In Vajnd, the Sabbath day is used as the dividing line of each year, marking the end of the year, after which both commoners and nobles gradually reduce their outings, whether for work or private; As if the hustle and bustle of the whole year had fallen silent during the month, people began to hold various celebrations and feasts, from the northernmost city of Ten Arms to the Silman and Fir Castle districts on the southern border of Eruin, and every household began to prepare and pray for the coming year, praying that the gods would bless the new year with peace and prosperity.

But it was as if since a trivial clash at the end of the year of the Sword on the border between the Eruin Kingdom and the Cruz Empire, a farce had officially played out from the south to the north of the southern border of Cruz, breaking the peace that it had been supposed to be; From the beginning of the Frostfall Moon, people seem to have become accustomed to the news coming from the south one after another, starting with the Eruin people storming the fortresses of the Empire, and a count from Eruin trying to challenge the majesty of the Empire. However, in the subsequent rumors, the Count was again the one who took the right place, and what he did in the Black Sword Barrier was only to show favor to some arrogant nobles - in these years, the pride of the Cruz people had not yet been reduced to the point of having to show superiority over a small nation, on the contrary, the magnanimity of a great power had made the citizens of the empire more moral justification and legitimacy - and they were therefore more emotionally willing to side with Brando, to fight with those who were arrogant, stubborn, and rigid. The image of the nobles of the Empire, who was usually high above, was hated by the same enemy, so every time Brando won a victory, it was applauded by the commoners of the Empire, and even among the lower nobles.

Then you should teach the nobles a lesson and let them understand. ’

This is the common view of almost all the lower classes of the empire, which is not to say that the upper echelons of the empire have lost their hearts and minds, and the pyramid structure is about to crumble. As soon as Brando raised his arms, the empire would fall apart. The above mentality is mostly a mentality of not caring about oneself and gloating, and this kind of counterattack is always a favorite drama for the common people. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that a small number of conspirators are ready to make a move because of this, and even plan a few small rebellions. But these unlucky people who misjudged the shape shì were seized by the Silver Queen because of this, and organized several actions to eliminate dissidents, and in this respect, the supreme man of the empire really owes Brando.

As a result, the southern part of the empire was unprecedentedly lively, and the center of the empire became unprecedentedly stable.

In any case, willingly or unwillingly, Brando and his envoys continued to advance northward, and rumors of the Earl continued to converge from all directions to the heart of the Empire.

The last day of the Winter Qin Moon. At the Feast of Sleeper in St. Osor, what is known in other regions as the Day of the Celebration of Recovery, Brando's defeat of the private army of the nobles of the Empire who stood in front of him, the Knights of the Summer Solstice, a well-known order of knights composed of the children of the local gentry, and the Anzeruta Local Defense Legion led by the Counts of Jean and Orcons, the size of the Legation has expanded from a medium size of 100 people to a large convoy of hundreds of people, in addition to the carriage of the Legation itself, there are more than a dozen large caravans towed behind the team, Inside were all imperial nobles who had been taken into custody, both old and young. And most of them have historical names, and this 'hostage' convoy started out with only one or two wagons. However, after each battle, one or two vehicles were often added, and the scale of the current long queue was finally formed.

Brando did not embarrass these imperial nobles, at least keeping them at least a minimum of decency, and even allowed them to keep their attendants and personal retinues, of course, the scope of these retinues was limited to running errands. It was just a matter of preparing food and drink for their masters, and solving the problems of cold and life, so that Brando did not even have to worry about the food rations of these captives, and they had to solve it themselves. Of course, it is not excluded that there are some hardliners among them. Whoever wanted to cause him trouble, holding the man who would rather starve to death than consume the rations of the Brando's envoys, he dealt with it very simply, providing the basic rations to these usually well-pampered fellows, and as a result, the fellows did not eat two meals of hard bread, and then went to contact his attendants with tears in their eyes.

Brando didn't care that these people would escape, there were magic alerts provided by wizards 24 hours a day near the convoy, and gargoyles patrolling the air, how far could ordinary people run in this snow-covered barren mountain and forest? At first, there were so many people who tried to escape, Brando didn't even stop them, but after a few days, the unlucky ones returned to the convoy by themselves as if they were savages, and consciously volunteered to continue to be prisoners.

The climax of the second escape came when the envoys passed through the relatively prosperous area near Russef, and the successful 'escape' of several nobles was like a shot in the arm for the hundreds of captives in the entire convoy, and then they began a large-scale escape operation, which began every evening, and the people who escaped from the convoy were endless, but they were almost invariably captured. Later, the unrelenting imperial nobles began to contact the men outside the convoy through their own retinue, and launched one operation after another to rescue the hostages.

As for the whole process in the meantime, it is full of aristocratic wisdom and whimsy, for example, whether a passing circus invites Brando, the count, to visit, or a troubled nobleman's daughter asks for help from him, a foreigner, or something, it is full of the romanticism of the knights, and some even make Brando cry and laugh, as for the result, after Brando taught several noble knights who pretended to be robbers, merchants, prostitutes, mercenaries, noble family members, and even circus members, The caravan convoy behind the legation was unsurprisingly added to the ranks.

After a month of back and forth, the nobles of the Empire finally realized that their futile escape plan did not work in Brando's eyes, and although the Count looked like he was only twenty years old, he was shrewd like the leader of an old mercenary group who had walked the continent all his life, and the disguises and ghostly tricks used by adventurers, mercenaries and nightingales were not the same as none other than in front of him, of course. Brando was snickering at the same time teaching these whimsical fellows how they were playing with him - these were all things he had played badly in his previous life, and the adventurers of the player were playing in the next half of the world much more wonderful than these naïve nobles, and there were some things they had never even thought of.

There is a famous example in the Second Age, where a player ambushes the Mountain King Charliefinger. Less than five miles away from Alice Anna, he used illusion to shape an identical rocky mountain fortress, and then used barrier spells to shield the entire Alice Anna from the map, no one expected that someone would play such a big trick under the noses of countless people, even a famous NPC like the Mountain King Charliefinger. If it weren't for a mistake in the player's guild at the time, I'm afraid that the great cause of killing Charlefinger would have really been completed by them. It can be seen that the tricks of these nobles are really boring and boring in Brando's opinion.

He, Sophie, had been the leader of the regiment for almost thirty years in the game intermittently in the previous life. This isn't a particularly outstanding experience among gamers, but it's very good among NPCs, and even veteran mercenaries like Fern and Juta may not be able to do it.

Not to mention that there was an even older old regimental leader by his side, Nimesis, and although the female knight was not happy to admit her identity, this did not prevent her from using her experience.

The two men often spent the night in the carriage studying the tricks of these nobles, and the result was, of course, some unlucky ones being eaten to death.

Leaving Russeph, the envoys began to gradually leave the borders of Anzeruta. At this time, some of the small noble families in the long convoy finally couldn't bear it, and they began to ask for ransom one after another. Brando was not particularly embarrassed by these people, and after receiving the money, he generously released them, which made him famous among some minor nobles, and the rumors about the Kicking Sword Saint and the Mad Count were not as bad as they had been at the beginning. Of course, this was only one aspect, and on the other hand, the nobles whom Miss Oni had let go of at his behest finally came into play. Under their propaganda, Brando's identity has successfully become a stranger with different rules and undesirable from a foreign country, and has evolved into the image of a great demon king.

In fact, they are understandable to promote this, after all, if they don't describe Brando as sinister and cunning, and how good at playing with people's hearts. Doesn't it seem that the guys he captured are very incompetent? After all, losing to a strong opponent may show that you are weak and incompetent, losing to a wise opponent may show that you are a complete fool, losing to an old opponent may point out your naivety and naivety, but if your opponent is despicable and shameless, then at least you can win the sympathy of the audience, after all, kindness is innocent, isn't it?

In their description, the treatment and dignity that Brando gave to the nobles disappeared, and the nobles who were captured by Brando lived a life that was worse than hell, and they were poorly clothed and hungry—although one might wonder what a dignified Count of Eruin was doing by robbing them of their clothes and rations, but such a description was in line with the speculation of the Imperial people about the effect of the Barbarians, So the statements of these nobles succeeded in arousing the indignation of almost all the nobles of the empire throughout Anzeruta.

Of course, this indignation had in fact been present from the beginning, but it had not occurred to the Count of Guine and Count Orcons for a moment how to gain a moral and axiomatic foothold so that they might have a reason to continue to attack the Eruin legations, and now they had finally found a reason to go to war under the guidance of the Duchess and Mademoiselle de Viero, but how ridiculous and implausible it sounded, it should have been enough to convince Her Majesty.

So in full view of the entire empire, the two counts began their operation to save face.

As described at the beginning, this farce that started on the borders of the empire and went all the way to the hinterland of the empire is once again in the second season, and it is still difficult to say whether there will be a third and fourth seasons.

At this time of the year, the Eruin envoys finally crossed the last barrier of the mountains of Anzeruta, where they now found themselves in what was called the Floating Cloud Hills on the map of the Empire, and which was quite famous for the Empire - in the War of the Sages, it was the beginning of the Great Plains, and from here to the east, the endless wilderness, the southwestern end of the wilderness. And in this place to the north. Tong Guò is a long and narrow corridor called the Evergreen Walkway, which is connected to the famous flower collar of the north; To the east, close to the Broken Sword Mountains, is the Rokotzi Highlands, which is the closest to the Great Plains of Toquinine, where there are countless fortresses and ramparts at the junction of the mountains. Blocking the attack from the lionmen.

