Somewhere in Dragon Clouds City.
It was a dark tunnel.
There was only one lone Everlasting Lamp. It barely illuminated the old, mottled mud walls on both sides, which looked like they were about to collapse at any moment.
A young man silently leaned against the Everlasting Lamp and sized up the dagger in his hand.
The narrow tunnel only allowed two people to pass through. It looked like a gap between two walls. The mud floor was covered in dust, and it looked like no one had been here for a long time.
'This is an underground tunnel hidden under the cellar of the chess room.
'How could they build this?'
The teenager thought in his heart.
'But why didn't the Archduchess' Guards, who were in charge of searching and clearing the place, discover this place when I came here to play chess every month?
'And … when this place was chosen, Nicholas must have investigated the details of this place, right?
* Tap, tap, tap … *
Footsteps rang in his ears.
The teenager stopped what he was doing and slowly put the dagger back into its sheath. He then buckled it back onto his belt.
A line of words flashed on the sheath under the flickering light.
'A king is not respected by his bloodline.
* Tap, tap, tap … *
The footsteps were getting closer.
Thales sighed and turned to look at the other end of the dark tunnel.
That place was far away from light. There was only darkness there.
As the footsteps stopped, a figure was faintly discernible in the darkness.
"You should rest well, Your Highness, and recover your strength," the person said faintly. His voice was light. "There's still some time."
The teenage prince snorted.
He stood up quietly and patted the dust off his body. "This is different from what we agreed on."
Thales looked at the person's familiar face and the unique pair of dark red eyes. He said coldly, "You're not the only one.
He said coldly, "Raphael Lindbergh."
As Thales spoke, Raphael, a cadre of the Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Department who had not been seen for six years, stepped out of the dark tunnel and revealed himself in front of the Everlasting Lamp.
Thales sized up Raphael carefully.
Six years did not seem to bring much change to this Barren Bone man who lived in darkness.
He was still dressed in a white robe. His posture was elegant, and his bearing was calm. Only when he saw the flickering light did he subconsciously frown slightly.
"Indeed.
"That's why this wasn't the perfect escape we thought it would be. It was even extremely risky."
Raphael's dark red eyes swept past Thales, who had already turned into a teenager. His expression was calm. "But Your Highness, whose fault do you think this is?"
Thales' expression changed. "Whose fault is it?"
"Don't play dumb, Raphael. You know what I'm talking about."
"Five thousand cavaliers forced their way into the City of Faraway Prayers from the Great Desert to support the Alliance of Freedom." The prince's voice was as cold as ice. "They gave the Northlanders a big surprise, didn't they?"
"And do you know how many people told me in advance and told their hostage princes about this?"
Raphael raised an eyebrow.
Thales pursed his lips and waved his finger in the air. He mockingly gestured a number and enunciated each word clearly, "Zero."
"Zero! None! Of! Them! "
"These are dozens of dazed, ferocious-looking Northland brawny men who told me all at once!"
Raphael stared at the ceiling thoughtfully.
"Five thousand cavalry?"
He was slightly moved. "Is this what the Northlanders' intelligence reports say?"
The indifferent attitude of the man from the Secret Intelligence Department made Thales furious.
"What? Are you going to tell me that the cavaliers who almost killed me and the Double Cross-Shaped Stars Flag are fake? Are they impersonated?"
The prince shrugged and snorted in dissatisfaction. "And the kingdom didn't send any troops?"
Under the flickering light, Raphael glanced at him silently before he sighed softly.
"Those troops are indeed real. They were also sent by Constellation.
"But from the Western Desert, from Blade Fangs Camp to the Great Desert, there are at most one or two thousand cavaliers.
"As for the others, they are probably infantrymen or illusions created by others." Raphael laughed.
"Five thousand cavaliers? Hah, that's enough to drain half the kingdom dry. "
The Barren Bone man spread his hands. His sleeves were still very long, covering his wrists firmly.
He was laughing.
He didn't care at all.
Thales glared at him and told himself this.
The prince's displeasure slowly rose.
"That's not the point, and it's not funny."
