OR1-EP3: The Bloody Coat of Arms (8)

The Knights of the Rounds of the Britannian Empire is a special unit directly under the Emperor, whose main job is to defend the Emperor in normal times, while they are often sent to the front lines as military commanders when war breaks out. The establishment of the Knights of the Rounds had a total of 12 members, though most of the time it was not a full complement, for example, currently there were only 11 Knights of the Rounds under Charles III. For those nobles who are loyal to the Britannian Empire, being a member of the Knights of the Rounds is a great honor, while behind the scenes there are many struggles between the nobles. There is no doubt that the Knights of the Rounds are the closest military officials to the Emperor himself, and if the Knights of the Rounds were to plot against him, the consequences would be unimaginable. In addition, some nobles who wished to have influence in the court would try to support other nobles or sons of their own families who shared their interests to become Knights of the Rounds. As a result, the selection of the Knights of the Rounds became a mess for a while, and the loyalty of these close guards themselves was questionable.

According to the information McNeil had learned, Knights of the Rounds needed to have outstanding talent in personal martial arts and military strategy. The former was considered a major factor more than a hundred years ago, while today the latter dominated. However, the martial tradition of the nobles of the Britannian Empire remained unchanged, and the Knights of the Rounds who did not have the force commensurate with their position were often despised or even assassinated, and over time no physically weak nobles dared to volunteer to compete for the position of Knight of the Rounds. In addition, the Knights of the Rounds is only a status, and apart from the fact that the Knight of the One must be the unimpeachably strongest (a position that has a privilege that none of the other Knights of the Rounds have: personal territories), the eleven starting from the Knight of Two may have both generals and junior officers, the order of which signifies the degree of importance held by the Emperor rather than the actual treatment. The mixing of middle-aged and older men in their fifties and sixties with teenagers in the Knights of the Rounds wasn't exactly news, either; it had happened many times in the past.

McNeil initially blamed the priest a little; he hadn't expected the priest to keep this meeting from him. Of course, he was even more surprised that the priest might have known that he and Bradow von Breisgau had gone on a secret search for the exiles and learned that some of them had been captured, but even so, Father Palaskas still did not want to tell McNeil about it, perhaps in his eyes the talks had to be kept strictly confidential from McNeil. The meeting room was full of people with their own agendas, and McNeil and Wang Shuang complicated the situation by stirring things up.

"I am surprised that you are actually talking about the South African issue." The Knight of the Rounds was also really taken aback, "Before we discuss this issue, I wish to learn your identity and related interests in South Africa."

"I don't just give my name to unidentified guys." McNeil tapped the desktop, "Although I can guess your identity by simply looking for information about the Knights of the Rounds, I think you should declare yourself as a sign of good faith."

Hearing this, the Knight of the Rounds immediately stood up placing his right hand flat on his chest and said in English with a German accent:

"Knight of Five, Bismarck Waldstein."

"I'm Michael McNeil ... I actually have some business to do in South Africa." McNeil remembered the identity that had been given to him to use as a disguise, "However, your country's continued illegal activities in South Africa have seriously affected local business development and market order in South Africa. Please do not need to deny that a Britannian officer named Darlton has been supporting armed rebel groups there, causing non-negligible casualties to the military. Now, if His Imperial Majesty the Emperor wishes to receive support from our EU, then he must stop interfering in Africa."

The priest did not expect McNeil to use this opportunity to lash out, and he had even forgotten that there was such a thing. In the eyes of Father Palaskas, it was quite dangerous to make such a condition; McNeil had already exposed a part of his true identity to his enemies. A person who was completely uninterested in South Africa would not bring up conditions related to South Africa, and the Britannian Empire would find out that Michael McNeil's entire identity was false with just a little bit of investigation, as he was originally a mysterious person who had appeared out of thin air. At that point, perhaps the Britannian Empire would respond accordingly to this reality, and the EU's disguise would be completely invalidated.

