Nexus Palace, inside the House of Nobles.
Outside, there was a torrential rain, thunder, and lightning flashing, and the end was coming, and the semi-circular hall was already full of all the members of the noble council in Rentat, a white hair cover, and a black coat.
If it weren't for the great power of natural lightning, the strong men below the Golden Knight would not dare to brave the lightning and thunder to fly quickly, I am afraid that there will be a rare scene of all the people in the noble council, and it is only an hour before King Feltis and Prince Patrick are summoned by the Lord.
Of course, the nobles who could not make it to the scene also learned about the incident from their spokesmen and allies in Rentat through remote contact, and conveyed their opinions.
At this moment, they were unprecedentedly grateful to the "Alinge Telephone and Telegraph Company", although the "wired telephone" they promoted was still in a loss-making state due to the complex and heavy infrastructure construction, and was still limited to the capitals of Rentat and several other counties, with an installed capacity of less than 500 doors, but in this weather, it was a rare communication channel for the nobles who could not arrange and use expensive teleportation arrays, so that many nobles tasted the sweetness and decided to assist in the promotion.
"How could His Royal Highness the Prince be called by the Lord's grace" Count Seapine took a hot shower in the lounge of the House of Nobles, changed his clothes and hair covers, and then got rid of the state of shock and inability to think, and while wearing white paper flowers on his chest, he sat down in the first row of seats, and asked James, Duke of Pefors, Russell, Duke of Wolfsburg, and Viscount Harrison, who hurried to Parliament after informing Parliament.
The four of them are the leaders of the enlightened faction except for Prince Patrick, and at this time, they must communicate well in advance and not fight among themselves, otherwise it is easy to lose confidence in the nobles on their side.
Duke James also wore a white hair cover in the House of Nobles to hide his bald head, and he said gloomily: "I don't know, it was already like this when Russell and I rushed to Nexer Palace, we have examined the body of His Royal Highness the Prince, and found nothing unusual, it is indeed excessive grief that caused the collapse of the already very weak body, I think that with the protection of His Excellency Ketonia, no one will be able to assassinate him." ” "Heart of Time" Ketonia is one of the two epic knights of the Kingdom of Holm, and there are no more than five knights in the entire world who can reach the third level of the legend, he and Rudolf II belong to this ranks, as for the epic knights who have reached the peak of the legend, except for Prince Dracula, Prince of the Abyss, Lord of the First Layer of Hell and other "monsters", there is only one among the human race, the head of the Templar Order, a member of the Cardinals, St.
Melmos.
It was said that under the protection of Ketonia, there would be no assassination and other situations, but there was no trace of affirmation on James's face.
"His Excellency Ketonia is a hero in the War of the Dawn, an epic knight who worked with the former king to defeat the Magic Empire's rule in the Holm region, but he is very old and is nearing the end of his life, and there will be more things to think about and arrange than ordinary people."
Duke Russell said with a blank face, "He is not like Lord Winston of the House of Sorenfin who can quietly watch the situation. ” Winston the Night Kin is another epic knight of the Kingdom of Holm, currently rotating to guard the colonies that the Kingdom of Holm has won over in several different dimensions.
Viscount Harrison sneered, "Anyway, I don't believe that His Royal Highness the Prince will die of grief for His Majesty the King. ” According to Harrison, Haypine and others, Patrick has been in the position of the prince for thirty or forty years, and it is inevitable that the king will have a conflict of rights, and the relationship between the two sides has long been not harmonious, especially after their ideas are very different, it is even more strange, to say that Prince Patrick is so happy that his body collapses, they will believe it.
"Things have come to this point, we need to put aside our grief and do two things, one is to secretly ask the mages of the Magic Council to investigate the truth of the prince's death so that we can take the initiative in the future, and the other is to start a backup plan to fully support Davy's ascension to the throne."
After Count Seapine calmed down, his blue eyes became sharp again.
