Standing on the edge of the retaining wall of the horn castle, the black haired wizard looked down at the cloud peak under him.


    After the northern coalition army took over the city defense from the garrison, it quickly encircled and suppressed the corrosive demons underground; The strength of this monster is based on the absolute number and almost immortal vitality, and can be continuously supplemented at the same time.


    Lost the controller and trapped in the tunnel, it''s only a matter of time before they are completely destroyed in the face of the disciplined regular army... In a sense, dwarves, a race that pursues order, are indeed the natural enemies of monsters such as corrosion demons.


    The cloud peak, which was attacked by the rebels and the Corruptors, was also spared - although more than half of the casualties, although the city walls collapsed and large streets turned into battlefields and ruins, it still survived.


    Instead of turning a civilian area like eboden into a sea of fire like hell.


    Just because a Baien "recruit" who refused to obey orders made tens of thousands of dwarves survive


    But all this has nothing to do with Bain. The purpose of this trip has been achieved - the evil god apostle hiding in Yunling Kingdom has died, the dwarf civil war has ended, and it is expected that the reconstruction will be completed within two to three years, and will recover in 20 to 30 years.


    Byrne can get a strong ally in the South and restore the "Mithril trade route" between the Empire and Yunling Kingdom... This trade which is very important to the Empire, especially the Holy Cross Church, can greatly reduce the hostility of the church to Byrne.


    Although because of his "Wizard Duke" and their clear-cut stand in the camp of the two princes, Byrne and the church are already in the same boat


    Sighed gently, enjoying the dark haired wizard with the breeze in the valley, quietly overlooking the distance.


    "Duke."


    Dwarf mikheilo walked silently and saluted respectfully.


    "Say... You really surprised me, Lord mikheilo."


    "Huh?" a trace of confusion flashed across the dwarf''s face.


    "Nothing, it''s just a surprise that you let Igor go." as if joking, Loren glanced at the dwarf:


    "To tell you the truth, when you first proposed to me to unite the northern city states and capture the cloud peak, I really thought you planned to rebuild the hegemony of silver helmet mountain and be crowned the supreme king of Yunling kingdom."


    Crowned king?


    The dwarf mikheilo was surprised at first, and then showed a very complex expression.


    "If I really do this, I''m afraid everything will be right by Igor." mikheilo said coldly: "everything I do is no different from him."


    "No, I''m afraid it''s even more terrible - whether it''s Yunfeng or Igor, they won''t give up their control over Yunling kingdom. In order to keep their position, they will be desperate and even compromise with the rebels in the south."


    "At that time, not only will the civil war not end, it will also evolve into the North-South confrontation of the Yunling Kingdom, and even a complete division..."


    With a cold tone, the dwarf mikheilo looked at the expression of the black haired wizard meaningfully: "and you... Your Excellency Duke Bain, can control half of the Yunling Kingdom and suppress the other half through the mikheilo family."


    "Finally, become the uncrowned king of this land... Am I right?"


    The voice of indifference falls gently.


    The atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward.


    Four eyes looked at each other for a moment of silence, and the black haired wizard suddenly lost his smile.


    "That''s not true... You think too much."


    With that, Loren immediately turned his eyes.


    Dwarf mikheilo just snorted coldly.


    "Dear Duke, the Yunling people of silver helmet mountain will never forget your help. We will always be your loyal servants." mikhailo calmly opened his mouth, stroked his chest with his right hand and lowered his head respectfully:


    "But we will never forget that we are the people of Yunling. The people of Yunling... Will never let a benefactor rule his hometown and turn the proud and great Yunling kingdom into others'' vassal and puppet."


    "Only this, we can''t promise."


    Lauren smiled calmly and shrugged helplessly.


    "Igor... Even though he has many faults and problems, he is also the ruler of the cloud peak. He is flowing with the blood of the sevierrastofu family and has natural ruling jurisprudence. He is still a qualified supreme king."