"This matter is not within my purview." Bismarck unexpectedly began to shirk his responsibility, "Mr. McNeil, Cleric Palaskas, Knights of the Rounds have never been able to control intelligence services involved in activities outside our borders. His Imperial Majesty has only allowed me the flexibility to give the appropriate terms in my capacity as a Knight of the Rounds, and the problems you have described are beyond the limits of what we can afford."

"Then there is no need for you to come to us." McNeil said in a stern voice, "Your Grace, our EU delegation came all the way here in the hope of reaching an agreement that would ensure long-term stability and prosperity for the citizens of both our countries, and for your Emperor to send you, who can't even make a decision, to conduct negotiations, completely disregards us."

"McNeil-" Father Palaskas hastened to tug on his shirt from behind, yanking McNeil back into his seat. Slightly apologetic, he said to Bismarck, "I'm sorry, Mr. McNeil's temper has always been fiery, he's just in a bit of a hurry."

"I can understand that, in the place of a foreign country wreaking havoc on our soil, I would only be more anxious than he is." Bismarck nodded, "I will convey this matter to His Imperial Majesty truthfully ... but I believe that the topic of discussion between our two sides should be centered within our country."

McNeil looked at Bismarck, who looked victorious, and pondered the other party's true intentions. After the infighting in the Britannian Empire became public, any power interested in intervening and profiting from the situation in the Empire would choose to support either the Emperor or the big noble groups, while some smart businessmen supported both sides. The deal is equal on the surface, with the EU businessmen hoping to gain concessions and the nobles gaining revenue, the only victims being only the commoners of the nobility's name, who are little more than cheap expendable goods in the Britannian Empire. McNeil believed that while the Emperor was able to offer a greater bargaining chip, this Emperor Charles was bound to go back on his word. He had enlisted the support of the EU only to defeat his opponents, never to swear allegiance to Paris with a dead heart - and certain nobles had indeed given the EU everything they could sell.

Nearly two hundred years on, the fanaticism has long since disappeared without a trace, and as long as the Britannian Empire doesn't continue to cry foul, the EU might be happy to continue doing business with them. However, the nobles can cause as much trouble as they can help them in business. When the nobles think that the EU's merchants can bring them inexhaustible profits, they will agree to all conditions; conversely, when the nobles realize that these merchants are a not-so-subtle threat, they can tear up all contracts at their whim. Contracts are thus unreliable in the Britannian Empire, and all power of interpretation rests solely in the hands of the individual. The treacherous merchants who dug their heels in hoping to blackmail the Britannian nobility properly with contracts and paperwork ended up getting screwed over by the same black-hearted nobility, and they fled back to Europe in disarray, complaining to their countrymen about the inhumanity of the monarchy.

"Let's attach a condition, that the Britannian Empire restarts its arms sales program to the Southern Court Protectorate." Wang Shuang suddenly spoke, "This is also fair to your EU. Both of us, the Nanting Protectorate and you EU, are both a big problem for the Chinese imperial government, and if we are unable to hold the imperial court at bay in the South Seas, your Lingbei defense line will be under tremendous pressure."

McNeil was about to say that in fact the Nanting Protectorate's weapons were all homegrown and self-produced, when Wang Shuang signaled him to never make a sound.

"That's feasible, but only in the name of the nobility and not the empire." Bismarck drew a few strokes on the document, "We, the Britannian Empire, are under siege on both oceans and cannot allow the situation we face to continue to deteriorate. If that king of yours does not value the name, then this matter will be resolved according to our program."

The representatives of both sides signed their respective names, while then stowing the documents in their briefcases and leaving the meeting in twos and threes. Priest Palaskas was about to follow them out when he was stopped by McNeil. The priest looked somewhat sheepishly at the cold-faced McNeil and grabbed the opportunity to speak:

"It's none of my business, I'm just doing what everyone else thinks."

"I don't care why you kept it from me, everyone has many secrets." McNeil pressed the priest against the wall, "But I am curious as to what on earth could have made the Parisian side determined to keep this group of exiles? You seemed more nervous than anyone else when I said it didn't matter if they were all executed by the Britannian Empire."

Knowing that he couldn't hide it anymore, the priest simply gave it all away.

