Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 113

After the official left, Faith came out from the back of the house. "I don't see anything wrong with this guy."

"But," Ronan said, only uttering one "but."

“But he was indeed bait,” Faith added.

“Smart,” Ronan praised.

The official was genuinely corrupt, genuinely afraid of death, and genuinely committed to betraying and joining him. However, Louis deliberately let them go, intending to lure them to him and then take him to the place where the group was secretly meeting. Louis and his men had long been aware of their actions and were just waiting for Ronan to take the bait.

"Want to bite?" Faith asked.

“Of course, but it has to bite in the place I choose,” Ronan replied. “A skilled hunter always disguises himself as the prey.”

The next day, Ronan agreed to Benson's proposal, but the meeting place was set in an area called the Wild Horse Tribe.

There are no wild horses in the Wild Horse Tribe. It is just that the area is flat, with rivers and abundant water and grass, which is suitable for raising horses. So it became a place for raising horses, hence the name Wild Horse Tribe.

The specific location was on a plain, and Benson readily agreed.

Firstly, such a wide plain is not easy to ambush, and these people were actually worried that their whereabouts would be tracked and they would be ambushed. Secondly, there are plenty of horses in this place, so they can bring their property, wives and children directly. Once the deal is settled, they can run away immediately to avoid any unforeseen complications.

Ronan didn't have those thoughts. The only reason he chose this location was because it was a flat area, which would allow him to make the most of his strengths.

His floating shield and spinning sword are not suitable for use in places with many obstacles.

Moreover, if the other side wanted to kill a mage of Ronan's caliber, they wouldn't set up an ambush or use any traps, and they wouldn't hire several high-ranking orthodox mages to come and kill him openly.

They're going to fight openly and directly. No matter where Ronan goes, they'll all come anyway.

A day later, Ronan's forces split into two groups.

Ronan and Faith traveled together to meet the officials who had turned against them.

On the other side, Elena and Alice led the others to capture the tax officials as witnesses.

Was it unnecessary? Not at all. Because these defectors couldn't possibly escape. Louis wanted to kill Ronan, and he wanted to kill them too. Ronan didn't intend to be distracted by protecting them.

It would be even better if they died, as the money they embezzled would be confiscated.

They must die, so it is necessary to arrest other witnesses.

Louis's strategist, who had once followed the second prince who resembled a crown prince, was indeed a master at calculating others' psychology and accurately predicted Ronan's actions.

A day later, Elena and Alice led a team to raid the tax office.

The tax office was not located within the count's castle, which was bisected by a narrow river, but rather on a riverbank two kilometers away. This was because the tax office was a department that had to liaise with tax officials from the mainland, and was not nominally under the jurisdiction of Count Louis.

Of course, this was only nominal. The mainland was far across the sea, and the tax office couldn't simply obey Count Louis; whatever he told them to report, that was the amount.

The local tax collectors won't acknowledge it? If they don't, then you might have to experience America's unique characteristics—it could be a bear, a cougar, or even a crocodile.

Elena and Alice led dozens of people into the tax office, only to find that although there were many people inside, they were not tax officials at all, but a group of farmers pretending to be officials. As soon as they entered, they began to kneel down and beg for mercy.

Following closely behind, one army landed on the riverbank in small boats, while another army rode up on horseback, surrounding them from the north and south.

Louis's three advisors had prepared an absolutely luxurious lineup: eight high-ranking mages and five hundred regular soldiers armed with muskets.

"Break through or hold out to the death?" Alice asked Elena.

The tax office is a brick and stone building; it can be defended.

“We surrender,” Elena replied.

"Huh?" Alice exclaimed in surprise.

"You don't think these men we brought would be willing to fight to the death with us, do you? Breakout? They won't agree. Hold out? They'll just run away. Only surrender will they accept," Elena countered. "Of course, not real surrender. We need to negotiate terms and buy time."

"Hmm." Alice understood immediately. "If we stall for a bit, the other side will definitely get anxious and assume we're just stalling for time. They'll launch a direct attack. Once a few of these people are killed, they'll have no choice but to stay and defend to the death."

"Just hold out until reinforcements arrive," Elena said.

After the discussion, Elena announced to the group that she was prepared to surrender, but in order to avoid them turning around and killing them, they had to agree on the terms.

Upon hearing this, everyone was overjoyed. They had come to make money, not to fight, so surrendering was the best thing that could happen.

It would be even better to negotiate terms, since they were afraid that the other side would start killing them immediately after they surrendered.

Seeing that she had the situation under control, Elena said, "Alright, don't make any rash moves. I'll call out to them and negotiate terms later."

Chapter 255 Rebound, Talents, Three People

Soon, Elena, as the representative, shouted out to the outside world that she wanted to surrender, but the other side had to withdraw some of its people and arrange the ships to facilitate the evacuation of the rest of the Ministry of the Interior. The two leaders promised not to escape on the ships. If they did not agree, then they would have no choice but to fight.

First, they show weakness, then make feeble threats, making it seem like they really intend to surrender.

But the enemy leader isn't stupid either. If you retreat, what will you do if you try to break through? We've prepared a boat for you, and you just refuse to board? Do you really think we're fools?

