Lampard alighted from the carriage alone.
The door of the carriage was shut tightly again.
Clearly, he had no intention of letting Thales go down with him.
Still immersed in the information revealed by Lampard, Thales held onto the carriage and steadied himself in shock and bewilderment. Under Little Rascal's worried gaze, he pressed his face against the window of the carriage.
'Lampard said that someone wants me alive.
Who is it?
Who would want to keep me alive?
'Is it really what I think it is …'
Thales' thoughts were interrupted by the scene before him.
It was not a big alley, and it had already been cleared out by Black Sand Region soldiers dressed in patrol uniforms. They had cleared out a slightly bigger empty space.
Archduke Lampard regained his stern expression. Holding onto his saber, he took steady steps towards the center of the alley.
There, a fair-skinned man in a thick cotton-padded jacket waited for the archduke's arrival with a relaxed expression.
Thales' eyebrows twitched slightly. He did not know this man, who was almost no different from an ordinary Northlander.
The man smiled and pressed his hand against his chest. He bowed at Lampard, his lips moving slightly.
Lampard nodded slightly and said something as well.
"Who is that?" Little Rascal moved her head closer to Thales.
"I don't know." Thales frowned. Lampard and Little Rascal did not speak loudly. He could not hear them sitting in the carriage.
But this concerned his survival. Thales told himself that he had to hear it.
He had to.
Thales clenched his fists and closed his eyes gently. He recalled the unique feeling of being on the brink of death over and over again.
According to Black Sword, he repeatedly hinted to himself, as if there was another person residing in his body.
'This is for survival.
Help me. '
One second, two seconds, three seconds. Finally, the familiar fluctuation struck him again.
The Sin of Hell's River surged to his head as if it had a life of its own. Thales tried his best to focus it near his ears.
At that moment, he first felt that the other parts of his body were a little heavy and weak.
But then, he heard sounds that he would not normally hear.
The first thing Thales heard was his and Little Rascal's erratic heartbeats, followed by the restless sound of Little Rascal rubbing her hands.
But Thales soon got the hang of it. He turned his ear and pressed it against the carriage. Amidst the noise from the entrance of the alley, he could barely make out the conversation between the two men.
"Yes, he expressed satisfaction and delight at our cooperation." An unfamiliar male voice that Thales had never heard before traveled slowly into his ears. The owner of the voice seemed confident and calm. "It seems that things are progressing smoothly?"
But the person who answered him did not seem to have much patience to talk to him.
"Let's get straight to the point." Archduke Lampard's gloomy and deep voice rang out.
"The boy is in the car."
Thales shuddered.
He opened his eyes and held up a hand to silence Little Rascal, who was poking him curiously.
"That boy?" The unfamiliar man's voice suddenly rose, as if he had found a treasure that he had lost for a long time.
Thales raised his head and looked out of the window.
There, the unfamiliar man in the thick coat turned his head and glanced in the direction of the carriage.
This gaze seemed to pierce through glass, causing Thales to shudder.
It was a pair of eyes filled with greed and lust.
Just like a poisonous snake before it hunts its prey.
The unfamiliar man's eyes lit up, and he looked back at Lampard. "Thales Jadestar? Is that him? "
Lampard did not say a word. He continued to stare at him coldly.
"So soon?" The man narrowed his eyes. Just two seconds later, he confirmed the answer.
He clasped his hands together and lifted the corners of his mouth. The originally lukewarm and polite smile on his face instantly became amiable. "The last gatehouse and Heroic Spirit Palace are clearly still in Dragon Clouds City's hands. Did you sneak in and kidnap him?"
Thales thought of something. 'Heroic Spirit Palace is still in the hands of the Walton Family.'
Lampard snorted through his nose.
"I have my ways." The Archduke of Black Sand Region's emotions remained the same. He did not show the slightest bit of respect to the man in front of him. "What do you say?"
The man stared at Archduke Lampard with a piercing gaze, like a small merchant looking at his biggest customer.
