Lin and the others had long been waiting for the boat in Jasfan City. The master and apprentices, a Lich, and four silver-bearded dwarves boarded the luxurious riverboat and began their journey on the Golden Waterway. The only extra follower was Uzov Gantia.
The companions of the Turtledove Alliance were still in love with an unrestrained life of adventure. Being a mage's follower wasn't what they wanted to do. Besides, they couldn't help much if they stayed behind except to do odd jobs. If they were to fight, they wouldn't be able to defeat either of the two mages even if they were all tied up. They had seen it with their own eyes.
The other group of nobles had been called back by their respective families. Of course, it was because of that shocking incident. However, this group of people who knew the "truth" tacitly kept it a secret.
They, who were closest to the truth, understood that even the great nobles wouldn't be able to help. How many lives would have to be sacrificed to learn the lesson before the Wehrmacht had the awareness to send out the highest combat power? Besides, they weren't sure if the highest combat power of the group was more powerful than this pair of man and woman …
They had caused too much trouble for the two mages for no reason in dealing with the Battleship Slicing Blade at the beginning. Now that something like this had happened again, Madeleine Benz advocated not to make the trouble worse and chose to hide the truth. The others also agreed. All of this was for the good of the Wehrmacht. Just like how they had fought for the Battleship Slicing Blade at the beginning, it was also for the good of the Wehrmacht.
Viscount Futeng, who knew the truth and was also the first to report the abnormality of the Bachmann family, also chose to hide the truth. This wasn't just the result of a discussion between Kuter Futeng and his biological father. On the other hand, he didn't want to provoke the two mages. The Bachmann family was wiped out just like that. He might be a little more powerful than Bachmann, but would there be a difference in the eyes of the two mages? He didn't want to gamble.
However, for the Wehrmacht, the mysterious disappearance of Viscount Bachmann's castle and the whole city didn't gradually die down for unknown reasons. Instead, as time passed, it became more and more intense, and its influence became wider and wider. There were all kinds of speculations. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that it caused a huge uproar in the circle of nobles.
At first, no one believed it. Although the forum was a convenient channel for information transmission, the people of the Jun Nation still only believed in the 'evidence' confirmed by traditional methods.
In fact, such actions were not difficult to understand. As one of the most powerful countries in the world of the Lost Lands, they certainly would not act upon hearing the news. That would be too careless. Moreover, it would be a waste to carry out unnecessary operations based on incorrect information. Compared to the past, the intelligence was much faster. At most, it would allow them to make plans in advance. In order to make a decision, they needed more concrete witnesses or material evidence.
When the people Duke Becker sent out to investigate found that everyone in the castle had gone missing, and there were no signs of a fight at all. There was even news that a Mage Tower had been torn down, and there were even photos taken as evidence, the higher-ups of Duke Becker were in an uproar.
Although the strength of a viscount was nothing to them, no matter who the opponent was, he was provoking the entire noble class of the military country.
No corpse was found, although it could be said that the person was just missing. However, it had been seven (7) days since the initial report and the investigators had arrived at the Bachmann family's castle. After seven days, not a single missing person had appeared. The worst case scenario was that they had all died.
There were no witnesses, no witnesses at all. At this time, the object of everyone's attention was naturally Viscount Kuter Futteng, who had been the first to discover and report it. However, Kuter, who did not want to cause trouble for himself, followed the result of his discussion with his father and insisted on not revealing anything.
However, as long as more than one person knew, it could not be considered a secret. The knights of the Futteng family were not dead people who kept their mouths shut. Perhaps they were drunk, or perhaps they were bragging in bed, but the news still leaked out.
On the other hand, the method that Kuter and his father had discussed was not to say anything, but to seek other channels to release the news. The most important thing was to remove himself from the matter and not let any party implicate him in this matter.
In order to achieve this goal, they released some fake news in the name of speculation to confuse the public. However, as long as someone thought about it, they could eliminate a lot of the obviously impossible fake news and find the 'truth' of the matter.
In other words, the disappearance of the entire Bachmann family was ultimately linked to the news that a certain mage had the secret weapon of the Karlsruhe Empire, the Battleship Slicing Blade. However, even if there was a motive, there was no direct evidence. There were only a bunch of possibilities and rumors.
If they were dealing with an ordinary mage, perhaps these rumors alone would be enough to dismember them into a thousand pieces. In any case, they could kill as many as they could. It was impossible to make a mistake, because the great Militat could not make a mistake.
However, the other party was not an ordinary person. A lot of information that was not widely circulated in the outside world was spread out on the table of the Militat's top officials. The recent battle in Storm Bay; the earlier civil war in the Elven Kingdom of Pyat Haimei; the information that leaked out from the centaur survivors; the strange fog in Mountain Edge City; the original owners of Twilight Castle, the vampires that were completely annihilated; of course, there was also information about the Tower of the Great Sage.
The Militat was still confident in dealing with such an enemy, but they were bound to pay a considerable price. If it was finally proven that the other party was not the murderer, the matter would not be settled with an apology.
