Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1676 1648. Familiar Rat Man
The two men walked out of the palace. Dijkstra walked heavily but quickly with a gloomy face.

"I hope you enjoy this journey, Your Excellency."

"Why do you say that?" Lan En felt the sting in the other person's words, so he stabbed back, "Lord Earl?"

"Oh, come on!" Dijkstra said sarcastically, "Look. You know I came to Kovir with you because I wanted to ask you to do something. But what happened just now?"

"Just now you were drinking there, watching me being ridiculed and cornered by words. And when I begged you: Please be kind and show your breathtaking style! Let him see our confidence and possibility of victory! What did you do at that time?"

Dijkstra deliberately made an expression of sudden enlightenment.

"You talked to him for a few words, and then that was it. Gone!"

"Okay! In that case, you came with me for a trip, didn't you? I have to ask you how you feel about this trip!"

"Your words are getting sharper, Dijkstra." Lan En was not excited after hearing the other party's sarcasm.

The two of them were now leaving through the main entrance of the Ensenada Palace.

Passing through the huge columns and corridors that resemble ancient Greek architecture, there is a long and spectacular marble staircase leading directly to the dark and cold water of the canal in the city.

The two of them walked down this long and spectacular staircase.

"You didn't see it at all, and you didn't feel it at all, did you?"

Suddenly, after Dijkstra's sarcasm, Lan asked this question out of the blue.

The spy chief, who was walking down the stairs with anger and disappointment, suddenly paused, then turned back and looked at Lan En.

"What do you mean? What did you find out?"

"It seems that you really know nothing." The demon hunter chuckled. Under normal circumstances, even someone like Dijkstra would be slightly distracted when facing Lan's smile.

But now he was preoccupied with how his country could survive the war and how to get aid from Kovir.

So Dijkstra completely ignored Lan's smile, just like what Istrade had just said: he stared at the witcher with the persistent expression of a hungry wolf seeing meat.

"What should I know?" Dijkstra asked in a low voice, regaining the caution and restraint that a spy chief should have.

"No, I won't tell you, because you are in exactly the right state right now." The witcher walked past him, "But I can put your mind at ease a little."

"Dijkstra, think about it carefully. How long can the truce last at most? And if Kovir's aid is really allocated, how long will it take for it to be transformed into combat power on the battlefield?"

"That's why I'm in such a hurry now!" the spy shouted in a low voice, "Because there is not a minute or a second to waste!"

"Doesn't Istrade Tissen know that time is running out?"

Without giving Dijkstra a chance to catch his breath, Lan interrupted him.

The demon hunter looked at him with his amber cat eyes. "Do you really believe what he said, 'Kovir never breaks a contract, even if the other party breaks a contract, Kovir won't'?"

"Think about it, Dijkstra. Even if Kovir never breaks a contract, don't they take precautions against the other party breaking a contract?"

This is of course nonsense. Take the King of Redania who wanted to take Kovir back as a vassal.

After his failed attack on Kovir, he came to discuss an armistice, and when he arrived at Long Exeter, he saw a fleet and navy as vast as the sea.

That was a preventive measure to deal with the possibility that Redania would take the lead and unite with the other three northern countries to impose economic sanctions and maritime trade blockades on Kovir.

No one is a fool to be able to make such a big business.

At that time, Kovir was prepared for a possible fallout from Redania, but now facing the more aggressive and powerful Nilfgaard, he doesn't have that awareness?

Dijkstra was stunned, as if he had finally gotten rid of some of the irritability, anxiety and panic in his heart.

"I bet he's panicking himself." Lan pointed his thumb over his shoulder, using the palace to represent the king. "But he asked us to come over to meet him in person right after we got off the boat, and after the meeting, we couldn't agree on anything. Oh, he's not in a hurry."

"I think his money and people are already in place. All they need is an order to get out. Today we'll see if we can find a reason and procedure that won't offend Nilfgaard."

"The last thing he asked you was whether you had any creative ideas, and whether you had come with a ready-made plan. What did he say? 'If you start a business, you will never succeed.'"

"He must be having a headache now: why does he have to come up with reasons and excuses for helping you? Not only does he have to give you money, he also has to do work for you."

"So you're saying," Dijkstra ignored Lan's sarcasm and frowned in thought, "he actually wants to provide assistance, but he's stuck on how to go about it?"

What was the point of being mocked by Lan En? If he, a spy, cared about this little bit of face, he would have no business being around.

