Stormstorm Fortress, Queen's Guard Room.

When Claudia walked to the door, the sound of drawers being pushed and pulled could be faintly heard in the room.

Claudia was puzzled, and pushed open the door, only to see that in the room, Amber was sitting alone at a table reading a book, and everything seemed to be fine.

Seeing Claudia open the door, Amber hurriedly stepped forward, his eyes were faintly flustered, and a flattering smile appeared on his face: "Your Majesty, do you have something to do with me?" ”

Ambo's expression did not hide from the attentive Claudia, Claudia patted the black-haired little girl on the shoulder, stared into her eyes, and asked softly, "Ambo, are you hiding something from me?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty," Anbo grabbed his hair a little embarrassed, returned to the table just now, took out a small tortoiseshell cat, and said with a pitiful face, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I shouldn't have brought Mr. Cookie to duty today." ”

Most of the time, Claudia is always very talkative to the people around her, so she naturally doesn't bother with Amber about a kitten.

"It's okay," Claudia smiled and rubbed Anbo's hair, "If you're usually lonely in this room, you can bring a pet with you, just don't get down to business." ”

"Well, thank you, Your Majesty," Amber said excitedly, "Actually, Mr. Cookie is the pet of another agent who lives with me, and Vanessa is out on a mission during this time, so I can only take care of him for a few days temporarily, and I promise that nothing else will be delayed during this time." ”

"I believe you, Amber," Claudia nodded, and then said, "Now you go to MI7 headquarters and call Madias to come to me." ”

After reacting to who the name was, ...... Madias, Amber stuck out his tongue in embarrassment and saluted: "Promise to complete the task, Your Majesty." ”

After Amber left, Claudia went to the queen's reception room, waiting for Matthias's arrival, and in the time not long before returning to the dormitory, Gianna made a brief analysis of Claudia's morning meeting, but Gianna also lacked some key information to give more reasonable advice, and in the same way, Claudia also needed to ask Matthias about the details of the matter.

Matthias was soon led by Amber to the queen's reception room, and Claudia tried to lighten up the conversation by motioning for Matthias to sit down with her at a small round table next to her, as if she were a guest, and called the maid.

"Liz."

"At your service, Your Majesty."

"A cup of tranquilizing tea, hmm......" Claudia asked, looking at Madias, "what do you order?" Madias? ”

"Chrysanthemum tea, thank you."

The maid went out to prepare the tea, and Claudia turned to look at Matthias, who was sitting across from Claudia, sitting in a stern posture and a calm complexion, like a soldier, which nullified Claudia's attempt to make the conversation more relaxed.

Claudia was a little helpless, but instead of asking about the matter, she chose another question first.

"Secretary Madias, has there been any progress in the investigation into Varian's whereabouts and the identity of the mastermind behind it?"

After Claudia came to power, she gave MI7 a long-term mission, including tracking down Varian's whereabouts and being behind the series of conspiracies facing Stormwind Kingdom after Varian's disappearance, and made this one of MI7's most important missions, and it became customary for her to interrogate Madias every time she saw him.

"The subordinates are incompetent, and there is still no new information about His Majesty's whereabouts, but regarding the identity of the mastermind behind the scenes, we have ruled out two other suspects and locked a target, she has a major suspicion, and we suspect that His Majesty's disappearance is also related to her."

"Please go on, Secretary Madias." Claudia's face became serious, she hadn't expected to gain so much today before she summoned Madias, and compared to Varian's whereabouts and the identity of the person behind it, what she wanted to ask about was not worth mentioning.

"According to the confession Your Majesty received from the Duke of Facurrest, a month ago, our agents in Alterac worked with Rahovender to breach the Syndicate headquarters and seize more clues about the original attack on the palace."

"Well, I know," Claudia nodded.

"According to the tracking of our agents over the past month, all the clues have finally pointed to Countess Catlana Presto, who is suspected of committing a major crime."

"Presto?" Claudia frowned, she didn't have a good impression of Katrana, not only because Katrana had tried to seduce Varian, but also because Katrana had been one of the nobles speculated by MI7 to have close ties to the Difia bandits.

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's Presto, although we don't have tangible evidence, but she has too many suspicions, and all the clues point to her......"

Madias was obviously prepared, took out a stack of information from the briefcase he was carrying, and handed it to Claudia, who quickly flipped through it, and as the pieces of information came into view, Claudia's face became more and more ugly.