Patrick had been in poor health, and the enlightened nobles had been prepared for his death before the king, so they were not at a loss after a brief moment of panic.
David's father was the cousin of King Feldis, the nephew and student of the archmage Maurice, although he had died in an adventure, but under his influence, the grand knight Davy was completely liberal in matters of daily life or territory, and in the eyes of Duke James and others, he was the most suitable person in the royal family, and he was very close by blood, according to the law of nobility, he belonged to the fourth in line to the throne.
"Okay."
Duke James nodded heavily, his mouth opening and closing, conveying the results of the discussion to the other enlightened nobles.
After a while, the president of the noble house, dressed in a black coat and wearing a white hair cover, Rex, the "griffin of the king", walked in, and he was followed by a dark-haired man with a gentle smile and a silver-gray eyes that clearly told everyone that he was a member of the Hoffenberg family.
"Gordon", Count Seapine and other enlightened nobles stared.
Duke James's face was ugly as if he was about to drip: "Didn't he declare that he would serve the Lord for the rest of his life, and quit the Knights of the Sword of Truth and went to the holy city of Reims to join the Templar Order" "Rank 8 Heavenly Knight who is less than fifty years old, the Sword of Tearing" Duke Russell and Viscount Harrison muttered to themselves with solemn expressions.
The whole hall suddenly became noisy, and the other nobles, whether enlightened or conservative, couldn't help but talk to each other, this Gordon was a genius and an outlier of the Hoffenberg family, he became a knight of heaven at the age of thirty-five, and was appointed by King Feltis as the deputy head of the Knights of the Sword of Truth, with high hopes, but he was a devout believer, and at the age of forty he went to the holy city of Reims and joined the Knights Templar.
His kinship with King Feltis is much more distant than David, but the rank of the Heavenly Knight is enough to make his succession soar, almost in the first order like David, and although Hoffenberg is not a human being and is not prosperous, most of them are either estranged by blood and are not knights, so it is difficult to compete with these two, or they have already entered the path of magic and automatically gave up their qualifications.
Duke James and the others initially thought that Rex would be inclined to his nephew, Alex, who had just activated the bloodline of the Sword of Truth, and when the time came, whether it was the strength of the knight or the distance of the bloodline, David would be able to succeed to the throne without any suspense, who knew that Gordon actually ran back.
The sound of the hammer striking in front of him sounded crisply, and the hall of the House of Nobles suddenly fell silent.
Rex drew a cross on his chest and said with a sad face: "Our great King Feltis and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Patrick were called by the Lord an hour ago, let us mourn in silence for them and bless them to be blessed by the Lord on Heavenly Mountain. ” James and the others all stood up, drawing crosses, and lowered their heads in a quiet and mournful atmosphere.
Five minutes later, Rex, the speaker of the House of Nobles, motioned for everyone to sit down, and his eyes hardened: "Since His Royal Highness Crown Prince Patrick, the first heir in line to the throne of the kingdom, has also been called by the Lord and has not left any heirs, according to the legal code, a crown prince will be elected by our House of Nobles, and the selection criteria will be based on the succession line, and can be blessed by the Lord." ” The so-called blessing of the Lord is that the succession ceremony is presided over by a cardinal.
Rex didn't let the nobles speak, but pointed to Gordon next to him first: "The royal family of Holm has been hit like this, it is at a time of turmoil, Count Gordon is determined to put his family first, quit the Templar Order, and returned through the teleportation array of the church, he is an eighth-level heavenly knight, in the prime of life, and he is a pure sword of truth bloodline, I propose that he inherit the throne, please raise your hands to vote." ” "Wait a minute."
James stood up and said in a loud voice, "In this case, according to the code, the consent of more than two-thirds of the councillors is required, and none of the nine dukes object, and the elected person can inherit the throne, Speaker Rex, isn't that the case?"
