abnabooks Chapter 263 George III's Murderous Intent
Chapter 263 George III's Murderous Intent
Chapter 263 George III's Murderous Intent
After the assassination of the legendary Emperor Roselle, Intis had no one to keep the situation in check, and the Fussac Empire was preparing to take this opportunity to organize an anti-Intis alliance, besiege the city, and want to destroy Intis in one fell swoop.
Although Roselle was invincible in the Northern Continent, he also left behind many hidden dangers. While he was alive, no one dared to resist him. After his death, other countries naturally sought revenge for their grudges and grievances.
The reason why Intis was not ultimately conquered by other countries was not only because Intis's national strength was still in a class of its own at the time, and the allied forces would have paid an extremely heavy price if they really wanted to destroy Intis, but also because there was a troublemaker in the Northern Continent Allied Forces who kept advocating for peace talks. This troublemaker was the Kingdom of Rune.
At that time, the Kingdom of Rune was already keenly aware that in the post-Rossel era, the hegemony of the northern continent would be contested among the Kingdom of Rune, the Fusak Empire, and Intis.
Because Intis ultimately chose a republic, there was no longer an absolute leadership core within the organization, and it gradually began to focus its main energy on internal strife. Moreover, the impression that the world had of Russell was too profound, so even if Intis had ambitions, it dared not show them.
The Kingdom of Rune, having been severely defeated by Roselle in its first attempt to lead the anti-Intis alliance, has not recovered its strength, has not completed its internal industrialization reforms, and is ill-equipped to handle the future situation.
The Fussac Empire was the only one with a militaristic system within its borders, the Einhorn family as its absolute leader, the support of the Kingdom of Fenneport, and the successful formation of the Second Anti-Intis Alliance, making it a force to be reckoned with in terms of prestige.
Therefore, the Kingdom of Rune, which still harbored ambitions for future hegemony over the northern continent, ultimately decided to unite with Intis to dismantle the second anti-Intis alliance led by the Fusak Empire.
Of course, this alliance is based on Intis sacrificing some of its profits, since Intis has taken too much of the benefits from Rosell.
Ultimately, through the efforts of the Kingdom of Rune, Intis relinquished many of the benefits that had been seized during the Roselle era.
This includes, but is not limited to, "liberalizing" the north-south continental shipping routes explored by Rosell, removing Intis's protectorate status over countries such as Remnburg and Segal, relinquishing the territories previously occupied by Rosell, and handing over a large amount of industrial technology, etc.
Ultimately, all countries gained substantial benefits without resorting to force. The Second Anti-Intis Alliance also ended hastily due to the interference of the Kingdom of Rune, Intis's willingness to concede losses, and the countries of Feneport and Lunburg, among others, backing down.
This also completely thwarted the Fussac Empire's plan to dominate the Northern Continent and take over the hegemonic vacuum left by Roselle's death.
As a result, the Kingdom of Rune turned against the Fusak Empire, becoming the biggest obstacle to the Fusak Empire's dominance of the Northern Continent and even the entire world.
Although Intis has temporarily lost its intention to contend for hegemony over the northern continent, they hate the Fusak Empire, which led the second anti-Intis alliance, even more. They have also seen through the Fusak Empire's ambitions and know that the Fusak Empire is the country most likely to harm Intis's interests.
Therefore, although no formal alliance has been established, Intis has always firmly sided with the Kingdom of Rune in international affairs, supporting the Kingdom of Rune in its confrontation with the Fusak Empire.
In the ensuing century-long wave of colonization in the southern continent, when faced with the threat of losing its colonies, Intis preferred to cede territory to the Kingdom of Rune rather than allow the Fusak Empire to benefit.
Because of these historical factors, George III was confident that as long as Intis did not change the basic national policy of uniting with the Kingdom of Rune to contain the Fusak Empire, they would not make the Kingdom of Rune look too bad over the ambassador's matter.
"If Intis is not satisfied with the outcome of our handling, you can tell them that we can invite them to send people to investigate and pinpoint the ultimate culprit to the Fussac Empire."
"Just say that the Fussac Empire bribed the Witch Cult to commit the two massacres and sow discord between the two countries. I believe Intis will be satisfied with this outcome!"
