In the palace hall of the Everwinter Royal Capital, the fireplace fire was already blazing.
Compared to the four distinct seasons of Graycastle, summer here was exceptionally short, and autumn felt more like a prelude to the harsh winter. Before one even had time to change into lighter short sleeves, the cold wind would quietly arrive again.
Garcia Wimbledon, draped in a fox fur coat, sat upright on the throne, listening to the nobles' appeals and requests.
She disliked this palace. The pillars, walls, and floors were all pieced together with snow-white stone, each piece polished to a smooth, bright sheen, looking like solid ice. Despite adding two layers of velvet cushions to the seat, she could still feel the biting chill emanating from the cold iron chair.
This damned house is like it's made of ice, she thought displeased. Once the situation stabilizes, the first thing to do is to smash all the ground and walls to pieces, and then re-pave them with dark brown granite slabs.
"Your Majesty, I hope you can seek justice for me!"
A noble said with a mournful face.
This guy babbled on and on before, but actually, it could be explained in a few words. It was nothing more than that after the Church occupied the royal capital, it conducted public trials on some nobles who had committed many evils. The host was Bishop Heather. Most people went to the gallows, but this guy was lucky, and was only sentenced to confiscate his property and divide it equally among the victimized civilians.
"I understand your request, private property cannot be plundered," Garcia pondered for a moment, and slowly opened her mouth, "However, the specific amount is difficult to define. How about this, if you can provide the financial statements for the last five years, I can extract a portion from the spoils to compensate you based on the average."
"But, the rioters looted my mansion, these records are probably..."
"Then I can only give compensation according to the published notice, based on the standard of the nobility," Garcia interrupted, "Look around you, they are all nobles who have been looted. If I compensate you a little more, others will get less. What do you say?"
"That's right, who knows if the amount you reported is true!"
"What are you nagging about, Baron Harun, those gold dragons don't belong to you anyway."
"It's good enough that you have your share. Look at your accomplices, they can only go to heaven to ask God for compensation."
Seeing the surrounding nobles glare at him, he had no choice but to shrink back and bow, "Then issue it according to your standards, thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty."
"Very good," Garcia smiled slightly, "Next."
"Greetings to you, Your Majesty," an old man with white hair stepped out of the crowd and respectfully placed his hand on his chest. The silver heron family crest on his chest shone brightly.
"Marquis Bode, I remember that your territory was not attacked by church thugs."
"Yes," he nodded in response, "It's not that they didn't want to, but they couldn't... Misty Snow Ridge is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and my knights blocked the invasion of the thugs. But my child was not so lucky. He happened to be on duty in the palace on the day of the riot. In order to protect the former queen, he was not only killed by believers, but his body was also hung on the city gate. It wasn't until you arrived in Everwinter that he was freed from humiliation."
"What a tragic story," Garcia put on a sorrowful expression and sighed, "So what do you need me to do?"
"The person who killed him is called Butcher, and now he has become the leader among the remaining rebels. This group of people is hiding in the Desolate Mountains to the north, and I want to avenge my child." The Marquis stated calmly.
"But I don't have many soldiers under my command. Besides patrolling, guarding the city walls and granaries on weekdays, it's difficult to spare manpower to find hundreds of *liuwang* thugs in the wilderness," she shook her head, expressing her regret, "And once winter comes, the mountains will be blocked by heavy snow, and they won't get supplies. Sooner or later, they will freeze to death inside. Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Only by personally killing the murderer can I find peace, Your Majesty. I don't need you to send warriors to search for the rebels. There are many natural caves at the foot of the mountains, and they must be hiding there. However, most of the cave entrances are extremely narrow. If they are blocked with rubble, even knights will find it difficult to enter. I hope you can provide me with the alchemical items that can blow up the city gates, and I will do the rest myself."
He wants snow powder? Garcia frowned. This thing has great power and is a trump card powerful enough to change the course of the battle. It must not be spread.
Just as she was about to refuse, the other party spoke again, "If you can agree to my request, I am willing to return to the court to serve you, and the Silver Heron family will fully support you in taking charge of the Everwinter Kingdom."
These words made Garcia pause slightly. When the Church executed the queen, it also killed a group of important ministers. Marquis Bode is quite famous here. If he can be appointed as the Prime Minister, and gather the remaining nobles, it can make up for the predicament of difficult administrative operation to a certain extent.
"This request is not too much," she pondered for a moment, and finally made a decision, "But I can't directly give you the alchemical *menghuoyao* to use. When you need it, I will send a special alchemist to help you blow up the cave entrances."
……
After the court meeting, Garcia returned to the back room. Farin greeted her and handed her a cup of hot mulled wine, "You've worked hard, Your Majesty. Those nobles have indeed all turned to you. In this way, even without relying on the Wolf King, you can slowly swallow the entire Everwinter Kingdom."
"If there were no Church," the Queen shrugged.
The Church's act of depriving nobles of their inheritance rights pushed them all to her side. With the support of these people, coupled with the substantial weakening of the power factions in the past, it is not difficult to gain a foothold in the royal capital. However, there is still a long way to go to control Everwinter. The people here are greatly influenced by the Church. The Black Sail warriors she sent to sweep other major city churches were attacked by civilians and believers. Therefore, forming an alliance with Wolfheart is extremely important, not only to jointly resist the Church, but also to weaken the influence of the Church by transporting people.
As for those stubborn civilians, just kill them all.
"By the way, the Wolf King just sent an envoy to give you a letter," Farin took out an envelope from his arms, "Because you were dealing with government affairs at the time, I didn't bother you."
Garcia opened the envelope, took out the letter and unfolded it, her expression became serious.
"Is it bad news?"
"The Church has sent troops again," she said in a deep voice, "They are heading towards Wolfheart City by land, and have broken through several temporary defense lines."
"What?" Farin widened his eyes in disbelief, "The Devil's Month is coming soon, don't they plan to ignore the New Holy City?"
Garcia sat back at the table, frowning in thought.
The Church can never let it go, but she didn't expect the other party to come so quickly. If the war were to start again next spring, her preparations would be much more adequate. The enemy clearly doesn't want to give her a chance to prepare. If she turns a blind eye to the Wolf King's request for help, once the Wolfheart Kingdom is destroyed, she won't last long either.
But this is also an opportunity.
If the Church's army can be exhausted in Wolfheart City, and when the Evil Beasts massively invade Hermes, the enemy will face a disaster of destruction.
They may send more Divine Punishment Army, but she also has powerful weapons such as snow powder, coupled with the unquenchable Styx Black Water, Evil Fire Powder, and the towering walls of Wolfheart City, it will definitely consume a lot of the other party's vital forces.
Thinking of this, Garcia opened her mouth and said, "Pass down my order, let the Black Sail warriors prepare for the expedition! This year, we will spend the winter in Wolfheart City." (。、，Your support is my greatest motivation.)
...(Just Love Net)