Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 233: Long time no see

The four dukes reacted differently, but one of them set an example.

“That’s enough,” Aurelius said decisively, “Let’s put the topic of dividing up Dragonstreet City to the end.”

“Please let me finish speaking…” Rumba lowered his eyelids.

"Can't you understand human language?" Ronnie interrupted him coldly.

But Rumba's eyes flashed with anger, and she immediately retorted with louder and more decisive words.

"I know you have already sent out ravens!"

Rumba roared, "Risban and his patrol are on their way, aren't they?"

His words trailed off.

Only silence remained.

The four dukes were stunned.

They looked at each other, their breaths quickening with tension, both seemingly worried that Rumba already knew the news.

Rumba took a breath and calmed himself down.

“Don’t worry,” his gaze returned to calm, “I didn’t bring my falcon, so I couldn’t intercept your mail.”

The four dukes' breathing gradually calmed down.

"So please let me finish. If we drag this out a bit, and wait for them to come to our rescue... it will actually be more advantageous for you."

Hopefully, the construction of the first city gate can be delayed for a while.

At least hold out until I deal with them.

Rumba thought to himself.

Ronnie narrowed his eyes and turned to the other three: "Are you going to keep listening to his nonsense?"

Trudida shrugged.

“Although it’s boring,” the Grand Duke of Rebuilding the Tower whistled, expressing everyone’s sentiments, “it’s better than us turning our swords against each other and shedding blood in Valhalla.”

Oleshu sneered, while Leko remained expressionless and gestured for Rumba to proceed.

No one objected.

Rumba nodded.

“Walton,” he said coldly, “I hold the last daughter of the Walton family in my hands—closer than any collateral bloodline.”

Grand Duke Lyco narrowed his eyes and shook his head: "There has never been a precedent in Exte for a woman to inherit the title of Grand Duke."

“She doesn’t have to inherit,” Rumba’s face turned cold, and his speech quickened, “but she can be used as a temporary pawn.”

Trudida raised an eyebrow, seemingly intrigued.

“We can promise that any male offspring she bears after marriage will become the future Grand Duke of Dragon Sky City,” Lumba said decisively, rubbing his fingers together like a knife before slashing them sharply. “This is more effective and reliable than hastily granting Dragon Sky City to another family. It can stabilize the power within and outside Dragon Sky City.”

"And before that, you jointly managed Dragon Sky City under the guise of assistance."

Rumba was steady and authentic.

Grand Duke Ronnie frowned, seemingly in disbelief.

"And then?" Grand Duke Leco asked expressionlessly.

Rumba looked back at them calmly.

next second.

"Then," the Grand Duke of Black Sands parted his lips slightly, his gaze sharp as a knife, his words stern and unyielding:
"It's war."

Grand Duke Aurelius's expression shifted.

“Ha,” Trudida beside him waved his hand unhappily, “each family goes back to their territory to recruit soldiers and horses, and then takes Dragon Sky City by surprise? Please, if this is your…”

Rumba interrupted him.

The terrifying Grand Duke suddenly took a step forward and burst out:
"No!"

Rumba's eyes flashed with a cold light: "We will unite the entire nation and send troops south."

Grand Duke Ronnie clenched his fist: "What?"

The four dukes all looked at Rumba with serious expressions.

The latter revealed a ferocious and menacing expression.

Like a ferocious beast about to hunt its prey.

“We wage war against the stars,” he said through gritted teeth, “for the sake of our late King Nuen…”

"revenge."

----

In another corner of Dragon City, Thales and Putila were crammed into a small horse-drawn wagon. In front of them, Nicolai, who was dressed up, sat in the driver's seat, leaving them with only the back of his coarse linen coat.

Thales sat pacing back and forth in a gap in a cart of firewood, his brow furrowed as he pondered deeply.

Chaman Lumba.

The four dukes.

King Nuen.

How can this impasse between them be resolved?

Putila saw Thales' expression through the two bundles of firewood between them.

The deputy envoy of the stars sighed softly.

The carriage lurched as it crossed a low ridge.

In that instant, Thales felt his vision twitch, followed by a familiar sensation.

The prince subconsciously touched his forehead: his vision was starting to blur again.

He was in a bright room where three or four young people, each with a laptop, sat scattered around a middle-aged man, watching a projection on the wall.

