Cumberland and Emerson did not fully understand Todd's decision, but this did not prevent them from carrying out the king's order.
Taking aid to the Holy Acropolis as a premise, Emerson began to think about a series of preparatory measures: "Since we have decided to provide food aid to the Holy Acropolis, we must first determine the supply amount and time of the first batch of food."
Cumberland added: "The quantity of the first batch of food should not be large, but the time must be as soon as possible. It is best for the convoy transporting food to arrive at the Watch Castle under the jurisdiction of the Holy Acropolis before the first snowfall."
Emerson nodded and said: "I agree, I always have a hunch that this matter may not be as simple as it seems."
Todd asked the guards to recruit the monks responsible for agricultural development, and then summoned the person in charge of managing the inn. He asked them about Muxi City's food reserves and transportation capabilities. Finally, he integrated multiple departments and jointly finalized the shipment of the first batch of food.
Quantity and departure time of the convoy.
After determining the scale and itinerary of the aid, Cumberland added: "There is another question, the person in charge of the accompanying mission. If an embassy can be established during this trip to the Holy Acropolis, it will help negotiate with the locals on the one hand, and on the other hand, it will help to negotiate with the locals.
On the one hand, information can be obtained in a timely manner. However, the selection of envoys is a problem..."
Following the old knight's train of thought, Todd continued: "The person in charge of this mission to the Holy Acropolis will not only be responsible for food delivery, but also be responsible for future diplomacy with the Holy Acropolis. This person has great etiquette skills.
He should be outstanding, good at handling complex international relations, and must have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Looking at the entire Muxi City, there are not many such people..."
Emerson looked at Todd's hesitant expression and took the initiative to invite him: "Your Majesty, I'll go."
The latter frowned and glanced at the kingdom's chief privy envoy, without agreeing or rejecting.
Cumberland looked Emerson up and down, shook his head and expressed his objection: "You are not suitable."
Seeing Emerson's eyes widening and preparing to attack, Cumberland crossed his arms and looked at the former calmly: "Those people in the Holy Acropolis are all a group of lunatics who advocate force. Old turtle, if you insist on running over,
, just with your body and those two punches and kicks, the shell of the tortoise will probably be torn apart!"
Seeing the two old men in front of him, who were nearly a hundred years old together, blushing and arguing endlessly in the meeting hall, Todd, who had a pain in his head, stretched out his hand to stop the argument between the two, and said his decision: "Elmo
Sen, you'd better stay, the kingdom has a lot of government affairs that need you to coordinate."
Cumberland scratched the back of his head: "What about the candidates for the mission?"
Todd looked up at the ceiling and let out a long breath: "Let me think about it again."
As the government affairs were handled one after another, the officials who came to discuss matters gradually dispersed. Apart from the guards, only Todd and Huggins were left in the large hall.
Turning his body sideways towards Todd, Huggins whispered: "Your Majesty, it's time for lunch."
Todd looked at the porch at the end of the hall and asked softly: "Do you have any clues about what I told you to check on the way back from the dinner party?"
Huggins trembled slightly, pursed his lips and said, "It's clear, the report has been placed on your desk, and the two people have been controlled at home."
"Is the matter confirmed?"
"They have admitted it themselves."
Standing up from the throne, Todd slowly walked towards the door of the hall.
Huggins beat his thighs, which were numb from standing for too long, and limped after Todd: "Your Majesty, where are you going?"
Looking back at Huggins, Todd deliberately slowed down and said: "Bring them over."
Sitting at the desk in the audience room, Todd was eating a simple lunch while flipping through the investigation report just submitted by the Muxi Security Bureau. He only read half of it when he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers and closed his eyes in depression.
There was a gentle knock on the door, and Huggins's voice came over: "Your Majesty, people have been brought here."
"Let them in."
Huggins led the two people into the room, extending his hand to signal them to come forward, while he guarded the door.
The Raglans stood not far from the desk, staring at the carpet at their feet, looking terrified.
