Alien Knights

Hearing the loud noise underground, Huggins hurried over with the guards.

Everyone waved their hands to disperse the pungent smoke, while groping forward in the dust haze. A few minutes later, Huggins saw the messy king slowly walking out of the underground laboratory.

He opened his eyes wide and exclaimed: "Your Majesty, what happened?!"

Leaning against the door of the laboratory, Todd patted the dust on his body, coughed twice due to the smoke, and then looked at the smoky, tattered clothes on his body, shook his head and smiled wryly: "It's hard to say, let the guards seal the site first. Also, don't touch all the reagents and samples inside! I'm going to sleep first, and I'll talk about anything when I wake up."

Todd, who returned to the bedroom, rinsed his body hastily with the clean water brought by his servants, and quickly fell asleep on the bed with exhaustion all over his body.

When he woke up again, it was already nine o'clock in the morning of the next day. The warm winter sun poured warmth into the room through the door, and brought Huggins' voice outside the door.

"Your Majesty, if you are awake, please come to the meeting hall. Today is the day of the kingdom's weekly meeting, and all officials are waiting to report to you on government affairs."

Shaking his drowsy head, while complaining about the hard life of the king, Todd tried his best to get himself out of the big warm bed.

Thirty minutes later, the King's Chamber.

Todd, who was dressed neatly, sat at the top of the long table, holding the report submitted by Emerson, and the more he read it, the more frightened he was: "The famine in the Holy Acropolis has reached this point?!"

Faced with the king's question, Emerson put on the crystal glasses he just got, and while comparing the data in the report, he said: "According to Gordon, the head of the envoy, the famine in the Holy Acropolis has pushed the entire kingdom to the brink of collapse. Now even the royal family has drastically reduced their daily rations, not to mention the nobles and commoners."

"In the past two years, as one of the conditions for participating in the war, the food and supplies for the Holy Acropolis have all come from the church. It is precisely because there is no logistical worry that they recruited and transferred a large number of young and middle-aged people from the farmland, and focused their energy on combat."

When Emerson said this, he sighed helplessly: "The arable land was left unattended and turned into wasteland; the treasury was turned into empty houses because of the war. The people of the Holy Acropolis always thought that the result of this war would be the same as it was hundreds of years ago. The church allied forces defeated the barbarians, and all parties involved in the war could share a lot of spoils. But no one thought about what would happen to the kingdom if this battle was defeated or turned into a meaningless tug-of-war."

Todd put down the report in his hand, and asked, "There is a shortage of food in the Holy Acropolis, don't you think about asking the Pope for help?"

Cumberland folded his arms on his chest, and said in a muffled voice: "They did it. They did that before the war was over. Not only did they ask for help, but the mission from the Holy Acropolis also ran to the Pope, clamoring that their kingdom paid a heavy price in this war and deserved the reward it deserves."

Todd gave Cumberland a puzzled look: "So, the Papal State agreed to reward them?"

The old knight snorted through his nose: "The Pope gave them a holy letter, and agreed to referee Silver Ring City to Holy Acropolis as a reward for their participation in the war."

Todd suddenly realized that this is how the official document of the Holy Ministry that adjudicated the territory of Silver Ring City to the Holy Acropolis came from this way. But thinking about it carefully, this so-called "reward" made him dumbfounded.

Just imagine, the kingdom is already in trouble. At this juncture, the allies refused to give food and money, and only sent a pennant of "be brave for righteousness".

Whoever it is, will be angry.

Emerson added at this time: "It is precisely because of this episode that the relationship between the Holy Acropolis and the Pope's Kingdom has cracked. At the end of the war, there was a situation of disobeying military orders between the two. In the end, the Holy Acropolis even withdrew from the war early, which was also the indirect reason for the barbarian army to escape smoothly with their treasures."

Todd tapped the table with his fingers, and continued to ask: "How is the domestic situation in the Holy Acropolis?"

Emerson picked up the three silver water cups on the table and turned them upside down. First, he arranged the two cups side by side, and then placed the third cup on the bottom of the first two cups, forming a shape of the word "pin".

