As Thales met more and more people, in just one afternoon, various good news came one after another about maritime trade, markets, debts, public security, noble affairs...

The various industries and ministries in the Emerald City, which once seemed to be on the verge of death, began to show signs of gradual resurrection, which surprised everyone (who secretly came from the back kitchen) to push the dining cart to entertain everyone.

"The Emerald City is not dead in the first place. To be precise, it is pretending to be dead to protect itself."

In the evening, after the prince saw off the last group of guests from the Grain Merchant Guild and returned to his bedroom to take a nap, the little silly lion standing guard at the door of the room—Paul Bozdorf, to be precise—tried not to look at the dining car.

He stepped into the steaming heat and explained coldly:

"How about resurrection?"

"If they pretend to be dead for too long, they will become real dead," on the other side, Morgan, who was guarding the door of Zhan's room, said coldly, staring at the dining car intently and feeling his empty stomach, "Whenever there is a chance, you can

Can't you get up early and resurrect?"

"His Royal Highness wanted to arrest the murderer and close the case, but he encountered a slight setback at Miss Hilley's side." The Conmuto guard who was guarding Federico's door used words that were more polite than the other two, as if he had experienced it before. "People -

Especially the officials and powerful businessmen at all levels in the Emerald City feel that His Highness must be very angry, and are afraid that he will overturn the table and smash the pot in his anger... So of course they must try to behave better..."

"But is it really just because of this?"

Waiya, who was leaning against the door of Thales' room, was holding a note and biting the end of the pen, puzzled:

"These people summoned by His Highness, from nobles to officials, from merchants to ship owners, some of them didn't even say a few words, and the Emerald City has turned around? Whether it's shipping routes, markets, public security, debts, administration, especially

It’s those big forces…”

“Turnarounds don’t just happen.”

A familiar voice sounded - Mallos, who had returned from seeing off his guests, appeared in front of the guards.

"There is always a reason for its appearance."

All the people standing guard couldn't help but tense up, and turned from boredom to solemnity.

He could only move his steps quietly and block the dining car behind him.

"The important point is not how many people His Highness summoned or how many words he said." Maris glanced at everyone. Wherever he looked, everyone was in high spirits. "But who did His Highness meet first, who did he meet last, and who did he meet later?"

Who you met and what you got from it.”

Everyone looked at each other, still confused and confused. They could only admire from the bottom of their hearts and sincerely:

"I see, Lord, you understand His Highness!"

"As expected of the guard guard..."

"As expected of His Highness, he is your favorite captain of the bodyguard..."

"There really is a lot going on here..."

"The best way to surrender the enemy is to attack the heart..."

"The terrifying blade deserves its reputation..."

He arched his buttocks backwards and hid the dining car behind the curtains:

"In that case, that little brat, I mean, why didn't His Highness summon these people earlier? Knock those who deserve, scold those who deserve, praise those who deserve, and kill those who deserve. Then wouldn't we just nip the trouble in the bud and everyone will be happy?

- Hiss, so hot - the Emerald City will not be reduced to..."

Mallos smiled slightly and was about to answer when he heard a knock on the door.

"If you don't have a handy weapon, little one."

The Duke of Xinghu himself yawned and walked out of the room, walked around naturally, opened the curtains in full view of everyone, and dragged out the dining car at the back (Marios looked at the dining car that should not be here, his smile disappeared, and he looked at the numb face

cast a death stare), opened one of the lids, and snatched away a piece of pastry without mercy.

"Then you'd better choose your time carefully and face your opponent later - well, it tastes good, my god, my waist is almost broken after a day of sitting."

Mallos couldn't help but frowned when he saw Thales devouring the pastries without testing the poison.

"What are you doing standing still? You've been standing there all day, and you still have to act so fierce and ungrateful. It's so pitiful. Eat quickly, don't wait for others, don't go to the dining room, let alone wait for the meal - oh

, let Zhan wait a little longer, it’s not time for dinner yet.” Thales had a mouth full of food and his speech was unclear.

Obviously, facing His Royal Highness the prince's natural and guiltless expression, the watchman could only act according to the order even though he was dissatisfied.

The person on the other side was even more responsive. He dragged the dining cart to the center of the corridor openly and opened three dinner plates for Thales with a swish of movement. The movement was so fast that it was dizzying.

So a group of people who had been hungry for a long time looked at each other, automatically realized, crowded around the dining car, and started eating regardless of their manners.