Each of these pieces of information indicates the source of the testimony, and many prisoners are still in the custody of MI7, which is obviously not groundless, and the suspicion of each piece of information points to Katrana, although none of them are ironclad evidence that can directly lock the suspect is Katrana, but when taken together, it seems that the suspect has no second possibility.

After reading the information, Claudia took a sip of the tranquilizing flower tea given by the maid, tried to calm her uneasy mood, and looked at Madias.

"Where is Katrana now? Get her under control. ”

"We can't, Your Majesty," Matthias said, spreading her hands, "she's been out of Stormwind since the third day after His Majesty's departure, claiming to be out on a biennial or triennial vacation, and we haven't been able to find out where she is. ”

The suspicion is even greater.

Claudia frowned, and ordered: "Madias, as soon as there is a whereabouts of Countess Presto, inform me immediately, and I will personally arrest and interrogate her." ”

"But Your Majesty, she is a big nobleman, and she has a lot of influence in the noble council, and we are not in line with the process or the law in doing so, after all, we have no ironclad evidence." Madias reminded with deep meaning.

Claudia knew that Matthias was right, it was very difficult to convict nobles these days, and there was such a thing as defamation in the laws of the Stormwind Kingdom, and damaging the reputation of officials or nobles was not a trivial matter, especially if there was no tangible evidence.

And even if there is tangible evidence, in addition to serious crimes such as treason and murder, if you want to arrest the nobles, you have to go through the legal process and go to the noble court where the nobles are tried to prosecute, even if the nobles are finally convicted, because of the existence of immunity and commutation and redemption regulations, most of the crime nobles can spend a little more money to exonerate themselves, and it is difficult to really make the nobles suffer any substantial harm.

Therefore, Claudia's attempt to obtain evidence through interrogation by first arresting Countess Presto without tangible evidence and then convicting her is itself illegal.

But Claudia didn't care about this at all now, in her opinion, Varian's whereabouts were much more important than any legal justice, and Claudia did not hesitate to order:

"It's about Varian's safety and national security, we can't carry out the process, let's catch it first, and if it's really wrong, I'll compensate her afterwards."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Madias nodded, and also took a sip of chrysanthemum tea.

Claudia on the side thought about the news just now, and finally remembered what was going on.

"Madias, what's going on with Greg's assassination?"

"It was my men who did it," Madia admitted sternly, "and we arrested Van Cleef's deputy, Bakir, and his confession confirmed the collusion between Duke Greg and the Brotherhood of Defia, and in November '21, His Majesty ordered MI7 to dispose of Duke Greg Leskova, and not to dispose of it too cleanly, in order to warn the other nobles, so Aldous was able to get the evidence we left behind." ”

Hearing that it was Varian who ordered it, Claudia couldn't say anything anymore, and she really didn't blame MI7 for this.

And why Varian chose to assassinate this method Claudia can guess some, the confession of a bandit is not enough to bring down a duke, even if other evidence is not enough, the nobles always have a way to escape most of the punishment, Varian is using his own means to warn the nobles: some lines cannot be crossed, once the line is crossed, even if you can't be legally punished, the king has a way to clean you up.

Even if this approach "is neither in accordance with the process nor in accordance with the law." ”

Claudia remembered what Madias had just said, and instead looked at the other person deeply.

In retrospect, Claudia's decision in the case of Countess Presto was undoubtedly "neither in accordance with the process nor in accordance with the law".

This is obviously Matthias deliberately using his means to persuade Claudia to make her understand that many things cannot be done by legal means, and this is the value of MI7's existence.

"Madias, I already know what happened and what happened before and after, you say...... How do I reply to the nobility? ”

"My subordinates don't know," Matthias said with a respectful face, "MI7 is just His Majesty's eyes and a dagger in his hand, His Majesty is our brain, and whatever His Majesty decides, we will obey." ”

"I see what you mean." Claudia nodded, "In this case, you can go back first, and remember to let me know as soon as there is news of Katrana or Varian." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

That night, the Queen's bedroom.

Claudia kept Gianna for the night, and after the maid retired, Claudia told Gianna about the summoning process between her and Madias during the day, Gianna listened very carefully, and asked a few targeted questions from time to time, and finally Gianna nodded thoughtfully.

"I already understand what the nobles want to do."

