The Shadow of the Crown of Snow [Western Fantasy]

To be able to sit on the position of speaker of the Central Council, Charles is not a mediocre person.It's just that he strictly abides by the code of conduct as a speaker, and doesn't easily express too many opinions on one matter.He knew that as long as he said one more word, it would immediately attract speculation about his thoughts, and then many people's eyes would shift from the focus, from how to better solve this matter to how to better cater to the chairman's wishes Opinion—it wasn't what he wanted to see.

In all fairness, Charles considers himself a person who cannot be completely fair. He admires the Penglai people in his heart, but towards the northerners, he always has a sense of superiority as a member of the Tallis Alliance and regards them as uncivilized barbarians.

When he was an ordinary old nobleman, he had contacts with the Nord Kingdom. He was indeed amazed by Selene's talent, but he was more regretful that such an outstanding talent would be from the Northland.Presumably most of the councilors at the time had the same idea as him, so it was the Republic of Fick that finally reached a trade agreement with the Nord Kingdom. This country is completely controlled by the chamber of commerce. As long as there are interests to seek, it will not care about the other party. People from the Northland, even half-orcs, do business in the same way.

Since it was an impromptu meeting, the long tables in the council hall were not full. Charles silently counted the people present before announcing the start of the meeting.

"Speaker, allow me to ask a question." A new aristocratic member who had just entered the parliament raised his hand, and Charles nodded to signal him to continue. Once united to harass Talis, but even if they all gather...they're just half-orcs, right?"

Charles' heart sank, knowing that the situation was just as he expected, and these Talisians who had never experienced war would have to pay for their arrogance.

The establishment of the Talis Alliance was not accompanied by war.It was a meeting that shocked the mainland held by the kings of several monarchy countries who put aside their prejudices under the appeal of one of the kings. That king was also the first speaker of the Tallis Alliance.Since then, the country has begun to develop rapidly. Their young soldiers are full of enthusiasm. They have new weapons that the Holy Church of Wilton cannot manufacture, and there are dragon knights soaring in the sky. , They are all overwhelming victories, and they all confirm how powerful this new country of "freedom and equality" is.

In Talis, not to mention ordinary citizens, even members of parliament and even soldiers have never really experienced the cruelty of war.

Before calling this emergency meeting, Charles deliberately stayed in Gu Yinuo's house for a while to explain his thoughts clearly to them.

Among the people here, Gu Yinuo is the clearest about what kind of war Talis has experienced before.The city-state she was born in survived entirely on Penglai merchants and rare seafood, and had almost no military power. Gu Yinuo, who was only 20 years old at the time, relied on her own brains and a group of militiamen to deal with Talis' regular army.

From then on, she knew that if she led the regular army of the same country, she would definitely not lose so quickly. Her failure could all be attributed to the overwhelming strength gap, which made all schemes ineffective.The so-called city-states and small countries that were annexed by force before surrendered under the threat of the Talis army without a rebel like Gu Yinuo.

As the Speaker of the Central Assembly, Charles is also aware of this.Talis looks very powerful, but Talis's military strength has not been tested. No one dares to say that Talis is as powerful as he looks, and no one dares to say that Talis is really strong from the outside.

Wilton didn't know the exact answer either. This conservative country decided to adopt the safest plan and not to send troops to Tallis rashly.After Nagrand annexed Nord, they found that there was such a force in Nord, which could be used as the best test, so that the entire continent could see the strength of Talis clearly.

Half-orcs—to be honest, they are called half-orcs because the outside world generally believes that they still have some basic intelligence and can communicate with humans. Not as good.

Whether wild beasts hunt in the wild or attack human villages, they are actually only for the simple purpose of filling their stomachs.And the half-orcs want to kill more than to fill their stomachs.Although they like to have fun, they like endless fighting and plundering even more.

"You don't need to say much about this. As a northerner, I know the half-orcs best." To be honest, Selene still has lingering fears today. "The Nord Kingdom treats vicious criminals with a The first punishment is to escort him to the territory of the half-orcs, give him food, water, and weapons. These prisoners have never been able to escape from the territory of the half-orcs. My previous monarchs did not How can I take into account the affairs of the half-orcs and let them expand too much, so I am determined to use the power of the regular army to wipe them out."