"Of course it's very good!" The man clapped his hands and laughed. "We express our utmost gratitude for your help, sir. You will receive our everlasting friendship —"
But his words were rudely interrupted by Lampard.
"Cut the crap." Chapman Lampard, who was dressed in martial attire, snorted coldly.
He stared at the man in front of him with a cold expression.
"What do you intend to use in exchange for him?"
The unfamiliar man froze for a moment, as if he did not quite understand. "Exchange?"
The man clenched his fists lightly. His expression changed slightly, as if he was slowly mulling over the word. Then, he laughed heartily. "Please forgive my long-windedness, but since the beginning, our help to you has already been —"
"Help?" Lampard spoke again. He did not give the man any face and choked his words back into his throat.
The Archduke of Black Sand Region snorted disdainfully.
"Aside from contacting a reliable swordsman, you have done nothing."
Lampard raised his chin slightly. His gaze was sharp. "You want that boy? Then you'd better change the price. "
Thales, who was eavesdropping, froze slightly. 'Contacting a reliable swordsman?'
"A reliable swordsman?" The man quickly answered Thales' doubts. He frowned slightly, and with an aggrieved smile, he explained, "How is this possible?"
"We are talking about the Assassin's Flower, and I guarantee that you will not find a better assassin than them in this world, especially when you are aiming at the most difficult target."
Lampard did not speak.
"And with all due respect, due to a mistake in your intelligence, the Flying Locust wasted too much time searching for the target in Heroic Spirit Palace." The man shook his head and sighed. "If it were not for our men discovering the target's whereabouts in time, the Flying Locust would not have been able to complete the mission, and you would not have been able to —"
The man stopped himself. He frowned and saw Lampard shaking his head slowly.
"As far as I know, Bannette Charleton is not one of you. He relies on his own sword to make a living, so I will discuss the reward with him alone." Lampard's voice was not loud, but there was an unquestionable tone to it.
"As for you, don't bargain with other people's bargaining chips if you still want to take that boy, that prince."
In the carriage, Thales listened to the two conversations in which he was the main character. Suddenly, he figured out something in his mind.
Bannette Charleton descended from the Cliff of the Sky and assassinated King Nuven in Shield District.
'But according to that man …
'In other words, the reason why Lampard appeared in front of me with an army …'
The man did not speak again. He just looked at Lampard quietly, and there was a complicated look in his eyes.
Lampard continued to stare back at him expressionlessly.
In the end, the man was defeated by Lampard's gaze. He sighed.
"You are really greedy."
"We are not talking," Lampard shook his head and said coldly. He then turned around and left.
The man's expression changed.
'What a stingy and petty archduke,' he said impatiently in his heart.
"All right, all right, Your Grace!" He called out to Lampard, feeling a little vexed.
The unfamiliar man shrugged, as if there was nothing he could do, but there was a strange light in his eyes.
"As long as you are willing to hand over that boy to us …"
The man exhaled slowly, and his expression returned to the strange smile from before.
"We have a wide range of resources and manpower, from Anlenzo Dukedom to Vallier Gang, from Crystal Jade City to the Three Devil Islands, and even in Eckstedt." The man chuckled. "I bet that the new Eckstedt will need us in many areas. After all, not everyone will serve a fierce suzerain who is suspected of regicide. We can help you to pacify the situation in the country. If there is any blind vassal who is difficult for you to deal with …"
'Resources.
Manpower.
Difficult to deal with … '
Thales' heart skipped a beat!
At that moment, he suddenly knew the identity of the man in front of him.
However, Lampard's reply was only two cold words, "Not enough."
The man was slightly stunned.
He frowned, as if he was thinking carefully. After a while, he unfurrowed his brows and said cautiously, which was rare for him, "If this does not satisfy you …"
"We still have a lot of information, be it political scandals or national secrets. With some operations or even adjustments, it will be enough to cause a huge uproar in some small countries." The man's tone was no longer as relaxed as before. In Thales' ears, he was speaking faster and faster. "As far as I know, Eckstedt has always been paying close attention to the situation in the west and the frontline of the Golden Passage. We can make the Alliance of Freedom fall into internal strife for a few years, and we can also make White Mountain suffer. If your ambition is more than that …"
Thales clenched his fists and gulped softly.
'Not good.
'This sounds …'
"Not enough." Out of Thales' expectations, Lampard's reply was still only two cold words.
This time, the man's expression finally stiffened like never before.
He scrutinized Archduke Lampard for a few seconds.
The man closed his eyes and exhaled a breath of hot air through his nose. When he opened his eyes again, apart from the seriousness in them, there was also a murderous coldness in them.
"Then, what do you want?"
There was already a hint of impatience in the man's words. His tone began to calm down. "Power? We can be your eyes, ears, and feet. We can use swords, shields, and horses to serve your ambition. Wealth? Although our inventory can't compare to that of a country, some rare treasures are rare even for the royal families of various countries. Beauty? We can … No, I believe that you are not such a low-class person. So, Your Grace, what is the price you have in mind? "
The man took a deep breath. The smile on his face had already disappeared without a trace.
"As long as you say it, we can discuss it."
Lampard fixed his gaze on him. At some point in time, a mocking smile had already appeared on the corners of his lips.
"My price?"
The Archduke of Black Sand Region snorted coldly. This caused a hint of displeasure to flash across the man's eyes.
"As the organization's signature assassins, and even the intelligence secrets that you rely on for a living — just for that boy, you are willing to pay such a price without hesitation." Lampard suddenly took a step forward and slowly approached the unfamiliar man. His gaze was like a ferocious beast that had been lying dormant for a long time.
"This only proves one thing."
The man's heart trembled. Feeling Lampard's extremely oppressive gaze, he subconsciously took a step back.
In the carriage, Thales heard Lampard say word by word, "This boy's value is much more than all of the above combined."
With his extraordinary hearing, Thales heard his own breathing speed up.
'My value.
'What is that?
What does it have to do with us? '
The man's expression changed again.
He widened his eyes and watched as Lampard slowly placed his hand on the saber at his waist. The archduke's military uniform let out a scraping sound.
"There must be some secret on him that I don't know about," Lampard said in a low voice. His gaze lingered on the man's fluctuating expression. "My request is very simple: I want that secret.
"The reason why you have schemed so hard to get him."
Once Lampard's voice faded away, both of them stopped talking.
The negotiation returned to silence.
For a moment, only the faint sounds of people coming from outside the alley could be heard.
The atmosphere of the conversation became strange.
Both of them remained motionless as they confronted each other.
Even the anxious Thales could not help but want to get down from the carriage to urge him.
"Your Honorable Archduke, you haven't even taken down Dragon Clouds City and Eckstedt yet, and you're already thinking about other things?" Finally, the unfamiliar man spoke slowly. There was a calmness and callousness in his voice that made people feel uneasy.
"You have such a bright future ahead of you. Why are you so ambitious?"
Thales could not help but purse his lips.
"I've already stated my price." Lampard did not have the slightest interest in talking to the other party. He looked at the man coldly. "Tell me, why is he so important to you?"
The man glanced at the carriage and immediately lowered his eyes. He did not say a word.
"I'm pressed for time," Lampard added coldly. "You have ten seconds to decide."
The man's eyebrows rose and fell continuously. His Adam's apple bobbed.
He was hesitating.
At that moment, even Thales held his breath.
"You know, he's a prince …" The man exhaled and slowly said, "Naturally, a prince is very precious."
Lampard snorted disdainfully. "Don't tell me you're going to exchange him for ransom with Constellation."
"Why not?" The man flashed a smile that he had not shown for a long time, but his eyes were filled with gloom. "Everyone knows the Jadestar Royal Family's wealth."
"Then why don't I kidnap him and exchange him for ransom myself?" Lampard quickly retorted with a dignified voice. "Why should I make a deal with you?"
The man clenched his teeth lightly.
"Your Grace, I thought we came here today —" the man replied with an unpleasant expression. But Lampard interrupted him again, disregarding his feelings.