Only Huaiya refused the food that was handed to him, holding his little book and still thinking deeply.

"Who do you meet first and who do you meet later... So, Your Highness, the 'handy weapon' you mentioned was the one you confiscated from the two Kevin Deeres during the previous separate meeting?"

As soon as he said this, everyone with mouths full of food turned their heads.

Thales rejected the dinner scarf Doyle so kindly sent him, turned back in surprise, and couldn't help but look at the attendant with admiration.

"Not bad, Waiya."

He exclaimed and patted Huaiya's chest, then slapped half a piece of bread into the latter's hand as a reward.

Huaiya was shocked, took the prince and bit into the remaining bread, neither eating nor eating, with an embarrassed look on his face.

"But it's not just that." But Taylor's expression changed. He swallowed a mouthful of beef, picked up a bowl of oatmeal, and changed the topic, "I made this weapon myself before meeting them. No, I snatched it myself."

Come."

Huaiya blinked, confused.

Just like everyone else.

Only Marius narrowed his eyes.

"Well, Your Highness, you have been busy all day and summoned so many people. You must be exhausted, right? I specially ordered the chef to prepare this in advance..." Seeing this, he quickly interrupted the topic and served the other two plates of meat with a diligent look.

On top of the dining car.

"Yeah, it's quite tiring."

Thales sighed, stirred the hot porridge with a spoon, and watched the turbulence in the bowl, oh, no, it was the soup rising from the porridge.

"But compared to the physical fatigue..."

After a busy day, they were tired and hungry. Everyone was eating hard and chewing vigorously around the dining car, and no one spoke to the prince.

Only Marius took away the drink from the spring in his hand without any doubt:

"Your Highness?"

"In order to compete with me, everyone, everyone does not hesitate to show that they don't care about their own interests and take the overall situation into consideration, but in their words and deeds, they only see their own interests," Thales looked at the bowl of wheat porridge.

Opening up and coming together again, "like countless chess pieces scattered in all directions on a chessboard, mindless and running amok."

Thales shook the porridge in his hand and his eyes solidified:

"And I, holding the entire chessboard in my hand, have to shake, tilt, knock, shake off and other methods to sift them in one direction."

At the other end of the dining car, Nixi struggled to swallow a mouthful of food:

"Then you can't...can't stretch out your hand and lift each chess piece accurately one by one?"

"Of course I want to," Thales shook his head, "but compared to the delicate and delicate chessboard, my fingers are too rough."

Everyone secretly raised their eyes and looked at each other while eating.

Thales carefully scooped up a spoonful of porridge, put it into his mouth, and took a long time to swallow it.

Well, it's a little hot.

But the cook is very good, and the porridge is seasoned just right and delicious.

"At first, if I wanted to grab this chess piece, I would have to knock that piece over. If I wanted to move a chess piece to a new position, I would have to move the old chess piece above it first... In the end, I found that I couldn't just move it accurately.

For the few chess pieces I like, I can only gently and carefully shake the entire chessboard to let the chess pieces slide naturally."

Thales became more and more fascinated as he spoke:

"But soon I discovered that it was not just natural sliding - in fact, every time my finger shook, the entire chessboard would shake, and all the chess pieces on it would be affected, shaking and jumping in various complicated trajectories.

."

He sighed:

"Only a small number of chess pieces close to my palm will slide to where I want as I shake them, but not many."

At this time, except for a few inexperienced people who were still bowing their heads and eating, everyone realized that the prince was confiding his troubles and lamenting about life, and could not help but listen to the instructions with solemn expressions.

Thales paused for a while, took another sip of porridge, and continued to sigh:

"As for the chess pieces placed in various postures in other corners of the chessboard... No matter how intentional and cautious I shake the chessboard, they will be vibrated unevenly and will slide in different directions. But I

If I shake the chessboard in the opposite direction and try to shake the distant chess pieces back, the chess pieces that were originally close to me will start to slide to uncontrollable places..."

Everyone was silent for a while, and seeing that His Highness had no more instructions or reprimands, they cautiously resumed eating.

"Holding the entire chessboard and shaking countless chess pieces, you revealed the difficulties of being in politics."

Paul was chewing a piece of pastry with a calm attitude, showing the demeanor of an aristocratic son - if you ignore the crumbs around his mouth.

"What kind of chessboard is it? Do you need to shake it to play chess?" He came back from his soup bowl with a puzzled look on his face.
To be continued...