In other words, this place is probably the closest thing to war for the Empire at this moment, except for the Fields of the Four Realms and the eastern foothills of the Broken Sword Mountain Range, since July, this place has been put on alert, and to this day, there is no other place to see the atmosphere of festivals here, and there are few pedestrians on the roads between towns and towns, between merchant stations. Instead, patrols began to appear more frequent.

This place is currently a large military station of two battlefields, and it is also one of the weakest links of the empire, if on weekdays, Brando is really worried that the two counts of Anzeruta will find a way to persuade some big imperialists in the north and south legions to surround and intercept him, but now, the soldiers of the empire are fighting bloodily, and it is obviously unlikely that they will participate in the small game between these nobles.

At this time, Brando finally connected with Guò Lenaret's influence in the empire, and some of them favored his imperial nobles - although the nobles he first came into contact with were not hardcore supporters of the emperor's eldest son - after all, the military aristocracy's sphere of influence was mostly in the north. The south, the traditional sphere of influence of the local aristocracy and the Temple. And these nobles that Brando came into contact with. It happens to be some local forces that are emotionally biased towards the eldest son of the emperor, and they have a common characteristic, that is, their positions are wavering, and in terms of strength, they are far from enough to influence the situation of the empire, to be precise, they are playing soy sauce.

But these soy sauces are very important to Brando at the moment. Through them, Brando finally learned some of the internal situation in the empire at this time - especially the key thing is what happened after Veronica and Mangrove returned to the empire, after the changes in the whole history, although Brando still has a forward-looking judgment of the customs of the empire and the habits of the nobles in handling affairs in this era, but he is rare to see the specific direction of the empire after the big bang and before the holy war. In fact, this was the first time he had encountered such a situation since he returned to this era.

After coming into contact with these small families, he finally understood what happened after that, and sure enough, as Veronica expected, she was stripped of her military power as soon as she returned to the Empire, but the Silver Queen did not blame the Ereshicor family for this, but let Veronica's brother succeed him as the head of the legion, and at the same time take over the position of the head of the Erechko family. She did this in the hope of appeasing the military forces and not offending the people she was going to use too much, but Brando knew that there was a deeper reason for this, because he knew very well that Lady Veronica was actually just a scapegoat in the whole incident, and in the eyes of those who did not know the truth, this incident was punished because Veronica accidentally caused the royal family to suffer, but in fact this was just a cover-up, and Her Majesty knew her role in it, and she appeased the Erechico family like this, It is inevitable that there will be some suspicions of being thieves.

However, what made Brando a little puzzled was that Veronica was not released back into her territory, but was placed under house arrest in the imperial capital, which made him a little incomprehensible. No matter how he thought about it, he didn't think it was necessary, the silver queen wouldn't be unaware of Veronica's abilities, and she didn't seem to need to offend the other party to death.

However, when Brando heard the news, he didn't think much of it until Nimesis reminded him that there might be a conspiracy here, and he realized that something was wrong.

After learning the truth of the whole matter, Nimesis gave him the exact words: "His Majesty the Emperor of the Cruz people will make a big move." ”

"What's going on?" Brando knew that his experience in politics was only much better than that he didn't need to be a righteous knight in the legation, so he didn't feel anything wrong at all, and asked directly.

Nimesis glanced at him, with a rare look of hatred in her eyes, which was very similar to the gaze of the senior sister when she looked at him: "Do you think about what kind of person Veronica is, and his brother can become a great weapon?" Since you and I both know this, how could the Silver Queen not know that she did this is tantamount to saying that the Blue Legion is hanging in the air, what are the forces in the central region of the empire? Without the Green Army, the balance of power will be easily broken, a mature politician will not make such a risky move, but if she does so, it shows that she has an intention, eradicating the logic that risks are proportional to benefits, and her actions will not be small. ”

The female knight paused for a moment before replying lightly, "It's just that we have too little information to deduce what she wants to do." ”

Brando's heart jumped slightly when he heard this, he looked at this knight lady who was usually silent, and only occasionally said a few more words when discussing tactics against the nobles with him during this time, and for a moment the familiar feeling seemed to return to the other party, when she said those words before, it was very similar to the scene when the senior sister gave them the task of analysis. It's just that at that time, Senior Sister Bai Jia was much gentler.

He pursed his lips, and thought seriously about Nimesis's words, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was possible.

But whether the actions of the Most High were good or bad for them, as Nimesis had said, for there was too much information to be deduced for a while.

"This matter is really getting more and more complicated," Brando couldn't help but say to himself, "But Your Majesty's actions must not have anything to do with what we are going to do next, what we have to do at the moment is still to deal with a certain two earls, only by doing this well can we take the initiative in the next trip to the Empire." ”

The female knight was noncommittal, but Medisha, who was on the side, replied, "My lord, I think it's good to focus on one thing, but we'd better inquire about it." ”

Brando nodded this time, in fact, he already had a suitable candidate in mind.

Speaking of which, the other party is the only person he knows in the empire.

Coincidentally, they are still very close in terms of geographical distance at the moment.

…… (To be continued......)