The four Grand Dukes looked at Lombard with different expressions: Olesiu frowned, his face full of surprise, Trudida looked sideways, extremely suspicious, Grand Duke Lecco's eyes remained motionless, as if frozen in place, Ronnie
He clenched his fists tightly, his eyes full of disdain.
After a while, Archduke Olesio asked everyone's thoughts softly: "Are you crazy?"
crackle.
The six large fire pots, mixed with other fuels such as eternal oil and firewood, burned more and more vigorously.
At this moment, half of the Black Sand Duke's body was hidden in the darkness, while the other half reflected the firelight in the hall.
Lumba turned around and looked at the empty seat at the end of the rectangular table, his thoughts moving slightly.
As a child, the scene of playing here with Harold seemed to reappear before my eyes.
He unconsciously pressed the sword on his waist.
"Who knows," Lumba said with an indifferent expression and cold eyes, "Probably."
Olesiu's expression became more and more confused, and his brow began to tremble slightly.
At this moment, Trudida, who had been squinting at Lumba, burst into laughter.
The other princes all looked at him.
"Dragon Xiao City, hahaha... Long Xiao City," Trudida put her right hand on the left arm she was holding horizontally, pressing it against her chin, her shoulders shaking with laughter, and the handle of light embroidered on her chest.
The shooting blade also shook up and down: "Carve up?"
The Grand Duke of the Reconstruction Tower laughed a few more times, as if he had just heard a good joke.
Apparently, his sense of humor did not rub off on the other four: they all looked at Trudida quietly, with cold expressions.
"Sorry...haha..."
"Forgive me for my gaffe, everyone." Grand Duke Trudida shook his head with a grin, his right hand still resting on his left arm, and he waved casually towards the grand dukes.
But there was no apology in his words.
"Sitting in the Grand Duke's seat, you don't often hear such shocking words," Grand Duke Trudida's smile slowly faded, but the smile still remained on his face, with deep meaning in his eyes:
"Especially from another Grand Duke."
Lumba looked at him and hummed, his expression unpredictable.
"Very good," Archduke Olesiu of Weilan Territory interjected coldly: "We have captured the vast land of Longxiao City and countless citizens, and we will have enough to eat and drink..."
"Then, I'll let your matter go lightly, right?" He was thoughtful, but his eyes were getting worse and worse:
"Like a good business?"
"The king's territory in exchange for the king's life?"
Lumba didn't even look at him, just looked into the air and said silently: "Don't over-interpret what I mean, Rebien - you have been prejudiced against me since you were young."
Olesiu sneered, his expression ugly.
Archduke Lecco, who was the only one sitting, let out a long sigh.
"Ignore the assassination of His Majesty Nunn, ignore someone's domineering and betrayal?" The oldest archduke shook his head, his expression became rarely serious: "This is not a good proposal."
Lumba looked at Lecco, his eyes sharp.
"I am sure this is a good proposal, Rogers, respected elder," he said seriously and respectfully: "Longxiao City is located in the heart of Exeter, with countless arteries, rich resources, vast territory, and fertile land.
Lead many people."
Lumba's eyes moved slightly: "It has a natural advantage of suppressing other territories."
"During the days when Nunn was in power, you all suffered greatly - the troops crossed the border, set up roadblocks, cut off supplies, stockpiled food, immigrated, opened up wasteland... He had many tricks to deal with us."
Grand Duke Lecco sighed, his eyes misty.
"So, to deal with Longxiao City," Lumba stretched out his right hand, looked around at the grand dukes, and slowly made a fist: "This is to make the shackles named Walton no longer exist, and to liberate the people sitting here...here
Everyone."
He glanced at the other four people.
But the other princes were unmoved.
Only Archduke Ronnie raised his chin slightly, showing an expression that was half-smiling at first, and then his eyes turned cold.
"It's really interesting..." he said solemnly.
"After all you did, after you shamelessly killed the monarch, after you led your troops to the Palace of Heroes," Ronnie's voice gradually revealed suppressed anger: "You actually want to use His Majesty the late King's
Profits and territory in exchange for our understanding and our complicity?”
