stjorthotic Chapter 429 Double-dealing with others and sacrificing oneself
Chapter 429 Double-dealing with others and sacrificing oneself
Chapter 429 Double-dealing with others and sacrificing oneself
The massacre of Viscount Witte's family was the result of Evan's deliberate manipulation.
With the Duke of New Negan officially taking over the power vacuum left by his father, coupled with his previous experience of successfully snatching food from Earl Hall by exploiting Lord Hibbert's weakness, the Duke of New Negan's confidence soared. Now that he had secured his position, he looked around, eager to find the next target to establish his authority.
Prime Minister Agushid was his uncle, and although their relationship was not as close as that of the deceased Duke Negan, he was still a supporter of him.
Earl Hall has just been snatched from the jaws of death, and he is a highly experienced and influential man; we cannot afford to offend him again.
While the New Party is a good goal, the current international situation is unfavorable, making it unsuitable to proactively instigate disputes that could harm internal unity.
So the Duke of New Negan set his sights on Earl Robert Horn, who was just as young as him.
In Charles Negan's eyes, Robert Horn, like himself, was a newcomer to the throne. Although he had accomplished some great things, the young and ambitious Duke did not think it was because Robert Horn was particularly capable, but simply because Robert Horn had taken over the political legacy of the older generation earlier than him.
If I had been able to take the title of Duke of Negan earlier, my fame would certainly not be inferior to Robert Horn's, and might even be better or higher.
Moreover, Robert Horn was the one who benefited the most from inheriting his father's estate, and the two had a long-standing feud.
In addition, their political stances within the Conservative Party were consistent with the contradictions from the time of the Duke of Negan, and they were also major rivals for dominance within the Conservative Party, among other reasons.
This led Charles Negan to officially begin targeting Robert Horn.
As for the fact that the Church of Storms revealed to him that Robert was a demigod in an attempt to stop the conflict between the two of them, he did not take it to heart.
He believed that this was a normal political struggle, not involving the extraordinary world, and that neither the Augustan royal family nor other political forces would allow Robert Horn to use extraordinary methods against him, so he continued to do as he pleased.
However, Charles Negan retained a sliver of reason and did not directly target Robert. Instead, he took a roundabout approach and began to target Evan and his new army.
The plan to use the pandemic to fill the government's fiscal deficit ultimately failed due to the intervention of the Fussac Empire.
Therefore, in the last two months, the government of the Kingdom of Rune has begun to reduce various government expenditures for next year.
In the past, military spending cuts were always a top priority, but due to changes in the world situation, military spending next year is unlikely to be cut and will instead increase significantly.
Therefore, Viscount Witte, the recently prominent Member of the House of Lords, proposed, at Charles Negan's behest, to cut the New Army's budget, or even to simply abolish the New Army altogether and incorporate it directly into the Navy.
This way, the navy won't have to recruit new soldiers next year, saving a large amount of recruitment costs.
The Navy responded positively to the proposal, because compared to recruiting new soldiers next year and having to go through the trouble of training them, directly taking the fruits of Evan's hard work in cultivating the new army is obviously a more cost-effective option.
This congressman even bluntly stated that if the new army were to join the navy, Evan could continue to command the force, and the Ministry of National Defense could directly award Evan the rank of Rear Admiral to make up for his hard work during this period, which seemed very sincere—bullshit!
Everyone knows the saying "better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix." So what if you get the rank of Rear Admiral in one step?
Being an ordinary rear admiral is nothing compared to being the head of a military branch.
In the end, won't the new army eventually be integrated into the great melting pot of the Royal Navy of Rune?
The Navy leadership has a thousand ways to exert influence over the new army and prevent it from becoming Ivan's private force.
But if the new army cannot become a private force that Evan can command at will, then what is the point of this new army for Evan?
Therefore, upon learning that Viscount Witte dared to make such a proposal, Evan had already harbored murderous intent towards him.
Robert was also very unhappy about this, because he also saw Evan's new army as the foundation for the future revival of the Horn family.
Even George III was very unhappy with the proposal. He supported Ivan's creation of a new army, both for military reform and to perfect his initiation ceremony, and also to have an army that could bypass other constraints.
This is the real reason why Evan will meet Maxim at the now-closed Aurora Society secret base tonight.
Evan had already predicted that the inherently cruel Maxim, under the influence of the "fog of war," would disregard the consequences and target the nearest nobles to retaliate against Mr. Z's disrespect.
Evan intended to use Maxim as a tool to eliminate Viscount Witt and thwart Charles Negan's attempt to test him.
Evan had no time to waste with these people, especially after learning from Akhmatova Einhorn a few hours earlier that the Fussac Empire Navy was planning to seize the Roside Islands and was already poised to strike.
This shocking news prompted Evan to stop thinking about how to solve the problem and instead decide to directly target the person who created it.
If Charles Negan doesn't stop causing trouble, then Evan wouldn't mind personally reuniting him and old Duke Negan in the Kingdom of the Storm God.
If guiding Maxim to kill Viscount Witte's entire family was a spur-of-the-moment decision by Evan, then publicly exposing Maxim's identity was premeditated, only temporarily used as an excuse to carry it out.
Even without the massacre of his entire family, Evan would have connected the strange weather at the old port warehouse outside the city a few hours earlier with him and reported it to the relevant official authorities.
In fact, after Evan officially connected with Ahomatowa Einhorn through Maxim and gave Maxim Triss's contact information, Maxim's usefulness to him was already close to zero.
He only has this one life left, and he can still be of some value to Evan, but Evan is now going to use the official forces as a weapon to take his life.
Evan's plan this time is to use two knives to kill two people.
As Evan constantly moved among the countless mirrors and glass surfaces of Backlund, his appearance gradually changed, and he became the likeness of "Alice".
