When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1243 Alliance
Upon hearing the news of Charlie's assassination attempt, Horn disregarded his half-eaten lunch and immediately went to offer his condolences.

This is no small matter; one of the leaders of the Three Kingdoms was almost killed on his own territory!

Moreover, this was not an assassination attempt by vampires, but by local Holy Alliance youths.

The Cheka has already found out that the assassin was a retired veteran, a graduate of J.J. D.J. High School, with a clean background and no contact with any spies.

As for the reason for the assassination, it was purely to avenge his brothers from the Holy Way sect in Fran.

That's the troublesome part.

Because Charlie will definitely want a reasonable explanation, and Agent Farron is capable of uncovering the truth.

Even if Horn stops Charlie, that would be a kind of "truth".

If Charlie were to utter any inappropriate remarks in a fit of anger, and these were taken as political statements, the Tripartite Alliance would break up before it was even established.

Therefore, Horn had no choice but to rush there, which was also a political statement.

Sometimes, being a politician is just that tiring; you have to take responsibility for every word you say and every action you take.

But when Horn got off the carriage and arrived at the inn converted from the Earl's palace outside the city, he saw Charlie calmly drinking afternoon tea in the small garden.

However, the little servant beside him was sulking and glaring at Horn.

Seeing that Charles VIII did not seem to have any particularly strong emotions, Horn was relieved.

"Brother Charlie, you came to the Holy Alliance and encountered such a thing. It's my fault for not being a good host."

Charlie, ever so enthusiastic, invited Horn to sit down and have some tea, saying, "If the enemy opposes me, then it means I'm doing the right thing!"

"You consider them enemies?"

"Who else but vampires and some unreliable nobles would do such a thing?" Charlie said casually as he poured black tea for Horn from the silver pot.

Upon hearing this, Horn understood that Charlie was a sensible person.

Although his tone was enthusiastic, Horn could still detect a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“To be honest, Brother Charlie,” Horn said, sitting down with a sigh. “We’ve found the assassin; he’s a young man from the Holy Alliance, and he definitely has no connection with any external enemies.”

“A sparrow can’t possibly understand an eagle’s plan.” Charlie handed Horn a teacup. “Don’t bother arguing with such a fool; it’ll ruin our grand scheme!”

Horn made his stance clear, and Charlie immediately responded in kind.

Holding the teacup, Saint Sun's mind was racing.

Although this incident stemmed from an assassination attempt, what truly made the assassination difficult was the young man from the Holy Alliance himself.

To be fair, he was right in his starting point; from the perspective of the Holy Path Sect, Charlie was the devil.

However, from a holistic human perspective, Charlie remains an indispensable and important figure.

Once Charles is removed, he might be replaced by someone like the Duke of Laban or the Queen Mother.

Charles was a reasonable king; if it were any other king, not to mention anything else, how much time would have been wasted?
Time is precious.

"What are your plans regarding that young man from the Holy Alliance?" Before Charlie could speak, the young attendant beside him couldn't contain himself any longer.

"How dare you speak to the Pope like that?" Charles raised his foot and kicked the squire in the backside, making him stumble.

The young servant covered his backside, but glared and retreated to the side.

Seeing Horn stroking his chin in thought, Charlie laughed and said, "What good would it do to kill such a fool? It would only enhance his reputation. I don't want to be the bad guy."

Charlie was not without his methods to secure his throne; with just a few words, he not only gave Horn a way out but also left room for him to make amends.

Horn felt a headache coming on.

Despite the fact that the Holy Alliance is now a unified entity, it is still divided into political factions, with radicals and conservatives, as well as the industrialist mountain faction and the agriculturalist plains faction.

Moreover, due to the unique system of the Holy Alliance's unity of government and action, each faction has both a part in power and a part in opposition.

This assassination attempt was orchestrated by radical monks.

They believed that they should not cooperate with the other two countries. The royal court was an enemy, but weren't the Kingdom of Fran and the Kingdom of Norn enemies as well?

With the Holy Alliance's invincible military strength and terrifyingly advanced system, it could easily take on twenty opponents at once and wipe out Fran, Leia, Norn, and the Royal Court all at once.

Horn disagreed with this idea, because it was essentially gambling with the nation's fate and irresponsible to the entire population.

