No one spoke.

There was dead silence in the cell.

"Still have questions?" said the Black Prophet's voice coldly.

No one answered.

Until a crisp and childish male voice sounded:

"Yes. ”

All eyes converged on Tails again.

But he didn't speak immediately.

Tails let out a long sigh, his expression tired, as if hesitating, or deep thought.

After a long while, the voice of the second prince came with difficulty:

"Your Majesty...... Does he know about the plan? Before I leave north?"

The Black Prophet did not speak.

But Tails got it.

"So, the rumors are right," Tails raised his head gloomily and looked around at the crowd, his eyes pausing slightly on the overwhelmed little slippery head, "The Starmen have colluded with the Calamity and murdered King Nunn in order to cause civil strife in Exeter." ”

A sense of powerlessness hit him.

"Why?"

Tails' eyes passed the image of the old, tired, but undiminished, white-haired king, and he was depressed: "If it's to make sure Exeter doesn't invade the stars, then I can do it through diplomatic mediation—in fact, we've done it." ”

In his sight, the little slippery head lowered his head deeply, unable to see his expression clearly.

On that end of the black hole, there is only an endless dead silence.

Raphael, for his part, unabashedly smiled.

"Just a few hours ago......"

Tails looked lost and his eyes glazed out, as if he had seen the king's head roll to the ground again.

"King Nunn has offered to make an alliance with us," he said, his voice grim and hoarse, as if to incorporate the suffering and suffering of these days into his words, "Walton and Bright Star. ”

"We help him to balance the princes of the country, to maintain Walton's survival after the death of King Nunn, and in exchange, he will do his best to maintain the peace between the two countries and give us time to recuperate," Tyers said weakly, only feeling that his head was as big as a fight, and his heart was like numbness, "the dilemma caused by Moral's death has been solved, and now it is ......"

Huaiya opened her mouth in surprise, Cohen was slightly startled when she heard this, and then thoughtfully, Miranda was still silent, and her expression was cold.

Tails closed his eyes and let out a long sigh of sleepiness and fatigue.

Now all that King Nunn had spoken was blown away with his death.

Calamity, rumba, assassination.

Disaster in the shield area.

It's damn everything.

The strange black hole on Raphael's arm shuddered.

"Hey, hey, hey, haha......"

Tails was answered by the cold and hoarse smirk of the Black Prophet.

The laughter lasted for several seconds.

Tails' brow began to converge.

"Put away your senseless naivety, Your Highness - you are not like this in the Hall of the Stars," Finally, Morat's laughter turned into indifferent words, and came from the empty cell, "Do you really think that we will rely on your envoys to work miracles and put an end to the flames of war?"

Listening to the Black Prophet's mocking words, Tails took a deep breath and resisted the impulses and anger in his heart.

"Originally, the problem has been solved," he gritted his teeth and said, "With the power of Longxiao City, Exeter and Xingchen could have been at peace......"

"Resolved?" the Black Prophet interrupted.

"Of course, the genius prince has used great means to persuade King Nunn not to trouble the stars anymore," said the Black Prophet lightly, his words full of lame and ugly teasing from Tails, "the two countries of friendship have since ushered in a ...... of peace"

"How long?" until the head of the secret department changed his words: "Five years, ten years, or fifteen years?"

Tails exhaled impatiently.

With an extremely uncomfortable rhythm, the Black Prophet's sneer slowly sounded.

"My Highness, do you really think that a covenant between the two families can maintain peace between the two countries?"

"Do you think that by waving the prince to Longxiao City on his horse and nodding to the Grand Duke in the secret room, you can dispel the dragon's ambition and greed?"

"Even Tormund and Necajou, six hundred years ago, could not do this. ”

Tails was slightly stunned.

"Do you know how many times in the past thirty years that King Nun has dreamed of planting the Red Dragon Banner on a black background in the Dragon Fortress and bringing the northern realm of the stars under the rule of the Exeters?"

"Twelve years, Exeter from king to archduke, from nobleman to commoner, they all dream of going south again," the Black Prophet sneered: "The provocations of the three archdukes on the border have never stopped, and the temptations of Longxiao City have been repeated every year - what do you think the Moral prince sent to the stars for?"

Rebuilding the "Fortress Peace Treaty" - Cohen lowered his eyelids slightly, and silently added a sentence in his heart.

Tails looked at the strange black hole on Raphael's arm and said nothing.