Todd continued to flip through the pages of the report while nibbling on the honey bread in his hand, as if he had completely forgotten the arrival of these two people.
Compared to her sweating and shaky husband, Mrs. Raglan seemed calmer. Her face was pale and she said uneasily: "Your Majesty..."
Looking at the data in the report, Todd smiled and said: "It has only been five months since I took office, and the royal family business you run has earned 670,000 gold from the perfume alone. What an amazing achievement!"
It sounded like a compliment, but it made Mr. and Mrs. Raglan tremble with fear.
"Let me see, there is a 28,000 silver moon sea-view house next to Muxi Harbor; 7,600 silver moon worth of clothing accumulated in Liliel's clothing store; investments in nearly ten shops in Muxi City..." Todd flipped through the paper.
The speed became faster and faster, and finally he threw the report directly on the table: "Even the beggars in Twilight City know the rumor that the swimming pool built by the Raglan couple at home is not filled with water, but with water.
A pool full of silver moon!"
"In order to earn commissions, you massively oversold perfume products despite insufficient production capacity! Because the factory was unable to complete the order, you also spent money to bribe the supervisor of the gunpowder production line and secretly smuggled raw materials from the factory to increase perfume production.
"
"Not only that, you two also recruited people, under the guise of free meals, instructing your people to add sweet potatoes to the guests' meals; you even went to the aqueduct in the immigration area at night and poured medicine into it!" Todd pointed his finger.
He rubbed his temples vigorously and growled angrily: "What you have done has far exceeded the authority I gave you!"
The room fell into a dead silence.
Looking at the frightened two people in front of him, Todd suddenly sighed dejectedly. He gently picked up the report from the table and shook it vigorously in his hands: "You two may want to say, I have brought a new report to the entire kingdom.
Huge profits, why should we be blamed?!"
"Listen! What I'm angry about is not the behavior of you two. What really pisses me off is your unscrupulous mentality to grab wealth!" Shouting this sentence loudly, Todd seemed to be drained.
With all the strength he had in his body, he waved his hand half-heartedly: "You two will be suspended from work for investigation from now on. Before I think of how to arrange you, just wait at home and think about your mistakes behind closed doors!"
Watching the Raglans being taken out of the room by the Security Bureau guards, Todd turned his attention to the remaining person in the room and said softly: "Hudgens..."
"His Majesty."
"You already knew that, right?"
"I……"
"The Supreme Court also found you and mentioned the behavior of these two people to you."
"..."
"These two are old friends from the monastery assembly, they are the first batch of officials appointed by His Majesty, and they are also trustworthy people in my circle... I'm afraid this is what you were thinking at that time, right?"
Cold sweat slowly overflowed on Huggins' forehead. He wanted to speak, but his tongue refused to obey.
Todd's body was facing away from the sun outside the window. His face was unreal, but his voice was cold and biting: "I am a nostalgic person, but this does not mean that the longer people stay with me, the greater their privileges."
!”
Todd walked out of the audience room, walked to the outdoor garden, looked at the neatly pruned flower branches, and murmured: "Is it a good thing or a bad thing to show the knowledge of my previous life to this other world?"
A white figure quietly flashed across Todd's sight.
Looking at the bushes in the distance, the woman in uniform who was wearing a rapier and wiping her hair with a dry cloth, Todd was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Dion?"
Dion, who had just finished swordsmanship practice, wanted to take a shortcut from the palace garden back to the mansion at noon when no one was around, but he didn't want to run into the king here.
"Your Majesty, what a coincidence." Dion straightened up, with a bit of surprise on his face.
Looking at the sword on the opponent's body, Todd smiled and asked: "How is the job of teaching swordsmanship in the palace?"
"Honestly, it's boring."
Looking at Todd's surprised expression, Dion shrugged: "Since taking up this position, I have received a considerable salary, but have nothing to do. The guards usually hone their martial arts skills in the military camp, and the only one
The royal family members don’t seem to be very interested in my swordsmanship.”
