Chapter 252 – 251 – Andre’s new hobby is “Huo Zheng Jing Jing”.

Chapter 252 – Andre’s New Hobby – For Brother “Huo Zheng Quite Well” [120

“Those noblewomen are so enthusiastic, I’m sure that last night at the end of the reception, that Mrs. Natasha invited me to go around the garden for no simple purpose, her eyes look like she’s so hungry that she wants to eat me with her skin and bones!

I didn’t expect, I didn’t expect, this old bachelor of ours is actually so popular in the game.”

Early the next morning on the carriage leaving from Batasin City, Brother Woo Meow, with a reminiscent bitchy expression, whispered to Smoke Sang beside him:

“Alas, it’s a pity that we’re all a bunch of ‘dead eunuchs’, damn Alpha Company, who clearly has the ability to do 18+ content, but just won’t open it! Not only do they not open it, but they also change their tricks to tempt us, just like scratching an itch.

It’s pissing me off.”

“Are you stupid?”

Smoke Sang looked left and right with an odd expression, then with a bitchy face, she came over to Brother Woo Meow’s ear and said something, and then wagged her finger up, and that flirtatious expression made Brother Woo Meow’s eyes widen instantly.

“Holy shit! It can actually be like this? Why didn’t I think of that? You guy! Crap, I feel like you accidentally stuck a really terrible bug.”

“Aiyaa, it’s just shallow la, hell I didn’t know it could actually be.”

Smoke Sang had a “full of memories” posture, rubbing her fingers and whispering:
“And I don’t fucking dare to take their own game account to gamble on this kind of thing ah, see she also winks like silk to invite me to continue after I excused myself to run away. Do not lie to you, yesterday night I was worried about whether I will be kicked off the line.

In the end, I really did not mean it!

But the character modeling in this game is so damn realistic! In every sense of the word, it’s outrageous!”

“Pee pee pee, this can’t be passed on”

Brother Woo Meow said as he pulled Smoke Sang in fear:
“Don’t let anyone else know! If this spreads and the development team knows that they missed this part of the 18+ game content blockade, there might be something else that will happen.”

“You think I’m stupid?”

Smokey Sang bristled:
“It’s so hard to find such a fun bug, I’m sure I’ll keep it for myself to play with ah, and now it’s just you know that you don’t say anything, and no one will know if I don’t say anything.”

“Very well, then we agree to keep this secret together!”

Brother Woo Meow raised his little thumb with a serious face, and Smoke Sang also pulled the hook with him just like a child, as for the colorful student party, this would still be in another carriage fiercely discussing which of last night’s female NPC’s was prettier.

They didn’t realize that they were still at the level of “licking the screen” while their fellow travelers had already eaten meat.

Che Che is bragging that he was invited to dance by two noble ladies, but was severely despised by the others, and everyone saw his unseasoned and helpless appearance last night.

However, in addition to these small players who were so happy because they had “seen the world”, there were a few more large carriages on the way back compared to when it started, and they were all filled with coffins.

These were the die-hard members of the White Mountain faction of the Thorn Clan, who were returning to the Scarlet Castle to join Count Andre after Consul Miriam.

Miriam was also anxious to return to report the results of her trip to Murphy, so the caravan was traveling very fast.

Now the Scarlet Castle administration office has also changed its guns, after getting the 500 hunting colts surrendered by the witch hunters, even the horses pulling the caravan have been replaced with good horses, according to this speed, they will be able to return to Scarlet Castle by midnight today.

Almost at the same time, in the “Diplomatic Area” of the Scarlet Castle’s Blood Wyvern Corridor, Count Andre was discussing the specifics of the job he had just “secured” with his most trusted subordinate.

However, because it was daytime and dawn was approaching, Vesta, the servant who was loyal to Count Andrei, was unable to concentrate, and the unbearable drowsiness forced him to drink hot tea one mouthful after another, but the effect was very poor.

It was just that although Andre himself also yawned occasionally, his condition was obviously much better than Vesta’s.

