Fang Yu thought about it for a moment, and analyzed the pros and cons of this question for the team—the benefits were obvious—whether it was the shipbuilding place provided by Her Royal Highness the Princess, or the various conveniences provided for it.

The downside is that it is possible to be at the center of this vortex of events, facing unpredictable risks. Although everyone has long been accustomed to it, as the saying goes, 'how can you walk by the river without getting your shoes wet', although risk also means opportunity, but overall it is better to develop steadily.

But the question is, can they give up this set of benefits? The answer is difficult - because it means that the original plan will have to be changed again, the preliminary preparations will have to be scrapped, the workers and craftsmen will need to be re-recruited to go south, and the procurement of magic oak that has been negotiated with the merchants will have to be reversed, and even whether the other party will be willing to talk to them is still a question.

Of course, these problems can be overcome, but the key question is at what cost? This is not the first time Fang Yu has weighed the pros and cons, but he still came to the unanimous conclusion that staying in Tansnir is the best option. But that doesn't mean they have to be immobile and passively accept each other's arrangements.

The key is to understand what you really need and where the other person can give in?

If there's a task they can't choose, at least they need to know more about it, so information is key.

After so many adventures, Fang Yu had already realized that the fundamental differences could not be resolved, but they could be used as bargaining chips - in fact, this was exactly what he was doing, and after so many days of sneaking, he and the big cat man suddenly brought this up at this moment, obviously standing in a favorable position from the beginning.

He asked two questions:

"Mr. Abed, we can understand Her Highness the Princess's considerations, but having said that, since Her Royal Highness's real purpose is to find the real culprit, the nature of my work should also be changed. Since it is entirely possible that we will be threatened by some unanticipated – I can be blamed in the past, but at least for now, I want to have a basic right to know, which is the most basic basis for cooperation. ”

"So far, I have two questions – the first is why did the wandering alchemist attack the princess more than ten years ago. I believe that even the most deranged of people acted for a reason, either by personal preference or simply by insanity, but at least for a reason, not for no reason to attack an unrelated person, not even more so the wife of Barbartan, the king of sands. ”

"Second, as the daughter of Barbartan, the King of Sands, and one of the highest holders of power in this land, why should Princess Rupert trust outsiders? In the huge palace, whether it is his father and brother, or his henchmen, is there no one who can be trusted by Her Royal Highness the Princess? I don't believe that my team can be trusted by Her Highness the Princess more than any of the above. ”

Hearing these two questions, Abed couldn't help frowning. As the princess's close confidant, he was naturally not a straw bag—he was even shrewd and capable, so it was easy to hear the implication of Fang Yuan's words, and realize that the other party was not unprepared.

This made him happy and sad at the same time.

It goes without saying that the person entrusted by Her Royal Highness the princess is naturally the more capable the better. But on the one hand, the other party does not seem to be as 'naïve and simple' as 'Achilles' said, and on the second point, he can't decide whether it is good or bad for a while.

Fang Yu looked at his expression and asked further, "If this is a private matter of the royal family, Mr. Abed can ask Her Royal Highness the Princess to make a decision." ”

But Abed shook his head and looked up as if to re-examine them: "No need, I can make a decision on this matter." ”

He asked again, "So does Mr. Ed want to hear the first question first, or the second question?" ”

Fang Yu did not answer immediately, but turned around.

After the previous battle, Parker and Chest, who had hurried into the cellar to investigate, reappeared by the secret door. The box between the two was fine, but the Paparal man held on to the wall with a fat short hand, rolled his eyes, and said to the crowd out of breath:

“…… There's nothing down there...... However, vomit ...... You'd better go down and see ......."

Fang Yu turned around and said to Abed: "We want to go down and have a look, if Mr. Abede doesn't mind, you can talk as you go." ”

Since this itself was a task entrusted by Her Royal Highness the Princess, seeing that the other party was so attentive and pragmatic made the slightest bit of the mustard that Abed had before disappear without a trace. On the surface, however, he remained silent and only nodded, and took a step to follow.

Although they had to enter the cellar, not everyone in the Seven Seas Brigade had to enter, not to mention that they had to leave someone outside to take care of them, and with the size of a big cat man, it was difficult to enter such a narrow place - even if they did, they wouldn't be able to get into any trouble.

So the latter simply volunteered to 'let the wind out' outside.

Coupled with the box that had already been there once, and Luo Yu, who was not interested in it, as for Tianlan, he was very interested, and even pulled up the reluctant Ji Ta. Tang Xin was not interested in this, but she couldn't help Ai Xiaoxiao's vigorous urging, and she couldn't rest assured that her cousin wouldn't be at ease.

- The main thing is to be relieved that the plover is with Sylvede.

Before entering, the big cat man patted Fang Yu on the shoulder and squeezed his eyes: "Not bad." ”

Fang Yu nodded, roughly understanding what the other party meant.

When he negotiated with the Oak Knights, he was still tricked by the other party, but after all, people can grow, and he gradually learned to think about problems from more angles.

It's just that where Fang Ou didn't see, Attila and the big cat man exchanged glances, and there was some inquiry in Red's eyes—and Miss Elf sighed softly and shook her head.

