The other Grand Dukes looked at the Black Sand Grand Duke with different expressions, listening to Leco's rejection of his words, but they had no intention of refuting it. Lewen

Rumba looked at the four men in amazement.

No.

His fists clenched slowly.

"Why?" said Rumba, with some difficulty.

Grand Duke Ronnie laughed coldly and walked forward slowly.

"What do you say?"

"We will not shield a traitor who betrays the Lord," the eyes of the Grand Duke of Qiyuan City gleamed, "and we will not go along with him for the sake of so-called interests." ”

Rumba didn't say a word, just had a terrible look in his eyes.

"Even if the sword is added," Archduke Ronnie said with a resolute expression, "even if the head falls to the ground." ”

"The Kingkiller. ”

Trudida, on the side, rolled her eyes, and Auretheus snorted.

Grand Duke Rumba gritted his teeth, and his chest was tumbling with inexplicable emotions that had been hidden for many years.

No.

"My actions may be incomprehensible to you. He restrained his emotions and gritted his teeth.

"But that's a last resort," Rumba's eyes chilled, "sooner or later, someone has to do it." ”

"As a last resort?"

Grand Duke Aurise shook his head slowly: "A person who has no choice but to have so many follow-up plans. ”

Rumba threw off his cloak, and his voice suddenly raised:

"Can't you see?"

"That's right, Nunn's death has taken a turn for the whole of Exeter, and the balance is out of balance. ”

Every word of the Grand Duke of Heisha seems to be filled with years of resentment and anger:

"But what I'm trying to do, isn't it about us, rebalancing this terrible situation?"

"Even if it's for Exeter—why don't you understand!"

Bang!

The sound of palms slamming against the square table.

All the Grand Dukes set their eyes on the dignified and solemn Archduke of Leco.

I saw this bald old man, who didn't usually participate in the discussion, stood up from his seat tremblingly.

"The one who doesn't understand, it's you. ”

The old duke's voice was low and seemed to be distressed: "Your Excellency Grand Duke Charman Rumba. ”

Rumba looked at him in amazement.

"We're not worried about territorial interests," Archduke Lyco exhaled, his gaze no longer foggy, but sharp, "It's not a reputation. ”

"It's not even a Creed of the Northlands, or any loyalty to the Lord. ”

Grand Duke Ronnie snorted.

Rumba shuddered slightly, staring at Lecco.

"It's you," said Archduke Leco's face contorted, and his words resounded through the hall, words like iron, and words like forging, "Charman Rumba." ”

"Rule-breakers. ”

"The man who broke the statue. ”

"You are the one who worries us the most in this farce. ”

Rumba paused slightly, and then his eyes widened with anger.

Archduke Leco leaned on the back of his chair, left his seat, and walked in front of Rumba step by step, looking at the other man's uncertain expression.

"The oath of condominium regulates our relationship with the king, a sacred pact between the ten supreme powers of this land," said the eldest duke's voice, which seemed to be flipping through a forgotten book that had been dusted for many years: "It leaves behind the rules that have kept us stable and united for more than six hundred years." ”

Rumba turned his head and looked at the other three archdukes, but they all looked at him silently with cold eyes, and did not mean to speak.

The words of the old duke continued.

"It gives the king supreme prestige and leadership, but it also lays down the boundaries between the king and the princes, 'I obey the king's orders, and my land obeys me.'" ”

"It means more to the Northlanders, to Exeter than the dragon on the flag, and even more so than the prestige of Necaju, and more than the Queen of the Sky herself." ”

"It is the basis for Exeter's unifying existence and not divisiveness. ”

"Whenever a vassal is trampled on by the king's power and his right to self-government is violated, the oath of condominium is his last shield. ”

"Whenever his subordinates are disrespectful to the monarch and have inexplicable ambitions, the co-governance oath is also his biggest constraint. ”

"It's Exeter's flag!"

Grand Duke of Black Sand looked at Leko in a daze.

At that moment, Rumba felt that he was not facing an old Grand Duke.

Rather, it is a tradition and power that has lasted for more than 600 years, with a strong foundation and an unshakable foundation.

"No matter how powerful King Nunn is, he can only restrain his power under the scope of the oath of co-governance," Archduke Leco's voice became more and more severe: "Instead of using violent and bloody means without restrictions, forcibly erase the feudal lords and vassals, territories and territories that you don't like from history and maps!"

