Anzeruta's autumn twilight scenery is beautiful, with forests between the mountains blending in a dappled rust red like a splash of colour on canvas, depicting the narrow misty valleys of the Anzeruta region and the basin plains scattered between the mountains and hills. But in the depths of winter, the scenery here changes again, the forest is stripped of its branches and leaves, and the bare woodland shows the steep cliffs and cliffs, snow-capped, steep and majestic, like a giant guarding the canyon basin; The delicacy and warmth of autumn are suddenly transformed into the fortitude and majesty of winter.

The changing seasons are the most fascinating natural attractions in the region, which are visited by adventurers from all over the world every year during the months away from the war. But at this moment, the lion army is approaching day by day, and the wind elves of St. Osor are also fighting the Imperial Legion in the four realms of the north, and this enchanting mountain field is rarely quiet.

Brando, wrapped in a thick fur coat, stamped his feet in the snow under the pine trees, and his eyes looked out over the plains, or basins, to the west of the foothills, scattered among the rolling hills, but the farther west, the lower and flatter the hills, gradually becoming an endless plain, and farther west the mountains rose again, forming the shadow of the mountains far away in the sky—the Broken Sword Mountains.

"Let them be locked up in their castles and reflect," replied Brando, looking at the valley beneath his feet. He replied to the question that Miss Oni had come to ask him what he should do with the Cruz nobles whom he had captured, and the Duke's daughter stood in the woods, at a distance, as if she had come a little closer, and that he might get into some trouble and implicate her. He didn't care about this, and continued: "Count Orcons and Count Guien don't seem willing to pay us a ransom. That's to prepare for continued revenge. ”

The Duke's daughter stood there with a reluctant face, she had thought it was just a normal legation, but it had become a rebel, and now it had become something akin to banditry—a ransom for the hostages of the nobles' wars, and it was up to the Earl to come up with this name.

But she couldn't say no, what could she do. Now she's long on the thief ship, tied to this bastard's hellish envoy, and even if she wants to deny that this qiē was made by Brando, well, it will have to wait until she meets Her Majesty the Queen of the Cruz or returns to Eruin; For now, she couldn't leave the team and run back to Eruin alone, or simply surrender to the Cruz nobles, though she really wanted to do that a few times, but after thinking about the consequences of doing so. I gritted my teeth and endured it.

"Lord Earl......" The Duke's daughter took a deep breath and finally asked, "I want to ask what you want to do, you have broken through a fortress of the Empire, and you have swept the face of the local nobles of Anzeruta, and defeated the knights of the Cruz, well, these are all settled, the former can be said to be a lesson to the arrogance of the Rogerian legion." As ambassadors representing Eruin, we do have the authority to do so. And the latter is because they took the initiative to attack us, and we just fought back, which is reasonable, but why are you doing this now, you are actually asking the Cruz people for ransom? ”

"Exactly, so what?" Brando asked rhetorically.

Oni almost fainted. The average Eruin nobleman almost couldn't be more respectful when facing the Cruz nobles, but this count was good, as if he slapped someone in the face with pain, as if he was afraid that the Cruz Empire would not be embarrassed enough. But the nobles of Eruin can be shameless, but the empire cannot. How many subjects the empire has, how many pairs of eyes are watching the every move of this behemoth, how can it let a small country of Eruin ride on its head, and it is not difficult for the rulers of the empire to realize this at least a little intelligence.

And this is what she has always wondered the most, what is the benefit of this Earl's doing this? To accumulate fame? Well, he is now famous enough, so famous that almost everyone from the south of Eruin to the kings of the Cruz knows about it, and in most of the empire, in the whole kingdom, all the nobles should discuss the glorious deeds of the Earl every day since the beginning of winter after reducing their outdoor activities.

However, this kind of reputation is not expected to be of much benefit, because as far as she knows, there are even people within the legation who bet on when the Earl will be unlucky.

Of course, whether Brando is unlucky or not has nothing to do with her, and she can't worry about it, but what makes the duke's daughter sad is that now they are in the same boat, and if the count capsizes, she will inevitably fall overboard.

Thinking of this, she looked at Brando angrily, and the latter's indifferent look almost made her gnash her teeth - did this idiot know what he was doing?

