The most shameless alchemist in history

Because they also have powerful backers, and besides, those Frost Guard members aren't idiots.

They can't just listen to the one-sided story of some random kid and make things difficult for them, can they?

"I'm not quite sure about this either..." Rosell was also completely baffled, having no idea what was going on.

Before long, Dure returned, accompanied by the Frost Guard.

"Which unit are you from?" the young officer in the lead asked coldly. He looked to be only about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, younger than the officers in the patrol team, but his rank was already lieutenant colonel, two ranks higher than the officers opposite him.

"We are from the patrol team, subordinates of Lord Saipan. May I ask who you are...?" the officer said tremblingly.

When he saw the young officer's rank, he felt that he was no ordinary person, because even in the Frost Guard, it was incredible that someone of that age could become a lieutenant colonel.

"I am Tiger. Disarm them and take them all away." The young officer, who called himself Tiger, waved his hand and calmly gave the order.

"Wait, you're Lieutenant Colonel Tiger? What are you doing? We're all on the same side, on the same side." The officer had heard of Tiger's reputation and knew that he was one of the ruthless figures in the Frost Guard. It was Tiger who led the suppression of the rebellion that broke out in Frost City.

Hearing Tiger give the order now terrified him.

"What are you doing? Do I need to explain to you? Take them all away, and take another team to bring Saipan to the military police headquarters for questioning." Tiger responded coldly, and with his order, his men immediately disarmed the guards.

"Du..." After giving the order, Tiger turned to look at Dure, as if he wanted to say something.

“Then I’ll have to trouble you, Commander Tiger. I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave first,” Dure interrupted him.

"I understand." Tiger nodded slightly and didn't say anything more.

For Dure, what he encountered when he arrived at Frost City Station today was insignificant. Given his current status and influence, not only could a mere patrol captain not do anything to him, but even the Minister of the Army couldn't do anything to him.

But what he could easily solve might not be so easy for Roselle and Freya. If they hadn't happened to run into this "Senior Dure," they would have been harassed by these money-grubbing guards.

So they were lucky; most were less fortunate. As for those who arrived in Frost City with the intention of studying, if they faced such difficulties, they had only two choices: the first was to honestly spend money to buy peace and avoid unnecessary trouble.

However, the amount demanded by these uniformed individuals was not small; only wealthy families could afford it. Ordinary citizens simply could not afford it, meaning they had no choice but to be driven away from Frost City.

As for their plans to study at the Ice University and eventually make a name for themselves in the Snow Kingdom, realizing their ideals and ambitions, it's probably like morning dew—it will soon evaporate and disappear under the sunlight, though it may shine brightly.

“Mr. Dure! I’m so sorry, something came up and I’m a little late. I heard about what happened to you, but don’t worry, we will definitely handle this matter seriously.” After Dure said goodbye to Rosell and Freya, someone came to greet him. The person who came to greet him was a young and promising officer named Karen.

He used to be a member of the South Korean Front. After the South Korean Front army was incorporated and disbanded, most of the soldiers returned to their posts.

After all, most of the guards on the South Front were young factory workers. Now that the war was over, both the North and South had suffered heavy losses due to the protracted war, and both sides were eager to return to normal production.

However, a small number of officers remained and became the middle-level backbone of the newly integrated army, and Karen was one of them.

"Although the war is over, the old problems still remain. It will be a very difficult process to completely eradicate these unhealthy practices," Du Lei said with emotion.

He didn't have a clear concept of this before, but after experiencing it firsthand, he deeply understood the obstruction of change by the stubborn forces.

These stubborn forces are not the generals and ministers who have been dismissed by Winry on the surface, but rather the unhealthy trends formed by long-standing local culture at the grassroots level.

It only takes a day to dismiss generals, but reforming the social atmosphere is a long process, and heaven knows how long it will take.

“That is indeed a problem, but with Her Highness Winry… oh no, I mean Councilor Winry, and Councilor Liana leading the way, we are sure we can solve these problems. So, Mr. Dure, let’s go to the Capitol Building first.” Karen was sent to greet Dure.

()

824 Private Party

Winry originally wanted to come and greet them in person, but there were just too many things to do. The situation in the Snow Country was unstable, especially since there were still many conflicts between the old and new forces, even though a compromise had been reached.

All of this requires Winnie to go there; she simply cannot leave.

“No need, we won’t go to the parliament building for now,” Dure said, shaking his head.

The Parliament Buildings were converted from the former Frost House, which was a symbol of the old monarchy. The Parliament Buildings have now replaced the Frost Houses, which is a symbol of the changing of the times.

"Not going to the Capitol Building? Then where are you going?" Karen asked, puzzled.

"Do you know where Lord Pope is right now?" Dure asked.

