"Go with you to meet the king of Muxi?" Emerson rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall: "I won't go, why should I waste my time on a king with no future?!"
Cumberland took a breath, stopped the urge to strangle someone deep in his heart, and asked in a low voice: "A king without a future? What do you mean by this?"
Emerson glanced back at the old knight: "Todd Fisher, that's the right name, right? Regardless of whether he is the Holy Son or not, as far as the founding monarch is concerned, he is not qualified."
Seeing Cumberland's facial expression, which was already on the verge of rage, Emerson showed no fear at all. He sat up and looked directly into Cumberland's eyes: "Of course I have my reasons for saying this. You can think about it, from Gutero
At the beginning of this period, what common characteristics did the monarchs who established new countries have?"
Cumberland shook his head and said, "I haven't read as many books as you, and I don't want to guess. Just tell me."
Emerson clenched his right hand into a fist, raised it in front of Cumberland, and said: "A founding king may not be smart enough, may have a poor family background, or may even lack military courage. But there is one thing he must have - ambition.
, or call it lust for power.”
"After talking for so long, you tell me that a wise monarch should first be a careerist?!"
Emerson spread his hands, looked at Cumberland, and said in a firm tone: "Ambition, selfishness, forbearance, tyranny, and judgment of the situation, these are the virtues of a king. You knights have suffered too much.
Preaching hypocrisy begins to reject the truth and surrender to hypocrisy.”
"Human beings are two-faced creatures. On the one hand, they are stupid, always have unsatisfied desires, and desire to get everything; on the other hand, they have the instinct to submit to power." Emerson looked at Cumberland's chest.
Protective umbrella, shook his head and said: "King, especially
As the founder of the country, he should be as cruel as a lion and as cunning as a fox. But what the ruler of Muxi did was the opposite. He distributed his power to the people and placed his hope in the people.
Balancing needs by yourself is a ridiculous thing in itself."
Listening to Emerson's statement, Cumberland was speechless for a long time. After he came to his senses, he weakly defended: "The king should love his people, and the people should obey the king's will."
Emerson leaned his back against the wall and sneered: "What a monarch needs is cruelty, not love. Rather than being loved, fear and obedience can give a monarch security and strength. But sometimes he has to let the people
I believe that a monarch is a person who combines virtues."
Seeing Cumberland's increasingly confused expression, Emerson continued: "It is not difficult to understand. In public, the king should show his love for the people and his kindness. Punishing people should be left to others.
If you do it, you can blame others and find a scapegoat in the end to avoid being condemned by the people. When rewarding others, you should do it yourself to avoid allowing subordinates to do personal favors."
Cumberland shook his head as he listened: "Listen to what you said! Greed, pride, and tyranny, these are all original sins! You want a holy son to rely on these sins to gain power and govern the country?!"
"I used to believe in good deeds in the past, but what I saw, heard and did in the year before the fall of the Silver Ring Kingdom completely changed my view." Emerson stretched out his trembling hand.
With his hand, he took out a small wine bottle from his arms, uncorked it, and took a sip: "This is like two people
, if everyone has good intentions, everything will be fine. If you are not malicious, but the other person has evil intentions, you will be unlucky in the end. But if neither of them is kind, it will just end in a tie. So, from the beginning
, holding the most selfish intention is the best strategy."
Cumberland grabbed the bottle and threw it into the pile of debris behind him. He pointed at Emerson's nose and cursed: "Absurd! If you think like this, there will be no virtue and goodwill in the world, only
The world is filled with deceit and greed, and there is only war and killing. How is this different from hell?!"
"You have fought more wars than me. Come and tell me, in this dark world, is there any year without war?"
Emerson's words made Cumberland choked for a moment and he did not reply.
Emerson leaned his head against the wall, looked at the roof and murmured: "This world has been a hell for a long time."
——————————————
Todd sat on the throne, closing his eyes and thinking quietly about everything in his mind.
This is what he has to complete every day.
Before Clarence left, he gave some of his memories and powers to Todd as a gift.
Let’s not mention superpowers for now.
As one of the three elders of the Presbyterian Church, his memories are naturally extremely valuable. Through them, Todd not only understands the internal structure and operating procedures of the Presbyterian Church, but can even peek into some of the secrets of this organization.
But the trouble is that the transferred memories are all fragments. Sometimes it's a scene, sometimes it's a prop, and sometimes it's just a vague sound.
What Todd has to do now is to rearrange and combine these chaotic memory fragments according to time and people, and find out the most critical events.
For him, the most important thing at the moment is how to prevent mutation.
According to Jerome of the Legion of Discord, he was already on the verge of mutation due to the failure of the Successor experiment. Thanks to Theodore's treatment, not only was the mutation stopped, but he also became a member of the new Successor.
Todd plans to use Theodore's voice and images as search keywords to conduct an investigative search on Lawrence's memory.
This work is not only difficult, but also progresses slowly. Finding what you want among tens of thousands of memory fragments is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack. But other than that, Todd really has no other choice.
"Your Majesty, Lord Cumberland is outside the door asking to see you."
Since Huggins was still recovering from his injuries at home, the knights' guards were still responsible for delivering orders.
Todd opened his eyes and said, "Invite him in."
In the strange eyes of the guards, Cumberland looked like a sheepherder going to the market, holding a rope in his hand.
A tied-up old man, with a look of despair on his face, was dragged away by Cumberland into the room.
"Your Majesty, let me introduce you. This is my former boss and my good friend - Earl Emerson."
Todd looked at the rope in Cumberland's hand, his mind was a little confused, and his mouth opened but he didn't know what to say.
"He used to be the commander of the Southern Legion of the Silver Ring Kingdom. He was also the teacher of the three crown princes of the Silver Ring Royal Family. He also served as the Minister of the Interior and the Chief of the Diplomatic Consul." Cumberland pulled the rope in his hand, and Emerson stumbled.
Taking a few steps forward, the old knight looked like a vendor selling goods: "He has been interested in everything about the Muxi Kingdom a long time ago. This time he very urgently proposed that he would serve His Majesty.
ask."
Very urgent?
Serve His Majesty?
Todd glanced at the rope, then at Emerson, who had a bad face, and whispered to Cumberland: "Are you sure he wants to serve the Muxi Kingdom? I think he doesn't seem to be willing..."
"He was born with a face like this. He looks like a debt collector to everyone."
"Then what's going on with the rope?"
"These are just some of his special hobbies..."
Emerson listened to the conversation between the monarch and his ministers, his face flushed with anger, and finally he shouted angrily: "Cumberland! If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will leave immediately!"
Todd glanced sideways at the stern old knight, walked up to Emerson, untied him with his own hands, and said, "If Cumberland forces you to come, you can leave at any time."
Emerson moved his hands and feet, looked at Todd and sighed: "Your Majesty, I want to talk to you."