I will be crowned king

Beluga Harbor Council, basement.

In the tense air, the flickering lights illuminated the faces of the three people surrounding the table. There was dead silence in the half-darkness, except for the two clerks hiding in the corner and the occasional "rustling" sound from the pen tips.

Draco, who was caught in the middle, forced a smile and kept scanning the two sides of the confrontation: Sir Ferrers, who had a gloomy face, and Anson Bach, who was calm and focused on smoking his pipe.

Compared with the Holy War Army opposite, Anson is definitely the more comfortable one; the Holy See's goal of hunting down the apostles has been completely bankrupt, and there is no hope of destroying the Free Confederacy. At least in the short term, the New World will be absolutely safe.

So is this enough?

Of course not... Although the original goal has been basically achieved, these achievements were not achieved by itself, or by the New World alone. The northern giants of the empire headed by Bernard, the Kingdom of Clovis, the Kingdom of Naxir, and others There is vast soil...

These forces that have each had a foot in the door must share the cake that suits them from the outcome of "the holy war failed, but succeeded."

Although victory on the battlefield is full of difficulties, obstacles and sacrifices, at least there is a clear direction to move forward; a successful conclusion at the negotiation table is the beginning of the battle - this requires the joint efforts of both parties.

Fairness, justice, sacrifice, grievance, faith...here are all just big or small chips, used to exchange things that are truly useful to oneself from the other party.

But this also means that you have to meet the needs of the other party in order to win the opportunity for win-win cooperation, and the needs of the Holy War Army or the Holy See can only be...

"Ahem...that, that..."

The novelist who suddenly jumped out adjusted his breathing and looked at the two of them with a smile on his face: "I, I know it may not be good to suddenly interrupt your meditation at this time, but we..."

"I have a proposal." Philus said expressionlessly:

"How about we get rid of a certain Truth Society traitor who is getting in the way first, and then start negotiating - in exchange, I can agree to remove the Luen family from the Vatican's wanted list."

"Agree."

The corner of Anson's mouth raised: "To be honest, even if you don't speak, I plan to do this."

"But! Considering that there seems to be no more suitable third-party witness to this negotiation besides him, it is more useful to us to keep him alive for the time being."

Before the novelist with a stiff smile could breathe a sigh of relief, he suddenly changed the subject: "Of course, if you want to do something to him after the negotiation is over, I promise not to stop you."

"I agree."

Philus' deep voice contained strong murderous intent: "Then, it's settled."

"It's settled." Anson raised his eyebrows: "So, this is the first clause we reached in this negotiation. It's really a good start - what do you think, Draco?"

"Me! I think this might be a bit..."

"The Luen family wants to take over the new world...that's no problem." Without giving a certain novelist a chance to open his mouth, Philus said again expressionlessly:

"But they cannot become the apparent rulers of the Free Confederation. No country in the world of order is a fool. An old god sect family becomes the royal family of a new country, and the chaos and turmoil caused cannot be quelled by any of us."

"I agree. It won't be difficult for the Luen family to persuade you."

Anson nodded slightly. Anyway, Thalia was not prepared to stand in front of the stage at the beginning. It is still too troublesome to rule a country personally. It is more comfortable to rule behind the scenes: "Also, please allow me to remind you that the Free Confederation, strictly speaking, It is a confederation of many city-states... It is not even a republic, and there is no possibility of a royal family."

"That's just for now." Philus smiled meaningfully:

"Who can say clearly what will happen in the future?"

Anson made no answer, neither affirmative nor negative.

In the eyes of Philus, this basically means that the other party has acquiesced in his own statement. The New World will become essentially the kingdom of the Old God Sect. This form was brought under the jurisdiction of the Holy See and allowed the Holy See to send priests to the colonies and build cathedrals.”

"This... may be a little difficult." Anson put on what he thought was the most difficult expression: "You should know that the so-called Free Confederation... was actually established with the Promise Keepers League, that is, the Universalist believers as the core; right now The 'liberals' in power within the confederal system are almost all the most loyal believers."

