Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1625 1597. New Earl

Royal Coroner Stephen Skellan, a middle-aged man nicknamed 'Gray Swan'.

The position of coroner sounds insignificant, but in fact, under Emperor Emhyr, the "Royal Coroner" is actually a position for his subordinates to do some dirty work and espionage work.

He cannot be equated with a coroner in the ordinary sense, a technical position that is isolated from the world.

But because of this, Stephen Skylen's back is now stiff and cold sweat is running down his forehead in this silence.

He got his current position thanks to his friendship with the chief intelligence officer, Vatir, but he had only seen this aura lingering around the emperor of Nilfgaard on a few occasions.

The most recent of these was the defeat at Mount Sodden.

The two noble men who broke into the library door were both earls.

One of them was Joachim de Witte, from the old Nilfgaardian noble family of Witte. He was born in the City of the Golden Tower and was a pure Nilfgaardian.

One of them is Rudolf Éppe Darcy, also an old nobleman.

The Darcy family suffered a tragic death two years ago. People in Nilfgaard were of course well-known to this family, but outside of Nilfgaard, people's first impression was definitely -

Adar aip Darcy, the first person to verify the unprecedented sharpness of Lord Hunter.

That was Rudolph's father.

After Adal's death, Rudolf went through a difficult, dangerous and bloody family infighting before he successfully inherited the title a year ago.

Strictly speaking, these two people don't get along well with Emperor Emhyr.

Because according to Nilfgaard's tradition, the emperor must choose his wife from the family of traditional nobles to maintain the stability of his rule.

Before today's incident with Cirilla, Joachim de Witt's daughter and Rudolf's sister were the popular candidates.

This was also the candidate that their two families had been strongly recommending to the emperor for several years.

So before the court meeting began, the nobles would whisper that the emperor wanted to slap the faces of the two great nobles and that he wanted to challenge tradition.

When the two of them pushed open the door, Emhyr thought they were crazy.

Even if you want to challenge yourself, at least it should be a bit technical.

But when the two men really rushed in, looking around like headless flies among the neatly arranged bookshelves, and finally found the emperor's position and ran over, Enhyr already felt something was wrong.

This is not meant to cause trouble.

"My dear lords." Finally, the royal steward stepped forward and stopped the two earls who were jogging over.

Chirak looked them up and down with a scrutinizing look.

"How can you make a scene in front of His Majesty?"

Count Joachim had a cold and stern face as he handed the information in his hand to Chirak and asked him to take a look first.

The royal steward took it suspiciously at first, and then, as if the paper was hot, his arm trembled and he hurriedly handed it to the emperor.

Emhyr took the information, and for the first time his previously steady breathing began to fluctuate noticeably.

But he did not tremble, nor did he hand the letter to anyone else.

He is the emperor of Nilfgaard, the most powerful person in the empire. But at the same time, no one can make decisions or take responsibility for him.

He is the person with the highest responsibility.

"This should be the job of Viscount Vatier." Rudolf was a man who was much younger than everyone else present and looked to be in his thirties.

He said in a gloomy tone, "But unfortunately, it can only be delivered by the two of us at the moment."

"I was summoned an hour ago, waiting here, what do I have."

Vatier retorted subconsciously, but then he immediately lowered his head and shut up halfway through his words.

In the past, a venomous character like him would never bring conflicts to the surface.

His mind was in a mess because of this shocking news.

And it wasn't just him who was confused. Although the library was still silent, everyone knew that everyone's heart was in chaos.

Otherwise, since they were the only ones in the library now, why would they need to whisper to each other like the flapping of mosquito wings?
Stephen Skylen was originally promoted thanks to Vatier's relationship. At this time, he just accidentally glanced at a corner of the letter that the emperor held in his hand after reading it. What was written on it had already taught him to be quiet.

The big shots whispered, as if only by doing so would the information on the piece of letter not come out of the paper and come into reality.

But they can do this to escape reality, except one person.

“Lan of Cintra is back.” Emhyr spoke slowly and clearly. “The intelligence was dated three days ago, and the location was the Dark Water outside of Vizima.”

It was as if he wanted to bring this news completely and accurately into reality and force everyone to face it.

The emperor turned his gaze to the chief intelligence officer.

Vatir immediately understood what this meant. He forced himself to calm down and gave an answer after thinking for a while.

