My name is Akatosh,
This commission...seems to be completely the opposite...
——4E, 201, Hearth Moon, 18th, 18:35——
"Welcome, Ms. Astrid, you are more beautiful than I imagined."
In the winding area of Snowrun City, a very small banquet was being held in the living room of a luxurious noble villa. The only participants were Astrid, her husband Ain Bojorn, and the person in front of her. A very aristocratic man and his bodyguard.
He was wearing reddish-brown exquisite aristocratic attire. Although the style was not much different from that of other nobles in Xueman, details such as the pattern on the collar and collar, the material of the shawl and boots, and various exquisite accessories showed what he was not. Ordinary nobles, with Astrid's eyes, can see that those few pieces are like random accessories, and the value of any one is enough to buy more than ten pieces of the same style of clothing.
It was obviously a bad idea to show force in front of the Dark Brotherhood, so although his guards looked powerful, they still stood aside silently. The client, through his property in Xueman, the decoration of the house, and the He wears clothes to show off his financial resources. For Astrid who has always used money to do things, this kind of response is just right.
"We usually don't eat food prepared by others." Astrid, dressed in a noble dress, sat down at the banquet table and raised his chin towards the man opposite: "Putting aside the boring greetings, you have three minutes. To explain the reasons for inviting us.”
More beautiful than imagined? I'm afraid he already knew her appearance clearly.
Astrid and Ironboyn have stayed in Snowrun for the past few days and have barely concealed their whereabouts and appearance. However, if ordinary people want to guess that a traveling noble lady is actually the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, they really need to be very bold. imagination.
"My name is Armond Motierre, and I am a minor nobleman of the empire, and this is my bodyguard Thades, who can give his life to me," the man introduced himself: "Madam, you are here, of course, for business. Big business.”
"Oh, the 'big business' of the 'little noble'." Astrid responded casually and motioned for him to continue.
"You should know that senior officials in Skyrim have been involved in a battle between the Empire and the Stormcloaks, and this matter has caused headaches for the adults in the Southern Capital Province." Almond did not continue the topic of business, but turned to current events: "The Empire Princess Emilia Septim volunteered to 'counter-rebellion', but for some reason she fell in love with a certain Stormcloak noble and seemed to be planning to get married. If this was her method of 'counter-rebellion', it would be quite admirable. Yes, it’s a pity that she was kidnapped during the incident at the Thalmor Embassy not long after the engagement.”
"You have one minute," Astrid said unmoved, "and we don't accept the commission to rescue people."
"Of course not. Her disappearance would be of some benefit to 'us', but there is no need to elaborate on those things. What 'we' hope to entrust you with is -" Almond leaned forward and lowered his voice slightly: "Assassination of Uriel Septim II, Emperor of the Empire."
bump! Astrid slapped the table and stood up, turning to look at her husband aside. Ironboyn instantly turned into an afterimage and walked around the room at an extremely fast speed, while Thades Follow him like a shadow.
"There is no one nearby, at least within the distance that can hear the voices inside the house." Ironbjorn completely ignored the guard and whispered after returning to Astrid.
"Haha, if you dare to talk about this topic, I am naturally fully prepared. Unless there is a demon or a holy spirit paying attention to this place, no fifth person will know about our conversation." Almond said leisurely, Thad Si Ye stood back behind him expressionlessly.
"Hmph, you successfully added time to this meeting," Astrid sat back slowly: "Now you can talk about this commission in detail."
"Even the stupidest emperor would not make such a plan to only rely on a princess to quell the war in a province. Although the plan was proposed by the princess herself, the emperor agreed and gave the entire Eastern Empire Company to She also sent half of the sharp-eyed eagles to follow her, which is very intriguing." Almond picked up the glass of mead in front of him and drank it down in one gulp.
"The emperor originally planned to marry?" Astrid frowned slightly.
"The Eastern Empire Company is the largest fleet under the control of the empire, and the two major sailing families, 'Lone Wind' and 'Cool Sea' under Ulfric Stormcloak, suffered heavy losses in the battle with Thalmor, and were almost completely Losing control of the ocean," Almond curled his lips: "Obviously, Ulfric saw this, so he went to assassinate High King Toig to prove with practical actions that he was not interested in the princess."
"Well, continue." Astrid thought and agreed casually.
"The 'princess is naughty', 'likes to sneak out to play', and that's why she 'met Esgael of the Snowhoof family when she went to visit the dragon', are all excuses! She is obviously under the protection of those sharp-eyed eagle guards Next time, we will go on a blind date with the Stormcloak nobles who have children of appropriate age! Don't think that 'we' are all fools!" Almond raised his voice slightly.