Thales narrowed his eyes and raised his finger. His tone became more and more serious. "You know, as the target of their anger, I was almost torn to pieces by the angry Northlanders in the Hall of Heroes —"
In the dim light, Raphael shook his head with the ghost of a smile. "They wouldn't do that …"
But Thales did not care about his interruption. Instead, his fingers trembled as he suppressed his anger and continued, "Or would I be held hostage in the City of Faraway Prayers, tied up in front of the two armies, and forced Constellation to retreat?"
The prince's last sentence was a little loud, and it was rather jarring in the narrow passageway.
Raphael stared at the prince and slowly restrained his expression.
"Your Highness, everything we did was to rescue you safely back to your country …"
"Yes, the way was to let the Northlanders hang me first, and then you would come and collect my body," Thales sneered, full of sarcasm. "It was very safe."
Raphael's expression changed.
"Please believe me, the Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Department has its own means and arrangements," his tone gradually became serious. "But I can say with certainty that they would never use such a crude, direct, and forced method."
The person from the Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Department said coldly, "As I said just now, Your Highness, whose fault do you think this is?"
Thales did not care about the person's rhetorical question. He sneered.
"'Means and arrangements'? How inspiring, just like the Dragon's Blood six years ago, right? "
Raphael froze for a moment when he heard the codename of the operation, which had not appeared for a long time.
The prince leaned against the wall, turned his head to the side, and snorted angrily, "The goddamn Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Department."
Raphael was silent for a long time.
Until he took a breath and slowly said, "We are accusing you of accusing us of lying.
Your Highness, you think that this accident is the fault of the Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Department. "
Thales snorted softly.
"But on the other hand," Raphael's red eyes flashed with a strange light, "you are …
"Is it really that unreserved?"
Thales was slightly stunned and slowly turned his head around.
Raphael stared at him with a bone-chilling gaze.
"Until this afternoon, we thought that everything was going smoothly … It was only when the news came that we knew what you and Lampard did in the palace."
Raphael's voice also carried a certain sharp accusation. "Until we received the news that you left the palace.
Caught off guard, we had no choice but to act urgently and adopt the worst backup plan: to forcibly take the risk to rescue you! "
Thales did not speak.
Raphael took a small step forward. His gaze was piercingly cold.
"For more than two months, from the moment you boarded the carriage in Black Sand Region, you always knew that Lampard had been lurking in the city. You even secretly reached an agreement with him to interfere in the internal affairs of Dragon Clouds City and Eckstedt together, until you were finally transferred to Black Sand Region."
Thales felt a chill in his heart. He immediately had a bad feeling.
The Barren Bone man said flatly,
"About these, about your and Lampard's secret plans, and the reason why you were forced to work with him, Your Highness …
"How much did you tell us?"
Thales suddenly felt his heart palpitate as he stared into Raphael's eyes.
'Damn it.
That's right, my secret meeting with Lampard, the plan for Little Rascal, these things, including the archduchess' identity …
'How could I tell you?'
Thales took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
He forced himself to calm down. "What happened between Black Sand Region and me was an accident."
Raphael's eyebrows twitched. "An accident?"
Thales pouted and nodded in annoyance.
"Yes, your accident happened first, which triggered my accident! Okay? "
"If it weren't for the five thousand — no, two thousand cavaliers you brought, which caused the situation to take a turn for the worse, the archduchess wouldn't have been forced into a corner, and I wouldn't have been forced to ask Lampard for help!"
The prince snorted coldly and tried to change the topic.
'No.'
He said quietly in his heart.
'I know.'
To be exact, Thales had long prepared for this. In the Hall of Heroes, their plan with Ian was likely to encounter an accident and not succeed.
For Little Rascal, Lampard was the trump card he had to reveal when he was at his wit's end.
Once this trump card was revealed, the Secret Intelligence Department would definitely know.
The Secret Intelligence Department would not sit back and watch. They would definitely take action.
Thales patted his belongings, which he had packed a long time ago, and sighed in his heart. 'He was already prepared for the Secret Intelligence Department's rescue.'
This time, Raphael stared at him for a long time.
As if he wanted to discover a secret.
Thales only turned his head angrily, acting like a sulking teenager.
Finally, Raphael stopped scrutinizing him.
