Standing on the edge of the parapet of Fort Horn, the black-haired wizard looked down towards the cloud peak beneath him.

After the Northern Coalition took over the city's defenses from the defenders, they quickly launched an encirclement and suppression operation against the underground Corrupted Demons, the strength of which is based on absolute numbers and near-immortal vitality, while also constantly replenishing the premise.

Having lost its grip and being trapped in a tunnel, it was only a matter of time before it was completely wiped out in the face of a well-disciplined regular army...... In a sense, the dwarves, a race that pursues order, are indeed the natural enemies of monsters like the Corrupted Demons.

Cloudpeak, who was caught between the rebels and the Corrupting Demons, was spared - despite more than half of the casualties, and despite the collapse of the city walls and the transformation of large swathes of streets into battlefields and ruins, it still survived.

Instead of the civilian areas of Ebolden, which turned into hellish fires.

Just because of a Byrne "recruit" who refused to obey orders and was hot-blooded, tens of thousands of dwarves were spared......

But all this has nothing to do with Byrne, the purpose of this trip has been achieved - the evil god apostle hiding in the Yunling Kingdom is dead, the dwarven civil war is over, and it is expected that the reconstruction will be completed in two to three years, and it will be restored in twenty to thirty years.

Byrne was able to gain a powerful ally in the south, and at the same time restore the "Mithril Trade Route" between the Empire and the Yunling Kingdom... This trade, which was vital to the Empire, especially the Holy Cross Church, greatly reduced the church's hostility towards Byrne.

Although because of his "wizard duke" and his clear standing in the camp of the two princes, Byrne and the church are already on the same footing......

Sighing softly, the black-haired wizard enjoying the breeze in the valley looked quietly into the distance.

"Duke. ”

The dwarf Mihailo came silently and saluted respectfully.

"Anyway... You really surprised me, Your Excellency Mihailo. ”

"Huh?" a look of confusion flashed across the dwarf's face.

"It's nothing, it's just a surprise that you just let Igor go like that. As if joking, Loren turned his head and glanced at the dwarf:

"To be honest, when you first proposed to me to unite with the northern city-states and capture the peak of the clouds, I really thought that you planned to re-establish the hegemony of the Silver Helmet Mountain and be crowned the supreme king of the Yunling Kingdom. ”

Coronation as king?

The dwarf Mihailo was startled at first, and then showed a very complicated expression.

"If I do that, I'm afraid everything will be said by Igor. Mihailo said indifferently: "Everything I do is no different from him. ”

"No, I'm afraid it's even more terrifying - whether it's Yunfeng or Igor, they will not give up control of the Yunling Kingdom, and they will do anything to keep their position, even compromising with the rebels in the south. ”

"At that time, not only will this civil war not be able to end, but it will also evolve into a confrontation between the north and the south of the Yunling Kingdom, and even a complete split......

With an icy tone, the dwarf Mihailo looked meaningfully at the black-haired wizard's expression: "And you... His Excellency the Venerable Duke of Byrne will be able to control half of the Yunling Kingdom through the Mihailo family, and then suppress the other half. ”

"Finally, become the uncrowned king of the land...... Am I right?"

The voice of indifference fell softly.

The atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward.

There was a moment of silence between the four eyes, and the black-haired wizard suddenly burst into laughter.

"That's not the case... You're thinking too much. ”

After saying that, Loren immediately turned his gaze.

The dwarf Mihailo only snorted coldly.

"Your Excellency, the Yunling people of Silver Helmet Mountain will never forget the help extended to you, and we will always be your loyal courtiers. Mikhailo spoke calmly, put his right hand on his chest, and bowed his head respectfully:

"But we will never forget that we are the people of Yunling; Never let a Byrin rule his homeland and make the proud and great Yunling Kingdom become a vassal and puppet of others. ”

"That's the only thing we can't promise. ”

Loren smiled indifferently and shrugged helplessly.

"Igor... No matter how many faults and problems he has, he is also the ruler of the peak of the clouds, with the blood of the Serviera Stoffer family in his body, and the natural law of rule, and he is still a qualified supreme king. ”

"A... The supreme king of the Yunling people. The dwarf Mihailo deliberately accentuated his tone.

