Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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Moreover, they are currently in the inner ring of the noble district, and if they keep walking north, they will see the royal palace, so there will be no problem getting back.

“No, I can’t take a penny less than I’m entitled to. Besides, I have to escort you home. The Earl of Champagne won’t dare lay a hand on me, but he might retaliate against the people around me,” Noodles said.

“I don’t need your protection,” Ina said.

“But at least you should pay me,” Noodles said firmly. “I know I may have misunderstood. You’re not just a young lady from an ordinary noble family. Your family must be very powerful. This little bit of money is nothing to you. You also look down on me and think I’m just a fun-loving lower-class person. But no matter what, you helped me, so I have to pay you back. We may not have anything, but we always repay kindness and debts.”

After saying that, Noodles stood motionless, staring at Ina, waiting for her answer.

“Okay, I’ll go with you to get the money,” Ina agreed.

By the time they left, it was already evening. After dinner, it was dark, and they would have to go back the next day.

Ina and Lucien had no choice but to spend another night in this cramped and smelly place. The next morning, they would take the money and leave to return to the palace, ending their journey.

Chapter 463 Blame-shifting, attack, and exposure?

Ina and Lucien's temporary hut was separated from the five people in the noodle shop by a courtyard, and at this moment, the two were lying on the same bed.

“Lucien, what do you think Father meant by leaving us here?” Ina murmured.

Lucien lay on the pillow with his hands behind his head. "Why was it Father? Why not our dear Mother? It was she who cast the spell back then. As for the reason, ha, it's too simple. We angered them."

Ina sat up abruptly. "Can you stop being so childish? Who is this old man? Do you think he's like you, going crazy when his toy breaks? He must have a deeper purpose."

"No matter how deep the intention, no one could have imagined that you would kill someone right away," Lucien muttered under his breath.

Upon hearing about the murder, Ina felt a chill run down her spine. "You absolutely must keep this a secret."

She couldn't even imagine how furious her mother would be if she heard that she had killed someone.

“You think I’m like you, uh, impulsive?” Lucien originally meant to say “stupid.” “In the end, if you had just listened to me and left, none of this would have happened.”

Upon hearing that Lucien was trying to shift the blame, Ina immediately flew into a rage, delivering an elbow strike to Lucien's stomach. "Huh? Wasn't this all because you were stupid enough to hand over silver coins, causing us to be surrounded by a bunch of bastards?"

Lucien was so angry that he pounded his little fists on the floor.

"Tsk tsk, kid." Ina mocked Lucien, saying he was acting like a child.

Lucien remained silent for a long time before summoning his spatial storage and taking out a breastplate. "Put it on." This breastplate was developed by the Technical Department and was specifically designed to defend against magic guns. If a magic gun didn't hit a mage's torso, it wouldn't instantly incapacitate a first-tier mage; at most, it would interfere with the casting of spells. Ina wasn't afraid of such interference, since she always liked to use her magic randomly.

"What's going on?" Ina asked curiously.

“You’re really terrible. Someone’s coming and you didn’t even notice?” Lucien said.

Ina immediately stood up, but Lucien grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

"Of course, I'm going to wake up those idiots," Ina replied matter-of-factly.

Lucien lowered his voice, "If you go there now, you might get surrounded too. Those guys are pretty clever. Their noodle magic isn't great, but they use it very well. They also have two guns, so it shouldn't be a big problem."

Ina took the breastplate with one hand and shook off her brother's hand with the other. "Lucien, you are utterly shameless."

“I…” Lucien was stunned by the scolding.

He didn't owe those thugs anything, so why should he help them? Besides, as a prince, he shouldn't be taking risks. His history teacher had told him more than once about how kings in history, relying on their bravery and leading the charge, lost their lives on the battlefield and squandered the foundations they had built.

While Lucien was still stunned, Ina had already put on her breastplate and ran out.

Lucien scratched his head in frustration. "Fuck your teachers, fuck your history, fuck your kings!" After cursing, Lucien pulled out his automatic rifle from his spatial storage and charged out.

