A series of amazing things were happening in this two-hundred-year-old imperial city. Some people were being purged, some mistakes were being corrected, some abandoned plans were being restarted, some people left their homes and disappeared from this world, and some people suddenly received secret orders, like a seed that had been dormant for ten years being reactivated and started to move again …
And all of this was shrouded in the thick and long fog of the Month of Mist, Typhon 739.
Count Dulles stood in his family's mansion on the balcony on the third floor, looking at the foggy street through the wide crystal window. The fog had dispersed a little today, so he could see the scene across the street. The spire and porch of the Church of Saint Joram of War stood in the fog, but on this day of worship, there were no civilians in front of the church.
The bravest civilians stopped dozens of meters away from the church gate, looking at what was happening on the street with timid and frightened expressions.
About a brigade of the Obsidian Imperial Guard and a large number of rogues and battle mages in black robes were gathered in front of the church gate. Many soldiers were scattered around the paths and secret intersections around the church. Count Dulles saw that the commander of the Imperial Guard was ordering people to open the church gate. The priests in the church obviously did not cooperate, but after an unfriendly "exchange", the iron-black gate was forcibly broken.
The fully-armed Obsidian Imperial Guard and battle mages rushed in.
Some of the civilians watching from afar exclaimed in surprise, some held their breaths, and some of them might be believers of the God of War. They all had pained expressions as they cursed and shouted something, but no one dared to cross the defensive line formed by the soldiers and mages.
The chaos lasted for a while. Even from a distance, Count Duller could sense that more than one intense magic wave had happened in the church. He saw some flashes in the dark door, which made him subconsciously pull the button on his chest. Then, the flashes, noises, and magic waves in the church were all gone. He saw that the soldiers and mages who had just entered the church were retreating in an orderly manner. Some of them were wounded, and some of them escorted a dozen war priests and priests in the robes of priests out of the church.
The civilians who gathered in the distance were even more restless. This time, a soldier finally stood out to stop the commotion, and another soldier pointed in the direction of the church gate. Count Dulles saw that the commander of the Imperial Guard was the last to come out of the church. The tall and burly man seemed to be carrying something wet on his shoulder. When he walked outside and threw the thing on the ground, Count Dulles vaguely saw what it was.
It was a large mass of rotten, mutated flesh. Even with the cover of the mist, he saw the wriggling tentacles around the flesh and the hideous faces that kept emerging from the blood.
The crowd shouted in horror. A battle mage began to announce the conclusion of the investigation of the Church of the God of War of St. Jorum aloud. Several soldiers stepped forward and summoned raging flames with magic balls, purifying the filthy and horrible flesh in public. Count Duller, on the other hand, suddenly felt a strong sense of disgust. He could not help but cover his mouth and take a step back, but he could not help but look at the street again, looking at the creepy scene.
The flames had begun to burn. Some kind of inhuman roar suddenly sounded for a while, and then it quickly disappeared.
Catching evil spirits from the church, purifying them with flames on the street, publicly judging heretics … Count Dulles did not expect to see such a scene in his lifetime. In his impression, such a scene only appeared in history books. Such things only happened in the age when the human civilization was at its most unstable, when the country had yet to gain a firm foothold, and when all kinds of dark, corrupt, and twisted forces were still entrenched on the land.
Great Typhon, since when have you been in such a critical situation?
Count Dulles frowned and felt that he could not breathe. He had the same feeling of suffocation when the parliament was temporarily closed. At that time, he thought that he had seen the most dangerous and tense moment of the country. But now, he finally realized that the real threat that the land faced was still far deeper. It was obvious that the ruler of the Empire had realized the dangers, which was why he took the series of actions today.
He did not care about the parliament at all now. He only hoped that the measures taken by His Majesty were effective enough and timely enough to pull the country out of the quagmire.
At this moment, footsteps came from behind, and a familiar presence appeared behind Count Dulles. He did not need to look back to know that it was a servant who had followed him for many years. He asked casually, "What happened?"
"My Lord," the servant stood two meters away and respectfully lowered his hands, but there was a hint of nervousness in his voice. "Viscount Cornelian of No. 16 Maple Street was taken away this morning … by the Obsidian Imperial Army …"
Count Duller's fingers trembled subconsciously. It was not until two seconds later that he exhaled softly. "Got it."
"Are you still meeting with Count Bern Tulan tomorrow?"
"Cancel the meeting. I will ask Dwayne to personally bring an apology gift to explain the situation." Count Dulles shook his head. "Does Carrie know about this?"
The servant immediately replied, "My lady already knows. She is very worried about her fiancé's situation, but without your permission, she is still in the room."
"Let her continue to stay in the room. No one can do anything about it." Count Dulles closed his eyes and said in a complicated tone. "Also, tell her that Viscount Cornelian will come back safely, but there will be no more Viscount Cornelian in the future. I will reconsider this marriage, and … forget it. I will talk to her personally later. "
"Yes, my Lord."
Count Dulles nodded. At this moment, he suddenly saw a new movement on the opposite street from the corner of his eye.
He saw a black magic car coming from the crossroads in the distance. The magic car had the emblems of the royal family and the Obsidian Imperial Guard hanging on it.
An inexplicable nervousness and panic suddenly surged from the bottom of his heart, making Count Dulles clench his fists subconsciously. Although he did not think that he had any stain or misdemeanor that would cause any trouble at this time, he still fixed his eyes on the car. He stared at the car as if he had engraved every ridge, every wheel, and every crystal glass in his mind. He watched the car coming from the crossroad and approaching the gate of his mansion bit by bit.
