It was still dead silence in the alley, Cortez, lying in a pool of blood, had his head cut off by Edward, and his headless corpse lay curled up, convulsed a few times before moving - no different from the corpses of all ordinary people.

Extremely tired, Edward Witwood sat on the rooftop, watching the burning flames in the distance, the raging Pipe Town, the shouts and laughter of the mob, and the "landscape" in front of him became an oil painting, an oil painting worthy of sitting down and thinking quietly with a teacup.

I don't know when, Marco Tasker sat beside him, still holding Angela, who was sleeping soundly, and there was no joy or joy on his face, only exhaustion.

"In less than a quarter of an hour, the cavalry of the Knights of the Sacred Tree will arrive, and the Brotherhood of Blood Banner without Cortés will surely die, and none of these hundreds will return alive from the palm of Gaio Valence, and he will surely kill them all. Despite the cruel things, Edward was calm: "I've done everything I need to do, now it's time to talk about you, Mr. Marco Tasker - the second-in-command of the Blood Banner Brotherhood!"

"I thought you knew everything, so what do you want to know?" Marco tilted his head, "I know what you want to ask, but I still want to find out first, just in case." ”

"Well, then let's start with it: from what you lied to me about the Brotherhood forcing you to serve them, and then the so-called leaving you to die...... You've lied a lot, aren't you going to explain it to me, or do you think I'm magnanimous enough to tolerate things that ordinary people can't tolerate?"

"Tut-tut...... What an over-the-top guy, I haven't told half a lie until now!" Marco raised the corners of his mouth very proudly, and his index finger shook from side to side like a pendulum: "I just said that if I dare to quit, they will kill me...... There's no doubt about it, right, so I'm not lying......"

“...... It's just an incomplete truth. Edward took over the second half of the sentence, his dark eyes flashing with a meaningful light: "Then why did you choose to join the Blood Flag Brotherhood and finally plan to destroy it?"

"Destroy the Blood Flag Brotherhood? I won't destroy it, don't you think that those more than five hundred thugs are the Blood Flag Brotherhood, how is it possible!" Marco waved his hand and said with a smug smile: "From today onwards, the Blood Flag Brotherhood will be reborn from the ashes and become my brotherhood." ”

"I'm not born with a lot of charisma, I can't gather a group of loyal people who are willing to die for him like Cortez, and it's too boring and boring for me to start from scratch, and it's better for me to pick an organization with more potential. ”

"That's why you chose the Blood Flag Brotherhood and ran it as your 'industry' - buying the gangsters in Dongcheng District and blackmailing the girls of Rose Liuli to pass on all kinds of information to you, which doesn't sound very high-end. ”

"But there are always people who need this, and being someone who has all the information is far more interesting than being a wizard who doesn't know what to do. As he spoke, the silver-haired wizard patted Cortez's head with some regret, "If he wasn't bent on revenge, maybe I would really be loyal to him." ”

"We both use the Brotherhood as a tool to fulfill our wishes, but mine is much longer and has more potential for development than his wishes - sooner or later, the Brotherhood will be able to rule all of Turin's shadows!"

"So you're going to use me to help you get rid of Cortez and all the guys who are loyal to him. Edward looked him in the eye, but his tone was as calm as well water: "And you have succeeded now." ”

"Exploit, no, no, no...... I don't dare take advantage of you, you're terrible!" Marco smiled and waved his hand, "I have to admit that I really wanted to see what kind of guy could hunt down this killer-infested Brotherhood alone, but that was only the beginning. ”

"And what about later?"

"Later...... I want to see if this cruel and cunning, calm and humane guy is a good partner. The silver-haired wizard's smile was meaningful: "Is it someone worthy of my follow." ”

"Follow me?" Edward sneered, "Follow me as an acolyte, what can you get?"

"It depends on what you want. Mark stood up and pointed to the chaotic scene in the square—massacres, looting, riots...... He smiled happily: "This is what you want!"

