The most shameless alchemist in history

"I see. I was wondering why these generals do nothing but dig fortifications all day long except argue. So that's what they're planning. So we're going to use the underground drainage system to infiltrate the interior of Rock Castle?" Leopard Tail finally understood the ins and outs of the matter.

“That’s right, we’re going to connect with the underground drainage system of Rock City through this mine and the passage that has been dug out over this period of time, and then enter the underground of Rock City.” Dure nodded, confirming Leopard Tail’s guess.

"Great! Finally, I've found something to do. I've been so bored these past few days." Leopard Tail rubbed his hands together, eager to try. The image of Colonel Luffy's repulsive face flashed through his mind again.

He had already started planning whether to give Colonel Luffy a left hook, a right straight punch, or both when he saw him. He was determined to beat him until he was crawling on the ground, so that he could vent his resentment.

"However, before entering the underground of Rock Castle, there is still a small question." Du Lei, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked seriously at Kotetsu and the others.

"What question do you have? Just tell me already, stop keeping me in suspense." Leopard Tail was getting impatient.

"Can you swim?" Du Lei suddenly asked a strange question.

"Huh? Swimming?" Leopard Tail was a little confused and didn't quite understand why Du Lei would ask that.

Just then, they arrived at a large gate, which was rusty and looked like it had been built many years ago. The generals who had been holding a meeting with Dure earlier were now gathered outside the gate.

The nearby mountainside was spacious, and hundreds of elite guards had already gathered there in formation. They were all lightly armed, carrying only daggers. This formation didn't look like they were going to war, but rather to carry out an assassination.

"Young man, have you arrived?" The old man stepped out from the crowd and asked with a smile.

“Yes, General Titus.” Dure nodded slightly.

After he had a meeting with General Tidus and others, he returned to the military camp to arrange matters related to Miss Wenli. Only after ensuring her safety did he bring Kotetsu, Hyobi, and others here.

"Then, the task is now in your hands. Whether you can conquer Rock City depends entirely on your abilities, young man." The old man walked over and patted Du Lei on the shoulder, speaking earnestly. At this moment, he didn't seem like a seasoned veteran, but rather like a kind elder.

"I can't guarantee success, but I will do my best." Dure nodded.

"Hey, Dure, what's going on? What do you mean by breaching Rock City? What do you need us to do?" Seeing this scene, Leopard Tail knew that Dure must be carrying out an extraordinary mission, which made his heart pound and he was extremely nervous.

“We will be in charge of the main attack, infiltrating the city through the underground waterways of Rock City, opening the city gates, and welcoming the army into the city. This will minimize casualties and allow us to complete the handover of Rock City within a day. And that’s not all…” Du Lei paused here.

"What?" Leopard Tail was stunned, waiting for Du Lei to continue.

"After we enter Rock City, we will split into two groups. One group will open the city gates, while the other group will find Speaker Varo and rescue him. In other words, we have two objectives, and we must succeed in both of them!" Dure said confidently, without a trace of hesitation or doubt in his words!

627 is highly suspicious.

Leopard Tail finally understood why Dure had asked them if they could swim.

At other times, one can enter the underground of Rock Castle through a passage dug out from the abandoned cave. This process will be very smooth and there will be no problems.

However, it is currently the rainy season, and it is the heaviest rain in nearly 20 years. This has caused the underground drainage system of Rock City to be filled with water. Dure and the guards who are with them need to be excellent swimmers to get through the drainage channels and into the underground river.

"Hey, Dure, are we really going to jump in from here? I'm not ready at all." Leopard Tail stood near the excavated underground river, looking at the surging water flowing in, and hesitated, swallowing hard.

"Otherwise, what do you think we came here for? Stop dawdling! You can't stand people who dawdle, so get ready right now and let's go!" Kotetsu, standing next to him, kicked him in the butt.

"Boss Hu Che, wait, wait, ah!" Before Leopard Tail could react, he was kicked into the surging dark river and choked on several mouthfuls of water.

Fortunately, he had been a good swimmer since childhood and quickly regained his balance.

After Leopard Tail entered the water, the guards waiting at the edge of the cave jumped into the water one after another. These were all carefully selected guards, while Dure remained standing by.

“Hey kid, although we’ve only met a few times and aren’t very familiar with each other, since General Titus values ​​you so much, I trust his judgment. These hundred guards are elite soldiers that I personally trained, and now I’m handing them over to you. By the way, this guy’s name is Gerald. Don’t let his young age fool you; he’s my favorite among these guards. Gerald, you’ll follow this kid and obey his orders just like you would obey mine, understand?” After patting Dure on the shoulder, General House gave orders to a boy next to him.

The boy looked to be twelve or thirteen years old, a little younger than Du Lei. He was short and thin, with dark skin, but his eyes were exceptionally bright. When Du Lei looked over, he was shocked to see the sharp glint in his eyes that only a wild beast possessed!

"Yes, sir." The boy nodded slightly, gripped the dagger at his waist, and walked to the edge of the cave, ready to jump into the water.