"If you really want to surrender, the leader should come out first," the other side shouted, adding a provocative remark, "As long as you come out, I guarantee the others can leave safely."

Elena called out, "Get everyone out of here first, especially the mages."

Alice continued, "If that's the case, we'll naturally come out first. Also, we must bring the ship over so our people can leave."

After a few more minutes of back-and-forth back-and-forth, the leader realized something was wrong; they were just stalling for time.

We have to consider a strong offensive.

With more mages and far more troops than the enemy, isn't it obvious that the advantage is in our hands?

"Grenadiers, prepare." The commanding officer gave the order, while glancing at the several high-ranking mages beside him. He was the commander of these five hundred men, but he couldn't command this group of mages.

The leader of the magicians nodded to the captain, indicating that his group would launch an attack the moment they blew open the gate.

An explosion blasted open the massive wooden gate. Just then, Alice fired two shots from a gun attached to the ceiling, killing two of her own men. She then shouted, "They won't surrender! Charge with me! Break through!"

The dozens of people were completely confused about the situation. They were simply stunned by the explosions and saw two of their companions killed. When they heard Alice's shout, they instinctively rushed over. In order not to attract attention, they were all dressed as civilians and did not carry any firearms. They were only equipped with revolvers that Ronan had suggested and that Canaan had designed and manufactured.

These dozens of people are typical thugs. Bullying the weak and fearing the strong is a thug's habit, but when pushed to the limit, they are not just ordinary madmen.

At that moment, Elena had already rushed out first.

The soldiers in the front row instinctively opened fire.

Moon's Tide swept away the first volley of bullets, and the Elena people had already charged into the crowd. Because the firing range of the muskets was really limited, the enemy soldiers were still too close to the gate.

He didn't look, didn't listen, didn't think; he just swung his two swords, cutting whatever he could—hands, torso, neck, legs.

At this moment, the lieutenant was still in a daze; he never expected the other side to charge out from the front.

The mages didn't have time to cast their spells; Elena had already charged into the crowd, and casting spells now would mean killing their own people.

The others carried the tabletops and wooden planks that had been dismantled earlier and began their charge.

This surprised the officer in charge once again; how dare they charge?

The second platoon opened fire. Even with Elena's influence and the thick wooden planks, a third of the others who followed the charge were killed in the hail of bullets, leaving only about thirty men. But then they began to fight back, firing six shots in a row from their revolvers. The first and second platoons of musketeers on the other side were unable to fire, and a burst of fire caused the formation, which had already been breached, to fall again in the front row.

This caused the two-hundred-man team to collapse immediately.

At this moment, Louis's mage acted decisively. Since the soldiers had already scattered, he unleashed a barrage of spells at Elena's location.

Elena has achieved her goal and is now retreating.

As she retreated, the thirty or so people who had just killed a group of people were instantly engulfed by various kinds of magic. They never expected to encounter this situation, because Elena and Alice had not said that the other side would have so many high-ranking mages.

At this point, only she and Alice remained alive.

"Let's go to the flank," Elena said to Alice. The enemy's flank forces were relatively weak, with only fifty men on each side. This wasn't due to the commander's carelessness, but because the side of the tax office building only had one window that could allow a maximum of one person to rush out at a time, and the firepower of fifty men was more than enough.

"Left or right?" Alice asked.

“Of course, it’s the right. The reinforcements are coming from the right. But first, fire a shot to the left to draw their attention.” Elena remained calm. Her fighting style seemed reckless, but she was actually the type who fought with her brain. “By the way, these mages aren’t strong, and none of them are melee fighters. In the young master’s words, they’re all light pollution types. When you start running, don’t just focus on running; create some trouble for them.”

Elena devised an escape plan, while Ronan and Faith had just met with a group of corrupt officials led by Benson.

They were all long-time corrupt officials.

However, at this point, Benson was just a man pushed out to contact Ronan, not the real leader.

The leader was a director of education.

In terms of connections, this person was Louis's cousin. Although he made money in various ways, his official position was only the head of education. However, even in his job, he still couldn't resist taking a cut.

The order to establish schools was to build one hundred primary schools, a suggestion made by Louis's three advisors, with the intention of winning over the indigenous people. However, his eldest cousin exceeded the target, building one hundred and twenty schools, and every school was fully enrolled.

However, the school was a shoddy construction project, and it goes without saying where the construction funds went. Two-thirds of the students were ghost students who only existed in name and never attended classes; it goes without saying where their subsidies went. The teachers were paid in full, and their salaries were paid in full, but all of these teaching positions were sold off by him. Those who bought the positions naturally only received their salaries and did not teach.

If it weren't for this older cousin, O and Chip would never have been able to cause so much trouble in Louis's territory. If those tribes had a few more elementary school students, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

So the older cousin knew very well that if a "talent" like him didn't "jump ship," he might "die in the line of duty."

"Alright, I agree to your requests."

"Ronan said, letting them go, of course, because Louis's men had already arrived.

