I Will Be The Crowned King

After careful consideration, Anson decided to observe first.

Of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with counseling. mediation, right?

As for the Inquisition... I only made a small suggestion. Whether it is adopted is entirely their business, right?

What's more, they also have their own intelligence network, maybe they already know that the black mage is back; even if there is a one in ten million possibility, they really decide to be reckless once, and they have time to stop, right?

To sum up, taking the initiative to self-destruct is a foolish act that is reckless and does not give oneself any retreat, and decisiveness is a responsible and rational decision for oneself...

Hmm, that's cowardly.

Sitting in the shadow of the corner of the smoking room, Anson was leisurely holding his coffee, enjoying the cake that Lisa had stuffed him with, while admiring the "drama" that was going on in front of him.

An elf, a woman, an old man.

The three figures are sitting around the fireplace, constantly changing the objects and expressions of conversation among the psychedelic smoke, the sparkling wine glasses, and the dim fireplace fire; trying to show sincerity to one person, and then convey it to another person hypocritical.

The scene of mediation and negotiation in front of him made Anson involuntarily recall the gangster films in his previous life; the archbishop in a dress with a pipe in his hand always overlapped with a man playing a cat in his sight.

Maurice Périgord, the ambassador of the Kingdom of Iser, is an elf who looks very much like a human. According to him, he has one-eighth of the Austerian family blood. The other two smiled knowingly.

Compared with his elegant words, his attitude was extremely tough; Luther Franz interrupted the quarrel again and again, tried to persuade Morris to make concessions, but was rejected; and whenever the archbishop put forward conditions, He will be very clever to lead the topic elsewhere.

This meaningless conversation lasted for nearly thirty minutes. The elf ambassador who put down the empty wine glass asked to go to the bathroom; this euphemistic "truce" invitation was immediately approved by the other two.

"boom."

With the door closed, two sounds of relief sounded almost simultaneously in the smoking room.

"He still wants more concessions."

Luther Franz put down his pipe, the burning fire reflected in his pupils: "The situation on the front line can no longer be hidden, we have to give the elves something practical."

"Can't you find a way to bribe this sissy?" Holding a glass of wine with a floral scent, Mrs. Katarina said very dissatisfiedly:

"Old Luther, do you know how much the railway commission has borne for the kingdom because of this **** war? Just the cost of routine maintenance and the wages of the employees have already made many people dissatisfied!"

Katarina Vera, the widow of the former chairman of the railway committee Conce Vera, after her husband died, she supported the Vera family by herself; because the Kingdom of Clovis stipulated that women could not become members of parliament, she had to find a A married husband, and he supported him as the new chairman.

Anson had a relationship with this lady: she and her pale husband were also one of the five people watching the murder of the "Steel Sky".

In addition to Viscount Bogner, three of the five "spectators" in the murder were nurses of a certain family... Whenever he thinks of this, Anson regrets why he didn't shoot him.

"Just because he is greedy enough, he will appear here tonight." Luther Franz said coldly:

"The traditional handicrafts and dances of the elf are very popular. I gave him a low-interest loan of 100,000 gold coins for his luxury store and dance school... just to make him willing to negotiate tonight."

"One hundred thousand gold coins? Is he an elf or a vampire?!"

The stunned Mrs. Katerina scolded, not only her, but also Anson who was sitting in the corner.

You can get 100,000 gold coins just by negotiating... This money can arm ten full infantry regiments!

"He's a greedy elf like a vampire, which is exactly what we need." Seeing Madam Katarina's disgusted expression on the opposite side, the puffing Archbishop Luther extinguished his pipe:

"Now this greedy elf doesn't want money, but the ambassadorship that allows him to continue making money. We need to give him some capital that he can boast in front of the elf king."

Mrs. Caralina sighed: "Then what do you need me to do, old Luther?"

"Shortly, I want you to convince the Railroad Commission to lay off one-fifth of the staff."