"Huh?" Claudia looked at Gianna.

"Madias is right, MI7 is your eyes and daggers, and with MI7, the nobles don't dare to be too unscrupulous in many things, and they walk on thin ice like a knife hanging from their necks when they break the law, which makes them very uncomfortable."

"Duke Vyshak's proposal today seems to be no problem, mentioning law, process and justice everywhere, but in fact, the law is only just in front of the commoners, and the existing law cannot effectively punish the nobles who break the law, so how can justice begin? All Duke Vyshak wanted was to fight MI7. ”

"According to Duke Vischar's original proposal, he wanted the paladin to be in charge of the investigation of MI7, which seems to be no problem on the surface, but in fact, you and I both know the inside story of MI7 what the situation is, as long as you go to investigate, you will definitely be able to find out the problem, with the character of most paladins, the final investigation results will definitely be unfavorable to MI7, although paladins are good people, but in this regard, they will undoubtedly do bad things with good intentions."

Good intentions do bad things?

Claudia was silent, she knew that Gianna was not wrong, this was the limit of the paladin, too upright and rigid.

Even Claudia, who thinks she has a more flexible personality, can't do many things because of the precepts, such as honesty, the only time she lied for so many years was because she violated it in a hurry to save Gianna, and Claudia was also gloomy afterwards.

The precepts have always been in the hearts of all paladins, restricting their behavior, which is a good thing, and because of this, paladins are mostly good people, but sometimes they can be used by outsiders, as is the case today.

Gianna continued: "I can even guess what the nobles will do next, and once the results of the investigation are unfavorable to MI7, they will ask for legislation to regulate the way MI7 operates, reduce the internal authority of MI7, and put shackles on MI7 so that MI7 can no longer act against the nobles like this." ”

Then, without the supervision of MI7, the nobles can unscrupulously and collectively let themselves go.

Claudia on the side added in her heart that once there is no supervision and restraint, the king becomes deaf and blind, and what this group of nobles can do is uncontrollable, when the country is hollowed out by this group of nobles, it is estimated that she will not know, and the nobles care most about the interests of their own families after all.

"Don't we have any other way to deal with these nobles?" Claudia asked.

"Unfortunately, there is no way to do it for the time being." Gianna spread her hands, "In the current situation, although there are problems with the law, it is impossible to amend the law. ”

Claudia was a little helpless, to change the law must be signed by the king and approved by the noble council, and the nobles should be expected to pass laws that are unfavorable to them? If you think about it on your toes, you know that you can't do it, and it must be that Varian used MI7 to supervise the nobles because of the lack of a good way to deal with this group of nobles.

"You need to be patient in the game with the nobles, wait for the right time, and take it step by step," Gianna comforted, "but there will always be a chance, fifty years ago, the Stormwind Kingdom was still the same as Lordaeron, the nobles controlled the local power and had their own private soldiers, but now the nobles are only left with the noble council and preferential status, as long as the king does not make mistakes, there will always be a chance." ”

"Well," Claudia nodded, "I understand what to do, and I'll announce it to the public in a while that Greg's assassination has nothing to do with MI7." ”

"Well, but ......" Gianna frowned.

"It's just a lie, it doesn't matter," Claudia laughed to herself, "it's not the first time anyway, it's better for me to suffer a little inner torment or a moral stain than to be seriously hurt by the interests of the country, and MI7's approach is wrong, but it is necessary for this country." ”

Gianna's heart was moved, and she remembered that Claudia had lied for the first time she had violated the precepts, and after a moment of thought, Gianna said:

"You don't have to, I have a better way to solve this problem."

"Huh?"

"You can drag it out first, outsiders don't know the inside story of MI7, it's normal to investigate a case for a year or two in the first year of the year."

"But you can't keep putting it off......" Claudia hesitated.

"The case of Countess Presto is a breakthrough," Gianna explained, "not only did she participate in a series of plots to overthrow the kingdom, but she also most likely committed the crime of kidnapping or killing the king, which is an extraordinary grave crime." ”

"She is also an important figure in the noble council, and usually has close contacts with most members of the noble council, this kind of big case is enough to implicate many nobles and force the nobles to make major concessions, and then not only can MI7 matters be resolved, but you can also take the opportunity to pass several more just laws."

Claudia's heart ached when she heard the words of killing the king, but she nodded anyway, Gianna's proposal did make sense, but there was still a loophole in this proposal.

