landbeastnovel Chapter 201 Robert's Arrangement, The Truth Behind Azik's Child's Death
Chapter 201 Robert's Arrangement, The Truth Behind Azik's Child's Death
Chapter 201 Robert's Arrangement, The Truth Behind Azik's Child's Death
To say that handing over that high-level rat without feeling bad would be a lie.
But if Deputy Director Jonas, as the spokesperson for the largest faction within MI9, doesn't repay the favors owed to the leader of the opposing faction and sever all ties cleanly, he will lose even more.
This is similar to how Duke Negan could have used the splitting of MI9 to manipulate Robert, but instead chose to repay Robert and Evan's life-saving debt in front of everyone, letting everyone know that he didn't owe Robert any favors.
The Duke of Negan and Robert are respectively representatives of the old guard and the younger generation within the Conservative Party, and there will be further adjustments between the two sides in the future.
If he continues to owe Robert for saving his life, he will be at a disadvantage when exchanging favors with Robert in the future. His own people will also suspect that he let Robert go, and he will have no way to prove his innocence, because every exchange of favors involves gains and losses.
Therefore, no matter the cost, this matter must be settled publicly.
Moreover, judging from the fact that Robert suddenly sent people to forcibly take away the Bahrain general's mistress in the early hours of this morning, Jonas is basically certain that there is something wrong with him, and his method of using that rat to carry out internal struggles cannot be hidden.
The longer this rat stayed in his hands, the more Robert would fear him. And now, with the support of the Duke of Negan and the Earl of Hall, Robert was beginning a full-scale reorganization of MI9.
So if we can use this mouse to temporarily dispel Robert's hostility and get him to fulfill his previous promise, it would be a good thing in some ways.
Jonas Augustus could only console himself with this thought.
After a while, Robert reappeared in the ballroom, said a few words to Jonas, and then gestured for Evan to leave Duke Negan’s mansion with him.
Sitting in the carriage, Robert said to Evan:
"This matter will be pinned on the Fussac Empire. The kingdom will lodge a diplomatic protest and conduct a military exercise of a certain scale."
Evan clenched his teeth. It was exactly as he had expected. The Fusak Empire had been the enemy of the Kingdom of Rune for nearly a thousand years, and also the biggest scapegoat in the internal affairs of Rune and Intis for the past hundred years. Although the Aurora Society was very useful as a scapegoat, the Fusak Empire's position was still difficult to replace in many situations.
Because of long-term hostility and domestic stigma, all Rune people have the impression of the Fusak Empire as barbaric and rude, believing that whatever they do is very, very, very normal.
Thinking of this, Evan suddenly noticed a meaningful look in Robert's eyes. A thought struck him, and connecting it to the original plot, he cautiously asked:
"Isn't this leaving a loophole for a future declaration of war against the Fussac Empire?"
The so-called diplomatic protests and military exercises are useless. The Fussac Empire will firmly deny it. Duke Nigan and his people are well aware of this, but they still have to do it. In addition to showing it to the countries of the Northern Continent, it is also to use such a big move to confirm that the Fussac Empire is the mastermind.
No matter how many rational people believe that the Fussac Empire has no reason to target Duke Nigan at this time, they can always fool many people if war breaks out in the future.
Robert looked at Evan with satisfaction, pleased with Evan's keen sense of smell, and then said:
"Such a big move is for other countries to see. Whether you believe it or not, whether the Fusak Empire admits to orchestrating the assassination or not, the Kingdom of Rune believes it. From now on, any action we take against the Fusak Empire will be justified."
By the way, when did you become a "scheming mastermind"? I didn't have time to ask more earlier.
"It was yesterday. Yesterday, because of my low strength and rank, I was excluded from the operation I proposed. So I made up my mind to take this opportunity to obtain the last main ingredient, concoct the potion, and complete my promotion."
"Sigh! I was too young and impetuous. I shouldn't do that next time."
When I was serving in the Southern Continent, I encountered a member of the Soren family in the final battle. He was a major general in Intis and a "Reaper" who was skilled at reaping lives. I almost died at his hands.
But with the support of our colleagues, we finally managed to kill him. Afterwards, I kept his extraordinary ability as a memento. Since you are so talented in the Hunter Path, I will give you this extraordinary ability as a reward for your promotion!
"The recipe for 'The Reaper' is something neither I nor MI9 have kept; you'll have to find it yourself."
