Takenaka was lazily lying on a chaise longue piled with various cushions, and under his head was Lilian's plump thighs as usual, and across from him, a man was sitting in a single sofa, the skull metal mask covering his face had been removed, and a trace of displeasure flashed in his eyes as he looked at Takenaka's wandering skeleton.

This teenager's frivolous behavior not only made him feel that he was being despised but also reflected from the side that this child's personality was arrogant and impetuous, and he was not able to deal with this kind of person if possible.

The person who gave such an old-fashioned assessment was naturally Corvo, the former protector of the country.

The chief of the royal guard has been cautious all his life, and this time he is no exception, despite his superior strength, he did not come alone, only to see four expressionless men in black standing behind him, which were a few of the black shadows who had just come down from the dinghy with him.

These men in black had been given to him by Lord Penderton before Corvo's departure, numbering about 12 men, and were carefully trained by the royalists called the "Whale Oil Privateers".

This naming method has a strong Imperial Navy flavor, and it is not difficult to guess that this team should be based on the elite soldiers in the Imperial Navy, who do not squint and breathe evenly, and it is obvious that everyone is a rare warrior.

Although it seems that the number of people is small, but the momentum brought is full, this kind of team and Corvo once they fight directly with the grass platform team like the Holy Scouts, it is still easy to do it without falling behind, with this kind of strong armed force as a deterrent bargaining chip, I believe that the Holy Scouts can make a more sensible choice.

However, there is no need to think about this for the time being, after all, the theme of the current and Holy Scouts is not war, but cooperation.

Both of them were silent for a long time, and in the end, Corvo took the initiative to break the silence and said: "Monsieur Francis, it is a pleasure to meet you, first of all, I have to congratulate you, the winemaking area is yours." His voice was low and slow, and he couldn't hear any central wishes.

"Thank you, honorable Lord Corvo, for the cold weather, and if you could let your men go to the fire for a while, I think they would be very kind to you. Takenaka rolled over and got up from Lilian's lap.

In order to show his sincerity, the little guy didn't wait for Corvo's reply, he first waved his hand to signal Lillian to retreat first, and then looked at Corvo narrowly and said, "If you need anything, you can also tell Lillian that the girls of the empire love brave sailors the most." ”

Corvo's thick eyebrows were raised, and his head was big for a while, this "Holy Boy Francis" was too difficult to deal with!

If no miracle befell him, how can this 12-year-old kid be explained? His behavior pattern is simply more slippery than that of the most damned old politician.

Corvo saw that the other party had already taken out an attitude, and he should be ready to say something to himself that was not suitable for low-level people to listen to.

He crossed the number in his mind again, and made sure that it was unlikely that Franc would act against him, so he waved his hand and motioned for the four whale oil privateers behind him to stand down, he had something important to talk to the mastermind of the other party.

The four subordinates hesitated for a moment, nodded silently, and as Lilian retreated, only the two with their own ghosts were left in the living room.

Takenaka cleared his throat and said to Corvo, "Former Protector, as you tell me, I have only recently taken over the winemaking area, and I still have a lot of work to do, so can you just tell me how our Holy Scouts can help you?"

Don't look at the politeness of Takenaka's words, but Corvo knows that he can't just climb up the pole and really treat himself as an uncle, so he also politely replied: "I thank you for your kindness in advance, but I still hope to know the position of the Holy Scouts, Lord Regent and Princess Emily, may I ask Mr. Francis, which one do you prefer to support?"

This is a necessary problem, camp orientation determines the way of action, for example, when the Wine Gang is still in power, saying that if Corvo needs the Wine Gang to help him infiltrate the inner city, he can directly open the way by force, threatening the big mouth to open the way into the inner city for himself, and then kill people afterwards.

It's just that the Wine Gang is a dog raised by the Supreme Overseer behind his back, and he is in two camps, so he can't do too much.

Now that the Holy Scouts are in power, Corvo must first look at the opponent's position before deciding on a plan of action.

"You should know, Her Royal Highness Princess Emily and I are both children, and it's always easier for people of similar age to play together, isn't it?" Takenaka's answer seemed to be incompatible, but Corvo heard the meaning in the middle, the Holy Scouts leaned towards Princess Emily, which meant that, at least for now, the Holy Scouts could be treated as allies.