"You know, my dear Edward, you are a very arrogant fellow, as if you could talk to everyone on an equal footing—don't deny it, for I can see it. He gasped, as if to say something incredibly exciting, "I also know that you have rejected the invitation of the Kwyn family, and you have rejected the reward of the Minest family, how can a squire refuse so many things?"

"Because he wants more, he doesn't want to be someone else's lackey—and when a person doesn't want to be a lackey, his only option is to get more power, the power to decide the life and death of others—and lo and behold, what you want to pursue, what makes you happy, is quite clear!"

"And what about you, what do you want?" said Edward, smiling at the eaves and admiring the distant firelight, "My dear Marco Tasker. ”

"After tonight, it won't be long before you'll be a knight, and I'll call you an adult. Marco smiled and raised his finger and said, "And I believe that you will never stop there, nor will you let those who follow you get nothing." ”

"So, you want to be an 'adult' too?"

"Why not, why should we be born poor, why should we let those who are full of fat brains, but who enjoy a bit of power, decide whether we live or die, just because they have a glorious and illustrious surname—why can't we take our place?" Marco Tasker smiled brightly and bowed respectfully to Edward, "From tonight onwards, the Brotherhood of Blood Banner will be loyal to you and be sent at your disposal!"

.................. "You've been standing there for a long time, can you tell me why?"

The Marquis of Holard Minest walked up and down in the brightly lit study, taking a scroll from the bookcase and reading it leisurely, and asking Mrs. Angelica, who was motionless by the window, as if chattering, "If you are all right, go back to rest, and I should rest soon." ”

"I thought you were going to reprimand me. Mrs. Angelica looked at her father in surprise: "Alan insisted on going his own way and handed over that information to the Knights as soon as possible, otherwise it would ......."

"Otherwise, they would still have access to this information, which is bound to happen, and I don't blame my own children for it. Marquis Holard still didn't look back: "Not to mention that things have already happened, there is nothing worth talking about in the past, only the future has the value of planning." ”

"In fact, I just sent someone to Rose Glass, and if I'm not mistaken, something happened there - all the 'support' provided by our esteemed friend Dominica died at the hands of this little squire, although I was going to get rid of any of them, and it would have saved a lot of effort to be killed by him. ”

"But you weren't going to ......," asked Lady Angelica, with some concern.

"What are you going to do, the Blood Flag Brotherhood has nothing to do with me, it's just a mad dog gang, and as for who they are involved with, that's not something I need to think about. The Marquis of Holard closed the book in his hand and put it back on the bookcase: "Unless they are involved in some evil magic, and the safety of the kingdom is in danger." ”

This is what Marquis Holard Minest had planned from the beginning, if the Knights of the Sacred Tree failed to stop Gratoni in time, then they would have plenty of excuses to blackmail them when facing the mission sent by Dominic - anyway, winter was coming, and it was impossible for either side to go to war at this time, so whoever took advantage of it would benefit.

If they had stopped it in time - although it seemed hopeless, they would have nothing to lose, and they would not even have anything to do with it.

"If I were you, I wouldn't worry about all these things, all sorts of trivial things, just a little Brotherhood of Blood Flags, and they'll all be dead after tonight. The Marquis of Holard Minest glanced at his daughter, "Lusen told me about you telling him about Alan's identity, but I didn't expect you to be so fast?"

"Isn't that what you want, I just did what I had to do, for the prosperity of the family, for the Minest family to be able to control Fort Hague. Mrs. Angelica spoke proudly and said, "For the sake of your goals and wishes, I will naturally do my best." ”

Of course, in order to give little Allen a good home, Mrs. Angelica thought silently in her heart - in her opinion, there was obviously no better choice than marrying into the Minest family.

"I hope you really think that, not just talk about it. The Marquis of Holard looked at her deeply: "Don't let me down again, dear daughter, your old father doesn't have much time to tolerate failure after failure!"