Chapter 33 Infrastructure: Direct Communication with My Brother
"Would you report this kind of thing to the Black Earl before?"
"Black Earl Lewis is an Imperial general appointed by His Majesty the Emperor, and we are His Majesty's subordinates. We have no obligation to serve His Majesty. Although we all belong to the Empire of the Sun and are loyal to the Empire."
The mage in the shadows answered tactfully.
(The conflict between theocracy and monarchy at the top of the empire is more serious than I thought...)
Xiao Yun bit his lip and asked, "How long did the barbarian trafficking last?"
"At least a year."
"Don't care?"
"Um?"
"Brother, since you already knew about this, why didn't you do anything about it?"
"Your Highness enjoys a high status among the Twin Gods believers throughout the Western Continent, but those living in the border areas do not believe in the Twin Gods. The Kukuchia people believe in the Sea God. Moreover, Lewis is a military commander of His Majesty the Emperor. Your Highness has no right to dismiss him. The most he can do is write a letter to reprimand him."
"Can't we send a magician to sneak into the room, kill him, and then support a new general who is willing to obey our orders?"
"Young Master—"
The magician's body suddenly froze, his head leaned forward and fell on the back of Xiao Yun's hand. The next moment, a familiar voice sounded in Xiao Yun's mind.
Lucien——
"Brother? You..."
[Be quiet. I'm using his body as a medium to communicate with you remotely. However, if you speak too loudly or become overly emotional, the duration of the channel will be shortened.]
(The magic way can actually do this!)
Xiao Yun thought in disbelief.
This call can't last too long, so let's hurry up.
【First, let me answer your question.】
[The suggestion of sending a magician to sneak into the room and kill Lewis, and then supporting a general who obeys him is not impossible, but you know, Lewis was once a knight with noble character.]
"ah?"
[As long as the root cause of the upright knight's degeneration into human traffickers is not resolved, no matter how many people are sent to Gaola, it will be useless.]
"What's the root cause?"
【Lack of education and ignorance, harsh and poor environment, and conflicts between immigrants and indigenous people.】
Let's first discuss the issue of ignorance. While the armies stationed in the various castles of Gora are valiant, most of them are mercenaries paid to fight. They are generally illiterate and have low morals, with some even uneducated. In fact, the armies stationed in the wild regions of the Western Continent suffer from low education and morals.
Then there's the harsh environment. The Gora region, afflicted by a six-thousand-year curse, has only seen settlement and stable agricultural activity in the last hundred years. Yet, it lies at the dividing line between civilization and barbarism within the empire. Even just to ensure the smooth passage of the Kaz River, the troops stationed there must annually battle the barbarians of the dense forests.
However, the tax revenue from the Kashi River waterway is usually divided into three parts, with the largest portion going to the capital. The remaining portion is split equally between the eastern part of the river and the western part of the river. For the Gaola region, this distribution of money is clearly unfair.
Furthermore, most of the settlers who settled here didn't see anything wrong with the Imperial Army's invasion of the jungle and the capture of barbarians. They didn't even consider the barbarians to be human beings like themselves, so naturally, they couldn't care less about the fate of those captured by the army.
For these reasons, Lewis began capturing barbarians and selling them to coastal cities like Kukuchia for money a year ago. He and his subordinates believed this would both reduce the number of the nasty barbarians and alleviate Castle Black's financial pressure.
"I see."
Xiao Yun felt very emotional.
"Brother is right. The root cause of the problem hasn't been solved. Replacing Lewis is useless..."
Recalling the conversation with the poor students in the lower city of the royal capital and what he saw along the way from the royal capital to Gaola, combined with Yaris's in-depth analysis of Lewis's fall from a noble knight to a despicable human trafficker, Xiao Yun understood Yaris's determination more and more.
(The imperial machine known as the Yura Dynasty has experienced an irreparable operational failure. Replacing one or two parts will not solve the problem... It must be overthrown and rebuilt!)
[Finally, let me talk about sending a magician to kill people——]
If there were no rules, using magic to take lives would be extremely easy. However, this arbitrariness could plunge the world into chaos. Therefore, over four thousand years ago, the Magic Guild established a ban requiring mages affiliated with the Guild to not only only kill under orders from others, but also to not receive any compensation or benefits from such actions. Otherwise, they would be expelled from the Guild and become black mages.
"When ordered to kill, magicians must completely transform themselves into a sword?"
Your metaphor is very interesting and appropriate.
[The knife does not need emotion or thinking. How to use it is entirely determined by the owner, that is, us.]
[Make good use of the swords I gave you. As for the magicians in the dense forest... I have already asked the Dark Night Mentor to negotiate with them.]
