Sarleon, the old tower of the House of Lords.
"Your Highness, your father has not been involved in government affairs for more than ten days, and he has not even seen anyone. Perhaps the only person who can see him now is Princess Firina. I think you should go to the palace and find a way to see him, just in case..."
Grand Secretary Igor was still speaking respectfully to Alanrik.
"My dear uncle, I think I know why he doesn't want to see anyone. He may be a little confused and out of control. It would be useless for me to go see him. It might even be dangerous... He may not even realize that the Seal of the Fierce Lion is in my hand..."
Alanric looked better, but this was probably due to mental factors. He had put on long sleeves to cover his arms, but some red spots had appeared under his cheeks and on his neck.
He was still leaning against the window, playing with a seal in his hand - it was a pure gold seal with a lion with bared fangs and claws on it.
That is the authority of the king.
"Your Highness... perhaps I should call you His Majesty now? In fact, in my opinion, the best way is to make your father never wake up again..."
Igor lowered his head and spoke very softly.
"Shut up! He is my father! He has never abused me! Although I want to get everything I deserve, I will not murder him! Just like he did not murder my grandfather!"
Alanric turned around with a cold gleam in his eyes.
"Alanric, child, you probably don't know what your father did back then... I mean, he didn't let him wake up, but he didn't kill him... That's what your father did to your crazy grandfather!"
Igor suddenly raised his head with a mocking smile on his face.
Alanrik stopped playing with the golden seal. He looked at Igor intently with some doubt in his eyes.
"What did he do...back then?"
The mockery on Igor's face became more obvious. "King Ulric was a 'filial' prince. He knew that your grandfather had been suffering from pain, so he used hallucinogens to relieve your grandfather's pain every day... And like you, he took the Seal of the Fierce Lion when your grandfather was unable to rule, and asked me to imitate your grandfather's handwriting to write a will..."
"He tampered with the inheritance? Why... I mean the will, was it necessary? He is my grandfather's only son!"
Alanric's face was full of disbelief.
"Because your grandfather originally did not intend to pass the throne to him... The one who was supposed to become the King of Sarleon was your grandfather's younger brother, Princess Firina's father, Prince Raymondrick. I was very young at the time, but I can probably guess the reason - Princess Firina did not have this genetic disease at all... And that prince had a wide range of friends and a high reputation. Almost all the great nobles supported him."
Igor sighed deeply. "In fact, if it weren't for the unexpected death of His Royal Highness the Prince, and the help of Princess Felina, it would have been difficult for your father to secure his position as king. It wasn't until Duke Brunus helped him rebuild the Lion Knights ten years ago that he was able to gain a firm foothold."
"Prince Raymondrick's death...is it related to him?"
Alanric asked this question with some difficulty.
"... Maybe not. After all, it was an accident. The prince didn't like power struggles. He preferred to travel around the mountains and rivers every day. And he was the prince of Cliff Rock Bay at that time. He had everything, including wealth, honor, power, and everything else. His life was much more comfortable than that of the king. He didn't want to be the king of Sarleon City and handle government affairs every day. There are always some people in this world who don't like busy official duties and just want to live a carefree life. What's more, he does have the capital to live a carefree life... Besides, being a king who needs to clean up the mess for the mad king is not a pleasant job for him."
Igor seemed to feel a little sentimental as well. He shook his head, probably mocking himself.
After all, he himself has been pursuing power all his life.
"Then...how did he die?"
Alanric's expression was also somewhat complicated.
In fact, he could live a carefree life, and he has the capital...
"Not long before your father ascended the throne, His Royal Highness fell during a rock climbing activity and was seriously injured. He died not long after. At the age of fifty, he still loved adventure sports such as rock climbing and diving. You can imagine the temperament of this prince. In fact, he died without any regrets. I went with your parents to see him for the last time. He even died with a smile. I guess there was no conspiracy in his death. But because the timing was really unfortunate, many people at the time thought that it was King Ulric who did it. As a result, your father encountered many difficulties and doubts in the more than ten years after he ascended the throne..."
Igor sighed deeply: "In fact, King Ulrik had little power at that time, and he had to deal with your crazy grandfather and clean up the mess left by your grandfather. He had no ability to murder the prince..."
Alanric let out a long breath and seemed to relax a little.
"Dear uncle... let's forget about the hallucinogenic drug you just mentioned..."
Alanric turned the subject back and shook his head at Igor. "I don't think my father would be happy to drink that kind of stuff. He would rather endure the pain. If I give him the LSD, I think he would draw his sword and kill me. On the contrary, I am very interested in tampering with the will. Maybe you can try to write one for me. Your ability to imitate handwriting is really amazing."
Igor sighed: "You and your son have exactly the same temperament... But Your Highness, why did you hand over Changhe Town to Duke Alma? That Duke will not be loyal to anyone!"
"Humph, as long as he is loyal to me, it's fine. Do you think I'm going to hand Changhe Town over to him? Hahahaha... Igor, I asked you to come here to ask you to put the Fierce Lion Seal in Lion Lake City. Alma stole the King's Seal and forged the King's Order. Do you think my father will lead troops to attack him?"
