The piercing sound of the whistle echoed under the dome made of steel and concrete. The steam-belching "Nova" train slowly drove into the Royal Capital Central West Station and stopped at the position prepared for it like a clock.

No more, no less.

Behind the front of the car, which is full of art and even decorated with bronze statues, more than twenty carriages opened one after another, like whales breathing in the water, spitting out piles of passengers one after another.

They seemed to have finally saved up enough money and were traveling together as a tour group. As soon as they got off the bus and before leaving the platform, they began to shout and praise the surrounding towering vaults and magnificent buildings; limited.

A few of them tried to stay calm, but they couldn't hide the surprise in their eyes.

Although they have already seen the majesty of the ice peaks in the morning light, the vastness of the turbulent sea, and the bustling "big cities" such as Carindia Port, North Port, and Sailing City, everyone in the Storm Legion is not surprised. It is said that they are not surprised by this "wonder".

And "Shanda" already has a considerable degree of immunity.

Even so, the soldiers and officers in the legion who came to Clovis City for the first time were still stunned and stared at the "surreal" scenery in their eyes.

For those who have long been accustomed to the power of nature, the shock and impact of huge man-made buildings are already beyond words, and are even almost incomprehensible.

The ground under your feet is so flat that no trace of potholes can be seen, the iron pillars with carved beams and painted buildings are integrated into one, and there are hundreds of thousands of them in the vaults, like the shining lights of stars...

As the leading and to some extent almost the only "industrial city" in Clovis, the city of Clovis has a completely different scenery from the entire world of order; and the steam train station that links the royal capital to the kingdom has this point.

The most perfect cash withdrawal.

From the moment you step into it, you will no longer see anything related to "nature"; the ground under your feet, the space to your left and right, the sky above your head...

Even the air you breathe - the steam - is the product of human construction and construction; even if it is described as stepping into another world, it is not an exaggeration.

Well, Anson Bach had a similar attitude when he first came to Clovis City...of course he was the "real" Anson.

After getting off the car and standing on the edge of the platform, looking at the familiar and unfamiliar scenery in front of him, Anson found that he suddenly felt like "I'm home":

"Finally...back."

"That's right, Lisa and Anson are back!" The girl following him was also filled with joy, and tears couldn't stop flowing from the corners of her mouth:

"Cherry cake, chocolate pie, apple pie, cookie pudding tart... Lisa is back!"

As if to celebrate this rare moment, the girl even changed into a brand new and close-fitting new military uniform in the car early - wearing a three-cornered hat with feathers on one side, and Anson's past middle school uniform over the standard red and black uniform.

The school black windbreaker is unbuttoned and tied with a wide belt, and a thick and long red scarf is randomly draped in front and behind the body, fluttering in the wind like the hem of the clothes.

In comparison, Anson wore much simpler clothes, just the ordinary General Clovis uniform.

"Yeah, it's hard to imagine that almost two years have passed since the start of the Hantu War." Holding a briefcase that was not light at all, the little secretary walked in from behind:

"When we set out, Sir Anson Bach was only the lieutenant colonel, but now he has become one of the few brigadier generals in the entire Clovis...Such an amazing change is rare even in the history of Clovis since its founding.

ah."

"As for the Storm Regiment, which once had only one infantry regiment, it has grown into a standing corps; Lieutenant Colonel Fabian, Chief of Staff Karl, and officers who joined one after another... On the long journey, there are more and more people you can trust and rely on.

Companions continue to join in, and of course there are also former friends saying goodbye." The little secretary suddenly raised his head:

"Their appearance and departure must have had a profound impact on Lord Anson and changed him a lot, right?"

"...So be it." Anson replied casually, maybe it was because he was back in a familiar place again, especially after seeing the reinforced concrete creation, he felt really good.

I remember that the first time I came to Clovis City - of course I am now - was in winter, and it happened to be winter in Clovis City now, and the 102nd year of the Saints' Calendar was just around the corner.

At that time, I had just had a conflict with the Guards, and I got to know Draco, the big troublemaker. Carrying a box full of black materials, he got off the car here with Lisa, who had a suspicious identity. All his body was only given by Ludwig.

The check is considered a property, like a canoe in the huge waves, powerless and passive.

Now, I am equally passive. The difference is that I have this legion behind me, from a colonel to a brigadier general, and...

"Then what have you changed?" Looking down at Allen, Anson suddenly said.

"I?"

The little clerk was stunned for a moment, as if he was embarrassed and confused, but it was only for a moment: "I haven't changed anything."

"I was your secretary when I set out, and I am still the Protector of Order now; I am your humble and unworthy servant, someone you can always rely on to carry out your plans and complete the mission entrusted to you.

Everything is based on your interests.”

"No matter now, in the past, or in the future, your secretary will never change." The little secretary was even very proud:

"No matter how the world goes, stay the same, remain unmoved, and do your best to protect the master you are loyal to. This is a creed that you will stick to even if you are humble."

Seeing his proud expression, Anson involuntarily raised the corners of his mouth.

Of course, it was not the little clerk who tried his best to show his loyalty, but the two clerks of the War Department, Crown and Russell.

Compared with the shouting Storm Legion and the Free Confederate envoys who were praising their winning streak, the two of them alone had a completely different style.

From North Port to Clovis City, although the Nova was much faster than ordinary steam trains, it still took a full twelve days.

Twelve days... Even if it involves coercion and inducement, normally one or two officers should be able to pry open their mouths and get some useful information.

But the result was that the two men were busy from morning to night, and all the officers, without exception, interrogated him alone, using coercion and inducement, but they did not get any information that was detrimental to Anson Bach himself.

The first few days were fine, but as they got closer and closer to their destination, the two people who had never achieved results became more desperate and began to resort to unscrupulous means to intimidate the officers or make various unrealistic promises.

In the end, they didn't even dare to say that the War Department was targeting the entire Storm Legion. They questioned Anson himself individually, and kept giving various hints to the officers under interrogation. As long as they gave the information, they could be exchanged for promotion and reuse by the War Department. Still nothing happened.

to any effect.

The two of them completely collapsed, along with Carl Bain, who was responsible for dealing with these two people throughout the entire process.

He originally thought that the Army Department had spent so much effort to specifically and deliberately target the Storm Legion, and that its methods must have no bottom line, be ruthless and unscrupulous.

He made full preparations for this... Although time was tight, he still used the limited opportunity to talk to all the middle and lower-level officers one by one, racking his brains to say good things to a certain bastard boss, and tried to make sure that everyone was the same without exception.

, everything can be taken care of, and various urgent needs can be met as much as possible.

So what vicious tricks did the people in the War Department use?

That's right, they offered a heavyweight bargaining chip: "As long as they are willing to frame Anson, they can be reused by the War Department and be promoted quickly."

Are you kidding me?!

Asking subordinates to betray their superiors for the sake of their future is despicable, but it does not exist, and is not even particularly rare within the army system; after all, we are all just living, and our superiors are not relatives, so what if we betray them?

But the problem is that the two clerks in charge of the interrogation are unwilling to explain the key issues of how to be promoted, where to be promoted, and how many levels can be promoted - then who dares to speak!

After all, if the promotion is a real promotion, but you still end up having to see the boss you betrayed all day long, what would it be like?

Furthermore, in fact, most middle- and lower-level officers have a very indifferent view of things like military ranks; they actually know very well that they are just ordinary people. Even if they become regiment commanders or division commanders, their abilities and backgrounds cannot support such promotion. In the end,

If you don't make a fuss, you'll just end up being someone who blames others - what's the use of that?

In comparison, real money is obviously more practical; if you throw out twenty to thirty thousand gold coins in cash, you can still find anyone who dares to be a traitor.

But even with this level of sincerity, the two officials of the War Department could not show it. They only said that they could double the other party's allowance, and also hinted that three or four times was not impossible.

The allowances of the Clovis Army are not large. The lieutenant colonel level is already equivalent to the monthly income of a senior lecturer in the college. Even if a captain wants to live an ordinary life in Clovis City relying only on the allowance, it will not be too difficult. It is no longer the case.

A small sum of money.

If this proposal was still very tempting to the ordinary officers of the Storm Legion before going to Beluga Port, now... even if it were doubled ten times, it would be impossible for the officers of the Storm Legion to agree without seeing real money.

Twelve days of torture, day and night, finally made Croun and Russell understand that the Storm Legion had been managed by Anson into his own private kingdom and had become an iron-clad wall that outsiders could not touch at all.

In any other situation, this behavior of "bribing subordinates and forming gangs" would be the most serious crime in itself, but he was still a colonial legionnaire - yes, because on the eve of the Holy War, everyone in Clovis wanted to

In order to avoid the problem of losing territory and to attract the attention of the empire, the Storm Legion, which they regarded as outcasts, was reorganized into the Colonial Legion.

Since the blame needs to be passed, of course the Storm Legion must be given sufficient autonomy. Therefore, the current situation is that except Sophia, the governor of Ice Dragon Fjord, no one is qualified to accuse Anson on this issue.

At this point, the two of them are basically at their wits' end... At their level, of course it is impossible to make empty promises about how many ranks officers can be promoted to, especially those officers who are already majors and lieutenant colonels. No matter how high they are, they will meet the threshold of generals.

Yes, even a fool knows they can't give it.

Similarly, they don't have that much real money. Doubling the subsidy is almost the maximum promise they can give, but this is not attractive at all to the Storm Legion, which has shares, dividends, and has accumulated a large amount of loot.

.

The only thing they can do now is to bring back this big troublesome Anson Bach as soon as possible and let the adults in the War Department know that the two of them did not do nothing, but they still played a little role.

"Wait a minute, how can such a cheap thing happen?"

Before the two of them could step forward, a voice that seemed full of complaints suddenly broke into the platform: "I cleared the station for an hour just for you, and are you going to leave so carelessly?"

The people who were shouting and excited finally calmed down, and turned to look at the man in black who was walking towards the commander-in-chief of the Storm Legion: "Also... By the way, weren't you supposed to arrive at three o'clock sharp, why are you fifteen minutes late?

"

"When we set out, the people of Beigang were too enthusiastic and delayed us for a quarter of an hour." Ansen looked back at the other party, and the corners of his raised lips did not loosen:

"Also, we are not leaving carelessly, but we are going to the Ministry of War to be questioned by the chief judge of the Seeking Truth Order, His Excellency Cole Dorian."

Um?!

The moment the words fell, the expressions of the two clerks from the War Department who had just stepped forward suddenly changed and they instinctively stopped.

"I don't care whether it's the War Department or not. The Truth Seeking Order is directly under the Inquisition and only accepts the dual leadership of the Holy See and Clovis Cathedral." Cole looked unreasonable:

"Anson Bach, due to your suspicious behavior during the Holy War, from now on you will be under 24-hour surveillance by the inquisitor until the cathedral or the Holy See considers that your suspicion has been lifted."

"Before this, no matter where you go, our appointed judge will follow you. Even if you eat and sleep, he will be with you."

"Oh, then may I ask who the designated judge is..."

"Myself." Cole raised his head slightly: "The Chief Inquisitor is personally watching, so you should feel deeply honored!"

"This..." Anson looked at Cole, and then at the two Army Department clerks in the distance: "It's not too bad, isn't it?"

"What's wrong? Are you questioning the Holy See's decision?"

"Of course not, it's just..."

"Just what?"

"Would it be wrong for people to think that the truth-seeking cultivator is...actually quite idle if you go out of your way to do this yourself?"

"Quite free?!"

Cole was furious: "You guys, do you know how much we have delayed just because you came back suddenly?!"

"Especially the 'whispers' that I am currently trying to track down. If you hadn't delayed me, I might have been long ago..."

"Wait a minute, whisper?" Anson suddenly frowned:
Chapter completed!