Chapter 12 ：The Promised Land
"Can I make this short?"
Looking at the muzzle of the gun pointed at him, it may be pointed at too much by the Shrike, but Lorenzo has some habits.
"The train can only stop for fifteen minutes. After it is unloaded, it must leave. I must go with it, or the guards will catch me sooner or later."
Lorenzo had made all the preparations before he came here, every inch of it.
It would have been risky for Lorenzo to come here in person, but for his own purposes, he had to identify Izki himself, and now it looks like it was all worth it.
"Wouldn't it be better if I took you to Suaran Hall, and the sheriff would believe everything I say?" Lorenzo was the source of the riot that day, and the detective was as ruthless as an old soldier.
"Isn't that boring?"
Lorenzo didn't mind that, he was a careful man, and when he got here, he was ready for anything.
"I'm a detective, Miss Igoki, and wouldn't it suit you better to solve a very serious case than a suspect who doesn't know the truth?"
Staring into the eyes of the detective, Eseki thought, she thought a lot, from the moment she met Lorenzo, the detective had a calm sense of mastery, frightening, but trustworthy.
"I'll give you five minutes, detective."
Iguan put away the gun, looked the other way, and paced in place, watching her cooperate with Lorenzo, lowering the ladder and building the branches.
One that stands out is that the Lord Nippins in Kowloon are out on the Golden Road to enjoy the scenery, and the only extra gardener is working on the side.
"Igan Phoenix, you are of great birth, and with your father's permission you will be the next noble Duchess of the Immortal Bird, not to mention Suaran Hall, not even the Royal Guard, and yet you secretly become a police detective."
Pruning the branches, Lorenzo began to speak according to his mental image of Igseki.
"Are you doing this for your father? Or the honor of the Phoenix family. Indeed, your family's legacy spans the entire Shining War, and the Hall of Honor in the Platinum Palace is filled with portraits of your ancestors, whose stories you grew up hearing, and who you aspire to be, too?"
"What are you trying to say?"
Iguan looked a little unhappy, she also found Lorenzo that annoying point, his eyes are too sharp, sharp enough to easily see through a person, under his eyes everything is transparent.
Each person is made up of fragments with labels, which, when pieced together, can form a person's life from the afterglow of the deflection.
Lorenzo went on.
"I think we can work together, Miss Igoki."
"The Glorious War is over, after we have driven the Gorunalo back to the White Tide Strait forever, there is no battlefield where you can get the same achievements as your ancestors, your only way out is the Suaran Hall, but now the Suaran Hall has also put you on a long vacation."
Eki looked at him coldly, her white finger on the trigger all the time.
"How can I trust you?"
"How about this?"
With these words, Yi Guan's face showed a bright red light.
The lost necklace was in Lorenzo's hands, shining through the daylight, and then I could see the perfection of this gem carving, the hard surface was shaved into dozens of angles and mirrors, like a kaleidoscope of beauty, only in the daylight it will show its bright, but under the haze of the old spirit, this day will never come.
"The train is leaving, and if you feel that this gift is worthy of your trust in me, then I think we can start working together."
Slowly down the ladder, Lorenzo gave the ruby and a letter to Iguan, deep work and name, he left without looking back.
Staring at the ruby in her hands, Eki did not realize what for a moment, the ecstasy of the lost and found she tried to find Lorenzo, but turned around only to see the train moving away in the thick steam.
He didn't leave nothing behind, and the letter.
After looking around to make sure no one was there, Iguan carefully put on the precious necklace, and then inserted the letter into a shimmering ribbon in his thigh, which had a sharp dagger inserted into it.
God knows what this girl thinks.
...
Old Turin, downtown.
Beneath the rocky castle is more space than anyone could have imagined. Before the Shrike took over, this was a war castle, run by a certain count, with vast underground Spaces for supplies and weapons.
At the height of the Glorious War, the Galunalo fleet had conquered the port of Rendona, and they were within a stone's throw of Old Dunling, the capital of Inurvig, but in between, the castle, whose name had been forgotten, became the last barrier, stuck in the Galunalo's path of attack.
