OR1-EP3: The Bloody Coat of Arms (9)

The inhabitants of different parts of Pendragon have completely different lives, and the gap between nobles and commoners is as hard to cross as the moat of heaven. In this xenophobic country ruled by the nobility, there is no place for foreign commoners or immigrants, only those who have traveled to the empire are allowed to come here and are treated as nobles. As long as they did not jeopardize the empire or the emperor, foreigners could live as they pleased in Pendragon without fear of restriction-unless they ran into unreasonable nobles, such as the one who had dared to kill the nobles of the Southern Court.

When Wang Shuang returned to the office, he was not heard from, and McNeil, fearing that he had been disciplined or simply sent back to his country, inquired of others about Wang Shuang's condition. A few days later, Wang Shuang himself took the initiative to come to the hotel where McNeil was staying and invited him to visit the martial arts school again.

"I've already been there last time and something not so pleasant happened." McNeil excused himself, "I don't want to bring you bad luck."

"I'm not superstitious. If you don't go, I'll let them visit you."

McNeil didn't want to disappoint Wang Shuang and had to follow him. Halfway there, he unexpectedly encountered Bradow Von Breisgau who was traveling in the same direction, and called out to the other party in surprise. The Duke seemed surprised that McNeil would appear here and actually forgot to answer for a moment. Wang Shuang, who was following closely behind, explained to McNeil that the Duke had also received an invitation.

"You're using that martial arts center of yours as a secret stronghold, aren't you?" McNeil teased, "But, since the last talks, I'm sure the people involved have already learned its secrets."

"There's no secret, they wouldn't be able to find anything useful even if they turned the place upside down." Wang Shuang laughed out loud, "Truth be told, I did not take care of him properly and caused his honorable to be killed, so by all rights, it is absolutely impossible to continue to serve here. Fortunately, I was fortunate to be honored by the king and was given a chance to take the blame and make a contribution."

The more McNeil listened, the more wrong he felt. To take the credit for a crime, this credit could naturally only be obtained after damaging the Britannian Empire's interests, then Wang Shuang's and his situation was similar, both sides were burdened with the task of creating chaos for the Empire, while Bradow seemed to be a loyal servant of the Empire. He couldn't figure out why Wang Shuang would invite the Duke to come, but he had already seen Bradow take the initiative to talk to Wang Shuang and accepted the reality openly. Wang Shuang didn't seem like an outlaw, and Bradow wasn't a vicious man despite his scheming, so McNeil didn't believe that these two men would intentionally harm him.

The last time the Britannian police came directly to the door to arrest someone, it left a psychological shadow on the cadets, and they seemed to realize that Wang Shuang's name as a foreign officer could not protect them, nor could it scare the lawless nobles. Therefore, when some insightful cadets saw Bradow and McNeil who followed Wang Shuang inside, they took it for granted that this was a new backer that Wang Shuang had found for them, and they all looked at the two honored guests with leaps and bounds. Since Bradow von Breisgau was the contemporary patriarch of one of the major noble families in the Britannian Empire, his words could be much more powerful than the others.

"You still haven't said what you're doing at the martial arts center today." McNeil sat on a bench at the side, "Could it be that Colonel Wang intends to show off his skills before our eyes?"

"No, the one who is going to show off his skills is actually you." Wang Shuang took off his outer robe, "Although you claim to be a merchant, I see that your demeanor does not look like a merchant, at least you have practiced martial arts, and there are quite a lot of human lives in your hands. Since I started the army at the age of twenties, this skill of kung fu is rarely matched, and according to my observation, Mr. McNeil's all-around martial arts is no less than me, and even comparable to that knight of the rounds yesterday."

"In fact, there are at least two more powerful than Bismarck Waldstein-" Bradow added from the sidelines.

"That's not important." Wang Shuang made the Duke sit on the side of the audience, "McNeil, you're not a simple person, at least not a businessman, you've got something coming. However, I'm not interested in those things, rather I would like to test your skills."

McNeil didn't hate this kind of challenge; life was more exciting with challenges. He never thought that personal force could change the big picture, it was a good idea to take this kind of skill for entertainment once in a while.

Seeing McNeil's acquiescence, Wang Shuang greeted a young man who came forward. This youth had a typical oriental Asian look, with short hair and a red short-sleeved shirt, and looked at McNeil and Wang Shuang suspiciously.