"Don't worry, General House. Although I can't guarantee that every single one of them will survive, I will try my best to bring as many people back as possible." Dure also made the final preparations. At this time, most of the guards had already sneaked into the underground river.

"Let's go, it's time to settle this once and for all." Hu Che patted Du Lei on the shoulder. The two looked at each other, nodded, and then leaped into the surging underground river.

Rogge is the captain of the Iron Rock Guard and also the youngest of the six guards that protect the capital city of Rock.

Even among the many talented young people in Rock City, he was on par with Zoren, the warden of the Great Prison. If one had to point out the difference between him and Zoren, it would be that Zoren was born into a prominent and powerful family in the capital. Zoren's father and grandfather both held important positions. In particular, his grandfather served as prime minister before the Mountain Kingdom was reorganized into a parliamentary system. His family was deeply entrenched in Rock City, and it was said that half of the members of the parliament were students of Zoren's grandfather.

The white-haired old man held a higher political position than General Teda had in the military. After all, in the military, General Teda had at least General Shanlong to rival him, but in the political arena, there was no one who could rival that old man.

Calling him an unshakeable figure in the political arena is no exaggeration.

This is also a major reason why Zoren acts recklessly in Rock City, openly disrespecting Colonel Luffy, or more precisely, Tama, the finance minister behind Colonel Luffy. Of course, setting aside family factors, Zoren's personal abilities are also extremely strong, and he is considered one of the strong candidates for the next Minister of the Interior.

The fact that Colonel Rogge could be compared to Zoren speaks volumes about his humble origins; both his parents were farmers.

Colonel Rogge is very uneasy today.

When Iwa no Castle was under siege, he was a staunch defender. In fact, General Yamagawaro did adopt his advice; otherwise, in the midst of the turmoil, those generals who were not so firm in their stance might have surrendered.

But gradually General Rogge noticed something was wrong. He had two reasons for his suspicions. First, according to information provided by spies, General Titus had become a figurehead, and no one took him seriously. He had become nothing more than a mascot. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been so much fighting in the military camp outside the city.

However, according to the intelligence Rogge obtained, General Titus had visited Rock City a few days ago. At that time, he subdued the unruly Colonel Luffy with just a few words and forcibly took the man away from Colonel Luffy.

Rogge was a young man who had not lived through the era of General Titus and did not know General Titus. However, he knew Colonel Luffy very well. It would be difficult to make Colonel Luffy spit out the prey that was already in his mouth. Without a doubt, Colonel Luffy was an extremely difficult character to deal with, even more difficult than many of the generals in Rock City.

Since even Colonel Luffy was impressed by General Tedda's charisma, there was no reason why the generals of the Western and Southern Fronts would ignore the veteran with such a distinguished record. Colonel Luffy came from the Eastern Front, which was General Yamazaki's territory, while the Western and Southern Fronts had always been General Tedda's territory, especially the Western Front, which had always been regarded as General Tedda's backyard. It was suspicious, very suspicious, that such an army would not obey General Tedda's orders.

Another point that aroused Colonel Rogge's suspicion was the fortifications built by the troops outside the city. If they were reinforcing their defenses, that would be one thing, but he had his men observe them carefully. Due to the heavy rains of the past few days, the soil had become loose and washed away. Under normal circumstances, in this kind of weather, they should have quickly moved to higher ground to make full use of the terrain.

However, this army always camped in a low-lying area, causing the area to become muddy after heavy rains. Anyone with a little military common sense would not make such a foolish choice. Therefore, considering these two suspicious points, Colonel Rogge concluded that this army must have some ulterior motive!

"It's been five days already. Are they still at the foot of the mountain?" Colonel Rogge asked the guard beside him, his mind full of doubt.

“Yes, they are still digging trenches down the mountain,” the guard next to him replied immediately. In the past few days, Colonel Rogge had assigned him the task of observing the movements of the military camps outside the city.

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628 Infiltrating the Royal Capital

"Where's Tagle? Did he send any intelligence back today?" Colonel Rogge continued to inquire. Tagle was the name of the spy who had infiltrated the military camp outside the city. Every day, he would send back the movements of the military camp outside the city to the people inside the city on time.

"We haven't received any intelligence about Tagel yet," the guard replied truthfully. He had been guarding the city wall the whole time, and if there was any news about Tagel, he would be the first to know.

“Tagel is always punctual, but he’s already past the deadline and hasn’t sent any intelligence back yet. Something must have happened! Right, go get me the map of the surrounding area, and hurry!” Roger seemed to have thought of something and urged him immediately.

“They’re stationed here, but this location shouldn’t be right. It doesn’t have favorable geographical conditions, nor can it exert effective pressure on the capital… Wait! What is this?” Colonel Rogge carefully examined the map. Just as he was frowning and trying to figure out why the troops outside the city were stationed in a low-lying area, a sudden inspiration struck him.

"It's a mine!" Colonel Rogge exclaimed, pointing to a spot on the map!

"A mine? But sir, this mine has been abandoned for decades. What could be wrong with it?" The guard asked, puzzled. He was very familiar with the surrounding geography; otherwise, he wouldn't have been sent here to observe the movements of the troops outside the city.

