After the New Year, Prince Alcott, who served as acting consul, did not enjoy the New Year's leisure, on the contrary, he was almost out of breath by unexpected troubles.

"Eh, this ...... What the hell is going on?"

Looking at the documents that the assistant officer Farage handed to him one after another, Prince Alcott's head was about to grow.

"As you can see. The assistant officer still had the same expressionless appearance, "In recent days, there has been a sharp increase in emergencies in the imperial capital, assassinations, violent clashes, and vandalism, and our subjects are in a great panic. ”

Farage held the manuscript in his hand and read it aloud to the First Prince.

"First of all, there is the assassination of His Excellency Francis, the Chief Cardinal of the New Chinese New Year's Eve, a man carrying a large number of unstable magic crystals with an intention to approach the Chief Cardinal, fortunately killed by the guards in time, but this incident still caused a great disturbance in the area around the Basilica of Hadith, and the same new Chinese New Year's Eve, Duke Arnold of Cold Mountain was also attacked, but this incident has only been reported by Duke Arnold so far, and the garrison has not officially intervened in the investigation. ”

"Well, why is that?" Prince Alcott asked, puzzled, "Why did Duke Arnold receive an attack and the garrison did not intervene in the investigation?"

It seems that the Duke himself was unwilling to let the garrison investigate, and insisted on his own subordinates finding the attacker. Farage frowned tightly and said in a very stiff tone, "As the current defense chief of the imperial capital, Duke Arnold does have this authority, after all, the current garrison is also under his command and control. However, it is also possible that he did not want outsiders to know the details of the attack, so he did so, in short, this matter is quite suspicious, please pay attention. ”

Hearing Farage's words, Prince Alcott's eyebrows suddenly shrugged down, and he put a sad face in front of the assistant officer.

"If Duke Arnold wants to deal with it himself, let him handle it himself, isn't that good? Now that he is in charge of all the defense of the imperial capital, if there is a rift in our relationship with him because of this incident, I am afraid that it will affect the unity between the two sides......"

"Your Highness!"

Before Alcott could finish speaking, Farage interrupted him sternly, and said in a tone that was not so much an exhortation as a lesson: "I think your words are too inconsiderate, although Duke Arnold is currently entrusted by His Royal Highness Iscario to oversee the defense of the imperial capital, please do not forget that the owner of this imperial capital is still His Majesty the Emperor, and you are the consul here." Of course, we need to unite the forces of Duke Arnold, but he is only your subordinate, and if you always adopt such a conniving attitude, you will be looked down upon by others!"

Alcott was dumbfounded when Farage said this, and he hesitated, whispered a few words of defense that no one could hear, and then lowered his head and remained silent.

Seeing the appearance of the first prince, the assistant officer could only sigh silently in his heart, he understood very well that Prince Alcott was embarrassed by this heavy responsibility, but it was precisely because he was embarrassed by the heavy responsibility that he had to assist him more wholeheartedly to help the first prince support the burden of managing the imperial capital.

If only Prince Francisco hadn't followed His Highness Iscario to the Mirror Lake Territory. Farage couldn't help but think in his heart, it would be best if Iscario could personally preside over the imperial capital, but this was obviously impossible, and the war on the front line was completely inseparable from him. But if you retreat to the next best, Prince Francisco can stay in the imperial capital, and his performance will at least be much better than that of the first prince.

Temporarily swept away the superfluous thoughts in his mind, the assistant officer regained his spirits and continued to report: "After the New Year, sudden incidents of wounding and vandalism have become quite frequent, and there are currently thirty-two confirmed cases, of which seventeen are suspected to be caused by gang fire, there are signs of large-scale brawls, and the garrison is investigating. In addition, due to the continuous riots and wars, the prices of food in the imperial capital have also continued to rise, the price of food has increased by an average of 20%, and the complaints of the people are increasing. ”

"Curfew......" Prince Alcott watched with a bitter face as Farage laid a thick stack of papers in front of him, "Is this necessary? Moreover, to enforce the curfew, you need the cooperation of Duke Arnold, right?"

"This is completely necessary, as for the Duke of Arnold, Your Highness, after you sign the order, the Duke should obey the decree of the Empire, and there is no need to consider his wishes at all. ”

Even if he is as blunt as Alcott, he can detect Farage's hostility towards Arnold, but even if he knows this, he can't do anything, where does he have the ability to mediate others?

"Okay. Alcott honestly signed his name on the document and stamped the consul's seal, as always, he completely trusted Farage and obeyed Farage's arrangement.

