You don't even want to call me godfather

Clowell turned his face slightly, seemingly unintentionally facing Koshe with the scarred side.

"I'm sorry, this is my first time in Lateran. I didn't know any Sakota before this." Koshei gave the standard answer to this kind of question. "Maybe you recognized the wrong person?"

"...Ah, that's right. After all, the ages don't match." Clovel stared at Koshe's face for a long time, then smiled apologetically, "Sorry, maybe I did recognize the wrong person."

Although he said this, Clowell still stared at Koshei, and did not dispel his doubts as he said.

He just stared at Koshei without saying anything or making any other movements. This silent gaze could sometimes make people feel more stressed than any language.

At this moment, the waiter came over and broke the awkward atmosphere. He refilled the teapot with tea and poured a cup for Koshe and Clowell respectively.

Crowell smiled and nodded to the waiter, then he picked up the teacup and drank it all.

"Then let's change the subject," Clowell put down his teacup and changed the subject, "The issue of smuggling guns in Syracuse is very troubling to both the Pope and me."

The calm tone uttered extraordinary words, and for a moment, Koshei almost panicked.

But he just picked up the teacup and took a sip of the tea in the cup to hide his panic.

"It's alarmist," Koshe shook his head, pretending to be amused. "I'm sure Mr. Clowell knows how big and powerful Syracuse is. I don't quite understand why such a rumor would be spread on Syracuse."

"Regardless of how powerful Syracuse is, I just want to know how capable you are as the leader of Syracuse, Koshe Cascade," Clowell leaned forward slightly, and put his hands in front of him into his arms, looking at Koshe with his dangerous eyes, "I heard that the weapon you carry is a dagger, so your specialty is using a knife? But when encountering some special situations, a knife is not as useful as a gun."

"Yes, my best weapon is the knife, because the gun is very dangerous."

Koshe responded with a smile. This scene of two people talking and laughing hypocritically made him feel uncomfortable, especially the hints that Klovel occasionally revealed in his words, but he could only hope that the other party would leave quickly.

"Then..." Hearing this, Clowell stretched out his hand, holding a pistol in his hand and pointed it at Koshei, "If you encounter this situation, how will you deal with it?"

The smile on his face quickly faded, his expression turned cold, and he made no effort to hide his hostility towards Koshei.

In the current situation, the most embarrassing person should be Azazel.

On one side is the military commander of the Lateran Church, and on the other side is the person who was ordered by the top of the notary office to be protected. Who do you think he should help?

"…Are you serious, Mr. Crowell?"

The smile on Koshe's face froze, but he couldn't do anything. Perhaps Clovel had indeed broken off relations with him, but if he made any move of resistance, he would be suspected of smuggling Syracuse firearms.

"If your specialty is the knife, then at this distance, you should be able to kill me in the blink of an eye." Seeing that Koshe remained calm, Clowell tried even harder to entice Koshe to resist. "We are now two meters apart. This gun is not loaded, and you only need to move forward one meter to draw your knife before I can load it."

"Forget about this kind of joke, Mr. Crowell."

Koshe kept smiling somewhat stiffly. Perhaps he had never thought before in Syracuse that he would be so calm in the face of adversity.

But Clowell did not let Koshe off so easily despite his refusal.

"Click."

The sound of the pistol being loaded was not loud, but it was enough to quiet down the entire reception room.

Some representatives watched this scene with glee. It was not a good thing to have a gun pointed at the head by Sakota in Lateran. Similarly, they were also looking forward to Koshe's reaction.

Viviana and Knight of the Cross watched Clowell's movements with concern.

The Knight had even grasped the hilt of the sword. Although he knew that Viviana would most likely not get involved in this matter, he was still ready to rescue her at any time.

"Want to try it?"

Clowell stretched out his arms, and just as he had just said, the muzzle of the gun was now only one meter away from Koshe.

But the only difference is that he can take Koshe's life at any time.

"I say..." Just when the situation had exceeded Koshe's expectations, Tracys turned around and looked at Clowell over Koshe's shoulder. "No matter what grudges you have, don't make trouble here, okay?"

Koshe didn't say anything. He could notice that Clowell's finger on the trigger was trembling slightly. He really wanted to shoot.

"We all know the power of firearms. Lateran's military commander, can you guarantee that the bullets won't hurt me when you shoot?" Tracy stared at Clowell with his dark pink eyes, with a hint of threat in his tone, "Or do you want to go to war with three countries at the same time?"

"..."

Clowell was speechless. After a moment, he put the safety of his pistol on and put it away.

