01.
During the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean," Jackson Sr. had a talk with Theo. It was evening, and Theodore saw old Jackson in the garden.
Most of the flowers in the garden in winter are withered, but there are also a few flowers that Theodore has never seen before. It is a world of ice and snow, withered and surrounded by a little vitality, which is quite beautiful. The pavilion in the garden was covered with rush mats, and the seats were of course soft fur. The side wind lamps are already on, and they look especially nice in the dim twilight.
Old Jackson was dressed in a velvet robe and a moleskin vest. He was dressed elegantly and had a noble temperament. Coupled with such a scenery, most people would feel ashamed after seeing him.
But Theodore didn't.
In the past, not to mention the duke, even the lowest baron was unattainable for Theodore.
Theodore has rarely seen such a luxurious scene. He didn't hide his admiration, but the admiration was nothing but admiration. He didn't feel that he was a humble person. He just stood in front of the old Duke with a smile and saluted, neither humble nor overbearing: "My lord, good night."
"Good night, lad."
The old duke thought in his heart that since ancient times heroes come from boys, this boy is really good. He knew that Theodore and Princess Lydia were lovers, and he was not optimistic about this relationship, but he knew that the relationship could be maintained because His Royal Highness Greenwald had a thread in the middle, and when will this relationship end? It is indeed in the hands of Greenwald. Old Jackson didn't believe that he was out of good intentions. Now that he has a deep understanding of the other party's behavior habits, this His Highness may... no, it is not possible, it is definitely a big picture.
It was because of this that Old Jackson thought it necessary to talk to Theodore.
After the simple exchange of greetings, the old duke directly clarified his meaning: "There are some things Baker didn't tell you. He saw some things, but he couldn't see them clearly. After all, he was a businessman from a poor background. It’s still too short-sighted.”
Theodore nodded, "Even so, Master Baker is still a very powerful person."
"I admit it." Old Jackson said, Theodore is really a good boy who never forgets his roots, and this idea flashed in his mind.
"Thank you, Your Excellency Duke." Theodore saluted again, and then said, "Does Your Excellency Duke have any advice?"
Old Jackson nodded, "It's not advice, it's just specific facts." Then he glanced at Theodore, and said something terrible: "His Highness Greenwald hopes that the position of Emperor Yulan will be stable, so that it will be easier for him to control the empire. gone."
Unexpectedly, the old prince would say such a scary sentence, Theodore was stunned, and said "ah".
"As partners, this is also beneficial to us. But as citizens of the Yulan Empire, we are looking forward to a wise king." Old Jackson continued to say even more terrifying words, "This is actually between me and His Highness Greenwald. One of the contradictions, but neither of us said it clearly."
This... Theodore asked cautiously: "Then, my lord, why did you suddenly tell me this matter?"
"I'm just telling you the matter," Old Jackson continued, "In addition, Your Highness Greenwald also hopes to improve Princess Lydia's prestige among the people."
Theodore was stunned for a moment, "That's it." These few words are thought-provoking, and if they are connected, they outline a terrible fact.
"That's the end of the story, then you can do it for yourself. You are not an ordinary person, and you must have made a decision in your heart." The old duke said so.
"I understand, thank you Lord Duke." Theodore said.
"You should thank me," said the old prince, "otherwise you would still be in the dark. You should go back, boy, and do what you ought to do."
"Okay, Your Excellency the Duke." After Theodore finished speaking, he did not stay any longer. The servant came over and put on a cloak for him. He let the other party serve him, and his eyes widened.
It was snowing heavily when he left Jackson's house, and he stood on the street for a long time until his body was covered with snowflakes.
There were carriages coming and going, and pedestrians holding umbrellas looked at him curiously.
The snow fell on the lampshade of the wind lamp next to it, and was melted by the high temperature. Then another layer of snow fell and melted again. Over time, a layer of ice formed on the lampshade. The light from the wind lamp was not bright at first, but now it became more and more hazy.
"Mom, that brother looks so familiar."
"It's a bit..."
