novelraw #231 - Section 231
#231 - Section 231
Countless thoughts raced through Nicole's mind as she looked at Roger with trepidation.
This man, Jostad, who had deceived her and chatted so pleasantly with her in the group, was actually the head of the Acanthus Empire's intelligence department.
How terrifying.
How insidious.
How malicious.
But also, how powerful!
He intended to shift the world's attention to other directions, while the Acanthus Empire remained hidden behind the scenes, secretly accumulating strength, blending in with the world, and carving out more room for development.
So, in the end, Nicole found that she couldn't bring herself to hate him.
This was a person who would do anything to protect his country, and if she were in his place, she would do the same.
The only difference was that she didn't have his brains and couldn't do it better than him; she would only bring about a failed war…
Roger didn't need many bewitching words; he only needed to reveal the truth and facts to Nicole, and her faith collapsed.
At this moment, Nicole began to regret her past actions. Although her expression was calm, her eyes were empty, and she was incredibly lost about the future.
In the end, her gaze towards Roger was filled with envy.
Envy that he protected his country, envy that he and his Empress made the lives of the Empire's people better and better.
Roger looked at Nicole with sympathy. This girl wasn't inherently bad, but the education she received since childhood was all about becoming a perfect believer, a religious leader who would give everything for God.
In that position, if she wasn't ruthless and decisive enough, she wouldn't be able to accomplish anything.
Nicole was at fault, but the greater fault lay with the gods who caused constant conflicts in the Eternal Night World.
Growing up in a religious world, Nicole was destined to have a different way of thinking than normal people.
Until she experienced the most tragic failure of her life, tearing apart the invincible, all-encompassing, and Naga-loving facade of the Sea God.
With her sensitivity and thoughtfulness, the reality presented by the Empire instantly sparked a dramatic shift in her thinking.
"Nicole, if you are truly ashamed of everything you've done, use your position, strength, and reputation to do something for the Naga."
"You want me to become a dog of the Empire?"
"Rest assured, the Empire doesn't want dogs, but comrades. If you're interested, I'll tell you everything about the Empire's goals and ideals, the enemies we face, and the end of this world, and then you can judge for yourself."
"Is that the reason Tassika chose you?"
Nicole was surprised, but after thinking about it, she wasn't. She looked at Roger with a complicated expression.
A hint of unnatural embarrassment flashed across Roger's face. Tassika's initial choice wasn't the Empire, but him…
But there was no need to tell Nicole about such insignificant details.
He quickly said with a firm, enthusiastic, and shameless determination: "Yes, I believe you understand Tassika's wisdom. Only a shared ideal can make her willingly cooperate with us."
Nicole clenched her left hand with her right, her nails piercing her flesh and drawing blood, but she didn't realize how much force she was using.
She wanted to find hypocrisy and deception on Roger's face, to prove that he was blaspheming and that his words slandering the gods were fabricated…
But she failed.
The things she had believed in since childhood were a real scam!
Nicole sat weakly on the ground, pleading in a low voice: "Please, Lord Roger, give me a chance, give the Naga a chance."
Roger snapped his fingers.
Little Joey placed a large box of top-secret documents in front of Nicole.
Then she and Roger left the room together.
"That Saintess really agreed?" Margaret was also waiting at the door, raising her eyebrows in disbelief at Roger's achievement.
Could such a devout believer really be swayed?
Roger shook his finger, indicating that it was super easy and stress-free!
Margaret couldn't help but want to mock him for his smug look.
Little Joey tugged at her, saying first, "Left Prime Minister, there's no need to doubt. Commander Roger has always been good at swaying high-ranking and idealistic girls."
"That seems to be true…" Margaret suddenly remembered Princess Tassika, who she had tried so hard to curry favor with, but ended up going on a night tour of Aodu with Roger, and her expression became playful.
Of course, she was now Queen Tassika, but that still hadn't changed her attitude towards Roger.
So, a mere Saintess was probably doomed!
