clatter...
clatter...
The sound of footsteps echoed in the hollow stone path. The dark black walls were wet and extremely moist. When you calm down, you can still hear the faint roar of dragons and tigers and the sound of rolling water...
That was the noise coming from the New Ross City sewer system, which proved that the Mawei people had reached a depth of five or six meters underground. Perhaps there were countless pipelines surrounding them.
Yunia held the little bear in one hand and clutched Mavi's coat tightly with the other. Her calves moved very fast and her steps were very small. Only in this way could she keep up with her father's pace.
As we walked, a fork in the road suddenly appeared in front of us, shining brightly from the kerosene lamp, leading to different directions.
"The right side." Gulhana said coldly.
The stone path on the right is a little low, only two meters high. The cramped space makes people feel as if they will hit their head at any time.
Along the way, Ma Wei didn't say anything. He silently observed the underground passage and calmed down.
There is no doubt that this was built secretly by Fourth Prince Arthur in order to allow his supporters to hide their eyes from others. People who can enter here are either 'rats' who used other means to get in, or they got the help of Fourth Prince Arthur. You must trust your own people.
This is a good start.
A black iron door blocked the way. Gulhana stepped forward and gently opened the door.
Click!
The heavy gears embedded in the wall began to rotate slowly, and the hard steel bars blocking the iron door retracted one after another, and finally...
The iron door opened, and a warm breath came to my face.
This is a room full of red, with red carpets, red bookcases, red tables, and red flames burning in the fireplace....
Everything was red, even the man with long blond hair sitting at the table was sipping bright crimson liquid.
He has light green eyes, a face that is so handsome that it seems almost enchanting, long blonde hair, a solemn suit, and a pale white platycodon pinned to his chest...
The man seemed to be paying homage to a deceased friend, and also seemed to be remembering the friend who had passed away suddenly. The sadness flashed in his eyes, and the next second he returned to his calm and indifferent posture, raising his eyes and looking towards the stone path. Several people came here.
"We meet at last, dear priest."
"First meeting, His Royal Highness the Fourth Prince..."
Ma Wei took off his hat, nodded, and deliberately emphasized the tone of the fourth prince's words: "Thank you for your sincere invitation."
"No need to be polite, I hate red tape."
The fourth prince, Arthur, pointed to the only red-cushioned chair next to him and said to someone, "Please sit down."
With a raised eyebrow, Laiwen leaned against the wall and stopped the maid beside him: "Please pour me a glass of brandy, thank you."
The advance statement of the letter silently answered the temptation of the fourth prince Arthur.
Arthur needs to know who has the final say in the Church of Truth.
Whether the communication that comes with it is ambitious and trustworthy.
This is important enough to influence the rest of the conversation.
Mavey sat on the chair, picked up Yunia, and placed the hat next to the candlestick on the table.
Arthur also took out something, which was a revolver with a mahogany handle, a relic of Sir Antoine.
The pistol was placed on the table without being light or heavy. Then, he reached into his arms, took out a brass bullet, and stood next to the candlestick.
"I need a name."
"No name, Your Highness the Fourth Prince."
"you do not know?"
Mawei glanced at Gulihana who was standing on the side of the door, and then at the blond man.
"Gurihana, come here."
Arthur waved and called the stern-looking Gulihana to his side, and said softly: "Father, let me introduce to you, this... is my chief knight, codenamed Lancelot. She is The daughter of my swordsmanship teacher followed me from the royal capital, she is loyal and reliable."
With her arms across her abdomen, Gulhana performed a knightly salute.
"Who's your knight, Sean Rickman? Where's Antoine Wellesley?"
Under Arthur's slightly condensed gaze, Ma Wei smiled: "I refuse to cooperate with mystics, because the mystery they think is often unreliable at all. If the wind blows..."
With a wave of his hand, the candle on the table was instantly extinguished, and a wisp of smoke rose.
"It will be destroyed."
After staring at Ma Wei for a long time, Arthur's lips raised, revealing a meaningful smile: "I am not a mystic. The reason why I do this is because there are many people staring at me. The identity of the fourth prince has brought me Obstacle, I love and hate it, because it is the only treasure my mother left me, but inside, the dirty blood of that man flows."
"Your mother must be a very beautiful person."
"Yeah..." Arthur said with a soft smile: "She has long golden hair like a waterfall, and she likes to sing. But she had a bad fate. When I was a child, I was shot in the chest by a gun. Where did she come from in the courtyard? What about the loss?”
"She fell right in front of me. When she was dying, she touched my hair and kept telling me to run. If I didn't run, why should I run?"
The smile gradually became ferocious, and there was real anger in his eyes. Arthur was no longer the gentle fourth prince, he became a lion, a lion who wanted revenge all the time.
"One day..." His voice trembled with anger: "I will kill that man, kill my three brothers, and kill their mother!"