"what?!"

"You heard that right, Madam Caterina, I want the railway committee to lay off one-tenth of the staff in the capital." The archbishop wrote lightly:

"In return, I assure you, as Archbishop, that the Church of Order will not reduce any investment in the railway company."

"This will not only make it clear to the Elf King Iser that Clovis has no intention of invading them, but also alleviate your current loss situation."

"Master Archbishop, do you know what you are talking about?!"

"Yes, I'm sober."

"The Railroad Commission has 40,000 employees in Clovis City. Are you going to make 4,000 railroad workers homeless?"

"I regret their situation."

"This matter requires the unanimous approval of the committee. I can't do it as a small chairman!"

"I have confidence in you."

Looking at the unshakable Archbishop, Mrs. Katerina frowned angrily: "I don't understand, old Luther, I really don't understand... You are the one who made the Church of Order agree to be in the Kingdom of Clovis despite all the opposition. It was you who gave us our first investment in building the railway, and made an exception for the church to give us technology!"

"Now you're destroying it for a disgusting vampire, why?!"

"On the contrary, I'm doing this to protect it." Luther Franz calmly poured a glass of wine and gently pushed it in front of Mrs. Katerina:

"You'll sit here when the Elven Ambassador Isir comes back and tell him that the Railroad Commission is willing to back down...right?"

The indignant Mrs. Katerina looked at the indifferent face of the Archbishop, and the slightly threatening words made her slowly get up, took a drink and drank it, and walked out of the room coldly.

In the smoke-filled smoking room, only Anson and Luther Franz were left.

"Do you think I'm particularly ruthless?"

In the empty room, Luther Franz said suddenly without warning.

Is this asking me? Sitting in the corner, An Sen was a little ignorant and could only smile reluctantly: "No, I think you are trying your best to avoid a war... It takes a lot of courage."

"Courage?" The Archbishop suddenly showed a sarcastic smile:

"Then I'll tell you another thing, with or without tonight's mediation, these 4,000 people will be fired - because of the port blockade due to the outbreak of the war, the loss-making railway committee has long been discussing laying off workers. ."

"And the actual number of people they're going to fire is 8,000."

Luther Franz took a sip of the wine in his glass, and the bright purple-red liquid was like blood plasma against the background of the fire.

"The only thing that can stop them is that firing too many people will cause the railway company's stock to fall and the Church of Order will cut back on their support."

"Now that she has permission from me, I guess she is rushing to find her husband and tell the waiting committee members the 'quota' of 4,000 people."

Anson suddenly realized.

So that's what happened... Seeing that Mrs. Katerina was forced by the Archbishop to leave the table angrily, he almost thought that the other party was a "good noble with a conscience"... As expected, he thought too much.

"The railway company will return to profitability, and the elf ambassador has received an investment of 100,000 gold coins and his credit... Now there are only 4,000 unemployed railway workers between Clovis City and true peace."

Luther Franz looked back at Anson, and there were no waves in his calm eyes: "And you, Anson Bach, will tell Mace Hornard about the dismissal of the railway company, understand why?"

Anson nodded silently.

If the black mage really intends to start a riot in the outer city, then he will definitely not let these 4,000 people go; as long as he follows them, he will be able to find the old gods organization and catch them all.

As for the life and death of these 4,000 people... it was not in their discussion from the beginning, it was just a symbol, not even a number.

"When the banquet is over, you can go to Mrs. Catalina and ask for information on the four thousand people; she knows your identity, and when she saw you being brought in by me, she must have guessed what I meant - what time is it?"

"Nine-fifty!"

Anson, who took out his pocket watch, replied immediately.

Luther Franz nodded lightly: "It's time for you to meet Professor Mace Hornard, do you know what to do?"

"Of course."

The premise is that he hasn't fought with the court... Anson twitched the corners of his mouth.