"So, Lord Mihailo, how many times do I have to repeat it before you believe me?"

"It's not about verbal promises – we Yunling people don't believe in verbal and written promises, we just look at what you do. ”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Loren maintained a formulaic smile on his face.

"I have more things to do... Regarding the proper resettlement of the Northern coalition forces, there is also a plan for the disposal of the rebels in the South. Stroking his chest and saluting, the dwarf Mihailo bowed stiffly: "Please allow me to retire first, Duke." ”

As soon as the words fell, the dwarf turned to leave.

It wasn't until he was far away that the smile on the black-haired wizard's lips narrowed slightly.

Is... Why is it so hard to be a bad guy once in a while?

State-of-the-art mechanical technology, unique smelting metals, abundant mineral resources, broad and complex depth... More importantly, the special tradition of the dwarves allows this race to have an almost infinite number of troops, which can expand Byrne's strength almost infinitely.

Even if you are as rich as Byrne, the army you can recruit is extremely limited - especially the elite professional army, and under the traditional knightly system, Byrne's standing army can never match the Empire.

But the dwarves are different, this race has great potential for war, and for now it is only dragged down by a long civil war, and once restored and unified, it will still be a power almost on a par with Sakran.

Such an opportunity to greatly expand his strength, but if there is a slightest possibility, Loren will not easily miss it.

Although it is a slight deviation from the plan, it doesn't matter - the civil war of the past three years has weakened Yun Feng to the point that he needs to rely on Byrne's support to prevent it from falling.

In order to maintain his rule, and in order not to be terminated by Byrne's grain trade, neither Igor nor Yunfeng will stop Byrne's "small moves" in the north of the Yunling Kingdom.

Even if it were impossible to control the entire Yunling Kingdom and turn it into a puppet and vassal of Byrne, there would still be a chance to form an alliance with a few of these city-states alone - in exchange for grain trade, preferential terms, their technology, minerals, and offensive and defensive covenants during the war, and that would be enough.

In the long run, the interests between the dwarven city-states in the north and the south, especially in the clouds, will gradually split, and the contradictions will become deeper and deeper, and they will become more and more dependent on the Duchy of Byrne, and eventually become an alliance composed of interests and geographical relations, completely separated from the south, and become a "part" of Byrne.

Anyway, Loren didn't plan, let alone think that he could really rule the entire Yunling Kingdom, he just needed to get the war potential of the dwarves.

"Of course, it will take time......"

Looking into the distance, the black-haired wizard muttered to himself.

"What?"

"It's nothing!" The black-haired wizard turned around and turned his head to look at the gray-eyed boy walking towards him, "How is it, has everything been dealt with?"

"No problem, it's not the first time. ”

Lusen nodded, obviously not interested in what the black-haired wizard had just said to himself: "The body of the High King has been placed in the laboratory of Fort Horn, and Isaac and Ain have already begun to conduct targeted research. ”

"It's good, it's not noticed by the dwarves, is it?"

"All the people in charge are alchemists of the Wizards Guild, and all the dwarven engineers in the floating city were transferred out when they were moved, and as for the dwarves at the peak of the clouds, ......"

The gray-eyed young man suddenly snorted lightly, and pursed his lips with disdain: "If nothing else, they shouldn't be discovered by them—what's more, they probably want to let this 'former' Supreme King die as soon as possible, and there are no bones left." ”

The black-haired wizard laughed dryly, not commenting.

As a member of the Wirtz family, the illegitimate son of the former Grand Duke of Ellemont, Lusn has always avoided dealing with power politics, and would even rather run to the fortress of Broken Mountain and become a ranger in the Imperial Legion than have anything to do with the family.

But his innate bloodline made him understand how much damage a legitimate former ruler could do to the current ruler, and that as long as he was alive, there would be conspirators who would use his position and status to seize power.

Unable to help but shake his head, Loren, who suddenly noticed something, raised his eyebrows and glanced behind Lusen.