If they couldn't see everything in that room, they would have suspected that he had used some illegal means.
Roger turned his head to look at Little Joey, who had suddenly stabbed him in the back. Little Joey looked innocent, blinked her eyes, and nudged Margaret…
As if to say, this little devil has also been swayed by you, right?
Roger suddenly shuddered, finally realizing the dangerous and sour taste in the air.
He whispered, "Honey, have you seen any legendary weapons you like recently? Should we go back to Aodu and browse the auction house?"
This was probably the other world version of "a cure for all ills," right?
……
……
The temporary camp of Shark's forces in the Sea Country.
After days of hard fighting, the Naga expeditionary force was finally wiped out, although there was still a lot of finishing work to be done.
But the soldiers still needed to rest to recover their strength.
Inside Prince Whale's carriage, Roger and Shark were talking in secret.
"Nicole has an attitude of atonement, of course I don't mind her returning to the Naga Empire," Shark said in a relaxed tone, with a calm smile, as if he was talking about something trivial like what flavor to eat.
But he was talking about the number one war criminal who caused huge losses to the Sea Country.
However, no one could judge from his expression and tone whether the Sea Country's prince had any resentment for capturing Nicole alive but letting her go back.
After all, did the mermaid's attitude matter to the Empire?
Moreover, the Acanthus Empire was not a benevolent person, and would not deliberately let the enemy go back to cause trouble for themselves.
Then there was only one possibility, Nicole, like himself, chose to serve the Empire, which was why Roger just described the scene.
So, the pot calling the kettle black, everyone was a vassal, what did his Shark's personal feud and hatred for the Naga have to do with the Acanthus Empire?
Questioning Roger for being inhuman?
It was likely just self-inflicted humiliation, destroying the relationship between the two people.
So the most rational approach was to acquiesce to this matter, and exchange concessions in this area for the Empire's support in strengthening the country.
It was true that Shark was stimulated by Roger to grow into a true heir to the Sea Emperor.
But after the transformation, he began to think about problems in terms of the interests of the Sea Country, and his relationship with Roger gradually became estranged.
This may be the little trick that fate loves to play on mortals the most.
Of course, Roger could feel that this future Sea Emperor had enough precautions against himself and the Empire.
This was a kind of maturity, and also the helplessness of growth.
When carrying the life and death of hundreds of millions of people on his shoulders, no one can do whatever they want anymore.
At this moment, Roger was also speaking in the tone of an Empire spokesperson, very diplomatic:
"Your Highness, please rest assured that the Empire will not interfere in the mermaid's internal affairs of revenge on the Naga."
"Thank you for your understanding, my father's character is not suitable for the current marine situation."
"Regardless of whether the Fourth Prince awakens, the Empire will support Your Highness's ascension to the throne."
"The mermaid royal family will be the Empire's eternal ally, and also the Charles family's eternal friend."
Shark solemnly agreed, and then quickly smiled and talked to Roger about other topics.
The two young men, who got along very happily, although they were of different races, had similar old fox auras in their expressions, expressions, and tone.
Truly informative and controversial issues had already completed the exchange of interests in a few words.
The details discussed later were irrelevant.
ps. hiss, another chapter, I owe five chapters… Let’s see if there are many typos today.
Chapter 208 The Sea Country is Filial Today
After the Battle of the Dark Tree, the Naga Empire received the news, gave up the occupied Xilin Fortress, etc., and retreated back to the border between the two countries before the start of the war.
The Naga Empress used taxes as a guarantee to borrow money from the Terra Kingdom again, and built a dense group of fortresses on the border to guard against the Sea Country's counterattack.
The failure of this battle marked the end of the Naga's attack on the mermaid. For a long time to come, I am afraid it will be the Sea Country's turn to attack the Naga.
Fortunately, the Sea Country's revenge did not come immediately, because they had an internal strife over the enthronement of the new emperor.
After Prince Shark returned to the Sea Country's capital, he forced the current Sea Emperor, his biological father, to immediately pass the throne to himself.