    "A... The supreme king of the Yunling people." the dwarf mikhailo deliberately accentuated his tone.


    "So, Lord mikheilo, how many times do I have to repeat before you believe me?"


    "This has nothing to do with verbal promises - we Yunling people don''t believe in verbal and written promises. We just look at what you have done."


    Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Loren kept a formulaic smile on his face.


    "I still have something to do... About the proper placement of the northern coalition forces and the disposal plan of the southern rebels." the dwarf mikheilo made a stiff bow when he stroked his chest. "Please allow me to leave first, Duke."


    The voice fell, and the dwarf turned and left.


    Until he went far away, the smile on the corner of the black haired wizard''s mouth converged slightly.


    Really... Why is it so difficult to be a bad person once in a while?


    Top mechanical technology, unique metal smelting, abundant mineral resources, broad and complex depth... More importantly, the special tradition of dwarves gives this race an almost unlimited source of troops and can expand Byrne''s forces almost infinitely.


    Even if it is as rich as Byrne, the army that can be recruited is extremely limited - especially the elite professional army. Under the traditional knight system, Byrne''s standing army can never be compared with the Empire.


    But dwarves are different. The characteristics of this race have great war potential; At present, she is only dragged down by the long-term civil war. Once it is restored and unified, she will still be a powerful country almost comparable to Saxony.


    Such an opportunity to greatly expand his strength, Loren will not easily miss any chance.


    Although it is slightly different from the plan, it doesn''t matter - the civil war of the past three years has made Yunfeng weak enough to rely on Bain''s support to avoid collapse.


    In order to maintain his rule and not be terminated by Byrne''s grain trade, neither Igor nor yunfengfeng will stop Byrne''s "small moves" in the north of Yunling kingdom.


    Even if it is impossible to control the whole Yunling Kingdom and make it a puppet and vassal of Byrne, there is still a chance to form an alliance with several of the city states alone - it is enough to exchange grain trade, preferential terms for their technology, minerals, and offensive and defensive covenants during the war.


    In the long run, the interests between the dwarf city states in the north and the south, especially the cloud peak, will gradually split, and the contradictions will become deeper and deeper. They will also rely more and more on the Principality of Byrne, and finally become an alliance composed of interests and geographical relations. They will be completely separated from the South and become a "part" of Byrne.


    Anyway, Loren doesn''t intend to, let alone think he can really rule the whole Yunling kingdom. He just needs to get the war potential of dwarves.


    "Of course, it still takes time..."


    Looking into the distance, the dark haired wizard whispered to himself.


    "What?"


    "Nothing!" the black haired wizard turned around and looked at the gray pupil boy coming towards him: "what, have you handled it all?"


    "No problem, it''s not the first time."


    Lucian nodded, apparently not interested in the black haired wizard''s self talk: "the body of the supreme king has been placed in the laboratory of horn castle, and Isaac and ain have begun to conduct targeted research."


    "Well, didn''t the dwarfs notice?"


    "All the people in charge are the alchemists of the wizard Association. When carrying, all the dwarf engineers in the floating city were transferred out; as for the dwarf at the peak of the cloud..."


    The grey pupil boy suddenly snorted and looked away with disdain: "if there is no accident, they should not be found by them - not to mention, they are now estimated to be eager to let the ''former'' Supreme King die as soon as possible. It''s good to have no bones left."


    The dark haired wizard laughed and did not comment.


    As a member of the vilz family and the illegitimate son of the former Duke of ellemans, Lucian has always avoided dealing with power politics; Even would rather run to duanjieshan fortress and become a ranger of the imperial Legion than have a relationship with the family.


    But his inborn blood made him understand how much damage a legitimate former ruler could do to the current ruler; As long as he is alive, there will be conspirators who deliberately use his status and identity to seize power.


    He couldn''t help shaking his head. Suddenly aware of something, Loren raised his eyebrows and looked behind Lucian.


