In an awkward atmosphere, Wang spoke: "But, can we really trust you, 'Tang' of the Rogue Guild, you have attacked me in the street."
The short and fat man laughed loudly: "It's a reasonable suspicion. The information I received said that you are a very rational and logical person. I like to deal with people like you. Because people like you can be persuaded by logic." .
"I want to explain the reason for testing you first. At that time, I did not want Her Highness to suddenly gain the ability to cause trouble in the battle for the inheritance..."
Wang: "You don't know that the eldest prince is already a paladin? Your intelligence network is not very reliable."
Bruce immediately looked at Humpty Dumpty with a look of disdain, without even trying to hide his ridicule.
Tang took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Well... the old Duke is an expert at playing with information. He personally manipulates and deceives. It's normal for me not to know. After all, you see, everyone here has been fooled by him. ."
Elizabeth: "I knew that my eldest brother was a paladin from the beginning, but you didn't know..."
"This is also part of a subtle deception." The leader of the Rogue Guild looked at Elizabeth, "After all, you..."
Elizabeth: "It's a vase, right?"
The short fat man nodded, and then immediately turned to the king: "There is one thing that surprised me. I got the news that Her Royal Highness the Princess's mage directly determined that Her Royal Highness the Prince was a Paladin yesterday. How did you do it?"
Wang: "Logic. Yesterday, the Duke felt unwell immediately after taking stomach medicine. According to the eldest prince's story, he did not lose consciousness immediately. But when the church pastor and doctor arrived, the old man had already lost consciousness. During this period, the eldest prince Must have done something to aggravate his symptoms.
"Then I thought about the growth caused by positive energy that I had seen underground, turning humans into monsters. Our priest also happened to say that healing spells cannot cure parasites and lesions caused by microorganisms, because treatment will strengthen the parasites and microorganisms, so use to remove disease.
"And the paladin's magical list does not remove diseases, so he can only use holy healing on his father. Holy healing is actually directing positive energy from the gods to replenish vitality."
Wayne Langdon lowered his head guiltily: "I didn't know that positive energy could kill people, so I thought it would be good to replenish some vitality."
As soon as he finished speaking, the bishop of the Lancelot Temple spoke: "I'm not sure that's the case yet. This is just the one-sided statement of this mage! Although he is a disciple of the legendary mage, medical skills are not the mage's strong point. I think we should wait until we catch him. What about Awen..."
Humpty Don: "Irwin."
"Yes, Erwin. Wait until we catch him and find out what he is doing! Maybe then the truth will be revealed! Until then, I cannot accept that positive energy is harmful to people! Never! As a servant Pastor of the Lord of Life, I deny such slander!”
The bishop's words caused a murmur, and it seemed that the nobles present did not believe that positive energy could actually be harmful to humans.
At this time, the new Duke, who had not yet officially held the succession ceremony, spoke: "In fact, many people don't even believe that you are the disciple of the legendary mage. After all, they have not seen you teasing the palace mage.
"Of course I completely believe it, because I saw the reaction of the Palace Archmage. He didn't dare to tear up the Banshee's Howl scroll last night because he was afraid of you. And I speculate that the reason why he was sure that the scroll was the Banshee Howl, also because you showed him part of that magic. It should be one-ninth?"
The new Duke's words once again sparked murmurs.
In this situation, it can be said that the new Duke has already endorsed the king's background, and it would be ignorant to question it publicly.
The Bishop of Lancelot pursed his lips and had a sullen face.
After all, saying that there might be something wrong with positive energy is tantamount to sacrilege. Lancelot is the Lord of Life.
After directly calming everyone's suspicions, the new Duke continued to stare at the king and said: "I will tell you the truth about the current situation. His Majesty the Emperor, Duke Steyr, is preparing to launch a war. He has a standing army that has withstood the test of the Southwest War. , a total of four thousand people!
"He also has more than 10,000 levies and at least 10,000 mercenaries. As for us, the Duke's own standing army only has 1,000 people, and it will take at least a month for the levies from various places to be assembled."
The so-called standing army is the knight masters and their retinues. These people are basically out of work. They usually do nothing except military training. They are well-equipped, most of them equipped with heavy armor and war horses. This is the most capable unit in the Duke's hands.
Others, such as the self-police corps and the city garrison, are basically urban civilians who take turns to serve. It's just that they were trained off-the-job during their time as soldiers, and they still have to work to make a living after returning home.
As for the conscripts in the countryside, they were originally farmers. They only trained during the slack period in winter. They were well trained if they could not break up in a fight.
Of course, the various earls, viscounts, and barons under the duke also have their own standing troops, but due to the limitations of their territorial income, these troops are not as elite as the duke's standing troops.
Moreover, there is a problem with the use of these troops: as the saying goes, my vassal's vassal is not my vassal. These standing soldiers are only loyal to their lord and do not accept the command of the duke. Therefore, the command efficiency of these troops is naturally quite different.
The king frowned and asked: "Does that mean the emperor has concentrated 24,000 troops? How could you only know about such a large-scale concentration of troops now?"
"We have known for a long time that Langdon City has expanded its city guard and vigilante groups, and the standing armies of each baron have also been prepared and arrived as soon as possible." Bruce shrugged, "Although they were originally planning to come to participate To seize the heir. The old fox has already calculated to this point. What he missed is that the emperor really dares to take action. "
Wang: "How do you say that?"
Bruce put his hands on the edge of the sand table: "There are a total of twelve electors in Kuusania, not counting the six of us who support our current emperor. If the emperor launches an attack on us, our six allies will raise the flag of rebellion together. . The old fox calculated that the emperor did not dare to move, and the gathering of troops was only a deterrent.
"And look at the time, it's spring now, and the conscripts are going home to farm. In fact, we have been receiving conflicting information. One side says that the conscripts have not been disbanded, and the other side says that spring plowing has begun in Steyrland. The old fox is here Given the choice of one of the two, I chose the latter one.
"Now we know he was wrong, and the Emperor is prepared to use his brief strength advantage to teach us a lesson."
Bruce paused and continued: "Of course we are not completely without advantages. First of all, we are much richer than the emperor. I have sent out employment invitations to several famous mercenary groups. But they need time to come.
"Secondly, we are stronger than the emperor. We don't have that many standing armies, but we have enough levies. These also take time to assemble. Especially now, spring plowing has begun for a long time, and farmers are taking care of their crops. ."
One of the barons said: "The Emperor is really confused. He must conquer us, otherwise his Steyr territory will be famine next year. We will also be famine if he conquers us, but he will have enough money to buy grain to relieve the disaster."
Bruce: "In short, we are now racing against time. It is estimated that news of the Steyr army's invasion of the border will come soon. We are preparing to rely on Langdon City to defend the city. Preparations for defending the city have already begun. At this time, we will draw We don’t have to send out troops to encircle and suppress the large number of goblins and kobolds underground.”
King: "I understand, so let's carry out a decapitation operation, kill this Erwin, and seize the artifact. This way we can also order the goblins and kobolds to attack the emperor's army."
Bruce: "This is the best. Of course I won't just let you go, my team will also go together, and Don will also send his men."
"Then who will protect you?" Elizabeth asked doubtfully.
"Me," said the eldest prince Wayne, "as a paladin, there is no bodyguard more suitable than me."