For three days there was a barrage of fire, gunpowder and shrapnel all over the ground, and the air was filled with sulfur and charred bodies.
The castle still stood, even when it was dry and full of holes, even when the water in the moat had been evaporated by gunfire.
The Golunaro thought they had conquered the area and then pushed on, while countless soldiers broke out of the castle in a combination of steam machines, in a surprise attack, underwind but still miraculously repulsed the enemy.
A few days after this counterattack, the Mechanical Institute improved the steam engine, and the second Industrial Revolution rose in the war, which was far beyond the imagination of the giants, and in this revolution, Inlvig started the counterattack in the Glorious War.
The last hundred years of the glorious war ended with Inlvig winning, everyone celebrated, but the lack of only forgotten the ruins of the castle, in the later days after several turns it finally fell to the hands of Shrike, it was brilliant... .. Not bad now, though.
Rosh.
People in the lower part of the city generally called it so, and for this title, the happy land was worthy of the name, even the nobility of the inner city would arrive to enjoy themselves late at night.
This is the place where dreams come true, like the door of life's last hope, and everyone with their last treasure tries to pry open this door and bathe in the light.
There are still a lot of people chasing dreams tonight, they take their last wealth all into chips on the gambling table, a series of small wins have made their blood surging, the air filled with stimulants let him without the slightest hesitation.
This scenario is played out at every gambling table, and wealth increases exponentially until money is just a line of numbers.
No gambler wants to stop, this kind of people pay attention to gambling, as long as you win, you will always win, even if there is a hint of withdrawal will make the gambling to leave, can not retreat, retreat at the moment lost.
They roared and piled more chips on top.
"Wealth and power are always the craziest things. They have already won their money back, but they always want to win more."
Above the casino is a hidden room, darkened by glass that blocks all attempts to peek inside.
"How does it feel? Isn't it exciting? There's enough money flowing tonight alone to build three war airships, not to mention the money accumulated in one night."
Shrike's voice was full of pride. They were sitting at the very top of the old Turin vault.
"Your business looks better than Royal Bank."
The guest was sitting on a couch on one side, looking down at the casino, and his interest didn't seem very great.
"Of course, no taxes, no names, people who come here are guests, just have a good time, so everyone likes me, so I can survive until now."
Butchery is the small secretary of the big men, their money is kept and circulated by him, this job only he can do, so the boss of the lower town can only be him.
"Want to know more? Look carefully, those very calm gambling table, those few people do not have the gambler's heroic, like wooden people, mechanical shuffling and drawing cards, compared with gamblers they are more like a group of accountants, wealth due to win or lose in their hands transfer, wash clean.
For them it's not a gamble, it's simple accounting.
'Wagons of armed wagons were waiting just outside the castle, and boxes of lion-printed money were brought in and sent overnight from old Dunling, from one vault to another.'
"If you lead an army and capture them now, tomorrow you will be a hero of Old Town, the Treasury will be full and a prestigious family will be turned into a piece of shit..."
"Of course, if you choose to hijack, I can end it for you, and you will have enough wealth to sustain you for generations."
The shrike was defiant, encouraging the guest before him. It was not that no one had tried to take the wealth from Shrike. They might have escaped the castle, but usually their bodies were seen floating down the Thames the next day.
"Arthur will kill me no matter what choice I make."
The visitor interrupted Shrike, who did not feel the slightest emotion.
"It's not time to pull in the nets. Don't be too hasty, Shrike. I know you don't like it here, and it's not about you that I've come today."
He's a pure knight. He never gets upset about it.
Seeing this, Shrike stopped and began to speak.
"I know, the papers are here, and even though the forensics don't understand what's going on except to say that Wall's anatomy is different, that he's a deformity, you and I both know what's going on."
Shrike pulled out the autopsy report that Lorenzo had given him, and even though Vole's body had burned up in the fire, it was enough.
"My best detective is already on it. He's great."
The shrike seemed to see the worry in the guest's eyes.
"The iron spine of Shrike, the hero of the Red River massacre. I remember him. If you hadn't pleaded with Arthur, he would have been buried."
"So he's the best, isn't he? Galahad."