"This is the most outstanding one amongst my disciples, his name is Duan Yingming, and his father is also an official of our Nanting Protectorate." Wang Shuang introduced his protégé to McNeil, "McNeil, if you have a few skills, use a few strengths."

"Hold it, Colonel Wang, the skills I learned are for killing not performing." McNeil didn't give Wang Shuang face, but splashed him head-on, "In case of an accident, I will become your enemy."

"It doesn't matter, what I taught them is also the ability to take people's lives." Wang Shuang laughed, "Compete right here, if you think fists can't show your real skill, then go for the knife."

McNeil took two short knives from Wang Shuang's hands and gazed at the opponent in front of him. McNeil might be distracted on any occasion, only in close combat can he ensure that he can focus all his energy, because the slightest mistake will lose his life. the Brotherhood of NOD also has those special combat troops who are good at fighting with the enemy, McNeil has fought with them before, those people are simply from the hell out of the soul of the devil, completely do not think about their own safety and security, and focus on eliminating the opponent. He was only interested in destroying the opponent in front of him. There was nothing to be proud of even if you won a fight with those people.

He thought of Andreas Darlton, a man who had attacked swiftly but without skill, and had quickly run out of strength before being countered by McNeil. He sincerely hoped that the opponent in front of him would not make such a mistake.

Wang Shuang waved his hand, and the two had already started fighting. McNeil remained in a defensive stance, only responding to his opponent's attacks, and looking for his opponent's loopholes. When Duan Ying Ming's stab to McNeil's left side of his ribs missed, the two short knives in McNeil's hands were already on his neck. Bradow Von Breisgau stared dazedly at the stopwatch, it hadn't even been half a minute and the fight was already over.

"That's all." McNeil walked towards Wang Shuang, "If it was a real battle, I wouldn't show any mercy."

Wang Shuang saw that McNeil was planning to put his short sword back and reached out his hand to stop him. The Army Colonel from the Nanting Protectorate took off his robe embroidered with a python on one side, and drew two short swords of the same specifications from a rack on the side.

"Continue."

Saying that, Wang Shuang swung his twin swords straight at McNeil. Once McNeil saw that his opponent was coming at him aggressively, he decided to repeat his old trick and let his opponent attack first. Unexpectedly, when the two short knives connected, a huge force traveled along the hilts of the knives to McNeil's arm, almost causing his left hand to go numb straight away. McNeil had to cautiously assess his opponent's tactics, such an enemy with amazing strength could not be won by relying on defensive tactics, he had to take the initiative and tire his opponent out. The crowd of onlookers on the sidelines only saw four short swords waving in the air, and the only sound left in the hall was the ear-splitting sound of metal clashing. The two men fought with gusto, their moves were deadly, and any blade that stuck down could put someone to death, while the students in the martial arts hall and Duke of Breisgau, who stood on the sidelines acting as an impromptu referee, were all stunned. The young Duke remembered what he had seen when he went to the Knights of the Rounds tournament as a spectator, and there were really only three of the eleven Knights of the Rounds who could compare to the two in front of him. He couldn't figure out why the EU and the Southern Court of the Protectorate, which didn't place much emphasis on individual martial arts, could also harbor talented individuals.

In the fifth minute of the battle, McNeil gradually lost the upper hand. As it turned out, he was wearing that leather jacket, which made it difficult for him to move around. After McNeil realized this, he just jumped back and threw the clothes directly towards the Duke who was standing aside, and then continued to fight with Wang Shuang. However, this negligence had already allowed Wang Shuang to seize the opportunity to take advantage of, Wang Shuang's short knife in his right hand pressed against McNeil's throat in a swift manner, while the tip of that short knife in McNeil's right hand just had time to touch the enemy blade's body.

"It seems that I'm the winner." Wang Shuang immediately stopped laughing, the reason being that McNeil did not move and tapped the inside of his right leg with the knife in his other hand.

"A draw, one cuts the throat and one becomes a eunuch." McNeil made the summation. He walked towards the outside of the arena with a ragged breath and put the knife back in its original position before joining Wang Shuang in the spectator's seat to rest. He was curious as to why this martial arts school could have so many murderous weapons that were enough to kill, although the Britannian nobles also often carried pistols or knives with them, but a blatant display of a large number of sharp weapons like Wang Shuang's behavior would still cause others to be alerted.

"McNeil, what kind of people did you learn this skill from?" Wang Shuang hurriedly asked about the cause and effect, "I don't believe there is any character in EU who would teach such a powerful technique."

