Chapter 14 "You Must Be Kidding Me"

Tirian looked up, his one eye staring fixedly at the chief secretary before him, his face an expression of "Are you f***ing kidding me?"

The largest pirate in the Bitter Sea only showed such extreme shock when facing his own father.

He didn't touch the papers the secretary pushed towards him. After calming himself down a bit, he turned to look at General Lister across from him.

The look of astonishment in the Frost General's eyes didn't seem to be any less than his own.

"Looks like this really is 'unexpected news'," Tirian said softly, his tone calm. "Even my 'General' here doesn't know about this arrangement."

"Because it's not an 'arrangement'—it's just a suggestion, and a recently made one," the chief secretary adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, looking at Tirian with a serious expression. "The situation in Frost is complex, and we don't have much time to discuss every matter thoroughly before acting. So I simply brought the 'suggestion' directly here. With General Lister as a witness, we can discuss its feasibility together."

"Feasibility? You actually think this is feasible?" Tirian almost laughed. He looked at the chief secretary as if he were a madman. "Me, the leader of the Sea Fog Fleet, the most vicious pirate on the Bitter Sea. The various terrifying legends Frost people use to scare children for the past fifty years are almost all adapted from me—and now you're telling me you want me to be the city's magistrate… Sir, we only fought side by side for a little while. You must have misunderstood the relationship between us."

"Fighting side by side, and jointly resisting a crisis that could have led to the city-state's destruction. Now many people know that the Sea Fog Fleet stood up at the last moment and protected the city alongside the navy. And by this time tomorrow, this news will be spread to every corner of Frost. The city hall will tell people that the Sea Fog Fleet's departure half a century ago was just a difference in direction, and that the indignant Iron Vice Admiral never completely abandoned his duty to protect the city-state."

The chief secretary paused here. After confirming that Tirian had no intention of interrupting, he continued, "Everything can have a new explanation. Every change will be given an appropriate reason. You may think this change is unacceptable to the Frost people, but in fact… most ordinary people aren't so good at maintaining their 'original intentions' when faced with continuous and single-minded propaganda. The stability of life and the tangible improvement of order will quickly overwhelm everything. People's views can be 'customized,' it just takes a little time."

Tirian listened patiently to all of this, gazing calmly into the chief secretary's eyes. "It seems you are very good at this sort of thing."

"Every city-state is good at it—including Frost during the Queen's era," the chief secretary said expressionlessly. "Creating a set of 'concepts' for the people that adapt to the current social environment and can reduce the psychological burden for most people isn't a dirty thing. What is dirty is saying pretty things but being unable to maintain social order or ensure the stable life of most people.

"Captain Tirian, the city hall's duty has never been justice—the city hall's duty is to allow as many people as possible to survive."

"...Let as many people as possible survive. She said that back then too."

"Yes, that sentence is still engraved on the door of the domed office—we overthrew the Queen, not the things that were inherently correct."

Tirian was silent for a moment. He thought quietly for a long time before slowly opening his mouth, "Why do you think I'm suitable for this position?"

"The initial suggestion came from Ms. Agatha, but she only mentioned that you and your Sea Fog Fleet might be able to help the city-state restore order—the further decision came from an emergency discussion within the city hall," the chief secretary said. "Personally, I'm not sure if you're the right person. In fact, I still have doubts about this matter. But the others believe that… before you were a 'pirate,' you were first a general of the Frost city-state. And since the city's history, a third of its monarchs or magistrates have come from the military."

"You're still oversimplifying things," Tirian shook his head. "It's not a question of whether the person is suitable or not, but a sum of a whole bunch of 'historical legacy issues.' Even if, as you said, people's views can be customized, you also said that it takes time—Frost doesn't have that time. The city must restore order as soon as possible, so you should find someone else..."

"Captain Tirian," the chief secretary suddenly interrupted him. "Before explicitly refusing, please take a look at what I brought. It may give you some new perspectives on the 'feasibility' of this matter."