"What about Carl Colin?"

"On the way back, he was nowhere to be seen—the alchemist who accompanied him said he had seen him enter the Horn Fortress, but had not found him anywhere. The gray-eyed boy said lightly, as if he had long been accustomed to this situation:

"If you're not mistaken, he should still be in Cloud Peak City, but he's about to leave. ”

Loren was stunned for a moment, but immediately understood.

"Night's watchman?"

"There shouldn't be a second possibility, otherwise he wouldn't have left. Lusen nodded, his expression slightly helpless:

"It's just that I didn't expect that even there are people in the peak of the clouds, and these rats are really pervasive!"

As soon as he finished speaking, his expression suddenly twitched—he almost forgot that Loren Turin and Dalton also seemed to be the Night Watch.

The gray-eyed boy glanced cautiously, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the black-haired wizard's expression had not changed.

"In this way, he can relay the information about the end of the dwarven civil war to Ruth Infinit, so that we don't have to go to great lengths to reveal the news to the Heavenly Dome Palace. ”

Loren hugged his shoulders and took a deep breath, obviously not caring about Lusen's "slip of the tongue" just now: "We have to use this way to make His Majesty the Emperor trust us—I really don't know whether to be happy or sad." ”

"Uh......"

With a hesitant moan, Lusen looked at the black-haired wizard who was "sighing", and stopped talking.

"What's wrong?"

"No, nothing!" the gray-eyed boy inadvertently repeated the black-haired wizard's words, coughing lightly.

"It's just that you seem to have forgotten that before you left, you promised the Countess of Crimson Castle that this trip would take a maximum of two months, and that there would be no accidents. ”

"There shouldn't be any problem... Well, you can see that so far everything is still going well. With a sigh of relief, Loren smiled very easily: "Just in case, I'd better ask first, how much time do we have left?"

"Eight days—there should have been eighteen days left, mainly because there was too much time wasted on the Floating City. Lusen replied honestly:

"So depending on the itinerary you came, you'd have to be at least about late... Half a month?"

The smile on the black-haired wizard's face faded.

“...... Should... Nothing wrong, right?"

"Originally, yes. ”

"Originally?"

"That's right, because you promised so decisively, the Countess of Crimson Castle seems to really believe it - before leaving, I heard that she was preparing to negotiate with the Church about Bishop Byrne, as well as aid to the Duchy of Arles, and the logistics of His Royal Highness Prince Brandon's legions. ”

"His Highness Brandon's head of logistics has been in the Red Blood Castle all along, and the emissary of the Church is said to have set out from the Heavenly Dome Palace, as for the journey from Arles to Byrne... If it's a horse-drawn carriage, it's a week at most. ”

"So... If I'm a little late to go back......"

"If you go back a little too late, Countess Charlotte will have to go alone to face the Duke's envoy from Arles, the accusations and curses of the Holy Cross mission, and the urging of His Highness Brandon. ”

"The most important thing is... These are all things that must be finalized in the presence of you, the Duke, and the Countess Charlotte can do nothing but give them a smile and delay their time. ”

A very strange smile suddenly appeared on Lu Sien's face: "Hey... I don't think I've ever asked you what happened to you and the Countess in the Hall of the Round Table on the day of the triumphal ceremony after the end of the Centaur War three years ago?"

“......”

The black-haired wizard's expression froze.

"Lusen, you did it on purpose, right?"

"How come?" The corners of the gray-eyed young man's eyes showed a flash of pleasure: "The little man of Ellemont, how could he retaliate against you for making a little joke about our family's height?"

"......" Loren Turin.

"Isaac!"

"Huh?!" suddenly poked his head out from behind the door on the side, and his expression was very impatient: "Something?"

"Fort Clarion... I mean, how fast can the Isaac Floating City run at its maximum speed?!"

"It's hard to compare, if you have to describe it... Fifteen kilometers per hour?"

"Thirty kilometers per hour, don't stop until you reach the Byrne border!"

With a heavy sigh, the black-haired wizard turned his head and looked at the megalomaniac with a begging expression:

"I need a miracle right now, really!"