"Cleuts?" Rudolph spat out a swear word contemptuously, "He's a complete idiot." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"Hehe, even if Krautz is a fool, he is also my fool, when it comes to ability and vision, he is far inferior to you, but when it comes to loyalty to me, to faith, to the empire, Rudolph, you are far inferior to him."

Rudolph shrugged and said he had nothing to say.

The archbishop pointed to the chair opposite, "Let the child sit down, I stood too much in the church when I was young, and when I was old, I was sick, and my back hurt when it was cloudy and rainy." ”

"Thank you, Your Excellency, for the seat." Roland bowed, and then carefully put half of his butt on the seat, his waist straight, his eyes and nose and nose and heart, pursed his lips, and pretended to be restrained.

The waiter brought the refreshments and withdrew, and the archbishop opened the conversation: "Rudolph, I heard that the magic crystal futures in the New World have been booming recently, and I have a powerful friend on the Wilnoa Stock Exchange, are you interested in participating in a share?" ”

Rudolph shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands: "I don't even know where to raise next month's military salary, and how can I have the capital to do speculative business." ”

"Hehe, you guy, crying poor with me again." Philip lit his pipe, pointed at Rudolph, and smiled ambiguously: "If the Marquis of the South had partnered with you to do business, I guess you wouldn't have refused." ”

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Rudolph's face, and it was difficult for him to take the initiative in a conversation with Philip.

Roland listened to the conversation between the two on the side, and couldn't help but move slightly, thinking of the recent fluctuations in the curve of the Magic Crystal Futures on the financial section of the newspaper.

The Magic Crystal is a mineral resource unique to the world of Vares, which can be processed into enchanted crystals that can be embedded in weapons and armor to improve performance. In addition, some varieties of magic crystals naturally contain abundant energy, which can power crossbow arrows, guns and even cannons to fire powerful ammunition and cause great damage, and is one of the most important strategic resources for governments, and its value can be imagined.

The Atlas continent's magic crystal resources are not as abundant as the New World, the market has been in short supply for a long time, and the price has been rising all the way in recent years, forcing the imperial government to introduce various regulatory policies to restrict the free circulation of magic crystals.

As a heretical penal colony, the Far East has never been part of the Empire's core interests, and rebellions have occurred from time to time, so the Imperial government has banned the sale of magic crystals to this region.

In recent years, the Magic Crystal market in the Far East has been heavily supplied by the Parnia mining area, and in recent years, the Parnia and the Naro Order have been in conflict over the mining area, resulting in the intermittent supply chain of the Magic Crystal and the price of the Magic Crystal has fluctuated.

The second channel is imported from the New World, but the unpredictable sea and pirates are rampant, and it is difficult to ensure a stable supply of this channel, and the transportation cost is also high.

Capital will never be willing to be subject to the law when it is profitable, and even though the Imperial Government has expressly prohibited it, the smuggling of parallel goods from the inland to the Far East has been repeatedly prohibited, and in recent years it has become the most stable supply channel in the market, and many border guards and bureaucrats of Fort Atonement have made a fortune from this business, and His Excellency the Archbishop is certainly not exempt from vulgarity.

In fact, the largest smuggling channel for magic crystals in the Far East is in the hands of Archbishop Philippe and the commander of the border guards, Klautz, both of whom are behind the scenes, but their postures are completely different. Roland remembers his father telling him in private, "He prefers to deal with a real villain like Philip than the hypocritical Clause." ”

Philip took a puff on his pipe, and instead of continuing his business, he praised Rudolph for his command of the battle against the Orcs and his contribution to the defense of the Keep.

Rudolph humbly said that this was mainly due to the good leadership of the archbishop, who inspired the people to unite against foreign enemies, and then talked about the brutal expansion of the orc tribes, "In order to ensure the long-term peace and stability of the Far East, I hope that His Excellency the archbishop will authorize me to expand the militia and give the regular army of the empire." ”

Archbishop Philip interrupted him with a shaking pipe, and said lightly: "Give you the establishment of a division, and you can find a way to solve it yourself." ”

Roland, who was listening attentively, secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the archbishop's statement, he didn't expect the archbishop to pay the military salary, what he wanted was this name, with this name, he could justifiably expand the armament war.

