Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

He knocked on the door again, his voice a few decibels louder, and said:

"Marshal Ernest, His Highness Wayne has instructed me to come to you; he has important matters to discuss."

This time, an echo finally came from inside. Ernest himself walked to the door, opened it, and replied, "Come in. You've come at a very inopportune time."

Arthur pushed open the door and entered, intending to explain Wayne's arrangements to Ernest, when he saw Vina, Theresa, and Kal'tsit sitting on the sofa, all dressed in formal attire.

Arthur was startled, completely unprepared for these people to appear in Ernest's office at this time, and quickly bowed:

"Good morning, Your Majesty. Your Highness, it's been a long time. Hello, Ms. Advisor."

After the ceremony, he cautiously turned his head to look at Ernest beside him. Only after confirming that Ernest was not handcuffed or in shackles did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He was terrified. With such a huge commotion, he thought the royal family had caught Ernest doing something illegal and was planning to purge the military.

Vina waved her hand, signaling him not to be nervous:

“No need for formalities, Lord Arthur. Theresa has just returned. We were just discussing with Lord Ernest some arrangements for Theresa after recalling Bojocasti. This is a military secret. Your timing is rather unfortunate; I shouldn't have let you in. But you just mentioned that my brother has some plans. What is he planning to do?”

"Vina asked curiously. It wouldn't matter if we discussed Bozocasti's matter a few minutes later, but the chance to hear her brother's wildly imaginative ideas was rare."

Regarding the matter of Borocasti, although Arthur had never seen Borocasti in person, as an old man who had lived since the time of the King of the North and was a former soldier, he had heard some of the deeds of the most terrifying Wendigo Legion in Ursus, and had also heard some of the legends of the Patriots.

Has that formidable adversary actually been recruited by the princess?

Arthur felt a little strange for a moment. An enemy who had once led his army to victory against the Victoria steam armor had suddenly become his friend, and he and others were now discussing how to settle him. It was so sudden that it felt unreal.

All I can say is that Her Highness the Princess is indeed worthy of being the woman chosen by Prince Wayne. Although she is a Sarkaz, she certainly has extraordinary qualities!

Arthur paused for a moment, then reported truthfully:

"Your Majesty, during your and His Highness the Prince's visit to Lungmen, several large-scale riots broke out in Little Hill County, a small border town in the northern part of the Empire. The majority of the inhabitants are Tara people. After the city council's attempts to dissuade them failed, the local garrison, led by Colonel Hamilton, entered the city to suppress the riots. The riots had largely subsided after your and His Highness Wayne's return, but recently, with the connection between Saint-Germain and Lontinim, the Tara people have stirred up small-scale disturbances in Little Hill County again. Colonel Hamilton's garrison, after submitting its operational report to Lontinim, is prepared to suppress the unrest by force. However, His Highness Wayne has been quite concerned about this matter since learning of it, therefore..."

Arthur looked at Ernest beside him. Ernest blinked, leaned forward slightly, and prepared to receive orders.

"Therefore, His Highness Wayne ordered me and Marshal Ernest to discuss and select two trustworthy nobles and officers without racial prejudice to form an investigation team to go to Little Hills to investigate the ins and outs of this matter and to properly handle the Tara problem in Little Hills."

Ernest, who had just moments before thought Wayne was about to use force and send troops to deal with the troublesome minorities causing the Empire trouble at this critical juncture, suddenly deflated upon hearing this and slumped back into his chair, somewhat speechless. He muttered with a hint of complaint:

"Is it really necessary to go through all this trouble? Sending an investigation team might not find anything, after all, this isn't the first time those Tara people have caused trouble for Victoria. Maybe they're just asking for it. But sending an army will definitely give them a good thrashing. All the problems will be solved."

Theresa remained silent upon hearing this, instead glancing at Vina. Vina, too, frowned slightly, clearly dissatisfied with this approach of avoiding trouble altogether and simply eliminating the troublemaker. She spoke up:

“Second Master Ernest, don’t say that. Although I’m not entirely sure why the Tara people rioted, if the people are forced to raise their flags and march because they are facing difficulties, then the state should absolutely not point its guns at the people. We should point them at what they are protesting against.”

Theresa nodded: "The people marching aren't against the government, but against what they've lost. Their goal is clear, it's on their flags. It could be poverty, it could be discrimination, it could be injustice."

“I think His Highness Wayne means that Victoria should not become a country like Colombia—where democracy and freedom are just propaganda written on walls, and if they’re just floating around in the street, you’ll get shot,” Kal’tsit added precisely.

