People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

Chapter 59 Kent: Don't you know our daughter? She's the most obedient!

Victoria, Duchy of Windermere, Liincarden.

The Duchy of Windermere itself is located on the northeastern border of Victoria, and Liincarden is located on the northeastern border of the Duchy of Windermere. The waterways of this mobile city are always close to the territory of Letania, like a cold-blooded venomous snake eyeing the flesh and blood of the heavily guarded Caprini not far away, or like a lion patrolling its vast territory at all times.

This was a major military stronghold of Victoria and the most important mobile city within the Duchy of Windermere. When these descriptions are mentioned together with the name Lyingcarden, an image of a formidable, imposing mobile fortress often comes to mind.

This is part of Liincarden, but not the whole of it.

For Defen and Kent, and even for Duke Amphilis Windermere herself, it was a different story.

This scene depicts a lake rippling on a summer night, with strange yet lush trees growing along its banks, a misty drizzle under the autumn moon, and a city shrouded in a hazy veil by rising steam. In the distance, the woodland stretches out, and returning animals go back to their dens at the calls of children. All is quiet, except for a sense of tranquility and peace.

The gentle breezes of spring will carry the distant and beautiful melodies of Letania, while the silvery snowflakes of winter will bury the blood shed by those who guard the frontier throughout the year, transforming it into flowers that bloom on the land the following year.

For them, and for many others living in this mobile city, there is only one name.

"It's been so long, home!"

"You haven't been gone long, Ken."

As she watched Kent Windermere walk alone into the command post, a gentle smile, contradictory to her otherwise stern face, appeared:

"Has Daphne made all the arrangements?"

“Hmm.” Kent nodded, and said meaningfully, “This journey has been full of surprises.”

Amfelis smiled and asked, "Would you like to share it with me?"

“Of course, I only want to be with you.” Kent emphasized the pronunciation of a certain word.

Amphilis nodded knowingly to the guards around her. The Windermere family’s meticulously trained sword guards steadfastly carried out the Duke’s every order without ever asking why.

A temporary standstill quickly descended upon the command post. Amphilis looked at Kent, her face now serious again:

"What happened, Ken?"

"Your Excellency. Good news and bad news."

"Listen first."

Kent paused for a moment, then said, "Defiance is safe."

Amphilis Windermere's heart suddenly relaxed. Her tense face and muscles visibly relaxed a little.

"There couldn't be better news, Ken."

“She’s even safer than you can imagine,” Kent said. “The legend of Sherag is true. That mountain kingdom really does have a god (a behemoth) protecting it. And unlike its brethren who are recorded in Victoria, the Sherag behemoth is extremely active and even shows an extreme kindness toward humans that is completely different from its companions.”

“What?” Amphilis propped herself up on her chair and sat up straight. “A giant beast is benevolent towards humans? Ken, if this is a joke, then you have indeed mastered the essence of Letanian humor.”

German humor is, in itself, a joke; those who know, know.

But Kent shook his head firmly: "It's true. Amphilis, although I also think it's a pipe dream, it's true. I even witnessed the Prime Minister of Sherag, their [Holy Son], communicating with their gods and using divine power to save three poor wretches who were in trouble."

Amphilis was still somewhat skeptical: "How do you know that wasn't a pre-planned Originium Arts trick?"

Kent chuckled, revealing the essence of his Gallic self-deprecating humor: "Because one of the three poor bastards who were rescued was me, and the other was our daughter."

Anferis stood up abruptly, her voice already tinged with anger: "What happened?"

"Let me finish telling you the good news first. Please be patient, Amfelis."

Kent said slowly,

"Prime Minister Ernst used the token given to him by the giant beast to communicate with it, and used the wind to lift me and Daphne from the foot of the mountain and safely deliver us to his office, while also healing our injuries. No Originium Arts can do such a thing, not even Helhunzoren's."

Helhunzoren is the name of the Witch King. He was a man who, as a mortal, reached the pinnacle of Originium Arts.