"I'm sorry, I offended the kings of Kazdel and Victoria, and Cascade of Syracuse," Klovel stood up and gave Koshe an unfriendly look. "Then I'll leave first. I hope you have a pleasant experience in Lateran."

Chapter 62: The Princess of Gaul

In the hallway, Iris excused herself and came outside, holding onto the wall, her face filled with shock.

At this moment, the figure who followed her out was already standing behind her.

"You are... Sarita?"

The man's tone was also filled with disbelief, and he called out an unfamiliar name.

Iris turned around and leaned her back against the wall. She seemed to have the urge to escape, but her feet were out of control and remained fixed in place.

"Are you really Sarita? Sarita Neustria?" Seeing Iris's reaction, the man took a step forward with some excitement, "It's me, Leno, Leno Belgrade, you... you are still alive?"

“Don’t come over here!” Iris stretched out her hand to block herself. Her pupils trembled violently, accompanied by heavy breathing. “I already… I no longer have anything to do with that name!”

"What are you talking about! Miss Sarita!" Unexpectedly, after confirming Iris's identity, Leno's way of addressing her changed instantly, "You are the heir to the empire, you are from Gaul--"

"Shut up!" Iris's expression turned horrified. She was obviously unwilling to admit, or accept, Leno's statement. "Eleven years ago, on that day, I no longer had the last name Neustria!"

"No, we can't do that!" After seeing that Iris was so resistant to this name, Leno's attitude also changed. "The empire still has hope. There are still many Gaul survivors in Leitania. I have now become the general protecting the country. Including most of the soldiers under my command, they are all waiting for the day when the empire will rise again! As long as you... as long as you are still alive, as long as you give the order, we will give everything! We will overthrow the rule of the Twin Queens, and we will take back what those Leitanians have taken from us!"

“No…no…” Iris kept shaking her head. Every time Leno took a step forward, she would move to the side. “I’m a Syracuse now. I already have a new life. Don’t try to drag me back to that hell on earth!”

"Syracuse, Syracuse..." Leno's eyes kept moving, and his overly excited mood made his thoughts become radical. "If it is because of Syracuse that you are unwilling to come back, then I will destroy that country first, and then bring you back to Letania to rebuild the Gaul Empire."

"……What did you say?"

As soon as Leno said this, Iris's face immediately darkened, and the panic she had just shown disappeared. She stared at him with a vicious look.

"I will do whatever it takes to revive the Gallic Empire." Leno seemed to be still immersed in his own world, not noticing the change in Iris' attitude. "No matter what obstacles stand in my way, I will clear them. I don't care about the cost, I only care about Gaul's—"

"Dong! Ding——"

There was a dull thud, followed by a crisp metallic sound, and before Leno could react at all, Iris pressed him against the wall, and the dagger stabbed into the wall next to his head.

"Syracuse, there is my home, my vegetable garden, books, music, and the person I love," Iris stared, as if the blade would cut through Leno's neck in the next moment, "The little life I have must not be destroyed by you."

"But--"

"Gauul has perished, eleven years ago. Face the reality," Iris said in a cold tone. As Leno's only hope, she ruthlessly shattered his fantasy. "I have never thought of reviving a country that invaded other countries and was annexed, nor have I ever coveted the identity of a royal heir. I just want to live a quiet life. If you insist on treating me as a princess, then I have only one order for you - get as far away as possible. If you still want to take away what I have now, I don't mind staying here and letting you go to see the Gaul you've always dreamed of."

Leno was silent. Iris's words undoubtedly completely destroyed his faith and his only remaining hope.

Iris pulled out the dagger that was stuck in the wall and put it away. She ignored Leno who was in a daze and went back to the reception room.

Just as she entered the reception room, Clowell also walked out.

The two passed each other and Clowell suddenly stopped. He looked back at Iris's back and noticed the wolf ears on her head. She seemed to be lost in thought.

……

"Huh...thank you so much for just now, Tracy."

In the reception room, Koshe leaned back in his chair and turned his head to thank Tracy.

"I'm just worried that the bullet will go through your head and hit me."

But Tracy just nodded, and while tacitly accepting the thanks, he also did not forget to find a reason for himself.

"Iris, you're back."

Koshe said as he looked at Iris who had returned to his side.

Fortunately, Iris was not there just now. Perhaps he could have managed to remain calm under Clowell's gun. But if Iris was there, the conflict might have occurred the moment Clowell drew his gun.

The consequences of that would be disastrous.

Seeing that the farce was over, the representatives of other countries wisely looked away and continued with their own topics.

"Mr. Cascade, what happened just now?"

Viviana also trotted over at this time and asked with concern.

