Chapter 939: Act 112 – The Confrontation Within the Embassy
Brendel cleared his throat softly.
To be honest, he really didn’t know how to start this topic. Should he directly tell these people that the supreme ruler of the Empire betrayed the Empire and let the wolves into the hen house? But what was her motive? One needs a reason to act, and if he said that the Silver Queen instigated Jotungrund and Toquinin’s invasion merely to purge dissidents within the country, one would not only doubt it, but he himself would hardly believe it. How naive and immature would one have to be in politics to pull off something like this?
Unless the Silver Queen was willing to allow the Empire to permanently lose a vast territory in exchange for solidifying her throne. This idea might sound very tempting to certain madmen, but in reality, it was utterly ridiculous. It would mean she had to keep the entire affair a secret forever; otherwise, her throne would be as insubstantial as a house of cards. More critically, both the Jotungrund people and the Lionmen could threaten her compliance, and someone with the Silver Queen’s temperament would never make such a choice.
No matter how mad that queen might be, it remained undeniable that she was an emperor who had ruled a vast empire for decades. No one dared to regard her as a fool.
After much consideration, Brendel realized that only one possibility could lead to the situation that QiYala described.
That was that Her Majesty the Queen held supreme power among the Jotungrunds and the Lionmen. Therefore, she could certainly use her direct lineage to defend the throne. But this idea sounded like utter nonsense. After contemplating for a while, he finally spoke, “QiYala, I still need to confirm, why do you believe it’s ‘her’?”
Except for QiYala and Romaine, nearly everyone else didn’t understand who the so-called ‘she’ was that Brendel mentioned. QiYala, however, confidently huffed, “Isn’t it simple? I’ve said everything that should be said before regarding that foolish dwarf’s actions. Anyone with a bit of IQ would understand that there are only a handful of people in the entire Empire who could pull this off. Who are they?”
“The supreme ruler of the Temple of Fire, the Chancellor, a few Lords Earl, and that woman.”
“That’s all—”
A cold wind seemed to whistle through the woods, like a ghost whirling above the treetops, making a wailing sound. QiYala paused for a moment before continuing,
“But I’ve already ruled out the first few. The Chancellor wouldn’t expose his own daughter’s shortcomings. He has no reason to make such a foolish move. Even considering from another angle, if Chancellor Young Nidwen did this to clear his name, what purpose would it serve? To put the suspicion on that woman? That’s unnecessary because it’s too implausible. No one would believe it, just like you don’t want to believe it now, right?”
Brendel nodded; this was indeed the case.
However, QiYala contemptuously laughed, “This is the inherent, rigid thinking of you humans. They might think—how could she betray? Why would she betray her own? Ridiculous. Few people consider this: the Empire is hers, but it’s not hers.”
What do you mean by ‘you humans’? Brendel couldn’t help but roll his eyes. This young girl was quite alright in many ways, but at times, she was too self-important, just like that group of Bud people. It was a pity she didn’t become a wizard given her intellect and character. Still, even though he thought this, he had to play the role of the ‘foolish human’ to avoid letting the respectable Miss QiYala lose face. “Then, esteemed Miss QiYala, what do you think?”
QiYala was evidently very pleased, her eyes narrowed in delight. She suddenly felt that this guy was not so annoying after all. She bared her sharp canines and replied, “You just need to consider another scenario. Typically, the truths we know are rarely the case. That is to say, whether it’s the supreme ruler of the Temple of Fire, the Chancellor of the Empire, or that woman—ordinary people wouldn’t easily suspect them. They wouldn’t even generate such connections. The betrayers of the Empire cannot possibly be among those three. Therefore, for them, doing nothing is the best disguise—assuming they really are traitors.”
“But they did do something, doesn’t that suggest that the traitor might actually be among those dukes?” QiYala shook her head. “Perhaps it is possible; before we encountered Lady Misreale, the gap between dragons and mortals was akin to the chasm between mortals and ants. I know that those dukes have no connection to the dragon clan; on the contrary, within the Cruz Empire, there is a person with deep ties to the dragon clan—”
Everyone’s gaze instinctively fell on Misreale, the dragon lady present, who awkwardly smiled, indicating that it was indeed true, though it was uncertain whether she agreed with the first half or the latter half.
“You may be right, but this reasoning applies to ‘her’ too,” Brendel interjected. Indeed, according to QiYala’s arguments, Her Majesty had the least suspicion because no one would ever think to suspect her first, thereby making it unnecessary for her to cover her tracks, right? In fact, at this moment, Brendel had a faint feeling that the truth was likely as QiYala had said, especially because the other party mentioned the connection between ‘that woman’ and the dragon clan—an irrefutable reason.