"Since you've chosen this course, you must already have a basic understanding of social networks, such as nodes, edges, in-degree and out-degree, and even concepts like binary networks and structural equivalence..."

"Now, I want you to imagine a network diagram. Hmm, let's use a social network instead of a geometric diagram, as relationships between people are easier to understand."

“A, B, and C are three people. Let’s assume they know each other in pairs. Okay, draw three points and connect them with edges—we get the simplest triangular social network graph, three points and three edges. You can use the methods you’ve learned to analyze this network.”

"Let's give this simple network, these connections that only have a number of connections, plus or minus signs: A and B have a very poor relationship, so the connection between them is assigned a negative one; B and C have a very good relationship, so the connection is a positive one."

"The question then arises: what will be the relationship between A and C? This leads to a new question: the balance of social networks."

“The discussion of triangular relationships began in Simmel’s time… balance, for example: if your friend dislikes someone, then as a friend, if you don’t dislike them as well, you will be in an awkward position in this triangular relationship, which is likely to become unbalanced at any time… In the concept of social networks, how do we represent this balance?”

"How will an unbalanced interpersonal network change in order to achieve its own stability?"

Network balance.

The stability of the relationship?
Thales took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead vigorously, burying this newly acquired memory deep within his heart.

The relationship between Lumba and Nunn is negative.

However, the relationship between Nunn and the Grand Dukes... is also negative.

For this network to be stable and balanced, then the relationship between the Rumba and the Grand Duke...

and many more.

This network is incomplete.

What did I miss?

"You're very nervous, aren't you?"

Thales, who was rubbing his forehead in deep thought, was startled and turned around:

"what?"

Putila looked at him with a worried expression.

"Uh, sorry, I just didn't get enough rest..." Thales realized what he meant and shook his head with a smile.

“No,” Putila interrupted him, “not just now.”

The deputy envoy shook his head slightly: "It's been like this since your speech in the temple just now."

Thales was slightly taken aback.

“You become especially talkative when you’re nervous,” Putila exhaled, grinding his teeth as if tormented by his nicotine addiction. “You were just like that when you first entered Dragon City.”

Thales was completely stunned.

"is it?"

He was lost in thought.

Putila nodded silently.

“Although you appeared very confident before, you yourself are not entirely sure about the upcoming actions,” the thin deputy envoy sighed, “are you?”

A thoughtful glint appeared in Putila's eyes.

Thales did not speak.

He gazed silently at the firewood in front of him.

A few seconds later, the prince lowered his head and sighed.

"I'm sorry," Thales said, somewhat dejectedly, "I just..."

"I don't know if we can... succeed."

Putila watched him quietly.

Just then, Nikolai turned around, his eyes shining like stars.

“We are Northerners,” he said coldly. “Northerners don’t ask ‘can’ or ‘can’.”

"Just ask 'Will you do it or not'."

Putila snorted.

Thales' heart skipped a beat. He took a deep breath and braced himself.

"Have we arrived?" Thales raised an eyebrow as he sensed the carriage come to a stop.

“Of course,” Nikolai said calmly, tapping on the carriage. “They’ve already gone to scout ahead.”

Thales let out a breath.

“I thought it would take much longer, from finding a place to starting the operation…” the prince murmured, “After all, we can’t be seen in the light of day…”

“This is Dragonfall City,” Nikolai interrupted him, his dark skin, stained with oil, trembling slightly. “No one knows us better than us whoever we’re looking for.”

and.

Neither the genuine patrols nor the imposters from Black Sand Territory seemed to be in sight.

Nikolai squinted.

Just then, a disguised guard with a white blade approached the driver's seat and made a gesture to Nikolai.

Nikolai gave him a thumbs up.

“We can go in now,” Nikolai said, shaking off his horse’s reins, jumping off the carriage, and turning back to them. “They’ve scouted the way; let’s go straight in.”

Thales was slightly startled.

"Go straight in?"

The prince's eyes widened: "Aren't we supposed to sneak in? That way we won't attract too much attention?"

“Shut your mouth…” Nicolai said dismissively, “We are infiltrating.”

Putila pushed aside the two bundles of firewood, jumped off the carriage first, and then reached out to take the second prince down.

With his feet firmly planted on solid ground, Thales felt a little more at ease.

