Chapter 857

"I don't agree. It's absolutely OK!"

The whole round table began with Charlotte's sharp refutation - no surprise.

"Are you crazy?" the countess stared at the black haired wizard opposite the round table. "This is a naked threat. He wants you to die!"

The atmosphere of the meeting was the worst-case from the beginning.

"It's not that serious. It's just going to the ancient wood forest as an imperial envoy."

Facing Charlotte's angry eyes, Loren could only explain hard: "I'll be back in three months or six months."

"What's more, I have been there. The elves there are a little stubborn and biased, but most of them are just like a group of children - most importantly, I have fought side by side with them, and they will never hurt me."

"That was several years ago. Who cares what the barbarians living in the forest have become!" seeing the black haired wizard retort, Charlotte trembled with anger and her white face turned pink: "do you want to place your safety and Byrne's safety on the promise of a group of barbarians?!"

"The elves are not barbarians. They are all good people!"

A soft refutation came from a corner of the round table.

In an instant, the whole hall was quiet - everyone looked sideways at the same time and turned their heads in the direction of the sound.

"Oh, what are you looking at me for?" the little wizard, who was slightly stunned, looked a little evasive, but couldn't help but retort: "in a word, in a word... The elves have no bad people, they will be a little proud, but... They are a very friendly race!"

None of the stunned people at the round table heard his protest and were all surprised.

Others were shocked that someone dared to stand up and refute the Countess of red blood castle, while Loren was shocked that Ayn would one day refute outsiders - or anyone except himself and Isaac.

"I... I apologize for my impolite words, Lord Ayn Rand." in a slightly awkward atmosphere, Charlotte, who tried to keep calm, bowed very hard to the little wizard, and then pointed the spear at the black haired wizard again the next second:

"But even if this is true, Byrne cannot accept that his Duke will leave for half a year without reason; the emperor in the sky palace has no right to kidnap and drive our Duke like a servant!"

The loud voice echoed in the hall like the roar of a sword.

"Er... In fact, he has the power."

Sitting beside Charlotte, the steward of the red blood castle, who has been "promoted" to the head of the principality in the past two years, Charles glenwell raised his hand and continued his words:

"According to the imperial code, the Duke is obliged to provide troops, supplies and open the towns and roads in the principality to the imperial Legion during the war; and obey all orders of the Emperor himself or his designated supreme commander."

"In peacetime, the Dukes have the obligation to govern the principality, maintain the smooth flow of trade and goods, and maintain the authority of the Empire in diplomatic occasions - as Imperial Envoys, even part of maintaining the authority of the Empire..."

Under the countess's increasingly embarrassed and even cannibal eyes, Charles's voice became lower and lower. Finally, he curled up in his chair and dared not move.

With a cold hum, Charlotte turned her eyes aside.

"I don't approve of the Duke leaving Bain for so long, but..."

The silent Earl of the fort of wrath, Eckert - the round table Council, the elder of the thirteen earls - frowned and sighed: "it is morally bad for Byrne to refuse orders from the sky palace."

The countess looked at count Eckert in surprise.

"It's a trap, and it's probably a well-designed trap, that's right... But it's hard for us to explain to the people and Knights of Byrne that they don't understand why the sky palace wants to murder the Duke." Eckert shook his head and looked at Charlotte with some persuasion:

"If we can't get the support of the people and knights, it's difficult for us to resist the instructions from the heavenly palace - after all, it's the imperial order personally issued by the emperor. In the eyes of simple benefactors, it's an honor to represent the Empire; they will feel that the Empire finally begins to pay attention to the status of benefactor and rely on our Duke."

The people around the round table were stunned, and their expressions were slightly dim... Although they were a little direct, count Eckert said the truth.

As long as there is no flagrant rebellion, the Principality of Byrne will still be a part of the Empire, and Loren Turin will still be the courtiers of the de sallion royal family - it is natural for the courtiers to obey the emperor's orders; It is even more glorious to represent a foreign country as an empire.

Most importantly, since the Centaur war, the heavenly palace has never suppressed Byrne for any reason... Even if it did, it did not happen in the open.

The people and nobles of Byrne can only see that the principality is becoming stronger and stronger, gradually returning to its rightful position in the past, and their hatred for the sky palace that once split Byrne is decreasing day by day - after all, the ancient kingdom era was hundreds of years ago. The baptism of 12 generations and the silent movement of the church have made them begin to accept the concept of "Byrne is a part of the Empire".

But Charlotte refused to give up.

Biting Bei's teeth, she struggled and never wanted to bow her head - or watch a "fool" take the initiative to jump into the fire pit.

"Is it really the only way?" facing the eyes around the round table, she asked tenaciously: "there is no way to stop the ambition of the heavenly palace?"

"I really can't find a decent excuse to turn down the emperor in the heavenly palace and let him get rid of such a vicious idea?!"

"Tell me, are you really going to watch this bastard... This Duke Byrne jump into the emperor's trap and die?!"

The hall was silent.

The people around the round table either looked at each other, or bowed their heads in meditation, or had already made up their mind and closed their eyes; Or because of struggle, I haven't made up my mind yet

The dark haired wizard shrugged.

If he really wants to, of course, he has some "reasonable ways" to refuse the emperor's "invitation", but either result will not be very good - rejecting the "honorary title" of the imperial envoy is tantamount to responding to the ultimatum of akhat II, which is no different from the positive declaration of war.

At least for now, at least when akhat II, the supreme emperor dressed in the "dragon Aotian template", is still alive, it is wise to "cooperate" with each other as much as possible.

After all, the other party is not his real enemy. The real enemy should be

"There's a way."

Huh?