QiYala shook her head. “She isn’t trying to misdirect attention, but instead, looking for an excuse. Do you really think she expects the Jotungrund people to unite with the Lionmen to attack the imperial capital, Rustra? We both know that’s impossible; the Empire is after all the Empire. Even facing three foes, they wouldn’t be losing ground so easily. Everything happening here is merely to distract from the truth, or it may be just a curtain being drawn back. The real move of that queen must be in the imperial capital.”
“The first target she must deal with is the old Chancellor’s influence, then the Temple of Fire, or perhaps both simultaneously. But the enemy is just too formidable, so she needs to first keep them complacent. Average people would truly find it hard to guess this point; even if I didn’t know the details of this scheme, I wouldn’t have imagined she dared to do this, would I? The White Legion is advancing towards Evergreen Path from Violet Valley, the Red Legion is battling the Wind Spirits, and the Black Legion is far away in the north at Ludwig. Only the Green Legion remains near the imperial capital.”
“The Green Legion is not Her Majesty’s direct lineage, which allows aristocrats to let their guards down.”
“But the problem is, where is their legion commander, Veronika?”
QiYala quietly asked, her voice resonating like an incantation, lingering in everyone’s ears.
It seemed it took Charles quite a while to respond. He asked softly, “This… if I didn’t hear wrong, you two seem to be discussing Her Majesty the Empress of the Empire. Are you saying that the so-called traitor of the Empire that Rogers mentioned is none other than Her Majesty herself?”
Upon these words, Misreale remained unperturbed, simply raising an eyebrow; however, Duchess Oni and Princess Margadale both displayed looks of disbelief simultaneously.
“How is that possible?” Oni instinctively spoke up. She initially wanted to claim it was impossible, but considering that Brendel’s previous actions had seldom been baseless, it had subconsciously influenced her judgment. Yet even so, believing that the Silver Queen would betray her Empire was still somewhat absurd. She carefully recalled the previous back-and-forth between QiYala and Brendel, realizing that they were explaining the reasons behind this matter to her.
But so what?
She still found it hard to believe, chiefly questioning what benefits Her Majesty could gain from this.
Could she obtain more supreme power than she has now?
Did she intend to completely destroy the Temple of Fire and allow the Cruz people to extinguish a century-old conflict in religious authority? This sounded like self-destruction. And not to mention the backlash from the Temple of Fire itself, the other three great temples would not sit idly by.
So aside from this reason, what could prompt her to take such a mad act?—and yes, mad was the only word to describe the actions of Her Majesty at this moment—if what Brendel and QiYala said was true. At that moment, Duchess Oni found herself in the same puzzlement as Brendel, with their confounding root in discovering clues that suggest Her Majesty might take such steps, yet they simply could not fathom her possible motives.
Thus, the only explanation left was that Her Majesty had completely lost her sanity.
But this explanation was indeed unsatisfactory.
As for Aike and Princess Margadale, they merely frowned slightly. The former had a blind trust in Brendel; if Brendel said Her Majesty had betrayed the Empire, then she must have done so. He only needed to ponder why she would betray the Empire. The latter thought more deeply. Princess Margadale pursed her lips, remaining silent, but it was evident she was willing to believe Brendel, yet she still found this fact somewhat hard to accept.
After a long silence, she finally asked, “Is the Temple of Fire in a dangerous position now?”
“I wouldn’t know,” QiYala shrugged her shoulders in response. “I can only guess that Her Majesty would do something like this. As for what consequences arise from her actions, it could either be a successful plot or lead to her downfall. But predicting all of this is the job of the astrologers.”
She added angrily, “Though they have never made an accurate prediction, they will always give you an ambiguous answer.”
This discontented tone easily suggested that perhaps some astrologer had offended this young lady at some point.
After asking this question, Princess Margadale fell silent once more.
Among everyone present, only the officer from Yanilas who spoke up asked, “Everyone, let’s assume—I’m saying, if what the Lord Earl said is true, what should we do now?” Seeing Brendel look at him, he quickly bowed to Brendel and continued, “After this period of interaction, we should have built a certain understanding of each other. I believe the Lord Earl has no need to deceive us in this matter; we have all witnessed the Lord Earl’s character, and what’s more, even if this is merely a guess, there is a possibility it holds truth.”
“So, what I mean to say is, if the situation develops as predicted, how should we respond?”
Brendel looked at the officer in surprise, not understanding why he suddenly praised him. In fact, it wasn’t really a praise; however, he had become somewhat accustomed to these traditional nobility from Erluin acting against him. A sudden support from someone made him feel a bit unaccustomed.
