The carriage was parked in the small square on the Public Administration Street. The coachman was dozing off, with two horses standing side by side, snorting softly.

Brigadier General Edison quickly walked across the stone square pavement and startled a flock of doves. He still held his usual pipe in his mouth, leaving a faint trace of smoke wherever he passed.

He woke up the coachman, then went around to one side to open the door neatly, and stepped into the car with the pedal; the first thing he did after sitting was to unbutton the collar and take off his coat.

The carriage was stuffy and the buttons were too tight, so he tried several times but failed to untie it. The brigadier general bit his pipe and cursed in a low voice.

"It seems that the negotiations are not going well?"

The boy's voice suddenly rang out. The brigadier general stopped his hand and looked at the blonde boy sitting opposite him. He might have taken advantage of the gap just now, or he had been sitting here before.

"You should care more about poor Charles." Brigadier General Edison recovered from his surprise and continued to take off his coat. "Where are others? I remember you should be going to St Andrew's Church today."

"He is in the church. In two minutes, he should take people to the small forest outside the city."

Brigadier General Edison showed a surprised and confused expression again. "What?" He sucked two pipes vigorously, "Aren't he being possessed? The priest didn't take good care of him?"

"Go to find Robin Short." William put his hands on his knees to support his chin. "Sorry, we skipped the middle step."

The brigadier knocked on his pipe and pondered: "Robin Short... the witness of the old Joe case? Why do you bother with this?"

"It's your case." William said bluntly, "You killed the alchemist, and then bribed several witnesses to blame Old Joe." He continued without waiting for the brigadier general to answer, "You took the book on Arthur's desk and gave me a puzzle. You want to meet me alone-I don't know the reason, but I think it might be related to Arthur, who is a Rose Cross."

The brigadier destroyed the smoke and said with a smile: "Little bastard."

"I've been to the East India Company's warehouse. I can probably guess why you're blocking your plan for next month's departure."

Brigadier General Edison raised his eyebrows. "Have you seen their goods?"

William nodded. The brigade general snorted coldly: "I want to tell you that all these people should be sent to the guillotine!" He roughly opened his collar and leaned back on the back pad. "They had blood and dirty things dripped from head to toe. Look at their actions in the East. These people would not be satisfied. They are now trying to get a charter from the king - monopoly, coin rights, diplomatic rights, jurisdiction, and even want to have an army!" Although he lowered his voice, he could still hear the anger in it. "Is this still a company? This is a country in the middle of the country-"

"But Old Joe didn't kill anyone." William looked expressionless, "but you plan to let him be a scapegoat."

The brigade general was not angry, but looked at William with relief. "Didn't our smart good guy have found a witness to help him escape?"

"To oppose the East India Company, you killed one."

The brigadier looked at the blond boy with a firm expression in front of him and did not answer. He subconsciously raised his pipe and took a sip, but found that the fireworks had just been extinguished.

The carriage swayed slightly, and the carriage began to run under the driver's command. They were traveling through the old town along the stone street. Brigadier General Edison turned his head and looked out the window, silent.

"I dare not say that he may be innocent. But you deprived a person of life without judgment. This is murder." William refused to give up. There seemed to be a ball of angry things in his heart that were biting its body; it was like the sound of rumbling drums, and his heartbeat resonated with it. "I still remember what you said when you first arrived at the military port. It touched me very much. But what you did made people feel deceived and played with - could the kingdom created in this way be really great?"

The wheel hit the stone pit, and both of them in the carriage shook.

"Yes, I said - fearless courage and loyalty to the country - but not high-sounding justice!" The brigadier glanced at him faintly. He was still not angry, but just muttered in a deep voice: "Childish fantasies are not good for achieving goals. If you were my son, you would have slapped you now."

"Please convey sympathy and regret to your son on my behalf."

"He died many years ago in a conflict with the Dutch." The brigade general glanced at the boy with a slightly changed face on the other side. He turned his eyes to the street scene that was flowing outside the car window, "For what I said, 'fearless courage and loyalty to the country' - I personally sent my child to the battlefield, and I personally took his coffin back to my hometown." He said in a deep voice, "People like me can even kill their children for their ideals. Don't talk to me about cheap justice!"

The sky suddenly became cloudy, and thunder rolled and crushed from the distant sea level. A heavy rain was about to fall. Without the sunshine, the faces of the two people in the car were covered with a trace of cloud.

The carriage fell into a terrible silence.

"I'm sorry," William whispered.

The brigade general turned his head and looked at him. "He is a good boy. If he were still alive, he should be taller than you now. He is also blonde, follow his mother."

"What exactly is your 'ideal'...? What are you...?" As soon as the question was released, he remembered Arthur. Or, this was actually a question he had been wanting to ask him for a long time. He was looking forward to the answer, but he was also afraid of that answer.

"Ha! I always thought Arthur protected you so well that you never tasted blood and anger." The Brigadier General was indignant. "He was a gambler, a complete idealist. - This is very similar to you - but when a real war comes, no one can stay out of it." He stopped talking, as if he was calming his overly excited heart. "We pursue a greater and more complete civilized world through universal reform; but reform means confrontation. Weak people cannot go further on this thorny road, we need sword holders!"

"…Rose Cross." The sword and rose emblem on the list appeared in William's mind. "What is your relationship with the Invisible Academy?"

"If the cross cannot be redeemed, you must protect it with a sword."

The brigade general finally suppressed the emotional fluctuations in his heart and uttered such a meaningful sentence. William was about to speak again, but he was asked first and said, "What about you? Are you willing to pull out the sword in your heart and go side by side with us-or do you have this courage?"

"So that's why you gave me that puzzle? Test me, let me go to the place you designated alone, and then make a choice whether to become an accomplice of the murderer?" William asked back. He didn't like being pushed into a situation where he had to choose, and never liked it. Arthur knew this well, so he always just showed it, but never forced William to make a choice.

William knew that Brigadier General Edison didn't like this question, and he didn't need the answer. So he changed his tone and asked, "Where is my uncle?"

"He was out of our network." The Brigadier's answer was brief and frank. "No one knew where he was, perhaps in the East."

"His whereabouts...is related to East India's plan for sailing next month?" William asked keenly, "they are all pursuing the same thing-"

"Too idealistic." Brigadier General Edison concludes, "What if you find the truth of alchemy? The Stone of the Sage cannot bring about eternal civilization, but will only provoke endless disputes."

This time it was William's turn to remain silent. He had a short moment of looking at each other, and soon they moved their eyes away and turned out the window. Everyone had their own thoughts.

Thunder clouds had floated from the horizon to the top of their heads, and the sunlight was completely blocked. With the rumbling sound, the rain fell one by one, making a drizzle on the stone brick floor.

The carriage stopped and avoided the crowd of people running and hiding from the rain before moving forward again. The wheels passed by, and a blonde boy was added to the surging crowd of people sheltering from the rain. He seemed to have no idea where he should go, and slowly dragged his steps in the increasing rainfall with his head hanging down.

Suddenly someone pulled him from behind and pulled his sleeves to drag him into a dark alley. Heavy rain fell on the intertwined and uneven eaves, and the dense muffled sound was isolated above the head.

William returned to reality from his low mood. He looked back at the small figure holding his tightly, and opened his eyes in astonishment: "Anne-?"
Chapter completed!