After everyone entered the secret door, there was a staircase that spiraled downward and inward, and the steps extended into the darkness.

Alyssa, who walked in front, held a pine resin torch in her hand, lighting up the darkness, but the flickering light could only shine for a short distance - the firelight reflected on the earth-gray wall, which was stained with blood, and the dried blood had already penetrated into the wall.

There was another river of blood, as if it had been brushed on the stairs, step by step, like a flowing dark red carpet.

The atmosphere was a little depressing, and Abed looked around in silence before slowly answering the previous question:

"The matter of Her Royal Highness the Princess's biological mother, because it is related to the reputation of the royal family, is not the case among the people. Most people only know that the princess had a sudden illness and unfortunately passed away, and since the number of stars of the royal family members is a secret, although there is some discussion in private, there are not too many doubts......"

“…… However, within the royal family and among the nobility, there were quite a lot of waves back then - at that time, His Majesty Babartan had just taken over the throne from the previous generation of the King of Sand, and his position was not stable. And at home and abroad, there are many people who covet the throne and hate the Penelope family. ”

Abed's voice was unhurried, slow, steady, somewhat hoarse, and pronounced in a thick tone.

But the words are by no means confusing, and his narrative method is also quite unique among the narrators Fang Yu has heard, with a strong personal style, which is almost unforgettable.

"The attack at that time was actually part of a series of conspiracies against members of the royal family at that time, so it was later characterized as an act of revenge on the nobles within Istania who had a vendetta against the Penelope royal family, against the current and previous Shah kings, which was not uncommon at the time-"

"Is that the case?" Fang Yuan's brown eyes reflected the light of the torch, flashing with a faint luster, and asked.

Abaid shook his head slowly:

"Her Royal Highness's grandfather, the last king of the sands, was a very charismatic, right-handed, and hard-nosed man, who suppressed a number of opponents on the grounds of the prohibition of the slave trade, and in his tenure, thanks to the support of Kaurin-Ihurian, few dared to raise a voice against it."

"But as soon as the first king died, His Majesty Babaltan had not yet shown any extraordinary abilities, and the old king of Kaulin-Ishurian was getting worse day by day, and the people of Kaulin did not seem to care as much about Istania for a while, so some people felt that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it."

"But it turned out that these people had the wrong idea, and they failed one by one, and His Majesty Babaltan pulled out most of the nobles and princes who had participated in the conspiracy one by one, and what the nobles called 'Ertana's River of Blood' refers to what happened in that era. But that's just a scorn for those who are fearful and helpless. ”

In the process, most of the conspiracy came to light, and His Majesty established his prestige and won the support of the majority. But except for one thing, from beginning to end, it has not been revealed. The Penelope royal family thus covered up the truth and arrested a group of nobles to behead them in this name, and declared the case closed-"

"Although those people also deserve it, in fact, they have little to do with the princess's attack, and only a few people who know the inside story know this, and Her Royal Highness the eldest princess is one of them."

As he said this, Abed looked up at Fang Yuan.

"In fact, even Her Royal Highness the little princess does not know about this matter, and not everyone in the royal family of Penelope knows about it, and if it were not for you being the Holy Chosen One, and being personally entrusted by Her Royal Highness the princess, I would never have spoken up about this. But I hope you will keep it a secret and abide by the letter of the Stargate Declaration. ”

Fang Yu nodded, even if the other party didn't say it, he would do it.

As for the rest of the team, they are not so gossipy, and Miss Alyssa, who is the only one who is keen on this, will only spread some rumors about the captain's bad in the team.

And 'Big Mouth' Parker has long been arranged by him at the end of the line.

Fang Yu asked, "So in the end, is there still a mystery about the identity of the attacker?" ”

"Not exactly," replied Abed, "there was a group of nobles involved, who were secretly imprisoned and not known to the outside world. Ten years on, most of these people have long since died, either because of illness or because they couldn't survive the torture interrogation, and these poor creatures have provided some information at the time, but not much—"

"What is known is that these people have been in contact with those wandering alchemists, but they have never known each other's identities. Some of them even thought that these wandering alchemists were just a gang of 'hyenas', 'bounty hunters' who only had money in their eyes, and they were just buying a 'knife' for murder. ”

The staircase was deep, and the darkness ahead seemed to have no end.

Fang Yu turned around at this time and asked again, "What are the facts?" ”

"It's not that simple, and even the opposite, it's not that they are taking advantage of those wandering alchemists, but that they are taking advantage of them. After that 'attack', the wandering alchemists mysteriously disappeared in a short period of time, as if they had never existed. ”

"No matter how we tried to investigate afterwards, we couldn't find any clues about each other, and the only thing we knew was some connection between them and this cult."

"And since the sect of 'Blind Followers' has been circulating among slave traders in private, His Majesty Babaltan has since stepped up his crackdown on the slave trade, in order to search for clues. At the same time, we are also looking for the whereabouts and related clues of the wandering alchemist in various places, but unfortunately, we have not gained much in the past ten years. ”

At this point, Abed paused and said, "That's why, after the attack on the 'Sand Journey', Her Royal Highness wants to see you. ”

Fang Yu knew in his heart that this was not too different from what he expected.