Nevertheless, he had an answer in mind for this question. He had called these people here to ensure they had some grounding so that they wouldn’t fall into chaos later on.
The Cruz people were all caught in this situation; he could not fully trust anyone else, and the only ones he could trust were these nobles and young masters he brought from Erluin—a helpless fact.
After thinking for a bit, he replied, “The answer to this question is actually simple—first, we need to confirm our identity. We are Erluin’s embassy.”
Brendel’s declaration prompted mixed expressions among everyone present. Except for a few who chuckled, most exhibited strange looks—likely thinking, “It’s lucky this Lord Earl still remembers this identity.” Yes, they were an embassy. But the problem was, did they do what an embassy should? Those who knew better understood this; those who didn’t might have even thought they were a band of thieves from Erluin, rampaging and pillaging their way through—albeit targeting only the nobility. Of course, they wouldn’t dare voice this out loud, as this Lord Earl had consistently acted with autocratic authority, claiming they were giving the kingdom glory by teaching the Empire a lesson, though it looked more like he was venting his frustrations.
At least one thing was convincing to all: as Brendel claimed, it seemed the Empire truly was unable to deal with him, and now it appeared that rather than punishing him, they were leaning towards making him a hero of the Empire—if Her Majesty had not gone mad.
With the others giving half-hearted nods of affirmation, only Duchess Oni seemed to lack this habit. She questioned, “It’s easy for you to say, Lord Earl. You mean to suggest that the war of the Cruz people has nothing to do with us, which implies that we currently have two choices: either continue forward or retreat back to Erluin?”
“Retreat seems unfeasible,” Charles shook his head. “Behind us are the Jotungrunds, and we barely managed to break out; we cannot turn back now.”
“So the only remaining option is to move forward?” Romaine asked.
“Pretty much,” Brendel nodded. “However, the plan has changed a bit. The idea of holed up in Lune seems somewhat unrealistic now considering their three-headed dragons’ presence. With them around, even the highest walls would turn to ashes under the flames. We need to find a way to set sail from Lune’s port to Mezz or Cloak Bay.” He glanced at the dragon lady, continuing, “Our immediate priority is to leave this perilous place, getting Lady Misreale out and signaling to the dragon clan; as for the rest, it’s no longer something we can control.”
“But they won’t let us leave easily; those are three giant dragons,” Oni countered, casting a somewhat presumptuous look at Misreale. “Lady Misreale, I apologize for my presumption, but can you still fight in your current state?”
Misreale shook her head. “It’s probably quite difficult, young lady.”
“We don’t necessarily need to confront the Queen of Dragons head-on. The Sprite has a natural affinity mark; they wouldn’t dare act rashly. However, I suspect they’ll go to Lune port beforehand to burn the ships; that’s a trick often played by dragons.” Brendel had considered this question and answered confidently.
“Burning the ships would be even worse. If the dragons really set fire to the ships at the port, then wouldn’t we be trapped in Lune?” plump Afram interjected with a worried frown.
“Can we reach Yasar first?” Marjory asked, pushing further.
Brendel shook his head. The north was already teeming with Jotungrund troops. It was obvious that the Cruz Empire was suffering defeats in succession, and the thought of breaking through layers of encirclement to arrive in Yasar ahead of the Lizard King could only be a daydream.
He answered, “Don’t worry; the Queen of Dragons won’t burn every ship. As long as we reach Lune, we’ll have a chance. So now, we should think about how to get to Lune.”
Everyone looked at the Lord Earl with curiosity, perplexed by the confidence he exuded. However, they had gradually developed a habit that if Brendel claimed the Queen of Dragons wouldn’t burn the ships, then they might as well take it as she wouldn’t. Oni stated, “Since the Lord Earl says the Queen of Dragons won’t personally show up, she will definitely dispatch Jotungrunds to intercept us. We need to be cautious of their patrols.”
“I think that shouldn’t be difficult,” Marjory sagaciously interjected after consideration. “The primary target of the Jotungrunds would still be Yasar Fortress; they couldn’t gather too many people to search for us. We only need to follow the predetermined route along the northern edge of the Lokos Highlands, where the Jotungrund’s forces are thin. We shouldn’t encounter too much trouble. Moreover, according to the information Rogers gathered, Lune port should not have fallen into the hands of the Jotungrund.”
“What about after we leave the port? Which route should we take? To Mezz or Cloak Bay?” Dierphir finally spoke for the first time.
……
(PS: Today is a little late.)