Robert had hinted at its extraordinary properties long ago, so Evan didn't pretend to refuse.
The Earl of Akhova's House and the Duke of Negan's House are both located in the heart of Queens, not far from each other, and they returned home in no time.
Robert asked Evan to wait in the study on the second floor, and then turned and left.
Evan didn't have to wait long before Robert returned to the study and casually tossed a small box to Evan.
Evan opened the small box and found a crystal-clear ruby inside. The ruby appeared hard, but black powder could be seen floating inside. Before he even held it in his hand, he smelled a bloody stench mixed with rust, and at the same time, he felt pain all over his body, as if he were on a battlefield, being slashed by thousands of swords.
Evan quickly closed the small box and rearranged the spiritual wall, and the feeling gradually subsided.
"Thank you, Robert!" Evan put the small box away and then thanked Robert sincerely.
Robert waved his hand dismissively and continued on the topic they hadn't had time to discuss in the carriage:
"You've been promoted to Sequence 6 'Conspirator,' which means you've met the basic requirements for being responsible for a single aspect of affairs. What are your plans for your future work?"
"I don't have any long-term plans. I'm a hunter, and my destiny will always be the military. MI9 will always just be a transit point on my life's journey, not my destination."
"If you don't have any particular preference, then I'll make the choice. From now on, you'll be in charge of intelligence missions against the Fursac Empire! It just so happens that you got that rat back from Jonas."
However, you must not contact that rat on your own; I will send Mr. Hope to make contact with him.
Evan was startled. He had no capable people in the Fussac Empire, and if he wanted to truly take over and contact Petrov Andrei, he would definitely have to go through Robert.
He just hadn't expected Robert to take this matter so seriously, actually sending out his most important deputy.
Moreover, judging from this posture, it seems he intends to take over personally in the future and no longer delegate it to him.
Perhaps worried that Evan wouldn't understand, Robert added:
"This person is very important, not so much to the Kingdom of Rune, but to the Horn family."
At this point, Robert stopped talking and Evan had no choice but to give up on asking further questions. Instead, he asked about Evan's future position.
"What does it mean to be in charge of intelligence on the Fussac Empire?"
As you said last time, you were planning to divide the Ninth Intelligence Division into two responsibilities: internal and external. So, am I responsible for external intelligence work or internal intelligence work?
"Responsible both internally and externally!" Robert smiled slyly.
"what?"
Evan hadn't expected to get this kind of answer.
"From now on, MI9 will be split into two major departments, with one head in charge of internal intelligence work and another head in charge of a specific area. Their jurisdictions will overlap but also have differences, and they will not be subordinate to each other."
Evan was dumbfounded. He never expected to see the struggle between the ministries and academies again after transmigrating, with the main theme being mutual checks and balances.
For example, Jonas would later be fully in charge of internal counter-espionage work. Logically, Evan, who was in charge of intelligence work on the Fursack side, should have been his direct subordinate. However, Evan was also in charge of external intelligence work and could have completely ignored Jonas.
The same logic applies to the relationship between the head of foreign intelligence and Evan; at this point, it comes down to who has the stronger backing and who has the better skills.
Who can subdue whom?
Robert has left ample room for internal strife. The advantage is that Robert can now act as a referee with peace of mind, and the previous trend of MI9 forming special interest groups has thus come to an abrupt end.
The downside is that the internal struggles within MI9 will be intense, which is not conducive to competing with other countries' intelligence fronts. If problems arise, Robert may be held responsible.
Evan shared his concerns with Robert, who smiled and said he understood, adding that this adjustment plan was temporary and would be subject to further changes.
His purpose in introducing this plan was twofold: to consolidate power and to make room for the people he wanted to place. As for the possibility of someone deliberately causing trouble, he was prepared, and Evan didn't need to worry too much.
Seeing that Robert was not out of his mind but had been prepared, Evan said no more. At the same time, wanting to contact Mr. Azik and the mysterious Queen Bernadette, he got up to say goodbye and left.
Robert assumed he was going to use his intelligence network to find out information about eliminating the high-sequence extraordinary individuals from Qilingus, so he didn't keep him around.
After leaving Earl Ahova's mansion by carriage, Evan let the driver return to the West End, while he took the subway to his apartment in the Joewood district.
Although Evan no longer lives here, he hires a housekeeping company to clean the apartment from time to time. While it can't be said to be spotless, it's certainly quite clean.
