Tirion looked up, staring at the confidential secretary in front of him with one eye, a "you're kidding me" expression on his face.

The biggest pirate in the cold sea has only shown such a shocked expression when facing his father.

He didn't touch the pages that the other party pushed over, but turned his head to look at General Liszt on the other side after calming down a little.

The frost general's eyes didn't seem to be less stunned than on his side.

"Looks like this is 'unexpected news,'" Tirion exhaled softly, in a calm tone, "and even the 'general' in front of me doesn't know about this arrangement. ”

"Because it's not an 'arrangement'—it's just a suggestion, and it's a suggestion that has just been taken," the confidential secretary said, holding off his gold-rimmed glasses, and looking at Tirion with a solemn expression, "The current frost situation is complicated, and we don't have much time to discuss everything before implementing it, so I simply took the 'suggestion' directly here, and under the witness of General Liszt, we discussed the feasibility of this matter together." ”

"Feasibility? Do you really think it's feasible? Tirion almost laughed as he looked at the confidential secretary as if he were looking at a madman, "I, the leader of the Sea Mist Fleet, the most vicious pirate leader of the cold seas, you Frost People have almost all the horrors that have scared children for the past fifty years—and now tell me that you want me to be the consul of this city...... Sir, we've only been fighting side by side for a while, and you're afraid you're misunderstanding the relationship between us, right? ”

"Fighting side by side, and fending off a crisis that could lead to the destruction of the city-state, many now know that it was the Sea Mist Fleet that stood up at the last moment to defend the city with the navy, and by this time tomorrow, the news will reach every corner of the frost, and the town hall will tell people that the departure of the Sea Mist Fleet half a century ago was only a divergence of routes, and the Iron Vice Admiral who left angrily never completely abdicated his duty to defend the city-state."

The confidential secretary paused at this point, and after confirming that Tirion had no intention of interrupting, he continued, "Everything can be explained in a new way, and all changes will be arranged for the right reasons, you might think that this change is unacceptable to the Frostmen, but in fact...... The vast majority of ordinary people are not so easy to maintain their 'original intention' in the face of continuous and single-caliber propaganda, and the stability of life and the practical improvement of order will soon overwhelm everything, and people's concepts can be 'customized', but it just takes a little time. ”

Tirion listened patiently to all of this, and looked into the eyes of the confidential secretary with a calm expression, "It seems that you are very good at this kind of thing. ”

"Every city-state is good at it—including the frost of the Queen's Age," the confidential secretary said, "It's not a dirty thing to create a 'concept' for the people that is adapted to the current social environment and can ease the psychological burden of the majority, but it is impossible to maintain social order and ensure the stability of the majority of the people after a beautiful speech."

"Captain Tirien, the duty of the town hall has never been justice - the duty of the town hall is to keep as many people alive as possible."

“…… Let as many people as possible survive, she said it back then. ”

"Yes, it's still engraved on the door of the Dome office – it was only the Queen that we overthrew back then, not the things that were right in the first place."

Tirion didn't speak for a moment, he thought quietly, and after a long time he slowly spoke, "Why do you think I'm suitable for this position?" ”

"Initially, it was Lady Agatha who brought in the suggestion, but she only mentioned that you and your Sea Mist Fleet might help restore order to the city-state - and the decision was made in an urgent discussion within the town hall," said the confidential secretary, "Personally, I'm not really sure if you're the right person to do it, and in fact I don't even have doubts about it, but the opinion of others is ...... Before you became a 'pirate', you were first a general in the Frost City-State, and a third of the city's monarchs or consuls since its history were military-born. ”

"You're still thinking too simply," Tirion shook his head, "It's not a question of whether the right person is right or not, it's the sum of a whole bunch of 'historical legacies', even if, as you said, people's perceptions can be customized, but you also said that it will take time - Frost doesn't have this time, and the city must return to order as soon as possible, so you should ...... otherwise"

"Captain Tirien," the confidential secretary interrupted him abruptly, "before explicitly refusing, let's take a look at what I've brought, it might give you some new perspective on the 'feasibility' of this matter." ”

Tirion was stunned for a moment, and for the first time took a hard look at the pages of papers that the other party had just put on the table.

