The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

"Sorry, I can't give any proof, because he is too careful not to leave any evidence against him." Seeing that Leo expressed doubts about his words, Schobert was not surprised, and said truthfully .

Leo asked back: "If you are at home, someone suddenly came to tell you that another person is malicious to you and wants to use other people's hands to deal with you, would you believe such a thing?"

Schobert also replied frankly: "No, I don't believe it at all."

"Well, normal people really wouldn't believe it, but..." Leo nodded, but changed the topic, and said, "I believe it a little bit."

"Why?" Schobert asked rather puzzled.

"Because I didn't believe that Mr. Patch was trying to make peace from the very beginning," Leo said with a look of understanding, pretending to be mysterious: "The dispute between me and Mr. Patch is not simple. It can be resolved with a truce, the conflict of interests between the people behind him and me is too great, even if Mr. Patch is unwilling to conflict with me, he can't stay out of it."

Leo's right and wrong words made Schobert's imagination run wild. He quickly thought of Patch's current position in the federal government, and also thought of some political disputes he had heard before. things, and brought them involuntarily.

After the conjectures in his mind gradually took shape, he couldn't help but regret coming here to meet Leo, because he felt that he might have been involved in the disputes among the high-level regimes of the Otter Federation.

Schobert is very aware that his family of lumberjacks may have certain strength and influence in the surrounding area of ​​Truber Mountain, and even in the entire Josh County, but compared with those high-ranking officials and dignitaries of the federal government, their families are obviously more powerful. Too weak, even if they have some power that ordinary people don't have, these powers are still as fragile as paper when facing the state machine and state armed forces.

Patch is obviously aware of this, that's why he broke the tacit rules of the lumberjack family for so many years, joined the federal government, and served in the federal government, but old people like Shobert are not like Patch The courage to break the routine can only stick to one-third of an acre of land, and try to avoid being involved in unnecessary disputes.

However, what Schobert didn't expect now is that the dispute was still involved in them through Patch, and this time it was their initiative. This made him extremely resentful towards Patch who treated them as pawns, and he couldn't help but feel a little bit of pain in his heart. One is to get rid of Paqi no matter what, lest Paqi continue to cause harm and cause more unsolvable troubles.

When Shobert developed a strong hatred for Patch, he didn't notice that Leo and Sylvia sitting opposite him looked at each other and smiled at the moment, and Sylvia was emitting a A weak energy fluctuation affects the surroundings.

Schobert recovered from his thoughts, and asked with some doubts: "In that case, why did Your Excellency just..."

Leo made up two reasons at random, and explained: "First, this is Josh County, which is not within my sphere of influence. Second, I came here for other tasks, and I don't want to cause extra problems." He said in a tone: "But it's not that I will let him go if I avoid the other party. It seems that Mr. Patch or the people behind Mr. Patch will not let me complete the task smoothly. But..." He looked at it again. Looking at Schobert, he said, "However, I have no idea of ​​cooperating with your family for the time being."

"Why? Don't we all hate Patch?" Shobert asked puzzled.

Leo explained: "It's true that I hate Paqi very much, but I'm not sure if your family hates Paqi. After all, what you said is just your one-sided statement, which cannot be confirmed. On the contrary, it is yours. The lumberjack family in Trouble Mountain has always worked together to promote the outside world, and the relationship is extremely close, how can I be sure that your arrival is not Mr. Patch's plan?"

After hearing this, Schobert opened his mouth and didn't know how to explain it for a while.

In fact, the illusion that the lumberjack family is advancing together is a deliberate disguise, in order to prevent the outside world from seeing their internal discord, and then using this discord to break them down individually.

Although they are very unified and consistent in some matters, especially in external affairs, and seem to be a whole, but in fact, their relationship is very bad, and there are constant frictions between them. The relationship is not accumulated over time, but the distrust and hostility between them has been formed from the root of the family at the beginning.

The holy deed, by devouring each other and then growing, endows the family that owns it with greater power. This kind of family core is doomed from the beginning that they will eventually become hostile. It is also because of this that after the death of the Venolin family, the lumberjack family's first thought was not to investigate the cause of the Venolin family's death, but to find the holy deed of the Venolin family.

But the problem is that this kind of hostile relationship is only known inside the lumberjack family. For outsiders, the lumberjack family is very united. Once something happens, all the lumberjack families will move and work together to solve those who provoke them. People, this is already the consensus of the villages and towns around Truber Mountain, and there is a proverb that says that if you offend a logger on Truber Mountain, don't even think about taking a log from the mountain.

"We can hand over that forest farm to your family. As for the price, just follow the normal price." Leo suddenly said again when Schobert felt embarrassed.

Schobert hesitated for a moment, seemed to have thought of something, and said with a gloomy face, "Are you using us as pawns?"