Alanric laughed, he seemed to enjoy the feeling of controlling others.
"you……"
Igor widened his eyes and wanted to say something, but Alanric had already thrown the golden seal in his hand over to him.
The Grand Secretary hurriedly caught it, but Alanric had already turned his back: "A king should die gloriously on the battlefield, not in a secret room or toilet... If he can't defeat the rebellion, let me do it!"
…
Maybe it's destiny, or maybe the goddesses do have some divine power to protect us.
The causes that Li Ang had planted before all came to fruition at the most dangerous moment.
After all, history is made up of coincidences.
Although Dallion was captured by the Lion Lake City troops, he was not taken to Changhe Town.
Because not long after the Lion Lake City troops left Kwen Village, they unexpectedly encountered an army of nearly a thousand people - Alaric the Noisy and his group of drunkards.
No one knew where the drunkards had been before, but there was no doubt that Alaric was very concerned about the place called Kwen Village.
Because here is the largest winery in the continent.
And thanks to Leon, this is the only place willing to do business with him...
So Alaric came here to "purchase goods", and this time, he even brought enough money.
It is now early August, which is the time when the grapes in Kwen Village are ripe - Kwen has a good climate, and the grapes here will ripen in late summer every year, and when the grapes are ripe, it is naturally the time for wine to be brewed in large quantities.
Alaric and his drunkard group came to buy wine at this time, probably with the intention of buying all the wine produced by the Countess Winery at once...
As a result, they happened to run into the troops from Lion Lake City.
The troops of Lion Lake City didn't know that the Drunkards were just passing through. They thought that this was the army under Dallion's command. A guy who claimed the throne but had only 20 men under his command was considered quite abnormal by the troops of Lion Lake City...
You know, Alma did not come to Kwen Village directly on the way to Changhe Town in the south, but first entered Changhe Town and ambushed Godric before sending people here. He was worried that there might be a large number of rebels in Kwen Village.
In order not to waste time and to ambush Godric more smoothly, he chose to control Changhe Town first and then send people to Kwen Village.
Moreover, after taking control of Changhe Town, he even sent out thousands of people - Alma was actually not sure how many people Dallion had under his command. After all, he had heard that there was a claimant to the throne in Kwen Village three months ago, and he was not sure what the situation was now.
Logically speaking , having a few hundred people should be normal, right?
After all, it doesn't seem very scientific to claim the throne with just twenty people!
But in fact, when Dallion first claimed the throne, he had no one under him - half a month ago, he only had a dozen people under him. The twenty people he has now are actually obtained with the help of Leon and Eric in the past few days and some money in his hands.
Therefore, the troops of Lion Lake City naturally believed that the members of the Drunkard Group might be the main force of the rebels.
In the end, the two sides fought a confusing and messy battle, and the drunkards were the winners in the end...
Although Alaric's troops were just a mob, these drunkards were not afraid of death and had a fighting goal - for the sake of the wine here, the fighting power they displayed was extremely terrifying.
In addition, Alaric would go crazy when fighting. No one could stop this heavily armored warrior with terrible divine power when he went crazy. After dozens of souls were killed under his huge long-handled hammer, the troops of Lion Lake City were scared.
The troops sent by Alma were not elite soldiers. In fact, they were just the troops that had been fooled by Leon and were once stationed in Changhe Town. The cavalry among them had followed Leon to fight the Three Prophets, but the leading knight had been replaced.
This group of people would of course be afraid of Alaric, a monster-type player with the same power as the Three Prophets. This reminded them of the power of the Three Prophets again...
As a result, the troops of Lion Lake City were generally somewhat restrained. After suffering more than 30% casualties, the troops of Lion Lake City began to retreat towards Changhe Town.
Of course, this is also a very normal situation for human troops. Retreating only after suffering more than 30% casualties is actually considered pretty good.
In fact, Alaric's drunkards had lost more than 40% of their men, but they were still chasing after the Lion Lake City troops with high morale - these drunkards probably didn't even know how many of their men had died...
It was indeed quite scary when Alaric led this group of drunkards in a crazy battle.
These drunks felt no pain or tiredness, and had no tactics. They just rushed forward and beat the enemy up. However, in the hilly areas near Kwin, beating the enemy up was quite effective.
As a result, Dallion was rescued in such a strange way, and after the Lion Lake City troops abandoned him and ran away, Alaric's drunkard group also chased after them - Dallion and his few remaining men were left there and no one cared about them.
Alma obviously did not expect that the thousands of troops he sent out would be defeated. The report from the defeated army also led him to misjudge. He also thought that there were indeed a large number of rebels in Kwen Village...
Under such circumstances, he did not send any more troops to Kwen Village. Instead, he gathered his troops to defend Changhe Town, and then publicly accused Baron Leofric of treason.
If a large number of "rebels" appeared in Kwen Village, it certainly meant that Leofric was indeed a traitor. Alma thought he had accidentally discovered the truth. He was not actually worried about the defeat, but was a little excited.
