A lonely house and a withered garden. Emerson's mansion is located in the northeast of Silver Ring City, built in a remote woods.
The count led everyone into his home. The huge front hall was empty and there was not a single person in sight. Even walking was amplified to the point of being noisy due to the echo.
"Where is your family?" Brünnhilde looked over and over and asked the count.
"Let's go." Emerson looked at the empty room and said calmly: "I let them go."
An old butler, nearly seventy years old, walked towards the crowd from one end of the hall. He was trembling as he walked, but his etiquette was meticulous.
Emerson brushed his forehead: "Old Camp, how could I forget you? Everyone, this old man is the steward of my family. He is older than my father. When I asked my family to leave Yinhuan
He was the only one who insisted on staying in the city."
Old Kemp bent down slightly, bowed respectfully to Cumberland, and said gently: "Baron, I haven't seen you for a long time. The young master often talks about you."
Cumberland, who had not been called "Baron" by anyone for a long time, was stunned for a moment, then smiled at the old man he had been familiar with since childhood and said: "Old Kemp, I'm glad to see you."
The old housekeeper looked at Brünnhilde who was lagging behind, turned sideways, and pointed his finger forward: "Guests who have come from afar, please come to the living room. I personally made hot tea and made refreshments."
Emerson waved his hand to the old butler: "No, I'm afraid we don't have time to drink tea and chat. I have important things to talk to these people. Cumberland, our plan needs to be discussed and perfected, and what you promised
Bring it with you and we'll see you at the same place."
Cumberland nodded, took out a thirty centimeter square wooden box from the attendant's luggage, and followed Emerson's footsteps towards the study.
Before taking two steps, the earl turned around and saw Brünnhilde following the two of them. He frowned and said to Cumberland: "I remember saying that there are only two of us."
The old knight shrugged at his friend: "She is the helper I invited and she is also an indispensable part of our plan."
Emerson glanced at Brünnhilde again and continued walking without saying another word.
The three of them came to the study. The count pressed the secret compartment in the bookcase, and the bookshelf slowly moved away, revealing the secret door behind it.
Compared to Brünnhilde's surprised look, Cumberland, who was used to it, looked much calmer.
After passing through the secret door and walking dozens of meters along a corridor that only allowed one person to pass, the three of them arrived at a secret room hidden underground in the house.
Cumberland looked at the map covered on the wall, as well as the labels with numbers and times. After carefully observing the degree of oldness and yellowing of the paper, he looked at Emerson with a hint of sadness in his eyes.
lament.
The latter seemed to understand the expression of his old friend. He arranged the notes on the table with both hands, lowered his head and said: "This country has abandoned its Heavenly Father and abandoned its morality. It has long lost the meaning of existence."
Cumberland found a chair and sat down, looked at Emerson for a long time, and finally chose to remain silent.
The Earl stretched out his hand to Cumberland: "Where is the thing I asked you to bring?"
Cumberland opened the wooden box he carried with him. Curious Brynhildr leaned over and saw more than twenty seals quietly placed inside.
Emerson picked up one and examined it carefully by the light of the fire. He sincerely admired: "The imitation is so good, it's exactly the same! Even some details that ordinary people can't notice, even the wear and tear on the corners, are obvious."
It’s done to perfection! A perfect fake!”
"Fake? His Majesty prefers to call them 'carrot seals'."
It took Emerson a while to react: "Your Majesty? Oh, you are talking about the king of Muxi..."
Cumberland put the wooden box on the table and asked: "Are you sure that the fake military order will not attract other people's attention? They already used this trick last time to speed up the march of the Silver Ring Alliance Army. They will do it again this time.
Fooled?"
Emerson nodded and said: "Because only a few people saw the last fake military order, the Silver Circle Council regarded the defense of these defeated people more as lies and defined it as a way to absolve themselves of responsibility, so the way seals are used in the military has not been the same.
The change is just that compared to before, there is more emphasis on the number and order of seals."
"Sir, I have brought tea." The old butler's voice in the darkness startled the three of them.
Brünnhilde slowly drew out her spear and looked at Cumberland and Emerson.
The count shook his head at the Valkyrie and said: "Put down your weapons! Old Camp is my most reliable person. He helped draw many maps on this wall."
Old Kemp watched the woman in front of him slowly retract his spear, put a plate of pastries on the coffee table, and handed her a cup of vanilla tea. Then, he came to Emerson's side and handed another tea cup: "Young Master
, this is your favorite honey ginger tea."
Emerson took the cup, took a sip, and nodded with satisfaction.
Brünnhilde looked at the green hot tea in the cup, frowned and said, "Isn't there any ale? If that doesn't work, fruit wine will do."
Seeing Old Kemp shaking his head, she put down the tea cup, picked up a piece of pastry made of flour, and complained again: "Isn't there any jerky? Fried fish?"
The old housekeeper shook his head again, completely giving up Brünnhilde's thoughts.
She stuffed a piece of pastry into her mouth and chewed it twice before her eyes slowly lit up: "It's delicious! It's so delicious! It's much more delicious than those sold in pastry shops in Muxi City!"
Ignoring the old and young people in the room talking about desserts, Emerson pointed to the defense map of Silver Ring City and said to Cumberland: "There are about 1,200 defenders in the city, and the numbers of the barbarian army and the Silver Ring army are basically the same.
, but there are still four barbarian tribes stationed outside the city, with about 800 people."
Cumberland asked: "Where do you plan to start?"
Emerson drew a circle on the map with a pen and wrote "Royal Treasure House" on it.
——————————————
Three days later at midnight, outside the main entrance of Yinhuan Palace.
The commander of the Royal Guards Battalion looked at the defense transfer document in his hand and asked Earl Emerson with a suspicious look on his face: "Temporary deployment? Why have I never heard of this?!"
The earl touched his beard, looked down at the guard commander, and asked with a smile: "Do you want to know why?"
The captain of the guard was speechless for a moment. The first reaction in his mind was that someone in the royal family was going to be unlucky again.
Ever since Queen Mary was arrested late at night in the Silver Ring Kingdom, the deployment of guards and secret arrests have almost become the basic routine used by the Supreme Council to persecute royal members.
The captain of the guard carefully looked at the five seals on the document, namely the king, the interior minister, the secretary of the interior, the supreme justice, and the president of the supreme parliament. He compared them one by one with the seal rubbings brought by his subordinates to confirm that they were completely correct.
, sighed deeply, and said to Emerson: "Is it His Highness Humphrey this time? He has made many remarks in defense of Heavenly Father before, and I thought the parliament let him go..."
Looking at Earl Emerson's inscrutable expression, the captain of the guard waved his hand, shook his head and said: "Don't pretend I didn't say anything, everything should follow your majesty's will."
Watching the Guards Battalion leave the palace gate in formation, Emerson looked at the undefended palace in the dark night and clapped his hands gently.
The warriors of the North Island Knights appeared from the darkness like ghosts.