Prince Grove's eyes lit up when he heard George III's words, convinced that Intis would not let this act of smearing the Fussac Empire go unpunished.
George III's handling of the situation might actually be a blessing in disguise, as it could sow discord between the Fussac Empire and Intis, further isolating the Fussac Empire diplomatically.
"I understand. I will contact Intis's senior management through covert channels now."
Prince Grove was excited and wanted to leave to contact the high-ranking officials of the Republic of Intis, but he was stopped by King George III.
"There are less than four hours until dawn. If we can catch the murderer who killed Beckland in these four hours, that's fine. If not, then so be it. Backlund must lift the curfew as soon as possible before dawn."
Seeing Prince Grove's puzzled expression, King George III could only say helplessly:
"Tomorrow is my birthday, and I also have to host the aircraft competition and push for military reform. These are the truly important things; nothing else can interfere with them!"
Prince Grove suddenly realized, inwardly cursing himself for forgetting this, and quickly said:
"I know what to do. Regardless of whether we can catch that witch or not, I will announce before dawn that we have successfully apprehended the real culprit and restore peace to Backlund as soon as possible."
After Prince Grove left in a hurry, George III remained seated on his throne, his eyes vacant, seemingly lost in thought, until a servant cautiously reminded him that it was time to retire for the night. Only then did he snap out of his reverie and leave.
To ordinary people, the embassy massacre and the assassination of the new ambassador Intis were major events, but not to George III.
The reason he had urgently sealed off Backlund was due to a king's paranoia, who believed that a mastermind was targeting the kingdom and him, and that there were further plans.
Now that the mastermind behind the scenes has been largely identified and George III understands that there will be no further developments, he no longer cares much about these two matters. Instead, he is now focusing on the internal affairs of the Augustus family.
As military reforms proceeded, it unsurprisingly provoked a backlash from vested interests; however, he did not expect the backlash to come so quickly and so violently.
In his eyes, using the military to kill the new Ambassador Intis was a blatant warning from certain people, and an undisguised one at that.
In the past, George III generally tolerated things as much as possible in order to smoothly carry out reforms and prepare ceremonies.
Actively coordinate and exchange benefits.
However, the attack on the new Intis ambassador by the army touched a nerve with George III, who felt that some people within the Augustus family couldn't stand his rise to the position of "Black Emperor," which was why they were causing such trouble.
This is a matter of principle, not a matter of exchanging benefits.
After all, his becoming the "Black Emperor" and the shadow of order could potentially suppress the growth of other angels on the side of order.
In his recent contemplation, George III had made up his mind to push through military reforms by any means necessary: "Anyone who gets in my way must die! No matter who they are or what their surname is!"
As George III was led into the bedroom by a servant, he squinted and thought viciously.
But when he saw the Queen coming to greet him, he immediately changed his expression.
Evan, who was in MI9, had been keeping a close eye on the situation. To be honest, he hadn't expected Beckeron to pull such a ruthless move before leaving.
Before this, Evan would have thought that Beckeron would only kill a few extraordinary individuals who were secretly monitoring him, in order to make it easier for him to escape.
However, after learning that Alice was a princess, Beckron felt that he had found a powerful ally and was eager to show his loyalty and sever ties with the Republic of Intis, so he went too far.
So after killing Beckeron, Evan didn't stop for a moment and went to Count Ahova's mansion again to report the matter to Robert.
Robert reacted quickly, immediately realizing that the matter was about to escalate.
Robert took advantage of the information gap provided by Irwin's advance notice to do something.
That is to tell the people who sent troops without authorization to kill Intis's new ambassador to run away quickly, lest they be caught.
After confirming that the witch who killed Beckron wouldn't be found, he told Evan to go home and do whatever he needed to do!
Evan trusted Robert's judgment, and seeing that Robert didn't say anything more, he didn't dwell on it and returned home.
Less than an hour later, Evan, who was wide awake, received a call from MI9, summoning him to headquarters for an emergency meeting to discuss the Intis embassy fire tragedy.
Because Evan was primarily responsible for intelligence work related to the Fusak Empire, the fire didn't reach him. Evan remained aloof and observed the situation without uttering a word.