"My adoptive father." McNeil blurted out the name of a person who didn't exist in this world, "He was a black man who loved these fighting skills and was good at many sports. When I was a child, I heard him say that these fighting skills were invented by a Russian, but that Russian was a lover of the classical arts, and that these skills were for long weapons ... such as those long swords used by the Knights of the Rounds of Britannia."

"That's indeed a pity, long swords will be eliminated one day, it's still dagger fighting that's a bit more popular."

McNeil asked Wang Shuang about the origin of these weapons. It turned out that all the weapons were all provided by Duke Bradow von Breisgau, recently most of the nobles smelled the danger and have been stockpiling weapons, ammunitions, and other supplies in their family mansions in case of emergency. Wang Shuang also wanted to protect himself, and he also wished to protect these trainees who followed him in martial arts, so he took this opportunity to ship in a batch of firearms. The firearms were kept in places that were not accessible to the general public, and outsiders would at most blame this martial arts school for actually using real swords.

The Breisgau family could be known as the brains of the Britannian Empire, partly because of the generations of vertical and horizontal connections, and partly because of the historical factors that had left them with a rich legacy of intelligence resources and connections. All the important news of the Britannian Empire could not be hidden from Bradow, and there was nothing that he did not know about, except for the private life of the Emperor himself. Only with enough information could one make a reasonable judgment, making a haphazard decision in a foggy situation was tantamount to seeking death. From the reaction of other nobles, Bradow judged that the Britannian Empire was rapidly heading towards civil war, which made him feel desperate and alarmed. The nobility existed in dependence on the emperor and the empire, without this premise there would be no nobility, those nobles who were rallying against Charles III were naive enough to think that continuing to weaken the emperor's authority would lead to a peaceful world, they would only get the iron fist of a foreign invader.

"You should choose to side with His Imperial Majesty." Bradow contemplated for a long time before opening his mouth to persuade the two, "I know that you two and your colleagues have a lot of opinions about him, but I don't think that will suffer more than the success of the opponents."

"Your Excellency Duke, from our intelligence, the Emperor has little chance of winning." McNeil looked at the cadets who were practicing martial arts and pondered just how useful these things were, "Most of the nobles are opposing the emperor ... only, we are not sure who their leader is. It is logical that if the nobles want to rebel, they are bound to embrace a puppet emperor. Since the Britannia Dynasty can replace the Tudor Dynasty, perhaps certain nobles with bad intentions want to embrace Grand Duke of Velaines."

"Actually, you shouldn't have handed over that list." Wang Shuang suddenly said.

"What do you mean by that?"

"After the list reaches the emperor's hands, who is a loyal subject and who is a traitor will depend on his mouth." Wang Shuang solemnly explained, "Your EU interfering in Britannia's internal issues, innately not occupying moral rights, can't stand up to defend yourselves. The Emperor can say that he got the list of rebels supported by the EU and added all the people he didn't like."

Bradow von Breisgau's first reaction was that these were all lies. However, his reason told him that what McNeil had said was correct and most likely true. The Emperor of Britannia, once he had regained his theoretical authority, would be the master of the entire empire, and no one would be able to defy his will. The old world controlled by the nobility was dying, and the rising new world was not always pretty. The EU, which had overthrown many monarchies back then, now looked twilight as well.

"But don't you worry." McNeil smiled to comfort Bradow, "If we really have to choose between the two, the Emperor and those nobles who oppose him, I personally prefer the former."

"Indeed." Wang Shuang shared the same view as McNeil, "He still has his ideals, while those people are just living for the sake of living ... because they can't just go and die, so let's just live casually."

However, perhaps McNeil will never know that the list was originally fake.

TBC

Chapter Notes:

The Britannian Empire prior to Emperor Charles' ascension to the throne was a mess to say the least, and in Charles' own words, on the verge of extinction. In the game Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion - Lost Colors, Lelouch uses the Japanese term 富國强兵 (ふこくきょうへい) to describe Britannia's goal of invading Japan. All of this proves that the Britannian Empire that Emperor Charles took over was not at all a superpower in one of the world's three poles, and even the Britannian Empire of 2010 is, to make an inappropriate analogy, the equivalent of the Empire of Japan, which has yet to complete the Meiji Restoration.

It's hard to say exactly what Bradow's political views were based on known information. He may have been a supporter of a civilian dictatorship regime (or at least in favor of centralized power), the same as Smilas.