In another courtyard, the five men, including Noodles, had already gotten up. Noodles was, after all, a second-tier mage. Although his perception was considered poor among those of the same tier, it was still slightly stronger than Lucien's. He had already sensed the danger and was preparing to inform Ina and Lucien to ignore them and run away directly.

"You guys, sigh." Noodles felt a bit conflicted when he saw Ina and Lucien, but he forced himself to calm down. "Never mind, you two go hide on the second floor and be ready to provide support at any time."

Then, Noodles assigned tasks to his four other brothers who were just ordinary people.

Having spent years on the streets and escaped death multiple times, Noodles is extremely skilled at nighttime indoor combat. Although this villa, which has been uninhabited for many years and is in a very poor location, was acquired two weeks ago using all of his previous savings.

However, this was the place where Noodles originally planned to carry out his kidnapping scheme and bury the Red Bucket Gang leader; he knew everything about this place.

"Noodles, it's me, Andrew. The Baron needs to speak with you." A voice, both strange and familiar, came from outside.

After thinking carefully, Noodles remembered who Andrew was. He was the Baron's butler, and it was Andrew who took him to see the Baron after the gatekeeper announced his arrival.

Why did this guy—no, why did the Baron kill him?

Seeing that the noodles didn't respond, the butler Andrew sighed and looked at the people beside him, "You, prepare to set it on fire, and also bring grenades."

Although he was just a butler, a novice mage who would be commonplace in the capital, he was a veteran of the battlefield. Since he had failed to lure the other party out, he would never enter the other party's territory.

After giving his instructions, the butler said very respectfully to a man wearing a coat on the other side, "I'm so sorry, but I'll have to trouble you again. That kid is a magician, and he picked up a little girl magician from somewhere."

The reason it was so troublesome was that before they arrived here, they encountered a burly, bald mage, a third-tier mage with formidable abilities. His abilities were so troublesome that even their fourth-tier mage was injured, and the mage managed to escape.

“This was originally my business,” the man in the overcoat said.

He is a fourth-tier mage, and his relationship with the Baron is not one of employment, but rather a partnership.

Even with his status as a baron, he couldn't hire a fourth-tier mage.

There are only a little over two thousand mages in total. Fourth-tier mages have already entered the top two hundred in the kingdom. They generally have their own power. Those who are not very resourceful and are rather lazy will just run a small, semi-legal company to make a living. Those who are resourceful are powerful, such as the owners of several shipping companies, large restaurants, and car dealerships in the capital.

Most of the dozens of people in the fifth rank were nominal advisors, acting as arbitrators in name only.

The dozen or so sixth-tier individuals, except for the oddball Dinia, basically ignored worldly affairs and focused solely on their assault on the highest peak.

"Thank you very much." The butler expressed his gratitude again, while gripping his revolver tightly with his right hand and drawing his military knife with his left, ready for battle.

Here, a battle is about to break out.

At the same time, in the spacious but enclosed music room of the palace.

Young Count Enes of Champagne stood opposite Queen Ambrina, who sat on the sofa, holding her modified guitar in one hand, looking at the handwritten sheet music in front of her, occasionally plucking a string and then writing a couple more strokes, as if no one was in front of her.

Enes, seeing that Ambrina still ignored him for a long time, finally couldn't help but speak up, "Your Majesty, someone is trying to frame me. I am innocent, but that is not important. What is important is that they want to harm Your Majesty and the Marquis."

The Marquis Enes was referring to was, of course, Ronan.

Ambrina put down her violin, feigning surprise and anger. "What's going on?"

Enes breathed a sigh of relief and began to recount, "Some people know that I am Your Majesty's absolutely loyal subject, so they set this trap and sent someone to collect a debt. How could I possibly pay such a large sum of money? So that pawn-like thug went and accused me. That arrogant thug is bound to be killed. The people I sent might not be able to protect him. Then the rumors spread that I not only didn't pay my debts but also killed someone."

Chapter 464 Purpose, Script, Crisis

“If Your Majesty wants to protect me, they will take the opportunity to say that you, as the chairman of the election committee, have acted unfairly and have done such a thing to help someone else rise to power. And those people will most likely also take the opportunity to question the universality and fairness of the series of new laws enacted by the Marquis.”