Maybe that damn “Daywalker’s Tips” Murphy introduced earlier was really useful?

“So the problem now is that we have a jackal operative codenamed ‘Pangolin’ on our hands, and it’s currently connected to the Wolfsbane Clan, and it’ll act as a guide to bring the Wolfsbane’s into the Scarlet Fortress.”

Andre looked at the topographical map of the third floor of the sewers laid out in front of him as he narrowed his eyes and said:
“We’re going to utilize this opportunity and keep expanding our advantage to eventually trick those Wolfsbane scumbags into the deadly trap we’ve prepared for them before breaking them in one blow!
Sounds simple enough, it’s just that the problem falls on the execution level that’s troublesome.”

“Yes, Master.”

Vesta yawned and whispered beside the Count:
“The biggest problem is our lack of manpower, although your current dozen servants are absolutely loyal, they are all brave men from the royal servants who voluntarily joined the Thorn Clan with you, but when it comes to dexterity of mind they are bound to be inferior to the cunning Blood Vulture, so it’s no problem to let them fight and kill.

But for this kind of strategy that requires wisdom we will have to choose another person.”

“This problem will soon be solved, those stalwart members of the White Mountain faction will soon arrive, and we will be able to meet them tonight.”

Andrei took a sip of his palace black tea and waved his hand:

“The removal of our faction from the Grand Duke doesn’t seem to be a bad thing now, those dissolute speculators have left of their own accord, and those that remain are credible loyalists! I suddenly think there was something wrong with our previous thinking, Vesta.

We should probably revisit the internal structure of the White Mountain faction and draw some wisdom from this debacle.

If I’ve learned anything during my time in Transylvania, it’s that ideals alone don’t get things done.

I used to be too idealistic.

My dear Vesta, we have to rebuild the White Mountain faction from the ground up, Murphy’s management model for the Blood Vulture Clan is worth learning from, and thus I’ve made the decision that I’m going to appoint you as my head of intelligence.

Just as Mrs. Adele’s position beside Murphy, this handover of work with Mrs. Adele will also be your sole responsibility.”

“I am certainly at your service, Master.”

Faithful servant Vesta nodded, but then he added:
“However, trying to establish our intelligence network in Transylvania is rather difficult…”

“No, I mean let’s not think about what comes after that, let’s integrate into Murphy’s system first, seeing ourselves as part of the Transylvanian system and obeying his orders. Learn first! Then we can talk about growth.”

Andrei corrected:

“From now on we need to let go of the idea of fighting them and integrate into the land in the name of dealing with the Black Plague.”

“But that won’t do your interests much good!”

Vesta was taken aback, and he immediately discouraged it:

“Her Majesty, the Wolf Woman, has given you preferential treatment, master! As long as Lord Murphy’s rule fails, you will be master of this land! This is clearly the guilt and compensation that your sister has in her heart for you. You should not refuse this reward, it is already quite decent for us not to cause trouble for the Blood Vulture Clan, how can we help stabilize the situation for your political enemies?

This is equivalent to you giving up this territory with your own hands, which might make Her Majesty the Wolf Woman feel disappointed in you.”

“If I tell you that I actually never even thought of meddling in Transylvania’s political affairs from the beginning to the end, will you think I’m crazy?”

Andre drank the hot tea in his cup in one gulp.

He leaned back in his chair and looked at the loyal servant who had taken care of him since childhood.

When he was still a child, Vesta, who was still very young at the time, was appointed as his housekeeper, and it could be said that Vesta was more like his family and elder than his own sister, who was always far away from him.

Because in front of this servant who was so loyal that he stepped into midnight with him, Andrei would never hide his thoughts too much.

He rubbed his brow and explained softly as if sharing a secret:

“Turning Transylvania into my own fiefdom was not in my plans at all, not only because this land is closed and barbaric and difficult to manage, and not only because it seems to be cursed by disasters to bear the constant malice from the world.

It was also because I realized long ago that our country could never control Transylvania!

The line from the Ice Bay to the Great Plains of Kavhokar is as far as the power of the Kingdom of Nordtorf can reach from the frontier, Vesta, and our country is like a dying giant.

