Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 351 Stop Singing Twilight and Missing

It was getting late.

The night covered the southern wilderness, and sadness drenched Mayor Joel's face.

This day was originally a cultural festival that Shuangfengling had prepared for a long time-after a winter offensive, the citizens who had huddled on the platform for the whole winter just needed to rely on some cultural and sports activities to boost their vitality before the spring thaw and the start of farming. Spirit.

However, since most of the members of the Igor Pioneering Army Art Troupe followed the lord northward to engage in peaceful evolution on the north bank of the Lion Heart River, there are not many literary and artistic talents left in the territory;

However, the "Frost Maple Ridge Spring Festival" that had been announced long ago had to be held. During the time when the lord was away, the mayor Katerina and Joel, who were in charge of the territory, had to bring the employees of the wasteland road rest area who were on vacation to perform. , and temporarily recruited a group of members of the territory with unique talents, and only then did they get together a performance team——

The rest area of ​​Route 66 is used to attract business travelers during the peak trade season. Under the influence of corporate culture, the employees in the rest area have also cultivated an eye-catching talent. At this time, they are urgently pulled over to support the venue, which can be regarded as professional counterpart.

But, in this way, the quality of the program will be difficult to guarantee.

That night, at the People's Square of Phoenix Terrace, Old Mayor Joel sat sleepily in the light of the lighting crystal, and watched those lackluster cultural performances:

Karim Lodge sang his corny "Havenland Chronicle" on the lute;
The revolutionary songs "The Sun is Red on the Frost Maple Ridge" and "The Lord Lord Comes to Our Farm" sung by young girls in several territories;
The chorus "The Most Powerful Pioneering Army" sung by the soldiers of the Pioneering Army left behind;
The sketches performed by the employees in the rest area of ​​Route 66 "So Attracting Customers", "Longmen Restaurant" and "Working Adventure";
As well as the comic dialogue "Article Meeting", "Dragon Update" and "On Eunuchs" dedicated by Dongbingku's hard-working bandit writers...

These shoddy and rubbish programs made Mayor Joel drowsy after watching them, but they won the applause of the audience——

Today's Frost Maple Ridge is no longer what it used to be. In addition to the Igor citizens who first migrated from Eagle's Rest Fort, Enzi'ai trolls, former wilderness bandits, left bank town residents, and Southern Army support troops and other immigrants The addition of , made the population of this wasteland territory that had just been established not long ago increase exponentially;
And as the banditry in the western part of the wilderness gradually subsided, after the end of the First World War in Red River Valley, Karen Leperg also gradually moved the members of the original Luna Village into Shuangfeng Ridge——Luna Village is a military force with no production capacity. The stronghold, when the bandit war came to an end, is still not as convenient as Shuangfengling to live in;
A direct result of this population growth is that the two terraces, Phoenix Terrace and Tongque Terrace, are already overcrowded, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Shuangfengling has already started the development and construction of the third terrace, "Yuhua Terrace";
It is precisely because there are too many residents and the small People's Square can't hold these many spectators, so this trash show still needs tickets!

——Only the lucky ones who got the tickets could watch the performance live in the square, while the others could only stay outside the Phoenix Terrace and watch the real-time broadcast projected by the territorial mage on the city wall of the platform with magic.

Of course, this cultural festival performance is bad, but at least there are a few exciting highlights:

For example, Miss Katerina Igor came on stage in person and sang the classic song "Song of the Nightingale". The supernatural charm that people are listening to Xianle's ear has won countless flowers, applause and applause for the mistress of the territory;

Another example is the first lottery ceremony of the "Igor Family Welfare Lottery" held after the main performance, which directly pushed the atmosphere of the night to a climax:
The "Igor Family Welfare Lottery" was designed by the wise and powerful Lord Elliott Igor himself. Each lottery ticket is only priced at ten imperial silver coins. It was sold for a total of 5000 in just one month after its release. There are many copies, and the total price is about more than 500 gold coins!
According to rumors, it is not only the members of the territory and the residents of the left bank who buy this kind of lottery ticket, even the soldiers of the Southern Army on the Arcane Spire defense line are eager for this new thing. Fengling bought lottery tickets, and finally forced the Ministry of Internal Affairs to set up an authorized sales point at the "Pillar of Eternal Sleep" outpost of the Arcane Spire's defense line, and it was over;
Why is a small "Igor Family Lottery Ticket" so popular?Only a true insider can answer the question:

It turns out that Shuangfengling's internal affairs department solemnly promises that every customer who buys a lottery ticket can get the autographs of all the virtual idol girls in Shuangfengling's "Dark-Souls Project"!