“But if you don’t protect me, I may not be convicted in the end, but I will definitely lose my title. My two younger brothers are not your loyal subjects, which means you will lose a vote. Not only that, if you don’t protect me, the officials who value stability will strongly oppose it, because in this way, people in the future will follow suit and attack and frame the election committee before the election.”

"So, in this situation, whether you protect me or not, they have already won."

"However, I have three ways to break this deadlock."

This was indeed a well-planned scheme.

If Ambrina insists on upholding the law impartially, losing a single vote is nothing. The key issue is the negative impact it will have. In future elections, election committee members will become defendants before they even vote. Wouldn't that make the kingdom, or even the entire Western Continent, a laughing stock?

Therefore, a group of ministers, nobles, church and magician representatives would do their utmost to prevent Ambrina from upholding the law impartially.

However, if she does not enforce the law impartially, Ambrina will immediately be labeled as biased. That's not the main problem; the key issue is that some people will take the opportunity to question the new law.

Ambrina glanced at the Count of Champagne. "Tell me your plan."

"The first way is to back down. If you stop insisting on supporting Ms. Eges, I think both Pierre's faction and old William's faction will let go of this nobody and then work together to quell the matter."

Enes said.

To be honest, all three candidates in this prime ministerial election support the new laws and policies; those who do not support them have long been eliminated in recent years.

All three candidates are civil servants, so they primarily represent the civil service. This is fundamentally different from the prime minister elections in Wieland, which represent different interest groups, and the emperor elections in the Empire, which represent regional interests.

However, there are significant differences of opinion on some specific issues.

Take the most fundamental issue of taxation as an example. The old conservatives, represented by William, believe that taxation should be simplified, small-scale, and ruthless. This means that the tax mechanism should be simple so that it is not too difficult for retired officials to adapt. The scope of taxation does not need to be so broad. It can be partially laissez-faire as before. However, for industries that need to be taxed, the tax rate should be increased, and the exploitation should continue to be ruthless.

Pierre's school of thought, on the other hand, basically reversed this view. They believed that the tax mechanism could not be so simple; it needed to have room for maneuver, and the scope of taxation should be broad, penetrating all aspects of life. However, the tax rate did not need to be so high, so as to give emerging capital enough room to operate.

The faction led by Dinia and Ronan is actually more neutral.

“Next,” Ambrina said directly. Give in? Impossible.

Enes answered quickly, knowing that Ambrina would not accept the first option. "The second option is to investigate the case, find the conspirators, and clear my name. However, this is more difficult because I do owe money, and that scoundrel has probably been silenced. Moreover, that baron has close ties with many nobles, so there may be some resistance. Your most important task now is to get Ms. Egis into power."

“Next,” Ambrina said.

"In fact, as the chairperson, you could establish some rules for the election committee, such as temporary exemptions to ensure that the election committee members are not affected during the election period. In addition, you could increase the number of election committee members to reduce the weight of a single election committee member."

Enes saved what he really wanted to say for last.

Ambrina made Enes talk so much not because she really wanted to know how to resolve the matter, but because she already knew that Count Enes of Champagne and Baron Auguste of Angers were simply putting on a show.

And this charade will soon be ended by Ronan. She, and the one who said that Ronan just wanted to see what Enes, this self-proclaimed loyal Count of Champagne, really wanted, now finally knows.

It must be said that Ambrina was a little surprised. She had thought that Enes was secretly colluding with Pierre or William, but it turned out that it wasn't.

This guy is colluding with nobles, and possibly the church as well.

In recent years, the nobility and the church have not lost money, and have even gained more, but their power has decreased significantly.

So these people wanted to regain their political voice, and then they set up this scheme during the election.

Once the number of electoral commissioners increases, will the next step be to expand the powers of this body? Or even go further and develop it into a national parliament?

What is this? This is treason.

The Kingdom of Phos can only have one sun, and that is her, Ambrina, and at most one more moon, Ronan.

“Actually, there’s an even simpler and faster way,” Ambrina said.

Enes was stunned. Was there another way?

“If someone frames you, can’t you frame them?” Ambrina retorted.