"Thank you, I will do my best, if nothing else, I will fight back against the orc tribe by this autumn at the latest, and strive to sweep away that group of barbaric bandits before the arrival of the New Year." In order to win the support of the archbishop, Rudolph was ruthless, patting his chest and making a military order.

Roland silently calculated the training of the Kolas army, nodded secretly to his father's promise, and launched an offensive in the autumn to end the war within three months, this plan is still relatively safe.

However, it backfired, and the archbishop's face turned cold.

"Autumn? What are you kidding! Rudolph, I can't bear to let those cursed greenskins continue to wander in the Far Eastern Province for half a year! Not autumn, not summer, but now! You'll have to act now and launch an all-out counterattack against the orcs before the end of the month! ”

"Your Excellency, we're not ready—"

"No, no, no, my dear Rudolph, it was you who were not ready, not me!" The archbishop shook his finger, and a chilling light shot out of his slightly narrowed eyes, "At the end of July at the latest, I must return to the holy city of Yashan to report on my work and celebrate the birthday of His Majesty the Emperor, what kind of achievements do you think I have to show to satisfy His Majesty, huh?" My dear Rudolph? For the sake of my lord Pero, I can endorse your ambitions, and accordingly, you and your army must also undertake the task of annihilating the orc bandits in the Far Eastern provinces, and you must show by practical actions that you are truly maintaining peace in the Far East, and proving that you are an indispensable guarantee for the people of the Far East to live and work in peace and contentment, so that I can have the confidence to persuade the Imperial High Command to regularize your militia, and you must do all this, Rudolph, before I return to Beijing to report on my duties. ”

Rudolph gritted his teeth, knowing full well that the archbishop was using himself as a stepping stone to knighthood.

Although he thought it was too early to launch a counterattack against the orcs, and his troops were not fully prepared for the battle, he had no choice but to rise to the challenge and make a breakthrough.

Taking a deep breath, he finally raised his head and met the archbishop's eagle-like eyes: "Frankly, your conditions are a bit harsh, but I will try to overcome the difficulties and try to bring you the news of victory before the end of July." ”

The archbishop smiled: "This is good, dear Rudolph, I know that you will not let me down, yes, we can manage to overcome the difficulties, as long as our faith is strong enough, we will be invincible, what is the only orc, all glory to my lord Pero!" He bowed his head and kissed the emblem, his face solemn and holy.

Roland followed his father out of the Grand Temple, and neither father nor son spoke along the way.

Roland thought that his father couldn't hold back his anger after all, and he had to curse a few words about the old bastard who was difficult for the strongman, but he found that he still underestimated his father's city.

"Roland, what do you think are the chances of winning if we launch a counterattack against the orcs now?" Rudolph turned on his horse and suddenly turned his head sideways to ask his son.

Roland had deduced this question in his heart when he was in the Temple of Light, and said without thinking: "The archbishop is not wrong, victory must belong to us, but there is one thing he did not say, the price of victory will be very heavy, and in the worst case, our casualties will be more than fifty percent." ”

Rudolph sighed and laughed self-deprecatingly: "If you give me another half a year and all aspects are in place, I believe that the casualties will not exceed two percent." ”

Roland also stepped on his horse, shook the reins, and said in a deep voice: "The archbishop is a very powerful person, I am worried that he has already calculated the casualty data, and returning to Beijing to report on his work is just a pretext." ”

"Yes, this old fox is too cunning, he is forcing me to lose both the orcs." Rudolph sneered, "The matter has come to this, we can only gamble, any accident on the battlefield can happen, maybe there is a turnaround." ”

"Not perhaps, but there will be changes that we didn't anticipate in advance." Roland rode his horse to catch up with his father, and said with a determined expression: "There is an old saying that if you lose your horse, you will not know if you are blessed, and besides, are we not believers in the goddess of fate?" Compared to the followers of Perot or other gods, we have reason to believe that our luck will be a little better. ”

Rudolph laughed when he heard this: "That's right, let's go to the Temple of Destiny to pay homage, and pray that our lord Sindra will bless our father and son in triumph!" ”

"Does this count as cramming?" Roland curled the corners of his lips in self-deprecation, urging the horse to follow his father and gallop out of the city.