Chapter 96 The Iron Crown The moment she saw the body outline, she lightly…
The beginning of a war is often like the fluttering of a butterfly's wings, making it difficult to see clearly.
A tombstone, a gunshot, a missing soldier—any conflict can become a rope, dragging two or even more countries into the quagmire of war.
With a soft rustling sound, Andra, who had transformed into a butterfly, fluttered her wings, and then—the world was astonished!
One evening, King Belai's head rolled down the city wall, and all sorts of news spread to every corner of the continent on the sea breeze and in newspapers.
Different people have different versions of the truth about that day.
The locals on the streets told the story of how the Pirate King sailed his ghost ship ashore at night, charged straight at the castle, and finally killed King Baelai with a single blow.
The palace guards who escaped with their lives couldn't help but spread a dry message: the pirate king suddenly attacked during the negotiations, severing the king's head and throwing it out the window, causing the queen to scream in terror.
Another bard, with a vivid imagination, sang a song in a tavern.
The pirate queen in the lyrics is very creative: she and her crew disguise themselves as dancers and infiltrate Baelor's royal troupe, tearing their skirts during the performance to assassinate the king...
The uproar ripped off the dignity of the Belaine nobles, who, enraged, pulled out their gold coins and frantically hired a wandering legion to exact revenge on the "shameless, stinking scarred face."
With such a large sum of money involved, the pot is boiling over.
Bloodthirsty thugs, clad in armor sponsored by nobles, patrolled the coastline, taunting and taunting any ship suspected of being a pirate vessel.
One day, two days, three days passed.
The gold coins prepared by the nobles and the vigilance of the greedy mercenaries rose and fell with the tide, eventually sinking into the sea.
Hey, what are you worried about?
The Pirate King is a disgustingly clever man. He killed the king with one blow, stole the money, and retreated to the island to assess the situation. Why would he risk coming back to ascend the throne? The throne of us old Belial doesn't welcome the backsides of smugglers from other places!
Now that the enemy has been driven away, it's time to elect the true King of Belial!
At the end of the month, the heads of various merchant guilds in Belle gathered together in a hidden cave.
They blew out their candles and held hands in the darkness, silently passing between their palms the additional stakes they were willing to take and the proportion of benefits they hoped to gain, in order to compete for the final victory.
After a long conversation, most people finally showed satisfied smiles.
Just as they were about to speak, the sound of thumping footsteps echoed outside the cave, each thump striking their hearts.
"Don't be afraid, we'll go through the secret passage—"
Pfft.
The moment the person who spoke stood up, a sharp blade pierced her back, and a trickle of liquid instantly splattered onto the contorted faces of those around her.
"Ahhh—"
Who is it—?
Pfft, pfft, pfft.
Screaming, screaming! The screaming never stopped—
Then came a long, long silence.
......
When a multi-headed snake suddenly loses more than half of its head, it becomes a paralyzed prey.
Andra didn't care at all; she stood in the sea breeze, holding up a slightly rugged iron crown.
The ends of her scarlet hair shimmered with a layer of golden light under the sunlight.
"Gentlemen, I pardon your death sentence—I will lead you to a land where honey and gold flow, to hunt for the honor and treasure of warriors."
The mercenaries, deceived by the token, gritted their teeth, several of their comrades' corpses lying beside them. Not far away, even more heads belonging to the Belai nobles were piled into a tall triangle.
Blood stained the beach, erasing the last shred of hope in everyone's hearts.
They bowed their heads and knelt before Andra beneath the crown.
What future awaits the countries behind them? Nobody knows.
Starting the next day, the Pirate King... or rather, King Bale—issued a multitude of simple and brutal decrees.
Sheets of paper covered with writing were posted on the bulletin board, open to all citizens to browse at will.
"What does it say?" People would often turn to ask the literate people next to them.
"Conscription...the entire nation is exempt from tax for one year, and every household is exempt from tax for three years if one person joins the army."
A merchant, arms crossed, solemnly recited: "Prisoners in jail are incorporated into the army; upon victory, they are pardoned. The same applies to slaves and debtors..."
"Great news!" A citizen clapped his hands. "Hey, apart from those bad guys who might cause trouble if they're released, it's all good news!"
"......"
The illiterate rejoiced, while those with a rudimentary understanding read aloud. But among the crowd, there were always some intelligent individuals who discerned the treacherous path implied by the words, and felt a deep-seated anxiety about the future.
Putting everything else aside, a country with few standing land forces needs to go through many steps to raise and maintain a large army in a short period of time, and each step requires at least three words.
People, money, and food!
As Andra beheaded King Baelai, the Baelai roared in fury to punish the mad pirate.
When Andra stood on the beach and declared herself queen, the Belaeans whispered, "She's gone mad."
......
When Andra actually assembled a mixed First Legion with pirates, a portion of elite mercenaries, and a group of opportunists who had sworn allegiance, the Belai people shut their mouths and waited for this madman to be cut down by the Nolana.
Andra's initial First Legion consisted of only five thousand men because they did not have enough warhorses.
Each cavalryman needs to be accompanied by at least one attendant, who also need a spare horse and half-armor, and must be somewhat skilled in martial arts.
