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Page 30

Bruce muttered, "Where does he get so much money? Steyr County is not like us, where we can enjoy trade tariffs."

The people who were asked looked at each other.

The accountant pushed up his glasses and said, "According to our cargo transit records, Steyr has indeed received more cargo recently. Most of them are textiles, including linen and some spinning."

"That emperor actually developed industry?" Bruce muttered, then noticed his sister and her group.

He immediately said, "You're here! I was planning to reward you based on your merits today, but you see the situation is so complicated now. Just go to the equipment warehouse and take whatever you see."

Elizabeth: "We don't care about the reward. We have to continue to deal with the crisis of world destruction."

"Yes, it's the world-destroying crisis." Bruce nodded. "'Tang' from the Wanderer Guild has information for you. The underground was originally their territory, and they have been using the underground passages to smuggle various things, including the Orcs' War Wolves."

Bruce pointed at the short and fat man who looked out of place among the armored knights.

The king raised an eyebrow. "So the war wolf that robbed the orc in the execution ground was smuggled in by them?"

The short fat man smiled and bowed. "Yes, we smuggled them in. We are honest and trustworthy. We can do anything, even if it's an orc, as long as we pay enough. But recently our 'underground trade route' has been ruined."

Wang: "Because of goblins and kobolds."

"Yes. Usually, kobolds and goblins would fight each other until their brains were all over the floor. But this time they formed a ridiculous united army, which made it very difficult for us to deal with them. We captured a lot of goblins and kobolds, and through interrogation, we roughly got some information. The mastermind behind this has a sacred weapon shared by kobolds and goblins."

The dwarf Flint exclaimed: "A divine artifact! Oh! I must take it and see it!"

Wang: "The mastermind behind this is using this artifact to command the kobolds and goblins?"

The short and fat Tang nodded. "We are sure that this is the case. And through interrogating these evil little creatures and using a lot of positioning spells, we finally determined the location of the lair of the mastermind. Or rather, the location of the laboratory."

Wang was shocked: "Laboratory. He is a mage?"

"Yes, a powerful wizard."

"Well, maybe we'll need the Banshee's Wail we just got." Wang glanced at Elizabeth, "Get the advanced invisibility potion as soon as possible."

"I will."

Wang continued to look at the short and fat Tang: "So, what is this mage called? Have you figured it out?"

"Of course we found out, his name is... Erwin!"

WANG: "Erwin (surprised)!"

Elizabeth immediately followed up: "Erwin (surprised)!"

Dwarf: "Erwin (confused)?"

Barbarian: "Erwin (angry)!"

Bruce Langdon looked at his sister's team in confusion, "Do you know him?"

Wang: "I don't know him. But... we just found out the name of the mastermind, so we have to show some performance, right?"

The entire command room was silent.

No one knew what attitude to show at this time.

Chapter 38 Emergency

In the awkward atmosphere, Wang spoke up: "But can we really trust you, Tang from the Wanderer Guild? You attacked me in the street."

The short fat man laughed. "It's a reasonable suspicion. The information I received said that you are a very rational and logical person. I like dealing with people like you. Because people like you can convince with logic.

"I want to first explain the reason why I tested you. At that time, I did not want Her Royal Highness to suddenly gain the ability to cause trouble in the battle for the throne..."

King: "You didn't know that the eldest prince is already a paladin? Your intelligence network is not very reliable."

Bruce immediately looked at the short and fat man with contempt, not hiding his mockery at all.

Tang took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Well... the old duke is an expert at manipulating intelligence. He personally manipulated the situation and deceived people. It's normal that I didn't know. After all, you see, everyone here has been fooled by him."

Elizabeth: "I knew from the beginning that my brother was a paladin, but you didn't know..."

"This is also part of the sophisticated deception." The leader of the Wanderer Guild looked at Elizabeth, "After all, you..."

Elizabeth: "It's a bottle, right?"

The short fat man nodded, then immediately turned to the king and said, "There is one thing that surprised me. I got the news that the princess's wizard directly determined that the eldest prince was a paladin yesterday. How did you do it?"

Wang: "Logic. The Duke felt uncomfortable immediately after taking the stomach medicine yesterday. According to the eldest prince, he did not lose consciousness immediately. But when the church pastor and doctor arrived, the old man had already lost consciousness. During this period, the eldest prince must have done something that would aggravate his symptoms.

