Skeleton King

When Ace arrived at Green Castle, the sky was very cloudy and foggy.Nou and Viscount Neumann were sitting on the edge of the sofa. The waiter felt that they had just poured tea for them and left the study.

The astrology doll was originally lying on a couch, and Viscount Neumann didn't pay attention. Even if he saw it, he would only think it was Princess Bernadette's toy.

Usually when people come to look for Nuo'ou, Nuo'ou always sits behind the desk.But Viscount Neumann's identity is different, he is Ace's father, Nou and Ace have known each other for eight years, this is the first time Nou and Viscount Neumann met.

Ace turned sideways from the sofa quietly. Since Viscount Neumann married Governor Graf's sister, and he went to Bad Soden Manor to attend their wedding, he has never seen Viscount Neumann again.Among them, Ace didn't want to disturb the married life of Viscount Neumann and his new wife, and there were also reasons why Viscount Neumann never firmly asked him to go back.

Different from Caroline's funeral, Ace saw the handsome and tall knight when he first saw Viscount Neumann. Like now, Viscount Neumann, who is sitting next to Nou, has mixed black and white hair, and the crow's feet around his eyes are already very obvious. Even his hand holding the teacup has become quite dry. He doesn't look like a pampered nobleman at all. master.

Obviously, all the news from Bad Soden Manor was his happy life, but the moment Ace saw Viscount Neumann, he felt that he was not doing well.It wasn't that he was really tired physically, but that he seemed to be drained of energy.

Nou naturally wouldn't put on airs when facing Viscount Neumann, he took the initiative and said: "Viscount Neumann came by chance. The snow just melted at this time, and there is nothing to see on the grassland. When spring begins, the grassland in the eastern part of the Louisiana province The scenery is still beautiful.”

"I've seen it." Viscount Neumann said in Nou's slightly surprised eyes: "For a few years, I often hunted in the provinces of Louisiana and Georgia, where there are borderline monster forests, and there are many types of prey. , much more interesting than hunting in Westphalia."

Nou smiled and said, "Ace told me that he rarely saw you when he was a child."

If it weren't for Ace's relationship, it would be difficult for Viscount Neumann to see Nou immediately.The Neumann family's fiefdom is not large, and all the knights in Bad Soden Manor can't make up a knight order. The family has neither strong nor rich.No matter how humble the Green family is, Nuoou is not idle.

Viscount Neumann looked at the black tea in the cup quietly, and sighed: "I regret that I didn't accompany Ace well when he was young."

Nuo Ou pretended to understand, and said: "Adults always have more important careers to fight for."

Of course, if Nuo Ou didn't mind at all, he wouldn't have brought it up at this time. Moreover, Viscount Neumann had a career. Everyone knew that he was addicted to hunting in those years, and he didn't even go home very often.

Viscount Neumann was calmer than Nou had imagined, and he didn't show any embarrassment.

Ace, who was lying on the sofa, was extremely embarrassed. Ace didn't feel that Viscount Neumann had any responsibility for him.Nou said this as his friend, as if he complained a lot to Viscount Neumann in private.

But the fact is, according to Viscount Neumann's experience, it would be very kind of him not to throw Ace into the wilderness to fend for himself.

After the polite words were finished, Viscount Neumann was silent for a while, and then said, "This matter should not have come to you, but no one should be able to contact Ludwig Koorser now."

Nou was slightly startled, and Ace on the sofa also froze. He directly called His Majesty Ludwig Koauser. Such a disrespectful tone really didn't look like an unknown viscount in the imperial capital.

Beneath the calm surface of the Pansy Empire, there has always been a dark tide. Sometimes it is not your subjects who know you best, but your enemies.As Princess Muse said, the ambition of the Pansy Empire never started from Prince Xiben. His Majesty Ludwig IV is more talented and more adept at dormancy.

Viscount Neumann, an unobtrusive aristocrat, has been in the center of the imperial power vortex all these years, and all these things began in the social season of the Pansy Empire in 993——

21 years ago, Ludwig Koauser went to the imperial capital to participate in the social season a few years after the death of his wife. It coincided with the chaos of the kings, and Prince Andreas voluntarily gave up his inheritance rights.The Pansy Empire - the crown of the most powerful empire on the mainland was about to fall on the head of this little boy who was born as an offshoot of the Koorser family and was still unknown at that time.

Viscount Neumann recounted the past, "But the remnants of the kings are ready to move, pointing at Ludwig Koorser's ambitions, and many ministers don't believe in the descendants of the Koorser family in the eastern part of the empire. The threshold of Prince Andreas' mansion was broken through. The Jowett family proposed a marriage request to Ludwig Kooser, but he refused."

"Why?" Of course Noel knew that His Majesty Ludwig IV later married Queen Celia, but he didn't know that there were such twists and turns in the middle.

