The rain outside the window hit the glass, and the two men in the study looked at each other. But at least the atmosphere is harmonious, Jenkins thinks so.
"Actually, I want to talk about something, I hope you don't mind. Baron William, have you heard about Her Majesty's condition?"
Earl Hesha was very straightforward, and immediately got to the point after a word of politeness. He served in the Nolan Navy, and he looked like a vigorous soldier from the outside.
Compared with the politician-like Marquis Mihail, Jenkins admired such a person more.
"I heard some news, it seems that my promotion is postponed because of His Majesty's illness."
"That's true... Have you heard anything else?"
The count asked a strange question.
Jenkins didn't understand what he wanted to know, so he could only tell the truth:
"No, I haven't heard anything else... What do you want to know?"
"It's nothing, yes, I don't want to know anything. Oh, Baron William, I've always been curious, what is your relationship with Hathaway?"
The man's tone was very flat, and the turning point was even more abrupt. Originally, Jenkins wanted to continue the topic just now and talk about the queen's condition, but unexpectedly the earl changed the subject and talked about this. This is a terrible question, because Jenkins can't give an answer, and he also wants to be responsible to other people. He has no answer to this kind of question until he sorts out the relationship between everyone.
"Friendship."
He could only say such a shameful answer, and at the same time, he despised his greedy self in his heart. He was ready to be questioned by the Earl. Although Jenkins took advantage of the Earl and thought he didn't need to be afraid of him, the person in front of him was Hathaway's father after all, and he should be respected as an elder.
"Are you a friend? That's good. Hathaway is lucky to have a friend like you."
The earl did not continue to ask, and skipped the question lightly, just like skipping the Queen's health issue just now.
"What on earth is he going to do?"
Because too many important factors are missing, Jenkins cannot connect the two topics just now. He was thinking about whether Earl Hesha was stimulated by something to speak so weirdly and incoherently, when the third topic was brought up again:
"Have you heard that the entire Quake family in Beldylan has been arrested, and the titles inherited by the family have also been abolished?"
"I heard that. I heard Bishop Parode talk about this matter. It seems that he was arrested after discovering that the Quake family used living sacrifices in an attempt to gain wealth and power."
Jenkins said so, this is indeed the truth. It's just that this time, the principal offender and all relatives within one generation were sentenced to death, and no more people were implicated. After all, now is a special period of internal and external troubles in the kingdom. In order to maintain stability, it is impossible to involve too much.
But even such a "light sentence" is the result of pressure. The Kingdom originally only wanted to execute the main criminals, but the Quake family committed a big taboo by using the power of the monsters. The Church of the Twelve Gods directly used the terms of the "High Tower Agreement" to put pressure on the Kingdom. It is also impossible to face the twelve churches at the same time.
Of course, the kingdom was also annoyed by Duke Quake's collusion with the enemy and private contact with the Antak family of the Kingdom of Cheslan. Before the start of the war, it is always necessary to use thunder to frighten those vacillating folly, and balance the two, so the Quake family was resolved in this way.
"That's right. I also heard that the ceremony of the Quick family seems to be related to the death of Little Quick."
When the earl said this, Jenkins shook his head noncommittally. He didn't want to recall the snow mountain villa murder case. That incident was over, and Little Quick deserved what he deserved.
As an earl serving in the Norland Navy, although he did not participate in the mobilization of the Broken Isles in the outer seas this time, Earl Hessa also knew a lot about the recent naval battles in the outer seas. When Jenkins asked about this matter, the earl did not hide it, but he looked very sad:
"Although the newspapers kept silent about the naval battle a week ago, in fact, the navy and the main force of the seven pirate kings have already contacted each other... The result is not optimistic."
The word "unoptimistic" has many meanings, but what it means here is that the navy is temporarily in a losing position in its first large-scale battle with pirates.
This is not a big deal, after all, the main force of Nolan's navy was not dispatched all at once. But if Beldyran used the naval defeat as an excuse to ask Nolan's Marquis Michael to send more reinforcements, then he would most likely be at a disadvantage in the throne dispute before the end of summer.
Jenkins thought of so much in an instant, and Earl Hesha, who was sitting opposite, saw the pensive expression on Jenkins' face and stopped talking. In fact, he knew in his heart that the navy was not the ace in the hands of Marquis Mihail at all, and his ace was sitting opposite.
After that, the two talked about a lot of things sporadically, although Jenkins could also inquire about the situation in the kingdom from Bishop Palod. But from the two different perspectives of the church and the aristocracy, different results can always be seen.
The only new news I got from the earl was about conscription. The exact timing of declaring war is still uncertain, but war between the two countries is an unavoidable result. The Kingdom of Cheslan has already started conscription in the southern provinces, and the scope of the first phase of conscription in the country does not include Nolan.
"It may be that the gentlemen of Beldylan also know that Nolan has suffered too much, and they are still shouldering the responsibility of fighting the pirates, so they let Nolan go."
The earl said so, and Jenkins actually felt the same way.
Just as Jenkins expected, it took Hathaway more than an hour to get dressed. Hathaway also showed no sign of anger, despite Jenkins' blunt statement that she looks just as beautiful without makeup as she does with it.
She just told Jenkins that the next time he asked her out, he should send a letter or short letter first, so that she could prepare in advance.
"Meow~"
Since stepping into Earl Hessa's mansion, Chocolate has been depressed. Even if Jenkins and the red-haired girl found a dessert shop to sit down after bidding farewell to the Earl, it also showed a lack of interest in those colorful sweets.
"Chocolate doesn't seem to have much appetite lately."
Jenkins was a little worried. When he took the menu, he specially ordered the fruit cake that cats like to eat, and wanted to see its reaction for a while.