Ernest hadn't expected that his single sentence would be met with such a comprehensive rebuke from three important figures. His old face flushed red with bewilderment, and he wanted to speak but didn't know what to say. After a long pause, he nodded with a bitter expression.

“The ladies are right. Arthur, go to the camp and wait for me for a while. I’ll come over after I’ve finished dealing with things here, and we’ll choose the candidates together.”

Arthur was clearly startled by what had just happened, but after recovering, he began to gloat.

I just got scolded by His Highness Wayne for saying something like that, and now Ernest has also been scolded by Her Majesty Vina, the Empress, and the advisors. It's not like I'm the only one who's unlucky.

Feeling happy, he nodded, said goodbye to each of them, and then turned and walked towards the Imperial Guard's barracks.

Vina watched as she respectfully closed the door before turning to Ernest and saying:

"So, let's continue with Mr. Bozocasti. Did he really propose joining Victoria's army?"

Ernest glanced at Theresa and nodded solemnly: "Yes."

Theresa confirmed, "That's why the first thing I did upon returning was to rush to find you, Vina, without even having a chance to greet Prince Bruce."

PS: To answer the question someone asked earlier about when Yao Knights won the championship.

In the Maria Nearl storyline, Mob the Big Mouth said that the Knights' Tournament in Kazimierz is not held once a year, but usually every two to three years.

The Radiant Knight precedes the Blood Knight and follows the Black Knight. According to the latest timeline, this tournament took place at the end of 1097. Going back further, the Blood Knight likely won sometime between 1094 and 1095. Going back even further, the Radiant Knight won between 1092 and 1093. Therefore, the timelines largely align.

Another supporting example is that the Kazdel Civil War took place in 1092, and Shining and Nightingale theoretically appeared after the Civil War. Therefore, it is unlikely that Shining Knight won the championship and was exiled before 1092. He was probably caught in the major events at the end of 1092 when he won the tournament, was then exiled, and finally met Shining and Nightingale, who had also escaped Kazdel during the Kazdel Civil War.

The timeline above was compiled by the author. The timeline in Arknights is quite chaotic, and sometimes the timelines of certain events even conflict. For example, while compiling the timeline, I found that in the main storyline, Rhodes Island was practically traveling all over the world in 1097. First, they fought the Black Serpent in Chernobog, then went on vacation to Siesta. At the same time in Siesta, there was the Cavalry Hunters event, where Skadi eliminated the bounty hunter leader, giving Toran the opportunity to become leader. Then Chen was called away from Siesta to Dosoles to fight the Water Gun Aberration, while the Storm Lookout event was happening simultaneously. Talulah was hijacked, Rhodes Island approached Londinium several times, and then there was the Yo-Yo event. Aya and others leading the Wolumonde team should also have been during this period. Finally, they arrived in Kazimierz to participate in the tournament.

Chapter 169 Theresa: So I was the weakest one in the Tower of Babel?

Patriot was a veteran, but in some ways, he was not well-known on the land. Compared to the Silver Spear Pegasus, who was hailed as the Protector of Casimir, Patriot, this respectable opponent, was only a captain, and his life was even more tragic than that of Cyril Nearl (Margaret's grandfather).

He fought bitterly for Ursus in his middle age, but in his later years, he didn't even have the chance to enjoy a life of wealth and honor like Cyril Nearl. His final years of conquest were not dedicated to foreign wars, but was wasted on suppressing internal rebellions, and he ultimately lost his only son in a large-scale riot. Afterwards, he became disillusioned with the Ursus Empire, led his Shield Guard in a rebellion against the Empire, and wandered the Ursus tundra, fighting against the oppressive and exploitative mines and pickets that oppressed and exploited the infected.

Wayne recalled hearing somewhere that a soldier's best end is to be shot in the heart by the last bullet in the final battle. Before his death, war rages; after his death, peace arrives. He becomes that dividing line between eras. Patriot, however, clearly didn't get that chance. If Wayne hadn't intervened, he might have ended up in the ruins of Chernobog, suffering the loss of his beloved daughter and dying suddenly.

For both emotional and rational reasons, Wayne didn't want Patriot to go back to the battlefield. If he had to choose, he might let Patriot live a peaceful and comfortable life with Yelena, enjoying the stable time he deserved. He also felt that Patriot probably had no intention of serving any country again.

But to everyone's surprise, on the very day Theresa returned to Victoria, before she even had a chance to rest, Patriot approached her. He actually offered to enlist in the Victorian army.

