OR1-EP3: The Bloody Coat of Arms (4)

Michael McNeil, dressed in a brand-new suit, sat alone in a corner, watching like a statue the people who passed in front of him from time to time. Some people would stop to watch curiously, but before long they left in disappointment, no one would want to gather around a stranger who would not react to the outside world. This place was filled with dignitaries from the Britannian Empire who were either enthusiastic or pretending to be enthusiastic as they talked to their peers about important business-related issues, which is why McNeil's idiosyncratic behavior was so out of place.

"Is this performance art, sir?" A somewhat shaven nobleman saw McNeil sitting still and couldn't help but become curious.

McNeil nodded slightly as an answer.

"So, is this art popular over at EU?" The nobleman seemed to have developed interest, "I don't know what kind of aesthetics you have over there. Honestly, our style in Britannia has always been very rigid, I see that the art needs to be infused with fresh blood ... but many people scoff at your art."

"Then you had better not learn." McNeil finally spoke up, "I can guarantee you won't like the various arts that are currently popular in Europe ... At least, there's no way for me personally to appreciate them."

After speaking, he maintained his original stance, drawing attention from the crowd. This meeting place was the private residence of the contemporary Duke Bradow of Breisgau, who had completely removed those useless arrangements inside and punched through the walls that didn't affect the overall stability of the building, making the mansion an excellent meeting place. A few more paintings had been given to him by some reputable nobles, and these treasures from the hands of famous artists now hung on one of the side walls. McNeil thought, not without malice, that if he managed to snatch one of the paintings from the scene, his livelihood for the rest of his life would be taken care of.

"McNeil?" Someone put their hand in front of his eyes and shook it. McNeil looked up to find the priest in vestments looking at him anxiously.

"What's up?"

"What's up! God. We need to show our backbone on this occasion, but you're playing dead here." The priest sighed, "You're not still thinking about that shooting on the road, are you?"

"Indeed." McNeil padded his arms on his legs and folded his hands together, looking like he was saying a prayer, "I always thought you were a real hero, and I didn't realize-"

"McNeil, I didn't make a title for myself by recklessly going around delivering justice." The priest begged for mercy in a hurry, "If I did that, they'd have arrested and executed me here last time. I had to convince them I would be oblivious to everything so I could witness all the behavior and tell the truth to the others."

McNeil didn't want to use the issue to blame the priests. The hierarchical atmosphere of the Britannian Empire was stifling, and even the foreigners living here were indirectly bound to it; it was simply hard for McNeil to imagine how those commoners had endured here for more than a hundred years-no, why would they? There had been countless rebellions instigated by the nobility, but very few revolts by the commoners; perhaps the commoners of the empire had succumbed to their fate and were determined not to believe that there was anything in the world that could change it. Of course, McNeil didn't believe it either, and he wasn't aware of any new ideas that could shake the empire to its foundations.

"Mr. McNeil." Bradow von Breisgau walked towards McNeil, "I was in a hurry to run an errand two days ago, and I forgot to say ... hello to Mr. François Malcal for me when you return to the EU."

McNeil nodded woodenly and asked out of habit, "He is a friend of yours, right?"

"No, a friendship between our two families." Bradow smiled, "Our family's real estate in Europe has long been managed by the Malcal family, and they also pass on all the income they get from relying on the land to us every year. By the way, what kind of business do you do in EU?"

McNeil hadn't been in business at all, and he wasn't a businessman, his only knowledge of these areas beyond his line of work came from his life experience over the past few decades.

"Yes, there is some knowledge of business ..." McNeil pinched the cuffs of his suit restlessly and swallowed hard on something that wasn't there, "... that is, in charge of coming up with ideas and then letting the real techies do the work."

The priest stood beside McNeil with a smile on his face, his task was to prevent McNeil from being exposed. McNeil himself was the only one in the delegation who was a combat expert sent only to cause trouble, everyone else was a commoner with no hand arms and no ability to fight against the dangers that might come their way. Perhaps, McNeil could use this opportunity to become friends with Duke of Breisgau, but the consequences of being exposed were something the duke himself could not afford.