"Princess Bernadette has stayed in Rose Castle for several years. Duke Green should know that the most beautiful girl in Rose Castle will be called Red Rose." Viscount Neumann said.

Of course, Nou knew that when Ace and him first went to the imperial capital, he also helped Ace find out about the red rose.Caroline Attlee, wife of Viscount Neumann and mother of Ace.

"But what does this have to do with Ace's mother?" After Viscount Neumann's words reached this point, Nou had a vague premonition.Things always go for the worst.

"Ludwig Koauser is deeply infatuated with Caroline and wants to marry her. Even though the Attlee family is an insignificant family in the emperor, Caroline is even less valued by the family." Noy Viscount Man said: "I don't deny that before Ludwig Koauser became the first heir to the Pansy Empire, he and Caroline were lovers. But Caroline never thought of marrying give him."

"Ludwig Koauser took Caroline to the Pansy Palace. I was a knight of the Royal Guards at the time, and I happened to be in charge of guarding her." Viscount Neumann didn't need to say what happened next, Nou Also guessed.

Viscount Neumann broke his oath.

"After Ludwig Koose knew that some scholars presided over the wedding for us, it might be to get angry with Caroline, or it might be out of political considerations. The situation in the imperial capital was indeed not very good at that time. Ludwig Koorser married Celia of the Jowett family, the Blue Rose of Rose Castle who is as famous as Caroline." Viscount Neumann said.

"But the real test for me is yet to come. Caroline naturally doesn't want to go back to the imperial capital, and I don't want her to go back either. But when Ludwig Koauser is firmly on the throne, he wants my life easily. Gera Fu knew about this. He was not the governor of Westphalia at that time. He joined the Knights of the Royal Guard at the same time as me, and he was also my good friend in the training camp of the Knights. Yes." Viscount Neumann looked at Nou, as if he wanted to use the friendship between Nou and Ace to add weight to his next words.

"Graf told me that the Pansy Empire and the Finger Empire actually have transactions all year round, not small-scale smuggling. A large number of utensils, ale, and various favorite things of the Finger Empire will be transported to the Finger Empire through the World of Warcraft Forest. These caravans will be laundered in the Finger Empire, and with the astonishing profits, they will befriend the officials of the Finger Empire, and a steady stream of information will be passed back to the imperial capital of the Pansy Empire."

Ace and Carl Caesar's clever little tricks were actually done decades ago, and they were backed by the state machine.

Viscount Neumann said: "While Ludwig Koauser was gathering the power of the empire, I took this intelligence network that has been in operation for decades, and I have all the information in my hands."

Nou couldn't help but look at Viscount Neumann with admiration. Since the Kooser family is doing this business, it must be extremely secretive.But Viscount Neumann was still able to successfully seize this chance with a little news from Sir Graf.If Viscount Neumann hadn't broken his oath early on, relying on his starting point - aristocratic birth, leaving the training camp of the Knights and directly entering the Knights of the Royal Guard, there may not be a place for Viscount Neumann in the imperial capital now.

really.

Viscount Neumann said: "When Ludwig Koauser wants to take me back to the imperial capital by force, I can't do it without this line. It is difficult for the Chamber of Commerce newly entering the Finger Empire to get the approval of local officials. The news they give to the intelligence brokers is definitely different from the news they give to the merchants of their own empire."

The thrilling Viscount Neumann passed by lightly, "Prince Andreas interceded for me, and Ludwig Koauser reluctantly let me go. He set an extremely serious task for me. I want to let me die justifiably. In those years, I traveled between the Forest of Warcraft and the province of Westphalia, continuously transporting goods to the Finger Empire, and then passing the information back to the imperial capital. Even Ace I didn’t even go back when I was born.”

Nou raised a question, "Even if such a long-term and large-scale transportation is hidden from others, it is impossible to hide it from the owner of the territory on the edge of the Demonic Beast Forest."

"Yes." Viscount Neumann admitted, "This line starts from the province of Westphalia, passes through the province of Louisiana, the forest of monsters, and finally reaches the Finger Empire. The Green family naturally knows it. But because it was a business of the royal family, your father, the old Duke Green, also helped to conceal it, and after the old Duke Green passed away, Prince Andreas didn’t believe anyone else, so he sent Jonah Flynn over.”

"No wonder." Nou murmured.It turned out that Princess Mary and Prince Andreas did not send Jonah Flynn to Green Castle for the title of Duke Green, and it was Jonah Flynn's wishful thinking to let Gabriel Green inherit the Green family.

Jonah Flynn's origin and the relationship between Princess Mary and him are indeed the best cover. No one will doubt his appearance in the eastern plains of the Louisiana province. He has replaced many places with his own hands. It's logical.

