To the west of Rusta, you can already see a corner of the open Hazel Plain, where the dark sky merges with the horizon and the stars seem to have no end in the night.

Brando's party rested in a grove of trees, near which there was a farmstead, the lights of which came through the shadows, and the southern edge of the woods sat on a small open plateau, from which the shining edge of Lake Stroy was clearly visible, more than ten miles to the southwest.

It's been half an hour out of the city.

The people who had gone out to search quickly came back dejected.

"Didn't you find any witches?"

"Nope."

"Didn't you find Babasha?"

"Nope."

"Charles, are they back?"

"Not either."

Brando asked one by one, but all he got was disappointed, and as usual he said that if the witch had succeeded, he should have waited for them here.

And even if the other party lied, then Babasha and the others should be there now.

But in fact, the news was that both groups of people were silent.

Even the Charles, Hipamela, and ≡ had no news of them, as if they had disappeared into the city, and the existence of the Nightmare had messed up the psychic network near Rusta, who had lost even the last means of communication with his men.

The situation was worse than expected, and although he knew that the plan he had made could lead to all kinds of surprises, such a development was still unexpected for him.

Fortunately, in the end, the group found Kou Hua, who had stayed outside the city beforehand, and when they bumped into the latter, the black-haired girl was sitting barefoot on a huge white wolf, reflecting the bright moonlight, like an elf in the forest.

"Looks like you're in trouble." As always, Kohua expressed pleasure in Brando's bad mood, and she used to like to find happiness in the pain of mortals. But now it's a lot less fun, or rather picky eaters, and it's changed to just tasting Brando's pain alone.

But it doesn't look bad.

"Do you have any news of Babasha?" Brando stared at the she-wolf with a frown.

"They left you a message for me to convey to you, otherwise how would you find me?"

"Your sister is in my hands."

Kou Hua's good mood was suddenly lost, and he gritted his teeth and whined. As if roaring in a low voice.

"Tell me, what did they say?"

"Your woman is still in the Silver Queen's hands, but the witch didn't lie to you, she was just transferred beforehand."

"Our news leaked?"

"I'm not the only one around you who has bad intentions." Kou Hua sneered: "Some people wish you were unlucky, of course, this must also count me." ”

"You mean Delphien?" Brando's face sank slightly: "Impossible, she doesn't have a chance, Medissa is watching her." ”

"She didn't betray you, but she just needs to do nothing."

"What do you mean?"

"Dreaming."

Brando reacted, and the strength was at their level. You can control your dreams lightly, so the spells of witches manipulating dreams are meaningless for people with strong willpower, who only need to let themselves enter the dream realm.

With Delphien's ingenuity, she would not have thought of this, but she never brought it up, which means that the witches had already invaded the Cat and Beard Inn more than once when she was asleep.

He and Métissa thought of arranging for Old Kent to stay outside the inn, but they forgot about it.

He was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "Babasha, that's all they said?" ”

"They're chasing your woman."

"How long?"

"I don't know," Kou Hua looked at him playfully, "Hey." What are you going to do? ”

Brando glanced at her coldly, not in the slightest to answer her question.

He returned to the crowd, the Cruz nobles had been very interested in Kohua, but since someone had almost been bitten off by the black wolf at the latter's command, they had turned away from the witch, and even had a little more awe of Brando, who could command her.

"What are you going to do?"

Prime Minister Nedwin listened to Brando's statement. Asked the exact same question.

Brando was almost stunned for a moment before realizing that Delphien was the granddaughter of the big man, but the former was calm and low-key, and there was wisdom in everything he said and did, while the latter was obviously too far off. Although he is just as smart, he is too sharp to be feared.

Even sometimes it's just an out-and-out female madman, a time bomb.

Such a person is not only him, I am afraid that Her Majesty the Queen will not like it too much, and the Supreme One will definitely not tolerate such an unruly guy within the scope of his power.