"You still speak so grandly..."
"As if you are on our side and have to do this for our sake."
Grand Duke Ronnie took a cold breath in front of Lumba: "Fuck you, Lumba."
Lumba looked back at him expressionlessly.
Kulikun Roni of Qiyuan City - although he is as heroic, upright and uncompromising as the rumors say, this is the first time I have seen him.
Maybe it will be a problem.
Grand Duke Lombard closed his eyes and then slowly opened them.
"I must reiterate that although I have an unsolvable misunderstanding and even enmity with His Majesty Nunn," he said slowly: "But the whole tragedy last night?"
"It's all the plan of the Star People - you have all heard of the secret methods, and some of you may have seen them."
"The reason why I am here is to save ourselves before the trauma they left to the dragon kingdom worsens."
Olesiu interrupted him unceremoniously.
"So what is this?" The Grand Duke led by Weiland turned his head and glanced at Lumba with an ugly expression: "Find a sufficient price and then bribe us to endorse you?"
"So, you treat this glorious hall..." Olesiu's voice suddenly increased, and an angry look appeared on his face: "Are you treating this hall as a market where low-class people come and go, drink and bargain?"
"Don't tarnish our dignity, Your Excellency."
Lecco watched the conversation between several people with cold eyes and did not speak.
Lumba's face darkened, he lowered his head slightly and exhaled slowly.
"So, you don't accept this price?" His voice was a little low: "The same thing happened once - three hundred years ago, without Sarah as regent, Walton would have lost his love for the dragon because of the death of the lord.
The rule of Xiaocheng."
"That is to say."
"This is a rare opportunity for you in three hundred years..."
Hearing this, Ronnie couldn't bear it anymore. He slapped the table and shouted angrily:
"This is impossible!"
With an offended expression on his face, he yelled angrily: "You want us to degenerate and conspire with the regicide to cover up and tolerate the sins you should have committed and the consequences you left behind?"
"You are insulting us and you are insulting Exeter!"
Trudida laughed.
"Carve up Longxiao City? God, I can still hear these words in my lifetime - on this day when Old Wang is gone." He said gloomily, looking back and forth with his small eyes.
"But that doesn't make us wipe your ass," Grand Duke Trudida looked away from Lumba and said with a smile, "It's not a good way to bargain either."
Lumba looked back at the Grand Duke of the Rebuilding Tower, and his expression changed:
"Is it?"
"Trudida, no matter how much you open up the Mountains of Sighs, the barren Reconstruction Tower will always lack a piece of new farmland." Lumba turned around and faced Trudida head-on. What he said made the latter slightly startled.
: "But if there are two or even three counties southeast of Longxiao City, you no longer have to deal with the barbarians in the mountains, and you no longer have to worry about food shortages in every extremely cold day."
Trudida narrowed her eyes.
"You mean two enclaves that are not bordering my land?" The cunning Grand Duke sneered lightly: "Who is more beneficial?"
Lumba raised the corners of his mouth.
"Now that you said so," the Duke of Heisha said in a deep voice that made people shudder: "Perfit from Fengzhao City just passed away - and his territory is too close to Longxiao City."
The eyes of the four princes moved slightly again.
"I think that his young brother is not enough to take on the big responsibility." Lomba concluded coldly: "It just happens to solve the dilemma of rebuilding the tower - of course, in this case, the ownership of Longxiao City will be discussed separately.
, both Qiyuan City and Weilan Territory can share more."
Trudida was stunned. He looked at Lumba blankly, as if he was meeting him for the first time.
When Archduke Ronnie heard this, he cursed with a terrible expression: "Damn it!"
Boom, boom, boom.
Archduke Lecco tapped his fingers on the table with a subtle look in his eyes.
"From the little Charman who followed his brother in a daze in the past, to today's notorious Black Sand Duke..." His voice was long and steady: "I really underestimated you before - the old guy chose you over everyone's expectations.
Harold, it seems there is a reason."