"So, the emperor will come to Skyrim because of the princess's disappearance?" Astrid asked.
"Oh, in fact, since the princess set off, the emperor has been making preparations to go to Tianji. As expected, he will also bring the remaining half of the sharp-eyed eagle. If political means or marriage fails, there will be Solve it by force." Almond put down his wine glass and pointed around: "Perhaps Balgruuf the Great can declare neutrality in the civil war in Skyrim Province, but does he dare to say the same in front of the emperor's army? The original buffer zone became unobstructed, and the emperor could directly follow the White River to Windhelm City. With the sharp-eyed eagle's combat power, it was not a problem to capture Ulfric in one fell swoop. Wouldn't his position be even more unshakable? "
"So, you hope that we can assassinate the Emperor just as he arrives in Skyrim and before he takes action, so that while the Sharp-Eyed Hawk is busy investigating or taking revenge on the Stormcloaks, 'you' can take control of the Capital Province and install a new Emperor. ." Astrid smiled slightly: "That's right, Mr. Member of the 'Ancient Parliament'."
"How did you...heh, so that's how it is." Halfway through the question, Almond followed her gaze to a certain accessory on his clothes, and then suddenly realized: "I was so arrogant that I thought you didn't know its meaning. .”
It was an inverted triangular gold pendant with some ray-like stripes around it, and in the middle was a strange vertical pupil. It represented the "Ancient Parliament" that assisted the emperor in governing before the Annihilation Crisis, but due to Martin Seth Putin has been in power for a hundred years and has become in name only. Now that they have signed the "Platinum Agreement" and the emperor's authority has begun to decline, they have once again entered the political stage. Naturally, they cannot tolerate such a good opportunity to change the Civil War in Skyrim Province. It became a stepping stone for the emperor to restore his authority.
Although the Dark Brotherhood has lost contact with the Imperial Province in recent years, the earlier history will naturally not be lost, and Weak Orava knows this very well.
"Oh, the Dark Brotherhood is not interested in your plan to control the empire or who the emperor is to be elected." Astrid stared at the congressman opposite: "What I care about is: how much reward you have to pay for this operation. ?”
"Forty thousand Septim gold coins!" Almond gestured with his fingers: "Of course they cannot be carried with you. After it is confirmed that the emperor was assassinated and killed, someone else will tell you where they are hidden. We have great faith in the credibility of your organization. , but after all...hehe."
"Hmm..." Astrid began to think.
She was not thinking about the remuneration. In fact, even if the remuneration for this task was less, she would still do it. Emperor? So what about the emperor? After quantifying his strength, the people and forces protecting him, as well as the difficulty of escaping after an assassination and possible revenge, around 20,000 is an acceptable price.
However, the biggest benefit of this mission is not the gold coins. If this mission can be successful, the Dark Brotherhood will become famous again just like it did after successfully assassinating a certain imperial emperor thousands of years ago. There was no night mother and gesticulating listeners. exist.
According to the intelligence collected in Snow Comics these days, the beauty goddess Dibella appeared in Markarth City and killed Namira. Immediately after, Boethea killed the orcs' main god Malachis, and the southwest of Skyrim Province was completely devastated. Chaos, and these things were all caused by the listener clown. As expected, he should have returned to the sanctuary and attributed these achievements to the Night Mother, and those who stayed behind would probably be fooled into becoming Followers of the Night Mother...
But where does this put her as the leader of the sanctuary? The butler or head maid who coordinates the overall situation for the "Night Mother"? From now on, I can only accept the orders of the strange corpse in the coffin?
Therefore, whether it is for the authority of the Dark Brotherhood or Astrid's own right to speak in the Sanctuary, this task must be accepted and completed perfectly. However, it is naturally impossible for the congressman opposite to know that his side has already responded to this assassination. If you are determined to win, you should be able to ask for their further cooperation as a condition for accepting the task.
"I can make the decision and agree to this commission," Astrid said: "But you must provide the emperor's detailed itinerary, the composition and strength of the escort. After all, our power only covers Skyrim Province. For those who stay in the Capital Province all year round, The emperor and his bodyguards have no idea."
"You can rest assured about this. In fact, there are 'our' people among his entourage. He will send out the information in time. But if you plan to kill them all, there is no need to deliberately hold back." Mond raised his glass: "Good luck to our cooperation?"
"Ha, it's a pleasure to cooperate." Astrid also picked up the mead in front of him and raised it from a distance.
