There were only two people seated at the huge table in the banquet hall.

King Elise, and his former close comrade-in-arms, Anthony.

The king sat at the head of the table, and Antony sat at the bottom of him.

"Pour me another glass of water, Anthony." Elise instructed the Duke. Anthony complied, and there was wine from the south, mead from the north, on the table, but until now, neither of them had taken a sip.

The king could not drink, Anthony, did not dare to drink, and from the moment he entered this banquet hall, the Duke knew that a clear mind was the only weapon left in his body.

The table was full of delicacies, and the freshly roasted lamb was lavishly sprinkled with pepper; The cake is covered in a thick layer of cream and frosting; The tender steak is full of juice, and the index finger of the person who looks at it moves; Even the baked potatoes on the side are sprinkled with spices. In terms of food specifications, this dinner has far exceeded Duke Anthony's imagination, and when each dish is served, he will subconsciously convert these dishes into gold coins in his mind, and finally into knights and mercenaries.

This meal, he and the king, estimated that it would take half a year's combat strength of a cavalry squad.

But so far, the two of them have not eaten a bite of this meal.

Because the king could not eat yet.

for the angel has not returned.

Originally, Anthony planned to gradually open up the topic during the meal, but now that he didn't know when the oracle would arrive, he could only talk first.

"Your Majesty, I heard that your oracle is preparing to sell your title?"

Elise laughed: "Don't worry, the duke's price is very high, and no one can afford it." ”

"Then it's with your consent."

"Of course," the king's indifferent attitude to this question made the duke unable to believe it, for he remembered that when the kingdom of Elise was founded, the king had said something about it to himself, and at that time his attitude was diametrically opposed to what he is now. The Duke couldn't help but repeat the king's original words, "If titles can be bought and sold at will like the papal see's crimes, then this kingdom must have reached the end of its rope." ”

"Ah, is that what I said when I was younger?" The king recalled, "I was so smart and terrible at that time......

Duke Anthony looked at the king's unconcerned face, and almost had the urge to go up and punch him directly, maybe that would wake him up. But he held back the anger, which he should have thought of before he came. If Elise was still the Elise in his memory, how could he have allowed his power, his kingdom, to degenerate to such an extent as it is now?

"Just because you need money? Come and let the civilians of the entire kingdom of Elise eat bread for free? ”

"I know what you want to ask, and I know what purpose you have come," said the king, nonchalantly, "why bother with such a step-by-step temptation? I confess, and you will ask again if I have abandoned the whole kingdom just for the sake of my own healing, and then I will admit it, and you will be able to stand up, and declare that you will break off your friendship with me, renounce your title, and then lead the other nobles against me...... Is that so? Lord Duke? ”

The duke's face did not fluctuate in the slightest, and said indifferently: "Your information is very accurate, Your Majesty, then you should also know that from the moment you summoned me to come to the royal city, all this is destined to happen." You can trust your land god just as your son believes in his great sun god, as long as it has nothing to do with me, I don't care. But now...... Rather than end up dying of starvation and war with you on the way south, use it now, while I still have the strength, to keep you awake a little. ”

The king stared at the duke and sneered: "Your expression now looks like you are reading your own will." ”

"Our will," said the duke, "kill me, and the entire kingdom of Elise will fall into civil war." I don't know about the other consequences, but you and the plan of the God you believe in are going to fail. ”

"What if I let you go back?"

The Duke paused slightly: "Then I will think that you still have the remnants of sanity, and if everything is just as it is, I will take my army and wait outside the city of King Elis, either until your treasury is exhausted, or until your god appears and brings a miracle." ”

"Then you should also know that according to God's plan, it is impossible to maintain the status quo."

"Then I cannot promise you more, Your Majesty," said the Duke, "it is not a personal vendetta unless you let your oracle come forward to persuade me, as you have persuaded you." ”

"If you have been suffering from sweet urine for three years, it is not difficult at all," said the king, pointing to the sumptuous dinner party in front of you, "I have seen that you have swallowed several times of saliva, and how is it, in the face of a great deal of delicacies, you can only see but not eat, can you appreciate a little." ”

"I don't know if the oracle can convince you, I'll try it first," the king took out a small, pen-like thing from his hand, handed it to the duke, and said, "I don't know if this thing is a miracle, you can feel it first." ”

The king pressed a light touch on the pen somewhere, and the duke heard his voice in it.