Emerson explained: "The nobles of the Holy Acropolis have different opinions on how to solve the food crisis, and they are divided into three different factions."

Pointing to the two cups below, Emerson said: "One faction hopes to negotiate with the church, and in order to obtain its assistance, they are even willing to sell part of the kingdom's interests if necessary. Let us call this faction the "Church faction."

Using the knuckle of his middle finger, Emerson tapped the bottom of the top cup. After pondering for a while, he said to Todd: "The last faction, they neither favor the church nor take the risk of independence. They only obey the orders of the king of the Holy Acropolis. They are the so-called "king faction"."

"The current relationship between these three factions is like this. The 'King's faction' suppresses the 'Church faction' and the 'Independent faction'. The latter two are evenly matched, and they are seeking assistance everywhere for their respective political views. Gordon, who is on an envoy to the Muxi Kingdom this time, is from the 'Independent faction'. The 'King faction' has no objection or support for this mission, and is just watching the development of the situation."

"It seems that the structure of these three factions is relatively stable, but in fact there are big problems."

"The two cups below seem to be the same size and balanced in strength..." Emerson gently lifted one of the cups below, and the entire structure of the word "pin" collapsed immediately: "...as long as one faction grows stronger, it can break the current balance of the situation in the Holy Acropolis and overthrow the "king faction" above the head."

After listening to the analysis, Todd took a deep breath, leaned on the seat behind him, and asked Cumberland and Emerson: "So in your opinion, should we agree or refuse the request for food in the Holy Acropolis?"

Emerson and Cumberland glanced at each other, and both of them had embarrassed expressions on their faces.

Emerson first said: "From the perspective of diplomatic purposes and kingdom strategy, we should provide food aid to the Holy Acropolis. This move will help divide the church's power and strengthen relations with neighboring countries, but..."

Cumberland stroked the beard on his chin and picked up the topic: "But it's almost winter now. Even if the Holy Acropolis successfully sows the seeds in the next spring, it will not be harvested until next autumn, so this kind of protracted assistance is not feasible. Moreover, the population of Muxi City has been increasing, and the agricultural development plan has just begun. We don't even have enough food for ourselves. If we want to provide the St. Acropolis with food, we can only buy it from the south at a high price."

Thinking of the abundant water system and rich resources in the Holy Acropolis, Todd asked: "Can't the Holy Acropolis exchange any property or resources for food?"

Cumberland shrugged: "I also asked Gordon about this matter. He said that the treasury of the Holy Acropolis has long been empty, and the most valuable things in it are the rats that dig holes everywhere. Last week, members of the royal family celebrated their birthdays and wanted to hold a shabby dinner. They had to borrow money from the rich nobles. Even this time, when the entire mission traveled to the Muxi Kingdom, they only managed to borrow twenty silver months."

Todd nodded. He believed Cumberland's words, and the scene at the dinner party that day was the most convincing evidence.

"The coins are gone. The only thing that can be exchanged in the Holy Acropolis is a pile of leftovers from the war." Cumberland counted them one by one with his fingers: "Sealed weapons, discarded armor, broken bows, disabled horses..."

Hearing these materials that were almost garbage, Todd couldn't hide the disappointment on his face, and asked Cumberland, "Is that all left?"

Cumberland spread his hands and nodded: "These are the only things they can exchange. Gordon said that as long as Muxi City is willing to help with food, these things can be as much as they want, and the Holy Acropolis can be responsible for the transportation of all materials, and they will not charge a penny."

When Emerson heard this, he sneered and said, "Don't say that these things don't charge money, even if it's a subsidy, I don't want it."

Seeing that Todd was silent and lost in thought, Emerson asked a little strangely: "Your Majesty, you..."

Standing up from the throne, Todd suddenly said to Cumberland: "Tell the mission of the Holy Acropolis that Muxi City will provide a certain amount of food to the Holy Acropolis within its ability. In addition, regarding the waste war materials, Muxi City will accept them as they are ordered, and will pay a reasonable amount in addition to the aided food."