If they became enemies and could not kill the other party … The Militat's intelligence department still had reservations about whether or not the other party was the legendary Demon King, but the other party was definitely a Lich, a great mage. If a mage of this rank sneaked into the dark and thought about it, then even the emperor would not be able to sleep soundly.
Therefore, no matter how fierce the rumors were, as long as there was no irrefutable evidence, most aristocrats still chose to remain silent. In reality, it was not them who suffered substantial losses. However, when it came to those who had truly suffered losses, they couldn't be so calm.
As the superior lord of the Bachmann Family, one of the Five Dukes of the Weida Militat, Duke Becker, who was already lxxx (80) years old, directly shouted at the old emperor who was only a few years younger than him in the discussion hall.
"So …" The old emperor said snappily, "… you want me to use the 1st Legion to deal with two mages?"
The Weida Militat only had meritorious corps, and only the standing corps directly under the Militat had a designation. The 1st Legion was undoubtedly the Militat's most powerful force. In terms of function, the 1st Legion had no shortcomings. It could attack and defend, fight in the field, and cover the rear. Even the Society of Sorcerers within the Militat would admit defeat because the 1st Legion's flag was painted with the symbol of thirteen towers.
Although the aristocrats who followed the old duke didn't say it explicitly, but their actions represented the same meaning. Against a Demon King from a millennium ago, and possibly a powerhouse who could tear down towers with his bare hands, no one wanted to stand out.
But in their minds, if the 1st Legion couldn't defeat two mages, then what should they do? For them, the 1st Legion would eventually achieve the final victory, but how much would they lose? That was all. Besides, instead of losing their own strength, it was better to lose His Majesty the Emperor's strength. This was good for all aristocrats, wasn't it?
But this layer of calculation might not exist in Duke Becker's mind. The reason he was furious was because the one who had died was the youngest son of Duke Beckel, who had just popped out at an old age. In terms of age, he was of the same generation as his grandson. Children born at an old age were easy to be favored, and illegitimate children were difficult to restrain, so it created a lawless little overlord in the imperial capital.
In the end, Indou would inherit the Bachmann family name. Rather than a compromise among the aristocrats, it was better to say that the illegitimate child was allowed to leave the imperial capital in exchange.
Now, their favorite youngest son was gone. In order to avoid Duke Becker's anger, the group of people who had added fuel to the fire in the beginning silently stood behind the old duke and supported his opinion. After all, the two mages were too strange, and no one wanted to face them directly.
In the face of this old rival who had been both friend and foe along the way, the Militat Emperor smiled bitterly. Then, he put on a less serious expression and said, "You think that the vassal of vassals is also my vassal?" Although the old emperor's attitude was soft, it didn't mean that his attitude was soft. These words were light as a feather, but they stabbed a knife into the chests of all the aristocrats present.
In the past, when the Militat Emperor launched a foreign war, first there would be a border conflict, then the local lords would come forward. Regardless of whether they suffered losses or not, the lords would always complain to their superior lords. In this way, when it finally reached the emperor, it could evolve into a national war.
But now that Duke Becker's youngest son was missing, the old duke directly poked a hole in the sky and asked the emperor to send troops to solve this matter, which was against the rules of the Militat Emperor. Not to mention, the old emperor's knife was fast and sharp, directly stabbing people in the heart.
In the past, because the territory under their control was too large, the circulation of information and the transmission of government orders were limited, so they could only use the feudal system to maintain the integrity of a country. There was also a limit to the number of lesser nobles that the great nobles could enfeoff. After all, there was only so much land. If too much land was enfeoffed, it was equivalent to weakening their own power.
If a noble made a mistake and was stripped of his title and taken back of his territory, it would be his superior lord who took it back, not the Militat Emperor. This restriction was exactly what the old emperor had said: the vassal's vassal was not the emperor's vassal.
If the old emperor really bypassed Duke Becker, the superior lord, and took action in this matter of the Bachmann family, it was equivalent to breaking that restriction. This was something that all the aristocrats couldn't accept.
It must be known that although the people of the Militat Emperor were somewhat restrained in using the forum, they weren't that trustworthy. But for the ruling nobles and even the royal family, the forum also provided an opportunity, a turning point.
There were rumors that the emperor's close officials had already proposed a centralized government system similar to that used in small countries, where the emperor would directly manage the nobles everywhere. It could even be like a direct territory, where only administrators would be sent and no nobles would be needed.
So as soon as this was mentioned, Duke Becker knew that it was completely hopeless to force the emperor to send troops. Not to mention that the other nobles wouldn't support him, if he showed any political weakness, this old rival in front of him who wore the emperor's crown would definitely make a big fuss about it. It was very clear which was more important between an illegitimate child and the power in his hands.
But it wasn't that there was no other way to logically raise this matter to the level of the Militat Emperor. Duke Becker said loudly, "I hope to ask the Witch to find the real murderer of the Bachmann family."
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