"I and Marshal Louis Bernard must agree. After all, the Holy See is the one who speaks in the world of order. Countries without the Holy See's recognition are equal to isolated outcasts. But... they may not be able to accept it for a while..."

Anson's words were extremely sincere. He kept his posture to the lowest possible level, made the truth clear and presented the facts. He took all the responsibility at all levels - it's not that I didn't want to, it was them.

If the person sitting opposite was Louis or Leon, the negotiation would basically be over; unfortunately... this time it was the unreasonable Holy See and the even more unreasonable adjutant of the Grand Master of the Knights of Judgment.

"Your Excellency Anson Bach, when I heard that you also have hope for this negotiation, I always felt that you should also be a smart person." Philus frowned slightly:

"A smart person can be greedy, but he should also understand that greed must be moderate - the Holy See has already given in, and you should show us the minimum sincerity of the Free Confederation, right?"

"...I thought I had given it."

"Oh ho ho... Honesty is not sincerity." Philus smirked twice: "Eviscerating the heart is."

Anson: "..."

"Of course I know how much pressure disbanding the Universal Patriarch puts on you. After all, you rely on them to successfully unite the colonies of the empire. That... I remember correctly, it is the Universal Patriarch named Riper, right? betraying a friend, Dato is indeed not a bad person. .”

"But if you can't do it, then I can only guarantee that the Holy War Army will fight until the last moment - no matter how difficult it is, the Holy See will organize new Holy War Army to land in the new world again and again until they are all killed. , or until I am killed by you all; anyway, for me, both are fine."

"I can disband the Promise Keepers Alliance, but the Universal Sect must continue to exist as one of the faiths in the new world..."

"No!" Philus flatly refused: "Universal Sect must disappear!"

"Or compromise a bit, at least not persecute Universalist believers and priests, and allow them..."

"Universal Sect must disappear!"

Anson's expression became serious.

In the dead silence of the basement, the young clerk Alan Dawn and another clerk who also came from a monastery were recording quickly.

Cautiously, Draco looked sideways at Pond's, never taking his eyes away from Anson's face.

The silence lasted for five minutes.

"Okay, I promise you... I will persuade the Free Confederation to dissolve the Universal Church, declare the church to be the only legal faith of the Free Confederation, and the Pope to be the sole faith leader of all Ring of Order believers in the Free Confederation."

Anson took a deep breath and said to Philus with great determination: "But on the contrary, the Holy See must recognize the Free Confederacy and establish a cathedral in Sailing City!"

"Okay!" Philus did not hesitate: "It's just that given the size of the New World, it would be too small to set up just one parish. I think..."

"One parish is enough. After all, there is only one in Clovis."

Anson immediately retorted: "Although the area may be larger, in terms of population, the entire New World may not even have one-tenth of Clovis. Supporting one more parish would be too much pressure."

"You may think I'm lying, but data doesn't lie - you might as well ask about the population distribution, land area, land output and wheat output per acre of the star world that the religion has, and you'll know Is what I said true?"

This time the silent person became Philus... However, he was also aware of the actual situation in the new world, so multi-diocese was only one of the plans, and he did not expect that the other party would really agree.

What's more... even if there is only one now, it does not mean that there will not be more in the future; after all, there is the case of Luther Franz merging dioceses, so of course the Holy See can also split a diocese into multiple ones according to the actual situation. It is also reasonable.

Well, in this way, the Holy War Army will have no reason to continue to occupy Sailing City. By the way, it can also control the influence of the church in the westernmost part of the New World. Beluga Port can continue to exist as an undisputed political and economic center... Anson is Thinking about it in my mind.

The two people with evil intentions looked at each other and felt that they had won and lost.

"Since we are talking about Sailing City, I think it is also necessary to talk about the ownership of the New World colonies." Pheles suddenly changed the topic:

"Although the previous contradiction can be explained by misunderstanding, if the Free Confederacy is allowed to retain all the colonies, it seems to be too unfair to the jihadist legions of various countries participating in this war."