The Knight followed behind her and passed by Azazel who was standing next to Koshei, and looked at Azazel with some dissatisfaction.

From beginning to end, Azazel did not make a choice, and did not even raise his gun, although it was indeed because of the conflicting positions that led to this situation.

But to the Knights of the Underworld, Azazel's indifference was an act of weakness.

"No, I don't know either," Koshei shook his head and put down the teacup he had been holding. He had not let go of his hand because he was nervous. "I haven't even met him, but he has such an attitude towards me. It's really puzzling."

"Koshei, what happened while I was gone just now?"

As the only one not present, Iris was confused about the topic of conversation and asked.

"No, it's okay, don't worry, Iris."

Koshe's gaze gradually shifted from the tea table to Iris.

Looking at her face, for some reason, Koshei felt a strange feeling in his heart.

Like a sense of crisis, his natural intuition told him that he must always pay attention to the irises.

"It's just that we all have to be extra careful in the next short period of time."

He said this as he looked at Iris's confused and worried expression.

Chapter 63: The Young Are To Be Feared

"Peace has been a topic that has troubled us for a long time." At this time, the second meeting had already begun. The Pope sat in the front and continued what he had not finished before. "As I said at the end of the last meeting, you should all know what I am going to say next."

As he finished speaking, a figure walked out from the shadows behind the Pope.

It was Clovel. As the military commander of the Holy See, he handed a paper document to the Pope. As he stepped back, he did not forget to look up at where Koshe was.

As if he had noticed Clowell's little move, the Pope's smile faded away, he turned his head slightly, and looked at Clowell's expression out of the corner of his eye.

After a moment, he turned around, put on his kind smile again, adjusted the angle of his glasses, and picked up the documents.

"First, the representative of Ursus," the Pope looked at the countries listed in the document and their corresponding matters, and at the same time raised his head and looked at the Ursus nobleman, "Jaros Alisa, is it true about Ursus's oppression of the infected and the rumors that the Originium mines detained the infected as slaves?"

"That's not true," Yaros Alisa lowered his head, then stood up and denied it. "Ursus is a powerful country, and there is no need to oppress the infected people like this. They are just patients and should not be treated like this, so these are just nonsense, just rumors."

"That's a lie," Tracys, who was sitting next to Koshe, suddenly whispered, "The oppression of the infected by the Ursus people is well known to the world."

Perhaps because they are Sarkaz and the race with the largest number of infected people, even Tracy is quite dissatisfied with Yaros's ability to lie with his eyes open.

"You told me you're a wise man pretending to be confused," Koshei responded, "and everyone here is like that, isn't it?"

The two watched the Pope and Jaros' questions and answers, blurring out those certain things into rumors and slander, and couldn't help but sigh how fake this so-called "peace" was.

"Representative Casimir, Viviana Droste."

After Yaros sat down, the Pope called Viviana's name.

Viviana lifted the corner of her clothes and stood up gracefully. The aristocratic temperament she displayed was no weaker than that of Yaros.

"Everyone knows that Casimir owns the Knights' Tournament, but are the other businesses that have been extended from the Knights' Tournament a bit out of line?"

The Pope asked this while looking at Viviana.

"What do you mean?"

In this regard, Viviana also knew that she had to play dumb. Although even she herself could not accept those things that ignored human rights, at the International Conference, she could only exonerate her country from the blame.

"Slave trading."

As if he knew Viviana's answer in advance, the Pope asked without hesitation.

"No, this is impossible, Mr. Pope." Viviana shook her head, denying the existence of such things. "Casimir advocates chivalry. We, the people of Casimir, will never do something that betrays tradition. Chivalry is the savior of all of us."

Viviana said words that she felt were against her will, just to protect her country. The Knight stood behind her, clenched his fists, and said nothing.

For these two people who truly advocate chivalry, this conversation is like sharpening their hearts with a blunt knife.

"Is that so? I understand. I hope you don't mind my offense. This is just a routine." The Pope nodded to show his understanding and called the next country, "Yan Country Representative."

Listening to these meaningless questions and answers that were different in nature but completely consistent in essence, Koshei gradually began to become distracted.

His eyes were always on Clowell behind the Pope, and similarly, Clowell's eyes never left him.

Koshe thought about it over and over again, but he just couldn't figure out what kind of contradictions and conflicts he had with him that led to such great malice from the other party.

At least, it was not entirely because of the smuggling of firearms. If the Lateran really controlled firearms to the point of almost silencing people, then Syracuse would have no way of shipping goods out of the Lateran.

Personal grudge? But Koshe was 100% sure that he had never met Clowell.