Archduke Leco observed Rumba's expression and let out a long sigh.

He put his hands behind his back, lowered his head, turned from Rumba, and began pacing.

"That's right, we in Exeter have faced collapse and destruction countless times. ”

"However, relying on the willingness of the Grand Dukes to abide by the tacit understanding and uphold the rules, relying on the proud traditions of the Northland, relying on the wisdom and talents of countless people who love this land deeply, relying on the oath of co-governance to treat the ten Grand Dukes equally, and relying on the awe and trust in the oath of co-governance witnessed by Her Majesty Queen Chroreis," the old Grand Duke slowly raised his head and looked at the dragon spear stone sculpture in the clouds above his head:

"Each time, the mighty and proud kingdom of Exeter has survived. ”

Archduke Leco turned sharply, his bare head reflecting the flickering firelight, as if even the temperature in the hall had risen a little.

"Compared to the bloody civil strife in the history of the stars, the fragile states that have been achieved in compromise in the Dragon's Kiss, the ridiculous and inefficient hypocrisy of the kingdom of Allenbia......"

"Compared with the contradictions between the city-states of the Comas Alliance, the Humble Dynasty still can't eliminate the filthy ...... of the Celestial Temple."

"Compared to the mighty but short-lived tribes of the Kisherly steppe, the Night's reign is based on tradition and ritual......

The old lord guarding the city took a deep breath and said word by word in the most solemn and majestic and solemn tone that he had not used for a long time:

"The kingdom of Exeter after Necaru has brought ten medium-sized grand dukes, ten famous ancient families, nearly 10 million unruly and brave Northlanders, and the power that once made the empire return to this land under the banner of a red dragon on a black background, which continues to this day. ”

"And after the end of the final empire and the end of the war, as the strongest in the Western Continent, it has always stood proudly in the north, subduing its neighbors and shocking the world. ”

"Even in the face of Empress Heilan's strong orders, she can neither be humble nor arrogant, and stand firm in the continental war. ”

The brazier in the hall burned brighter and brighter, and the shadows of several grand dukes were reflected on the stone wall, swaying back and forth.

Like the other Grand Dukes, Rumba listened silently to Leko's words, not saying a word.

Grand Duke Leco looked at him, narrowing his eyes at first, then sighing deeply.

"But you, Charman Rumba," said the old duke, in a low but clear voice:

"You make us afraid. ”

Rumba's expression began to contort, and his fists clenched tighter and tighter.

"You've done it to the man who sits on the throne. Archduke Leco said lightly.

"You have broken these rules, broken this foundation, and torn this oath in your own heart," Archduke Leco's face was pale, his tone was heavy, and his fist clenched in his robe slowly clenched, "and we have to make up for the cost of repairing it, which is unimaginable." ”

"That's the essence of Nunn's death. ”

"That's 'for the future of Exeter'. ”

The old duke's voice fell softly.

Trudida on one side applauded.

"I'm not as eloquent as the old man," the Grand Duke of the Rebuilding Tower smiled: "But that's probably what it means - of course I want to carve up Longxiao City and harvest new territories, but if it is at the cost of not being able to sleep in the future, being a neighbor with a guy who may go crazy at any time, so that my family and my descendants will face the danger of national imbalance......"

Trudida spread her hands and said she was done.

"There is a reason why we should abide by the so-called Northland Creed and Honor," Archduke Ronnie looked at Rumba indifferently: "And you, you think it's just a joke, just a senseless pedantic hypocrisy?"

Auretheus crossed his arms and slowly raised his head to look at Grand Duke Black Sand: "Is it clear?"

Rumba looked at Archduke Leco in disbelief, and then at the other three archdukes.

"Yes, put all the blame on the stars, feed us fellows who are also restless with profits, maintain the most false and superficial balance, whitewash the peace - you can deceive the people," Leko nodded slowly, his expression sad, "but you can't deceive yourself. ”

"You are no longer a member of us, no longer a member of the Oath of Confederation," said the bald Grand Duke lightly:

"Your presence, your actions, is the greatest threat to Exeter's stability. ”

"Regre, Chaman Rumba. ”

Rumba lowered his head slightly, leaving only his right hand trembling.

Deathly silence.

The five Grand Dukes stood face to face in the hall, their figures shadowed by the braziers around them.

It's just one of them, but it looks very lonely.

He stood alone in front of the firelight, staring at the other four people like dead.

