People in Terra, governing a weird little country

Fortunately, she is still on his side. Although the evil crisis and the like sound like "this thing must be the main plot of Arknights", people have to live in the present first, so it is better to finish the Expo first and then learn more about these issues.

In order to avoid the same weird feeling as before, Ernst was somewhat afraid of "my cabinet moved".

...............

"What are you looking at?"

Kal'tsit frowned and asked Typhon, who had been staring at Snowball since he walked out of the room.

"Is there something wrong?"

Typhon pouted, his handsome eyebrows almost wrinkled into a ball:

"It's not wrong...it's just...it's so weird!"

"Just now, that [gaze] obviously left on its own, but why didn't Mother Anma's love melt?"

Anma's love can form a layer of protection, or "cover a layer of isolation" on the person targeted by the evil spirit. It can shift the evil spirit's focus from the person to the [Anma] that wraps him, and at the same time isolate the person's thoughts, making him unable to think and act for a short period of time, cutting off the cognitive link with the evil spirit, thus protecting humans.

But although Mother Anma has protected Sami for a long time, Anma's love is one-time. After resisting the evil spirit once, the small snowball containing Mother Anma's power will melt into snow water, which is no different from an ordinary snowball.

But the one in Typhon's hand was obviously still good, and Typhon could even feel a faint warmth in it.

Didn't Anma's love work?

What was it that made the evil demon look away?

Chapter 287 Loyalty! Sincerity!

Kjerag, Tukarim, Snowland Express.

Elini looked at the train compartment with some curiosity.

It was her first time taking a train.

There are no trains in Iberia. In the Golden Age, the ports built along the Krasd Sea in Iberia could support people to reach any town in Iberia. At that time, Victoria and the Gaul Empire, which were undergoing the steam-originite technological revolution, were Iberia's geopolitical rivals. The arrogant royal family relied on Iberia's prosperity and wealth and did not need to learn any technology from any country on earth. The development of train technology in Iberia was very slow.

When the Great Silence occurred, the royal family that had curbed Iberia's external exchanges and development was indeed physically silent. But Iberia also lost the possibility of development.

Although Kjerag is considered to be at the bottom of the Terran countries in terms of conventional strength, it is a very stable country. At least when Ernst took over the country, the political situation was relatively stable and the people lived and worked in peace. Although the situation was inevitably getting worse, everything had not yet reached the point of being irreconcilable.

External pressure is far greater than internal pressure. This is Kjerag's situation and the reason why Ernst focuses his work on diplomacy.

But the situation in Iberia was just the opposite. This once glorious empire made great progress with the help of the Agor "islanders". The overly advanced productivity satisfied and to some extent suppressed the people's desire for change, just like the white robes on the Arabian Peninsula in Ernst's previous life.

But the contradictions were always suppressed, not resolved. When the Great Silence completely destroyed the original ruling order and swept away all the wealth, the contradictions not only did not disappear, but instead became more severe and broke out.

After all, it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it is difficult to go from extravagance to

The death of Breogan, chief designer of the Iberian Golden Fleet, is a microcosm of the outbreak of conflicts.

In today's Iberia, there are Deep Sea Cultists acting as drought traitors on the land, and there are Sea Heirs eroding the coastline covetously along the coast. The Inquisition and the Punishment Army are busy every day, and the situation of the port cities left over from the golden age is still deteriorating. On the contrary, on the long northern border, the defense line of the National Defense Army has been quiet for a long time. Even the Grand Duke of Victoria is too lazy to take a second look at the now barren Iberia.

It's a bit like ignoring a dog.

Reform? Development? Return to the golden age?

Iberia is now just struggling to survive.

Not to mention Elini, even Dario, the Grand Inquisitor himself, had only taken the train a few times.

He could understand Elini's curiosity and excitement, but he still reminded her:

"Slow down, Elini. You are already an apprentice of the Inquisitor. When you go out, you need to act like an Iberian."

"Okay, teacher!" Elini sat up straight and nodded to Dario, but a hint of doubt immediately appeared on her young face. "But, teacher, what do Iberians look like?"

Dario opened his mouth.

He subconsciously wanted to say words like "proud", "stand tall" or "proud".

But he was also a little worried. If Elini showed a doubtful expression, how should he answer?

Are you talking about Iberians?

So, he pondered for a while, and when Elini was about to forget the question and stood up to open the door of the box, he answered:

“Tenacious.”

"Iberians are resilient. No matter what setbacks they encounter or what kind of oppression they face, they will never give up and will never give up. This is what Iberians are like."

"Sir, this is not the way to teach children well."

A slightly teasing voice sounded, and Dario raised his head. The hand cannon was already aimed at the head of the guy holding the harp at the door. He only needed to pull the trigger, and the strange man in the gray hat and the wall of the carriage behind him would be reduced to ashes under the hand cannon's firepower that was enough to annihilate an entire street!

The man in the gray hat was obviously startled and quickly took a step back, showing the harp in his hand to show that he meant no harm.

"Who are you?" Dario asked.

Gray Hat answered immediately: "Harpist."

Dario was silent for a moment, as if waiting for the gray hat in front of him to say something, but the gray hat just stared at him.

After a while, he asked, "What is that?"

Now it was Gray Hat's turn to be speechless.

I've heard that Iberia is now a cultural desert, but I didn't expect it to become like this? Harp, don't you know the harp?