"I shouldn't have put my energy into 'convincing him'. I should have put my energy into studying reasonable and legal procedures!"

The more Dijkstra thought about it, the more he felt that what the witcher said was probably true!

After all, he was sure that from the perspective of the country of Kovir, no matter how strong its spirit of contract was, it would never want to see the emergence of a Nilfgaard Empire that had swallowed up the north.

Dijkstra walked in a trance, rubbing his two big hands together in anticipation. Combined with his own fat body, it was like two killer whales (his arms) wrestling in front of a blue whale (himself).

"Let's go, Lan! Let's go! I have to stay up all night to study the laws and contract procedures of this damn country!"

As he spoke, Dijkstra had already walked to the bottom of the stairs. Ahead was the water of the canal, and the boat arranged by the Redanian ambassador was already waiting.

But Lan En did not follow him anymore.

The witcher's nostrils twitched slightly, and at the same time, the sound of a kitten running down the stairs behind him was getting closer and closer.

"The rest is up to you, Dijkstra. Look, there's no need for you to drag me in."

Lan turned around, hugged the fluffy ball that jumped over, scratched its neck, and placed it at his feet.

The spy chief was stunned after hearing this.

"During your negotiations, I also have things to do. I may stay at the ambassador's residence. Please let him know."

The witcher and the fluff ball that ran out of the palace walked away sideways on this magnificent staircase.

Dijkstra got on board, but the enthusiasm and excitement on his face about finding a clue to help seemed to have cooled a lot.

A pair of eyes squinted on his fat face, revealing a cold light.

"Investigate the team that wrote the plan assessment report 'Find the Lord Hunter and have him go to Kovir together'. I'm keeping an eye on them."

He sat down after he finished speaking, and the boatman who was sent out from the mansion by the ambassador seemed to have heard nothing. He just grunted and started rowing, rowing away along the river.

Lan walked along Long Exeter's unique pedestrian street.

These streets were often formed by connecting the porches in front of buildings and mansions.

This city built on water requires small boats for travel, but people can also walk a few steps on the shore.

The combination of Lan and Flannel Ball, when the two of them are naked, can always cause a sensation and commotion just by their appearance.

The demon hunter's armor was placed in an alchemical leather bag. When entering the Ensenada Palace before, although people knew that this man could kill hundreds of soldiers with his bare hands, they still had to follow the rules and etiquette.

So Lann put on his regular clothes and put down the sword of the Lady of the Lake.

The guard also asked us to put down the alchemical leather bag, which showed that he was knowledgeable and knew what the space expansion pack was.

Now, when Long Exeter was cold and drizzling, Lan ran out wearing only a silk shirt on his upper body, and he didn't feel anything at all.

He moved among the well-dressed people on the sidewalk, walking in a direction that seemed very purposeful.

If the locals want to cross the river, they either look for a bridge or simply step on the crowded boats in the river and walk across like hopping across squares.

But Lan En was afraid that he would sink other people's boats, so he basically crossed the not-too-wide river channels, about four or five meters wide.

He leapt over a boat filled with barley and celery, turnips, and potatoes that looked like a one-man mobile storefront.

The female owner who was rowing the boat was startled by his shadow crossing over and started cursing at the top of her voice.

There are also shoemakers' boats selling shoes, butchers' boats selling meat, mobile barbers' boats, and so on on the river.

Finally, Lane and Flannel arrived at the same imposing office building of the Merchants' Guild that they had passed on their way to Ensenada Palace.

There are people coming and going here, and their clothes are so luxurious that they stand out even in Kovir, where clothes are generally higher than those in other places.

But now these people were walking in a hurry, most of them covering their noses and turning their faces away, quickly walking on the sidewalk outside the door.

Lan's arrival surprised many people, mostly women.

They began to breathe through their mouths in surprise, and were immediately made to vomit by the smell.

Fortunately, Lan En quickly passed them and went directly to the source of the smell.

There were five or six heads piled together on the marble steps, dirty and hairy, shaped like enlarged versions of rats.

A figure in military uniform was arguing with a businessman dressed in rich attire.

"Cohen?" Lan En called out tentatively as he approached.

The man in military uniform turned around in astonishment, and the two pairs of cat's eyes looked at each other, but one pair was amber, and the other was a sickly mixture of red, yellow and blue.

"Lane? Why are you here?"

"I was just about to ask you something." Lan En walked over and kicked the pile of rat heads on the ground that were bleeding and bleeding. "Are you hunting ratmen?"

(End of this chapter)