Silent Crown

“…then, this will start another War of the Roses!” His roar was like that of a pitch-black iron whale. His voice reverberated through the heavens and echoed in everyone’s ears like thunder. “I will pay any price, bring all of my strength to bear in this battle. I will not stop until the Pure White Flag disappears from the sea forever!”

“Ignore him! He’s bluffing.” Raymond’s face went pale, but immediately after a wave of either so powerful that even an amateur could sense it came down from the sky.

“The Petitioner’s main gun is warming up!”

He stood there stiffly with sweat dripping down from his face. Within moments, he was soaked.

No, this wasn’t right…

Their negotiations had fallen apart!

They had been aborted before they even began.

Ye Qingxuan had never intended to come to the negotiating table!

B*stard! B*stard! B*stard! B*stard!

All was chaos on the bridge. The commander was crazily shouting something about his collar, but Raymond could not hear him at all.

What was going to happen next? Would he really dare to attack? Was he bluffing? Yes, he must be bluffing. He didn’t have the guts, he wouldn’t dare!

But if… if he attacked, what could they do?

The Burgundians would not just let this go. Ye Qingxuan’s attitude had already been revealed beyond a shadow of a doubt. The Sacred City had already expended so much effort to restart the War of the Roses, which had finally ended after 100 years… and the war had been facilitated by the Church… Once this got out, the Sacred City would go crazy and lose all their prestige. And the King of Red would personally turn him into a broken corpse. And then…

“Report! A massive wave of aether has appeared in the middle of the Royal Navy!” shouted the spotter. “I bet they’ve put their engines into overdrive!”

“Then counterattack! What are you standing there for?” shouted the commander. “Counterattack!”

A bone-chilling cold rose up from under their feet, chilling them from head to toe, making Raymond feel as if he was lost in an icy cave.

That was the final straw.

Looking at the crimson blood smeared all around, he finally understood why Ye Qingxuan was so uncompromising. He could do nothing else but call out, “Wait! Mr. Ye, please wait a moment…”

The emotionless countdown stopped at his voice.

A cold laugh rang out. “So, can we talk now?”

Talk? How could he talk? Raymond could feel nothing but the cold running through his body. He felt like a child who had been slapped to teach him a lesson. Even though he held a powerful borrowed weapon, in Ye Qingxuan’s eyes it was nothing but a joke.

And the fact that all he had to do was harden his heart, use the Royal Navy as a pawn and self-destruct it in order to annihilate the Phantom Fleet was no joke.

The three sides had now fallen into an awkward situation.

Ye Qingxuan was sitting on an engine that was about to explode, and he held the self-destruct button in his hand.

Either Raymond and the Burgundian commander would back down or battle could break out at any moment. In such a short time, this two-sided conflict had spread to all the nations at a frightening speed. At the moment, the bridges of both sides were filled with the ear-piercing sound of message notifications. The Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Anglo Privy Council, the Burgundian Witenagemot, the Asgardian Hall of Elders…

“I just got back to the capital and saw the mess you made of things.” A sigh rang out on the bridge. “I don’t remember the Witenagemot giving you the right to declare war, admiral.”

“Your Majesty, Don Juan!” The commander’s face changed. He lowered his head, looking frightened. “I’ve neglected my duties. I will immediately…”

“No, I regret to say that you’ve been relieved of your duties.” The regretful voice went cold. “From this point forward I will take full command of the Phantom Fleet. And moreover, acting on behalf of the Royal Family, I will speak with the Anglo Royal Admiral myself. This has all been a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?” Ye Qingxuan’s voice was still cold.

Raymond paled. Without question, he had been abandoned. The Burgundians had cast him aside.

“Yes, that’s right. A misunderstanding.” The young man named Don Juan sighed. “We were hoodwinked by Bishop Raymond, and so we took hasty countermeasures against your fleet, which led to the present situation. Let’s just take this as an awkward joke, we can all pretend to laugh, and then forget all about it. If we can do this, I’d be most grateful to you, oh excellent Grand Inquisitor.”

On the bridge of the Mountain of Nomadism, Ye Qingxuan drummed his fingers on his armrest. He frowned, although he didn’t know why.

That flippant voice sounded kind of familiar. Even though the situation was so tense, with a battle ready to break out at any moment, he still carelessly ridiculed Ye Qingxuan’s position, as if he did not care at all about who he was.

Ye Qingxuan was silent for a while, then grinned and said, “Very well, it looks like there’s no need to talk to you after all, Bishop Raymond.”

Raymond’s face went livid. He glared at the shadows in the sky with red eyes. He gritted his teeth but said nothing.

Amidst the mocking laughter, the Mountain of Nomadism cast dark shadows on the frozen sea as it broke through the clouds. But it seemed like that shadow had a physical form, given weight and substance by the majestic music theory. It rolled across the ice, giving off a shrill noise.