“Lord Pope? Is it the former Treasurer, Lord Pope? He’s been staying at home since he left his post, he must be at the mansion right now,” Karen said after thinking for a moment.

“Then take me to Lord Pope’s residence. I’d like to meet Lord Pope.” Dure said calmly.

Popper sneezed for no reason. It was early spring, and this spring was much warmer than usual, but he still felt a chill on his back, which made him shrink his neck.

“Lord Pope, now that Lord Kraft has resigned and stayed home, he doesn’t care about anything anymore. There’s no one to take charge, and we’re all waiting for you to come out and take charge.” Inside a magnificent mansion, an official said excitedly.

They are all officials in the new authorities of the newly formed parliamentary structure, and most of them hold their former positions.

At first glance, they seem no different from before, still holding decent positions, but the change in the system has made the treatment of the two groups vastly different.

In the past, they enjoyed numerous privileges, and their respective businesses brought in considerable income. Apart from a few honest officials like Minister Kraft, the vast majority of officials' families owned large tracts of land and monopolized a certain field of trade.

This is a common occurrence in the history of the Snow Country, and no one finds it strange or thinks there is anything wrong with it.

Until this top-down reform broke out in the Land of Snow, these officials from noble families were suddenly shocked to discover something.

That is, their land was re-liquidated, and except for a small portion, the vast majority were redeemed by the authorities for illegal reasons. The vast majority of the monopolistic shops were also seized by the authorities.

This served as a wake-up call to these officials from traditional aristocratic backgrounds, who began to question and oppose the reforms, and secretly began to fund the rebels in an attempt to overthrow the still unstable authorities.

They believed they possessed the capability; the only thing they lacked was a leader. Minister Kraft was the most suitable candidate, given his experience, prestige, and connections.

Officials had every reason to believe that if Minister Kraft raised his voice, while it was unlikely they could overthrow the authorities, it would be enough to give the young man a wake-up call.

Without the support of these noble families, she would not have been able to transform the Snow Kingdom into the beautiful place she proclaimed in her speeches!

"Everyone, calm down, calm down. I, Pope, completely understand how you all feel, but you all need to know that I have resigned. I am no longer the Finance Minister. Now I am just an idle person, so even if you say that, there is nothing I can do." Pope's gaze swept around.

He was the owner of this magnificent mansion, and all the guests seated there were high-ranking officials, and they all had one thing in common.

That is, they all belonged to the old aristocracy and were among those whose interests were harmed in this change.

“Lord Popper, although you have resigned, your influence remains. Everyone knows that your prestige is second only to Lord Kraft. Now that Lord Kraft is getting old and has lost his ambition, he doesn’t care about our lives anymore, but you can’t just sit idly by, Lord Popper.”

"Yes, Lord Pope, as long as you raise your voice, we will definitely respond to you. Princess Winry is so aggressively encroaching on our interests that we can't live like this. We must persuade her properly, and that requires you to take the lead, Lord Pope."

“She can no longer be called ‘Princess Winry’; she’s now Councilor Winry. The royal family is clearly the greatest noble and landowner, yet she has betrayed all of us. It’s despicable! We can’t just stand by and let her play us like this; we must do something to teach her a lesson!”

The officials were outraged. They would never have dared to say such things in public, because Winry's prestige had reached an unprecedented level.

Most importantly, the commanders of the major legions swore allegiance to her. Of course, Winry issued a statement asking these legion commanders to pledge allegiance to the new Snow Kingdom and to the people, but everyone knows that these legion commanders are still influenced by traditional ideas and still regard Winry as their lord. This is an undeniable objective fact.

However, this is not a public place, but Pope's residence, and Pope has already resigned and is no longer an official.

The officials present were all his friends and acquaintances, attending as guests; it was entirely a private gathering.

Furthermore, the presence of guards closely watching the door gave them the audacity to speak so recklessly.

"Well... to what extent would you all like to go? I'm not asking this because I want to come out of retirement, but because I want to have a calm and friendly conversation with you all. After all, everyone here is one of us, not outsiders, right?" Pope said, rubbing his hands together.

"The Snow Country is in such a mess now, it's a complete mess. This goes against the traditions of our Snow Country. This kind of reckless turmoil will surely anger the gods and bring retribution. So we should resist this meaningless change and restore the previous order."

"But what about those Southerners? If we restore the old order, won't we have to fight again? Don't forget, Frost City almost fell before, so I think it's almost impossible to change the order. What we need to do is to state our demands."

"Oh? In your opinion, what kind of demands should be made?"

"First, we must stop suppressing the traditional nobles. We have all contributed to the Snow Kingdom, and we cannot allow our land and wealth to be diminished like this. Second, I am not against establishing a parliament, but we must limit the number of southerners. We must control two-thirds of the seats."