The right hand was weakly pressed against the old sword at his waist.

It seemed like a century had passed.

Finally, Rumba's voice sounded faintly.

"That's what you're afraid of?"

At this moment, his voice sounded tired, "Me?"

The four Grand Dukes looked at him coldly.

It's like looking at a seriously wounded person who has no hope of surviving on the battlefield.

"Hmph. Rumba snorted softly.

He took a step and walked softly to the rectangular table, his gaze glancing over the eleven seats above.

Rumba first glanced at the innermost lord with a complicated gaze.

After a second, he sneered and reached out to pull a chair away.

"Attention!"

Grand Duke Ronnie clasped his arms and unceremoniously called out to Rumba.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and he coldly warned, "Fourth on the right hand - that's the Cameron family's chair." ”

Rumba's hand stopped in mid-air.

"Ten Grand Dukes, each of whom has a fixed seat for six hundred years," said Archduke Trudida, tilting his head meaningfully, "Don't sit in the wrong place." ”

Rumba remained motionless.

But in the next second, his hand was on the chair without hesitation!

Boom!

With the sound that echoed throughout the hall, Rumba did not hesitate to lift the Cameron family chair and pull it heavily in front of him.

Grand Duke Ronnie's face turned cold.

But that's not all.

Rumba reached out again and dragged another chair out beside him.

Under the unkind gaze of the four Grand Dukes, Grand Duke Black Sand sat heavily on Cameren's chair.

Then, Rumba leaned back, raised his legs impudently, and set himself up on another chair.

In this lying position, he faced the four Grand Dukes standing in the middle of the room rudely and presumptuously.

The Grand Dukes looked at him in disbelief.

"I've wanted to do this a long time ago," Rumba leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, looked up at the four archdukes, and sneered:

"It feels good. ”

Ronnie clenched his fists, his eyes breathing fire, and was about to step forward, but Auretheus grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Calm down, his soldiers are ......outside the door," the Grand Duke of Willan reminded his colleagues, "and the Prime Minister of Lisbane is almost here." ”

Bang!

Rumba unceremoniously pressed his saber on the table.

"So ......"

He reclined in his chair and snorted:

"That's what you're proud of?"

"Co-governance oath?"

"Protecting the great Exter, isn't it?"

The four Grand Dukes just looked at him coldly, as if they had disdained to speak.

Rumba watched them quietly.

One second.

Two seconds.

Rumba scoffed and lowered his legs from his chair.

He rested his arms on the table and clasped his palms.

But the Grand Dukes still looked at him with unkind expressions.

Rumba's gaze was fixed on his saber for a long time.

His eyes drifted.

It's as if I saw the distance.

"You still don't understand," Rumba's voice resounded, but this time, there seemed to be relief and sighs hidden in his tone, "I don't understand what really threatens us. ”

"In your eyes, only the impression that Exeter is still strong and proud, dominating the Western Continent. ”

And this impression is still stuck in the powerful southern expedition to the west twelve years ago. ”

Grand Duke Leco frowned.

"Your gaze," Rumba said lightly, "I have never seen the distance between your own territory and Longxiao City. ”

"Your ears can only hear the shouting and whispering from your own council to the election of the king—oh, and perhaps the sound of the tax collector's purse every year. ”

"And in your heads?"

"Become a nobleman and get a knighthood...... Become an heir and qualify...... Become a Grand Duke and gain power...... Become a king," Rumba shook his head disdainfully and sneered, "Take control of Exeter." ”

Just like the last 600 years.

Rumba's expression darkened.

No matter how big the waves are, they are also submerged in this suffocating past.

I only heard him sneer: "But do you really think that things will come and go like this, and history will repeat itself forever?"

Ronnie interrupted him coldly, "What do you want to say?"

But Rumba ignored him.

"The last time we fought the Stellar was twelve years ago - they called it the 'Year of Blood,' and for them, we were one of the people who brought blood. ”

Chaman Rumba is a quiet tunnel.

As if talking to himself.

Trudida and Archduke Leco exchanged glances, seeing the confusion in each other's eyes.

"What about the last big battle with the Stellar People?" Rumba was still muttering to himself, his eyes shining with a strange light.

No one answered.

So Rumba continued to shake his head and said to himself: "Yes, more than a hundred years ago, around the time of the Fourth Continental War. ”

"It's been so long that I've only been able to read it from a history book. ”

Rumba closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

Grand Duke of Black Sand looked at Auretheus, and this time, he finally stopped talking to himself.

