I will be crowned king

In the dilapidated hall, the disgraced novelist was pinned to the ground by two Judgment Knights. The corners of his mouth were raised as he looked at the crowd with expressions that ranged from shock to indifference.

Dead silence, extremely oppressive silence, no one tried or had the courage to speak.

Fernando, who was sitting in the corner, raised his head and looked at the solemn-looking Philus and Grad Manfred with an incomprehensible expression. Then he looked at Draco, who was kneeling there motionless. He didn't know what happened. .

Pawel Dukaski, the Marquis of the Palace, narrowed his eyes and looked back and forth meaningfully.

The rest of the people also had expressions similar to Fernando's, with their heads full of questions, and they looked at the novelist as if they were looking at a madman - are you the only one who can end this war?

"You are still so arrogant and unscrupulous, His Excellency Draco Cortez."

Philus, who had been silent for half a minute, finally spoke first: "Are you planning to stay in the cell of the Holy See headquarters for the rest of your life when you run up to us so carelessly?"

"Don't worry, we have reserved a high-quality private room for you. You can check in at any time with your bags. There are no less than three-digit human experiments waiting for you, the glorious and great volunteer, to participate. Colleagues in the monastery have already I'm so excited for you."

While speaking, Philus and Grad glanced at each other quickly. The latter nodded slightly and looked at the novelist with an expression like a predator waiting for its prey to walk into the trap.

"It's...not that...exaggerated, is it? Ha...haha." Draco, who was pressed to the ground, laughed twice, and his happy expression just now suddenly became panicked: "A mere newspaper writer who is not very famous should be... It’s not worthy of the Holy See to go to war like this.”

"Not very famous...Tsk, tsk, tsk, your Excellency is so humble."

Philespi shook his head with a smile, took a deep breath and stood up to face everyone: "Look, everyone, the person standing in front of you is the real culprit behind the Clovis Old God sect rebellion in the 100th year of the Saints calendar. , the planner and leader of the rebellion of the Thirteenth Council of Iser."

"Not only that, it seems that he was also involved in the collective rebellion of the Naxir nobles in the Three North Sea Kingdoms; the Clovis North Port Rebellion in the 95th year of the Saints Calendar also involved our... well, unknown newspaper The figure of a writer!”

"He is one of the core members of an inexplicable replacement for the underground Old Gods organization. His name is...Draco Cortez!"

Words full of power and passion echoed in every pair of shocked eyes and ears, looking in disbelief at the figure kneeling on the ground with a gray face and tied up.

Then Draco's expression became even more embarrassed, and his heart "thumped!"

"So, what we did is not exaggerated at all." Philus, who walked in slowly, still sneered, with eyes full of distrust, squatting in front of the novelist: "But as the guardian of the Ring of Order, However, my personal moral quality requires me to show the minimum respect to everyone...even people like you."

"So tell me what you mean by 'stopping this war.'"

Under the continuous gunfire and shouts of death, the expressions of everyone present became serious.

"To be honest, I don't know what your definition of this war is, but in the eyes of an ordinary novelist like me, the core of all disputes is contradiction, and in addition to resorting to force, contradictions often have more means of resolution.”

Draco looked at Philus, who was looking at him coldly, with an apologetic smile, and at the countless pairs of eyes cast around him: "To sum it up, it's probably about seeking common ground while reserving differences."

"As long as we can calmly set out mutually reasonable conditions on the basis of the existing situation and meet them, no matter how many conflicts there are, they can be easily resolved."

"Solved?"

Grad sneered: "Okay, please tell the colonial rebels outside now that the only condition for the Jihad Army is that they commit collective suicide, disband the so-called 'Free Confederation' illegal organization, re-swear allegiance to the empire, and abandon the old Can the heretical beliefs of the Theocratic and Unitarian sects return to the embrace of the church...can it be done?”

"Of course!" Draco said without hesitation:

"As long as the Jihadi Army can equally meet the conditions set by the rebels, at this level of price... I can guarantee that they will definitely accept it with satisfaction."

"snort!"

Grad looked away disdainfully, and everyone around him who had been aroused curiosity also looked disappointed.