Just after Maxim left the Aurora Society's base in the West District, he rushed towards the East District of Backlund.
It was a place where all sorts of people mingled and the population was dense, but it was also the place where the official and extraordinary forces had the least involvement. He wanted to try to see if he could sneak out of the city from there.
He dared not underestimate the official power of Backlund. This was a place that even the King of Angels could not force his way in. If the Augustus family really went all out, he would have no chance to hide.
The massacre of Viscount Witte's family was a major event that would definitely challenge the sensitive nerves of the Augustus family and the Church of Storms, so he dared not take any chances and now only wanted to leave Backlund as soon as possible.
But before he could leave the Georgewood district and enter the East District, he heard a sound from above that only a demigod could hear.
Maxim looked up and found that the sky above Backlund was somehow covered by a dense layer of fishing nets, which were faintly visible, seemingly real yet unreal.
This scene instantly chilled Maxim to the bone. Although he did not know the name of this sealed artifact, he knew that it had once imprisoned an angel during the great war between the Fusak Empire and the Kingdom of Rune!
Using a sealing artifact capable of imprisoning angels against him is clearly overkill, which also reflects the anger of the official forces.
Maxim could no longer hold back and burst into another tirade against the Aurora Club and Mr. Z.
But no matter how much he curses, it doesn't help the current predicament.
So he had no choice but to break into an apartment building again, kill the family inside, and then begin his third prayer of the night.
"The master of the fog of war, the symbol of weather changes, the totem of storms and lightning, the great Prince Akhmatova Einhorn."
My subordinates have been discovered by the Augustus family, and they are hunting them down.
To save time, Maxim briefly described his current predicament.
As before, Akhmatova Einhorn quickly contacted him, saying impatiently, "What exactly happened? How were you exposed? How is Mr. Z of the Aurora Society? Were the Horn brothers not exposed?"
Ahomatova Einhorn wondered if he had misjudged Maxim. Back in Fussac, Maxim's work had been quite reassuring to Him!
Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen to send Maxim to Backlund to take on the task of contacting the Horn brothers.
But tonight's series of events made Ahomatova Einhorn doubt his previous judgment.
When Maxim heard that Ahomatowa Einhorn's first question was about how he was exposed, about Mr. Z of the Aurora Society and the two Horn brothers, instead of about his situation, he felt a chill in his heart, but he could only honestly tell them everything.
After determining the reason for Maxim's exposure, Akhmatova Einhorn was speechless and even felt that he was quite wronged, since no one could understand the thought process of those crazy people in the Aurora Society.
However, after learning that none of Maxim's missions had been exposed, Akhmatova and Einhorn couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Where is that mirror?
"In my hands!"
"Deliver it to Alice, then sever all ties between her and you, eliminate anyone who might expose Alice's identity, deal with all potential threats, and then you can hide in the eastern part of Backlund, waiting for things to calm down!"
In this situation, Ahomatowa Einhorn was powerless to save Maxim and had already begun preparing for the aftermath.
Maxim can die, but the cooperation with the Horn family and the deal with the Aurora Society cannot be left unresolved; someone has to do it.
Given the exceptionally complex situation in Backlund, Alice, whom Evan and Horn knew, became the best candidate to take over the matter.
Upon hearing this, Maxim's heart sank completely. His eyes glazed over, and he mechanically replied, "Yes, I know what to do!"
"Remember this: death is not the end of everything, but the beginning of another life."
I believe you won't let me down!
Finally, Ahomatowa Einhorn said something meaningful to Maxim, and then, without waiting for Maxim's response, he cut off contact with him.
Maxim remained silent. He understood the meaning behind Akhmatova Einhorn's words, but could only sigh in despair and accept his fate.
When a hunter is promoted to "War Bishop", his connection with his soldiers will be closer, and he will have the ability to use the power of his soldiers for his own purposes. Even if his soldiers die in battle, their souls will not go to the legendary underworld, but will accompany him forever.
Ahomatova Einhorn was an angel who had already passed the stage of "war bishop," and Maxim, as a member of the Eternal Night Legion, could not possibly leave Him after his death.
So now Maxim is really facing only one path: to complete the task that Ahomatowa Einhorn entrusted to him, and then clear the two Horn brothers of suspicion as much as possible so that the Augustus family will not suspect them, and finally end everything with his own death.
Maxim didn't want to die, but as a member of the Eternal Night Legion, he had no choice; military orders were paramount.
He walked to the window and glanced at the faintly visible net in the sky. He felt like a fish already caught in the net, and he would only have a chance to survive if he could tear it apart. But he simply did not have the strength to tear the net apart.
Taking a deep breath, Maxim's eyes hardened again, and he disappeared into the ordinary apartment building.
When Maxim left a secret signal at the place where he and Alice had made contact, he arrived at the Earl's Café only to find that Alice was already waiting for him there.
"What are you doing here?"
Maxim instinctively felt something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"I received a message from Evan Horn: all the official organizations in Backlund know your identity and are looking for you. I came to see if I can help!"
Evan, of course, wouldn't let Maxim notice anything amiss; lies just came out of his mouth without warning.
This, on the contrary, brought a sense of warmth to Maxim, who was feeling frustrated because he had been abandoned.
But this feeling was only fleeting. Looking at Princess Alice, who was quite famous in the country and was about to shoulder a heavy responsibility, Maxim couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. He was jealous of her unlimited future prospects and that she could continue to live!
Although filled with jealousy, Maxim still pulled out the still-warm mirror and said, "Now that I've been exposed, I can no longer carry out Lord Ahomatowa Einhorn's mission. You will continue to contact Evan Horn, Mr. Z of the Aurora Society, and that exceptionally crucial witch—Triss."