Public trial?You deserve it too!

"This time, after all, I am only acting as the director of the first division. Your Majesty sent me here because of the shortage of manpower."

The emperor sent me here to claim credit.

"Now that the hidden dangers of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau are gone, my title as chief of the first division should be taken back by His Majesty soon."

Now you can't squeeze out any oil and water, there is only a mess left, and the emperor can't let me sink into it.

"In the future, the Imperial Intelligence Bureau still wants you to continue to be in charge of the Bureau. After all, for such a large organization, of course you are the most suitable with experience."

So don't look for tossing and nothing, think about how to land smoothly.

Claude said in a "complimentary" manner that his mind is now full of what the emperor thinks of himself and the two princesses, but he has no time to deal with Nicholas anymore.

Nicholas breathed a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, the other party could see the emperor's layout, and he could also see that he wanted to have a good death—in this case, he didn't have to pretend to be a gentleman.

"Yeah, I think so too. The end of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau is a foregone conclusion—but over the years, no matter how much you pull your hips now, there are still some intelligence and background. I think it will definitely help on yours."

Ok?

Claude turned his gaze to Nicholas' face, and looked at each other.

The other party doesn't seem to want to form a clique, but... unilaterally wants to sell favors to himself?

But they have already completed the deal about Randolph. He will take the big credit for the purge of counter-revolutionaries this time, and Nicholas will not touch it, but Claude will make compensation for Randolph.

Then what kind of favor does the other party sell to himself now?People like him should know how to advance and retreat best.

"I appreciate Randolph's talent, and I won't let him waste his youth."

Claude repeated his promise.

"I understand, but Randolph has grown up and can make his own decisions. He likes knights, so he can't go the same way as me. It might be a good way to separate the family at that time-the child's way should be left to him. You worked hard."

Nicholas said with a smile.

Claude's eyes froze. What the other party meant was that Randolph's belonged to Randolph, and Nicholas's belonged to Nicholas—don't confuse them. The director doesn't want to let Randolph and his Father had nothing to do with it.

He fell silent, stroking the coffee cup in his hand.

Claude already knew that he had leaked a flaw, otherwise the Chief of the Intelligence Bureau would not have chatted with him in such an obscure way - he believed that he could understand these words.

Then Claude realized immediately that he had been fooled.

Because no matter whether the other party is guessing or confirming, now my silence has obviously helped the other party to make a conclusion, so in the final analysis, I have already lost in front of the other party—and Nicholas did not choose to tell the truth about this matter, nor did he express it to the other party. When I question or ask questions, I obviously don't want to make myself feel disgusted.

Or, it may be to stabilize yourself when you want to verify, and then report to the emperor.

So, which one?

The knight raised his head again and carefully observed the chief of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau. This unlucky person he once thought was like gin finally revealed the real strength of the other party. Something went wrong with the trial.

Nicholas didn't speak any more, he just lowered his head and sipped his coffee quietly.

PS;

The Burning World: Chapter 242 Chapter 220 Six Unreasonable Theocracy

"I really need some help now - as you said, being young may be my advantage, but experience and such things must be accumulated over time, especially for some places I don't understand, such as business alliances, Or the Theocracy."

Claude spoke.

"The college's textbooks have always said that they are our enemies, but why they are our enemies and what their country is like, but there is no explanation in a few words. I don't know anything about these enemies, at most It can only be regarded as a glimpse of the leopard."

It was impossible for him to trust Nikolai's hints - the allegiance of a king of intelligence?

Do not make jokes.

He is completely different from the people that Claude used before. He has his own status and his own background. It can be said that his ambition has reached the extreme—it is already at the point where there is no way out. This kind of person will not Put what you want on the surface.

But even so, he couldn't refuse cleanly.

What if the other party is really looking for another home?

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the ship of the Imperial Intelligence Agency is obviously about to sink. Now the comparison is who jumps off the ship faster. Even for a person like Nicholas, no matter how loyal he is to the emperor, he always has to think about it. Did you end up by yourself?

So Claude uttered a request for help that would not cause any misunderstanding at all.

On the one hand, this will not refute Nicholas' face, on the other hand, it is impossible to use it to make a big fuss.

"It's very easy. Now that you are the director of the first division, you can directly initiate intelligence exchange. Just make an application and submit it. I will be in charge of coordinating and approving it. The information exchange between the second division and the third division needs to be reviewed, but foreign ones are not allowed." question."

Nicholas nodded. It seemed that Claude was still wary of him, but there was nothing wrong with it. Rather, he was more satisfied with it—because the other party knew how to advance and retreat, just like him.

In front of the emperor, only those who know how to advance and retreat can stand the longest.

"How about this? If you have nothing else to do today, I can help you arrange lunch with the director of the fourth division. You two haven't met, right? It's a pity that the director of the sixth division is no longer in the country, otherwise Just be with him."