"No one is responsible for this, Your Majesty. Based on the great innovation of Marshal Menno Kuhoon, we have greatly improved the efficiency of the warlocks in transmitting information. But the key to intelligence work is to hide oneself."

"It takes three days to transmit intelligence from Vizima in the enemy's rear, taking into account encryption, misdirection, and the time spent deliberately using traditional methods in the middle. This is normal."

"Not necessarily?" Rudolph said indifferently, "Could it be that those sorcerers have had it too easy lately? Their status has risen too quickly? You know, people in this situation often won't work honestly."

"I attach importance to the research of sorcerers, allocate funds, and use titles to mobilize their vitality. These are the policies I promote. Do you have any questions, Count Rudolf?"

Emhyr asked calmly.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, Rudolf, who had been sarcastic just now, immediately lowered his head and said, "Your decision is absolutely correct. I am only worried that those warlocks will fail to live up to the expectations of the empire. After all, most of them are of humble origins and have no noble spirit at all."

"I don't need them to have aristocratic spirit either." The emperor said, "I need them to work honestly and research more and stronger things."

"You are absolutely right." Rudolf's original action of simply bowing his head turned into a deep bow.

"Okay." Enhyr slammed the letter on the small desk beside him, but it seemed that he slammed too hard, and the teacup next to it was knocked over, and the black tea spilled all over the table.

But no one cared at this point.

“He’s back,” Emhyr repeated slowly, as if forcing reality into his eyes. “Lan of Cintra. Yes, he’s back.”

"But isn't this normal?" He asked the handful of important imperial officials in front of him, "Since the last disastrous defeat at Sodden Mountain, hasn't every military operation of the Empire taken him into account?"

"Right now, it's just the most difficult problem in computing, and it's happening as expected."

"The violence that can defeat an entire army with the strength of one person"

Emhyr spoke in a trance.

The complexity in the tone is almost beyond words.

Fear? Jealousy? Desire?

Even Lan himself probably didn't know that the Emperor of Nilfgaard spoke of him in such a tone.

However, Chirak, the royal steward who had served for many years, still remembered that two years ago, when the news about Lan En and his achievements were reported back to the palace, his master showed a memorable look of astonishment.

The Nilfgaardians value calmness and restraint. If the emperor showed surprise, then in the past, the person who did this would not be able to express "joy" after the emotion of "surprise".

If the emperor's mood changes to 'surprise', this person can basically be declared dead.

But two years ago, Lan first shocked Emhyr and then made him furious.

But until now, the witcher has been like a living symbol of contempt for the unity of theocracy and imperial power in Nilfgaard, living a carefree and well-fed life.

What kind of power is this?

As the emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr also has things that are hard to come by.

And Chirak, who had served him for many years, also fully understood that, that is - a sense of security.

The journey of pursuing supreme power is certainly exciting and refreshing, but afterwards, the person standing at the top will constantly have to face the gazes of those who seem to be crawling below but are actually eyeing them covetously.

It was difficult for Emhyr to get a good night's sleep over the years.

He sat casually on the throne in the throne room, and even draped his legs over the armrests on a whim.

The large group of noble people were as docile as castrated cats and dogs.

But would Emhyr feel complacent, that he had the empire in his hands?

Chirak knew that he never dared to think like that.

In fact, Chirak, who was serving as an attendant, knew that the emperor felt fear in his heart when he looked at the crowd of nobles who were bowing their heads respectfully under the throne.

Because he knew that many of these people were related to him, and many of them could also sit on the throne.

The family power of this group of people is not only spread throughout the court, but also in the army and merchant associations.
They are so respectful now because I am leading them to win.

When Emhyr first came to power, he established his own style: never forgive, never tolerate.

Therefore, through a dance party on the ground covered with tombstones, it got the title of "White Flame Dancing on the Enemy's Graveyard".

However, this powerful royal power was always well controlled by him.

He knew clearly who would kneel before his kingship, and who would kneel on the surface while looking at him as if he were a child making trouble.

Without mentioning the distant ones, let's talk about the nearest one, the Voorhis family in the Golden Tower City.

The Nilfgaard Empire actually experienced a coup before Emhyr ascended the throne.

At that time, a rebellious usurper seized the throne from Emhyr's father, and Emhyr himself returned to the country later to restore the throne.

(End of this chapter)