In the living room of Graycastle, Roland quietly looked at the old man in front of him.
He was sitting in a wheelchair, with gray hair, sunken cheeks, and high wrinkles on his forehead, apparently reaching the end of his years. However, compared to his age, his pupils are not too cloudy, and he still looks very angry. The monocle on the tip of his nose and the black bow tie tied around his neck further strengthen this feeling. While Roland was looking at him, he was also looking at Roland.
After a while, Roland broke the silence and said with a smile, "It's really not an easy task to invite you from Dawn to here. Welcome to the new capital of Greycastle, Mr. Barihe Lothar, it's been hard work all the way. "
"It's my honor to be summoned by the King of Greycastle..." The other party lowered his head slightly, "I just don't know what His Majesty asked me for?"
"You have already contributed a lot to Greycastle, and you don't need to accomplish anything more."
"Me?" He looked surprised, "Your Majesty, did you make a mistake?"
Generally, people of this age will have a sharp decrease in their thinking speed, and their speech will be slurred and intermittent, but Barry not only answered the words immediately, but can also control the facial muscles to make a fake look, which is enough to prove that he The brain never stops thinking. Compared with the irreversible aging of the body, his consciousness may be a more realistic reflection of his own condition.
"I know you have concerns, but don't worry, I don't have any malice towards black money." Roland spread his hands and said, "The 'envoy' who passed the news to you is also a part of Neverwinter. In fact, it is I asked them to send the message."
Borrowing from Pasha's mouth, he used the reason that the transformation ceremony was timed to bring Barihi to Greycastle, and after determining the target, he sent someone to forcibly bring him back to the castle. Although this method was a little rough, it was more straightforward.
"Your Majesty... I don't quite understand what you mean..."
"It's okay, I'll tell you until you understand - this is a very tortuous story, but it actually happened." Roland briefly recounted the past of the ancient witch, and incidentally said the transformation ceremony of the God's Punishment Army. Nature. Soul containers can only collect the consciousness of those who possess demons. In other words, those without demons can only become bodies.
In a sense, becoming a body without self is also in line with the ancient witch Yanshou's words. If the black money is just an ordinary underground business association, he will not care too much. However, in the battle against the Devil's Western Front Army, the black money made a great contribution, not only helping the First Army to support the Wolf Heart and Yongdong's theater intelligence network, but also sending out key information many times to fill the role of witches in the war zone. The detection gap in the red fog area.
Perhaps Barry did not do it for the fate of mankind or to save his fellow man, but the contribution was real. Roland didn't think it was an appropriate reward to turn such a meritorious man into a delusional puppet, so he decided to meet the other party in person.
After a long time, Barihe Losar slowly took off his reading glasses, and his voice trembled slightly, "You mean, longevity is just a scam?"
Roland sighed softly, "At present, those who can maintain immortality on the basis of maintaining consciousness must be possessors of demons. For humans, they are witches."
Even he who has opened up the dream world cannot be sensed by the soul container.
"But after drinking those medicines, my body is indeed improving—"
"Those potions can't be said to be useless. They increase the success rate of rituals by overdrawing vitality, but they can't be used endlessly." Roland shook his head and interrupted, "Soon its side effects will appear. Why are you in such a hurry to find you?"
Barry was stunned for a moment, "You mean, am I running out of time..."
"I'm sorry." Roland regretted, "I can't make this promise come true, I can only use other ways to make up for it. Black money has protected witches, and it has contributed to the battle of divine will. If you have anything you want, you can mention it. Come out, it's a well-earned reward."
Nightingale once asked him why he didn't let Pasha and the others solve this problem by themselves. To come forward as kings was to transfer the consequences of this deception to Graycastle.
Her thoughts could not be miscalculated, but Roland knew that since Graycastle accepted the Taquila witches in their entirety, they couldn't just enjoy the benefits they brought, and taking the blame for them was also an obligation of "acceptance".