Evan remained silent until the meeting ended, but he still received the search assignment during the meeting.
Knowing that Klein and Miss Sharon were also going to take action against Rosago today, Evan took the initiative to take over the search of the Backlund Bridge area when defining the search area, in order to provide some protection for Miss Sharon, who was also his underground force.
But not long after, the army entered the city and joined the search. Evan could only urgently contact O'Sullivan of the Aurora Society and ask him to do something to divert the searchers' attention, which allowed him to hold out until Backlund and Sharon returned.
After briefly meeting Klein and Sharon, Evan returned to MI9 without saying a word.
However, the situation developed in a way that was beyond Evan's expectations. He had thought that Backlund would be locked down for at least two days and that George III's birthday banquet would probably not be able to take place.
Unexpectedly, news arrived before dawn that the murderer had been captured, and the army had withdrawn from Backlund before daybreak, perfectly illustrating what it means to come and go like the wind.
This, in turn, makes the origin of the Evan incident somewhat unclear.
After the morning routine meeting, Evan confirmed that the search last night had not caught any witches at all, but only some wild small fish and shrimp.
This left Evan even more confused, and he could only be certain that there were inside stories he didn't know about.
Evan hated things he couldn't control, but he was also a shrewd person and didn't show it at all.
Instead, he worked with other high-ranking MI9 officials to push for the restoration of order in Backlund, and it wasn't until noon that they went to the Black Rose Restaurant outside the Parliament Building for lunch.
Not long after Evan arrived at the private room, Robert entered, led in by a waiter, and said with a smile:
"You're quite composed. I thought you'd come straight to me after receiving the order to lift martial law. Looks like I underestimated you!"
Seeing that Robert was still in the mood to joke, Evan breathed a sigh of relief, then asked eagerly:
"What exactly happened? How could martial law end so quickly?"
Robert, knowing Evan's eagerness to learn, didn't keep him in suspense and said with a smile:
"Ever since I was promoted to 'Law Master' last year, I've felt the ceiling above me. Before I learned of your connection with the mysterious queen, I made some preparations!"
Robert didn't directly say what happened, but instead mentioned his plans for the future of the company.
Evan's heart skipped a beat. Considering the special nature of West Lavis County, he had a certain guess in his mind. He couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at Robert, who was talking eloquently across from him.
"From my original standpoint, I planned two options for advancement. One was to find a way to kill the King of the Five Seas, 'Nast,' and obtain the potion recipe for the Sequence 3 'Chaos Mentor' of the Pro-Professional Lawyer path from him, while also taking the extraordinary characteristics of the Sequence 2 'Duke of Entropy' in his possession."
Another possibility is that it could ignite internal conflicts within the Kingdom of Rune, and even trigger conflicts within the Augustus family.
Let them fight amongst themselves, and I'll look for opportunities in that!
Although both paths are difficult, I have made certain arrangements for both.
I initially thought that with the news of the 'Black Emperor' blasphemous plaque, my previous arrangements would be useless, but I never expected they would come in handy in this matter!
Robert looked at the shocked Evan and said with a nonchalant smile.
"You actually wanted to instigate a civil war within the Augustus family?"
Evan understood Robert's thoughts and realized he needed to re-evaluate his brother.
He didn't even have such a crazy idea, but Robert dared to think about it, and he started planning it a year ago, and actually succeeded in planning it this time.
The lifting of martial law this time shows that Robert has successfully split the Augustus family.
Only if George III truly suspected that angels within the Augustus family were involved in the attack on Ambassador Intis would he dare not investigate further and lift martial law.
If there were no suspicion, why would there be any cover-up?
"But this might not necessarily bring you any benefits, right? After all, if George III wants to be promoted to 'Black Emperor,' then he must already be a first-order archangel."
With Augustus I's explicit support for George III, Duncan Augustus was unlikely to cause any significant trouble, and might even be eliminated quietly.
Without George III's ascension to the title of "Black Emperor," there was indeed a high possibility that the Augustus family would have split. However, with Augustus I and George III now united, Robert's scheme is not so easy to succeed.