    "Where''s Carl Colin?"


    "When he returned, he disappeared - the accompanying alchemist said he saw him enter the horn castle, but he couldn''t be found anywhere." the grey pupil said faintly, as if he had been used to this situation for a long time:


    "If you guessed right, he should still be in the cloud peak city, but he''s leaving soon."


    Loren was stunned, but immediately understood.


    "Night watchman?"


    "There should be no second possibility, otherwise he wouldn''t leave." Lucian nodded with a slightly helpless expression:


    "I just didn''t expect that even there are their people in the cloud peak. These mice are really pervasive!"


    As soon as the voice fell, his expression suddenly twitched - he almost forgot that Loren Turin and Dalton seemed to be night watchmen.


    The grey pupil boy glanced carefully. After confirming that there was no change in the black haired wizard''s expression, he was a little relieved.


    "That''s good. If he transmits the information about the end of the dwarf civil war to LUT infinit, we don''t have to bother to disclose the information to the sky palace."


    Loren took a deep breath and hugged his shoulder. Obviously, he didn''t care about Lucian''s "slip of the tongue": "it''s necessary to use this way to make his majesty trust us - I don''t know whether to be happy or sad."


    "Er..."


    With a hesitant murmur, Lucian looked at the black haired wizard who sighed and wanted to stop talking.


    "What''s the matter?"


    "Nothing, nothing!" the grey pupil boy inadvertently repeated the words of the black haired wizard and coughed.


    "You seem to have forgotten that you promised the Countess of red blood castle that you would go out for two months at most, and promised that there would be no accident."


    "There should be no problem... Well, you can see that everything is still going well so far." with a relaxed breath, Loren said with a relaxed smile: "just in case, I''d better ask first. How much time do we have left?"


    "Eight days - there should have been 18 days left, mainly because too much time was wasted in the floating city." Lucian replied honestly:


    "So according to the itinerary when you came, you will be late at least about... Half a month?"


    The smile on the dark haired wizard''s face faded away.


    "... should be... No problem?"


    "It was."


    "Original?"


    "Yes, because you promised too decisively, the Countess of red blood Castle seemed to believe it - before leaving, I heard that she was preparing to negotiate with the church about bishop Byrne, assistance to the Principality of Arles, and logistics of his Highness Prince Brandon''s legion."


    "His highness Brandon''s logistics director has always been in red blood castle. It is said that the messenger of the church has set out from the sky palace. As for the journey from Arles to Bain... If it''s a carriage, it''s only a week at most."


    "So... If I go back a little late..."


    "If you go back a little late, Countess Charlotte will have to face the Duke''s messenger from Arles alone, the accusations and abuse of the Holy Cross mission, and the repeated urging of his highness Brandon."


    "The most important thing is... These are all things that can be finalized only by your Duke; Countess Charlotte can do nothing but smile and delay them."


    Lucian''s face suddenly showed a very strange smile: "hey... Lord Loren, I don''t seem to have asked you what happened to you and the countess in the round table hall on the day of the triumph after the Centaur war three years ago?"


    “……”


    The black haired wizard''s expression froze.


    "Lucian, you did it on purpose, didn''t you?"


    "How could it?" the gray pupil boy''s corner of his eye showed a flash of pleasure: "how could the little man of El mans retaliate against you because you teased our family''s height a little?"


    "..." Loren Turin.


    "Isaac!"


    "Hmm?!" a head suddenly popped out from behind the door. His expression was very impatient: "what''s up?"


    "Clarion castle... I mean, how fast can the ISAAC float city run?"


    "It''s not easy to compare. If you want to describe it... 15 kilometers per hour?"


    "Thirty kilometers per hour. Don''t stop until you reach the bain border!"


    With a heavy sigh, the black haired wizard turned his head and looked at the arrogant with a begging face:


    "I really need a miracle now, really!"