"If you have the opportunity, I can introduce you on your behalf, and I believe you will become good friends. Corvo replied in a hypothetical voice, and it was obvious that the opinions of the two men on the direction of their camp had been unified.

"Then let's get back to the topic of how we can help you. Takenaka re-entered the main path.

"Thanks, my whale oil privateers and I want to infiltrate the inner city, but now that the main thoroughfare of the winemaking district and the inner city has been locked by the arc wall, the most important thing we want from you is to get a way into the inner city of Dunwall. Corvo threw out his plan for the trip.

Takenaka nodded, he already knew in his heart, Lao Wang had already said when he analyzed, if he wanted to enter the inner city silently, Corvo always couldn't escape to come into contact with the Holy Scouts, the Holy Scouts started by exterminating the wine gang, in his mind, this is a better contact object than the legendary Lady Rag.

"No problem, many of our little sparrows used to be with the wine gang, and we are familiar with the secret passages in the whiskey brewery, if you need to enter the inner city, I can send someone who knows the terrain to show you the way. Takenaka replied crisply.

"Please accept my sincerest thanks!" Corvo didn't expect the addition that Francis had promised, stood up, and stretched out his hand to Takenaka with some emotion to thank him.

"It's nothing, Lord Corvo, we also need your help, we are a good and a bad one. Takenaka also stood up, grasping Corvo's hand and shaking it vigorously.

Corvo was stunned for a moment, and the hand that was pinched by the bamboo was withdrawn, nor did he continue to shake it, what is this, how can he still make conditions after agreeing to other people's requests? Looking at the young man opposite, he was happy to see his eyebrows, but it was obviously a smile, why did it make people so uncomfortable?

By the time Corvo left Rag's apartment, it was already dark, and the former Protector hurried back to the makeshift camp in Barrel Lane with four whale oil privateers.

The negotiations with the Holy Scouts just now were fruitful, but there was only one thing that seemed not quite right - the Holy Child Francis had no other way to do anything other than to hang his heart after he had said "help each other" to himself.

In that case, why mention it, or what other hidden intentions did the Holy Scouts have to offer?

In addition, Corvo had a person who did not show up, and it was reasonable to say that this person was closer to him than the whale oil privateer had with him, and he had been the first person to be the first person to be by his side, but now, there was no trace of him.

There was information before that this person may have intervened in the Holy Scouts as a charismatic warrior and made a name for himself in the process of destroying the Wine Gang, but this meeting with Francis, the other party did not mention the existence of such a person at all, the other party did not say it, of course Corvo himself is not easy to ask, but in his heart he is more and more suspicious of the subordinate who has not shown up for a long time.

The distance was very close, and before Corvo had time to think about it for a moment, the five men had already returned to Barrel Alley, and the whale oil privateers who were guarding there saw Corvo returning safely, and they all gathered around, whether the negotiations were successful or not, Corvo must have a new order to give.

Corvo waved his hand and motioned for the whale oil privateers to circle him and said, "The Holy Scouts have agreed to help, and with the information they have provided us, Gambol will be on his way to a foreign country in about 17 hours, so we will start tonight." ”

Corvo beckoned behind him, and a whale oil privateer who had followed him to the Holy Scouts came over, unfurling a map with immature brushwork on the long case in front of Corvo, and the former protector smoothed it out with his hand, saying: " Look here, our sources currently show that a farewell dinner was held especially for Gambol last night, so today, Gambol must stay in his mansion, he needs to explain to the minions the arrangements for the defense of the empire during his absence, and tonight is a good opportunity, it is more suitable for us to take his head. ”

He tapped his hand on the map a few times, and continued: "This is Corvo's mansion, under normal circumstances, the number of guards here would not exceed 25, and it is composed of the city police team and the Iron Face half, but now, we have reason to believe that the coward Gambol is more concerned about his own safety, and I guess that the number of guards should be doubled, and it should be composed of all Iron Overseer troops." ”

Corvo said this, deliberately paused, so as to give these whale oil privateers a little time to digest the information, he looked up, almost all of them frowned together, and a few guys who couldn't hide their expressions even slightly stammered, obviously a little concerned about the strength of the enemy.

This is actually not to blame them, the whale oil privateers are an armed force built with elite soldiers in the Marine Corps as the team, and their strength is not low.