Raphael said flatly, "Then perhaps you shouldn't be so deeply involved in Dragon Clouds City's politics?"
He looked at the prince with a rather disdainful expression. "Even if you have some sort of unspeakable relationship with the archduchess, my romantic prince."
Thales was stunned at first, then he was at a loss for words. "I, I and the archduchess …"
But in his anger, he was quick-witted and immediately found a way to counterattack and change the topic. "Romantic?"
"Hey, six years ago, I wasn't the one who kissed Miss Arunde for a minute in public in Heroic Spirit Palace!"
Raphael's expression changed.
He frowned and coughed, shaking off some dust from the top of his head.
The two of them were silent for a while.
Thales panted silently, hoping that this could cover up the other party's questioning.
"Anyway."
Raphael sighed sarcastically and said, "If you had been a little more merciful, opened your mouth a little and told us, lowly servants who run errands in the Secret Intelligence Department, about Lampard in advance …
"Then, maybe we could have reacted earlier, and things wouldn't have been so bad?"
Thales raised his eyebrows and spread his arms. He had an expression that said, "I have nothing to say to you."
"Very well." The prince made a stop gesture and said, as if he had given up on himself, "I understand. There won't be any results if this continues.
"The discussion is over. That's all."
He turned around and leaned against the wall. He shook his head and crossed his arms.
Raphael did not speak.
Until Thales broke the silence again.
"Hey, that Black Robe with the dual swords.
"When I escaped into the chess room, I saw him surrounded by the Guards," the prince said quietly without turning his head, "Is he all right?"
'No.'
Thales thought in his heart, 'The former White Blade Guards under Nicholas are not to be trifled with.
That person, in order to create a chance for me to escape to the chess room's underground, probably already … '
Raphael frowned slightly but did not speak.
Until Thales looked at him impatiently, Raphael snorted softly. "You didn't recognize him?"
Thales was stunned. "Who? That Black Robe? "
Raphael narrowed his eyes and grinned. "Very well. If even you can't recognize his disguise …"
"Don't worry, he will be safe."
Thales paused slightly.
'Disguise?
'That means …
'That Black Robe is someone I know?
'Could it be …'
Thales shook his head and removed the masked figure from his mind. 'Impossible. That Black Robe is tall and thin. He holds two thin swords. It can't be him.'
At this moment, Thales suddenly remembered something. He raised his head. "Attacking Lampard's posthouse … Was that also a method you used to divert his attention?"
When he said this, Raphael's expression turned cold.
"Yes, an impossible suicide attack." His voice was a little quiet. "We have thought of any method that could reduce the strength of the guards around you."
Thales froze.
The light flickered slightly, elongating their shadows on the wall.
After a long while, the prince exhaled. "How many casualties?"
Raphael shook his head and said nothing.
Thales' expression turned cold as well.
Silence returned to the passageway.
"I'm sorry," the prince said after a long time.
Raphael closed his eyes and shook his head.
"They all know what they have to do." The voice of the Secret Intelligence Department member was gloomy. "For this operation, the Secret Intelligence Department even gave up their headquarters in Dragon Clouds City and sacrificed most of their intelligence sources."
Thales was puzzled. "Headquarters?"
Raphael gestured with his chin and extended his finger to tap the irregular mud wall beside him. "It's here."
Thales was stunned.
He looked around and sized up the dim passageway.
The prince said curiously, "But this … Isn't this the underground of the chess room in Spear District where I come every month?"
In response, Raphael nodded in agreement. His expression returned to its usual indifference.
"Wait, are you saying that the chess room above us, the place where I come to play chess every month, is the Dragon Clouds City headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Department?" Thales stared in disbelief and observed his surroundings.
"In Spear District? A place just a few steps away from Heroic Spirit Palace? "
Raphael smiled.
He tapped the dilapidated mud wall beside him again.
"You don't think that the owner of the chess room just happened to be bored, so he built this tunnel under the cellar, do you?
"You don't also think that when you made a request to Dragon Clouds City and the archduchess agreed to it, the disciplinary hall official in charge of choosing the location just happened to report this newly opened chess room to Lisban, do you?"