It still has an appetite, but its old, rotting body is no longer strong enough to sustain it as it continues to annex more land.

Indeed, it was not out of her desire that my sister agreed to King Louis’s invitation to send troops, and I had conversations with her about taking advantage of the Ten Years’ War to seize profit in order to appease the hawks at home.

For my sister, she was far more interested in internal reform than in foreign war.

She knew very well that the trouble caused to the country by taking rich land and not being able to manage it effectively was the equivalent of a bleeding wound.

Your family has served the royal family for generations, you should know better than me what kind of hell our country is in now.

The bounty of the Great Plains of Kavhoka is simply not enough to revitalize the kingdom, and instead we will have to inherit the hostility and resistance that stems from the people in order to take over new territories.

In less than a month and a half of being stationed in the heart of the Great Plains, the Winterwolf Legion has already suppressed over forty rebellions, large and small.

That’s terrible.” Andrei, so like a melancholic poet, sighed:
“We can’t even eat the great plain of Kavkhoka, so what would happen if I took Transylvania? It will only be a nominal victory, but it will only further deplete the country’s precious energy, which is already scarce.

Our rigid system is not the same as that of the Goldenrod Kingdom.

We can’t quickly digest and build up our strength by expanding, so after my sister sent that agreement with Murphy, I knew what she meant.

She wasn’t trying to give me a chance to become a governor because of guilt, she just wanted me to use this situation to successfully break away from the Thorn Clan’s control over me with that ancestor of mine.

My sister does feel guilty about me, but it’s not the kind of compensation you’re thinking of.

But me.
For myself, it is more important that I be able to train and grow in Transylvania so that I can become a good person for my country than it is for my own personal honor or disgrace!

My country needs me, and my sister needs me.

Vesta, as I told you when I was a child, I have no interest in the throne, but I am willing to fulfill my duty to this bloodline.

So, do you understand?

What I’m going to do here was never to grab that dispensable governor’s position with Murphy, but to use this place as my own proving ground, so that I can become as strong as possible as soon as possible.

My sister is a queen destined to do great things, and she can give me a fiefdom more than a hundred times better than Transylvania with the snap of her fingers.

But do I really need it?

No.

What I need is to grow.

Not just in terms of personal strength, but in other ways as well.

Even as Archduke Shani disbanded the White Mountain faction seemingly as a blow to me, I’ve come to realize these days that my ancestors simply saw my tenderness and the White Mountain faction’s external strength.

She dissolved the faction that couldn’t do anything in order to give me a chance to start from scratch.

Right here!”

Andrei narrowed his eyes as he spoke coldly:

“Right here facing the threat of the Black Plague head on is like throwing a piece of mortal iron into a furnace, either to be reborn in fire or to defend the bloodline of the Hero King with your own death, I’m going to rebuild my faction!

And this time it will be no longer a child’s play.

Like a sword tempered by fire, there must be a worthy opponent to test the blade, and the Gray Claw faction of the Wolfsbane Clan is the first opponent I will face.

We will crush them!
We will devour their blood and nourishment, and we will mold the foundation of the White Mountain faction’s rise on their bones, and ultimately become the true Shadow of Nordtorf.

We shall finally become the Shadow of the Wolf Girl!

We will finally push for the change of the Thorn Clan, so that this foreign clan, which has been independent of the Kingdom’s borders for hundreds of years, will truly become a part of Nordtorf’s ruling system.

We will make the Blood Assassins under the darkness of night the sharpest blade of the king in my sister’s hands as she rules her country!
Aye.

That is my vision.

I am no longer lost, Vesta, and I will not be lost once again in a chaotic world when I have the motivation to move forward.”

The words were spoken with a resounding thud.

But Vesta, the loyal servant, could not hide the worry in his eyes, and this worry even outweighed the call from midnight to revive him from his sleepiness at this moment.

He had raised Andrei from a baby in swaddling clothes, and he knew his young master all too well.