He didn't say any other temptations or hints, but just tried his best to satisfy Claude's request.

After all, as long as he is still the head of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, Claude is doomed to be unwilling to have more involvement with him.

But it doesn't matter, the day when the emperor abolishes the intelligence bureau is not far away.

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[Why did you choose to communicate with an untrustworthy person to obtain a piece of information that is very important to you? 】

The system asks a little strangely.

【Aren't you the kind of person who wants to see it in person even when the information is in front of you?I thought you would find a way to go to the Theocracy to see the real situation, just like when you found out that there was a problem with the orc invasion, you prepared to sneak into the captives. 】

'At that time, I was still an unknown person, not many people knew me, and the places I went to were sparsely populated—if I really wanted to run away, I could walk out of the Thousand Li Snow Mountain alive just by relying on your radar. '

Claude went to Humphrey's mansion in a carriage.

"But it's different now. After so many things, the Theocracy will definitely have my record. Unless I can go through official channels, going to the Theocracy is a dead end. With the Theocracy's control over the grassroots, I will also I don’t have much confidence in leaving the Theocracy alive.”

[Doesn't a gentleman stand under a dangerous wall...]

' That's it, and what I'm asking for is so big that I can't fool me with fake things—even if there are disguises and fake things mixed in, I can still touch the truth.Sometimes, being alive is better than anything else. '

Claude got out of the carriage and followed the waiter into the gate of the mansion.

"Nice to meet you, Director Claude."

Humphrey is a sprightly old man with an energy that doesn't match his appearance - making him look more like a veteran statesman than a section chief in Imperial Intelligence.

"Nice to meet you, Chief Humphrey."

"Just call me Humphrey. We are all colleagues. Age is not a barrier for secret discs like us."

The old man smiled and invited Claude to sit down.

"Then please just call me Claude directly."

Claude is not lacking in etiquette. After all, he is only here to get some information, and he doesn't really want to have a deep friendship with anyone in the intelligence agency.Because compared to the Theocracy, the Intelligence Bureau of the Empire feels like it's playing tricks.

Especially this secret disc who came back from the Theocracy, he doesn't believe that the other party has not been discovered by the Theocracy—and if he is discovered, and he can come back in full, then it is really... Tut tut.

Either he's too incompetent to see the threat and stays there as a mascot, or he's a double agent.

However, this has nothing to do with him. No matter how bad the intelligence bureau is, the damage it can cause to the empire has been locked by the emperor.

The two of them didn't talk about any topics during the meal, they were all unnutritious trash talk, and the normal meeting didn't get down to business until the meal was over.

"I'm sure you already know why I'm here. The main reason is that I'm too young and don't know anything, so I want to find someone who knows the Theocracy as my teacher."

Claude said earnestly.

"Director Nicholas told me, Your Excellency Humphrey, you are the person who knows the Church State best in the empire, so you came here for me. I hope you can clarify my doubts."

The old man nodded slightly, his expression carried a hint of memory and a sense of accomplishment, no different from an ordinary old man who was about to brag about his bravery in the past.

"Yeah, The Church... You are right, they are indeed the biggest enemy of the empire."

The waiter brought a bottle of sambuga and poured it for the two of them.

The pitch-black liquor fell into the goblet, emitting a special aroma.

Humphrey waved his hand, all the waiters stepped back, the doors and windows opened and closed, and there was only the sound of the clock hands moving in the hall.

"Try it, it's a special product of the Theocracy, added with the unique fennel flower oil there, but the wine is very strong, so drink it carefully."

The old man picked up the cup and invited Claude to drink together.

The knight took a sip from the wine glass, and found that compared with the popular liqueurs in the empire, the alcohol content was indeed unexpectedly high, but the sweetness was much lower.

It was the wine that Claude had to add Sprite to drink.

He put down his glass calmly and looked at the old man. Humphrey obviously liked this kind of wine. He took a sip and saw that Claude didn't respond, but he didn't say anything. He just put down his glass and looked serious.

"Director Claude, what do you want to know about the Theocracy?"

"Their social structures, and their political institutions."

The old man looked at Claude in surprise. The question asked by the other party was beyond Humphrey's expectations. He originally thought that the first division chief who was born as a knight would ask questions about the Theocracy's army. Woolen cloth.

In fact, Claude is not very interested in the military aspects of the Theocracy, because after all, in such a non-scientific world, all technologies and weapons are imaginary, and the population represents the combat power of a country.

The larger the population, the more manpower, and the more people who can use magic power, which is reflected in the larger number of knights and auxiliary soldiers.

And the empire is obviously very aware of the advantages it has, so without any fancy means, it directly made urbanization a compulsory course for officers. I don't play tricks, and you don't want to play tricks in front of me. Fight population and national output!