Having said this, Dion glanced sideways at Todd, and the meaning of his words was self-evident.
Todd scratched his head in embarrassment. The original position of the palace swordsmanship instructor was arranged for Dion just to stabilize him.
After all, no one knows better than Todd how much disaster Dion, a pheromone walking on the ground, can bring to the Muxi Kingdom.
Todd quickly changed the subject: "I remember you have another job, the executive judge of Muxi Court?"
Talking about the work of the court, Dieng looked even more frustrated: "Executive judge is just a nicer name. Within the court, this position is also called debt collection judge."
"Debt collection judge?"
"In Muxi City, there are always some unscrupulous traders or scoundrels who deliberately default on other people's debts and refuse to repay them. At this time, the guys in the brothel come to me. Their most common trick is to bring
The creditor and I found the debtor and told them that as long as they could defeat the weak judge in front of them, the debt would be completely forgiven."
Todd listened with interest: "This sounds like a good way to collect debts."
"Your Majesty!" Dion took two steps closer to Todd and puffed out his chest: "My family has always been engaged in foreign affairs and legal work in the capital of Tyro. The profession in my mind is not this third-rate job.
thugs!"
Dion's face was so close, looking at the other person's delicate skin that could be broken by blows, the crystal beads of sweat hanging on the collarbone, and the picturesque and delicate facial features, Todd's heart trembled for no reason.
After a moment, Todd realized what happened and quickly reached out his hand to give Dion a back-off gesture.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Your Majesty, my superpower..." Dion quickly took a few steps back, blushing and covering his collar with a cloth.
Looking at the guy in front of him who looked more like a woman than a woman, Todd rolled his eyes speechlessly, repeating one sentence in his mind.
This is a man, this is a man...
After waiting for his brain to clear up, Todd asked Dion: "You said your family has been engaged in foreign service?"
Dion seemed to smell a hint of opportunity: "Your Majesty, not only is my family engaged in foreign affairs work, but before I left Taylor City, I was a trainee secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs."
Finding a bench in the garden, Todd sat on it and asked with a smile: "How much do you know about the envoy from the Holy Acropolis coming to Muxi City for help?"
"Not much, but enough to make some inferences."
"Oh? Tell me."
Dion thought for a while and began to analyze: "The Holy Acropolis formed an alliance with the church as early as two years ago to jointly conquer the barbarians and the Silver Ring Kingdom. But last summer, when the battle was at its most intense, the Holy Acropolis
But it suddenly shrank its defense line and turned to the defensive. Because of this incident, the church issued a special official letter from the Holy Ministry, severely reprimanding this kind of enemy-fearing behavior."
"A week after the official document was released, Holy Acropolis returned to the battlefield, but the relationship with the church quickly turned sour. No one knows the reason for this. But there is a very interesting rumor that the royal palace of Holy Acropolis increased the number of guards.
Quantity, and all the windows are covered with curtains.”
Todd heard this and asked curiously: "All the windows are covered with curtains? Where did you get this information?"
"Of course it's the tavern, Your Majesty. Grocery merchants from various countries and bards from all over the world gather there. From their mouths, you can often learn some information that seems useless but contains the truth." Dion.
Gently twist your fingers around your light blond hair, and continue
He continued: "Then the Holy Acropolis gradually moved in the direction of breaking with the church, urging for supplies and fighting passively. The most puzzling thing is that at the end of this battle, the troops of the Holy Acropolis actually
He gave up the easy loot and returned to the city overnight."
"Your Majesty, these things are connected. On the surface, it seems to be just a food crisis, but in fact, a hidden inference can be drawn. Do you know what it is?"
Todd shook his head slightly with a serious look on his face.
Dion clenched the scabbard on his waist, his pretty face full of confidence: "The old king of the Holy Acropolis has only a few days left, and a battle for the throne will soon begin."