"I'm interested in that." Bradow pointed to a crowded group of nobles on the other side of the hall, "They are also interested in your business. We have some noble families in the Britannian Empire that specialize in technology."

The priest's heart rose in his throat as he looked nervously at the equally nervous McNeil, and the atmosphere was a little awkward.

"Confidential." McNeil gave a forced smile, "You see, if I told you, I would be a sinner of the EU."

The statement was a bit impolite, but at least it spared all sorts of subsequent trouble. Bradow seemed a bit reluctant, but he soon had to go and greet another honored guest. Those who were able to come here were all dignified nobles, some of whom had backgrounds and power no less than Duke of Breisgau himself, and the young duke had to be careful with them so as not to bury his own and his family's future if something went wrong.

McNeil decided to leave his place and visit the paintings. However, within ten minutes, he was disappointed. The painters of the Britannian Empire were not sure if they were limited by imperial power or tradition, but the style of their works was almost uniform, and there was little to interest the viewer other than depicting the great deeds of the Empire's history that were written up in great detail. McNeil crossed a corridor and at the end ran into a nobleman who was also admiring the painting.

"What's this painting about?"

"The Civil War." The aristocrat replied briefly, "It's a scene from the talks. You see, this is Lorenzo, the Duke of Soresi of that generation; this is Alto Weinberg, Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Army, the one standing in front of Lorenzo; and this is Her Imperial Majesty ..."

McNeil looked at the composition of the painting and casually pointed to Lorenzo, who was on the right side:

"I don't remember him being that short. The history books say he was a giant-like behemoth."

"That would be true, but the artist couldn't have painted it that way." The nobleman shook his head, "Someone used to paint Napoleon Bonaparte, that bastard ... ah no, anyway I mean your Marshal Bonaparte was painted too tall, and then that painter was arrested."

McNeil walked away disappointed, unable to understand the ecology of imperial society. A few nobles next to him were discussing the murder that had occurred during the day, and McNeil sensed that things might not be going well for the officer who called himself Wang Shuang. The nobleman who was shot dead on the spot by Wang Shuang was named Damien Allard, a Knight who earned a large family fortune through trickery and deceit, and his protector was the Shaing family who belonged to the Imperial Order of St. Michael and had held a prominent position in the Order for generations. However, the young man who was killed by Sir Allard, named Chi Wenchang, was the eldest son of the former South Court Protectorate's Chief of Army, Chi Guohu. This old master is considered to be a powerful figure in the South Court's army, and his disciples and officials are all over the Oceania. Although Wang Shuang was considered to have avenged former Chief of Army's son's death, but after all, he had failed in his duty, and everyone is afraid that he will have to suffer after returning to his country.

"You say, this Colonel Wang couldn't possibly have expected that the Chief of Army's son would come to the embassy to decorate his seniority, much less that a tiny knight would dare to kill him without asking." The Britannian noble next to him was still lamenting, "The Shaing family is considered to be blamed, and there's no chance that His Imperial Majesty will throw them out as scapegoats."

"But the Grand Duke will protect them."

"Nonsense. What other say does the Grand Duke have? He's nothing but Emperor's uncle."

McNeil initially thought that they were talking about Grand Duke of Velaines, but then he reacted to the fact that these nobles were talking about Grand Duke Louis, the uncle of Emperor Charles. This Grand Duke Louis in Britannian Empire is also considered a famous person, when Charles' parents died, he had tried his best to fight for the Crown Prince qualification to the old Emperor Stephen II, but unexpectedly in the end, the old Emperor still chose to set up the first second grandson Charles as the Crown Prince, after that, it seems that Grand Duke Louis has lost his power and faded away from the public view, some people say that he has already been secretly imprisoned by the old Emperor. Such a guy who is nothing but a title, is considered that his influence on the empire is not as great as that of the Duke of Breisgau.