"I, I... how could I have framed him?" Enes was even more confused.

Before he could finish speaking, Enes suddenly felt his magic being suppressed. Bang! A gunshot rang out, and Enes fell to the ground, utterly astonished. He instinctively struggled to escape, but in the next instant, a hand reached out from the shadows and snapped his neck.

The next instant, Ashley appeared in the room carrying Enes's body.

Looking at the corpse of Count Enes of Champagne, Ambrina said, "An actress with your poor acting skills is only fit to play roles in melodramatic scripts where the count is framed and commits suicide to prove his innocence. Ashley, the rest is up to you."

Ashley then disappeared with Enes's body.

Enes was destined to die from the very beginning.

Meanwhile, Noodles and Ina were engaged in a fierce battle.

Both sides were surprised. Noodles hadn't expected the other side to set fire and throw grenades, so they had to rush out of the villa's yard and go outside.

The butler hadn't expected that the other side had such strong firepower. The other little boy was also a magician, and the other little girl was wearing a breastplate that could withstand magic revolvers. Moreover, this little girl wasn't just conjuring up longswords as described in the intelligence; she could even transform into a giant hedgehog made of longswords, which could then be launched.

The group of Noodles and Ina broke through the encirclement, which could be considered a success or a failure.

They were now stuck in the middle of a densely packed alleyway in a slum not far from the villa, with dead ends on both sides and their escape routes blocked by the other side.

Noodles and Lucien worked together to suppress the enemy from the front, while Ina, the second and third brothers with guns cleared the way from the back, and the fourth and fifth brothers hid in blind spots.

"Cover me, I'm going to take care of that kid with the gun," the butler shouted to the person next to him.

Although the gaps between the houses are narrow, allowing only a single person to turn sideways and making it inconvenient to maneuver, one can temporarily avoid being shot by entering these gaps and then approach Lucien piece by piece.

Lucien never expected that this seemingly frail middle-aged man, whose physical abilities were clearly inferior to his, would repeatedly catch him and Noodles during their attack intervals, advance a short distance, then hide in the gap, and advance again, getting closer to him step by step.

He started to panic.

Chapter 465 Firefight, Mistakes, and Last-Minute Rescue

The firefight continued intermittently, but without alerting anyone.

Because there was no one here, this area had been designated for demolition, and the people had been moved to the shantytowns in the East District. It was for this reason that Noodles bribed the people guarding this area to use the abandoned villas nearby as temporary safe houses.

As the butler Andrew dodged and charged forward with increasing suspense, he gradually approached Lucien and Noodles.

He has now basically figured out the performance of the kid's gun. Its maximum rate of fire is not as good as the magic revolver in their hands, but the actual situation is different. Their magic revolver consumes a lot of magic. A novice mage can only fire two rounds, which is twelve shots, before he can fire any more. If he fires any more, his physical abilities will be reduced due to a drop in magic power. Therefore, they can only fire one shot at a time.

But this brat's gun is different; its magic is mainly concentrated in the bullets. Although its power is small and not enough to instantly incapacitate anyone below level one, it still causes considerable physical and magical damage when it hits the body.

However, this gun only has fifteen rounds of ammunition. At this distance, Andrew's thinking is very clear: the kid's next reload will be his chance.

At the same time, Qiao, the fourth-tier mage who was the strongest member of the team and was wearing a coat, hesitated to make a move.

On the one hand, he was injured. When he fought with that bald, strong man, he initially thought that the other party was cooperating with him in a charade. However, the other party was serious, and he was injured due to his carelessness. Now his left hand is still a bit inconvenient.

Looking back, it was indeed a foolish thing for him. Count Enes of Champagne was once a down-on-his-luck playboy who could only mooch off others. He borrowed money to bribe Ronan to get his title back. There was no way he would have anyone with strong power and trustworthiness by his side. That bald man had no idea about this plan.

On the other hand, he also needed to conserve his strength, as he would have to silence witnesses and clean up the mess later.

Apart from the butler, everyone else was hired from the Netherlands: four novice mages, one first-rank mage, four providing firepower from the front, and another speed-oriented mage from the rear to prevent the little girl from breaking through.