"They are not nobodies," the Black Prophet's words came slowly from the black hole in the young man's arm: "They are the Northlanders, the Northlanders who were born to fight with the sword, the Northlanders who have been known all over the world since the time of ignorance—you would do well to keep that in mind for the rest of your life, Your Highness." ”

"They have the ancient style of the Northlands that they are proud to join the army and kill the enemy, they have the strong physique honed in the cold and hardships, and they have the tenacity of the army built with iron and honor. ”

"They have Orion civilians who can pull the pinewood longbow half-full without training, invincible heavy cavalry who charge with magic guns and spears, and glacial sentries and white-knuckle guards who dare to take the orcs head-on. ”

"They also have conscription soldiers who have no complaints about service and sacrifice, who can travel dozens of miles a day with a few loaves of bread in winter, and elite standing armies that can withstand seventy percent of casualties and not collapse. There was a chilling air in Morat's words.

"They were born for war. ”

Miranda's face became colder and colder as she listened to all this, recalling the battles of the past three years, and her fists slowly clenched.

The Black Prophet paused for a second, and the lights in his cell seemed to dim, casting shadows over everyone's faces.

Tails pursed his lower lip: "But ......"

The Black Prophet didn't let him continue.

"Little Prince, have you seen that war twelve years ago?"

The Black Prophet's words made Miranda, who was holding Raphael, face stiffen, and the female swordsman couldn't help frowning slightly.

"Have you ever seen the heavy cavalry of the Northland smashing the mountains and rolling in the rocks, and the heavy sword infantry and axemen pouring all over the city walls? Have you ever heard the sound of siege cones pounding the gates and catapults bombarding the city walls? Have you ever seen the tragic situation of corpses strewn all over the field and starving everywhere? Have you seen the hopeless eyes of the hungry people wandering in a trance? Do you know how long the depression and desolation of the North have lasted?"

Tails clenched his fists, but felt that the strength in his hand had nowhere to vent, and the scar on his palm began to ache again.

In front of his eyes, the light infantry under the Broken Dragon Fortress who were sworn to besiege them to the death, and did not flinch in the face of the beastly Araka Mu, those Northlanders.

At the same time, Miranda's face became extremely pale.

She seemed to see the past again.

A nightmarish past.

That white expanse of snow.

Raphael pursed the corners of his mouth slightly, and he grabbed the female swordsman's hand intentionally or unintentionally, with a slight force.

Cohen, who had taken all this in his eyes, sighed in his heart.

Miranda, and Raphael.

The two of them are the ones who have experienced those disasters most directly.

Tails stared at the wriggling black hole, his mind was chaotic, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and sighed: "We have reached a consensus - Nunn is old, what he needs to care about is the affairs behind the king, the survival of Walton and the dragon lance in the clouds, and the game between Longxiao City and the Grand Dukes, not the stars......"

This time it was the red-eyed young man who answered him.

"You're on point, Your Highness," Raphael looked up slightly, his red eyes shining under the unextinguished lamp, "The biggest problem is: Nunn is old." ”

"Yes, he may be able to restrain Exeter with his wrist and residual power, suppress the nine Grand Dukes, and make the Broken Dragon Fortress and the Northern Realm quiet for a few years," the young man from the secret department said coldly, "But what about after that?"

Tails' breath froze.

The already unpleasantly foul air in the cell seemed to be even more solemn.

A long sigh came from the other side of the black hole.

"It doesn't matter who ascends to the throne in Exester after the death of King Nunn," the Black Prophet's voice seemed to carry a hint of weariness, "but what do you think the new king will have to rely on in order to collect the greatest benefit and reputation at the least cost, so as to prove, accumulate, and consolidate his position and prestige as the successor king?"

"What means will he rely on to appease the grand dukes who have lost in the election of kings, and what chips will he use to reward those grand dukes who support him?"

Tails closed his eyes and let out a long-standing breath.

He knew what the Black Prophet was going to say.

"Isn't it the Kingdom of Stars in the south, weakened, unrejuvenated, and unstable by the catastrophe of twelve years ago?" Morat's voice became extremely cold, "Isn't it the Cold Castle, the Overwatch City, the Lonely Old Tower, and the Broken Dragon Fortress that Exeter has been thinking about for three or four hundred years?

Tails felt a slight shock in his heart.