“I bought his promise for thirty million. Daphne will be under his protection in Sherag, the protection of a behemoth’s advocate.”

Anferis's anger subsided slightly, and she nodded approvingly: "The value of a behemoth can never be measured in money. Thirty million can buy the promise and protection of its representative. Ken, your business acumen is no less than that of that self-proclaimed businessman Normandy. You've impressed me."

She paused, then asked again the question that concerned her so much:

"So what's the bad news? How did you and Defiance end up falling off a cliff?"

Kent's eyes suddenly turned cold. He glanced at the empty command post and replied:

"There's a traitor in command."

Although Amphilis had anticipated this when Kent asked to speak with her alone, when the exact answer actually came from her husband's mouth, she still felt as if the fire in her chest had been blown into a blower, burning even more fiercely.

"who?"

She didn't bother asking pointless questions like who did it, because if Kent were certain, he would have ordered the spy's arrest the moment he returned. There was no need for him to come see her in person.

The reason he personally appeared unharmed at the command post was simply for one purpose—to alert the enemy!

And there was only one thing for Amphilis to consider.

Beat the dog, and while you're at it, find the dog owner and beat them up too!

“The one who attacked us was a man in a grey top hat. He wasn’t very strong. I can’t be sure if he was turned by a real spy or if he had been lurking in the Duchy of Windermere without being discovered. But to be able to place him in my guard, this traitor must be in a high position.”

Kent's expression was icy, his gaze fixed on the heart of the Duchy of Windermere.

"The enemy is in the General Staff!"

"Caster!"

Amphilis Windermere sneered without hesitation. If her anger and suspicion could be quantified by a clock face, then the hands of that clock face would surely have reached the red line by now!

Extreme paranoia, warning of a massive purge!

Without any hesitation, Anferis lifted her foot to walk out of the command post, intending to summon the sword guards to give the General Staff a real show of what a heart-pounding internal affairs department was like. But before she could take two steps, Kent pulled her back again. He asked, with a hint of anger in his voice:

"What's wrong, Ken? I'm in a hurry to sharpen my sword."

“Wait, there’s one more piece of news,” Ken said.

Amfelis frowned: "Isn't this bad news, but good news?"

Kent nodded and said, "Yes, but I can't judge whether this news is good or bad on my own."

Seeing his serious expression, Anferis had no choice but to take a deep breath, temporarily suppressing the surging heat in her chest, and said:

"Go ahead."

“I saw someone,” Kent said mysteriously.

Unfortunately, Anferis completely ignored his suspenseful, Da Yan-style attempts to whet her appetite: "Stop playing riddles. Stop keeping me in suspense. Be straightforward."

Ken could only shrug and tell the whole story: "I met an Aslan."

"Frederick III's daughter."

"Alexandrina who survived a great calamity."

A fleeting look of surprise crossed Amphilis Windermere's face, but more than that, it was one of bewilderment:

"Aslan didn't die out? Victoria still has a claimant in Shelag?"

"You even left our daughter there with a crown prince?"

Kent patted his palm: "Don't worry, I've repeatedly told Daphne not to get close to him, or even meet him. Don't you know our daughter? She's always been obedient. Don't worry!"

"The reason I brought this up with you is to remind you that this information is currently only known to us."

"We both agree and believe that the current situation where the dukes check and balance each other is the best situation for Victoria's future."

"And if the Duke of Castells really starts to set his sights on the other grand dukes, and is foolish enough to want to break the existing order."

His eyes flickered, and he said in a deep voice:

"Amphilis, we now have a card in our hand that can counter her!"

Chapter Sixty: May your soul rot within your body.

The Duchy of Caesar, the Duke's Palace.

The Duke of Caesar always gave the impression of an elegant noblewoman, serene and content amidst the smoke. She never displayed any frightening expressions and rarely used force to coerce others into doing things they did not want to do.