The black haired wizard raised his head and looked at the discordant "sound source" opposite - the president of the United Chamber of Commerce and the "treasurer" of Loren, little Yod, opened his mouth abruptly. His wandering eyes kept looking at the black haired wizard and the countess, showing a meaningful smile:

"As long as a major event occurs in the Principality of Bain and the Duke himself is involved, he can justifiably refuse the invitation to go abroad; and it is reasonable that the emperor and the heavenly palace can not find any reason to object."

"Great event, what great event?" Charlotte and the black haired wizard asked almost simultaneously.

How important is it to refuse the emperor's appointment in a fair manner?

"Cough... If it's recent, there are some things that need the Duke himself." coughing twice, count Eckert whispered: "the ceremony of the new bishop, the alliance conclusion of some dwarf city states in the south, and... Well, the knight college in anger castle and the Turin wizard college in red blood castle, the graduation ceremony of a new group of Colleges..."

"But to be honest, these are far fetched. Compared with the importance of going abroad, even it is difficult to convince ourselves - I'm afraid the heavenly palace will take them as intentional reasons."

With that, the count of fury castle with a slight frown turned his eyes to little Joad, but the tax official still didn't say a word and stared at the confused Duke Byrne and the Countess of red blood castle.

And the curvature of the corners of the mouth is deeper.

Yes, of course, there is a reason, and it is a very legitimate reason.

A marriage that will stir the whole Bain and involve the Duke of Bain and a powerful count will make the Turin family strong and even reach the peak, and will certainly cause no small shock in half the Empire.

No, not half an empire, but the whole empire - it will be a grand event for the unification of Byrne; Isn't it reasonable to refuse an "insignificant" visit for such a grand event?

Of course, little Joad didn't see these. He saw the influence and "side effects" that came with the grand event - a grand wedding must be accompanied by a large number of dignitaries and dignitaries, and where the crowd went was where the wealth went.

With proper use, the United Chamber of Commerce and himself can take the opportunity to make a lot of money, and even promote the trade network and bonds of the United Chamber of Commerce to other principalities, become creditors of those earls and lords, give them low interest or even interest free loans, and then dig out the wealth of their territory step by step.

Boye, Elman, Arle, lottel

While little Joad was gradually immersed in his dream, he suddenly felt a cold in the back of his neck, as if he had been stared at by some prehistoric beast from behind!

With a stiff expression, little Joad, who didn't dare to look back, twitched his throat and looked up shakily. He saw the black haired wizard in front of him, looking at himself "meaningfully".

"Of course there are justifiable excuses, but..." little Joad, trembling all over, with a swollen face like he was almost out of breath, managed to squeeze out a regretful smile:

"I agree with count Eckert that we can't resist the Empire head-on - it's too inappropriate!"

As soon as the words fell, little Joad was like a condemned man who had narrowly escaped the gallows. With a long sigh of relief, he collapsed on his chair.

Just a little, just a little. I'm afraid I have to

"If you have to be an envoy, the Empire will not limit or stipulate the number of missions?" Lucian stood up silently and looked at the crowd:

"Then we have nothing to worry about as long as we are ready and defensive."

"Indeed, for Imperial Envoys appointed with full authority, especially when the Duke is the envoy, the Empire generally gives great privileges and rarely interferes."

Charles, the Duke of the principality who finally dared to speak, stood up and nodded slightly: "like the last time, Archduke ellemans was the best example. He could even ignore the opinions of other members of the mission and reach an agreement with the Duke who had not been crowned at that time."

"Now the demon hunters stationed in the red blood castle by the wings of the sky are almost the size of a hundred people team." the grey pupil nodded with understanding: "I'll lift their task now and transfer them all into the mission as guards."

"There's no need for so many people. Two or three are enough." the black haired wizard suddenly made a noise and reluctantly interrupted Lucian: "the guard work of the guard should be handed over to the guard Knights of red blood castle. They are professional - if there are so many enemies, a group of demon hunters who are only good at fighting their own battles are not as good as the Knights."

"More importantly, we can't change the original layout on a large scale because of the temporary intention of the heavenly palace."

"Yes, we can't be led around by the emperor in the sky palace!" Charlotte rarely agreed with Loren. Once, her hands crossed in front of her chest and kept rubbing:

"Since we can't change the result, we should take advantage of this opportunity as much as possible - let the vault of heaven and the prince of saxophone prepare a large enough Escort Group to protect our Duke; then inform the principalities along the way to reach an alliance with them; Elman, lottel..."

"No, this trip should avoid Saxony as much as possible, especially the capital Golovin." Loren interrupted the countess again and said in a deep voice:

"Not only that, but also not too deeply entangled with any principality along the way - if you can, it's best not to fight face-to-face in addition to courtesy."

The moment the voice fell, everyone around the round table was stunned.

In a silent round table hall, the black haired wizard who was stared at by all eyes took a sip of the wine glass on the table as if there were no one else.

Well, the Nightingale hoarded for ten years has a completely different taste and delicacy from red blood... It's really fragrant.

"Well... I think the Duke should mean that we can't give the Empire any chance to intervene." after a while, Eckert, the count of angry castle, stood up again and made a round: "it's also possible if they are really ready to set a trap, deliberately destroy the peace talks and then plant a frame."

In the end, even count Eckert himself did not believe it.

"So, this time you're going to risk yourself and go to the ancient wood forest alone?" Charlotte, with a blue face, said coldly: "do you know how much risk it will make Byrne bear?"

"Who told you to be alone... I cherish my life very much." Loren stood up, smiled and looked at the countess: "Lucian... Well, and Ayn will go with me."

"Alas - me?!"

The little wizard was stunned.