There was a part of Andrei’s personality with twisted longings that could not be brought out into the open, such as the worshipful, maniacal obsession he had for his half-sister.

While it was true that Her Majesty, the Wolf Woman, was an extremely outstanding young ruler in every way, sooner or later this obsession of Andre’s would lead to quite terrible trouble for him.

On the contrary, this young master of his own was also very stubborn, and he had never actually pledged allegiance to the clan he was a member of.

Vesta was well aware of that.

Andrei’s allegiance had always been to his sister, and Archduke Shani obviously knew that.

There would come a time when the Earl of White Mountain would have to choose between his clan and his country, and when that time came, he would have to face his ‘ancestors’ in the true sense of the word.

Shani.
The vampire archduke who could personally push her venerable elder into the fire and watch her return to eternal silence with a smile on her face would never show any mercy in the face of that situation either, just because of her blood relationship with Andre.

Thus, Vesta knew that her young master had chosen a dangerous path that was full of thorns even for a vampire.

It was at this moment that Vesta suddenly realized, as if lightning had struck in his mind, causing him to exclaim:
“You you intend to ally with Lord Murphy?”

“Ha, you finally understand, my dear Vesta.”

Earl Whitehill finally revealed a heartfelt smile as he said:
“Yes, Murphy is an outstanding chieftain, even if he is unlikely to submit to my sister, but he has already crushed one Blood Archduke and ‘conquered’ another with his own hands.

I would certainly ally myself with such a man, only for the greater goal and good.

I believe that Murphy and his Blood Wyvern Clan will be one of my greatest underpinnings when I must make the difficult choice between country and clan in the future.

My ancestors have never stood in the way of my ambitions.

She also seems to be looking forward to the answer I will deliver in the end, I know it’s hard but I won’t give up, I’ll end up being the first male Archduke in the history of the Thorn Clan .
I will take my clan and throw myself into my country, become my sister-sama’s undisputed loyal servant, and guard her country and her beliefs for her for all eternity!
This is the promise I made with her as a child.

Of course, all of this was a long time ago.

We must now get down to the business at hand, what to do to introduce the Wolfsbane Clan into the first hunting trap laid by me, a novice hunter.”

“That will not be difficult, Master.”

Vesta said, narrowing her eyes:

“We can get that pangolin to bring someone here and then capture them and force them to change sides, the Thorn Clan was always quite good at that.”

“No, that’s too risky, we can’t underestimate the acumen of that Mr. Corandor, that’s a head wolf who has fought his way out of the wolf’s den.

We’ll have to be smarter, let them rule out the risk themselves, let them step willingly into the trap themselves.”

Andrei looked at the map of the sewers in front of him, after a few seconds of silence he said:
“Vesta, have you ever fished?”

“Huh?”

The loyal servant was a bit confused by the question.

Fishing?

Who would have the heart to go fishing in that hellhole of Nordtorf that freezes the rivers in the summer?
“I’ve recently gotten into fishing and have become fishing buddies with a warrior who also enjoys it.”

Andre let out a laugh seemingly remembering something happy as he whispered:

“That warrior shared with me the baits he made himself and also taught me the secrets of fishing, for example, nesting is a very important part. We have to start the nest with something delicious, we have to give the hungry and headless fish a little bit of sweetness first, and then, they will be tempted by the food to take a bite of the hook that will get them killed.

My dear Vesta, I remember that you had a part-time job in the big theater at Northwind Castle a long time ago, didn’t you?

So, you must be good at acting huh?”

“Uh, it’s just a small hobby of mine, master, but I do enjoy that feeling of acting.”

“Very well, I’ll need your talent in that area next. If a frail Blood Vulture Earl isn’t enough to keep the coyotes hooked, then adding a Thorn Earl, who is full of disappointment due to his relegation and is at odds with the local lord, is probably enough to give off a tantalizingly clear scent of victory.

I’ll have to make the most of my unique position.
Well, Her Majesty’s Wolf Girl’s brother, a disgruntled big shot who longs for change, would make the best bait in any situation.”

(End of chapter)