"Rebion Auretheus," Rumba raised an eyebrow and raised his right hand to him, but the latter remained motionless: "Do you remember the captive?"

Grand Duke Auretheus frowned

"Captive?"

"Uh-huh. Rumba raised an index finger and tapped it in the air, as if reminiscing.

"Twelve years ago, I had just become the Grand Duke, and we captured the Broken Dragon Fortress," he frowned, "After more than a month of spring, 100,000 Exeter warriors sang war songs to the stars. ”

With the memories of the Grand Duke of Rumba, several Grand Dukes also lowered their heads, remembering the beacon years.

"When we stormed the cold fort," Rumba said lightly, "because the scene was so chaotic - tens of thousands of people looted in a disorderly manner - we were left behind to count the booty, and deal with the logistics. ”

"I found all the secretaries and officials who could read and count that the Black Sand Collar could find," the Grand Duke of Black Sand snorted, as if with disdain: "You are about the same." ”

Aletheus shrugged.

"They spent a day and a night, counting the captives, the grain, the seizures," Rumba lamented, "and then, and then the fools......"

Grand Duke Auretheus frowned and took Lombard's words: "...... They gave a wrong number and made a plan to transport the grain according to it. ”

Rumba snorted, and there was a lot of mockery in his emotions.

"On that day, the grain and grass that should have been delivered to Longxiao City went wrong: thousands of soldiers didn't eat lunch during the siege of Glacier City, and the timing of the siege was delayed because they had to go to the surrounding area to collect grain," Rumba shook his head, his eyes full of nostalgia: "Nunn's reprimand warrant came the next day, angrily reprimanding us as usual, 'Even if you fight, can't you count it?' His exact words. ”

Grand Duke Auretheus sighed: "He always thought that we were dragging them back. ”

Rumba nodded.

"This is normal, after all, it is an unprecedented expedition, 100,000 people to eat and drink," Auretheus shrugged: "Half of the levies have to carry baggage, and they are in a strange land—it's hard not to make a mistake." ”

"That's right," Rumba said, "We've punished a lot of people and killed a lot of people - and the logistics are still a mess." ”

"Remember, at that time, a captive named Urad, a lowly commoner in the Northland, who lived in the north, said that he had learned arithmetic and clerical at some accounting college in the south, so he volunteered to help us. ”

Aletheus did not speak.

He remembered.

Rumba sneered: "I remember, you were so angry that you wanted to behead this arrogant captive who boasted that he could handle the weight of a hundred thousand troops for us. ”

Auretheus narrowed his eyes: "But you stopped me. ”

Rumba sighed.

His eyes were complicated.

"Yes," said Rumba faintly, "the captive—the man who gathered men from his peers: the star man who had learned arithmetic, the star man who could read, the star man who knew the market: they took a pen and paper, and it took half a day to get everything done, the numbers were accurate and orderly. ”

"King Nunn's rebuke warrant has finally come again. ”

Grand Duke Ronnie frowned impatiently: "Why do you say this?"

Rumba raised his head suddenly, his eyes sharp: "Because it's not an accident - you didn't feel anything in the war twelve years ago?"

The expressions of several Grand Dukes changed slightly.

"Remember, you - maybe Ronnie was too young to catch up, and Leco and Trudida were on the front lines, by Nunn's side. Rumba shook his head.

Grand Duke Ronnie's eyes narrowed.

Archduke Leko didn't speak, he just looked at Rumba in a daze.

"Later, although it took a lot more time and casualties than expected," the Grand Duke of Heisha exhaled a long breath, his eyes showing jealousy: "But our invincible army has finally been smooth and the war has gone smoothly in the north. ”

Rumba narrowed his eyes, UU read the book .nt The conversation turned:

"Until I met those child soldiers from the south. ”

"Well," Archduke Trudida nodded, his face extremely serious, and took over: "Duke John's Starlight Legion." ”

Archduke Leco and Archduke Alesio moved slightly at the same time.

"Nope. ”

Grand Duke Rumba shook his head in denial: "The Starlight God of War was already dead at that time. ”

Caution flashed in his eyes: "To be exact, the ...... we are facing"

"It's the Starlight Legion that belongs to Sonia Sutherray. ”

No one spoke.

Until the Archduke of Leco on the side sighed and said a special name tremblingly:

"'The Immortal Starlight'. ”