"Actually, I've guessed a little." The archduke raised his head slightly. The saber in his hand rang softly. "Previously, when you arranged for the spies in my army to assassinate him, you did not hesitate.
"But today, you said that you want him alive."
Thales gritted his teeth lightly.
'That's right.'
Lampard was talking about the assassination attempt with the Mystic Gun under Broken Dragon Fortress.
'If I connect this with Poffret's last words …'
"Previously, you thought that it would be fine as long as he was dead. Now, you want to have the prince alive in your hands," Lampard said in a low voice. "Your scheme is related to the ownership of the throne of Constellation, isn't it?"
The man narrowed his eyes slightly. From afar, he looked like a venomous snake sticking out its tongue.
But Lampard's next words made the man's expression change abruptly.
"What you did in Constellation twelve years ago was also related to this?"
The man was not the only one whose expression changed drastically.
There was also Thales in the carriage.
The Bloody Year.
He did not expect to come into contact with the secret that had troubled him for a long time under such circumstances.
"And the reason why you changed your mind and no longer wanted him dead …" Lampard had completely taken control of the rhythm of the conversation. He tilted his head. His eyes seemed to contain the ice and snow of the entire winter.
"It was a big shot in your organization who came and overturned all the expectations of you small fries, right?"
The man's expression became more and more unpleasant.
Lampard said flatly, "Was it 'him'?"
Thales raised his head slightly. A question arose in his heart. 'Him?'
The man opened his mouth. He first took a deep breath before he looked up.
"You don't have to worry about this." The man's expression was filled with coldness and rejection. "In short, we need that boy."
"Of course." Lampard raised his left hand slightly in the direction of the carriage and said softly, "But the premise is that you tell me exactly why you want this boy."
The man stared at Lampard quietly, as if trying to find something from this face that was full of vicissitudes of life.
"Yes, that's right," the unfamiliar man said slowly, "If we control this boy, we control the throne of Constellation, don't we? When the time comes, it will also be of great help to you — "
Lampard did not let him continue.
"I'm tired of your nonsense, errand boy." The Archduke of Black Sand Region's words were calm. There was a hint of indifference in his tone. "Where's that big shot of yours? Where's the one who keeps his word?"
The man's expression changed again.
Lampard stared at him expressionlessly.
"Your Grace, you are an ally that we value and cherish very much." He let out a long sigh, as if he had made up his mind about something.
"For the sake of more, deeper, and more important cooperation in the future, why can't we show some sincerity and goodwill to each other and leave some leeway for each other?" the man said quietly.
Lampard looked at the man and also let out a long breath.
"The principle of cooperation is fairness." The archduke's expression did not change. He said flatly, "You haven't done anything, and you want to take away such an important bargaining chip from me?"
The man raised his eyelids slightly. His pupils reflected a different kind of coldness.
"Haven't done anything?"
The unfamiliar man sneered softly. "Believe me, Your Grace, if it comes to the point where we really want to do something …
"You won't want to see that day."
A strange look flashed in Lampard's eyes.
"You, what do you mean by this?" the Archduke of Black Sand Region said softly and slowly, enunciating each word clearly.
It was as if he was afraid to wake up the people who were sleeping soundly in the morning.
Thales instinctively felt that something was wrong.
However, the man seemed to be oblivious to the archduke's expression and tone. The corners of his lips curled up slightly.
"What I mean is, no matter how confident a person is, if they want to make an enemy out of us, they better think twice."
The unfamiliar man raised his hand and tidied his robe. There was a deep chill in his words.
"Why don't you take a look at Constellation's Aydi the Second?" The man snorted coldly. "And his terrifying eldest son, look at where they are now …"
Thales slowly furrowed his brows.
Lampard stared at him without moving an inch. His expression did not change at all, but there was an indescribable color dancing in his eyes.
The man put down his hands and raised his head to look straight at Archduke Lampard. His tone was filled with a strange emotion. "Are their examples not enough to attract your attention?"
Lampard did not answer the man before him.
He responded with the most direct action.
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