Tirian was stunned. Only then did he seriously examine the documents the other party had placed on the table.

The documents didn't have fancy titles or exquisite covers. After opening the simple folder, there were just plainly written series of "suggestions" that seemed to state facts.

Tirian glanced at them, and the expression on his face changed visibly.

He quickly flipped to the end, slammed it shut, and stared at the chief secretary before him.

The latter remained calm, and nodded slightly before Tirian could speak.

"First, the anomaly disaster encountered by the Frost city-state was caused by the Annihilation Cultists, but its root cause was the unsafe mining of the city-state's deep underground mines over the past few decades. The failure to take sufficient safety measures in the dark and the negligence or even concealment of abnormal alert signals were the main reasons for the deterioration of the situation.

"Second, successive magistrates were aware of this matter and chose to conceal it for profit.

"Third, the Sea Fog Fleet chose to leave Frost fifty years ago due to a difference in direction. The reason for the difference was related to this type of 'illegal mining' and different attitudes toward foreseeable anomaly disasters.

"Fourth, successive magistrates carried out planned and continuous smear campaigns and concealed the truth about the Sea Fog Fleet in order to cover up the real differences between the two sides and guide public hatred towards General Tirian personally, thereby diverting people's attention from the mine issues.

"Fifth, Magistrate Winston is strongly suspected of colluding with the Annihilation Cultists. He received the news before the anomaly disaster occurred, but did not take any effective measures. Instead, he chose to defect. He will become an enemy of the city-state. We believe he has become a member of the Annihilation Cultists and will be wanted by Frost for all eternity.

"Sixth, the new magistrate will reshape the city-state's order. The mine investigation work will begin immediately, and the liquidation of those responsible who are still alive will also begin immediately."

Tirian didn't speak, but sat there like an extremely cold ice sculpture, staring into the chief secretary's eyes. The heavy pressure in that gaze was almost suffocating.

However, the chief secretary simply took a light breath and took out another stack of documents from his briefcase.

This stack was thicker and contained more content.

"This is the list," he looked up, meeting Tirian's heavy gaze. "The first half is the evidence needed for the liquidation, including partial records of illegal mining, concealment of abnormal alerts, and instructions to distort and vilify the Sea Fog Fleet. This part of the document currently only has a table of contents, but within three days, all the evidence will be available.

"The second half is mainly a list, including those responsible who can be arrested and tried, and their corresponding 'crimes.' Please rest assured, they are not innocent, but they have other crimes—but it doesn't matter, their real crimes are no longer important. Now the city-state needs them to be 'colluding with the Annihilation Cultists.' These people can be regarded as the city hall's 'criminal reserves.'

"Finally, there are letters and some diaries, evidence of Magistrate Winston's collusion with the Annihilation Cultists, some of which bear his signature."

Tirian didn't look at the second stack of documents the other party handed over.

Cold mist slowly appeared around him, and a layer of fine ice crystals gradually covered the coffee table. Everyone in the room who could breathe was exhaling visible white vapor.

"...Who prepared these things?"

"Successive magistrates," the chief secretary said calmly. "Each government will prepare a copy, as well as many 'alternative plans.' It may not be prepared for you, but for other successors, such as the next 'rebellion.' The last piece of information in front of you was left by Magistrate Winston. Coincidentally, he also listed the Sea Fog Fleet as one of his 'alternative plans.' This coincides with the 'suggestion' brought by Ms. Agatha."

Tirian slowly placed his hand on the document. The fine ice crystals almost froze the document into an ice sculpture. He looked up, staring into the chief secretary's eyes. "So, this can be used to characterize Winston."

"There is a saying in Frost that the dead must make way for the living," the chief secretary said slowly. "General Tirian, you are not a native of Frost, but you should also understand this sentence. If giving Magistrate Winston and the previous city halls a 'characterization' can quickly restore order to the city-state, then he and the previous magistrates would certainly not mind."