Ten years ago, the imperial capital of Austin, Austin Palace.

In the Great Hall, Austin VII sat alone at a darkened and deserted table.

Every morning the officials in the imperial capital had to hold a regular meeting in this place, and every month there were also "regular meetings" attended by lords and generals of the city guards stationed all over the country, and the entire hall was always noisy, and every time the regular meeting ended, this empty hall would return to peace.

The empty hall at this time is in stark contrast to the bustle of the morning.

Austin VII liked the silence so much that he would often sit alone in the hall, grab a jug of wine, and squint alone in the afternoon.

On this day, when Austin VII, as usual, sat alone in the empty hall and raised his glass alone......

"Huh? It's rare, since your baby daughter was born, you rarely come over to have a drink with my brother. Austin VII didn't either, still looking at the wine glass in his hand and teasing.

Rare came out of the darkness and didn't deliberately hide his aura, so of course Austin VII could detect his arrival.

"I can understand that, brother, are you jealous? Eat your niece's vinegar? Riel pulled out a chair and sat down next to Austin VII, chuckling.

Austin VII raised his hand and poured a glass of wine for the glass in front of Rare, and said with a sigh.

"Back then, the second and fourth children were all there, and it was still this table, and we often did this together, and we got together for a drink after the regular meeting......"

"Later, fewer and fewer people attended this 'cocktail after the regular meeting', and now it's just you and me...... Austin VII lamented.

Riel only sighed when he heard the other man's words, but quickly opened his mouth to dispel the melancholy atmosphere in the air.

"Okay, I'm here to get to you." Rare is colorful.

"Business? It's rare, aren't you busy taking care of your daughter at home all day? It won't be that you want to quit your job and go home to be a new dad, right? No matter how busy you are, you can't pick on it! Who can I give you so many jobs to when you quit your job......" Austin VII joked.

"Don't make a fuss, it's really serious, and it's a very important thing."

"It's about the survival of Austin." Riel said with a serious face.

Although Rare's voice was not loud, Austin VII could still feel the solemnity of the other party in his tone.

"What's wrong?" Austin VII lowered the glass in his hand and put away a joking smile.

"Look at this." Riel said, pulling out a document from the spatial ring and handing it over.

Austin VII took the document, and what caught his eye was a "dragon" badge on the paper.

A dragon-shaped badge identical to the Austin Imperial flag.

That was the hallmark of the highest classified document of the Austin Imperial Intelligence Service.

The supreme authority of the intelligence department of the Austin Empire has always been Riel, and it is estimated that only Austin VII, who absolutely trusts him, dares to hand over such an important department to others.

Riel has a dual identity.

On the surface, he is the Minister of War of the Austin Empire, who controls all the city guards, which means that 90% of the military power of the Austin Empire is in the hands of Riel. Behind the scenes, he also holds the supreme power of the intelligence service.

No matter how important a country's military power and intelligence department are, military power is equivalent to people's hands and feet, and intelligence departments are equivalent to eyes and ears.

In other words, once Riel, who has these two powers, wants to seek power and usurp the throne, it will be nine out of ten! Because Austin VII, who lost the support of Riel, will lose his "hands and feet" and "eyes and ears" in an instant!

However, this Austin VII seems to have absolute trust in Prince Riel, or maybe he has a big heart, and a lot of information is handled by Riel unless it is very important information, or it is not even delivered to him.

Austin VII was happy to be idle......

Only very important documents would be taken out to him so solemnly, and the sentence "about the survival of Austin" that Riel said before made Austin VII have to pay attention to the document in his hand.

"Ryan Imperial Army Defense Mobilization Information?" Austin VII read the title on the first page of information in confusion.

"That's right, I often go to some Warcraft forests to experience and run all over the continent, you know. The last time I passed through the border cities of the Lane Empire, I sensed that the deployment of their army had changed, and the number of garrisons had increased considerably. Riel said.

"But that doesn't mean anything, the deployment of troops is very normal, and the increase in the number of garrison troops is also normal, just like our Austin Empire also expands its army every year, and when some bandit groups are frequently active, or when riots start in the gathering places of demonic beasts, don't they send reinforcements to border cities?" Austin VII said.

"You're the Minister of War, and you should know more about these issues than I do." Austin VII said.

"Hmm...... In short, I feel that something is wrong, and you can interpret it as my intuition. In the end, Riel came up with an explanation that wasn't at all an explanation.

"Well, I'm not a Saint Rank master, maybe your intuition is right?" Austin VII said.

"At first I just felt that something was wrong, and then I asked the intelligence services to step up their infiltration over there. However, after all, it is the territory of the Lane Empire, and our intelligence department does not dare to be too aggressive, so the progress of the work has been very slow, and it took almost a week to sort out this report. Riel pointed to the intelligence report in Austin VII's possession.

"This investigation scared me! In recent years, the Ryan Empire has not only increased its forces to the border department! At the same time, they are also hoarding food, and in the name of various nobles, they secretly recruit blacksmiths all over the country to make hoarding weapons! ”

"There are also various war devices such as teleportation magic arrays and machine crossbows on the city walls that are being tested all over the country in the name of 'exercises'!"

"And some of the teleportation magic arrays and ballistas on the city walls in our Austin Empire haven't been used for several years!"

In Austin VII flipping through the Chinese hand, Riel recounted.

"This hoarding of food and weapons, the building of armies, the testing of war equipment, and all this is done secretly! If I hadn't deliberately made the intelligence services explicit efforts to infiltrate there, I wouldn't have been able to do this! ”

"I believe that no country on the continent can discover the intentions of the Lane Empire earlier than us!" Riel said solemnly.

"You mean, the Lane Empire is ready to go to war?" Austin VII looked at Riel with a puzzled look.

"However, the Ryan Empire is so prepared, who is it going to fight? Although our five empires have high and low strength, we don't know who will really fight to the death, and it is impossible for the Lane Empire to want to fight with us. ”

"If there are small countries around, which country needs the Lane Empire to be so fiercely prepared?"

"Or maybe, this is purely a drill of the Lane Empire, purely because you are overthinking." Austin VII said.