In terms of national output, the empire's land area is beyond the reach of all other forces, not to mention that they occupy almost all the most fertile land on the entire continent, such as the Vistula River Plain, or the maple Danbailu territory.

The Chamber of Commerce once ridiculed with extreme jealousy that after God created the territory of Fontainebleau, he felt that it was too perfect, so that he created the people of Fontainebleau to make it imperfect.

Here is the most fertile land in the empire, as well as the richest iron and coal mines, where industry and agriculture are flourishing.

With such unique natural conditions, the population of the empire will naturally rise steadily—the disparity in this respect will only grow larger.

The orcs now have only one extra head, and the elves don't know, but the combined population of the Theocracy and the Merchant Alliance barely catches up to a quarter of the empire's, and even surpasses the population of the Empire's Fontainebleau territory. .

But Fontainebleau only occupies less than one-fifth of the empire's territory.

So even if the Theocracy is full of conspiracies and the merchant alliance is invincible in naval battles, as long as the empire fights steadily, they can overthrow these two goods with one punch, and pure exchange sons can exchange them to death.

Now that the empire has been stable for thousands of years, it is starting to prepare for a steady fight - Claude really doesn't think how the other party will play. In this situation, unless the emperor is mentally handicapped, such as a thing called Tianzi, otherwise the Theocracy wants to enter the empire's territory. Disaster.

But the emperors of the empire are all celebration monsters. One person is the kind of ancestral hall. Moving the ancestral graves fundamentally cuts off the possibility of being dug up by others to cause bad geomantic omen. The emperor who was in office had to learn how to endure the ridicule from his ancestors most of the time.

Therefore, the upper-level route is useless, so the Theocracy can only take the lower-level route—that is, the civilian route, following the stream of faith.

However, when Claude checked the information, he discovered an extremely outrageous situation, so that he had to come to the Imperial Intelligence Bureau to find someone to answer his questions, which is why he was so eager to meet with the chief of the fourth branch.

Because this Theocracy, which plays Faith Stream, actually has slaves.

When Claude heard Gorman say the word slave for the first time, he was completely stunned. At first Claude thought that it was the kind in the name of a servant of God, at least on the surface. There is a pair of pants to cover it up - but Gorman directly said no, the servant of the god is the servant of the god, and the slave is the slave.

Servants of God are servants of God, and slaves are sinners despised by God. They are not worthy of being servants of God. The Theocracy calls them "sinners", and the only way for sinners to be promoted is to possess magic power. There is no possibility of changing their fate—God said that their sins cannot be redeemed while they are alive.

But the paradox is that there really hasn't been any low-level rebellion on the Theocracy's side—there have been rebellions from the top like the cardinal, but there has never been a people's uprising.

Claude only knows one political system that owns slaves and can suppress the people's thoughts and resistance desires.

But in any case, this system should not appear in the hands of the church that once went hand in hand with the empire.

So he very much hopes that someone can help him determine whether the Theocracy is playing this trick - this conclusion is very critical, so crucial that it can help him complete an important piece of the puzzle for the Theocracy.

"The social structure of the Church... is really interesting."

Humphrey had a look of reminiscence on his face.

"I also struggled with those cardinals for decades before I could barely understand what it was like-they oppressed the common people, but they also prepared targets for the common people to oppress, so the entire country can ensure that the foundation remains unchanged .”

Claude clenched his hand slightly, and he was sure that what the Theocracy was playing with was the caste system!

"Different from the standard pyramid structure of the Empire, the social composition of the Theocracy is very strange. It is a structure similar to an olive core. The upper part is still pointed like the Empire. The pope-bishop-army, but the back It's different, their largest population is in the middle class, not the lower class."

Humphrey tried his best to explain to Claude in plain language, but in fact he already understood it clearly, and he was just extracting proper nouns from Humphrey's long and difficult sentences.

In the pyramid structure of the empire, the emperor is the supreme top, followed by nobles, knights + officials, the army, and finally civilians. Except for the top, each class has a way to rise, which is also an important factor in maintaining the stability of the empire—— That is, life-changing hope.

But here in the Theocracy, it is completely different.

God has acted as the emperor and became the top of the system, and no one can replace it, but it is impossible to really give orders.

And the pope and the bishop together form a relatively bloated ruling class-it is reasonable to say that this is actually normal, and what comes out in the end should be something like a constitutional monarchy.

Either the pope is strong and the bishops are echoed, playing a dual monarchy; or the bishop is strong and the pope becomes a simple symbol, playing a parliamentary monarchy.

And if there is no absolute power suppression between the pope and the bishop, then you can spend a little time playing, and use God as the symbol of the emptied monarch, and the pope and the bishops will set up a council together to play games—just like the business alliance urine.

However, something outrageous has appeared. Now the pope and the bishops are indeed in the same class, but later they choose to solidify the class, widen the class gap, and then crazily oppress the bottom class.