Because in this way, he wouldn't even have to frame someone.
Alma originally planned to capture Darion and then fabricate some evidence that the three barons in the eastern region were loyal to the "rebels".
But now it seems that there is no need to fabricate evidence...
It is easy for unwarranted accusations to have loopholes, but there will be no problem if the charges are based on real crimes.
Just like the reason why Alma used Raphael to fabricate a real crime was actually to make his attack and imprisonment of Godric legal.
Raphael will definitely be taken in by White Hart Castle, and White Hart Castle is Godric's territory, so it would be reasonable for Alma to capture Godric.
Even if the king intervened, he would not release Godric.
Since Raphael did attack him, he could firmly assert that it was Godric who ordered Raphael to do so.
Although this charge was unlikely to produce any concrete results, it would give him a reason to keep Godric imprisoned.
As long as Godric is in his hands, Leon and Amy will naturally come to him.
The appearance of a large number of rebels in Leofric's territory, Kwen Village, was already irrefutable evidence, so he sent people directly to Brave Shield Castle to capture Leofric.
If Baron Leofric dares to resist arrest, he will be convicted of treason...
But if they don't resist, they will be captured and tortured into confessing, and with the help of Leofric's fabricated testimony, Godric, Leon, and Leofric will all be labeled as "traitors loyal to Dallion's rebel organization."
This accusation is likely to be true because Godric has been caught by Alma and evidence can be easily fabricated.
There is no need to torture them to get a confession - the person concerned does not need to make a few loyalty documents or stamp a few seals...
If Alma could successfully classify the three barons in the eastern region as rebels, then all his actions would be justified and he would definitely be able to control the entire eastern region.
Coupled with the imperial decree issued in the name of the Fierce Lion King in his hand, Changhe Town will be taken back by him legitimately, and maybe he can also take Yongdun Castle and Bailu Castle with him.
Although the imperial decree was only signed by Alanric, the golden seal of King Sarleon was genuine.
Under such circumstances, King Ulric could not take back Changhe Town unless Ulric was willing to kill his only son Alanric - stealing the king's seal and forging the king's decree are capital crimes everywhere and are absolutely unforgivable.
So Alma felt that everything was fine. Although the strength of Kwen's rebel army was a bit unexpected, at least it posed no threat to Changhe Town. He only needed to stay in Changhe Town and wait.
If nothing unexpected happened, he really only needed to wait...
Alma has achieved almost everything he wanted to achieve…
Maybe, just one or two more nights would be enough.
But an unexpected 'outsider' unexpectedly appeared at this time.
Milgan Kilik.
After Milgan and the Griffin Sword Mercenaries sent Ms. Nelda back to Lion Lake City, they had been thinking about how to secretly kill Alma.
But in Lion Lake City, he didn't get any good opportunities.
Later, Alma led his army to war. Milgan felt that the opportunity had come, so he took the Griffin Sword Mercenary Group and followed Alma's army.
Follow it all the way to the south of Payne Village.
The Griffin Swords were all cavalry with very fast speeds. After determining that Alma's destination was Changhe Town, Milgan simply arrived at Changhe Town first and asked the others to ambush everywhere, while he took a few people to lurk in the inner castle of Changhe Town.
The inner castle of Changhe Town is where Duke Elfwan and Lady Bella once lived, and it is also the current residence of Godric's Chief of Military Affairs.
Milgan felt that Alma would definitely come in here, so he hid in the most dangerous yet safest place - Godric's office.
He was right, Alma did come here.
Alma had been busy dealing with various affairs before, and only came to this room that meant victory when he felt everything was sure.
He placed the imperial edict on the table and stared at it in a daze.
He was probably feeling nostalgic, or perhaps feeling satisfied and relieved that he had completed all the important tasks.
Changhe Town was lost from his hands, and now he has taken it back with his own hands.
The murderer of his son Foucher was about to become a traitor and would sooner or later die at the hands of the army.
Peace would soon return to the eastern region, and it would soon be entirely under his control.
Soon, the king will be powerless against him...
Maybe he could take the opportunity to establish a Principality of Houghton?
Now is the best time for the entire Horton family, full of opportunities to move to higher places - and just a month ago, he was still struggling over an accusation.
This is indeed very sentimental for a man in his sixties.
But a few minutes later, Alma's smile and satisfied expression were forever frozen on her face.
He fell asleep sitting in the chair.
Mirgan used the snake heart stone given to him by Leon, and all the guards nearby fell to the ground silently.
Then, at the moment Alma closed his eyes, Milgan dropped from the top of the room and stabbed the duke in the vest from behind.
Alma is dead.
Died in Changhe Town which he had just acquired.
He died silently in his sleep, with a satisfied smile on his face.
Probably at that time, he was dreaming that he had fulfilled his family's long-cherished wish. Not only did he become the master of Changhe Town again, but he also led his family to a higher throne.
The place where he died was exactly the same place where Elfwan died.