"..." Balih was silent for a long time, "Even if it is in the morning, can you handle it?"
"You should know, my influence in the Kingdom of Dawn."
"Then I'm relieved." Unexpectedly, the other party did not despair or become hysterical, but showed a calm smile, "I hope to live longer, because I want to keep the black money industry for the children— If I die, other noble merchants will never miss the opportunity to divide it up, and in the face of big enough interests, a few lives are of no importance. If Your Majesty is willing to intervene, I think no one dares to act rashly, even more than me Personal longevity is more reliable. If that's the case, what can I complain about?"
Roland pondered for a while, "Are you sure this is what you want in return?"
"Your Majesty, isn't it... can't you?"
"It's not impossible." He paused, "I wonder if you've heard the name Rainbow Stone?"
"I've heard of it," Barihe thought for a moment, "it seems to be a new clothing store in your country, with a large scale, and some finished products are even sold in the morning - but with all due respect, in terms of style and design, it is far from than us."
Because the craftsmen Victor looked for were all from the Lothar family... and he didn't tell you that in Neverwinter, this kind of clothing is only one-tenth the price of other hand-woven clothing. Roland coughed twice, "As far as I know, the founder behind this clothing store is Victor Lothar, who is your fourth son. In addition, the income of the clothing store has exceeded 10,000 golden dragons so far. With this talent, I don’t think he would easily lose to those merchant families without Graycastle as his backing.”
Ten thousand golden dragons is by no means a small number. In the past, only Chaos Drinks could exceed this number in Neverwinter. The reason is very simple. Not everyone needs drinks, but everyone has to wear clothes. As Neverwinter's population is highly concentrated, the size of the base demand will only expand further. In the face of the foreseeable industrialized production profits, the turnover of the underground chamber of commerce is not worth mentioning at all.
This time, Barry was really surprised, "Your Majesty, what you said... is it true? He has rarely contacted me since he left Glorious City... I thought he was still in the jewelry business... "
"Victor is in Neverwinter right now. It's not difficult for you to see him. It's better to verify it yourself. But... you have to hurry up."
"Yes... I see." Barry couldn't help grasping the wheel, this action obviously exposed the thoughts in his heart. "Please allow me to retire, Your Majesty."
Roland nodded, and when he was about to ask his personal guard to send him out, he suddenly said, "You said that my time is running out... Can you let me spend the last moment on that floating island?"
"..." Roland closed his eyes, "if you wish."
After the door was closed, Nightingale appeared and whispered, "It's strange..."
"What's wrong?"
"His reaction at the beginning was a little strange, and I can't say it was a lie. It's just that the magic power gave me a very vague feeling, and it wasn't as calm as he showed." Nightingale shrugged.
"I see," Roland said thoughtfully.
"You know why?"
"Probably." He slowed down his voice and tilted his head to look out the window. "Such things like longevity are always full of temptations. If their expectations fail, no one will accept it easily."
"But that's not a lie." Nightingale emphasized.
"Because he knows that no matter what he does, he can't change this result." Roland sighed with emotion, "Since it can't be changed, then it must be accepted - instead of hating the King of Greycastle full of resentment, it is better to pretend to be open-minded to gain goodwill. , any unnecessary emotion will become a sunk cost, which is probably what he thinks. There are many people who understand this, but few can really do it... This is what makes him great. "
He somewhat understands the reason why these big businessmen are treated as nobles in Dawn—the ability to control and stop loss awareness, even if they are in politics, they can surpass most nobles.
"It's you—" Having said this, Roland couldn't help but look at Nightingale, "Now not only can you tell the truth from the fake, but you can even feel your inner emotions. Are you about to evolve?"
"Do you think I will deliberately not say anything when I've evolved—or rather, am I still so humble?" Nightingale cast a sullen look at him.
Well, that makes sense.
Roland closed his mouth wisely.
.. Wonderful Book House.