Thales stared at Raphael in a daze. "So …"
Raphael's eyes shone brightly as he nodded affirmatively. "Yes, the safest place is right under the enemy's nose.
"For example, the Dragon's Blood six years ago, from the beginning of the operation, to the preparation, to the decision, to the execution of the plan, and even to the final mobilization of manpower and intelligence, to forging Lampard's warrant, to enter the gatehouse occupied by the enemy, to fish out an unlucky prince who acted on his own accord, and to arrange for his evacuation, everything was done here."
Raphael glanced at him meaningfully, snorted softly, and shook his head.
Thales automatically ignored the words "an unlucky prince" and silently observed his surroundings. The mottled mud wall, the deep tunnel, and the lonely Everlasting Lamp.
'I see.
So, for the past six years, all the secret messages I sent to the Secret Intelligence Department were from here … '
"But Nicholas should have investigated this place carefully, right? And found nothing? "
The prince frowned and said, "Even when I came every month, my personal guards would turn this place upside down. How could they have missed this tunnel?"
Raphael smiled again.
"This was not a chess room in the past.
"This place was the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Department in Dragon Clouds City. During the underground war between Constellation and the Dragon, it supported countless spy operations and sheltered countless Constellation spies. It has a history of more than one hundred and sixty years."
Thales was slightly taken aback.
When he said this, the Barren Bone man from the Secret Intelligence Department seemed to be filled with emotions. "During this period of time, no matter how big the operation was, this place was never lightly moved and never exposed.
"If the Star Killer really wanted to find out anything, he would have to go through the reconstruction records of Dragon Clouds City's Spear District more than a hundred years ago. An architect from Anlenzo Dukedom, whose niece was married to a Constellatiate, was in charge of the construction. Of course, the records were accidentally lost many years ago.
"As for why they could not find the tunnel, the tunnel we are in is the last escape tunnel. It was dug decades ago, and the last layer of soil was not dug through." Raphael pulled his thoughts back to the present and narrowed his eyes.
"This morning, when we learned that there was an accident in the palace, I decided to dig through it.
"As expected …"
Raphael paused and did not continue speaking.
'A headquarters that has not been lightly moved for more than a hundred years …'
Thales looked at him in silence, but his heart was filled with emotions.
He frowned and asked, "So, below this' headquarters' … it leads to all directions?"
Raphael chuckled softly.
The Barren Bone man looked at the second prince in disdain and snorted softly. "Why? Do you think that the tunnel is so easy to dig, and that the Archdukes of Dragon Clouds City, the leaders of the Secret Room, and the current Star Killer and his men are all idiots?
"Back then, in order not to arouse suspicion, this tunnel was dug intermittently for a few years, and was almost discovered several times …
"Otherwise, we would have connected it to the secret tunnel in the gatehouse. Then, we could even sneak into Heroic Spirit Palace and assassinate an archduke or something …"
Thales took a deep breath and chuckled as well.
Raphael snorted.
But he immediately shook his head and sighed deeply with emotion.
"But because of this operation, this headquarters has to be decommissioned."
Thales' eyes flickered. 'Decommissioned?'
Raphael seemed to have understood his gaze and said flatly, "You've disappeared in the vicinity.
Even though no one discovered you for the time being, the Star Killer and his former White Blade Guards will come back to investigate sooner or later, until they discover that something is amiss here. Not to mention the Secret Room and other forces who will come after hearing the news. If these people put aside their conflicts for you, it won't be long before they find out the truth.
"The headquarters will be exposed sooner or later."
Thales frowned.
"If the headquarters has to be decommissioned, then all the people, things, things, channels, places that have been involved with the headquarters for more than a hundred years will have to be decommissioned together with it. Almost everything the Secret Intelligence Department has here." Raphael's gaze was dim, and his voice was hoarse.
"There is no doubt that after this, Dragon Clouds City will go through another round of cleansing.
"And the headquarters in Dragon Clouds City, which has been here for one hundred and sixty years, and everything that the Secret Intelligence Department has been operating here for more than a hundred years will probably disappear."
Raphael snorted softly, his emotions unclear. "Because of this hasty and stupid plan.
"To save you."
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