————————————————

Arnold looked at the knights in front of him, these were all his direct knights after becoming a duke, although it was not easy to assess Arnold's loyalty, but there was no doubt about the loyalty of the Figlaf family.

"This mission is about the face of our Figlaf family, and it must be successful. Even if there is the obstruction of the imperial capital, you must remember that you are a member of the Leng Shan Leader, and I am a retainer of the Figlaf family, whether it is the royal family or the church, they have no power to order you, and I am the only one who can command you. ”

"Yes, as you command, my lord!" replied the knights, who would not have a second answer at this time.

"His Royal Highness Alcourt has signed the curfew, and as the Duke of the Empire, I will of course follow the orders of the First Prince and help him enforce the curfew. Once you accept the task, then you should do it well, which is the style of our cold mountain leaders. I have given you the task of inspecting the Basilica of Hadith, enforcing a strict curfew so that not a single cat can be seen on the streets after dark. Anyone found going out without permission after dark can be arrested and brought here for interrogation. ”

His indifferent gaze glanced at the knights again, like an executioner wiping his butcher's knife one last time before his execution.

"Do you understand my orders?"

"Yes, totally understood!"

"Well, then," said Arnold, a somewhat hideous smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "enjoy the evening stroll, gentlemen." ”

The knights rushed out, only Titus, who was accompanying Arnold, had a complicated expression.

"I beg your pardon, Lord Duke, I don't understand why we have done this to this extent, and I am afraid that patrolling the Basilica of Hadith will cause the Church to misunderstand our behavior......"

"Titus. Arnold interrupted Titus, his tone a little impatient, "Just do what you do." Loyalty to the throne or loyalty to the archangels, this choice is not easy, do you want to challenge this puzzle?"

Titus was stunned for a moment, he didn't think that Arnold's targeting of the church was at the behest of the royal family, not to mention that the relationship between the royal family and the church had not yet stiffened to this extent. But he also knew that what Arnold said was very reasonable, and this question could never be answered easily, after all, the curfew was given by Prince Alcott, and the cause was indeed in the area of the Basilica of Hadith, and Arnold could fully say that he gave this order according to the instructions of Prince Alcott.

"Then, please let me carry out this task!" Titus did not give up, and took the initiative to ask, "With my relationship with His Excellency Francis, I may be able to ask the other party to forgive me for a little bit, at least without making the church too prejudiced against us." ”

Arnold glanced at Titus, this is not good for people who are too religious, although Arnold used this to induce Titus to support him, but now, this piety has become an obstacle for Arnold to drive Titus.

"You're not fit for this task, Titus, you're now my most important assistant, and if you're involved in these strife, who am I going to use to manage our soldiers? ”

Titus sighed secretly, he wasn't stupid enough not to hear that this was a pretext. And knowing that this was a pretext, Titus had no way to convince Arnold.

"Yes, I see......" Titston paused, pursed his lips, hesitated, and said, "Either way, I beg you to be cautious in church matters." ”

With that, Titus turned and walked away without the slightest delay.

On the contrary, Arnold, looking coldly at the back of Titus's departure, his eyes became even more gloomy.

Lily was like Arnold's shadow, always with her, but undetectable, until she made a voice of her own that she was exposed from Arnold's back.

"About the eavesdropper last time. She turned her back to Arnold, and the two of them seemed to have just staggered by, "I'm sorry, I couldn't catch him." ”

"I thought you were so confident because you had the skills to guarantee that you would catch him. Arnold said with a bit of resentment, obviously Lily had already discovered the eavesdropper, but she didn't tell Arnold because she wanted to watch a good show, so so much important information was eavesdropped, "However, since the imperial capital is still calm for the time being, it can be assumed that this eavesdropper is not Francis' person." Continuing to track down the whereabouts of that eavesdropper, I want to know whose person he really is. ”

"I don't need you to say this, I know it. Lily pouted, but it was her fault after all, so Lily didn't say much, "What are you going to do next? ”

"This has long been hidden, and the only way to complete Lord Astalu's mission is now, and in a few days, I guess the front line should call me. Therefore, the victory or defeat with Francis must be separated as soon as possible. ”

"Oh you remember this mission. "How are you going to defeat him, then?" said Lily, in a slightly disgusted tone, your goal is his life, and in any case, it is not easy to kill a cardinal. ”

"I know what to do. Arnold pursed the corners of his mouth and took a step, "Fortunately, there is another helper in this imperial capital that I can rely on. ”

Lily turned her head and looked at Arnold's back suspiciously, but it was far away and blurry at the same time.