Ironically, it was precisely because the Belai had just experienced the Royal Wars and the Island Wars that they were able to barely assemble such a knightly order that combined light, medium, and armored cavalry.
Otherwise, if Andra gave the order, she might only have a bunch of pirates to play horseback riding and fight with her.
......
The arrogant "King Belle" claims he will attack Norlana!
The Belai nobles, unwilling to submit, sent messages like snowflakes to every corner, and began to seek support from Norlana.
Rather than a bloodthirsty pirate king, they would much rather work with the wise princess... or rather, the golden snake, since the latter is a true merchant of their kind.
Norlana reacted swiftly, rapidly dispatching troops to the border. Meanwhile, news sent the morale of the Belai nobles soaring: Aha! They heard that King Hetuya would personally lead the army! Victory was assured this time!
......
The Pirate King Scarface...? Did this person exist in previous lives?
When Eleanor heard the title "Pirate King" again through the Marigold Merchant Guild's intelligence, she immediately recalled an afternoon from several years ago.
On that day, something happened to Baley. She was in Hetuya and stared blankly at the record about "Scarface the Pirate King" that had been delivered to her.
But she was too busy. During that time, she had to meet and communicate with many people every day, win over the nobles of Hetuya, advance the research, and repeatedly memorize new knowledge and connections... The complicated thoughts made her thinking sluggish.
An inexplicable unease settled over me.
Eleanor frowned, vaguely remembering that she had commissioned a specialist from the Marigold Merchant Guild to gather intelligence related to the Pirate King, which must have included a portrait.
She tapped the table, and the secretary quickly retrieved the intelligence from that year from the filing cabinet and added all the new documents.
Eleanor spread the documents out on the table, her face growing increasingly grim.
Something's not right... The butterfly effect exists; she had encountered people who suddenly rose to prominence or suddenly fell into obscurity in her previous lives.
As a powerful variable, she will indeed change the fate of many people in the process of development, such as Princess Baley's survival and her rise to power.
She probably thought of the Pirate King as someone who survived because of the "Bayley" fate line change.
Eleanor unveiled the first two portraits, one of which was secretly drawn by her intelligence agent who had infiltrated the island.
An earlier portrait was a work by an artist purchased by the Marigold Merchants' Guild.
According to the artist, the pirate king at the time was just an ordinary captain who liked to sit on his chest all day and daydream.
Because the young man's pensive expression was so beautiful, she couldn't resist drawing it.
The intelligence officer's style was relatively simple; she used lines, shadows, and simple coloring to neatly sketch the Pirate King.
A typical Hetuya with a high-bridged nose, long red curly hair, and golden-red eyes, a tall stature... and most importantly, a distorted scar on his left cheek.
The artist's painting, on the other hand, pays more attention to the "soul".
The pirate king in her writing didn't yet have the concept of "king," so she used sharp strokes to depict a slightly decadent young man under the setting sun.
The young man's bright red hair covered most of his face, and the scars on his cheeks and the flames in his eyes blended with the sunlight to create a blazing inferno.
The entire painting resembles a scene of burning at the stake in an old era. The hunched figure of the young man holding a gold coin occasionally contorts in the viewer's eyes into a phantom image of a burning corpse howling to the sky.
"Ugh..." Eleanor felt a stinging pain in her eyes, and instinctively wanted to cry.
She unconsciously lifted the third portrait, the most recent one.
The agents from Emerald City came to the beach to witness the Pirate King's "self-coronation ceremony," and then drew her portrait...
With a soft thud, the paper slipped silently from its pages.
"...Andra?"
Before she even realized what was happening, the name had already automatically escaped her lips.
The intense decadence has dissipated, and the twisted scars can no longer conceal the madness under the sunlight.
Even though those golden-red eyebrows and eyes were merely embellishments blending into the light in the image, she still whispered "Andra...!" the moment she saw the outline of the body.
You really didn't die. You really won't die.
Tears streamed down her face, and Eleanor opened her lips—but no sound came out.
Intense thoughts choked her, almost strangling her to death in her memories.
Thump!
The secretary suddenly burst open the door and shouted in a panic, "Your Highness! I just knocked! I... I have something very important to tell you!"
Eleanor carefully put the painting down, wiping away her tears with her fingers, but the more she wiped, the more tears she shed, so she simply put it down.
"Hoo..." She took a deep breath to adjust her breathing and clear her throat. "Go on, tell me."
"yes!"
The secretary bowed deeply and said in a rapid-fire voice, "King Hetuya, your wife Alisa has decided to personally go to the front lines to protect Belai!"
"What?!" Eleanor straightened up abruptly, her head spinning.
"Um...yes, Her Majesty Alisa discussed it with everyone and felt that this was the safest approach?"
The secretary followed up on Eleanor's words, adding that she was somewhat surprised as to why the princess looked so unwell. Hadn't Her Highness always hoped that Her Majesty Alisa would take on more responsibility?
"Nonsense! Tell her to come back right now—"
Eleanor's expression at that moment was almost manic. Her secretary had never seen the princess look like this before. She said in disbelief, "But...but Her Majesty has already set off..."
"Bring her back to me! Waaah!"
Eleanor clutched her forehead, her eyelids twitching: Was it going to happen again? Those... senseless deaths.
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