"Ludwig Koauser asked me to stay in the World of Warcraft Forest for 9 years until Caroline died. We fought for 9 years, but no one got her heart or anyone." Noy Viscount Man's expression was sad and full of mockery of fate.

Nuo Ou listened, it seemed that there was something else hidden about this matter.But when it comes to Ace's mother, he doesn't want to ask.

Nuo Ou asked: "Then what's the matter with your lord looking for me now?"

Since Viscount Neumann is working for the royal family, no matter who is in power now, he should not be attacked.

After Caroline's death, Ludwig Koose also seemed to find it boring to trouble Viscount Neumann, and let him go back to the village of Bad Soden. What's the matter with the Viscount?

Viscount Neumann said: "Graf. The Duke of Green should know that Graf, the Governor of Westphalia Province, has a good relationship with the head of the Knights."

The situation in the province of Westphalia is rare in the major provinces. The governors of other provinces and the Knights are not enemies, and most of them have mediocre relations.This is not a coincidence, but a political wisdom, a way for the governor and the head of the knight order to show their sincerity to the superior.If the military and government of a certain province are as close as a family, the people on the throne will feel that his throne is shaking.

It will be obvious who will be unlucky then.

But the province of Westphalia doesn't have to worry about this.In addition to being closely monitored by the imperial capital, it is also because of their "tasks" that they need to have a good cooperative relationship.The head of the Knights of Westphalia Province sent Alt to the Territory of Chaos to protect this caravan with heavy responsibilities, but he did not reveal too much to Alt.

Noou tapped the armrest of the chair with his fingers, and said, "I understand."

Prince Xiben wanted to take the province of Westphalia and gather military power.Prince Nishimoto did not know about the caravan, even if he believed it a little, he would pretend not to believe it.

Prince Xiben will not let go of such a good opportunity.

Viscount Neumann said: "The ale brewers only know that these wines are going to be sent to the imperial capital, and the imperial capital keeps spending money to buy these wines. Now they are just following the usual procedures, and it will be a matter of time before they are discovered .”

After Nou returned to Green Castle, His Majesty Ludwig IV should have told Nou to cooperate with the actions of the Westphalia Province, but before he could say anything, something happened again.

Viscount Neumann sighed: "There is no place to store the brewed ale, and it has been poured into the Netherlands Sea. But if this continues, before the imperial capital finds someone to investigate, the fishermen on the coast will find out that something is wrong. .

Duke Green, Graff saved my life and married me his own sister.I can't just watch him die.Whether it is to reopen the intelligence network to the Finger Empire, or to tell Prince Xiben about it, it depends on your wishes.I only ask you to save the lives of the Graf family members after Prince Nishimoto learns about it. "

Nou said, "Let me think about it."

Noel personally sent Viscount Neumann out of Green Castle. When he returned to the study, he found that the quill on the desk had been touched, and the astrology doll on the sofa was gone.

Nuo Ou said to himself: "When did you come?"

He didn't look for it either. His doll has long legs and will run away and come back by itself.

……

Gerald Horsley walked past the fountain with a thick scroll in his hand, and was about to enter Grimm Castle when several leaves fluttered on his head one after another.

Gerald Horsley hadn't noticed anything wrong when the first few leaves fell.But when the leaves were shredded and sprinkled, Gerald Horsley could finally not hint that the wind was too strong.

Gerald Horsley looked up, and there was a delicate little doll sitting on the branch of a big tree outside Green Castle.Looking at the wide open window of Duke Green's study, Gerald Horsley suspected that the astrological doll had crept out of the study.

The astrological puppet threw down the pile of broken leaves again.

Well, Jerrold Horsley has finally identified the culprit.

Ever since Jerrold Horsley smashed the astrology doll and gave Duke Green a quill to review government affairs, the astrology idol gave up hiding from it.Once, when Jerrold Horsley reported the affairs of the Grimm Knights to Duke Grimm, he also saw the astrology doll climbed on the Duke Grimm's head, and then was brutally captured.

Gerald Horsley almost twitched his eyes and reluctantly finished his report.

However, Gerald Horsley didn't expect that the astrology doll would look for him so blatantly. It was when Duke Green was gone, and then he saw a white envelope floating down from the big tree like a leaf just now.

Gerald Horsley grabbed the envelope in his hand, and there were lines of ink that hadn't dried up on it, "From Viscount Neumann himself."

The astrological puppet pointed to the direction Viscount Neumann left, and then pointed to Gerald Horsley. Seeing that Jerrold Horsley still didn't understand, the astrological puppet stamped its feet on the tree branch angrily.

Gerald Horsley was afraid he'd throw Duke Grimm's precious horoscope doll off a tree.It's not that he doesn't understand, he just wants to play dumb.

What else could Gerald Horsley do? He could only accept his fate and go to the stables of Green Castle to pick a horse and deliver a letter to Viscount Neumann.