So that night, in the first phase of the "Igor Family Welfare Lottery", not only awards totaling up to [-] gold coins were issued, but also a large number of awards with "virtual idol" small cards were distributed one after another. The autographed sister's hickey made everyone immersed in infinite happiness.

However, as an old man with outdated ideas, Mayor Johnson Joel just felt that all this was incomprehensible.

And just when he thought that the night was bad enough, the report sent by several territorial colleagues took advantage of the night, and gave the old man another blow.

"Six thousand gold coins?! What do you want so much money for?!"

——Mayor Joel raised his head and stared at Tom Lawrence, who was shuttling through the auditorium and busy collecting the letters of the next issue of "I express my heart for the lord". Budget plan in hand.

That's right, it's "six thousand gold coins".

Master Donald of the Construction Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said with a bitter face:

"Six thousand gold coins, this is just an initial investment! Johansen, you have to understand that it takes so much money to build a house... This year's peak trade season is coming again, we have to take a good rest in the wilderness road rest area before summer, this The budget is really not much, so you can approve it..."

Mayor Joel opened his mouth, then lowered his head, his expression continued as the subway old man looked at his phone.

After a long time, the old mayor choked out another sentence:
"Is it really worth six thousand gold coins?"

Master Donald was speechless.

Mayor Joel, who is currently the Minister of the Interior Department of Frost Maple Ridge, is good at everything, except that he has a kind of pickiness unique to the elderly in terms of finances-whether it is their construction department, Master Kobe's Armed Forces, or Master Nicholson's " Manhattan Laboratory", every time it wants to ask the Ministry of the Interior for appropriation and approval of the budget, it takes a long time to talk.

Sean Mountbatten, who came to submit the budget report with Master Donald, couldn't stand it anymore, and persuaded with a bitter face:
"Mr. Joel...these are the necessary expenses for the maintenance of our territory...including the expenses for the purchase of military magic props by our staff, the lord also nodded before he left..."

——Sean Mountbatten, the chief of staff of Frost Maple Ridge, rushed back to the territory alone after accompanying the lord to deal with the matter in Peacock City: the southern noble coalition army who went north to attack the Duke of Houston already has a bunch Commanded by the nobleman, he, a little-known graduate of a military school, has no right to speak, and it is uncomfortable to stay there;

What's more, Sean's task at Frost Maple Ridge is even heavier: after the First World War in Red River Valley, no matter whether it was summing up experience and lessons, collecting war captures, adjusting the troop establishment, replenishing casualties, or discussing arms purchases with the Southern Army, everything was important. Indispensably, he, the chief of staff, sits in town.

However, even Sean's budget request seems to have hit a wall——

Mayor Joel read and looked at the two budget books in his hand, raised his head and sighed distressedly:

"Oh... don't take me for an idiot... don't I know what expenses are necessary? But what I mean is, isn't the budget report you submitted a little too much? Really Can't save money? You are not outsiders, and you all know that our Shuangfengling is not financially well-off now..."

Sean Mountbatten said patiently:
"Mr. Joel, the Eastern Region is so hot now that the military equipment on the market is almost priceless... For this price, I had to argue with Commander Paulus for a long time before negotiating it. It can't be lower... ...You can't suspect me of taking kickbacks, can you?"

Master Donald is more direct:
"Johansen, don't talk about financial constraints with us - the 'lottery ticket' that was drawn today is not money? The 'Wilf Coupon' that your Ministry of Internal Affairs sells out is not money? And this road rest area is a cornucopia, it The maintenance fee is not just thrown on the side of the road, we can get it back in the future..."

Tanaka Bloodfang, the troll chief of the "Enziai" tribe passing by holding a handful of virtual idol autographs, also interrupted after hearing their conversation:

"That's right, Mayor Joel, the peak trading season is here, so our territory will have income! Besides, the lord will go north to crusade against Rock Creek City this time, so there is still money to be made!"

"Eliott went to Rock Creek City to seek revenge, there is a fart to earn!" Mayor Joel curled his lips, "They didn't go out of danger and sent their lives in the Grand Duchy of Houston, thank God for me, an old man !"

Sean Mountbatten, Master Donald and Chief Bloodfang were completely speechless.

Mayor Joel puffed his cheeks and sulked for a long time, finally heaved a long sigh, took out the seal from his arms, and stamped the budget request of these prodigals.