This matter was so significant that Theresa immediately notified Vina, who was in the Londinium Palace. However, Wayne had just returned to Londinium around the same time as Theresa, so he received the news a step too late.

When the palace messenger informed Wayne that Vina had invited him to Ernest's office, he was even a little angry, thinking that Arthur was out of his mind, had been turned away by him, and had gone to Vina for help.

The result was that the matter did involve the military, but not Little Hill County or Colonel Hamilton.

Leaning against the wall, Wayne was engaged in a fierce internal struggle. He glanced at the others present and asked:

"What do you think? Why did Bozokast join Victoria's army?"

Ernest was particularly concerned with the pronoun "Victoria's army," and he frowned, looking puzzled.

“I don’t know, Your Highness. Bozokasti is a Wendigo, and the Victorian army has never had a precedent of accepting Wendigos into the army.”

Yes, Wendigos were never enlisted, and the Victorian army never even accepted Sarkaz. This vast empire was rife with conservative, even rotten, sentiments, with the "racial purity" of the army being paramount. The vast majority were Felin, Luper, or Pero, with a smaller number of Liberi and Vaivaans—this was the structure of the Victorian army. Precisely because the individual soldier skills of such an army were certainly inferior to the naturally strong and physically robust Ursus army and the magically powerful Letanian army, the Victorians sought a different approach, compensating for this deficiency with external equipment such as steam-powered armor.

If an opening were made at this time to allow Bozokas to enlist, regardless of his motives, the opposition and questioning he would face from the military and even the entire society would be considerable.

“Your Highness, I am not exaggerating. I may be able to suppress the army’s opposition on the surface, and you may be able to amend the law and approve Victoria’s army to allow Sakaz Wendigo to enlist. But these are all superficial. We can manipulate parliament and policies, but we cannot manipulate public opinion and the will of the people.”

Wayne nodded. In fact, even public opinion could be reversed with Wayne's help, but public sentiment, or more accurately, the opinions of the people, is something that cannot be changed in a short time.

Despite the United States' long-standing promotion of racial equality (yes, they really do, to the point of political correctness), discrimination remains prevalent in daily life. Wayne doesn't believe that the Borocasters can find a stable environment in Terra, where discrimination, slander, and prejudice are far more extreme and deeply entrenched—Victoria isn't Ursus; there aren't many battles to fight in the short term, offering Borocasters no opportunity to prove themselves through military achievements.

Ernest was silent for a moment, then suddenly looked at Theresa and asked curiously, "Actually, I'm very curious why Bozokasti didn't join Kazdel's army?"

Because most of Kazdel's army was under Theresis's control.

Theresa answered this in her mind, but naturally she couldn't openly discuss such a family matter. She sighed, gave Wayne a look, and replied helplessly:

"I am not sure as well."

Wayne understood.

While Bozokastie accepted Kazdel's recall, it was on the premise that Theresa was the leader of Kazdel. He was a loyal soldier and could not possibly pledge allegiance to the rebel king.

Victoria was Theresa's backer, and Bozokasti knew very well that if a war with Kazdel were inevitable one day, Victoria's army would be Theresa's strongest support. He wanted to prepare in advance to avoid being trapped in Kazdel's army and unable to escape later.

Vina, however, was wondering about something else:

Why does it have to be the military?

She hadn't witnessed Patriot's bravery firsthand, but from her brother's description, he must be an extremely powerful warrior. Her brother, Ernest, and even Theresa were all racking their brains over Patriot joining Victoria's army, but why must such a powerful warrior be kept in the military?

The Glasgow Gang is also very skilled in fighting, but they haven't joined the army. The Black Cloaks that Vina met in Lungmen are also very powerful, but they don't belong to Lungmen's army either. The Unicorns are also very powerful, but they haven't joined the army either.

Facing the gazes of the crowd, Vina fearlessly raised her question:

"I mean, why does Bozokast have to join the army? Since joining the army is so troublesome, why not just form some other organization? The soldier's goal is the battlefield, right? But Victoria has no need to fight, so why bother?"

“Uh…” Wayne blinked, a sudden thought flashed through his mind, and he turned his head sharply to look at Kal'tsit. Sure enough, Kal'tsit looked at him at the same time, as if by telepathy.

They were thinking the same thing!

"Vina, you're a genius!" Wayne laughed, wanting to hug her. But considering Ernest was also there, and for the sake of Her Majesty the Queen's dignity, he refrained, only giving Vina a heavy pat on the shoulder. Vina, now embarrassed, raised her arms, glancing at Wayne with a hint of disappointment, then giving Ernest a resentful glare.