But a whale oil privateer against five Iron Overseers is still too much to look up to, and Corvo has only introduced the guards that can be seen outside of Gambor's mansion, so Gambol can't be the only one in the house.

As if he hadn't seen the faces of the whale oil privateers, Corvo continued, "According to my plan, we'll start at about 7:30 p.m., when some of the guards are changing shifts for dinner, so there are relatively fewer guards to face, so it will be easier for me to move." ”

The whale oil privateers could see that Corvo's words were not in the right direction, and they exchanged glances at each other, and the fellow who had been a sentry spoke, "Lord Corvo, we heard you right, did you? Do you mean that you are going to assassinate Gambol alone?"

Corvo looked up at the guy who was speaking and smiled, "What's the matter, think I can't do it?"

The whale oil privateer hurriedly turned his head, not daring to make eye contact with Corvo's eyes, and coughed, "No, I didn't mean that, your swordsmanship and courage are the ballad of boys throughout the Empire, but I also believe that you will need our help." ”

"That's right, I really need your help, in order for me to infiltrate Gambor's mansion more easily, I want to ask you to cause as much trouble as possible in the inner city, with your skills, the stupid city police team can't do anything to you, so they will need the support of the Iron Overseer to quell the riots in the city, so that the number of Iron Overseers in Gambor's mansion will be reduced a little. ”

"Doesn't that still mean that you're going to go separate from us?" the whale oil privateer asked.

"I'm going to make it clear, you are all the pride of the Imperial Navy, and it is true that your bravery is trustworthy, but boys, assassinating Gambol is not a simple mission, this mission requires as few people as possible, and the less likely it is to be detected, which is why I have to go alone. Corvo glanced up at the whale oil privateers, and said in an irresistible tone: "You find a suitable base in the inner city to meet me, and then make as much trouble as possible, I want to be verbose, please pay attention to the balance, don't let things go overboard, it really makes the whole city martial law, and if Gambol brings in troops from outside the city to maintain order, it will be even more difficult for us to act." ”

Before they set out, Lord Penderton had told them that, first, they were to do exactly what Corvo had ordered, and second, that Corvo's personal safety must be ensured, but they did not expect that the two orders would be contrary to each other.

"Alright!" Corvo said with a wave of his hand, "Follow my orders, is the Imperial Navy a bunch of disobedient people?"

The whale oil privateers had no choice but to raise their hands and touch their chests and bow at 45 degrees to show their obedience.

Corvo waved away from the crowd and continued to analyze the map, as the highlight of the night, he had to memorize the map of the mansion and the nearby terrain, so as to ensure that the chain would not be dropped at the critical moment, this kind of assassination and the like had been managed too many times in his previous career as a protector, and when he didn't do it for a long time, when he started planning the murder plan again, Corvo even had a sense of excitement that he hadn't seen for a long time.

The time to prepare passed in a flash, and in the evening, Corvo took the whale oil privateer squad to Chest Barrel Alley and went to the whiskey brewery in Empty Bottle Alley, and today the residents of the distillery area have been informed that the Holy Scouts are the most powerful organization in the region, and they have a strategic cooperation relationship with the Holy Scouts, so they are not as cautious as yesterday, and the group hurried directly on the street.

Takenaka had made an appointment with Corvo yesterday to meet at the side door of the whiskey distillery at 6:30 tonight, where Corvo would meet the Boy Scouts who would lead him in the way, and he would take Corvo into the inner city to find a way to get close to Gambor's mansion.

Fearing that things would fall short, Corvo was cautious and cautious, and when he knocked on the side door of the whisky distillery, he asked the whale oil privateers to keep watch around him, for fear that something would happen at a critical moment.

Essentially, Corvo still trusts the Holy Scouts, because the Holy Scouts' act of attacking the Wine Gang is equivalent to putting themselves in a position of being the enemy of the High Overseer, and in this respect, it is unlikely that the Holy Scouts will betray themselves, but there is nothing wrong with being careful.

He knocked on the door according to the rhythm of the code, and as soon as his knuckles left the wooden door, the door opened, and Francis's smiling face appeared inside, and Corvo breathed a sigh of relief: "Monsieur Francis, you really keep your word, and you really have a friend like you..."

In the middle of speaking, Corvo suddenly stuck, and he saw a familiar figure behind Francis! "Captain, meet again!"