"Don't think so badly of me, no one will object to them, I'm a knight!" The duke's immobile face, after hearing these words, was like ice cubes under boiling water, melting rapidly, and a huge shock was uncontrollably exposed.

"They are faithful to your father, but to God...... I'm afraid that's not the case. Bishop, now you can speak, I heard that this time the Great Yang Sect summoned the Holy War Army to go to the Incisor Fort to relieve the siege, and it did not go well? ”

It was exactly the same thing, just at noon, he had just spoken privately with the prince in the church of the Great Yang Sect. He had always thought that the words he uttered were like exhaling air, and by the time the voice disappeared, it had completely lost its original appearance. Thus the speaker could at any time deny what he had said—even if the king had sent the best of the best, and the spy had heard what he had said, the duke could deny it altogether if necessary.

In this day and age, it is almost impossible to convict a duke in the true sense of the word.

However, the Duke never imagined that there was such a thing in this world, which could reproduce every word spoken by a person so vividly. The Duke had never believed in ghosts and gods, but now, in front of the little machine in front of him, he felt his ignorance for the first time. With this recording in front of him, the king could even organize a public trial of the duke, and in the face of such ironclad evidence, no one would sympathize with a vassals like himself who had openly betrayed himself.

The king appreciated the duke's shock with satisfaction, in fact, when the divine envoy let himself listen to the recording for the first time, his expression was probably exactly the same as the current duke.

"Do you think it's a miracle?" The king asked the Duke with a smile.

For the first time, Anthony lost the lead in words, and he subconsciously wanted to refute, but there was no way to refute it. If it wasn't a miracle, then Anthony should explain how it was done, and if he couldn't explain it – that's the definition of a miracle.

"At first I thought it was," said the king, "but it soon became clear to me that this thing was a trick compared to the many miracles which God had unfolded. ”

Now that the king had mastered the use of the recorder, he pressed it twice, and then another dialogue came out of the middle, which was what the two men had just said: "Your Majesty, I have heard that your oracle is preparing to sell your title?" ”

"Rest assured, the duke's price is high, and no one can afford it."

While the Duke was still immersed in shock, the King added: "In all the royal city of Elis, in all important places, the oracles have placed such things that they can hear every corner, the private conversation, and the interlocutors themselves are unconscious. The churches of the Great Yang Sect are the focus of this listening...... That's the first important point I'm going to tell you, don't use your common sense to judge God, they know everything. ”

The Duke was not willing to admit defeat, and retorted: "But they can't make food, can they? Your divine envoy is now desperately scraping together money to sell his official beard to buy grain in the market......"

"I know," said the king, "that the oracle has informed me of every action, every will, and has explained to me the reasons. There are a lot of reasons I don't even understand, but they just sound right. ”

"What justification is needed to borrow money against the output of the kingdom's territory? Even if they can support the second half of this year and the whole year, will these civilians who eat bread all day long and have nothing to do turn out food? The two major sects of the Great Yang Sect and the Little Yang Sect are aggressively forcing each other, and when the holy war soldiers come to the city, will these people who eat bread for free be willing to take up arms and fight for you? ”

"Food and soldiers...... "It doesn't matter anymore," said the king, "and many things don't matter to our world from God's eyes. Territory, Honor, Kingdom...... What's the point if it all ends in destruction? It's like a fire burning all over the forest, and a few nests of ants are still fighting each other. ”

"The End of the World...... Is this what your God told you? ”

"Yes, they not only inform, but show," the king stood up, walked out of the room, and after a while came with a box, which he opened in the presence of the duke. The surface of the box was completely transparent, and there was an intricate painting inlaid underneath, and then the king just lightly touched the picture, and suddenly, the whole picture seemed to be given life, and began to move like the real world.