He unconsciously looked at the little slippery head, and a terrible thought popped up in his heart.

King Nunn married him to his granddaughter.

Under the premise that Bright Star and Walton take care of each other, one of their future blood heirs will inherit Bright Star's surname, and one will inherit Walton's family name.

From then on, the Kingdom of Stars had an excuse to meddle in the internal affairs of Longxiao City and restrain Exeter, which could not only ensure Walton's survival, but also increase Xingchen's prestige and bargaining chips.

But......

And the other way around?

Once he, Tails himself, has an accident, will the Exeter Kingdom and Longxiao City also have the bargaining chips to interfere with the Bright Star Royal Family and ask for the stars?

Thinking of this, Tails's heart was slightly cold.

He suddenly remembered the one-eyed dragon duke of the stars, the clan of the Gorsd Nanpust: Battle must be priced, and victory must be rewarded.

Raphael quietly let go of Miranda's wrist and calmly took his superior's words, "Defeat the stars, take the fortress, and unify the Northlands—no matter which of these three goals is achieved, it will be enough to add color to the crown of the new king and lay the foundation for the throne of the king." ”

The Black Prophet's cold snort resounded in the air, and even the black hole in Raphael's hand trembled.

"The conflict between the Kingdom of the Stars and Exeter will never disappear because of the decision of one family, even if you are crowned in the future," Morat said lightly, "We are afraid of them. ”

"Just as they are afraid of us. ”

"So, once there is an opportunity, there are benefits, there are conditions - how can they not go south?"

Tails lowered his head.

The Black Prophet's words gave him a real pressure.

"Once they're heading south—how long do you think we'll be able to hold out with our orphans, widows, and remnants of the army in the north?"

"Lady Sonia Sutherley is known as the Flower of the Fortress and resides in the Broken Dragon Fortress. It is said that if Sonia does not bloom, the fortress will be impregnable - it may seem like a beautiful scenery, but did you know that she made a will on the first day she set out to defend the fortress, and entrusted it to the royal family for safekeeping, and it has been a full twelve years? ”

For she knew that it was likely that someday in the future, when the north wind rose and the dragon roared into the air, the flower of the fortress would wither in the north and never return. ”

"Do you know what the price we paid in exchange for the peace of the Fortress Peace Treaty?

"Do you know how much it has cost us to maintain this fragile peace, to protect the dying North and the weakened kingdom from the scourge of war?"

All of Tails' words were choked in his throat, and he felt an indescribable boredom welling up in his heart.

"The nobles are complaining about Your Majesty, about why he fought that unprofitable desert war five years ago with an empty and fragile country," the voice of the Black Prophet sounded cold and cold, but it contained a palpitating sense of strength:

"But those fat-headed, rat-eyed moths don't know, and they don't want to know: the stars after the bloody year, if we don't fight that seemingly crazy desert war, if we don't use a Jedi victory to show our national power, don't use the bloody blood to wash our resolve, don't use the orc skulls and the altar of the boneless people to prove that our blades are still sharp......"

When Cohen on the side heard this, he suddenly realized in his heart, and Huaiya even clucked the hilt of the sword in his hand.

The voice of the Black Prophet continued: "I am afraid that in the winter of five years ago, the 'Born King' Nunn VII, who covered the entire northern sky and threatened all the Northlands, would tear up the Peace of the Fortress and bring with him the armed Northlanders all over the mountains to recover what they had lost at the negotiating table. ”

"Where there is anything to follow, where there is any controversy over the royal succession - where is there the day when you are called Your Highness!"

"Do you think there won't be another king like this after Nunn?"

Tails didn't say a word, just stared at the empty ground steadily.

Raphael nodded slowly, and the young man took the words of the Black Prophet and said expressionlessly: "And five years have passed, Exeter has gradually figured out our hole cards, and the confusion and deterrence of desert war are no longer there. You can also see in the Hall of the Stars, and with a slight stab from Rumba and Aarend, the division between the royal family and the nobility is emboldened by the Yankees. ”

"Why do we carry out 'Dragon's Blood'?" Raphael said calmly in the dark, bowing his head:

"That's the answer, and that's what 'dragon's blood' means. ”

"What we want is not a few years of false peace, not years of fear, not dangerous negotiations and confrontations," Raphael bowed slightly to the prince with a pale face and blood-red eyes, with a complicated expression:

"It's that the kingdom under the disadvantage is no longer worse, that the north of the stars has been peaceful and stable for decades or even centuries, that the stars are long enough to recover from the great creation of the bloody years, that your family's family name and rule are firmly established again, and that we are strong again and fearless, as before. ”

"With this goal, even the life and death of King Nune are insignificant. ”

Tails looked up, his heart realised.

