The year 202 of the Guangming calendar. The Holy Alliance Empire had suffered the heaviest blow it had ever suffered, and Bird Fernando, who had single-handedly built this powerful empire 200 years ago, could not have imagined such an embarrassing scene as it is today.

His Majesty the King was bizarrely assassinated, the Imperial Minister of State suddenly rebelled, the northern defense line Thor Fortress was conquered by the orcs, the Clay tribe in the Southern Talon steppe rebelled, and the lords of the south were ready to move Even the royal tombs were dug up, leaving only countless empty tombs, fortunately, the tombs of His Majesty the Kings of the past dynasties were protected by a powerful magic array, which escaped a catastrophe, but in the past 200 years, the remains of almost all the holy knights in the empire have been stolen.

General Orlando never understood why anyone would do the work of stealing graves, those holy knights did not have any burial after they died, but a shroud wrapped the corpses and buried them, but they stole those corpses and disturbed the rest of the dead, what was the purpose?

Orlando can't think of the reason no matter how he thinks about it, he doesn't have time to think about it now, there is no way to change what has happened, but although the situation in the empire is quite critical, in this royal chamber, those officials are still arguing loudly about who should inherit the throne, without the order of His Majesty the Emperor, many things in the empire can only drag on, but these officials don't care at all, they only care about their own interests, as for this country, and the people of the empire, they are just tools for them to seek interests。

Luke walked over to Orlando, who was sitting in the corner, and patted him on the shoulder, Orlando looked up at Luke suspiciously, and Luke made a gesture to come out with him. The two walked out of the hustle and bustle of the royal chamber one after the other and came to a secluded side hall.

This side hall was not very large, only twenty steps from one end to the other, and it was the place where Luke handled his official business, and he had long since abandoned the group of bastards who were still arguing endlessly, and worked here instead. The side hall is very simple, with a table, two chairs, and a bookcase, which is densely packed with various documents and materials.

"Sit down!" Luke gestured to a chair, then poured a glass of water and handed it over. Orlando nodded his head in thanks, then took the glass and sat down in his chair. Luke sat down in another chair and poured himself a glass of water.

"Ever since Your Majesty was killed, I have quit drinking. Luke said lightly: "There are too many things, but I don't have time and mood to taste wine." People, it's really a contradiction, when I have time, I always feel empty when I taste the best Bordeaux, and I can't wait for something to do. When you're busy, why do you yearn for the feeling of idleness?"

There were only two people in this side hall, Orlando and Luke, Orlando changed his confident face in front of people, sighed and said: "The situation is critical, but these bastards are still arguing, don't you know that the orcs in the north have obtained the supplies we have hoarded in Thor's Fortress, and will be armed soon." Orcs originally possessed a single strong force, and after rigorous training, now their equipment is on a par with us humans, what a terrifying strength this is. ”

Luke still had an indifferent look: "Orlando, many things, you can completely change, but why"

Orlando stopped Luke from continuing with a powerful wave of his hand: "Don't say any more, that thing is impossible!"

"Why?" Luke's tone was with a hint of urgency: "The northern Clay tribe and the orcs are colluding, the Southern Tarren grassland is no longer part of the Empire, and the lords of the South are ready to move, according to reliable sources, they are likely to be ready to break away from the rule of the Empire, but now no one wants to be the first to stand up." Look at those bastards, idiots, pigs, sorry, I shouldn't have used them to describe them, pigs are filthy on the outside, but on the inside, they are nowhere near as good as these guys!"

Orlando shook his head and said, "I know what you mean, but I can't do that." The army is the sharpest weapon of the Empire, but this weapon must not have a mind of its own. If a foreign enemy invades, we can defeat them, and those lords have different intentions, and we can deter them, but once I mobilize the army to forcibly suppress these officials and control the power of the empire with you, it will set a very bad precedent for future generations. Internal and external difficulties may not exist every year, but the army must exist all the time!"

"Then sit back and watch the empire slowly decline under the arguments of this group of mongrels?" Luke's words took on the flavor of mockery: "General Orlando, you really strictly abide by your oath, hehe, always loyal to the Fernando family, as long as the Fernando family does not die, what does this empire have to do with you?"