"'Dark Night Mentor'?"
Xiao Yun was stunned.
(This guy is not——)
【We are not absolute enemies. We sometimes use each other for our own benefit.】
"oh……"
[Remember, when dealing with a mage, no matter what they say, you must never utter phrases like 'I am yours' or 'I obey you.' 'Obedience,' 'obey,' and 'acceptance' are the oaths of loyalty in the mage realm. Once you utter these words, your soul will be forever bound to the mage who heard them.]
Our special bloodline means we don't have to worry about becoming a mage's slave, but we're still vulnerable to the subconscious influence of the mage's oath, especially when the target is the 'Dark Night Mentor'—although I call him foolish and ignorant, he does possess the strength of one of the three greatest mage masters of the time.
…
…
At dawn, Lance woke up from his sleep.
The magician's powder allowed him to have a rare full night's sleep, as he was haunted by the bloody and painful past almost every night. In the morning light, he looked radiant and in high spirits.
Then, led by the Honggu Village chief and his sons, they rode horses and arrived at Qingniba Village.
Before entering the village, Xiao Yun looked up and saw the Dekala Castle, known as the Black Castle.
…
Roger had one leg broken in the war, most of his left ear cut off, several scars on his uneven face, and he always exuded the stench of a beast. Even the wandering artists who were short of money disdained to do business with him.
Therefore, when he opened the wooden door and saw Xiao Yun dressed as a bard, his eyes immediately revealed undisguised greed and vulgarity.
"Hey! How much do you want for one night?"
"...Roger! Calm down first, he's not—"
The village chief and his two sons were frightened by Roger's audacity and hurried to stop him.
"Shut up!"
Roger limped over to Xiao Yun and said bluntly, "Spend the night with me and I'll give you gold coins!"
"Are you that horny?"
Xiao Yun was speechless.
Roger realized that the other party looked down on him, and he raised his cane to teach the young and beautiful bard a lesson.
Bang!
The crutch was firmly grasped by Lance behind Xiao Yun and broken on the spot.
"Don't be rude to the master!"
"Owner?"
Roger was stunned: "You are his master? You..."
"Roger, they are not bards and mercenaries, they are..."
The village chief gestured to Roger.
Roger was stunned.
“It’s actually… it’s…”
"While you were employed by Castle Black, did you participate in attacks and population plunder against the forest barbarian tribes?"
"You...how do you know..."
Roger's mouth dropped open.
Lance also felt incredible.
Although he could probably guess from the words of the village chief, his father and his son that Roger had been involved in kidnapping and human trafficking, but—
(Rumor has it that the Sun Empire has a magic army that operates in the dark. No secrets within the empire can be hidden from them. And this army... this most mysterious magic army only obeys the orders of the Holy Family... that is...)
Lance shuddered.
As a mercenary who fights on the battlefield for money and a promising future, he has a natural aversion to magic, which is always associated with darkness and fog.
"Tell me, how many times has the Black Earl raided and plundered the forest?"
"I--"
"Or perhaps you want to experience the magic interrogation."
Xiao Yun threatens Roger.
According to the magic mentor Al, magic interrogation is a method of extracting information directly from the brain. It will not only make the person being interrogated suffer pain comparable to being torn apart alive, but may also completely damage the person's brain.
Data shows that at the end of the magic interrogation, the brains of nearly 90% of the interrogated people will be turned into a pool of white stuff.
Roger knew the cruelty of the magic interrogation and screamed in fear, "No! No! Don't use the magic interrogation on me!"
"Then tell me everything you know."
"I……"
Roger gritted his teeth and said, "I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!"
…
…
Bruno was fidgeting.
Black Earl Lewis was invited to Rydburg, but the Marquis of Gaura who invited him was...
"The Grand Marquis asked me to come, and I did as I was told! But he wouldn't see me! Does he look down on me?"
"Lewis, you—"
"Get out of here!"
Lewis waved his cape and prepared to leave.
At this moment, a slender and quiet figure blocked his way.
"Black Earl Lewis—"
"Who are you?"
Lewis felt the unusual aura emanating from the weak young man, stopped, squinted his eyes and looked at him: “How dare you block my way!”
"I am John Dill, Professor of the Royal Academy, and also the First Staff Officer of the Grand Marquis of Gaura."
John Deere calmly introduced himself to the murderous Black Earl.
"John Deere... I think I've heard of this name..."
Lewis frowned.
But he quickly recovered his composure and threatened fiercely, "Why doesn't the Grand Marquis come to see me in person?"
"because--"
John Deere smiled gently, a shy smile with a hint of embarrassment.
"My master is not here."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