This should be someone who has watched his movies. His status is completely different now. Sometimes people will recognize him when he walks on the street. Everyone will look at him with reverence, just like he used to look at other adults.
He shuddered, and suddenly realized, who all this came from. After he figured it out, he went home and wrote two letters.
The letter is for Princess Lydia, and I want to talk to her about the future, such as her future ideals and plans.
The second letter was written to Hill, telling the truth about everything that the old duke had said to him today, and also honestly telling the things that were disturbing his mind.
After doing all this, his heart calmed down. A burden has been lifted.
02.
After Theodore left, the old duke's eldest son Jefferson walked into the garden. The old duke was drinking golden wine and admiring the snowy garden.
Jefferson took the wind lamp from the servant's hand, waved him away, and then he put the wind lamp by the table and asked, "Dad, do you value him?" He deserves to be Theodore.
"Whether I like him or not depends on what he wants to do," replied the old prince.
"But he's just a commoner," Jefferson said.
"You have watched so many movies, you should understand that the difference between the strong and the weak does not lie in the origin," the old duke's expression seemed to be wandering, but his attitude today was particularly severe, "not to mention that this is an absolute moment of change, you Was his brain eaten by a vampire bat?"
"I'm sorry, Dad." Jefferson quickly apologized, "I'm too stupid, sorry."
"You should spend more time on where you should be." The old duke looked at the icy snowflakes in the night, and his tone became more severe: "I don't want you to become a weak person with the title of duke, you know Right? You are not the only heir to me."
Jefferson's heart suddenly became terrified. He didn't expect his father to say such merciless words suddenly, but he still accepted the words without any complaints: "I see, father, I will review myself .”
The old Jackson was satisfied with his son's humble attitude, he nodded, his tone softened, and he talked about what happened just now: "If it's not what I expected, Theodore should write to tell Greenwald what I said today All words."
"This... Didn't you say that Theodore has a big picture? Will he be so good?" Jefferson asked.
"Don't forget who gave him all this now. He has other plans, but if he is smart enough, he knows how to change it. If he doesn't tell Greenwald about this, I will re-evaluate him Yes. His current position is too important, we don't need unintelligent collaborators." The old Duke said.
Jefferson understood, "So Dad, are you testing Theodore for His Royal Highness Greenwald?"
"His Royal Highness Greenwald has great talent, but some details are too simple. But it is because of this that other people have the meaning and value of existence." The old Duke's words gave Jefferson affirmation, "You have good eyesight."
Jefferson was not happy when he heard it, and he also realized why the old duke was so strict with him today. Theodore was younger than him and came from a humble background, but now he has reached this point. Such a comparison... Jefferson I feel like I'm a bit of a waste. But he was not discouraged, instead his fighting spirit was aroused. He continued to ask the old prince: "Then dad, what should we do if he is not smart enough?"
"What do you think?" Old Jackson asked back.
Jefferson sank for a moment, then replied: "From cooperating to exploiting, then, and then his death was the last time we exploited him."
"Well. Very good." Old Jackson said, "You are less human than your father and me. Has your conscience been eaten by Emperor Yulan?"
Jefferson coughed loudly, "I'm sorry, Dad." And wait, the brain was eaten by a vampire bat at first, why did he start swearing at people with His Majesty later, this, this, he should pretend that he didn't hear it. sweat.
"Your idea is right, but I hope that if it is not necessary, it is better to have some kindness in your heart." Old Jackson didn't criticize him, but said, "But don't let that kindness endanger yourself, and let the goodwill be better." Don't endanger the family... Otherwise, you might as well take a bloody road of killing."
"I see, Dad," Jefferson said seriously.
Later, Jefferson did embark on the bloody road that the old Duke said.
"I'm not as strategic as His Highness, I'm not as insightful as my father, and I'm not as smart as Ollie, so I have to adopt a stupid method. Sorry." Then he waved his hand lightly and said, "Kill them."
— This is the first step in the growth of the famous Blood Duke in later generations.
03.
When Theodore thought that he had grown quite rapidly and left the people around him by a large margin, he didn't know that he was jumping back and forth on the chessboard played by the old Duke and Hill.