At this point, Delphien was clearly far less far-sighted than her grandfather, and politics was the art of compromise, not the clever wrestler.

I have to say that this young lady once again created a rather bad mood for him, and it was probably because of this that the aging prime minister of the empire would take the initiative to inquire.

Because in the previous conversation, although the prime minister did not show any malicious intent, he also revealed a respectful attitude towards him, obviously just like the general understanding of a high-ranking member of the empire, no matter what, the internal strife in the empire is also the affairs of the empire itself, and outsiders cannot be allowed to interfere.

Not to mention a person like Prime Minister Nedwin who is humble on the surface, but in fact arrogant on the inside.

But in any case, it was Brando who helped their old guys, not to mention that the latter can be said to have indirectly saved his granddaughter's life, and the political family of this era has not evolved to the point where Cheng Dù can repay the debt in person, and he stood up, not only to repay Brando's favor, but also to make up for the fault caused by his granddaughter.

Brando thought for a moment.

"I have to rescue Akane, and if they don't catch up, then I'll have to go into the city again."

"That's not good," Veronica interrupted him before the others could speak, "You underestimate Her Majesty, little one." Do you think your arrangement at Hanlu Manor caught her off guard? Now it seems that she is just testing you, and if you go back to Rusta, you will be throwing yourself into the net. ”

Most of the other nobles present also showed different expressions on their faces, but they almost expressed the same meaning, obviously they had escaped from the imperial capital with great difficulty, and no one wanted to go back.

They escaped along the way. Although it was fortunate that he did not meet the dragon queen again, nor did he meet the shepherds such as Andesa in the mouth of Sidney and Veronica, this does not mean that he will be so lucky to enter the city again, not to mention that the situation along the way is obvious to everyone, and at this moment, the entire Ruusta is probably already in a mess.

Who would want to step into danger again?

Brando naturally understands this truth, for this operation he has already exhausted his hole cards, but there are still too many situations that he did not expect, especially the dragon queen dared to ignore the threat of the dragons and swaggered to appear in Rusta. This was a big surprise to him.

If he was still fifty percent sure of the first time he did it in Hanlu Manor, now that he has entered the city again, I'm afraid there is no hope for one percent.

This is almost a gambler's desperate gamble.

But he had to make a choice.

Now that Akane is not the only one trapped in the city, Charles, Mordfeth, Andreg, and Hipamela have not been heard from, and there is no way he can leave any of his men behind.

"Teacher ......"

Faina apparently saw the latter's predicament, and she looked at her teacher with some reluctance, who she thought was Brando's rescue of the nobles for this purpose. The other party has paid so much, and they should be responsible for it.

At least not to show such a careless attitude. It's chilling.

Veronica sighed and patted her student on the shoulder, "But if you make a decision, whatever it is, I'll be with you, little one." ”

Veronica was able to say that, and Brando was not surprised. He knew it was her kendo, but no matter what, he was very grateful.

Ever since he met this Sword Saint, the other party had helped him a lot more than once, from the bottom of his heart. He even already sees the other party as a figure like his elder.

Not to mention the unspeakable relationship between the other party and his teacher, Grey Sword St. Mephistopheles.

However, to his surprise, many of the Cruz nobles present actually expressed the same meaning one after another, and he looked at these nobles of the empire with some surprise - in his impression, these people, even if they were figures like Faina's father and brother, were never good at their peers, and the black belly was almost a footnote to these nobles, when did these high-class nobles become so easy to talk to?

He couldn't help but look at the Prime Minister Nidwen on the side, the old man didn't say a word, just quietly waited for him to make a decision, but the big man didn't say a word, he had already shown a certain attitude.

"We are first and foremost soldiers, Mr. Count." One of the nobles said to Brando: "At the moment we are in the same boat, as long as you make a decision, we will obey orders." ”

Brando finally understood the underlying meaning of the sentence, and the point was 'we are in the same boat', and the nobles of Cruz were still shrewd, but in any case, he still had some feelings in his heart.