He looked at Sylvid behind him.

The ship's attendant had been listening quietly from the sidelines, and when she saw that his eyes fell on her, she understood that the other party had the intention of questioning. She thought about it for a while, combined with the information she had received before, and analyzed: "I don't know much about Istania, but there were some rumors ten years ago......

"But the captain might as well think differently about this matter."

"A different way of thinking?"

Sylvid glanced at Abed, smiled and replied: "The nobles have found nothing to investigate, and there is no way to know about the wandering alchemist, but there is actually a third party in this incident - that is, the attacker himself, the biological mother of Rupert and Princess Afifa, and the princess of Babartan, the king of sands. ”

"Huh?"

Tianlan on the side heard this, and couldn't help blurting out.

Fang Yu didn't turn a corner for a while, didn't the princess herself have died in that attack, could it be that she used necromancy? But he shook his head, more than ten years had passed since that attack, and no necromancy could have done that.

Of all the people, only Kita reacted and said, "Sister Sylvide's method is good. ”

Luo Hao behind her didn't react, and only asked, "I haven't figured out what the connection is here, Ji Ta, tell me about it?" ”

"It's actually very simple," Kita's voice was thin and quiet, "Brother Ed has actually mentioned earlier that attackers don't act aimlessly. The princes and nobles planned this attack mostly for the purpose of revenge, but what was the purpose of the wandering alchemist? ”

"That's right," Azure asked, "but can't you find those wandering alchemists?" ”

"I understand," Luo Hao shook his head: "The purpose of a person's actions can be divided into several kinds, but it is nothing more than for long-term interests, or to achieve short-term goals. The short-term goal is simply revenge, or demonstrations. ”

Hearing this, Fang Yu also understood.

For those wandering alchemists, they disappeared without a trace after the attack, and even indirectly betrayed the princes and nobles who were in this scheme. Obviously, these people do not have any long-term interests in Idania.

If there is no long-term benefit, it must be done for short-term purposes.

So what is the short-term purpose?

Certainly not for revenge or demonstration.

Because the wandering alchemists and the Penelope royal family had no intersection before this, and there was no grudge against them - or for the sake of the slave trade that had been hit? However, this is unlikely, and according to Lady Ameya's oracle, the doctrine of the 'blind followers' has only gradually emerged in the last decade.

Before that, the two did not have much to do with each other.

Then if the reason is not these two points, there are not many possibilities left.

Perhaps it was the Sand King Babaltan himself who had something to do with the wandering alchemist, and the other party would act for the purpose of the princess. But if this is the case, there is no need for Barbartan, the King of Sands, to pretend to be confused, and to investigate in vain for ten years without yielding anything.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that there may be a deeper reason for this.

However, in this reasoning, it is still necessary to follow the Aum razor principle, and if it is not necessary, do not create entities.

So after ruling out this point, the most likely reason left is that the princess herself has something to do with the wandering alchemist. Therefore, the other party did not hesitate to risk provoking the royal family of Istania to implement a plan to kill the princess.

Of course, this statement may be a little unfavorable to the princess herself, so Fang Yu thought of this, and couldn't help but glance at Abed. Her Royal Highness the princess entrusted them to find the real culprit, if they involved Her Royal Highness's biological mother because of this, what would the other party think?

But the other seemed to appreciate their consideration, and Abed was silent for a moment before replying:

"As long as the investigation is conducted in private, what Her Royal Highness needs is the truth."

When Fang Yu heard this answer, he roughly understood what the other party meant.

On the one hand, the princess has been dead for many years, and it is certainly impossible to find clues from her. However, as the wife of Babartan, the king of sand, she did not think that she would be a lonely commoner girl, and the other party must also be from an aristocratic family in Istanya and came from a prominent background.

The other party is no longer alive, but only ten years have passed since the attack, and many of her relatives, friends and family members in front of her are still alive. There should still be many ways to know the details of this princess's life before entering the royal family, if a person has a secret-

There is a high chance that it will leave clues in the details of daily life.

Thinking of this, Fang Yu couldn't help but glance at Sylvide.

His own ship's master lady's vision is unique, although he has already understood it, but at this time, he still feels lucky-sometimes it is too easy to worry about having such a lady by his side.

Abed answered the first question, and the answer to the second question is self-explanatory. It is related to the secrets of the royal family, and even within the Penelope royal family, there are not many people who know this, coupled with the need for secrecy, Her Royal Highness the eldest princess, naturally there are not many people who can rely on this matter.

And as the only person who has anything to do with the wandering alchemist, they are also the Electors, and at the same time, they are outsiders who have arrived in Istania for the first time and have nothing to do with the local aristocratic system, so they naturally easily enter the other party's sight.

Fang Yu also thought of another possibility, that is, Her Royal Highness the Celestial Princess should have learned about their battle with the Dragon Worship Cultists from her own sister, and the other party naturally believed that they still had such ability.

With this in mind, the team finally reached the bottom of the cellar.

……