Lumba's pupils tightened slightly.
The scene from twelve years ago appeared before his eyes again.
Harold.
His brother.
His destined king.
He seemed to see the other person lying on the ground again, coughing up blood in pain, while showing his last smile to himself who was crying with tears streaming down his face.
Charmaine.
remember.
We will never give in.
Lumba's eyes were frozen in space.
The bald old Grand Duke sighed: "How ambitious are you? Do you want to annex the two most central Grand Dukes in the country?"
My ambition?
No.
Lumba said silently.
You cannot bear my ambition.
Trudida rolled her eyes.
"It's as if the nobles and other grand dukes in these fiefdoms are all dead," Grand Duke Zaizhuota seemed to be mocking: "The people in Elk City must be very unhappy - Fengzhao City is closer to that goatee, isn't it."
Rumba brought his attention back to reality.
"The Archduke de Roquet didn't come, it's his loss," Charmaine Lombard said seriously, as if he was discussing seriously: "But if you are worried, then we can also negotiate terms with him - we can both achieve a good result.
.”
Trudida laughed playfully, her intentions difficult to discern.
Snap, snap.
Oratiu clapped his hands twice.
"That's enough for you," the bearded man said coldly, "Do you still remember your identity?"
Lumba's eyes moved.
"I know that there is no shortage of land in Welland Territory, and the reputation of the Olesiu family in the hearts of the people in the North is not trivial," the Duke of Black Sand nodded and said to Olesiu: "But if you accept this condition, you will save the money.
And because of the Great Needle's border defense, I was caught between the king's urging warrants and the outposts of Starwatch City."
"And you, upright Ronnie." Lumba looked at the long-haired visitor from Qiyuan City.
"Qiyuan City has these new citizens - the best source of conscripted soldiers in the world. Eighty percent of them can prepare their own full set of weapons. This way, when you face the turmoil in the desert and the golden corridor again, you will be confident.
At least you don’t have to be so nervous, as if you are facing a powerful enemy.”
Ronnie didn't say a word, just looked at him coldly.
"As for the garrison city," Lomba turned to Lecco, whose face was deeply wrinkled: "The rich minerals in the north of Longxiao City... is it not a bad idea to add a large territory with rich deposits of lithium minerals for nothing?"
"Next time, Archduke Hustel—or the new king forces you to mobilize the entire territory to fill the glacier defense line, you can throw a lot of gold coins at them to shut them up."
Archduke Lecco was noncommittal.
"That's enough," Archduke Alessio interrupted Lombard's one-man show. He shook his head: "Don't test our patience. We are not here to chat with you and brag."
"You should be lucky that we are still here to listen to your nonsense." Ronnie added unceremoniously.
"But you don't seem to understand the situation you are facing," the long-haired Grand Duke said angrily:
"You, you are our biggest problem!"
"The Charmaine who killed the regicide...at least the Charmaine who is suspected of regicide?"
Lumba frowned slightly and glanced at the expressions of the other three Grand Dukes.
None of them objected to Ronny's words - not even the stingy, stingy and calculating Trudida.
Lumba sighed secretly in his heart.
"You just can't understand, can you?" He closed his eyes and raised his right hand, rubbing his eyebrows. He seemed tired.
"Even if I give my proposal so sincerely?" Lumba opened his eyes, raised his eyebrows, and suddenly raised his voice: "Even if these conditions are actually beneficial to you?"
"Come on!" Olesio interrupted him loudly.
"The morning before the king died," the bearded Grand Duke snorted: "It was such a coincidence that the five Grand Dukes all appeared together and told them: Sorry, Longxiao City is no longer Walton's territory, and you are now
Belong to us, pay taxes to us, and accept our conscription from now on?”
Beside him, Trudida snorted angrily, while Ronnie crossed his arms, seemingly suppressing his anger.
"If you didn't treat the four of us as fools..." Olesiu continued with focused eyes:
"You must regard the nobles under Longxiao City as blind people, and the people of Longxiao City as fools!"
Lumba looked at him silently.