McNeil intended to go to the restroom. He noticed that there were also some expensive paintings hanging in the restroom, and the characters on them made him feel uneasy. No one know which guy who didn't know the rules had put these portraits in the restroom, and the person who came up with this idea was determined to embarrass the guests. The ex-commander who pretended to be a business elite laughed and twisted his head into the toilet. When he came out, he couldn't help but look at the portraits a few more times.

Suddenly, a slim hand rested on his shoulder. McNeil was so startled that he immediately broke away and turned around only to see a youth wrapped in a black robe staring straight at him. This young man had a head of long black hair that almost touched the ground, and his appearance was so clean-cut that it was similar to a type of popular actor that McNeil often saw in TV dramas. What struck McNeil as most strange was that the youth's eyes were flashing with two red bird of prey symbols.

"Why did you come back?" The youth looked at McNeil angrily, "You broke your word."

McNeil took a few steps backward until his back touched the wall.

"I don't know about you."

"You betrayed us all ...," the youth was still talking to himself, "You swore an oath to me to spend the rest of your life protecting Britannia, and this is how you respond to my trust in you? You've wronged Haltia, you don't deserve to call yourself a Lamperouge ... Michael McNeil, I should have known you were one of them."

McNeil's inner alarm increased to an unprecedented level. This young man of unknown origin had actually stated his name accurately, and his look of righteous indignation did not look like a forgery.

"I don't know what you're talking about." McNeil straightened his suit, "Besides, I'm an EU citizen now."

"EU?" The youth seemed to have heard something extremely horrible, "You defected to the EU?"

"It's not called defecting ... What else could I do?" McNeil said irritably, "Look, I don't know who you are or what you're talking about. The only thing I know is that you are suddenly speaking to me on this occasion about subjects that are personal and private, and I don't know how you know about them." He was ready to resolve the issue by means of force, "Get out of here while I still intend to be reasonable."

"What are you doing?"

McNeil whipped his head around to find Bradow von Breisgau standing in the doorway.

"Someone's after me." McNeil pointed inside the restroom, only to find that the youth had disappeared.

"You're talking to the mirror." Duke of Breisgau looked at McNeil with a strange look, "You don't have any mental problems, do you?"

McNeil felt embarrassed, he had no idea how to explain this. That youth was just going to grab his clothes and force him to ask him something, but now he immediately disappeared without a trace, anyone else who encountered this kind of haunted matter would be confused.

"Just think of it as me encountering a ghost." McNeil laughed, "By the way, you were just talking to me about the Malcal family, and I would like to verify the truth of a rumor."

"Go ahead."

"I've heard that you are engaged in a special kind of human trafficking business." McNeil was talking about covering for exiles smuggled into the EU, and he had learned this piece of information from Governor-general Herzog.

Bradow stood still for a few seconds in thought and replied hesitantly:

"Indeed. So, you are also in the industry?"

"Of course." McNeil rubbed his hands together, "The situation is like this, considering the treacherous environment of your country lately, I'm afraid that there will be a lot of people who choose to flee ... If you are well informed enough, you can give us an accurate reply, and we can also pick up at any time."

Duke of Breisgau maintained his original demeanor as he unhurriedly said to McNeil, "You can't just jump to conclusions about this kind of thing, perhaps you can only come up with a correct statement after observing the scene. However, I believe this is temporary. After His Imperial Majesty has swept away the vermin that have jeopardized the empire, perhaps you won't have the opportunity to do this kind of business again in the future."

McNeil stuck his hands in his coat pockets and revealed a playful smile.

"Not necessarily. Hoping that the emperor's brilliance will save the country is less reliable than praying all day."

TBC

Chapter Notes:

Indeed, even considering the escape from the EU military threat, it was almost unthinkable in the 19th century for the Britannian Empire to run off to the Mexican desert to establish a new capital. Rather than being an choice, it was more like the imperial family being banished to the West by the magnate nobility.

Grand duke Louis is the name of a person who appears only once in the Light novels' version. The personal name was initially intended for Charles, and when the Emperor's name was settled on Charles, the alternate Louis turned out to be the name of another member of the imperial family.