……

In the east of the empire, the capital of the Stardust Elf Protectorate, Eternal Sun City.

In an inconspicuous small building on the edge of the city.

Quentin, Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Army, with an unopened bottle of wine under his arm, hummed a ditty all the way to the second floor, smiling and nodding to the elf maids who were rushing in the corridor, and walked two A soldier of the Eastern Army with a big arm and a round waist pushed open the door of the room at the deepest part of the corridor.

"Grimm, I brought wine, good wine!" Quentin's Chief of Staff held up the wine bottle he brought as a show off as soon as he entered the door.

His response was a deep and brief "hmm".

Quentin's chief of staff didn't seem to care about this indifferent response that was too uninterested.While humming a folk song from the Eastern Region, he put the wine bottle on the round table in the room, then pulled a chair, sat on the side of the hospital bed and crossed his legs.

"What are you doing with the wine? What's there to celebrate?" The person on the hospital bed sighed, looked back at Quentin and asked.

"Celebrate your recovery, can't you?" Quentin's chief of staff smiled, looking at Grand Duke Grim Rosario on the hospital bed.

It has been several months since the Grand Duke was injured on the battlefield, but the shadow left by that disaster obviously still hasn't dissipated - the formerly resolute and strong "Blood Flower" is now using the least "Rosario" posture Lying weakly on the hospital bed, wrapped in several layers of thick quilts, and the eyes of Grand Duke Grim Rosario, who stared at the wolf and looked at the wolf, looked particularly dim;
If there is any detail in this room that reminds people that this person is Grand Duke Grimm Rosario, who dominates the eastern border of the empire and looks down on one side, it is probably that his pale and weak hands still hold The thick stack of military reports.

"It's impossible for me to recover, Quentin." Grand Duke Rosario put down the military report in his hand, leaned back on the pillow behind him, and closed his eyes calmly, "It's been a long time, now every time I want to When I raised my hand, my chest hurt like it was about to tear..."

"Be patient, Grimm..." Quentin's chief of staff was still smiling, "...Her Majesty the Elf Queen sent you the best healing magicians in the Stardust Protectorate, the fate of this eternal sun city, It still falls on your shoulders..."

Grand Duke Rosario still had his eyes closed, and gave a noncommittal "huh".

"The problem with you is that you are too impatient. You are lucky to not die this time. How can you recover so quickly? But now you can read the report, can't you? Damn it... I obviously don't want them to send you Here are these things..." Chief of General Staff Quentin shrugged, picked up an orange from the table next to him, and said with a smirk while peeling, "If you want to stay away from military affairs and relax your mind, you will truly have It is good for your recovery—here, I see that those elf maids outside are pretty, so you should call in to relieve your boredom. I know you can’t move yourself, but look at their waists, they can ride on you and twist -"

Grand Duke Rosario interrupted him coldly: "I'm not Vincent Igor."

"That guy has been on an elf?!" Quentin's chief of staff exaggeratedly called out, as if he didn't hear the dissatisfaction in Grand Duke Rosario's tone.

However, Quentin's chief of staff immediately bit an orange petal and shrugged:
"...But you really don't need to read these military documents, your old partner for decades, don't you feel relieved to leave it to me? All winter, the orcs in the east didn't move much, even if their damn 'ice monsters' Mammoth's going to rush to the city of Everlasting Sun, that will have to wait until March and April..."

Grand Duke Rosario pinched his brows with his hand, but gritted his teeth because of the injury:
"I like to find something to do for myself. If I don't read these military reports, what should I read? Are those imperial nobles impeaching me for bad words?"

"They are all idiots." Quentin's Chief of Staff said succinctly.

"Winter...spring." Grand Duke Rosario tilted his head, staring wistfully at the elf-style buildings outside the small building, which is unique to Eternal Sun City, "Is the southern border okay these days? I told you before Yes, the possible 'ghost gap' in the Dusty Mountains..."

"It's done." Quentin's chief of staff chewed an orange and said, as if he was talking about an insignificant matter, "'Tiger Shark' sent me information this morning, and our little Mr. He didn't listen to my words, and directly overthrew an entire division of orcs on the ground of the cracked soul... This time he made a fool of himself! Otherwise, why do you think I brought wine here for no reason? It's really to celebrate you An old thing who can't get out of bed, can finally read military reports?"

Grand Duke Rosario was stunned.