The result is only "pacification", not "extermination".

When the half-orc tribes were scattered everywhere, they had such power. When they gathered together and were consciously guided to a certain place, no one could predict how great a threat they would be.

In the huge Talis Alliance, there are not many generals with actual combat experience.Charles wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and said the theme of the meeting: "It is impossible for us to turn a blind eye to the threat of the half-orcs. The most urgent task is to send more troops to assist the legions stationed on the border as soon as possible, so as not to let them Let the residents on the border suffer more losses, and in addition to the original army commander, I also want to appoint an additional commander-in-chief, Selene."

As soon as the words fell, there was an uproar in the council hall. Not to mention the old noble members who had objections to Selene, even the new noble members widened their eyes in surprise, looking at Charles and Selene , eagerly exchanged their views.

"Silence." Charles cleared his throat, "Silence!"

The council hall was still full of chaotic discussions, until Hecate, who was sitting next to Selene, suddenly jumped onto the table, pulled out the crescent blade, lowered his hand, so that the tip of the knife could reach everyone, and walked along the table In a circle, he touched the back of the knife to everyone's lips.

She just walked around in silence like this, and then returned to her position in silence to sit down, sheathed the knife, and continued to hold her arms in a daze.

"It seems that it is necessary for Talis to hire His Royal Highness Hecate to stand by us every day when we hold meetings, so as to prevent you from continuing such pointless discussions." Charles sighed and repeated again, "The mobilization of the Central Army has already been completed. It is an inevitable thing, we only vote on one thing, do you agree with Selene as the commander-in-chief of this campaign? If you have any objections, please raise your hand."

The sudden voice of opposition in the council hall almost knocked off the entire roof. Selene glanced at Hecate, and she immediately stood up again. Before the crescent blade was drawn halfway, the entire council hall was already silent.

Selene spread her hands, and said in a very normal tone: "Okay, this should be your Talis' affairs, and we Northlanders don't want to intervene too much, but thanks to Mr. Charles' kindness, it is inconvenient to refuse, since Someone said so, please choose someone else.”

"So, would anyone like it?"

Selene had expected in advance that no one in the Central Council would dare to take the initiative to take on this burden.One is because of timidity, and the other is because they all know that they do not have the ability and experience in this area.

"Me." Gu Yinuo stood up, slowly took off his top hat and pressed it on his chest, showing a confident smile, "Gu Yinuo, a member of the Central Council of Talis, is willing to serve as the commander-in-chief of this battle. In order to guard the tower Land of the Union of Leith, to the cause of liberty and equality, I give my all - including my life."

Her voice echoed on the marble-paved floor of the council hall. Speaker Charles stared at her for a moment, then asked in a deep voice: "Then, I hereby announce that Mr. Gu will be the commander-in-chief of this campaign and lead the Central Bank Provincial Legion, go to assist the border garrison and defeat the half-orcs. Those who have objections can raise it now."

This time there was no objection.

Gu Yinuo let out a long sigh of relief, and blinked her right eye at Selene.

After walking out of the council hall, Hecate shook Selene's arm: "On the right hand side, the seventh person from the outside, has been scolding you in a low voice, a barbarian from the Northland."

"Hey, the barbarians in the north are not the only ones who scold me, right?"

"After thinking about it carefully, I am indeed from the Kingdom of Nord, but strictly speaking, I am not from the Northland."

"Hecate, you should learn from our Penglai. Even if you are a golden-haired and blue-eyed person, if you are proficient in Penglai characters and behave like a Penglai person, then everyone will think you are a Penglai person." Gu Yinuo looked at Sai Rene looked embarrassed and helped her out. She knew that Hecate was not Selene's biological sister, and after hearing Hecate's words, she took it for granted that Hecate was probably an ordinary Hindley with northern blood. "According to this, you are a Northerner through and through."

"Do I look like a Northlander?" Hecate pointed to himself in surprise, "less than a year ago, I looked like a Nagrand except for my hair and eyes."

"You look like a Nagrand because you have always lived in Nagrand. You look like a Northlander now because you have always been a Northlander." Selene stopped and turned to look at Hecate A face similar to her own, "always has been."