean, you can disrupt the beast slave trade?"

"No." Ian said simply:

"Slave trading groups are huge in number and widely distributed in the New World. They are not a group that can be easily shaken. Moreover, you also need cheap and sufficient animal slaves to supplement your troops. Attacking them is really not worth the gain."

“But if you do it right, maybe you can make them realize that continuing to maintain the status quo is not worth the cost, and that working with you is the really sane choice.”

"Slave traders are actually very simple. They are essentially similar to most hunters, except that the objects they sell are slaves. So you might as well treat them the same way as ordinary merchants would do when competing with each other."

"You can't ban the slave trade openly. You can hire people to cause chaos during their transactions, publicize their negative news in newspapers, assassinate a few particularly disobedient assassins, and finally... punish all those who come to Beluga Harbor. Slave traders, provide them with the utmost convenience.”

Ian spoke slowly and meaningfully: "After being tortured repeatedly, they will naturally choose to do business in a safe and convenient place, and I believe that in the colony of Beluga Port, there will be no one with a higher price than the New World Company." Higher, acquiring more customers...what do you think?"

Anson was silent for a while, and then a smile appeared on his face - he was finally sure what these three people wanted.

In the brief silence, the Wild Hunt Knight holding back his anger held his breath, and Carno on the side also silently raised his head, looking at the figure they could only look up to now.

Ian, who seemed very confident, quietly crossed his fingers and waited confidently for the answer. Cold sweat flowed from his palms into his cuffs.

"Lord Ian, Sir Derek and... Sir Carno."

Anson read out the names of the three people one by one, his eyes quickly swept over their faces, and then smiled slightly:

"This is just a suggestion, but if you don't mind...would you mind taking a position within New World Company as the person in charge of sales and business promotion?"

"Don't worry about salary, there are also performance commissions; and starting from today, you no longer need to abide by past agreements. As long as you think it is necessary, you can leave or return to Beluga Port at any time. You are completely free to come and go."

Although it is not clear what happened, the current trio obviously have no intention of escaping. Not only do they not want to run away, but they also very much hope to join the Luen family behind them, or the current interest group headed by Luen in Beluga Port. among.

The reason is also very simple. If they want to join the Storm Legion, they should not mention the shooting army and the beast slaves, but the guard company, or be willing to help Anson form a new "Faithless Knights", or serve as Instructors and the like.

Anson speculated that this was probably related to their identities... Every one of the remaining members of the Knights was either a fugitive or a member of the Old Gods, and they were all the ones with files. It was impossible to easily join an official organization like the army that would leave traces. , to avoid being traced.

After all, New World Company and the Luen Family must be more suitable for them.

After hearing the price offered by Anson, the trio, who had been extremely nervous just now, were stunned at the same time; but it was not because the conditions they obtained in exchange for "surrender" were too low. On the contrary, the conditions were really good and completely good. It was beyond their expectations!

In their minds, since Anson Bach had planned and mastered their actions in advance and deliberately pretended to be unexpected, he must have been preparing to punish the three of them for their "disloyalty" and then squeeze them hard. , regarded as the price of "self-proven innocence" after defecting.

In the end, things were completely opposite. If it weren't for knowing Anson well enough, Ian would almost have thought that the other party didn't realize that the three of them almost managed to escape and were forced to return... It was more like they had forgotten about them and left this matter behind. Consider it a pure surprise.

This...how is this possible!

But even though he was feeling uneasy, Ian's face still showed a somewhat joyful expression, and it was sincere joy: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, you... are so unexpectedly generous."

"Really, I just gave you a deserved result." Anson waved his hands and didn't care at all: "We were enemies once, but that was just because of our respective positions, and there was no deep hatred for each other; in this case, Why be enemies rather than cooperate?”

"As you said, the Cressy family has been destroyed, but I still need a Cressy family that can cooperate with me, master the secret relationship network and various information channels in the new world, and deal with many of me, or The Luen family is not suitable to deal with troubles.”

"For this purpose alone, I really can't imagine a more trustworthy partner than you."

Combating the animal slave trade, making "hot news", assassinating "innocent businessmen"... Of course, Anson can't come forward for such a dishonorable thing, and he can't even have anything to do with him and the Luen family.

In the past, Anson could only launch a "public opinion offensive" and do it himself as a last resort, trying to disassociate himself and create an alibi.

But now that the trio of the Faithless Knights are willing to "come forward," he is certainly happy with this convenience - it is no exaggeration to say that even if Phil Cressy comes back from the dead immediately, he will not be able to let them betray him again. .

The satisfied three people changed their initial expressions, and were stunned with a bit of relaxation and comfort.

Only Carno seemed to realize something, and his eyes stayed on Anson's face for a long time; but before he could help but speak, he followed Ian closely and left the living room of the headquarters.

The inexplicable Anson was stunned for a while, and finally shrugged, poured himself a glass of rum, and leaned on the sofa to relax completely.

In order to gain time for disaster relief and assault training of the shooting force, he has recently been covering most of Beluga Harbor, and "created" good weather with no snow and breeze for half a month in the harsh winter.

In curse magic, this low level of "distorting reality" has no technical content and does not consume much. However, if the coverage and duration are taken into account, it would be impossible to squeeze out a dozen of Anson's past.

But this kind of high-intensity reality distortion is not without its benefits. It has allowed him to sum up many techniques to "continuously distort reality" without being noticed by anyone.

In this way, even if the enemy steps into one's own territory, he will not notice it, or even make a misjudgment because he does not know the actual scope of the domain, and will be at an absolute disadvantage from the moment of contact.

And because it is the wind and snow that is distorted, you can also have a more thorough understanding of this natural phenomenon, so when necessary, it is not difficult to create a real wind and snow.

"Ah, it's very lively today."

Gentle footsteps followed by sweet words walked into the living room. Thalia, who was wearing a long purple dress, held her hands behind her back and smiled at Anson on the sofa: "It's rare to have so many guests visiting. It feels familiar yet a little strange."

"He is the leader of the Faithless Knights and their former knight captain." Anson explained:

"They disappeared after that night, but only ten days later, they suddenly came back and actively asked to join the New World Company."

"Really?" Thalia covered her lower lip in surprise: "Then why did they choose to go and come back?"

"I don't know. I probably encountered an insurmountable danger and needed to be protected by Beluga Harbor...probably." Anson made a random guess:

"You think they're suspicious?"

"No." The girl shook her head:

"Talia just thinks that maybe it's not the outside world, but the internal cause."

"...internal cause."

"Because dear Anson, you are a very kind person." The girl walked forward with a smile:

"They know that they cannot live up to the kindness they received from you, so even if they have left, they will eventually choose to come back."

"If they fail, they...will be deeply condemned by their own conscience."