"Even if you look down on those ignorant and rude civilians, the earls of Longxiao City are not good at all." Grand Duke Trudida, who was watching, sighed:
"They are Northlanders and they are only loyal to Walton."
"Dividing up Longxiao City? This is just a joke."
Grand Duke Zai Zaita shook his head and spread his hands: "Without that surname, we will never be able to rule this land."
"Bibbing us with a piece of sweet cheese that we can't even eat to cover up your dirty deeds?"
Trudida rolled her eyes and smiled: "On this point, you can't convince us."
Lumba frowned.
The Grand Duke Ronnie in front of him snorted heavily.
"And the whole of Exeter, what do you think they will think of us?" Grand Duke Lecco spoke slowly, with an occasional glint in his eyes: "After the five Grand Dukes conspired to kill the monarch, they divided up his territory.
?”
Lecco shook his head and said no more.
Ronny took a step forward, narrowed his eyes, and spoke almost rudely to Lombard's face: "Maybe you can be shameless and kill both relatives and kings."
Lumba's expression changed.
"I'm still content and even proud..."
"But please remember, we are people from the North, people from Exeter," Grand Duke Qiyuancheng said coldly, "We have our own dignity and pride, if you really are for the future of Exeter
'..."
Ronnie frowned, as if he was extremely disgusted: "Stop talking like a Conmas, it makes me sick."
Lumba closed his eyes, turned around and walked a few steps, his chest rising and falling.
He is suppressing.
Suppressing his increasingly impatient anger.
Even though he had rehearsed it thousands of times and anticipated the reactions of the grand dukes.
but……
enough.
Lumba opened his eyes suddenly.
Grand Duke?
These short-sighted, stupid moths behind you.
Feeling noble and proud.
Oblivious to the impending crisis.
Turn a blind eye to the most terrifying threats.
They never realized where the terrifying existence that truly determines their life and death lies.
One day...
Lumba suddenly turned around, his expression firm and decisive.
It's like a decision has been made.
The nerves of the four Grand Dukes could not help but tighten slightly.
But Rumba didn't do anything to upset the chessboard.
"I understand." Within a few seconds, he took a deep breath and his expression returned to calm: "What you mean."
The four Grand Dukes exchanged several glances.
"First of all, do you think we can't successfully capture Longxiao City without any hidden dangers?"
Trudida snorted, and the others remained unconvinced.
"Secondly," Lombard continued, "according to Ronnie, as Exeters - you have your own creed?"
Ronnie had a fierce face and made a biting motion towards him, with deep disdain in his eyes.
Lumba took a deep breath, his eyes were like iron, and he scanned every Archduke of Exeter resolutely.
At that moment, Lumba remembered twelve years ago.
myself at that time.
At a young age, he was already despairing and had experienced many vicissitudes of life, the little earl who didn't know where to go.
The heir to the Black Sand Territory—this nightmarish title.
He was also like this at that time, with great perseverance and determination, standing in the Fuxing Palace of the Star Kingdom, standing in the Hall of Stars, facing all the Star People who looked at him with evil eyes.
Facing the aging Supreme King of the Stars, Eddie Brightstar, the meaning in his eyes is unsettling.
Facing the murderous light-tracing sword, the bloody butcher of the stars, Horace Bright Star.
Facing the eldest son of the king who was sitting at the head of the king.
That Midir Shining Star who always has a smile on his face and a gentle tone that makes people feel calm unconsciously.
besides.
Lumba tightened his fists.
And the woman sitting next to King Eddie.
That woman.
Lumba couldn't quite remember her face.
For some reason, when he thinks of that woman with a steady and majestic demeanor and a calm expression, Lumba feels the same as before - still feeling frightened.
He knew: it was nervousness coming from within.
and fear.
Lumba exhaled this breath and focused his eyes again.
"If this is what you are worried about," he said to the four justices calmly, "I can solve it."
"Longxiao City, and even Fengzhao City," Lumba said with a heavy nasal sound in his voice, "we can take them safely and peacefully without any further trouble."