Upon hearing Ronan's words, the group of corrupt officials, led by the eldest cousin, immediately set off, preparing to head straight for the governor's territory with their caravans loaded with valuables. The eldest cousin believed he was of great value and that he would be safe once he reached the governor's residence.

He was right, but unfortunately he couldn't get there.

“They’re here,” Ronan said.

“Of the three, one is quite strong,” Faith added. She had buried a puppet in the ground some distance away, and through the puppet, her perception was clearer than Ronan’s.

Soon, three people descended from the sky. A masked man walked to within five meters of Ronan and then removed his mask. The man's appearance was terrifying. The skin and flesh on his left cheek, from his cheekbone to his neck, looked as if it had been torn apart and then stitched back together. A long, terrifying, and grotesque centipede covered his face, and even the left corner of his mouth was rotten, revealing his molars.

But if you only look at his right side of his face, you can actually see that he is quite handsome.

Chapter 256 So you're called Ronan? There's a second stage? If you can't beat it, call for backup.

"So your name is Ronan?" the man asked.

Ronan said in a joking tone, "Can I say no?"

The man looked at Ronan with a disdainful gaze. "Even a cold-blooded person like her has a lover. It seems she really likes you."

Ronan smiled. "Although it's pointless, I'll still play along and ask, who is she?"

“Dinia Egis,” the man replied.

This man spoke broken French with a Werland accent. He used to be a handsome young man, but it seems that Dinia from many years ago turned him into this.

“Got it.” Ronan said with a grin. “Let me clarify the rumor that she and I are lovers. It’s not a rumor.”

Instantly, Ronan felt a sharp pain in his heart.

Faith followed up, "You're alive, not an old man. I bet in that battle more than ten years ago, you were just a small fry on Willand's side, the kind who rushed in for their lives and got slapped away."

The man remained silent, but the irrepressible burst of power emanating from him clearly indicated that his sore spot had been hit.

“Don’t insult someone by bringing up their weaknesses, Faith,” Ronan added, delivering another blow.

Before Ronan could finish speaking, a sharp spike of earth and stone suddenly erupted from the ground behind him and struck the back of his head. However, Ronan's full-body armor blocked the attack, and the spike failed to harm him in the slightest.

"Leave this man to me," the man with the ferocious expression on his left said to the two behind him, meaning he would deal with Ronan alone, while Faith would be left to the other.

Ronan picked up his sword and shield, thinking, "Why insist on a one-on-one fight when you can gang up on someone? Is it really necessary?"

Ronan confronted the man whose left cheek was torn apart, while on the other side, Faith and another magician had already begun fighting. Soon, Faith was knocked far away, and their battlefield was far away from Ronan's side.

Immediately, a barrier with a diameter of over a kilometer enclosed Ronan and the man whose left cheek was torn apart within the barrier, while Faith and another person were outside the barrier.

At this point, the division of labor among the three became clear: one dealt with Ronan, one dealt with Faith, and the other maintained the barrier to prevent Ronan from escaping and to stop others from rescuing him.

Inside the barrier, the sky was already covered by thunderclouds, dragging the entire interior of the barrier into darkness. At the same time, the ground cracked, the soil softened and turned into mudflows, and then a blazing red enveloped the land. The previously cracked land turned scorched black, and the mudflows surging between the cracks resembled constantly boiling magma.

In the blink of an eye, the space where Ronan was located had become like a scorching hell, with lightning and lava. Ronan had to stand on a floating shield, while the man walked on the cracked, crooked blocks of ground as easily as walking on flat ground. Neither lightning nor lava had any effect on him, and his clothes were not even torn in the slightest.

"Four elements, and fifth rank at that, impressive."

Ronan recognized the opponent's strength.

Without a doubt, the opponent possesses all four elements: water, fire, earth, and wind. Furthermore, he is integrated with his surroundings and can cast spells from any point. This is a domain, a hallmark of a fifth-tier elemental mage.

Ronan pressed his hand to his heart, which had been pounding three times in quick succession, and looked at the man in the distance whose left cheek was torn open. "Then let's go."

Instantly, Ronan's armor extended to its maximum extent, ignoring the descending lightning and flying lava, and rushed straight for his target.

"Magic Frenzy, Enhanced Perception, Stone Skin Protection, Lightning Activation." Almost simultaneously, the man with the torn left cheek also activated all elemental enhancement states.

"Fire Earth Armor, Water Sword, Thunder Axe." In the next instant, his entire body was covered in fire earth armor, with a water sword in his left hand and a thunder axe in his right.

If you think he's a stationary damage dealer, you're sorely mistaken.

The man with the torn left cheek slightly bent his knees, then his body suddenly sprang forward, shattering the large clump of black soil beneath his feet into fragments. The powerful recoil followed, creating a wave of splashing lava.

In mid-air, the man with the torn left cheek collided directly with Ronan. Their bodies intersected, and Ronan's floating shield suddenly appeared, but a long bloody gash still appeared on his chest. It wasn't that he failed to block it, but that his opponent had forcefully broken through the shield and armor with his super speed and powerful magic, and chopped his chest with an axe. However, after forcibly breaking through two defenses, he didn't have much strength left, and only caused a shallow wound to Ronan.

Ronan instantly recovered.