Orlando grimaced, and he said distressedly, "All right, Luke." If you can make the empire better by saying this, you might as well talk about it every day. Now the top priority is to reorganize the army and prepare for war, it is impossible for the orcs not to attack the imperial capital, we must fight this battle, and we must win, otherwise"

"Win?" Luke smiled contemptuously: "Fernando City claims to have a population of 10 million, in fact, that refers to the entire area to which Fernando City belongs, and there is only one city in this radius, Fernando City, if you want to defend against the danger, you can only retreat in this city." The entire Fernando area has a population of over 8 million, do you think they will wait outside the city to die? Now more than 200,000 people are flocking to the city every day, and those orcs don't use it at all, just these mouths can destroy the city. ”

"The only solution is for His Majesty the King to issue a decree to forcibly collect the materials of the various farms and pastures outside the city, and then distribute them uniformly, and destroy all the visible food, shelter, and water sources outside the city, and it is almost autumn, do you think those nobles and commoners will let you use the grain they will harvest immediately? Orlando, so many things must be ordered by His Majesty, otherwise even if I, as the Minister of Finance of the Empire, do any of them, I can be punished as treason!"

Orlando heard Luke say the word "rebellion", a strange look suddenly appeared on his face, and he suddenly said, "What happened that night? Your Majesty was assassinated, and Chad rebelled again." Logically speaking, Chad is already in a position under one man, how could he have made such meaningless acts?and, since Chad had the intention of rebellion, Luke, why did you stand in this position in the end?"

Luke said displeasedly, "You doubt me, can't you trust me?"

Orlando looked at Luke and said, "People, always change, there were too many things that happened that night and it was too unreasonable, isn't it worth doubting? The most important point is that in the end, all the benefits were obtained by you, and you held the military power that night, and the places where the nobles lived were ransacked, I'm afraid Chad's defeated army didn't have such great strength, right? You should have already mastered the situation in the imperial capital quietly, why do you have to pull me in, you now appoint a successor to the king at will, those guys can only talk about it, and they are powerless to oppose it at all. Wouldn't you be able to justifiably carry out all that you just said in the name of your new majesty?"

Luke was told everything by Orlando, his face immediately turned red, and then he said with a straight face: "Orlando, I can swear! Your Majesty's death has nothing to do with me! As for the current situation, yes, it is caused by my behind, but I don't care about the high throne, I just want to do something for the people of the empire without hindrance." But once I put out a new king, that's not the case anymore. The new king is young, and I will inevitably be charged with controlling the government, and when the new king grows up, how will you let me deal with myself? Even if I give up power, my subordinates will not be willing to give up my wings at that time! On the other hand, if the new king is over 30 years old and can be crowned immediately, how similar is it to the situation of being dictated by His Majesty before!"

"And your joining is different, as the head of the Royal Knights, and the highest military governor of the imperial capital, you hold the military power of the empire, and you can restrain me in name, but in fact, you don't ask about government affairs at all, just let me show my skills. Orlando, I owe Sophie a lot, it's too late to make up for it, and I will never do anything to hurt her. As long as the two of us join forces, we can concentrate on resisting the orcs in the short term, and in the long run, we will definitely govern this empire. I don't have a son, and even if I have ambitions, who can I pass them on? Besides, haven't you always been by my side to help me and supervise me?"

Luke's eyes were wide and staring at Orlando tightly, and Orlando bowed his head and was silent, Luke's words did make sense, but the edicts of the Empire, as well as the oath he made when he became a holy knight, made Orlando powerless.

The entire side hall fell into a strange silence.

After a long time, there was a rush of footsteps in the distance, and the footsteps came from far and near, and soon came to the door of the side hall. The ** voice shouted outside the door, "Report, urgent document!" Orlando glanced up at Luke, who shouted, "Come in!"

The door to the side hall was pushed open, and two royal guards walked in with a man dressed as a civilian, whose face was covered in blood and his clothes were tattered, and he looked very haggard. Orlando was shocked when he saw this man, because he knew this man dressed as a civilian, he was the squad leader of a cavalry unit in Sunrise City, his name was Donald, and he had been to the imperial capital once in three years.