"I don't know who the murderer is, just like I don't know who killed Eckert, and that's okay, because the murderer is among those few people. Just catch them all."
The anger subsided, and in the blink of an eye, he regained his composure: "I can't lose, Father, at least not until I avenge my mother."
"Why choose us?" Ma Wei asked.
"I've been paying attention to you for a long time..."
Arthur said calmly: "The first day you came to New Ross City, you caught my attention. At first, I thought you were an informant sent by the royal capital to monitor me, but later I realized that was not the case. "
"For three years, you have purchased supplies for the orphanage every week, taught classes for the children on Kerr Street, and solved the problems of believers for free..."
"Father, you are an ambitious person. Your ambition is even greater than mine. We are the same kind of people, right?"
Staring at Ma Wei with scorching eyes, Prince Arthur really hoped to hear a positive answer from Ma Wei, but...
Ma Wei shook his head and held Yunia's arm a little tighter: "We are not the same kind of people, Your Highness the Fourth Prince. You want revenge and are pursuing secular power. I am different. I established the church for Spread ideas, not the chair that represents power and power.”
After a pause, he added: "I have nothing to take revenge on."
"No, you want revenge, of course you want revenge." Arthur said with a smile: "In the Battle of Perea, you became the warriors and heroes of the Kingdom of Windsor. 70% of the proceeds from your privateer ship will be Submit it to the king. You are the warriors appointed by the king. But after the Saint-Martial fleet was destroyed...my father did not explain the situation to the Kingdom of Popon and activate the extradition treaty. He regarded you as a heart with no value. Abandoned son, I no longer care about your life or death."
"If Commander Toure hadn't come back from the dead and miraculously survived, you would have been hanged on the banks of the Rhine River."
Ma Wei glanced at him and didn't refute.
"You have come to cooperate with me from the beginning." Arthur whispered slowly: "You understand me, and I understand you...Dear Father."
"You still have not answered my question."
"Oh, Sean is the eighth knight, codenamed Bedivere, and Antoine is the sixteenth knight, codenamed Ector."
Arthur said word for word: "They are all Knights of the Round Table who are loyal to me, sixteen in total, including the dead Ector."
Is this the biggest secret of fourth prince Arthur?
Maybe, maybe not.
No matter what, being able to reveal the information about the Sixteen Knights of the Round Table showed his sincerity.
Next...
It was Mavi's turn.
"The murderer is most likely an acquaintance of Sir Antoine. When he died, the revolver placed in the drawer did not pull down the hammer." Mavey said: "This means that the other party did not arouse Sir Antoine's attention. hostility."
"besides..."
A drawing of shoe soles was placed on the table.
"This is the footprint left by the murderer when he left the manor. The texture of the sole uses a unique wavy circle. It is different from the standard template of the garment factory. It should be a handmade shoe. Just take it to the shoemaker and ask, and you can narrow down the suspicion. Human scope.”
Ma Wei said quietly: "But I suggest you not to act recklessly. The opponent may not be an opponent that the Knights of the Round Table can handle."
"I will investigate the murderer's matter carefully."
Putting away the entire drawing, Arthur continued to ask: "Now, you can tell me about the problem of those rats."
"you do not know?"
"Roughly... I can guess a little bit." Arthur looked at Yunia who was sitting on Ma Wei's lap: "According to reliable information, Bishop Fowler will lead the knights of Wexford Diocese to arrive at noon today. New Ross City came to me, but so far, I still don’t know the purpose of his coming to New Ross City. To mobilize the diocesan knights, you must get the order of the archbishop of the church, and also need to report to the parliament. After all, this is a military operation. .”
"But the spies I installed in the royal capital didn't know anything about Bishop Fowler's transfer of the diocesan knights, which shows that the Church of the Three Destinies did not report this matter to the parliament..."
With his eyes lowered, Arthur said lightly: "The Parliament and my father have always strictly controlled the church because they are afraid that they will gain power. Now it seems that something big must have happened in the capital."
In the steam age, the invention of the steam engine and rear-fire ammunition meant that the previous era of relying on cold weapons to fight was completely over.
The revolver on the table is the best evidence.
With it, the Parliament and the King, who control a large number of armies, have overwhelming power. The Parish Knights cannot make much trouble at all, and the church is just a 'mascot'.
But the drastic changes in the royal capital forced the fourth prince Arthur to think about why the church suddenly had the upper hand. The guns in their hands...
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
Has it lost its effect?
You know, even if there are many nobles who are believers in the Church of the Three Goddess of Destiny, it does not mean that they will allow divine power to override the royal power. The existence of the parliamentary system makes them the biggest beneficiaries that can restrict the royal power.
Who would give up power to others?
It doesn't make sense either emotionally or rationally.
So...
There seems to be only one answer left.
There is some strange power that surpasses the revolvers in their hands.