This is a rather secluded house. It looks large, but the exterior is quite simple, and it's unclear which area it's located in. However, the owner clearly doesn't want to be too high-profile, as there isn't even a single northern neighbor nearby.

They were standing by a small side door, guarded by two men—Soldier Willow and Gerard.

“Good luck, Your Highness,” Jenard replied simply to the prince’s questioning gaze, “We will keep watch for you.”

Putila nodded to them, then turned and whispered, "We should hurry."

Nikolai nodded to him and went through the side door first.

"Go straight through the front door?" Thales followed Nicolai through the small side door into what appeared to be a desolate backyard, frowning slightly. "Won't we be discovered? What if we're exposed..."

“You know we’re in a dangerous situation and need to keep a low profile. It would be best to climb over walls or use rooftops to sneak in quietly…”

His words stopped abruptly.

Thales stopped his lips from moving.

He stared in horror at the snow-covered courtyard.

“Infiltrate…infiltrate…” he repeated subconsciously.

Almost all of their melee guards were standing in the courtyard, including Cohen and Miranda, and the guard even flashed him a big white smile.

Thales took a breath and lowered his head.

All around him lay many people lying haphazardly on the ground.

There were corpses lying in pools of blood.

There were also people who fell into a coma or went into shock.

Even worse were the pitiful creatures with bruised and swollen faces, bound hand and foot, and with rags stuffed in their mouths, often with a knife across their necks, and a fierce-looking northerner or starman standing beside them.

“You…” Thales stared blankly at the scene, speechless for a long time.

"What a discreet 'infiltration'," Putile sighed deeply.

The Meteorite gave a thumbs-up to the leader, Myrk.

Thales turned his head away from the corpses and gave Nikolai a disapproving look.

“Alright, as long as no one knows we infiltrated,” Nicolai raised an eyebrow, stretched out his palm towards the blood-soaked mess, and nodded smugly, “it’s the most successful infiltration.”

This sentence……

In those few seconds, Thales' eyebrows changed into various shapes.

He took a deep breath, turned to Nikolai, and with a serious expression, tentatively asked in a low voice, "All is vanity..."

Nikolai was slightly taken aback, looking puzzled: "What?"

Thales clicked his tongue, pulled his head back, and shrugged as if nothing had happened, saying, "It's nothing."

Nikolai looked completely bewildered.

Thales shook his head to banish unnecessary thoughts, while looking at the corpses scattered all around him, suppressing his inner grumbling.

Won't this cause synchronization issues...?

The next second, he followed Nicolai out of the yard and into the house.

"This is your plan. Have you thought about how to do it?" the Meteorite said calmly.

“Of course,” Thales stepped over a threshold and took a deep breath: “adaptability.”

Then Thales looked up and his gaze fell on the two men behind an ornate desk.

One of them was Raphael.

The young man from the secret service was leaning leisurely against the wall, his left hand outstretched, holding his sword.

The sword's edge was positioned across the throat of another middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man frowned, but remained calm and composed.

"Sir, I don't know how you found this place..."

“But let me assume that you already know who I am and understand my value…” The middle-aged man opened his mouth wide, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said to Raphael beside him, “Then the problem is simple. Whatever it is, we can definitely talk…”

Thales took a deep breath, stepped out from behind Nikolai, and looked up at the man whose throat Raphael was holding.

This is a middle-aged nobleman with golden ponytail and wearing gorgeous clothes.

"Hello, it's an honor to meet you again." Thales forced out his most insincere smile:
"Your Excellency, Marquis."

Upon hearing this, even the air seemed to fall silent.

The blond middle-aged man was startled when he saw Thales, his face showing surprise and his eyes blinking back and forth.

They seemed unable to believe it.

Then, the middle-aged man gave a complex and subtle bitter smile and slowly exhaled.

"It's been a long time."

"From sending people to ask for help to now suddenly appearing..."

"Prince Thales is a constant source of surprises."

Marquis Sles Bemula, a member of the Commas Alliance, sat upright behind his desk, looking helpless.

I know I was wrong; the update was delayed until the next day again (regretful expression)...

The next update will be at 9 AM.

Why are all my office worker friends playing Honor of Kings? (confused)

By Wujian, who looked completely serious.

P.S. Some of the references in this chapter are from the Assassin's Creed game series.

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(End of this chapter)