The documents don't have fancy titles or elaborate covers, and when you open a simple folder, you just have a series of "suggestions" written in plain writing, as if to state the facts.

Tirien glanced twice, and his expression visibly changed.

He flipped to the end, closed it with a "snap", and stared up at the confidential secretary in front of him.

The latter, however, remained calm, nodding lightly before Tirion could speak.

"First, the apocalyptic plague that befell the Frost City-State was caused by the Annihilation, but its root cause was the unsafe mining of the mines deep beneath the city-state by the Old Town Hall over the past few decades, and the lack of adequate security measures in the dark, as well as negligence or even concealment of unusual alertness, were the main reasons for the aggravation of the situation.

"Second, successive consuls were aware of the matter and chose to conceal it because of their interests.

"Thirdly, the Sea Fog Fleet's choice to leave Frost fifty years ago was due to a divergence in route, which was related to such 'illegal mining' and different attitudes towards foreseeable anomalous disasters.

"Fourth, successive consuls have systematically and persistently smeared the Sea Mist Fleet and concealed the truth in order to conceal the real differences between the two sides, and to direct popular hatred to General Tirion personally, thereby diverting attention from the mine issue.

"Fifth, Archon Winston is seriously suspected of colluding with the Annihilationists, he was informed before the Visionary Disaster, but instead of making any effective response, he chose to defect, he will become an enemy of the city-state, and we believe that he has become a member of the Annihilationists, and will be wanted by Frost for eternity.

"Sixth, the new consul will reshape the order of the city-state, the investigation of the mines will begin immediately, and the liquidation of those responsible for the surviving will begin immediately."

Tirion didn't speak, just sat there like a frozen ice sculpture, staring into the eyes of the confidential secretary, the weight of which was almost breathless.

However, the confidential secretary only took a light breath and took out another stack of papers from the briefcase he was carrying.

This document is thicker and more content.

"Here's the list," he looked up, meeting Tirion's heavy gaze, "the first half is the evidence needed for the reckoning, including part of the records of the mine's illegal mining, the cover-up of anomalous warnings, and the instructions to distort and scandalize the Sea Mist Fleet, which currently only has a table of contents, but within three days, all the evidence will be ready."

"The second half is mainly a list, including the responsible people who can be arrested and tried, as well as their corresponding 'incriminating evidence'. Rest assured, it's not innocent, it's just another crime - but that's okay, their real crimes don't matter anymore, and now the city-state needs them to 'collude with the annihilation'. These people can be considered the 'criminal reserve' on the part of the town hall.

"Finally, there are letters and a part of the diary, evidence of the collusion between Archon Winston and the Oblivion, some of which bear his signature."

Tyrion didn't look at the second stack of papers handed over.

A cold mist slowly appeared around him, and the coffee table was gradually covered with a layer of fine ice crystals, and everyone in the room who could breathe exhaled his breath was condensing into a white mist.

“…… Who prepared these things? ”

"Successive consuls," said the confidential secretary calmly, "each government prepares one, and many 'alternatives,' not necessarily for you, but also for other successors, such as the next 'rebel army.'" The last piece of information in front of you was left by Archon Winston, and coincidentally, he also happened to list the Sea Mist Fleet as one of his 'alternatives', which coincided with the 'advice' that Lady Agatha had brought. ”

Tirion slowly put his hand on the document, the fine ice crystals almost freezing the document into an ice sculpture, and he looked up and stared into the eyes of the confidential secretary, "So, this can be qualified for Winston." ”

"Frost has a saying, the dead make way for the living," the confidential secretary said slowly, "General Tirion, you're not a native of Frost, but you know it too. If the 'characterization' of Archon Winston and the previous councils could restore order to the city-state quickly, then he and the previous consuls would not mind. ”

(End of chapter)