After Hill received Theodore's letter, he wondered how the old duke was so considerate—of course he could see that it was the old duke who tested Theodore for him.
With Joan Baker in charge of the commercial details, old Jackson in charge of the political details, and behind him the whole Demon World... How could he allow himself to fail.
Hill's tactics can be seen by the old duke, Hill is naturally not surprised.
On the one hand, control Emperor Yulan, and further push him to the position of a faint king; on the other hand, win over Princess Lydia, and also start to improve her prestige among the people. No, no, it's not that Princess Lydia replaced Emperor Yulan. This kind of behavior has actually made Emperor Yulan's rule more stable: after all, there are people like Princess Lydia and old Jackson who have solved many things for the country, so they can continue to maintain Royal rule.
But at the same time, it also made Emperor Yulan's personal status even more precarious.
As time goes by, will Lydia, the royal princess, be dissatisfied? Will it breed desire? Will want power? -of course.
Will she really inherit the position of Emperor Yulan? This can't be said, one, she doesn't have this ambition yet, so Hill is cultivating it. Second, it depends on whether Hill is willing...
The last question Hill himself did not know. Hill and Captain Jack are alike, that is, they have a general premonition of the future development direction, so they will make a rough layout in advance, but the layout is not careful. When the time comes, adapt to the situation and play on the spot. Everything around is chess pieces.
As for the church.
There is nothing wrong with the church's pursuit of theocracy, what is wrong is their excessive pursuit of secular power.
Hill once saw this sentence: Give God what is God's and Caesar what is Caesar's. The meaning is to divide the church and the state, the state is responsible for the worldly happiness of people, and the happiness of heaven is realized by the church—separating secular power and spiritual power.
In this world, countries have different attitudes towards the Church of Light.
The king of the Eutin Empire obeyed the words of the Church of Light. It was originally the third country on the continent—the Yulan Empire was the first, Mülheim was the second, and it was the third. The headquarters of the Church of Light is in the Eutin Empire, and with the support of the Church of Light, the Eutin Empire is growing stronger day by day.
The Fussen Empire is a very small country. It does not have much military power, but its education level is top-notch in the mainland. Many mages, ministers, and university scholars come from the Fussen Empire. At the same time, it is also the art trend culture center of the mainland. They have always been politically balanced. The Church of Light has encountered a lot of resistance when spreading its beliefs here. The resistance comes from the people—these cultural people have their own ideas too much.
As for the attitude of the royal family of the Fessen Empire... They advocate the rule of inaction, they don't care about anything, and they don't want to offend anyone. Most of Monroe's team at the time came from the Fussen Empire, which is also Monroe's home country. The Fessen Empire allowed the Church of Light to slaughter a village, which shows their attitude.
As for the Yulan Empire, we all know that the territory of the Yulan Empire has basically no power of the Church of Light. Emperor Yulan's father expelled the Church of Light from his past when he was young. Later, when Emperor Yulan succeeded to the throne, the church changed its strategy and began to praise him. Therefore, although there were still no churches of the Guangming Church in the territory, they could barely control the Yulan Empire. After all, Emperor Yulan could always be fooled easily.
The Dijon tribes in the west have their own beliefs, but they are nomadic people and have no fixed territory except the royal court. The Church of Light took the opportunity to establish some villages in the past, and later traded with the Dijon tribe. So the people living in that land are gradually being infiltrated and controlled by the Church of Light.
In general, the influence of the Church of Light on this continent is enormous.
On the premise of not violating the interests of the royal family, they seem to be able to do whatever they want, and they are indeed used to running amok on the Magnolia Continent.
Most of the time, it is not because of how evil the other party really is, but because of an 'attitude problem'. It's like a teacher or parent misunderstood a child, and finally found out that it was a misunderstanding, but still had to scold the other party for the reason of 'bad attitude'. Kind of like that.