Amid this terrible noise, a frightful wave of heat came out of the sea. The countless layers of ice began to break apart, melting into scalding hot steam which rose up into the air and quickly became a warm rain that fell back down from the sky. In an instant, the frozen sea had broken apart, evaporated and turned back into sea water.

At the Mountain of Nomadism’s orders, the Royal Navy flew their colors and sailed far away, leaving only Ye Qingxuan’s voice resounding on the bridge. “It was a pity I didn’t have a chance to see Master Schubert. Please say hello to her for me.”

In the corner, the old nun still had her eyes closed and her ears plugged as she quietly recited the teachings of the gods.

Orders soon arrived from the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, but they did not mention any of what had just happened. But the wording was exceptionally stern: Raymond was to take Schubert to the Ultimate as quickly as possible.

Raymond was so distracted that he did not even say goodbye. He said a few quiet words to Sister Schubert, and then the two of them were off without a sound.

They left everything in disorder.

The commander who had just been fired sighed and sat down in his chair. He stared fixedly at the Mountain of Nomadism disappearing into the distance, looking like he was unwilling to let it go. “That guy fooled us, he made a fool of us…”

“No, Admiral, you don’t understand him,” said the young man who was called Don Juan. “He was serious.”

The commander was shocked.

“Listen to me, I will transmit my orders to you later via a secret channel.”

The transmission ended.

–

“It’s always been like this, Yezi, ever since you were young.” At the Burgundian Witenagemot, the young man dropped an extinguished ball of aether into his pocket. He couldn’t help but whisper softly, “It doesn’t matter if it’s a rotten vegetable or a broken basket, you’ll fight anyone to the death if they dare to touch your things, Yezi.”

16 councilors representing all of Burgundy sat in silence. These so-called “worthies” stared at him with inscrutable expressions.

“We will grant your request, Don Juan.” The foremost councilor banged his gavel and said solemnly, “We have granted you the King of Light’s ring of power and placed the Phantom Fleet under your command. This is a gamble for both us and your family. We have given you power, and now it’s time for you to prove your worth. Time is short, when will you go to the Ultimate?”

“The Ultimate?” The young man called Don Juan turned his head, looking like he did not know what they were talking about. “What Ultimate?”

The old councilors were shocked, and a solemness suddenly came over them. The council chamber went silent, and the councilors looked even graver than before. “What do you mean, Don Juan?”

“Why would I go to the Ultimate?” Don Juan took an apple out of one of his pockets, rubbed it with his hand, and took a couple bites before asking carelessly, “Moreover, I already have the power. Why should I have to prove my worth to you?”

All was silent. Suddenly, stunned shrieks rang out from the corner of the room.

“Your Excellency, the Phantom Fleet is returning to port!”

“Returning to port!”

“Why?”

“Send a transfer order!”

“What are you trying to do, Don Juan?”

The councilors’ angry voices filled the chamber, as they stared coldly at the grinning young man..

“There’s no use, you should all relax.” Don Juan smiled as he looked at their confusion. He could not help but shrug and say, “It wasn’t easy to obtain both the Synthetic Angel and the Phantom Fleet. If I don’t take this chance to clear away all of you obstacles, how can I serve my country?”

The sound of disorderly footsteps came from outside the door, ringing out endlessly. Finally, a heavy military boot kicked in the door. A group of burly soldiers stormed in, grabbing the bewildered guards and dragging them out. There was a sound like a bag of water bursting, and then silence.

“Don Juan, my student…” Among the councilors, the one named Richelieu lowered his eyes and sighed softly. “Tell me, what are you planning to do?”

“This is obviously a coup, professor. I’d like to ask all of you to understand the situation and do as I say, alright?” Don Juan grinned as he answered. “Originally, I wasn’t powerful enough, so I planned to wait for three years. I never would have thought that I’d be given command authority over the Phantom Fleet so quickly. Little Yezi helped me so much as well. He can have the Ultimate. For now, I’m taking control here. I’d like to ask all of you to not resist, and to cooperate nicely with me. We’ve blockaded the city. We started here, then we’ll go to the legislative assembly, then the palace…”

Boom! A loud noise came from the distance. Outside the window, a huge burning angel seemed to overlap with the sun. It lorded over everything from on high, suppressing the entire palace with its presence. It overlooked everything from this high place. Black smoke and screams began to rise up from the city.

“Things are moving quickly. Have they already made it to the Bastille?” Don Juan whistled. He pushed the dumbfounded Speaker of the Assembly out of his seat and dragged the chair to the center of the room. He sat down and made himself comfortable.

“Prepare yourselves, gentlemen. In an hour, the Estates General that has not been held in 170 years will reconvene. Presumably, many will be hung from lamposts afterward. In the interest of everyone’s safety, I suggest you discuss among yourselves who will be the one to depose the Emperor.”

Don Juan drummed his fingers against the armrest of his chair and softly announced, “The times have changed. This country will have a new ruler.”