"Look, everyone, this is where the conflicts and problems lie." Draco was still in high spirits: "We all hope to get the results we most expect, and we all know that expectations are absolutely unrealistic."

“The Holy War hopes to pacify the New World, and the colonial rebels long for independence; the Holy War hopes to kill off the Old Gods and heretics, and the colonial rebels long for independence; the Holy War hopes to plant the flag of the Ring of Order in every corner of the New World. The land, the colony longs for..."

"Sir Draco, are you finished?"

Philus, who was smiling but not smiling, interrupted and looked into Draco's eyes: "I suggest you stop this time-wasting chat, or how about we talk about something really useful?"

"As you wish." Draco, who was still kneeling on the ground, tried to raise his head, and sweat flowed directly from the corners of his raised mouth:

"Judging from the current situation, the colonial rebels outside the city may breach the city gate at any time, and it is only a matter of time before the rebel fleet at the port completely lands - as long as the two sides successfully merge, the jihadist army will never be able to defend the town. "

"Of course, on the surface, this is just a temporary withdrawal of the Holy War Army from Ice Dragon Fjord. They still hold important towns such as Black Reef Port, Red Hand Bay, Gray Pigeon Castle and Sail City, which is almost half of the entire New World. Territory, three-fifths of the population and two-thirds of the wealth, no matter how you look at it, it is a great advantage, but..."

"Control of ports and land routes is in the hands of the rebels."

"The direct consequence of this is that unless the Jihad Army can defeat the rebels head-on, there will be no chance for them to break through... To be blunt, at least 70% of the people here will not have the chance to survive. .”

"But the Hantu Army outside the city is already besieging the rebel stronghold and will soon be able to cut off their retreat."

Fernando, who had always been silent, suddenly said: "In one hour...three hours at most, the rebels who are attacking the city will have nowhere to escape."

"And I don't think they can kill everyone here in just three hours... Stop talking here and deceiving the public!"

After the words fell, the expressions of other people present obviously recovered a lot, and the looks they looked at the novelist changed from shock to contempt.

"Yes, they really can't do it, so the colonial rebels are also not qualified to impose bottom-line conditions on the Jihadi Army."

Draco wanted to shrug, but the rope on his body and the two Judgment Knights pressing him tightly turned this small gesture into a kind of extravagant wish: "The Crusaders and the Rebels...each other has the lifeblood of the other. , and at the same time, neither one can do anything to the other... This is an excellent basis for negotiation.”

"On the premise of having the strength, we all hope to kill all the enemies without causing any harm and take away everything we can think of; but if the strength is insufficient or the situation is special, we should use more tactful and non-violent methods. We have come to fulfill our purpose... don’t you think so, Sir Pheles?”

Facing that extremely disgusting look, Philus's mood sank to a low point.

He had to admit that what this guy said was correct, and he actually thought so too; compared to military affairs, negotiation was the area he was really good at, and he knew better how to take the initiative to avoid being bullied by the regiment commander. They are in a completely empty situation. If you are lucky, you may get more benefits than conquering by force.

But this comes at a cost.

First of all, negotiating with the enemy is absolutely wrong. Even if all problems are successfully solved, don't expect any praise from within the Holy See. After all, the most important thing for the Holy See right now is to get the opportunity to intervene in the secular world as soon as possible. To negotiate alone If the matter is settled, how can we interfere in the internal affairs of various countries?

Uh, wait a minute... why not?

The ultimate goal of the Holy See is to interfere with secular opportunities. The key to achieving the goal is to create a "Jihadi Army" that can stay in the new world and continuously launch jihad. As long as the Jihadi Army can maintain its existence, the question of whether to rely on force is very... Is it important?

The answer is clear: not important.

The failure of the Battle of Red Hand Bay has doomed this holy war to never truly succeed. The Rune family has settled down in the new world, and the "war faction" represented by Grand Master Grad Manfred must also be affected by this. After losing a holy war and temporarily losing power, the next person to come to power must be the members of the "Lord Harmony" headed by the monastery.