………………

When the uneasy Anson left the smoking room and went back down the stairs to the hall, the atmosphere of the whole banquet was gradually heating up; all the guests had arrived, and the carefully prepared players were playing in the corner of the hall, while the ladies and gentlemen listened. While listening to the soothing music, he pointed to the machine on the display stand in front of the hall and talked a lot.

It was an extremely sophisticated-looking instrument. The upper and lower ends were fixed to the brass pipes on both sides of the display stand. Several panting scholars were still using wrenches to fix it; Thousands of gears of nearly a hundred joysticks are completely exposed, showing an aesthetic completely different from traditional handicrafts.

Difference Engine.

This was the first time Anson Bach saw the "Miracle of the Ring of Order" with his own eyes. In the memory of "former Anson", he had only read about it in books; the technology of making and using the difference engine was the Church of Order top secret, just like the steam core.

There is a slight difference between the difference engine in front of him and the one in memory. Anson guessed that the model or purpose of the machine may be different.

At this moment, a familiar voice sounded from behind him:

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Anson, who was trembling behind him, turned around naturally and saw that Mace Hornard was sitting at the table with a cup of hot coffee and smiling at himself:

"Dear Anson, take a break, the presentation will begin soon."

The excited Anson nodded, pretending to be nervous and pulling out a chair next to Mace Hornard and sitting down.

Although he was really nervous.

Looking at his fidgeting student, Professor Mace Hornard smiled warmly, took a glass of wine from the passing waiter and handed it to him.

The frightened Anson immediately stretched out his hands to pick it up. Just when he wanted to thank the professor, he heard the professor's gentle words resound again:

"The intelligence you provided today is important."

Anson froze.

"Relax, my dear student." Mace Hornard said leisurely, he took a sip of coffee, and turned his gaze to the elf ambassador not far away who was mingling with the guests:

"Look, our Lord Maurice Périgord is so beautiful, who can remember that not long ago, he and his elf embassy in Iser was the most desolate place in the entire inner city, and if you want to see His Majesty, you have to do it beforehand. bribe."

"In the blink of an eye, he has become the most popular darling in Clovis City, and he is invited to all banquets... Hehe, may the ring of order bless him with such good luck."

Mace Hornard smiled and blessed, without a trace of falsehood in his demeanor.

With a stiff smile, An Sen simply didn't know what to say.

An Old God spellcaster expressing the blessings of the Ring of Order to another elf...that's really piety.

But this is not the point... Anson, who had slightly restrained his emotions, took the opportunity to take the wine glass and looked at Mace Hornard with a solemn expression:

"Professor, are you planning to..."

"Relax... dear Anson, relax."

The smiling Mace Hornard raised his hand to stop Anson, who still wanted to ask: "There are a lot of surprises waiting for us tonight, don't worry."

Um, what do you mean?

Lots of surprises... Did Mace Hornard have other plans besides killing the Elf Ambassador?

Thinking of this, An Sen from his heart suddenly had the urge to turn his head and run away!

But he immediately rejected the idea... In addition to being unable to escape because the black mage was sitting beside him~www.wuxiaspot.com~, the more important thing is that he doesn't know where Lisa is now.

Calm down, be sure to calm down, at least you are still safe... er... probably... maybe... temporarily safe.

Just as he was thinking wildly, the lights above his head suddenly dimmed, and the entire banquet hall fell into darkness.

Along with the noisy whispers and exclamations of the guests, an amplified voice sounded in front of the display stand:

"Ladies and gentlemen, what I will show in front of you tonight is the last work completed by Saint Isaac in the first year of the Saint Calendar, with the help of many friends!"

"When it was completed, St. Isaac himself did not know whether he was successful or not, and was assassinated that day; the work was sealed with it - to this day!"

"Leaded by the Church of Order Research Institute, together with colleagues from St. Isaac's College, to restore this last work of St. Isaac a hundred years ago!"

"That exciting moment will be repeated tonight!"