The more Oni thought about it, the more angry she became, thinking that a good envoy had been completely messed up by this young and vigorous megalomaniac, who had originally come to join the envoy with a tourist mentality, but she didn't expect it to turn into a war in the end. A furious woman is very terrible, this elegant and decent duke's daughter finally lost her mind at this moment, and decided to completely tear up Brando, she said loudly in a tone that she had never used in her life: "Lord Count, I know that you will be powerful in Eruin today or in the future, and that the insignificant daughter of me, Lord Duke, may seem insignificant to you, but I still want to warn you that there are many people in this legation, including your students, the future king of the kingdom, and your subordinates, There are many innocent people, and we don't want to perish with you because of your willfulness, can you understand me? ”

Brando looked back at the duke's daughter, and thought to himself that it was hard for this young lady to endure so long, and that fellows like Ephram had long been so frightened that they hid in their carriage and pursued an ostrich policy, which was amusing. Then he replied, "You are serious, Miss Ernie, I never wanted to harm anyone. ”

"I don't want to hear these high-sounding words, Lord Earl, I've had enough! You say that you are measured, then please tell me why you caught those nobles, and the young men of the Orkans and the Jeans. Instead of letting them go, they asked for ransom from other people in their family? The duke's daughter asked angrily.

Hearing this, Brando straightened his face: "Miss Oni, although I accept your opinion, I also want to tell you one thing, these people are now my captives. As for why they became my captives, it was because they came to provoke us, not because we went to their territory for no reason. They wanted to vent their anger for the defeat of the Black Sword Barrier, and logically speaking, the conflict of the Black Sword Barrier was to be blamed on the Empire and not on us, so since they planned to bully the weak from the beginning, they should have been mentally prepared early on. ”

He patted the snowflakes on the collar of his fur, in fact, with his strength, he didn't need such thick warm clothes, he just didn't want to look too special. Besides, people are lazy and hard-working, and if he could have been a little warmer, he didn't need to make himself like an ascetic. Then Brando continued: "As for what you said about me asking them to pay the hostage ransom, isn't it a matter of course, is it not true that the war between the nobles of the history of Eruin and the Cruz to redeem the hostages is so noble that they don't have to pay the bill?" ”

"You're using strong words," now that she had completely let go, the Duke's daughter no longer tried to use any euphemisms, she had read no more books than Bran. Therefore, he replied directly: "You and I both know it, Lord Count, that it is a Cruzian. And the disputes between the Cruz and the Cruz, between the Eruin and the Eruin, and between the Eruin and the Cruz, nominally, the subjects of the kingdom and the empire are all equal under the rule of the Temple of Fire, but in fact they are. This is nothing more than an empty phrase. Everyone knows that the empire can not give face to the kingdom, but the kingdom cannot not give face to the empire. What do we do? ”

"I don't believe you don't know these truths, Lord Earl, you don't have to pretend to be crazy and stupid, outsiders say that you are crazy, and give you the nickname of 'Crazy Earl', they call you '' Kick the door of the swordmaster', but the people in our envoys can see it clearly, you know better than anyone else, and your subordinates are also capable, even if you can't see this, I think they will remind you, but the wizard named Charles under your command, and the elven knight lady, they have a brilliant mind, but they let you do whatever you want, which shows that you have long known that what you have done has always had a clear purpose. ”

Oni replied in a cold tone, "But this purpose, except for you and your people, is to keep all of us in the dark, and you say that you are fighting for the honor of the kingdom, and you are taking all of us for fools." ”

Having said that, Brando understood that the duke's daughter had really come to have a showdown with him today.

He nodded and said, "Okay, you're right, I did this qiē for another purpose. ”

Oni looked at him coldly with a gaze that was indeed so, as if to say, "You'd better make this clear to me, or Miss Ben won't be with you—there is a third way to avoid losing cards besides a draw and a win, and that is to flip the table." ”

"But Miss Oni, you're still getting one thing wrong." Brando shook his head again.

Ernie looked at him suspiciously, as if wondering what the Earl was up to.

Brando glanced back in the direction of the valley before he spoke, "It doesn't matter to you how strong or weak Eruin is, but it is important to me, and you may think it is strange to say so, but I want to teach the Rogerians a lesson in the Black Sword Fortress, and it is for good reason. As for why I'm doing this after that, precisely so that the Empire can't take revenge on us," he paused, as if waiting for the duke's daughter to digest his words, before continuing: "Do you think that if we stop here, the nobles of the Empire will give up?" If we return the hostages, they'll let us leave Russeph as they should? ”