Judging from the initial situation, Colonel Rogge's judgment was undoubtedly correct. The army outside the city surrounded the city without attacking. According to the intelligence brought back by their spies, the officers in the military camp outside the city were in a dispute and had no idea what to do next. This was an excellent thing for Rock City.

"Sir, this is a topographical map of the area. Is there a problem?" The guard immediately presented the map to Colonel Rogge.

“This is not only a problem, it’s a huge problem! The mine is very close to the capital’s underground water system. If they go into the mine to dig, it will connect to the capital’s underground water system…” Colonel Rogge’s face grew increasingly grim as he came to this conclusion.

"Oh no, if they really do that... it's Steel Rock Tower! Quick, to Steel Rock Tower!" Colonel Rogge was quick-witted. He immediately found the most crucial point on the map. He hurriedly turned his head to look at Steel Rock Tower, one of the landmark buildings in Rock City.

Almost simultaneously, thick smoke billowed above the Steel Rock Tower, which stood out starkly against the torrential rain. Although the rain was unfavorable for fire, the Steel Rock Tower, despite its name, was actually a wooden structure. It was built to commemorate the centenary of the founding of Rock City, and its rainproofing was exceptionally well done. Colonel Rogge could clearly see the commotion and shouts that erupted in several places within the city.

"Quickly, put out the fire! What happened? How did the Steel Rock Tower suddenly catch fire?"

"Don't worry about that. There are many precious cultural relics inside the Steel Rock Tower. It would be terrible if they were burned down!"

"Hey, what's going on over there? Are they the guards putting out the fire? But they don't look like it."

While the citizens were in a panic because of the fire at the Steel Rock Tower, some people noticed that many guards were pouring out of the tower. Normally, these guards should have been there to put out the fire.

But it was especially strange that they didn't carry any firefighting equipment and that they were running out from inside the steel tower.

The situation at the scene was too chaotic, with residents constantly carrying buckets of water to put out the fire, and they didn't notice these details.

Among the crowd that ran out of the steel tower, they quickly split into two groups.

"Uncle Kotetsu, Leopard Tail, you take your men to the city gate. I've seen the list of guards for Rock Castle. There's a guy named Rogge who's really tough to deal with. You have to be careful and try to avoid him. As for Ape Arm, and... Gerard, right?" The boy was devising a plan of action.

"You can't even remember my name?" The boy named Gerald raised an eyebrow.

"Remember, you come with me and the rest of the people to the Parliament Building. According to General Tidus's intelligence, our target this time, Speaker Varo, should be inside the Parliament Building. Let's move out!" It was none other than the young man from Dure who divided the team into two groups.

Before they set off, General Teda gave orders that he would have full command of the operation to infiltrate Rock Castle.

"Hey, Durei, are we enough people with just this many?" Leopard Tail was a little uneasy; there were only a hundred people in total who had infiltrated Rock City.

They were divided into two groups, with only fifty men in total. Taking over the city gate with such a small force was no small task.

“Don’t worry, your main task is to lure Rogge away, not to take the city gate,” Dure said.

"What? Lure Rog away? I'm so confused. Do you think we can take the city gate if we lure him away?" Leopard Tail was completely baffled.

"Why are you asking so many questions? Just do it honestly, let's go!" Kotetsu tapped him on the head.

He grabbed the leopard's tail and led his men toward the city gate.

"Hey, Tiger Chetsu, don't treat me like this. I just want to figure things out, hey!" Leopard Tail wanted to say something more.

However, by this time he had already been dragged away by Kotetsu.

"So, now it's time for our task. By the way, did you avoid the area displaying the collection when you set the fire?" Du Lei suddenly remembered this and asked.

“As you instructed, we avoided the exhibition hall and only set fire to insignificant areas. It’s raining heavily now, so the fire won’t spread there. I just don’t understand why you care about such trivial matters?” Gerald held a dagger in his hand.

He asked with amusement.

“Although I am an outsider, I know that for a country, precious cultural relics represent a piece of history. If they are destroyed like this, it would be a huge loss to history. I will not do that, not now, and not in the future.” Du Lei shook his head.

“I’ve seen people who are kind to people, but I’ve never seen anyone who is kind to works of art,” Gerald scoffed.

Although General House ordered him to obey Dure's orders, he would actually do so.

But that doesn’t stop him from having a prejudice against this guy who’s only two years older than him.

“This isn’t mercy, it’s respect. I don’t expect you to understand that, but… at least don’t hold me back, because we’re facing a very tough opponent.” Dure spoke slowly and deliberately, not at all angry at Gerald’s attitude.

"Hold me back? Are you kidding me? Make sure you can catch up with me before you say that!" Gerald glared at Durley.

He quickly sprinted toward the parliament building like a hurricane!

629 stirring up trouble

General Shanlong, who was fast asleep in the villa, was woken up.

Anyone familiar with General Shanlong knows that he must never be disturbed while he is sleeping, or the consequences will be severe.

Before this, a servant who had just arrived was unaware of General Shanlong's habits and offended him. Enraged, General Shanlong threw him off the building.