"What if we can't catch Countess Presto?"

"With such a big conspiracy, this countess can't stay faceless, two years is enough," Gianna reasoned, "and even if we can't catch this countess, we have a way out, and then we can punish MI7." ”

"But didn't you just say that MI7's supervision of the nobility is necessary?" Claudia was confused by Gianna.

Gianna nodded, "That's right, the punishment I'm talking about is not necessarily to take back the supervision of MI7, there are many ways to punish, as long as we choose the appropriate punishment method, you can set up another intelligence agency to monitor MI7 and the nobility, as long as this new intelligence agency obeys your orders." ”

"Actually, now there is a very serious problem with MI7 itself, using MI7 to monitor nobles and ministers, so who will monitor MI7? MI7 has too much power, what if Madias has other ideas? Even if he is more loyal, what if he is controlled by the devil one day? Sooner or later, you will have to set up a new intelligence agency and MI7 to supervise each other, so as to ensure the balance and stability of power. ”

"I see, thank you, Gianna."

Claudia nodded convincingly, worthy of Gianna, who has full marks of political ability, has considered her very comprehensively in all aspects, and designed a set of effective solutions for her to resolve this political crisis.

"Just ask me if there's anything I can help with, and we're not polite." Gianna smiled sincerely.

The two took a bath and went to bed soon after, and when they slept until midnight, Gianna woke up from her sleep, only to see Claudia use her as a pillow again after falling asleep, Gianna smiled and shook her head, she did not use magic to replace herself with the pillow, but changed to a more comfortable position for both parties, and fell asleep again.

On the same night, in another room in the Stormstorm Fortress living quarters.

Egwene was carefully reading the books Claudia had brought back from Karazan, and she had been busy with them for the past two or three days, almost day and night, and at last Egwene found the information she was looking for from the books, and her pupils shrank suddenly.

"The Battle of Chirazer, Holy Covenant, Silisus, Angela, Quicksand." Egwen muttered, "No, it's not just that, what that evil eyeball monster is, there is no information about it in the records, but from the revelation it's probably even more evil than the original Sargeras clone." ”

Early the next morning, Claudia was about to go to routinely teach Anduin to practice martial arts, but was stopped by An Bo, who was yawning and rubbing her eyes, "Your Majesty, Grandma Tabeza came twice last night, and she asked you to go see her as soon as you got up." ”

Egwene in a hurry?

"I'll go now," Claudia didn't dare to slack off, and remembered something before leaving, "Anbo, since I have something to do today, you will supervise Anduin's martial arts training for me this morning, and by the way, be his sparring partner, the two of you are not much different in age, I think you can be very competent for this job." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, I promise to complete the mission." The little girl obviously liked the work, she got up in spirit, and left in a hurry.

Half an hour later, Claudia walked into the forge hall with a book with a stern face, Azadas was studying the artifact Ushalus that Claudia brought back from Karazhan last time, he was very interested in this artifact cast by Sargeras himself, and he couldn't help but feel a little strange when he saw Claudia's expression.

"What's the matter, Friggia?" Azadas asked.

"I think we might be in big trouble, and my advisor warned me that there was movement beneath the ruins of the ancient insects in the southwest of the continent of Camlidor, and that a powerful evil was being revived...... Azadas, we all know what's under that ruin. ”

"Cthun?" Azadas frowned, wondering: "Could it be alarmist, that enchanted prison was built by me myself, it is very strong, and it is guarded by the Anubisan jailers, it is not so easy to break through, and how can mortals know what Cthun is doing?" ”

"My advisor is not a mortal, she was once a very powerful demigod, the guardian dragon is no match for her, and she even defeated the clone who suppressed Sargeras," Claudia argued, and then she opened a book, "And according to the historical records of this book, there has been a mistake in that enchanted prison, a thousand years ago, in the battle of quicksands, hundreds of thousands of Qira Worms rushed out of that fortress, when Anubisas appeared as an accomplice of the Wormmen, In the end, with the help and sacrifice of the dragon, the Worm Puller was imprisoned back in the fortress. ”

Azadas finally realized the gravity of the situation, and he said in a deep voice: "So, what do we do now?" ”

"I'll organize a team to investigate the ruins of Angela as soon as possible, and hopefully my advisor's warnings are wrong." Claudia was worried.