After finishing the letter to Mr. Azik, Evan took out a white fountain pen with green patterns and signed his name at the end of the letter.
Before the name could be written, a monster with black flames flickering in its eye sockets and a body made of glowing white bones appeared in the apartment room.
Evan, unfazed by the monsters' appearances, folded the letter in his hand, placed it in an envelope, and handed it over, saying:
"Please deliver this to Mr. Azik as soon as possible!"
The skeletal monster sized up Evan, and for some reason felt a chill run down his spine from him. His hands trembled as he took the letter, and then he vanished from the apartment.
Evan sat on the sofa in the living room, waiting, without writing to the mysterious Queen Bernadette, lest both of them want to see him and thus meet.
Sure enough, not long afterward, Evan noticed that the colors around him had become unusually vivid: the dark red curtains were redder, the brown floor was shinier, and the white coffee table was whiter.
In a scene composed of various vibrant colors, the void in front of Evan rippled like water, and Azik Eggers emerged from it. He was still dressed as before, wearing a tailcoat and a top hat, and his skin was still bronze.
"Good evening, Mr. Azik!"
Evan was always polite and took the initiative to greet people.
"Good evening, Evan. You mentioned in your letter that you found some information on Duncan Augustus?"
Azik also greeted Evan and then eagerly inquired about the situation.
Evan took out the documents he had prepared beforehand and handed them to Azik. Azik took the documents without ceremony, sat down on the sofa, and began to read them.
Seeing Azik flipping through the documents, Evan sat down beside him and began to recount his hard work over the past few days.
"These documents were retrieved from old files within MI9 by my people. The reason given was that I wanted to know the basic situation of the fiefdom, so no one suspected me."
Not long after your death, your child participated in the selection for royal squire and ultimately distinguished himself.
He was assigned to the side of Duncan Augustus, who was then a young prince.
Two years later, your child died unexpectedly. The body was sent back to the fiefdom that night and buried by your wife. According to records, Duncan Augustus sent people to participate in the funeral.
Because your child died young without leaving any offspring, and he had no other male relatives to inherit the title, the town of Rams was ultimately reclaimed by the royal family.
As he said this, Evan already felt a chill in the summer air of the apartment, but he could only ignore it and continue:
"I later found the list of Duncan Augustus's squires at the time, and by following the clues, I found the family that was in the same group of squires as your child. Through various means, I finally found an old notebook."
I've written the contents here. Judging from the diary entries, your child is outstanding, cheerful, easygoing, and possesses great leadership qualities.
He's just a bit too carefree, which makes him very prone to stealing the spotlight from others and causing resentment among them.
Although not explicitly stated in the diary, based on the materials I have collected and some supporting evidence, I believe that some of the people mentioned in the diary refer to their lord at the time—Duncan Augustus.
At this point, Evan felt as if the entire apartment had entered the coldest period of winter. He was so cold that his teeth were chattering, which made him unable to resist activating his spiritual vision (Evan was still a witch and was skilled in spiritual vision) to look around.
Only then did Evan realize that his spacious apartment had been crammed full of all sorts of ghosts, skeletal warriors wielding weapons, and even the candlelight on the coffee table had turned a ghastly white.
The spirits knelt on the ground, as if they would rush forward to take over the execution of the enemy at Mr. Azik's command.
"Mr. Azik!"
Seeing Mr. Azik's seemingly calm demeanor and frozen gaze, Evan mustered his courage and, with chattering teeth, woke him up.
Evan was an arsonist, so he wouldn't be unable to stand this bit of coldness. Rather, he noticed that as Mr. Azik's emotions changed, he seemed to be emitting a unique aura that attracted the surrounding spirits to spontaneously gather here, causing quite a commotion.
If this situation isn't stopped, the night watchman might come running because of the smell.
Because of Evan's soft call, Azik came back to his senses. He simply pointed to the corner of the apartment room, and a bronze gate leading to the underworld opened, sucking away all the ghosts in the living room and the surrounding area, returning the apartment to the height of summer.
"I'm sorry, I didn't control my emotions well, which is why this happened."
I also thank you for your efforts, which made me realize what happened to my child back then. It was all my fault as a father; I didn't take good care of him and only taught him to treat others sincerely, but not to be wicked.
Azik sincerely apologized to Evan, and at the same time couldn't help but tell Evan about his own self-blame.