Rex looked at James with a gloomy gaze: "Yes, no, when the other candidates can't get more than one-fifth of the votes, the remaining one does not need to meet this condition, and in an emergency, the one who gets more than half of the votes can directly get the inheritance, I believe that this is an emergency, and the throne cannot be vacant for a long time." ” "Whether it's an emergency or not, it's not up to you to decide, everyone needs to vote.
Now, I elect Earl David, who is more closely related to His Majesty the King, who is far ahead of Earl Gordon in terms of succession, and who is a Grand Knight, who has inspired the power of the bloodline.
James did not take the stage to speak, but looked around directly at the other nobles, "I don't think any councillor will object to the succession to the throne, who has set an example first, so when his son and his grandson inherit the title, can other more powerful candidates in the family also cite this example and snatch the title" This is the basis for the aristocratic class not to collapse, and if a nobleman does not want to leave the title to his direct heir, he can grab it if he is strong, then the family has long been assassinated and infighting with each other Of course, this is one of the reasons why they are attached to the church, and a strong church can ensure that no one relies on strength to ignore the law.
A conservative aristocrat stood up and saluted everyone very gracefully: "Quoting the sixth paragraph of Article 7 of the inheritance part of the Code, the bloodline ability is the basis of the nobility, and the strong strength can be used as a reference for the succession order, I won't say much about the specific calculation method, after adding the strength of the Heavenly Knight, Count Gordon and Count David are in the same order, so the election of Count Gordon does not violate the code and will not cause the collapse of the aristocratic order." ” "Moreover, Count David's father is a magician, and we have to consider whether he can receive the blessing of the Lord."
Concise and to the point, James' attack completely collapsed.
Count Seapine stood up with a quill and saluted gracefully, and then said: "Father is a magician, it doesn't mean that his son is not a devout believer, Count David has never been absent from service, he often donates money to the church, his piety is known to everyone, I believe that the Lord will be able to see it, and he can tolerate it, there are many repentant and converted magicians in the ranks of the night watch, isn't it, and Count Gordon once entered the Templar Order, and in the future, in the position of dealing with things, I find it hard to believe that he will put the interests of the Kingdom of Holm and the interests of everyone first, This is not blasphemy against the Lord, but a confusion of divine and royal power. ” At such times, he did not care about tactfulness, and nakedly opposed the divine power to the royal power.
Gordon raised his hand and said with a smile, "Speculation is not evidence, I believe I will look at the issue of nobility from the position of King Holm, not the identity of the Templars." ” One by one, the enlightened nobles and the conservative nobles stood up one after another to express their opinions, and finally, Rex said, "Now, please vote in favor of Earl Davy, please raise your hand." ” The arms of the sparse Lala were raised, a full third, and the Enlightened were smaller but more united than the Conservatives, which made Rex frown, unable to use the first special terms, and then he said, "Please approve of Earl Gordon's raising hand." ” With arms stretched out, seeing that more than half of them were not a problem, Rex began to think about how to get through the state of emergency discussion.
Suddenly, the raising of the arm stopped, stopping at nearly halfway through, Rex looked at Duke Sorenfen, only to see that he shook his head, saying that he would not support a candidate with too strong ecclesiastical colors, and as a major leader of the conservative faction, his statement directly affected a large part of the nobility.
Duke James laughed: "Speaker Rex, it seems that we are going to have a long discussion and consultation. ” With Duke Sorenfen hesitating, he was sure that he would be able to mediate Gordon's out.
Rex fell silent, looking at the gavel in his hand, and suddenly, he raised his head: "I'll propose another candidate." ” "Whoever has a higher line of succession than Earl David and Earl Gordon," Duke Russell objected.
Rex said unhurriedly: "Violet Countess Natasha Vaurite, who inspires the bloodline of the Sword of Truth, is more closely related to His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Prince than Count David, and she is also a heavenly knight, and she is also a devout believer, and can receive the blessings of the church. ”: