The four archdukes had different reactions, but one of them set an example.
"Enough," Olsius rejected him decisively. "Let's stop talking about dividing Dragon Clouds City."
"Please let me finish …" Lampard lowered his eyelids.
"Can't you understand human language?" Roknee interrupted him coldly.
But Lampard's eyes were filled with anger, and he immediately retorted in an even louder and more decisive tone.
"I know you have already sent a messenger crow!"
Lampard roared angrily, "Lisban and his patrol team are rushing over, aren't they?"
His words faded away.
There was only silence.
The four archdukes were stunned.
They looked at each other, and their breathing became tense without them realizing it. They seemed worried that Lampard already knew about this news.
Lampard took a deep breath and calmed his emotions.
"Don't worry." His gaze became indifferent again. "I didn't bring a falcon with me, so I can't intercept your letters."
The four archdukes' breathing gradually calmed down.
"So, please let me finish. Dragging things out a little, and waiting for them to rush over to help you … is actually more beneficial to you."
'Hopefully, the setup of the First Gatehouse can be dragged out a little longer.
At least until I deal with them. '
Lampard thought in his heart.
Roknee narrowed his eyes and turned to the other three archdukes. "Do you want to continue listening to his nonsense?"
Trentida shrugged.
"Although it's very boring," the Archduke of Reformation Tower whistled and voiced everyone's thoughts, "it's still better than us pointing our swords at each other and spilling our blood in Heroic Spirit Palace."
Olsius sneered. Lecco's expression remained the same as he gestured for Lampard to continue.
No one objected.
Lampard nodded.
"Walton," he said coldly, "I hold the last daughter of the Walton Family in my hands — closer than any other branch of the family."
Archduke Lecco narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "Eckstedt has never had a precedent of a woman inheriting the archdukedom."
"She doesn't have to inherit." Lampard's expression turned cold and he spoke faster. "But she can be used as a temporary chess piece."
Trentida raised an eyebrow, as if intrigued.
"We can promise that the male bloodline she gives birth to after she gets married will become the future Archduke of Dragon Clouds City." Lampard's expression was resolute. He rubbed his fingers together like a knife and swung them fiercely. "This is much more effective and reliable than hastily giving Dragon Clouds City to another family. We can stabilize the power inside and outside Dragon Clouds City."
"And before that, all of you will jointly manage Dragon Clouds City in the name of assistance."
Lampard said calmly.
Grand Duke Roknee frowned in disbelief.
"And then?" Archduke Lecco was expressionless.
Lampard looked back at them calmly.
The next second.
The Archduke of Black Sand Region parted his lips slightly. His gaze was as sharp as a knife, and his words were as firm as steel.
"This is war."
Grand Duke Olsius's face twitched.
"Hah." Beside him, Trentida waved his hand in displeasure. "Every family will go back to their territories to recruit soldiers and buy horses. Then, when they are unprepared, they will destroy Dragon Clouds City? Please, if this is your … "
Lampard interrupted him.
The fearsome archduke took a step forward and spoke in an explosive manner.
"No!"
Lampard's gaze was cold. "We will unite the entire country and send troops south."
Archduke Roknee clenched his fists. "What?"
The four archdukes stared at Lampard with solemn expressions.
The latter revealed a ferocious and ferocious expression.
Like a ferocious, man-eating beast before it hunted its prey.
"We will wage war against Constellation." He gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "For the late King Nuven …
"Revenge."
— —
In another corner of Dragon Clouds City, Thales and Putray were squeezed in a narrow carriage. In front of them, Nicholas, who had his makeup on, sat in the driver's seat, leaving them with only the back view of his coarse linen coat.
Thales hid in a gap between a cart of firewood. He was restless. He furrowed his brows tightly and thought hard.
'Chapman Lampard.
'The four archdukes.
'King Nuven.
'Between them … how should we break this stalemate?'
Putray and Thales were separated by two bundles of firewood when they saw the latter's expression.
The vice diplomat of Constellation sighed softly.
The carriage drove over a low ridge and shook with a bang.
At that moment, Thales only felt his vision shake. Then, a familiar feeling assaulted him.
The prince subconsciously touched his forehead. His vision was starting to blur again.
He was in a bright room. Three or four young people were sitting around a middle-aged man with computers in their hands, looking at the projection on the wall.
"Since you chose this course, you must have the most basic understanding of social networks, such as nodes, edges, exit, entry, and even concepts such as two-mode networks and structural equivalence …
"Now, I want you to imagine a network diagram. Hmm, let's use human networks. It's easier to understand the relationship between people instead of a geometric diagram.
"A, B, and C are three people. Let's assume that they know each other in pairs. Alright, draw three points and connect them with edges. We get the simplest triangular social network diagram. Three points and three edges. You can use your own methods to analyze this network.
"Let's add a plus and minus sign to this simple network, to these lines that only have numbers. The relationship between A and B is very poor, and the line between them is assigned a minus one. The relationship between B and C is very good, and the line between them is assigned a plus one."
"Here comes the question: What will be the relationship between A and C? This leads to a new problem: the balance of social networks.
"The discussion of triangular relationships has been around since Simmel's era … Balance, for example: If your friend hates someone, then as a friend, if you don't hate him, you will be in a very awkward position in this triangular relationship. This triangular relationship may become unbalanced at any time … And in the concept of social networks, how do we show this balance?
"For an unbalanced human network, how will it change itself to achieve its own stability?"
'The balance of the network.
'The stability of the relationship?'
Thales took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead hard, burying this newly acquired memory in the deepest part of his heart.
'The relationship between Lampard and Nuven is negative.
'However, the relationship between Nuven and the archdukes … is also negative.
'If this network is to be stable and balanced, then between Lampard and the archdukes …
'Wait.
'This network is not complete.
'I missed something.'
"You're very nervous, aren't you?"
Thales, who was rubbing his forehead in deep thought, was shocked. He turned around.
"Huh?"
Putray stared at him with a worried expression.
"Umm, sorry, I just didn't rest well —" Thales came to his senses and shook his head with a smile.
"No," Putray interrupted him. "It's not just now."
The vice diplomat shook his head gently. "From the beginning."
Thales was slightly stunned.
"When you're nervous, you talk a lot." Putray exhaled and gritted his teeth, as though he was tormented by his addiction to smoking. "I still remember when we first entered Dragon Clouds City, you were also like this."
Thales was stunned.
"Is that so?"
He said absentmindedly.
Putray nodded silently.
"Although you appeared to be very confident before, as for the next operation …" The skinny vice diplomat sighed.
"Actually, you are not confident either, are you?"
Putray's eyes shone with a contemplative light.
Thales did not speak.
He quietly stared at the firewood in front of him.
A few seconds later, the prince lowered his head and sighed.
"I'm sorry," Thales said a little dejectedly, "I just …
"I don't know if we can … succeed."
Putray stared at him quietly.
At this moment, Nicholas, who was in front, turned his head around. His eyes were like stars.
"We are Northlanders," he said coldly, "Northlanders don't ask if we can do it.
We only ask if we can do it or not. "
Putray snorted.
Thales' heart skipped a beat. He took a deep breath and braced himself.
"We've arrived?" Feeling the carriage stop, Thales raised his eyebrows.
"Of course." Nicholas knocked on the carriage with a calm expression. "They've already gone ahead to scout the way."
Thales exhaled.
"I thought it would take more time, from finding the place to starting the operation …" the prince said quietly, "After all, we can't be seen in public —"
"This is Dragon Clouds City," Nicholas interrupted him. His skin, which was tanned because of the oil, trembled slightly. "No one is more familiar with the people we're looking for than us."
'Also.
Both the real patrol team and the imposters from Black Sand Region seemed to be missing. '
Nicholas narrowed his eyes.
At this moment, a White Blade Guard in disguise moved to the driver's seat and gestured to Nicholas.
Nicholas responded with a thumbs-up.
"We can go in now." Nicholas shook off the reins and jumped off the carriage. He turned around and said to them, "They've scouted the way. We'll go in directly."
Thales was slightly shocked.
"Go in directly?"
The prince widened his eyes. "Aren't we going to sneak in? Won't we alert too many people? "
"Shut your mouth …" Nicholas said scornfully. "We're sneaking in."
Putray pushed aside two bundles of firewood and jumped off the carriage first. Then, he extended his hand and took the second prince down.
Thales felt a little more at ease when his feet touched the ground.