The reason was that the Sea Emperor was old and faint, incompetent in governing the country, which led to the Sea Country's continuous decline and was easily bullied by the Naga Empire, until the tragic case of the Naga massacre occurred.
Although the old Sea Emperor had high political skills and the throne had always been stable, the bloody cruelty of the Naga's invasion of the Empire did scare many people, including the nobles who believed that their safety was threatened.
The rise of the Naga occurred during the years when the old Sea Emperor was in power, although his ability was no different from the past Sea Emperors, and no different from Shark in the past, just lying flat and enjoying happiness...
But under the premise that the conflict between the two countries was intensifying, this ability was really not enough.
And Shark won a great victory on the front line. The Sea Emperor and the big figures in the capital were preparing to pack up their belongings and escape with their wives and concubines when the Black Shark Fortress fell. Shark led a partial army of the second defense line and wiped out the Naga expeditionary force, and his ability and prestige reached their peak.
This was a real man who helped the building that was about to collapse, turned the tide, and was also a purebred prince. After the Fourth Prince was "killed in battle", his enthronement was only a matter of time.
Because of this, most of the nobles and families in the Sea Country did not take sides, defined this matter as a royal family dispute, and waited for the result.
Although the old Sea Emperor managed the capital like an iron plate, Shark had the last elite of the mermaid army under his command, and the strong and equipment supported by the Empire.
Shark also persuaded his mother, the queen of the Sea Country.
The old Sea Emperor had many concubines, although the probability was very small, but if any vixen suddenly exploded, the old confused person still had a chance to change the queen.
But Shark couldn't change his mother, right?
This proves that being a queen mother is more stable than being a queen!
Moreover, looking at his once timid son, wearing bright armor and handsome, he was obviously more pleasing to the eye than the old thing, did the queen have any reason not to support her own son?
The queen's family was the largest noble family in the Sea Country, second only to the royal family, otherwise it would not have been possible to give such a quantity and quality of private soldiers when Shark led the army to expedition.
Several "uncles of the country" then went to great lengths to stand on Shark's side.
On the old emperor's side, most of the troops were buried in the Black Shark Fortress, and the rest were all in Shark's hands. Other ministers and families watched from the sidelines. Prince Shark took the absolute upper hand for a time.
The old Sea Emperor was originally prepared to happily celebrate the victory. The pain of losing his son could be put aside. The eldest son finally supported him, which was definitely a good thing that made him feel at ease!
However, his happiness was only when the news came from the front line, until Shark returned to the capital a few days later, and then he found that his son had supported him too much and wanted to drive his old emperor off the stage.
Power is so fascinating, even if he knows that he doesn't have many years left, the old Sea Emperor is unwilling to let go like this.
His last reliance was only the Church of the God of Knowledge.
Shark used to be a believer, but the church had already received news that Shark was very close to the Acanthus Empire.
The Acanthus Empire drove the gods' church out of the country in a fair and honest manner, if Shark followed suit...
Theocracy supports the old Sea Emperor!
After forcing the old Sea Emperor to sign a series of clauses that would never allow him to turn over, the Knowledge Church in the Sea Country joined the old Sea Emperor's camp.
A very short battle broke out in the Sea Country's capital. Prince Shark led the elite soldiers who had returned from hundreds of battles to surround the palace.
But their real trump card was Roger, who was authorized by the Eternal Night Empress and used the Demon Emperor's Order.
Now that the Empire has revealed its existence, there is no need to pretend anymore. It is better to solve the trouble cleanly and neatly. The shorter the time of internal strife in the Sea Country, the better to start the next stage of the layout.
What's more, the Knowledge Church always causes trouble for the Empire, and the Eternal Night Empress also holds grudges and wants to teach them a lesson.
So the commander, who opened the Empress's plug-in, was fierce.
Let the people of the Sea Country know what is called combat power above legends, and know what is called "little empress".
Okay, the commander doesn't like this nickname!