He felt that his heart was about to jump out of his chest. His highly concentrated attention even gave him the illusion that the car had begun to slow down. All he could hear was the sound of his blood pumping. Then, he saw the car drive past him without slowing down at all. It passed his mansion and drove to another house.
It was not until then that Count Dulles realized that he had not breathed for a long time. He suddenly gasped for air, which even caused a violent cough. The attendant behind him immediately stepped forward and patted him on the back. He asked nervously and concernedly, "My Lord, my Lord, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, ahem, I'm fine," Count Dulles said while coughing. At the same time, his eyes were still following the black magic car that had almost driven into the fog. After the discomfort eased a little, he could not help but show a strange smile. "It seems that … no one can stop him this time …"
"My Lord?" The attendant was a little confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing," Count Dulles waved his hand and loosened the button on his collar. "Go to the wine cellar and bring me my precious bottle of platinum Firth wine. I need to calm down …"
…
Hadiran was sitting in his own study in the Obsidian Palace. The smell of incense was refreshing, and the decorative shields hanging on the walls were shining brightly under the light of the magic crystal lamps. The young commander of the Obsidian Imperial Army looked at his desk. On the dark red table, a list was spread out in front of him.
"Another name …" he muttered softly, picked up the pen next to him, and crossed out a name. His brows furrowed even more as the name was crossed out.
Suddenly, a soft knock on the door interrupted Hadillon's thoughts.
The prince raised his head and looked in the direction of the door. "Please come in."
The door opened, and Diana, who was wearing a black maid dress and had long black hair, appeared in front of Hadillon.
"Ah, Miss Diana …" Hadillon could not help but smile and sigh when he saw the head maid. "No wonder I couldn't sense the aura outside the door … What's the matter? Don't tell me it's a new list … "
"Yes, Prince Hadillon, this is a new list." Diana nodded faintly. She took a few steps forward and placed a magically sealed document on Hadillon's desk. "According to the information collected by the wanderers over the years, we have finally locked onto a group of people who have been undermining the new policies, or have been controlled by the Church of the God of War, or have colluded with external forces. They still need to be interrogated, but the result should not be too different."
"List, list, new list …" Hadillon took the document with a wry smile and glanced at it. "In fact, I know that many people will appear on this list even without investigating them. For more than a decade, they have been tirelessly running their own forces and eroding the various dividends brought by the new policies. This kind of sabotage is almost on the table … "
He paused in the middle of his sentence and glanced at the names a few more times. The corner of his mouth twitched a little.
"Colluding with Cecil again … accepting cash or shares, or being caught in a political trap … There is no shortage of such people in the proud and glorious' upper-class society. '"
"There should be more behind these people, but most of our investigations have failed before they started," Diana said with a blank expression. "The people who contacted them were very alert, and all the connections could be cut off in one direction. These bribed people are just the last pawns. They don't even know about the existence of others. So in the end, we can only catch the most insignificant spies."
"I have heard of Cecil's Military Intelligence Agency and their 'intelligence officers' … We have dealt with them several times," Hadillon said casually. "They are indeed a tricky opponent, much more difficult to deal with than the secret agents of the Kingdom of Gaoling and the Shadow Brotherhood. And I believe you, these people are only a part of the exposed ones. There will only be more who are not exposed. Otherwise, they are not worthy of the name Military Intelligence Agency."
As he spoke, he put the list aside.
"I will personally deal with this part of the list involving the nobles. Every name here should be able to fetch a good price at the negotiating table."
Diana nodded and took half a step back almost silently. "Then I will leave first."
The next second, her figure disappeared from the room.
Hadillon blinked, looked at the still open door, and muttered helplessly, "At least close the door …"
Before he finished his words, he heard a familiar voice from the corridor outside the door. "That's because she saw me coming here."
The next second, a tall figure in a black palace dress walked into the study. She smiled and nodded to Hadillon. "It seems that you are very busy."
Hadillon looked at Mathilda, who suddenly visited, with some surprise. "Why did you show up at this time? Don't you have to deal with the restless nobles and the restless merchants? "
"I have already dealt with them. It is not worth more than two hours of my time to appease them," Mathilda said casually. "So I came to check on your situation. But it seems that it will take a long time for you to finish your work here?"
"Lady Diana just brought me a new list," Hadillon raised his eyelids, and the deep eyes he inherited from Rosetta Augustus had a trace of fatigue and helplessness. "They must be dealt with."
Mathilda's gaze fell on Hadillon's desk, and then she looked away.
Hadillon glanced at his sister and said casually, "If you want to know about Andesha, then I suggest you go to Lady Diana. Rogues are better at gathering information than I am. But I don't think she will have more detailed information. Our western intelligence network is currently blocked, and Cecil's people are very strict about Andesha's information. We only know some public information. She is still alive and well. Cecil's people did not mistreat her and the other soldiers who surrendered. I think you can rest assured. "
"I know that the Cecil people will treat an 'important hostage' like Andesha well, and I'm not worried about that," Mathilda said, rubbing her forehead as she glared at Hardiran. "But I'm not happy that you're guessing my thoughts," she said, rubbing her forehead as she glared at Hardiran.
"Ha, it's my fault." Hardiran immediately raised his hands and looked at Mathilda seriously. "Indeed, I shouldn't have guessed what you were thinking. And you shouldn't let others guess what you're thinking, right?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