Just like this time, the original bishop of the Ice Empire's Bright Church planned to let the Devil's Emporium go. After all, the Evil Emporium provided them with delicious food every day... It was quite delicious. But now seeing that the Demon World Mall has such a great influence among the people, and the people have started to rebel against the church because of the Devil World Mall, the bishop is not happy about it. You have a problem with your attitude, so I have to punish you—close the movie theater!
As for what will happen next... The bishop has thought about it. If the Demon Realm shopping mall is completely ruined by him, he will secretly keep the chef and hand over the rest to the Inquisition.
What will happen next if the Bishop of Winter City conveys to the Pope the intention to seal the mall in the Demon Realm
It is very likely that the church will send full-time personnel to review this matter. If they have carefully investigated the Demon Realm Mall on the Yulan Empire, the Devil Realm Mall will be sentenced to death in their hearts.
What might happen next
First of all, the Demon World Shopping Mall in Winter City will no longer exist, and the next unlucky one is the Demon World Shopping Mall in the Yulan Empire. The Church of Light will definitely put pressure on the Yulan Empire. If it was in the past, Emperor Yulan would probably not be able to withstand the pressure and give up the cooperation with the Demon Realm, but it might not be possible now, not to mention that there are two beauties from the Demon Realm beside him. He got a lot of money from the Devil's Emporium—old Jackson gave Emperor Yulan half of the Jackson family's profits from the Evil Emporium, which was enough to make Emperor Yulan hesitant.
The situation is critical.
04.
"I'm a little nervous," Hill said. "If I say that, am I letting you down, Monroe?"
At this time, they were walking outside the Dark Holy See in Famagusta.
Cold springs flowed on the plain, and the moonlight reflected on the water, shining coldly.
The low battlements were icy, and the cold wind destroyed everything. The remaining snow in the whole town made the whole town look like it was shivering in the harsh winter.
"No, in fact, I have been worried that you will disappoint me." Monroe said.
"Why do you say that?" Hill asked.
"I've done a lot of stupid things that I can't look back on," Monroe said.
"Well... there is a saying, if everyone does smart things, then the world will be boring." Hill smiled, "And I always thought you were cute."
Monroe just shook his head.
"I have always liked paladins. I think they are loyal and good-looking." Hill said.
"The former barely makes sense, but the last sentence is too..."
"Too much of me?" Hill said with a laugh.
Monroe also smiled, "Yes."
Hill walked to the edge of the stream, the water was very cold, he knelt down and stretched his hands into the water to feel the biting chill, and then said: "I'm afraid of death."
Monroe stood beside him, watching him quietly.
"But I'm more afraid now that you're going to die first," Hill said. "I'm afraid that everything I've done will be destroyed. … It's cold."
Monroe knelt down and pulled Hill's hand out of the icy water. He took out a handkerchief and wiped Hill's fingers carefully. Then he took off the knight's iron gloves and held Hill's hand with both hands. . His hands are warm. He used magic to maintain his own body temperature to keep Hill warm. He had a devout look on his face as he did these things.
"Stay with me," Hill said, "This is an order."
Monroe lowered his head and kissed the back of Hill's hand, "I obey the Lord."
Hill looked at Monroe in the cold moonlight for a while, and suddenly sneered, "I really want to eat you." Then he patted the snow particles on his body, and the slightly melancholy expression was swept away.
Okay, it's human nature to be worried, but it's okay to worry a little bit, and just do whatever you need to do next.
He has been preparing for this for too long.
Emperor Yulan. The priest who was bought by Winter City. sentiments among the populace. There are also chess pieces arranged by the church headquarters.
Hill pronounced a personal name.
Henry Lewis, Denis Evans, Theresa Shelley, Anthony Blake…
Some he hadn't even seen with his own eyes, but his nets had been cast.
Next, it will be the first confrontation.
Thinking about the people around him, and thinking about what he was going to do, Hill knew that he felt very proud.
This is the first battle I have fought after traveling to this world.
He must win, and if he fails, his entire strategy for the human world will collapse.
If it succeeds, it will not only continue to develop the Demon World shopping mall, but also gradually control the entire Mülheim...
So, go ahead and have fun.
Hill's expression became indifferent, with a hint of indifference. Murderous intent revealed.
—