The Gray Hat could only explain: "It's a musical instrument. I'm the player. Everyone on the train has seen me. I mean no harm."

Dario looked at the harp in Gray Hat for a long time, until the image of this strange instrument was completely engraved in his mind, and then he withdrew his gaze.

It really doesn't look threatening.

This musical instrument looks quite special. I will definitely not mistake it when I see it next time.

but.......

"Do you think you can fool me with that, Duke of Caister's grey hat?"

A cold voice rang out in the box, and Dario never put down his hand cannon from beginning to end.

Elini, who was standing at the door not far from the man in the gray hat, was startled and quickly distanced herself from him, while drawing her rapier from her waist.

She also has a hand cannon, but she can't "power it" yet.

Teacher Dario said that this was because she did not have a strong enough will and awareness. But she did not know what a strong enough will and awareness was, and how to obtain it.

However, she was not the most surprised person. The most surprised person was the Gray Hat himself.

"You recognized me? What should I say? You are worthy of being the Grand Inquisitor Dario, who is in the name of Judgment and specializes in identifying those Deep Sea Cultists?"

Since he had been recognized, the man in the gray hat simply stopped pretending. He bowed slightly and performed a standard Victorian aristocratic etiquette facing Dario's black muzzle, then said,

"Can you put down your weapon now? Sir Dario, you won't fire, right?"

Dario narrowed his eyes: "Why do you think so?"

The man in the grey hat replied calmly:

"Because the Duke and I are not your enemies. The enemy of the Inquisitor should be the monster from the sea that you mentioned."

"Besides, if nothing unexpected happens, the reason you two came to Kjerag should be because you received an invitation from Mr. Ernst, right?"

"In that case, you should understand that you are not the only ones who have received the invitation."

"Are the Iberian envoys really going to launch an attack on Kjerag's train?"

There was a hint of disdain and mockery in the tone of the man in the gray hat:

"Can you afford this price?"

Can't afford it.

Dario knew it.

Whether it was a rash attack on the "envoy" of Grand Duke Victoria who had not committed any hostile acts, or firing at the venue of the World Expo where a figure of the Grand Duke's level was suspected to be in attendance, or affecting the innocent people on the train, even the lowest cost of paying for the repairs of Kjerag's train, Dario could not afford the price.

He took a deep breath and was about to put down the hand cannon, but Elini beside him had already raised her cute little eyebrows and cursed:

"Why are you so arrogant? We are Iberians. Do you dare to offend Iberians?"

Gray Hat laughed: "I......"

Before he could finish his words, he realized something was wrong and smacked his lips.

What I just said applies not only to the Iberians, but also to him.

He also couldn't do anything radical. In fact, because of his own duke's "slightly unsavory reputation", his sensitivity had to be even higher.

and.......

The man in the gray hat glanced with some fear at the box next to him whose door had been opened a crack, and at the burly blond figure in the crack.

Oops, this is not so wonderful. Some troublesome people have come.

Mr. Ernst wouldn't have invited these guys, right? Or did they come on their own?

No matter what, I have to go back and report this matter to the Duke.

The man in the gray hat left in dismay, and did not knock on the door of the next box. Elini smiled triumphantly, puffed out her chest, and said proudly:

"Teacher, what do you think? I didn't embarrass the Iberians, did I?"

Dario reached out and stroked Elini's head lovingly, then nodded gently and affirmed, "You didn't."

"However, I still have to thank the gentleman in the next box."

As he spoke, he cast his gaze towards the private room next door, which had its door slightly opened.

"Thank you for opening the door just now. You scared away that lackey of Kaster. I wonder who you are......."

"Nothing, no need to thank me."

The door slammed shut.

Dario's words were stuck in his neck, his eyebrows furrowed, and he murmured with some fear:

"Sarkaz..."

The box next door.

"I didn't expect you to be so nosy. That's not like you, Manfred."

The pink, sinful Sarkaz woman sat on the sofa, looking at Manfred who closed the door and sat back in his original seat, and made a meaningful joke.

"I'm just afraid that their dispute will affect us. This time, the general's order is to keep a low profile and focus on confirming Hedley's intelligence."

Manfred explained calmly,

"If that spy of the Duke of Caster had made a great noise next door and had come knocking at our door, it would have been known to the whole train. I only told him to go away. Don't be suspicious, Ursula."

"Yes, yes." The woman named Ursula smiled and shrugged noncommittally, "We are all the same kind of people anyway."

"It doesn't matter who we are," Manfred retorted. "It matters--"

Before he could finish his words, Ursula waved her hand and answered.

"I know, I know."

"The important thing is——"

"loyalty!"

Chapter 288: Enchiodis: Pack beast competition is far better than knight competition!

[Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Kjerag. Today is the third day of the World Expo. You have missed a lot of wonderful scenes, but fortunately, you have not missed this great opportunity.]

“Isn’t this advertising slogan a bit too ostentatious?”

Checking the newly submitted square projection advertising plan, Ernst showed some hesitation on his face.

How should I put it? This advertisement is indeed in the style of Enthiotis, proud, generous, and outspoken. Ernst feels that this is also a kind of confidence.

Enthiotis obviously didn't think there was anything wrong with the ad. He retorted confidently: "If we can't put an ordinary ad on our own land, what freedom do we have?"

"You know, Casimir's representatives have been trying to attract guests to participate in their 23rd Knights' Competition Special. We are their competitors now. If we don't use some tricks, are we going to lose to them at home?"

Ernst: “............”