Just as Franklin used Watson to trick Sherlock to the front, the old boy always seemed to have a polite scholarly air and a dark-bellied tone hidden beneath that breath.

Sherlock would certainly not be going to fight the current Emperor.

But he said on the phone that he would see if he had time to have a meal with him, and it sounded as if he had been waiting for his arrival.

As a result, when he arrived at the ancient Roman city of law, Sherlock realized that this guy was not waiting for him at all, and he was busy all day.

Instead, you need to wait for him yourself.

The ancient Roman city of law, which is extremely ancient in the sacred calendar and even in all human history, seems to have a certain royal temperament on a certain continent since ancient times, where one regime after another has been established, and countless splendor has died here, under the changes of the times, the slightly weathered buildings, sand, mottled walls, and the buildings with extremely distinctive characteristics have rendered a certain sense of majesty here.

However, in Sherlock's senses, he only remembered the walls shattered by the guns, the streets obscured by the smoke of gunfire, the constant sound of sirens in the sky, and the anxious and frightened guards at every intersection.

Because he came to the ancient Roman city once, and at that time, the whole city was like this.

Forehead. Well, it's because of his arrival that it became like this.

When he returned this time, he was even a little embarrassed to see the streets and buildings that still showed signs of repair.

Led by the guards, Sherlock entered the Emperor's residence, a huge building that had originally been the home of previous emperors, but after Franklin ascended to the throne, more space was used.

Today, it is the place where the emperor works, and is a compound place for meetings, resolutions, dinners, secret talks, and so on.

This arrangement may be due to the fact that Franklin, as a serious scientific researcher, is uncomfortable looking at those useless but gorgeously decorated rooms.

It may also be because of this arrangement, which can greatly reduce the distance and time of running around the city.

Of course, it may also be that he is too lazy to move his nest, so he simply concentrates 80% of everything here.

Anyway, in Sherlock's opinion, this place is much more spacious and gorgeous than before.

Walking through the conference area and the dining room where the guests were entertained, he finally saw Mr. Franklin, whom he had not seen for a long time, in a room in the office area on the second floor.

And at the first sight of him, Sherlock was sure that the guy's hairline had moved back a few inches, some people in the robes of the councillors were constantly talking to him about these things, several officials walked past him, bowed to him with great respect, but put the documents in front of him mercilessly, Mr. Franklin did not say anything, immediately picked up the documents and flipped through them, and recorded them with a pen.

In most people's opinions, an emperor should be noble, enjoy the support of thousands of people in the empire, stand at the pinnacle of power, enjoy endless resources, such a person must live an extremely wonderful life.

But in fact, Moriarty once said that the more people stand at the top of society, the more tired they are, and if one day in the future, there is such a person standing at the apex of the entire human race like holy light, then he will have to shoulder the responsibility of the entire human race, and that kind of life may not be able to survive a day for normal people.

Time passed minute by minute, and the slightly chubby middle-aged man in front of him finally finished reading the document in his hand, raised his head, and then saw Sherlock sitting opposite, an apologetic smile appeared on his face, saying that he was a little busy, but it was a big matter of the empire, so please wait a while.

Sherlock glanced at him angrily, thinking, when you came to me, didn't you know that you were busy?

I also deliberately said that you are busy with important things, don't I know that you are busy with big things?

In short, Sherlock began to wander impatiently around the Emperor's residence, and some people saw him, some responded with friendly etiquette, some were slightly surprised, but those who could work in this place must have a certain city.

Anyway, in this ancient building, Sherlock saw how a huge imperial power agency operated, he saw that in the huge conference room, countless people were arguing for the distribution of mining rights, and even fighting, and saw that when the personnel of the propaganda department were dealing with the public opinion bombardment of reporters, the team behind them was frantically writing manuscripts, and speculating on the public opinion orientation that each issue might produce, and the changes in the battle situation on the front line were quickly summarized and sent to Mr. Franklin. He needed to personally correct the manuscript of the speech, and he needed to personally control the tax increase generated by the war consumables.

In the midst of this busy ancient building, Sherlock deeply felt what it means to be a busy day.

Of course, this is still the most basic work, because documents are always dead, and in addition, those businessmen, parliamentarians, and even the old men in the House of Elders who have sick brains from time to time, cheer for you today, and want to nail them to the pillar of shame tomorrow, the radicals on the battlefield, the old generals who have died soldiers, and all kinds of pressures, although there are many officials who help to share, but in the end, these pressures will pour out on the emperor.

I don't know if I can see a lot of gray hair hidden under the hair that is already a little dull on the head.

Of course. Franklin was not a fool, on the contrary, he was a very smart man, otherwise he would not have been a scientific scholar and could have managed the affairs of the entire empire so well.

You know, this person had never been in contact with imperial politics a few years ago.

Therefore, he called himself over a long time ago, definitely not to add to his own blockage, or to waste his time.

Because he wanted to stay here, stay in the Emperor's mansion, stay for a long time, let many, many people see him, and then after a busy day, everyone left, he saw that he was still here, talking to a king of the Empire.

In Sherlock's view, this kind of overly obvious meaning is actually not difficult to understand, after all, now [Sherlock. The name Sherlock Holmes has become the talk of countless people in the empire.