Evan, of course, didn't delve into these matters. Instead, he comforted Azik and mentioned some other information he had found out:
"In my investigation and reconstruction of the truth of that year, I discovered something unusual: Duncan Augustus himself had almost no more records than your children's."
Your child at least has a specific birth and death date and some basic information about his life, but Duncan Augustus's life is largely lacking. All that is known is that he was the youngest and most beloved son of the third king of the Kingdom of Loen, but aside from some early events, there is no further information. Do you know what this lack of records means?
"What does this mean?"
Azik had a vague guess, and he became somewhat agitated, his voice trembling with excitement.
"This means that Duncan Augustus has very likely been promoted to a demigod. Only in this case would a prince have no relevant information in MI9."
And he might still be alive now, otherwise, more than 1000 years have passed, what is there to hide?
Of course, this is just my speculation; there is no relevant evidence to prove it, and it remains to be verified.
His suspicions were confirmed, and Azik clenched his fists, revealing a slight smile. From now on, in addition to searching for his origins and exploring the seemingly philosophical yet practical question of "Who am I?", he also had a goal to achieve: to avenge his child!
"Thank you, Evan, thank you for everything you've done for me!"
Azik said to Evan with great gratitude.
"It's nothing. After all, you taught me for three years and imparted knowledge to me."
Evan mentioned their experience at Hoy University, which softened Azik's gaze.
"By the way, there's another reason I invited you here. You were the one who intercepted and killed the pirate general Qilingus today, weren't you? If it was you, could I know why?"
Although Evan knew the inside story, he still asked the question knowingly, because as a high-ranking official in MI9, it would be very easy to arouse suspicion if he did not investigate after knowing so many details.
Azik smiled and nodded, admitting that he had intercepted and killed Zilingus.
In fact, Azik was taking a great risk by going to Evan's door today. If Evan had even the slightest bad intention, he would be pursued by a group of people who might be '0' level sealed artifacts.
He ultimately chose to believe Evan, and Evan did not betray his trust. Not only did he not lead a group to hunt him down, but he also investigated and found out a lot of things in a short period of time.
"I learned from a secret source that Zilingus was at Duke Negan’s mansion, which is nothing special. What I did was have his sealed artifact trigger a memory in me, so when I realized he was about to escape your pursuit, I killed him."
As he spoke, Azik tossed a pair of gloves that resembled human skin onto the coffee table, saying, "I may have worked with the organization that possessed these gloves before!"
Evan looked at the gloves on the coffee table and couldn't help but feel excited. These were the most important equipment for the protagonist, Klein, and could even be called "divine gear." There are very few sealed items like "Crawling Hunger" that have few side effects but extremely high potential.
"If you need it, I can give you this glove. It's not very useful to me, and I can seal it to reduce its side effects."
One possibility is that he noticed Evan staring intently at "the writhing hunger," Azik said with a smile.
"That's so embarrassing!" Evan almost said it, but he swallowed it back down.
"It was because of these gloves that Zilingus could change the appearance of anyone that he was able to remain in Backlund despite the heavy siege."
All official forces are currently searching for your whereabouts, which will greatly help you conceal your identity.
Seeing that Evan was able to resist the temptation of the "artifact" and instead cared about his own situation, Azik looked at Evan with even more affection.
The real reason why Evan cannot take this sealed artifact is that he still needs to remain undercover in the Aurora Society, using his Aurora Society identity to contact the Ironblood Cross Society and obtain subsequent potion recipes or materials.
"Crawling Hunger" is created using the "Shepherd" extraordinary ability of the Mystic path. The Aurora Society would definitely be very sensitive to it. Once they discover that Evan has "Crawling Hunger," even if he can explain its origin, the Aurora Society might still ask Evan to give it up—who knows how many Aurora Society members need this material!
At the same time, he couldn't hide at home, because that might attract the attention of the "True Creator" (in the original work, Klein wasn't found by the True Creator while holding "Wriggling Hunger," which I find somewhat unreasonable.)
Moreover, the origin of "Crawling Hunger" is also very sensitive. It is very likely that it comes from the "Twilight Hermits," an organization that is extremely hostile to the true Creator.
In addition, Evan had previously speculated that the angels of the two major destiny pathways might have already entered Backlund during this time.
In this situation, isn't using "creeping hunger" just courting death?
So even though he coveted the "wriggling hunger," Evan couldn't take it and could only politely decline Mr. Azik's offer.