Chief of Staff Quentin appreciatively admired the stunned expression of his old partner, but suddenly couldn't bear it because of his pale face, so he turned his head away.

"He... did not live up to my hopes. He is worthy of being a member of the Igor family..." Grand Duke Grim Rosario took a deep breath and said with a smile, "Quentin, bring me a pen and paper, I have a letter to write to him..."

"You write a fart like this!" Quentin's chief of staff scolded, "You dictate, and I will write it for you! But I guess it will take a few days before sending it. Now that the land of broken souls is stable, then this kid Must be busy messing with the old Houston bastard..."

……

At the foot of Rock Creek Castle.

Count Anthony Dimitri, Governor of the Southern Territory, and Marquis Moby Dick of the Giant Whale City, the two great southern nobles asked someone to set up a wine table at the foot of Rock Creek Castle, and then dismissed colleagues, attendants, and irrelevant people. , Just pour wine and drink under the moonlight.

Sitting with him at the table was Leon Houston, the nephew of the Duke of Houston, who looked terrified.

Count Dimitri and Marquis Moby Dick, two old friends who also came from the southern border of the empire, happily drank until they were half drunk, but it was Leon Houston who had no idea why he was sitting here—this The young man could only shrink his neck, listening to the two great lords gossip about the aristocratic circle that he was not familiar with.

But after drinking for three rounds, Leon Houston felt faintly that they were going to get down to business.

Marquis Moby Deco stretched out his finger drunkenly, and pointed to the towering Rock Creek Castle next to it—that was where the "Rainbow Six" team was carrying out their mission to capture the Grand Duke.

he asks:

"What shall we do with Mr. Huston after he is captured?"

Count Dimitri cut the steak with a delicate carved silver knife, while curling his lips indifferently:
"Listen to Master Elliot Igor."

"Listen to him..." Marquis Moby Dicko was stunned, and said in a low voice, "Although Mr. Igor has made outstanding achievements in battle, Anthony, you are the governor of the southern border after all, the matter of the Grand Duchy of Houston..."

"Listen to Lord Igor." Count Dimitri repeated lightly, "If it weren't for Elliot Igor, none of the three of us would be able to sit here and eat alive. Moby, you should Go to the south bank of the Lion Heart River, if you see what I saw in Frost Maple Ridge, you won't have any hesitation about the question of 'whom to listen to'..."

Marquis Moby Dicko was silent for a moment, then loosened his neckline with his fingers.

"What about you, kid?" Earl Dimitri held the table knife in his hand, and suddenly turned to Leon Houston next to him, "What impression do you have of Lord Elliot Igor?"

"He..." Leon Houston stammered, "...very young...there are many beautiful women around him...the armor of the entourage is very impressive..."

Marquis Moby Dicko shook his head helplessly and smiled, but Count Dimitri asked without changing his face:
"anything else?"

Leon Houston hesitated for a long time, and finally said with difficulty:

"I think... Lord Duke Igor, he... he is very strange. I can't tell what it feels like, he is so young, but... But I just think that going against him will not end well."

"Congratulations, young man, your senses are very keen." Earl Dimitri smacked his lips, "So, Mr. Leon Houston, I sincerely suggest that you go and build a good relationship with Duke Eliot Igor , give him some money, give him some women, give him whatever he is interested in... You, Leon Houston, can you become the next Grand Duke of Houston and Lord of Rock Creek City in the future? In one thought of His Majesty the Duke."

Leon Houston nodded as if realizing something, and faintly realized that these words were exactly what Count Dimitri intended for him to drink together.

"Why?" Marquis Moby Dicko on the side smiled mysteriously, "Our Lord Governor of the Southern Territory is also concerned about the future ownership of Rock Creek City?"

"I just hope that Rock Creek City can continue to be in the hands of the Houston family, just like it has been for hundreds of years. This is the... order of this land in the southern border." Earl Dimitri shook his head, "I will come back again later. I went to talk to Lord Igor. Speaking of which...in fact, we should invite him to drink with him tonight."

"That's right! You should ask Master Igor to come with you!" said Marquis Moby Dicko, "But I didn't see him at our residence just now, so I thought he was on your side..."

"What?" Count Dimitri was stunned, "Did Duke Igor not return to his residence? But I didn't see him when he was besieging the castle?"

Marquis Moby Dick was also confused:

"Where did Master Igor go? Did he sneak around the brothel—"

Marquis Moby Dicko's words were interrupted by a loud noise coming from above them from the direction of the castle tower of Rock Creek City.

(End of this chapter)