Therefore, as the temporary commander-in-chief of the Holy War Army, I must build good relations with all forces, especially the forces that will inevitably become the spokesperson of the Holy See in the New World, and at the same time actively suppress certain camps that are destined to be enemies. —Yes, it’s the Franz family.

From this perspective, negotiation is actually more in line with one's own interests than force; the jihad led by Grand Leader Grad failed, and no matter what he does as the person who cleaned up the mess, as long as he can maintain the minimum bottom line, then the responsibility should not be Count it on yourself.

So...what's there to hesitate about?

Yes, that is, the idea came from a well-known Travda charlatan.

It is not difficult to guess with your toes that they are definitely not doing this because they love world peace; if there is any organization that hates the Holy See the most, there are probably only a handful of organizations that can compete with the Society for Truth.

So the answer is obvious: doing so will inevitably weaken the influence and prestige of the Holy See, and will directly lead to a series of chain reactions throughout the world of order, and the already difficult-to-maintain balance will be completely broken.

But what does that matter? Even if the problem is really that serious, it needs to be solved by the entire church. As the person in charge who was temporarily pulled out to take the blame and clean up the mess, why should he consider such a long-term issue?

So having completely figured it out - or was ready to mess it up - Philus no longer hesitated, leaving only one last question: "What evidence do you have to guarantee that the rebels will accept the negotiation instead of killing us all?" Jue, defend Beluga Port?"

"Because they cannot hold on, because their retreat has been cut off, and because they do not intend to die with the Jihadi Army... I have 10,000 pieces of evidence to prove my point of view, but these are not what you want to hear."

Draco, who raised the corners of his mouth slightly, lowered his voice and whispered deliberately: "The real answer is simple: I am one of the negotiators they sent."

"You, you mean..." Philus' pupils shrank suddenly.

"They were not prepared to fight to the death with the Jihad Army from the beginning. This is not in their interests, isn't it?" Draco continued to be tempting: "Beluga Port is their bottom line and cannot be given up easily, but if the Holy See insists, The Crusaders... are not completely irresistible."

"The most important thing is that everyone knows that the real speaker in the world of order has never been the empire on the surface, but the Church of the Ring of Order. The cake in the new world is so big, and the church has opened its mouth... Of course everyone will not refuse, but it must No one will give in willingly to the bottom line we strive for, do you understand?"

Philus understood completely.

"Well, if it's true as you say, I can give you and them this opportunity - the Ring of Order will never refuse to the lost people who long for redemption and return to their true embrace."

Philus suddenly raised his voice and said solemnly to Draco or everyone present: "But whether they can truly be forgiven by the Ring of Order depends on their performance."

"Tell them that forgiveness and kindness are not the same as weakness. If there is stubborn stupidity, God's punishment will still fall on them mercilessly!"

Before he finished speaking, Grad's eyes suddenly opened wide.

Despite the look of shock and anger on his face, the grand leader of the Judgment Knights did not do anything extra. He just looked at the impassioned speech of Philus with a regretful application after Duan Zai was "petrified".

Fernando on the side was even more shocked, watching in disbelief as the two Judgment Knights untied the novelist who was kneeling on the ground, allowing this guy with "untrustworthy" written all over him from head to toe to leave freely without any People try to block or refute.

"this……"

Before he could get up from the chair, Pavel next to him, with quick eyes and quick hands, pressed his shoulders with a "pop!", causing the burly figure to freeze in a half-crouched position.

"With all due respect, Your Excellency Fernando, even if we see some things in this world, it's better to pretend not to have seen them." Pavel suddenly said something without any beginning or end, but the extremely solemn expression on his face made Fernando feel uncomfortable. He immediately retorted:

"If you still care about the tens of thousands of imperial soldiers in your department, please remain silent from now on. This is the option that is in your best interest."

"…Should I believe you, Lord Pavel Dukaski, who betrayed Ed Levent?"

"You should believe it, because I am not saying this as the head of the Dukaski family." Pavel nodded sincerely:

"But in the name of the Marquis of the Palace, I sincerely do not want the interests of the empire to be harmed in any way!"