825 is really hard to get into.

"As for the third point, stop disarmament and maintain the status quo of the Northern Standing Army so that we can control our own armed forces."

The officials discussed the matter animatedly, and soon someone offered several suggestions and opinions.

The officials present all looked over and quickly recognized the person who made the suggestion as the Zanpu.

"Oh, as expected of His Majesty the King, his three suggestions hit the nail on the head!" An official immediately gave a thumbs up and exclaimed in amazement.

Meanwhile, some people looked at Zanpu and Pop with confusion, unable to understand why Zanpu was there.

Everyone knows that Zamp and Pope are mortal enemies.

"His Majesty's advice is very valuable; it truly shows that he is thinking of our best interests."

"I fully agree with His Majesty the Zanpu's proposal. If His Majesty Pop takes the lead and implements these proposals into substantive terms, then our interests can be protected."

The officials nodded in agreement, expressing their strong approval of Pope's suggestion. Even some officials who had initially taken a hard line nodded in approval, agreeing that if their interests could be protected, making some concessions was not out of the question.

“What Your Majesty said makes a lot of sense, but I would like to add one point: we must implement a dual parliament system, divided into an upper parliament and a lower parliament. The lower parliament will naturally be composed of ordinary people and southerners, while the upper parliament will be composed of us traditional northerners. The lower parliament will be responsible for proposing bills, and the upper parliament will be responsible for reviewing and approving them. Only in this way can we firmly grasp power in our hands.” Pope was very dissatisfied with the bill that Your Majesty had just proposed.

His dissatisfaction didn't stem from the bill itself, but rather from his deep-seated resentment towards the king. The king had presented the bill at his own residence, winning applause from most officials—wasn't this a slap in the face to the king?

Furthermore, he had prepared several proposals beforehand, but now that the Zanpu had said this, several of his proposals were invalidated, which inevitably made him very unhappy.

"A hierarchical system of upper and lower councils? That's quite a brilliant proposal. Lord Pope is truly remarkable for coming up with such a suggestion!"

"As long as we control the upper house, no matter what they do, we will still be in charge."

"I firmly support Lord Pope's proposal, so let's rely on Lord Pope to take the lead in protecting our interests."

Most officials were in favor of Pope's proposed hierarchical parliamentary system.

“Logically speaking, I, Pop, have already resigned and should not be involved in politics anymore. However, since everyone is so enthusiastic in inviting me, and the situation in the Snow Kingdom is indeed quite unstable, I have no choice but to…” Pop originally wanted to decline again, but he soon realized that if he insisted, the officials would probably side with Zanpu.

This was the only thing Popper disagreed with.

Just then, someone rushed in in a panic; it was a servant from Pope's mansion.

"Master, master, we have guests visiting outside," the servant reported to Pope.

"What's the panic? Can't you see I'm entertaining guests here?" Popper scolded the servant.

His hurried intrusion made his residence seem very unruly, which explains why he was so displeased.

“But sir, the guests have already barged in…” one of the servants said aggrievedly.

He knew Pope's temper; unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't dare to provoke Pope.

"Break in? Who dares to be so bold? Don't they know where this is? And aren't there guards outside? What are they good for?" Lord Pop was stunned. In front of so many guests, someone actually dared to force their way into Pop's residence. This was really disrespectful to him.

“Lord Pope, your residence is really hard to enter. I have already notified you, but I have waited for so long without any response. As you know, I am an impatient person. Please forgive me for disturbing you gentlemen.” Just as Pope was about to fly into a rage, a bodyguard was knocked in and flew into the meeting hall, knocking over an official’s table, which made the official furious.

"Who dares to cause trouble here? Don't they know this is Lord Pop's residence?" The official turned his head and saw that the person who had barged in was a young man who looked to be about twenty-two or twenty-three years old. He looked very unfamiliar and was not a local of the Snow Country.

"Of course I know that, I haven't gone the wrong way," Du Lei replied calmly, his gaze sweeping around. He recognized most of the officials present, but not the one who had been berating him.

"Since you know this is Lord Pop's residence, how dare you be so presumptuous?" the official said imperiously. The reason he spoke so loudly was simply to leave a good impression on Lord Pop, since everyone knew that the situation in the Snow Kingdom was gradually becoming unsustainable.

With Lord Kraft announcing his retirement and no longer involved in politics, Lord Pope has a great opportunity to seize power and become the spokesperson for these old nobles. If we can cultivate a good relationship with Lord Pope at this time, it will definitely be a good thing.

"You are... Lord Dure?" Pope's face was originally gloomy and full of anger, but after careful examination, he immediately recognized the person in front of him, which stunned him.