But that doesn’t mean she’s not dangerous enough. In fact, as one of the most powerful dukes in Victoria, the Duke of Castle can be said to have spearheaded the encirclement of the “Death Knell of the Empire”, the Duke of Wellington. She has no fewer than three vassals who also hold the title of duke, and her true strength is recognized as the number one person after Wellington.

It was precisely because her methods and abilities were so astonishing that when people mentioned this duke, the first thing that came to mind was not the king's sister, nor the glory of her ancestors, but her herself.

She kept a pack of hounds called "Grey Hats" to infiltrate the entire Victorian lands, hunting down any valuable intelligence and prey. Because of this, she was the only Grand Duke who almost never appeared in public, yet possessed the vast majority of intelligence in Victoria.

Intelligence within the Duchy of Windermere was no exception.

"Your Excellency the Duke."

When the man in the grey top hat pushed open the door, the Duke of Caesar already had a premonition. He slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, and in the swirling smoke, his sharp, pale green eyes conveyed a calm aura.

"Go ahead."

"The mission in the Duchy of Windermere has failed."

She nodded slightly: "Not surprising. Where are our spies?"

"She sacrificed herself." The man in the grey top hat spoke with a heavy tone.

Kaster remained unmoved, simply asking as usual, "How was she discovered?"

The improvement of espionage capabilities is a long process, and the lessons learned from failures are the most valuable experiences.

Every time a spy's infiltration mission fails and they are killed, the Duke of Caesar orders the Grey Hat to immediately summarize the lessons learned from the failure, identify the key problems, seize industry pain points, cultivate blue ocean fields, iterate the latest strategies, strive to become the industry leader, monopolize technological updates, and aim to achieve a level of far superiority.

But this time, the man in the grey top hat remained silent for a moment, then shook his head with a touch of sadness:

"She couldn't figure out who our spy was."

"She simply stormed into the General Staff, forced everyone to identify each other, and then killed all the suspicious people. The charge wasn't espionage, but anti-corruption."

The man in the grey top hat said somewhat awkwardly,

“As you know, in order to get things done, our spies will more or less grease palms. So as soon as the interrogation started, she was immediately identified and killed.”

The Duke of Caesar frowned, looking as if she wanted to say something but didn't know how to respond. After a long pause, she managed to squeeze out a sentence:

"Can this still happen?"

Unable to find spies, so they simply wanted to expose everyone who did bad things? The Duke of Windermere seems to have gone a bit too far.

While it's true that, in reality, few of the Grand Duke's men are clean, the problem isn't too serious. It's simply a matter of selecting and retraining a new batch, which, given Windermere's iron-fisted military style, she's certainly capable of doing.

But for Castells, this is somewhat unsportsmanlike.

"Didn't any of the nobles who were killed put up a fight?"

"The Duke of Caesar asked."

The man in the grey top hat answered truthfully:

"According to the messages sent back by the few remaining 'spies' in the Duchy of Windermere, the operation was carried out suddenly, and the Duke of Windermere was clearly prepared."

"After cleaning up the General Staff, she took down several noble families along with their main branches. Then she quickly arranged for branch nobles to take over the main branches' inheritance. Everyone was very satisfied with looting the spoils. No one objected even if they were."

What, you're not convinced? Can someone who's dissatisfied even speak?

The Duke of Caesar glanced at the humorous man in the grey top hat and nodded with difficulty.

The fact that they were able to go this far shows that the Duke of Windermere wasn't entirely unprepared. This method of dealing with spies... is difficult to counter, but it is indeed very effective.

“It’s barbaric.”

Having made this final assessment, the Duke of Caesar took another drag of her cigarette. Unlike the Tin Man with iron lungs, she exhaled the smoke after it had passed, refilling her mouth with the smoke that had just dissipated, blurring her face once more.

"In addition, the Duke of Windermere also sent a messenger."

The man in the grey top hat continued. Kaster tapped his pipe with his fingers:

"read."

The man in the grey top hat took out a letter, hesitated for a moment, then coughed twice and read it aloud in a low voice:

To the Duke of Cactus, who should be sewn into a camel's belly: