Chapter 1048: Chapter 842: Honest Spies
When Andreju’s name was mentioned, Hill, who was lazily lounging in his chair, couldn’t help but pour himself a drink, cheerfully shifting into a more comfortable position.
The Prince of Anmur, who had broken Hill’s minimum expectations for normal human intelligence, must have done something earth-shattering again… At the mention of his name, the spies sent by the Great Nobility from the internally strife-laden Border Kingdoms fell silent in annoyance… The petty power struggles between the nobles of their nation were just everyday occurrences in Toril and paled in comparison to Andreju’s feats.
The King of Anmur… no, according to the state’s own designation, it should be Mesako Slanjianter, the highest-level member of the Five-Person Council… However, their various rules and traditions were inherited from the original Kalisha Chieftain Nation, thus maintaining a monarchy under a different name.
Hill always referred to him as the King because he simply couldn’t get used to a hereditary presidency… still essentially a primogeniture system.
As the head of the entire family, the King of Anmur was compelled to spend a hefty sum to ransom his foolish brother, and then furiously confiscated all of Andreju’s domestic assets to compensate the soldiers who died because of his stupidity.
As for the annihilated personal guards… those who survived would never return to Andreju’s side; they preferred to become bodyguards for merchant guilds in small Anmur cities instead… For his idiotic brother, who was left penniless, the King of Anmur threw him into a modest villa on the outskirts of the Capital, providing him with basic meals for sustenance.
As infuriating as it was, the Crown Prince who was just ransomed couldn’t be allowed to die so soon.
Having controlled the sovereignty of Anmur for many years, Mesako Slanjianter didn’t believe Andreju could do anything… even the ministers who insisted on ransoming him back were concerned about the nation’s reputation rather than Andreju himself.
Especially those military officers, who initially didn’t dare to step forward and accept that mess… fearing they would beat a Crown Prince to death in front of the soldiers.
However, he forgot that while a five-person council might be ineffective when the Slanjianter family was strong, it left the other four factions with a sliver of opportunity for advancement… even if they became the Speaker, it wouldn’t be considered usurping the throne!
The loss of Mulan created a rift in the inseparable relationship between the Slanjianter family and the Anmur military.
Though the city of Mulan wasn’t particularly important to mainland Anmur, as it was separated by a mountain range, and the so-called commercially thriving nation of Anmur primarily relied on the colonial exploitation of the Mazteck Continent for its citizens’ prosperous lives.
Yet, having Mulan under their control, albeit not in their name, provided significant implicit advantages for Anmur, especially in dealings with neighboring countries, proving extremely useful.
As long as Mulan remained in Anmur’s hands, Tethyr, the major agricultural exporter of the Ferun Great Land, was compelled to concede to Anmur in many areas to prevent their grain ships from being destroyed by pirates.
Otherwise, getting to Deepwater City wouldn’t be easy at all.
The inhabitants of the Moonshadow Archipelago and the Nailansel Archipelago were also accustomed to shopping in Mulan… as a rare deepwater harbor in a bay, Mulan seldom encountered tornadoes.
Since Anmur was established on commerce, this economic trade center was obviously held in high regard, especially because of certain pirate-related matters, with the Anmur military being the greatest beneficiary from Mulan… many items unsuitable for sale in Anmur were ultimately sold in Mulan.
No one expected Andreju to so cleanly and shamefully lose Mulan…
Mesako thought that after he personally spent a huge sum of money and distributed Andreju’s assets, everything would be fine… if he were the official King.
Of course, neither the Navy nor the majority of Anmur people held particularly high demands for their self-proclaimed King, especially since it was just a brother from a split branch of the family.
However, this world-ending disaster had the greatest impact on the countries of the Ferun Sword Gulf, especially Anmur… with the Mazteck Continent gone.
When Anmur’s massive commercial fleet and ever-expanding Navy turned their sights to the Moonshadow Archipelago and further lands like Chult, it shocked them to realize the immense influence lost with Mulan… where it was the most suitable port closest to their new targets.
The Navy quarreled once more with Speaker Slanjianter over this, but as the Clan Leader, Mesako couldn’t possibly execute his brother for what was already a resolved issue… dying outside would have been acceptable, but under his guardianship, if killed, it would be a disgrace to Mesako, who styled himself as King.
The rift between Speaker Slanjianter and the Navy slowly widened, and in his desperate search for a new port to appease the Navy, he almost considered going to Kalinsan!
But unexpectedly for this Speaker, his beloved brother Andreju, whom he defended, took an axe to the rift… even those who sought to use him to trouble the Slanjianter family did not expect him to excel so greatly.
The sparsely guarded villa where Andreju resided suddenly vanished for an entire day… a detail the Tethyr Spies were acutely aware of: the Tethyr people were quite interested in this Prince and had stationed several spies around him… their vigilance was indeed worthwhile.
According to him, those schemers initially intended only to reduce the villa’s defense level… yet they underestimated Andreju as a waste, as long as there was a single guard, even if that guard was lounging in his own room feasting, Andreju wouldn’t dare step out the front door.
The Tethyr spy vividly described how a corpulent figure spied on the main entrance from various obvious corners, only to rush madly and slowly back to his room to hide because the guard left for the restroom.
An Anmur spy, despite his face being covered in burn marks, couldn’t help but shout, “Andreju is no longer an Anmur person! He is the Prince of Mulan!”
“Who believes that?” The Tethyr spy’s dark face twisted into a sneer that everyone could see, “After all, he has the nerve to storm into a navy captain’s house, not only feasting but treating the captain’s two daughters like Scarlet Rose girls!”
“He was just foolish enough to believe that the house was still his… According to Anmur’s rules, the women in that house did indeed belong to him.” The Anmur spy explained, enduring humiliation, “The Speaker just…”
“Your fake king doesn’t care about his little brother,” the Tethyr spy loudly mocked, “but the other members of Parliament sure do!
Who doesn’t know what’s going on?
With Andreju’s head, he miraculously found his way from a small mansion to a house that supposedly belonged to him! And that house was actually rewarded to a naval officer who had suffered significant losses due to Mulan!”
An Undead Tribe woman interjected unhappily, “Is Andreju still alive? What happened to that officer?”
“That navy captain was sliced into jellyfish strips and divided into five parts to be sent to the Five-Person Parliament. The captain, along with his two daughters and his subordinates, sailed away directly!
Anmur gained a pirate group very familiar with themselves… Moreover, this one will certainly not be willing to cooperate with Anmur.” The Tethyr spy answered gleefully, “So the navy and Speaker Slanjianter had a falling out, haha!”
“Why did they fall out? Didn’t he deserve it?” The Undead Tribe had been here long enough to know what Scarlet Rose in Toril means… the flattering name for the service personnel of that special place under the Goddess of Love and Beauty’s Church.
“Andreju is a prince; he can die from the king’s poisoned wine, but he must never die by the scimitar of a common officer.” The Harpist, who had been listening nearby, spoke calmly, “Of course, the Tethyr people won’t clarify this—after all, their country’s nobles are no better. Lower-level officials wanting to rebel can only flip the table.
Anmur Navy has always been united against a common enemy, but he… hehe… the Speaker of Parliament probably feels humiliated by the navy.
A country of merchants without faith, tsk!”
Both the Anmur and Tethyr spies couldn’t help but glare at the Harpist, but because he spoke so freely, the Tethyr spy who received more healing said harshly, “Unexpectedly, someone who roams the Pasha of Kalinsan’s harem for years turns out to be a Harpist? Heh!
Those women in the harem probably don’t know the secrets of the court are being exposed from under their skirts, do they?
Being a spy for twenty years, it seems you really like this job, huh? Master Ivar Gremms.
How does it feel to be burned by the Dawn Fire? It seems the Teraxil Elves have no intention of sparing the Harpists!”
Ivar Gremms merely shrugged, “It’s enough that Miliel and the Teraxil Elves have a good relationship… Harpists just take a side job for faith, and since I can’t keep hiding my identity, I’ll just become a professor at Agleya’s Bard’s Academy.
I am not like you guys… I don’t have a boss who will kill me just because I quit.”
The followers of Miliel have always been skilled at hitting where it hurts… hitting the nail on the head, cutting to the bone.
Several spies looked dejected… being exposed to so many people at once, they didn’t know what to do next.
‘Snow Cloud Peak’ finally digested the news burst out by these spies, and scratched his head, unable to resist asking, “So, does Anmur still want to seize Mulan now?”
“They want to seize Weilun.” The Tethyr spy couldn’t help but answer, then lightly inhaled sharply himself: he just now realized he had been a little too honest.
Hill blinked; if Mulan was at the base of that U-shaped bay, Weilun would be at the top of the left line… In the eyes of the Elves, the two places are connected, after all, it is a big forest filled with all sorts of monsters.
For years now, Weilun has long since become a possession of the Elves!