"Then I thought of the positive energy I had seen underground, which caused growth and turned humans into monsters. Our priest also said that healing spells cannot cure diseases caused by parasites and microorganisms, because healing will strengthen parasites and microorganisms, so we have to use removal of diseases.

"And there is no removal of disease in the holy warrior's spell list. He can only use Lay on Healing on his father. Lay on Healing is actually channeling positive energy from the gods to replenish vitality."

Wayne Langdon lowered his head in guilt: "I didn't know positive energy could kill people. I thought it would be good to replenish some vitality."

As soon as he finished speaking, the bishop of the Lancelot Temple spoke up: "We can't be sure yet. This is just the wizard's one-sided statement! Although he is a disciple of the legendary wizard, medical skills are not the wizard's strong point. I think we should wait until we catch that Awen..."

Short and Fat Don: "Erwin."

"Yes, Erwin. Let's wait until we catch him and find out what he is doing! Maybe then the truth will be revealed! Before that, I cannot accept that positive energy can be harmful to people! Absolutely not! As a pastor serving the Lord of Life, I deny such slander!"

The bishop's words caused a murmur, and it seemed that the nobles present did not quite believe that positive energy could be harmful to humans.

At this time, the new Duke, who had not yet officially held the succession ceremony, spoke: "In fact, many people don't even believe that you are the disciple of the legendary wizard. After all, they didn't see you flirting with the court wizard.

"Of course I completely believe it, because I saw the reaction of the court wizard. He didn't dare to tear up the Banshee's Howl scroll last night because he was afraid of you. And I guess the reason why he was sure that the scroll was the Banshee's Howl was because you showed him a part of the magic. It should be one-ninth?"

The new duke's words once again sparked whispers.

In this situation, it can be said that the new Duke has already endorsed the King's parentage, and it would be unwise to publicly question it.

The Bishop of Lancelot pursed his lips and looked gloomy.

After all, saying that positive energy might be problematic is tantamount to blasphemy, and Lancelot is the Lord of Life.

After the new Duke calmed down everyone's doubts, he continued to stare at the king and said, "I will tell you the truth about the current situation. His Majesty the Emperor - Duke of Styria is preparing to start a war. He has a standing army that has withstood the test of the Southwest War, with a total of 4,000 people!

"He still has more than 10,000 levies and at least 10,000 mercenaries. On our side, the Duke's own standing army only has 1,000 people, and it will take at least a month for the levies from various places to gather together."

The so-called standing army is the knights and their followers. These people are basically off-duty and do nothing but military training. They are well-equipped, most of them are equipped with heavy armor and war horses. This is the most capable force in the hands of the Duke.

As for other things like the Self-Defense Force and the City Garrison, they are basically taken turns by urban civilians. They just take time off from work for training during their military service, and still have to work to make a living after returning home.

As for the conscripted soldiers in the countryside, they were originally farmers and were only trained during the winter farming season. They were considered well-trained if they did not collapse in a real battle.

Of course, the earls, viscounts, and barons under the Duke also have their own standing troops, but due to the limitations of their territory’s income, these troops are not as elite as the Duke’s standing troops.

Moreover, there is a problem in using these troops: as the saying goes, my vassal's vassal is not my vassal, these standing soldiers only pledge allegiance to their lords and do not accept the command of the Duke. Therefore, these troops are naturally inferior in command efficiency.

The king frowned and asked, "So the emperor has concentrated 24,000 troops? How come you only know about such a large-scale concentration of troops now?"

"We have known for a long time that the city of Langdon has already expanded its city guards and vigilantes, and the standing armies of the barons are also ready and rushed here at the first opportunity." Bruce shrugged, "Even though they were originally planning to participate in the fight for the throne. The old fox had already calculated this step. What he forgot to calculate was that the emperor really dared to take action."

Wang: “How do you say that?”

Bruce supported himself on the edge of the sand table with both hands: "There are a total of twelve electors in Kuosania, not counting us, six of whom support us as the next emperor of the empire. If the emperor launches an attack on us, our six allies will raise the banner of rebellion together. The old fox calculated that the emperor dared not move, and the gathering of troops was just a deterrent.

"And look at the time. It's spring now, and the conscripts have to go home to farm. In fact, we have been receiving conflicting intelligence. One side says that the conscripts have not been disbanded, while the other side says that spring farming has already begun in Styria. The old fox chose the latter of the two options.

"Now we know he was wrong. The Emperor is going to use his brief military advantage to teach us a lesson."

Bruce paused and continued, "Of course we are not completely without advantages. First of all, we are much richer than the emperor. I have already sent out employment invitations to several famous mercenary groups. But they need time to arrive.

"Secondly, we are stronger than the emperor. We don't have that many standing troops, but we have enough conscripts. These also take time to assemble. Especially now, the spring plowing has already begun for a long time, and the farmers are taking care of their crops."

One of the barons said, "The emperor is really desperate. He must conquer us, otherwise there will be famine in his Styria next year. If he conquers us, there will also be famine, but he will have enough money to buy food for disaster relief."

Bruce: "In short, we are racing against time. It is estimated that the news of the invasion of the Steyr army will soon arrive. We plan to rely on the city of Langdon to defend it. Preparations for defending the city have already begun. At this time, we cannot spare troops to encircle and suppress the large number of goblins and kobolds underground."

King: "I see, so let's carry out a decapitation operation, kill this Erwin, and seize the artifact. This way we can also order the goblins and kobolds to launch an attack on the Emperor's army."

Bruce: "That would be the best. Of course you won't be the only ones going. My team will go too, and Don will send his people as well."

"Then who will protect you?" Elizabeth asked doubtfully.

"Me." said the eldest prince Wayne. "As a paladin, there is no better bodyguard than me."

Chapter 39 Pointing General

Elizabeth stared at her eldest brother for a few seconds and nodded: "I have no questions."

Short and Fat Tang: "In short, this is the situation. We must eradicate the underground threat..."

"You should continue to explain why you want to kill me. I just interrupted you." Wang interrupted him again.

The fat man was stunned: "Where should we start from? Isn't this hurdle already in the past?"

Wang: "Although I interrupted the topic and caused it to go elsewhere, you did not explain it clearly. After you explain it clearly, we can decide whether to trust you or not."

The leader of the Wanderers Guild stared at Wang in amazement. It was obvious that he had never seen such a strict person before.

Elizabeth and Bruce both looked at him as if they were waiting for a good show.

"Well," he said, "I just said that I don't want Her Highness to really have the ability to cause trouble. At that time, our evaluation of the people around Her Highness was this: the drow elves only cared about Her Highness's safety, the cat-man rangers were similar, the barbarians and swordsmen were just messing around, and the princess herself, although she had the awareness of self-protection, actually had no specific ideas."

Tang stopped and looked at the princess and her group. After making sure that no one had any objections, he continued, "In general, Her Royal Highness is not a point worthy of attention in the expected succession. But if there is a wizard in her faction who can serve as the backbone and make decisions, the situation will be different.

"Besides, a team with or without a spellcaster is two different things. Although Her Highness is an excellent sorcerer, which we can tell from her appearance, she is not a powerful sorcerer who has mastered many spells."

Wang: "She can use the scorching rays many times a day, but it is mainly the scorching rays."

Elizabeth stepped lightly on the wizard's robes.

The wizard shut up.

In fact, all the old foxes present noticed the princess's little action, and many of them looked at the king a few more times.

Tang pretended not to notice this and continued Wang's words: "So we need to understand the details of this new spellcaster. However, it's my fault. The person I sent to do the work was not very smart and did a rough job."

Wang raised his eyebrows and said, "It's hard to imagine that you would make a mistake in selecting people... Oh, I see. This is what is called making up for it, and I should have seen through it but not said it out loud."

Tang took out his handkerchief again and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead. His action was actually a gesture.

The new Duke laughed heartily. Apparently, as a puppet of the Wanderers' Guild (on the surface), he had no intention of giving up the opportunity to tease the Guild.

It can only be said that the old duke's strategy was very successful. All the conservatives were united behind the eldest prince. Now because the eldest prince has sworn allegiance to the new duke, the conservatives can only be forced to obey reluctantly.

The emerging forces have always supported the second prince, and as the apparent "vested interests", there is nothing they can do.

Whether the power allocation can be rebalanced next depends on the second prince's methods. Obviously, the old fox fully trusts his second son in this regard, otherwise he would not have worked so hard to come up with all this.

Although the old duke is dead, everyone is still dancing in his palm.