Finally, after sunset, Sherlock was finally able to walk into his office, at this time there were still some government officials around him, who were discussing some things, and when he saw Sherlock coming over, he subconsciously stopped his voice, but Franklin waved his hand and motioned for them to continue, this kind of casual behavior of talking about state affairs next to a civilian is very unruly, but it can be extremely obvious. I, Emperor Benjamin Franklin, believe in the man next to me.

Finally, after the last official left the official residence, the slightly chubby middle-aged man in front of him slowly exhaled and leaned back on the chair behind him, and the exhaustion around his body was released at this moment, which seemed to make him age a lot all of a sudden.

A tall, thin old butler brought a cup of brewed coffee to the table as if he had pinched the time, and then quietly retreated, without saying a word, or even looking up at Sherlock, fully demonstrating the proper duty of a butler.

That is, when you are needed, you have to stand up, and when you are not needed, you better become a wisp of air.

Franklin took a sip of the black liquid in the cup, rested for a while, seemed to have some energy, turned his eyes to Sherlock, and said apologetically, "I'm really sorry to keep you waiting for a few hours for this meal." ”

Sherlock lights a cigarette

This is the palace where the emperor lives, even the most senior old smoker has to hold back his addiction to smoking in this place, but Sherlock doesn't care at all, and he also stared at the people in the seat with half of his empty eyes, and said angrily: "Anyway, everyone is gone, what are you pretending to do now, I also acted in the play, and the people who should see me have also seen it, so if you have anything, just say it quickly."

Oh, you're going to say eating. I do. ”

The table in front of him was gorgeous enough, and historically speaking, there may have been many imperial kings, and even the overlords of a pre-Sacred Realm, who had eaten at this table.

Either way, the actual purpose of the dining table is to provide a place for the dishes and chopsticks to visit.

Moreover, the food on the table at this time is indeed not called a delicacy of the mountains and seas, or even exquisite.

Just some bread, broth, and washed clean vegetables.

Compared with the surrounding carpet and the chandelier overhead, it looks a little out of place.

But Sherlock and Mr. Franklin ate to the fullest, the bread was solid enough, the soup was filled with plenty of peppers, and the vegetables that had not been cooked in any way, but were only rinsed in cold water, were also delicious and spicy.

And just after a hearty hot soup entered his throat, the emperor put the bowl in his hand on the table, wiped the dirt from the corner of his mouth, and suddenly said: "I went to the other side, what did I see, you should tell me about it." ”

Franklin had hardly left the city since he became emperor, but he knew a lot about the outside world, where Sherlock had gone since he returned, and what he had done, of course, he couldn't hide it from his eyes, including the Temple of Light and the seaside town.

So, many people have talked to you, as the emperor of the empire, should I also know something?

Sherlock paused to sweep away the food in front of him, and then said straight to the point: "Behind the gates of hell, there is a civilization, the civilization of mankind. ”

With a pop, the remaining vegetable soup in his mouth squirted out.

With a click, the fork in his hand fell to the ground.

When a normal person hears this, these things will definitely happen, but Franklin didn't, he just fell silent suddenly, and then he sat at the table for a long, long time, and then, he suddenly asked, "But if there are people on the other side of hell, what about the demons?" ”

"It's a mutated creature, and of course, some demons are actually human."

To put it simply, I don't know how many complicated explanations it takes to make people understand what all this is all about.

So, the two people at the table were talking one by one, and there was a big pot of soup, and then the fruit after the meal, and Sherlock tried to tell what the so-called 'hell' was in an easy-to-understand and easy-to-accept way.

But he still refreshed the cognition of the middle-aged man in front of him over and over again.

He was a man of impatience, so he didn't say so much to Watson, not to the people in the Temple of Light, Nightingale, Her Highness, Moriarty, and so on, he didn't explain it in such detail.

It's just Mr. Franklin, and he needs to make the other side understand hell as much as possible.

Because

Before leaving Hell, a woman named Lilith told him that if he wanted to stop this war, then the only hope was himself.

This is a very helpless, even rogue request.

It's like Sherlock once said, how the world is, what does it have to do with him.

But he lives in this world after all, so if the gates of hell are really closed, the barrier between the two worlds really disappears.

Myself, I guess it's easier to be more or less relaxed.

Sherlock didn't know if he really had the idea of a sense of responsibility, but now that the supreme centralized object of the entire empire was in front of him, he ate well, and the fire in the fireplace was warm, so what about talking about world peace.

Besides, it's still two worlds.

And so, over the next few hours, Sherlock said what he wanted to express, and what the woman named Lilith hoped he could express.

And then

Looking at His Royal Highness the Emperor, he asked like a nobody.

"Well, take the people of that world, and give them a little place to live, and even let them govern, and they will bring unparalleled technology.

You yourself are also engaged in scientific research, so you should know better than me about the conversion between the development of science and technology and the field of materials and survival.

Any thoughts? ”

Franklin was as silent as ever, the spoon in his hand stirring the cold coffee cup.

In fact, Sherlock knows that this problem is not as simple as he said, so the emperor will definitely not agree, the leap in science and technology is not necessarily a good thing, if the development of society cannot keep up with the development of science and technology, who knows what irreparable problems will be caused in the end.

Even if he is really thinking about the progress of scientific research, then it is impossible to give himself a clear answer at this dinner table.

So he smiled and was about to get an after-dinner cigarette.

Abrupt.

The chubby middle-aged man in front of him raised his head, looked at himself, and then said unexpectedly:

"I think there's something wrong with this."

(End of chapter)