"The act of the Rumba marks the shattering of the myth of Exeter's founding of the country, and confirms that the so-called Oath of Nexus is nothing more than a dead letter, and that the creed of the Northland is also weak," Raphael smiled slightly, "and more importantly, a grand duke openly murdered the king—there is a precedent from here." ”

"The earliest precedent is the mourning Grand Duke Tan En of the Weilan Collar," Tails snorted weakly, and his eyes drifted to the little slippery head intentionally or unintentionally: "He is not the first one for a long time. ”

The little slippery head, who had not dared to take a breath from just now, raised his eyes at this time and glanced at Tails, but could only see endless exhaustion and gloom in the latter's eyes.

Raphael frowned slightly, and his words froze.

"I understand now. ”

Tails let out a sigh, his own understanding coming to mind.

"What you need is not revenge, not rebellion, not even the death of anyone," the second prince took over after a deep sigh, "but to tear off the disguise and whitewash of the Nakaru oath, and to bring to light the most entrenched contradiction within Exter, the rivalry between the king and the archduke, and to turn it into an irreconclusive mess." ”

For example, the success of an Archduke of Exeter in killing a king through violence and conspiracy would bring an unparalleled shock to the sons and daughters of the North Wind and the Dragon, a devastating blow to the faith of the Northlands forged by Necajou, and break the principles that the Ten Grand Dukes had adhered to for nearly seven centuries.

For example, under the founding legend of heroes and dragons, it provokes the Grand Dukes to have thoughts that they should not have, to provoke their strange thoughts outside the election of kings, to provoke their other ambitions outside the oath of co-governance, and to provoke them to think about greedy thoughts that can only be considered at midnight in the six hundred years of Exeter.

More importantly, and more urgently:

The death of Nunn, the rebellion of the Rumba, and even the possible civil war in Exeter - this will bring a shadow and precedent to the next succeeding king of Exeter, and bring unprecedented vigilance and suspicion to the new king about his nine co-governing archdukes, as well as the unending suspicion of the grand dukes about their co-king.

At that time, King Nunn once gathered seven grand dukes and hundreds of thousands of troops to invade the south, and the feat of crossing the Broken Dragon Fortress may not be so easy to achieve.

Raphael nodded in affirmation of his words.

Understood the reason for Secret's actions, but Tails was still not happy.

His heart was heavy, as if there was a spike lying in it, and it always made him quite uneasy.

For some reason, Kessel's words resurfaced in front of his eyes:

Fight for the stars, UU read books Die for the stars, live for the stars.

Tails shook his head, as if that would take the heaviness out of his mood a bit.

Apparently, he failed.

"Did the secret work succeed?" Tails finally sighed and asked what he wanted to ask the most, "If it succeeds, why am I here?"

The black hole shuddered again - the Black Prophet spoke.

To Tails' surprise, this time Morat Hansen actually said a question: "I'm also curious, what's going on in Longxiao City?"

Raphael's face changed, and his expression became solemn.

"According to the plan, you should now stay in Valhalla, spend the night as an Exeter guest under heavy siege, and return home with a neutral status among the princes who have become in turmoil afterwards," the young man of the secret department said with a slight heaviness, "but for some reason, King Nunn decided to leave Valhalla, and took you out of the palace - so that you fell into the hands of Rumba." ”

Tails' heart tightened, the person who brought him out of Valhalla was not Nunn.

But......

He couldn't help but look at the little slippery head—she had seen Ashida.

I've seen the black swords, I've seen their confrontation.

"What else?" asked the prince quietly, skimming the question, intentionally or unintentionally.

"Other than that," Raphael raised an eyebrow slightly, "there was something wrong with our plan. ”

"There are still ten minutes left before the time you said," Morat's cold and hoarse voice was still unpleasant, "Tell me about it." ”

Raphael's eyes froze, and he looked around at everyone, countless thoughts of unknown meaning flashed in his eyes.

Eventually, these thoughts converged into three words, which gently came out of his mouth:

"Calamity. ”

"And Rumba. ”

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