"Then all I can say is that you're thinking too much. Miss Oni, you are very smart, but your understanding of the Empire is often influenced by others, I told you a long time ago, in fact, the Empire is nothing more than that, but if we return these people in our hands today unscathed, wouldn't it be suing them, and they provoke us at no cost? Brando shook his head: "It's impossible, I have to make them understand that once they provoke me, they will feel pain in the flesh once." Until they can't afford to lose it. ”

When the duke's daughter heard this, she felt that the earl was simply stubborn, and she couldn't help but ask coldly: "Okay, maybe your lord has a point, but have you ever thought that things would get bigger and bigger, do you know who is behind the Orkans family and the Jean family?" It's the Grand Duke of Parut. The Parut family is arguably even the most powerful nobles in the empire at the moment, and if they come to the front of the stage to deal with you, Lord Count, will you still be able to make such a bold statement that will make them feel pain? ”

It is indeed possible that Brando, although confident, is not arrogant enough to claim to be able to challenge such a behemoth as the Parut family.

But things aren't going to get to that point.

He shook his head again, "Don't worry, Miss Ernie, things can't get to that point." ”

"Why do you say that?" The duke's daughter asked angrily, "With your so-called intuition?" ”

"You don't believe me?" Brando's eyebrows raised: "Then how about we make a bet?" ”

"What bet?" Oni gambled on the airway.

"You help me convince the Cruz nobles that I will do what I say. If they can't come up with the ransom, I will tie them up to Rusta, and bring them to the queen, and reason before her. Brando replied.

The Duke's daughter looked at him in surprise, "You still want to make things bigger, are you crazy?" ”

"I'm not crazy, didn't you say it, I understand." Brando looked back at the daughter of the Grand Duke of Vieiro and asked in a defiant tone, "How." Don't you dare to make this bet with me? ”

"Why don't you dare?" Oni gritted her teeth and replied angrily, "But you're only halfway there, and if I do, what about you?" ”

Brando replied: If you do this, I assure you that this matter will come after me. It will not affect you, the entire legation or the kingdom, but this mission will be a great success, and you will get the reputation you want. Let your father at least not marry you to some unknown country nobleman so early, and maybe some well-known scholar and master will take a fancy to your talent and take you as an apprentice, and you will be able to fulfill your wish. ”

This sentence obviously startled the Duke's daughter, and she couldn't help but look at Brando in shock: "You, how do you know, did you use some evil spell on me?" ”

"No," Brando smirked, "I bought your maid." ”

"Shameless!" The duke's daughter finally couldn't help but say a foul word.

Brando smiled secretly, he had the leisure to buy the maid, but he only occasionally learned about some of the deeds of this eldest lady, in the previous life, the other party was just a mediocre NPC, his understanding of this young lady, in fact, only stopped there, just casually used, I didn't expect to really bluff the other party. He smiled and continued: "How, now this is good for you and me, you turn back now, whether you go to Cruz or return to Eruin, you will not escape the blame, the crime of offending the Empire and the Temple of Fire will eventually fall on your head, but if I have any credit in the future, you can't get a share because of today's hesitation." ”

Oni glanced at him and replied through gritted teeth, "It's really a misfortune for the kingdom that a person like you can do anything, but since I promised to make a bet with you, I will naturally do it." ”

She paused for a moment, and suddenly became a little suspicious: "You are talking to me about this, naturally not because of conscience, but then again, it seems that you have better people around you to complete this matter, why do you want me to do it?" The wizard named Charles, and the elven lady, aren't they the better ones who are loyal to you? ”

Brando couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, and said to himself that he looked so untrustworthy that he even had to doubt this.

He thought for a moment before replying, "It is precisely because the Charles are loyal to me that they are even more unfit to do this." ”

"Why?" The duke's daughter was a little puzzled: "What do you want me to do?" ”

"I forgot to explain to you, I let you convince the Cruz nobles, and at the same time, you have to let one or two of them go, and at least convince them that you and I are not in the same league - yes, as you think now, you only need to explain to them that I am alone in my madness, and that the rest of the envoys are being held hostage by me, so just tell them what they say, and then let them go, and let them go to tell the news." Brando looked at Ernie who was looking at him dumbfounded, and couldn't help but shake his head: "Don't look at me like that, I know this is what you think now." ”

"You are self-aware," replied the Duke's daughter through gritted teeth, "but I don't understand what you are doing this for, isn't your purpose to stop the Cruz people from coming to us for trouble, but you seem to be afraid that your trouble is not big enough?" ”

Brando held up a finger and shook it at her.

"Because to fight a snake is to be killed, it's as simple as that."

…… (To be continued......)