Ernest looked bewildered and aggrieved.

Wayne made the decision: "Vina's suggestion is very pertinent! This matter is settled. I will go and communicate with Bozokastie next. Let's adjourn today's temporary meeting."

He winked at Kal'tsit and went out first. A short while later, Kal'tsit, with Theresa in tow, discreetly arrived at the corner of the corridor.

Theresa's face still showed a hint of surprise, clearly having learned of Wayne's plans from Kal'tsit. She said, somewhat amused and exasperated:

Is this appropriate?

Wayne shook his head lightly: “What’s inappropriate about it? We all know Bozocasti’s purpose. He just wants to find a place where he won’t be affected by Theresis to serve you. In his eyes, Victoria’s army is undoubtedly the place that best meets this condition. But in fact, Babel is better than that. Don’t forget the purpose for which Babel was built.”

Kal'tsit nodded: "The Tower of Babel was originally established to prevent General Theresis from crossing the line and to solve the survival problem of the Sarkaz."

“That’s right…” Theresa was speechless.

That's the gist of it, but having Patriots join makes this organization seem a bit too... pretentious.

Oh, it seems that after Wayne (Paradox) joined, this organization's prestige has become higher than mine.

Its value is even higher than that of the organizer himself. Will I become the weakest one in the group someday?

Chapter 170 With Your Hands, Turning the World Upside Down

Great Yan, the Holy Capital.

There are two cities on this land that were once known as the "City of Ten Thousand Cities" and the "Center of the Earth". One of them is called Londinium. Before Londinium, the capital of the Great Yan Empire and the location of the True Dragon Emperor, the Holy Capital, had always enjoyed this prestigious title.

The Holy Capital has countless names. The people of Yan call it the Heavenly Palace, the Capital, and the Grand Capital. The first Lytanian poet to reach the heart of the Great Yan, upon returning to his homeland, referred to it as the "Holy Capital" in his collection of poems, which held more literary significance than historical value—a sacred, great, and irreplaceable city. Don't mistake this city beneath the feet of the True Dragon for some ancient ruin; in fact, its level of modernization far surpasses many of the "modern" nations of Terra. However, the introverted nature of the Yan people, coupled with nearly three hundred years of isolation, caused the name of the Holy Capital to gradually fade into obscurity, becoming an ancient and fantastical legend on Terra. Ultimately, the title of "City of a Thousand Cities" was seized by the rising Victorian Empire's capital, Londinium.

Jingzhe has been back in the capital for over two months. From the high spirits she felt upon her return in September to the utter despair she feels now, confined to the meditation platform of Dali Temple, she has repeatedly fantasized that one day the gates of Dali Temple will be opened, and the envoy of the true dragon will step into the bluestone courtyard of Dali Temple with an imperial edict, announcing to her, Captain Xiazhi, and Little Xue the results of the handling of the Wei Yanwu incident—severe punishment, arrest and prosecution, or appeasement and house arrest.

If the Great Yan Dynasty wants to maintain lasting peace, it must eliminate these unstable factors.

However, things were almost exactly as Wayne had said to him when he left Lungmen.

"His Majesty....."

Jingzhe sighed deeply, gazing alone at the desolate artificial hill, flowers, and birds before him. He pondered the beautiful scenery within the courtyard, just as its name suggested, a place where one could immerse oneself in nature and quietly contemplate. The Yan Kingdom architect who had created it had poured a great deal of effort into it, but Jingzhe, resting here now, felt that it was all too cold and desolate, so cold and desolate that it seemed capable of cooling his blood and freezing his marrow.

"Squeak-"

The mahogany door of Jing Si Ting was gently pushed open, and Xiao Xue, dressed in a light white dress, quietly closed the door. She intended not to disturb Jing Zhe, but Jing Zhe still turned her head away, leaving Xiao Xue sticking out her tongue and showing an embarrassed expression.

"Did I disturb you, Sister Jingzhe?"

"No, it's nothing." Jingzhe's sharp eyes softened slightly. After returning to Yan Kingdom, she learned from Xia Zhi about the whole story of how he was imprisoned in the Dragon Gate Guard Bureau that day, and how dangerous it was. If Xiaoxue hadn't been quick-witted and stopped Wei Yanwu with a phone call, Xia Zhi might not only have been unable to return to the capital, but might have even been branded as someone who offended the royal family and deserved to die.

When speaking to this junior who had indirectly saved Xia Zhi's life and also helped her, Jing Zhe even relaxed her tone.