Normally, this is a last resort, not a desperate measure.

The primary contradiction at present is foreign invasion, which could lead to national subjugation and annihilation. Temporary cooperation is unavoidable. Horn initially thought that retaining the radical faction would make it easier to change course later.

He has already spoken with and reached agreements with the leaders of several major radical factions (there are also factions within the radical faction).

Meanwhile, the Holy Alliance's Pravda newspaper has repeatedly addressed these issues.

Their cooperation is only temporary, which does not mean they will no longer be enemies.

What should have been a secure situation unexpectedly went wrong.

It seems we were too naive. We had to suppress them first, even if it meant incurring criticism.

“I will speak with this monk and the other young monks who participated, and then send them to the Black Legion.”

The Black Legion is currently under siege by the Royal Court's army, and Brand City is in grave danger.

Since these Holy Alliance youths think vampires are easy to bully and believe they should support the Holy Path Sect brothers, let them go to the battlefield and see for themselves.

Let's see if they are truly committed to the ideals of the Holy Path Sect, or if they are just treating it as a fashion item.

"In addition, to express goodwill, the Holy Alliance will provide a batch of high-quality holy seeds to Fran every month and will lower the tariffs on luxury goods in Fran."

“I have no objection.” Charlie shrugged. “Let’s do it this way.”

“The Holy Alliance has already made its statement, and you've seen the turmoil within the Holy Alliance.” Horn took a sip of tea. “Brother Charlie, is there any way you can help us?”

Although Charlie gained some benefits from the Holy Alliance through the assassination attempt, in essence, it was still Fran who was begging the Holy Alliance for help.

Therefore, Charlie definitely needs to make a statement, otherwise the cooperation would seem insincere.

Just as Horne had to cooperate to suppress the radicals, Charlie also had to make a statement.

Finally, the two sides talked from noon until the afternoon before they finally managed to finish discussing the relevant matters.

Charlie called for a reduction in land rents within the country, changed the punishment for rebellious farmers from hanging to exile, and allowed citizens to establish fraternities under the supervision of the city hall.

This move is not only a gesture, but also an attempt to alleviate the intense internal conflicts in France.

The assassination attempt, which had almost caused a major uproar, was quelled thanks to the combined efforts of Charlie and Horn.

Another week passed, and as the news gradually faded from public view, the new King of Norn, Yekashausen, finally arrived in Charlottetown.

After three days of closed-door meetings, the three most powerful figures in the Eastern Continent jointly attended a press conference.

Reporters from all over the Eastern Continent gathered in a small park outside Xia Lu City to meet with the three bigwigs.

All three held the highest authority, yet they were remarkably amiable, setting up no table but only three chairs.

Horn sat in the middle, flanked by two kings.

Legally speaking, there is no problem, after all, Horn is the Pope.

Journalists familiar with the principle that no diplomatic matter is trivial discovered a difference in power and status in this arrangement.

The press conference didn't cover much; they only briefly mentioned the contents of the treaty. The official document wasn't issued until the following day.

In light of the vampire invasion, Pope Horn, King Charles of Fran, and King Jecashausen of Norn formally signed a tripartite alliance treaty.

If one is attacked, it is equivalent to the entire group being attacked.

The three kingdoms exchanged goods and resources, granted each other the right to military passage and the right to share provisions, shared some alchemy technology and clockwork gun technology, and ceased all border disputes.

Meanwhile, the treaty established a co-management office in the Holy Alliance, which journalists, eager to find a reason, called the Fourth Republic of El.

After the meeting, the three people in charge left one after another within three days.

On the first day of July, the Holy See finally issued an order to open more than a dozen new recruit camps from south to north and from west to east.

Meanwhile, the officers and soldiers in the original military camp immediately left the camp and entered various recruit camps.

Townspeople across the country were even more surprised to find that the owners of shops like Veterans Barbecue, Veterans Hairdressing, and Veterans Furniture had all disappeared.

Upon further inquiry, it was discovered that they had already left early and gone to military camps in various places.

By August, Norn, then Fran, and finally the Holy Alliance all declared that they had entered a state of war or preparedness.

The peace treaty signed at the beginning of the year is already teetering on the brink of collapse.

(End of this chapter)