"There are too many delicious and lazy nobles, and too many commoners who can only barely support themselves." The priest watched Wang Shuang lead a few guards downstairs before he dared to continue speaking, "But this time is different, we are likely to take in some truly valuable characters. Critics at home and abroad now believe that civil war is likely to break out in the Britannian Empire, even many of the Empire's nobles think so. Some scientists and officers or officials who hold classified information don't want to be victims of a civil war, and they have little loyalty to the Emperor and the Empire, so they are planning to come and join us EU. if they are intercepted, the loss we suffer is not as simple as a few hundred soldiers."

Governor-general Herzog had never spoken to McNeil about this, and the priest himself had never mentioned it before then. In other words, they thought it best for McNeil not to be informed, or perhaps thought McNeil didn't deserve to learn about it. However, letting McNeil make the decision, he wouldn't just let an outsider learn such important information.

"So, this is a big fish. How big is that?"

The priest saw the anger on McNeil's face fade, and the fear within him disappeared. He originally had no need to be afraid of McNeil, he was a young and talented clergyman, and McNeil was nothing more than a ... hobo who looked up to the Governor-general's promotion to be able to travel with him. However, he had always felt that under McNeil's young and energetic body lay a devil, and that given the devil a chance it could burn the world to the ground.

"There are five professors who do engine research." The priest said, "Do you know their value? The transcendent thinking of those research directions related to cutting-edge technology often rests on a handful of people. A student who fails a test and storms into a faculty member's office and goes on a killing spree in order to vent his anger could cause the level of technology and theory in a certain field to directly regress by fifty years ... They're now coming to defect to us EU, and their seats there in Paris are reserved. We already have a technological advantage, and with a little more effort, we could achieve a complete technological blockade of the Britannian Empire."

"... And if their homegrown scientists achieve something, we poach them with high salaries?" McNeil found this approach familiar.

"That's it." The priest patted his vestments proudly, "Science and technology help to give people a better understanding of this world the Lord has created; life is not meant to be lived in order to die in ignorance, and it is the greatest blasphemy to foolishly and ignorantly speculate on the Lord's will."

He hardly looked like a priest. McNeil had met quite a few clergymen in his life, and some of them couldn't even stand doctrines like evolution that were full of holes compared to their derivative development, let alone the sciences that tried to probe into the origins of the world. However, since Father Palaskas had always said that he had decided to join the Church based on his interest and faith, it was assumed that he had always had the ability to think independently and was not a repeater of people's opinions.

"And?"

"An Army full general, I heard that he was serving as an undersecretary of War, it seems that he was involved in some case and decided to choose exile." The priest didn't dare to use an affirmative tone, "That's the army's problem, nothing to do with us."

The two of them descended the stairs and prepared to leave the martial arts center. However, just as they arrived at the entrance, they saw Wang Shuang arguing with several Britannia police officers who were shoving a teenager into a police car.

"What happened?" McNeil hurriedly ran all the way up, "What's going on?"

"He's suspected of printing and distributing banned books." A police officer said with a straight face, "It's The Social Contract, which is strictly forbidden in the Empire ..."

"Nonsense." Wang Shuang was furious, "What does a teenager know? I'll pull your muscle stuffed head off and kick it as a ball ..."

Although Wang Shuang was very angry, but he finally gave up the intention of direct action, he recently got into enough trouble. Looking at the police's distant back, Wang Shuang cursed.

"Are they getting used to come straight here to arrest anyone?" McNeil looked at the sign above, "I thought they'd be careful a bit after seeing you."

"How high do you think the colonel can get?" Wang Shuang crouched depressed and angry beside the street, "To those noble lords, it's just a title they casually apply for their teenage daughters or sons."

TBC

Chapter Notes:

Keyword Explanation:

Lingbei (嶺北), the name given by the Chinese Federation and its sphere of influence to the Siberian region.

I mean, ah, I know it's crazy, but considering the Britannian Empire's complete rejection of all sorts of social ideology born after the Age of Enlightenment, book and newspaper censorship would only be as harsh as it would be in a totalitarian state.