"Since the Free Confederation prides itself on being a 'Confederacy', my suggestion is that it might as well follow this rule and control the Gray Dove Castle, Black Reef Port and Red Hand Bay that have been reduced to ruins by the Holy War Army. A brand new colony established by a man of noble birth and outstanding military exploits... What do you think?"

"Of course, this is just my personal thought." Philus chuckled twice, with a very playful expression: "If the Free Confederacy really cannot accept it, then I will truthfully convey your attitude to the Jihad Army. Let’s see how to solve this problem.”

Looking at Philus's enthusiastic smiling face, Anson suddenly had the urge to feel sorry for himself - in terms of being generous to others and not caring about face at all, the Holy See is indeed better.

It was obviously just his own proposal, but he made it sound as if the Free Confederacy should have agreed to it in the first place, and that the Holy See was just fighting for their own interests for the hard-working Holy War Army... It was basically an open grab.

The problem is that Anson cannot refuse easily because it directly involves the direct interests of hundreds of thousands of jihadi troops, or the nobles and leaders who command hundreds of thousands of jihadi troops; now that he can bargain with the Holy See, it is essentially because of wooing him. to their support.

Fellers had obviously noticed this, and the backstabbing of Pavel Dukaski and the Hantu Legion reminded him that the ones who were really fighting against the Holy See were not the colonial rebels in front of him, but the ones who came to annihilate them in name. These rebel guys.

The problem is that I can't agree so easily... Showing weakness is one thing. It's obvious that the other party intends to use this to test his bottom line and prepare to make further progress later; as long as he nods and acknowledges it, it's hard to say how the Free Confederation will calm down the public anger. There will definitely be more in the future. There are other harsh conditions waiting for him to kidnap the entire Jihad Army.

After a slight pause, Anson suddenly thought of a new idea: "You are right, the meritorious Jihadist soldiers should receive their rewards. Rebuilding the Red Hand Bay that has been reduced to ruins, the Free Confederacy alone is indeed unable to do it." , of course it would be great if the Holy War Army joins us."

"Therefore, I propose to establish a forward base camp of the Crusaders in Red Hand Bay to accommodate all warriors who have meritorious service and are eager to continue fighting for the Ring of Order!"

"...Frontier Base Camp?" Philus almost didn't react.

“Although the development of the New World has a history of two hundred years since the first colonists landed, this land is still a wild land full of dangers and opportunities for the people of the Old World. Ancient, heretical beliefs, ruins of evil gods and unknown powers are spread throughout the mountains, forests and countryside." Anson suddenly raised his voice:

"To completely bring this land into the embrace of the Ring of Order is by no means a great achievement that can be achieved overnight; it will take ten, twenty, one hundred or even two hundred years... Countless warriors have come one after another to spread the Ring of Order. Only by fighting for faith can you see some faith."

"Therefore, the Holy War is far from over, and the Holy War formed for the Ring of Order is far from the time to disband; on the contrary, an outpost should and must be established to accommodate all those who came from all directions to fight for the Ring of Order. Warriors who fight in the ring, let them embark on the journey without worries."

"I personally think that Red Hand Bay is the best location for this outpost. It not only has a port, but also has many roads leading directly to the inland. It is very convenient for the holy warriors who come from afar to pack up their bags and go to the wilderness to fight against heretics. What do you think? "

Staring at the astonished Philus with burning eyes, Anson tried his best to suppress his urge to laugh.

Don’t you want to invade the territory of the Free Confederacy and add sand to me? Okay, I will give you this opportunity, and I will even give you the opportunity to continue to maintain the existence of the Jihad Army as a military organization, so that you can still do business after returning to the Holy See.

But on the other hand, you should not even think about expanding this organization to any territory outside Red Hand Bay. It is firmly sandwiched between Black Reef Port and Long Lake Town, and every move is under the control of the Confederacy.

Whether you want it or not, it’s your choice.