After all, I didn't do things in vain.

"Thank you very much," he replied, "I understand what you mean, and rest assured, I will not make a hasty decision, but I will not give up my purpose lightly, wait another half an hour, and if there is no news, I will re-enter the city." ”

Brando glanced at everyone present.

"As for you, you can wait for me here, or organize your own organization to go to the Metz region first, I believe that the Silver Queen will not be able to hunt you down for a long time to come."

He said this, not on the spur of the moment, but knowing that even if he brought these people, it would have no effect, and the role played by these nobles in the battle was not as good as a Veronica, it was better to sell a favor, he could only choose to side with the eldest son in this power struggle within the empire, and once these people returned to the territory, they would be potential allies of Eruin in the empire in the future.

Now he can only do so much for this ancient kingdom.

And the rest is his personal affairs.

There was silence.

Obviously, no one would want to die if they could. Brando's words touched all the nobles present, and in the eyes of these nobles of the upper Empire who were originally out of reach of a mere Count Tonigel, the hillbilly lord from Eruin also became tall at this moment.

They suddenly discovered that outside the empire, there were such figures with the style of ancient aristocracy.

He was not afraid of danger, was merciful, forgiving, and responded with the greatest loyalty of his subordinates, a nobility that seems to be seen only in the most shining times.

"Young man," Nedwin said suddenly, slowly, "I'll go back with you." ”

Brando was stunned, almost thinking he had misheard.

All the Cruz people present were also stunned, and subconsciously looked at the former prime minister of the empire.

What kind of big man is Prime Minister Nedwin?

If you are not an Imperialist, it is difficult for you to understand that in the early decades, the Imperials referred to him as 'our Prime Minister', a proper title that no one could honor except the old Nedwin, not even the most famous Prime Ministers of the Empire's forefathers.

He single-handedly created the era of the most concentrated and prosperous royal power of the empire, saying that he was a hero, he could deserve it, saying that he was a powerful minister, he could also accept it calmly.

At a time when the average life of an imperial aristocrat was less than ten years, eight years to be exact, the Prime Minister Nidwin served in this position for fifty-three years, and he was a close friend of the previous emperor even until his death.

If there is a miracle in this world, then it is already a miracle.

His power extended to any corner of the empire, but in the end, he completed the handover of almost no sword, and he stepped down from the altar to hand over to the Silver Queen and her successor, the eldest son of the emperor, a prosperous empire, and even a peaceful old age.

If history goes in the direction that Brando knows, instead of becoming a mess like this.

And such a character, could it be a hot-blooded, impulsive aristocrat?

Apparently not.

Then the background of his speech is debatable, and even the nobles who had already made their decisions before seemed a little shaken.

Sidney, who was the only one on the side, frowned at the sight of this - it was not that the lady of the Lady of the Lion Sanctuary did not frown, but in fact there were fewer expressions on her face than appeared on her face, so that this subtle look seemed a little rare.

Brando didn't know this, but Sidney thought that this was the second time that the old prime minister had offered to see Her Majesty.

Did he really think he could convince the self-righteous supreme of the empire?

This is clearly a false proposition.

The old prime minister could never be so naïve. If such a request is made once, it can be said that he cannot see clearly, and if he makes mistakes again and again, then he is not Nedwen.

Sidney couldn't help but observe the look on the old man's face carefully, but unfortunately she couldn't see any clues, and old Nedwin didn't seem to intend to go into detail on this issue anymore, he only said one sentence, and the others didn't dare to ask.

Little Nedwin on the side seemed a little speechless, but was suppressed by his father with a stern look.

Brando happened to notice this detail.

But he didn't say much, thought for a moment, and didn't dare to answer any words of the imperial prime minister, only replied: "Thank you very much, but in any case, let's wait for half an hour." ”

Half an hour is not a long time.

But at certain times, it can be so long that it's unsettling.

…… (To be continued......) I752