Just as Benjamin was confused, a voice suddenly came from behind him, startling both him and the person in charge of the ANBU.
"Hi." The two of them turned around in shock, only to see Miles appearing out of nowhere. He was leaning against the corner of the room and said casually, "Long time no see. You seem to be enjoying your stay here. .”
Benjamin was stunned for a few seconds, then breathed a sigh of relief.
"You are indeed awake." He shook his head helplessly and said, "Before, the college sent me a message saying that the treatment was still in progress, but you suddenly disappeared from the hospital, not even a footprint was left. They didn't stay. They thought there was some kind of elemental mutation and wanted to send people out to look for it. But... I know that you must have woken up and ran away by yourself."
Miles shrugged: "After lying down for so long, I have to come out and move my body."
"Whatever you say..." Benjamin touched his chin, as if he had thought of something, and suddenly changed the subject, and returned to his serious face, and asked, "It seems that the breach of Crusad's gate must have something to do with you. Bar?"
The timing of the appearance was so coincidental, and coupled with the ease with which the gate was captured, he really couldn't help but think too much.
Hearing this, Miles said nothing, but nodded.
Benjamin quickly asked: "What's going on? You had some connections with the Wood family before, so you must know the inside story, right?"
Miles shrugged and said: "Actually, there is no inside story. The defenders inside the gate are very lacking. They found a few mages to attract attention, and then I sneaked in, and finally cooperated inside and outside, and captured the place. "
"You put it lightly." Benjamin shook his head, and then asked, "Where did you get such a large army?"
"Well... I don't know the specific situation, but the Duke seems to have been planning this a long time ago. Everything was carried out very secretly, and it was not until the Duke died unexpectedly that Elizabeth was visited by several knights and told everything. Miles said after careful consideration, "The entire army has about 20,000 people. It seemed to have been in the form of a large mercenary group, but it was dispersed into hundreds of forces and has been operating in a low-key manner in Ikol. But after the death of the Lord After that, hundreds of branches gathered together and became the army that invaded the Horli Kingdom at this moment."
Benjamin heard this a little strangely.
An army of 20,000 people, hundreds of mercenary regiments...
To be honest, just raising an army is already very expensive, let alone raising one secretly in such a complicated form abroad. Think about it carefully, the daily operation of hundreds of mercenary groups, the cost... Benjamin is relatively wealthy now, but it is a bit unimaginable.
Moreover, Duke Colin undoubtedly spent a lot of time and effort to come up with these. This was not an accident, and it had nothing to do with his own sudden death. This was definitely a secret plan that he had been preparing for a long time, and even Benjamin was not aware of it in advance.
There is no doubt that such a laborious plan must have a goal that matches the cost.
Benjamin believed that he was definitely not trying to protect himself. If he wanted to protect himself, he should have fled abroad while the situation was easing, and he would not have to get involved in the mess between the mage and the church, nor would he be implicated in his death. Even... Benjamin vaguely felt that Duke Colin might even be included in his own death.
"What does he want to do?"
"I don't know about that." Miles shook his head and said, "It is said that the Duke left a letter to Elizabeth, but... for various reasons, I did not peek or try to inquire about this. information."
But Benjamin suddenly came closer and lowered his voice: "Then... what if I want you to inquire?"
Miles suddenly looked embarrassed.
"No, please spare me."
"… All right."
There was no other way, so Benjamin could only put aside the problem for the time being. The Wood family is benevolent to Miles, and it is difficult for him to ask Miles to do intelligence work in this area. Besides... Whether he was alive or dead, Duke Colin was his ally, and his ally had a hidden agenda, which was a good thing for him.
—He was just out of curiosity, and he was kept in the dark, so he was a little weird.
"What about Elizabeth?" After thinking about it, he asked again, "She can lead troops to fight, so her mood should be quite stable. But suddenly she has an army in her hands. In addition to Duke Colin's arrangements, she should also be able to Do you have some ideas of your own?"
"you mean… "
"The purpose of her expedition."
After hearing this, Miles spread his hands, shook his head, and said: "Aren't you still asking about the letter in a roundabout way? This... I really don't know. Elizabeth is here for revenge, at least, as everyone knows That's right. Oh, by the way, she also asked me to bring you a few words."
"What words?"
"I can't remember the details, but she and the Duke are very grateful for your efforts in fighting against the church."
Benjamin frowned when he heard this.
thank him? Something seemed strange... I don't know why, but at that moment, he felt like he was being used, as if all the things he had done suddenly became stepping stones for Duke Colin's huge plan.
And if you think about it carefully, it seems that everything started when Duke Colin invited him to the Kingdom of Hori and begged him to rescue the king who was under house arrest, and then step by step he got to where he is today.
Benjamin felt extremely scared to think about it.
He must figure out this plan.
"In addition, she also gave me something and asked me to give it to you, saying that you will understand what it means after seeing it." Miles hesitated for a moment, then spoke again. As he spoke, he put his hand into his pocket and put a He took out the ring and handed it to Benjamin.
"This is… "
"Don't ask me, I don't know. It's none of my business, I'm just passing it on." Miles seemed to have finally thrown a hot potato out, and he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. He spread his hands and asked no questions.
Benjamin could only look at the ring.
... You will understand after seeing it
What the hell!
He felt confused. He was given a ring for no apparent reason - or a diamond ring, which gave him a very strange feeling. He couldn't understand why Elizabeth gave this thing to him. Was there any special meaning? Anyway, he couldn't find anything related to it in his memory.
Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, and ordered the system in his mind: "Search the memory of the original Benjamin."
After a brief silence, the system gave the answer.
"This is your engagement ring." It stated objectively in a calm tone that a machine should have. "On a Tuesday afternoon when you were just eleven years old, you had a quarrel with several classmates in the classroom of the aristocratic school. , took off the ring in front of everyone, threw it from the third-floor window, and officially terminated the engagement with Elizabeth Wood."
Benjamin was stunned when he heard this.
The system's tone suddenly changed, with a forced innocence, and continued like a child telling a story: "Since then, this ring seems to have completely disappeared, and no one has seen it. It turns out that … It was picked up by Elizabeth herself!”