This was a rather remote house. It looked very big, but its outer walls were very simple. No one knew which region it was located in. However, the owner of this place obviously did not want to be too high-profile. He did not even have a Northlander neighbor around.
They stood beside a small side door. There were two people guarding the door — Willow and Genard.
"Good luck, Your Highness." Genard met the prince's inquiring gaze and gave a simple reply. "We will keep watch for you."
Putray nodded at them, turned around, and said in a low voice, "We should hurry up."
Nicholas gestured with his chin at him and took the lead to walk through the side door.
"Go directly through the door?" Thales followed Nicholas into the small side door and walked into a seemingly desolate backyard. He could not help but frown. "Won't we be discovered? What if we're exposed …
"You know, we're in a dangerous situation. We need to keep a low profile. It's best if we climb over the wall or walk on the roof and sneak in quietly —"
His words came to an abrupt halt.
Thales stopped moving his lips.
He stared at the snow-covered courtyard with a horrified expression.
"Sneak … sneak in …" he repeated subconsciously.
Almost all of the White Blade Guards were standing in the courtyard. Even Kohen and Miranda were among them. The police officer even bared his white teeth at him.
Thales inhaled and lowered his head.
Around him, there were many people lying on the ground in a disorderly manner.
There were corpses lying in pools of blood.
There were also people who were unconscious or in shock.
There were also pitiful people with bloody noses and swollen faces. They were tied up and had rags stuffed in their mouths. There was also a knife on their necks. Next to them was a fierce-looking Northlander or Constellatiate.
"You …" Thales stared at the scene in a daze. He was speechless for a long time.
"What a low-profile 'sneak'." Putray heaved a long sigh.
The Star Killer gave Mirk, who was the leader, a thumbs up.
Thales turned his head away from the corpses and cast a dissatisfied glance at Nicholas.
"Alright, as long as no one knows that we've sneaked in …" Nicholas raised his eyebrows and extended his palm towards the bloody mess on the ground. He nodded complacently. "This is the most successful sneak in."
'This sentence …'
In those few seconds, Thales' eyebrows changed into various shapes.
He took a deep breath and turned to Nicholas. With a serious expression, he asked tentatively in a low voice, "Everything is empty …"
Nicholas was slightly stunned and had a puzzled expression. "What?"
Thales clicked his tongue and retracted his head. He shrugged as if nothing had happened. "Nothing."
Nicholas had a baffled expression on his face.
Thales shook his head and chased away unnecessary thoughts. He looked at the corpses on the ground around him and resisted the urge to grumble in his heart.
'I'll lose the synchronization if I do this …'
The next second, he followed Nicholas out of the courtyard and into the house.
"This is your plan. Have you thought about what to do?" the Star Killer asked faintly.
"Of course." Thales stepped over a threshold and took a deep breath. "I'll act according to the situation."
Then, Thales raised his head and shifted his gaze to the two men behind an ornate desk.
One of them was Raphael.
The young man from the Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Department was leaning against the wall calmly. His left hand was extended horizontally, and he was holding his saber.
The tip of the sword was placed horizontally against the throat of the other middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man furrowed his brows tightly, but he was still calm and composed.
"Sir, I don't know how you found this place …"
"But I'll assume that you already know who I am and my value …" The middle-aged man opened his mouth, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said to Raphael, who was beside him, "Then the problem is simple. No matter what, we will definitely talk about it …"
Thales took a deep breath. He walked out from behind Nicholas and raised his head to look at the man whose throat was being held by Raphael.
The middle-aged noble with a blond ponytail and dressed in luxurious clothes.
"Hello, it's an honor to meet you again." Thales tried his best to squeeze out his most hypocritical smile.
"Your Grace."
The moment he said that, even the air seemed to have fallen silent.
The middle-aged man with the blond ponytail was suddenly shocked when he saw Thales. There was surprise on his face, and his eyes blinked back and forth.
He seemed to be in disbelief.
Then, the middle-aged man revealed a complicated, subtle, and bitter smile, and slowly exhaled.
"It's been a long time.
From sending someone to ask for help, to suddenly appearing now …
"Your Highness Thales, who always surprises people."
The Marquis of Good Flow City who belonged to Camus Union, Shiles Bamra, said with a resigned expression as he sat upright behind the desk.
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