In his opinion, as long as he accepts Leo's forest farm, the outside world will think that he has cooperated with Leo. At that time, whatever Patch wants to do will definitely target them. In addition, other unknown lumberjack families even Under Patch's bewitching, he would think that he had already obtained the Holy Deed of the Unowned through some means of trading.

Leo shook his head and said, "No, I'm just giving you a chance to prove that you didn't lie just now. A thousand explanations are not as good as one actual action. If you don't even want to do this, how can I Can you trust Your Excellency to join me in dealing with Patch and his family?"

Schobert fell into deep thought, seeming to be considering the pros and cons of doing so.

At this time, Leo said again: "I know that you lumberjack families are hiding a big secret."

As soon as this remark came out, Schobert immediately became alert and looked at Leo.

"Don't be so nervous. Only you will think this secret is very important. It means nothing to the federal government. Otherwise, you will not be able to live here safely." Leo signaled the other party to relax, and said: " Although I don't know what that secret is, I can be sure that secret should be the foundation of your lumberjack family, and if we become partners, I can use my influence to help you and your family."

A look of hesitation appeared on Schobert's face, because this was an opportunity for him and his family.

In the past, several families in the lumberjack family tried to use external force to obtain the holy deeds of other families, but the external force they borrowed was too rubbish. Not only did they fail to meet their expectations, but instead made other lumberjack families join forces Kill them.

However, this does not mean that the method of borrowing external force is wrong. In fact, Patch is also borrowing external force to some extent, and the borrowing is very successful. If it is not just his family's turn to enter the mountain, I am afraid He has now begun to control other families.

It is conceivable that when Patch's Crowley family comes out of the mountains, Patch will start to attack other lumberjack families, but these families have nothing to do with Patch now.

The best way is naturally to get rid of Paqi directly, but the problem is that Paqi has now become the branch minister of the Ministry of Education of the federal government. Once such a high-ranking official has an accident, he will definitely be traced. When the time comes, these loggers will face The right ones may be the federal police, agents, or even the army, so they will not use this method until the last resort.

In addition, after learning about Patch's situation, Schobert also thought about letting a member of the family join the federal government and become a government official, but the rules of the holy deed restricted them from doing so, so he was also very curious about Patch's situation. How did they do this by avoiding the rules of the holy deed, and even if they also avoided the rules of the holy deed now, it would be difficult for the people of the government to reach Paqi's status in a short time.

However, now Leo has provided another option, the power of the federal government will be dealt with by the power of the federal government, and they only need to concentrate on dealing with the Crowley family.

Thinking of this, the hesitation on Schobert's face gradually dissipated, and his expression became decisive.

I saw that he said to Leo: "How can I be sure that your Excellency is capable of dealing with Paqi, you must know that he is the branch chief of the Ministry of Education here."

"You don't have to worry about this, I can show you my ability." Leo looked relaxed and said, "I know that there are many people in Josh County who have colluded with the church country outside, and some of them are even Senior government officials, your lumberjack family is the head snake in Josh County, and you will definitely be able to collect the relevant list, and I don’t need you to provide enough evidence, you just need to give me the list, and then wait and see the result.”

Schobert asked: "Aren't you worried that the list I provided is wrong?"

Leo said calmly: "It doesn't matter if it is a mistake or not, as long as there is a result."

Schobert couldn't help feeling chills when he heard Leo's words, which made him think of the rumors about the power struggles of those governments that he had heard before. The so-called human life is just a number in the eyes of these people.

However, this also gave him some confidence in Leo, because Leo's performance was exactly in line with the image of those high-ranking government officials in his mind.

After that, he discussed with Leo about taking over the management of the forest farm. At that time, he asked the housekeeper to draft a contract and signed it, which was considered to be the most basic cooperation agreement.

After leaving the manor, Schobert boarded his carriage and walked back. Some cold breeze blew into the carriage from the window, which made him feel a little cool, and his mind became clearer at this moment.

He looked down at the signed contract in his hand, and there was a trace of confusion in his eyes. He felt that something was wrong with him. Originally, his purpose of coming to the manor to meet Leo and Sylvia this time was just to test the two and Pa. Whether Qi is a hostile relationship, and to see if the two have the ability to deal with Paqi, did not think about formal cooperation.

But now he has inexplicably obtained the management of the forest farm, and has also reached some cooperation agreements with Leo, which completely exceeded the goals he had considered before coming here, and also disrupted his plans.

"Did I be..." Schobert couldn't help wondering if he was being controlled, just like Patch's ability.

But this doubtful thought only flashed in his mind, before he denied it, because his ability didn't sense any abnormality.

As his own ability to control animals gradually strengthened, he was also able to acquire some supernatural abilities from animals, such as danger perception, which helped him avoid many dangers in the past, so he was very concerned about his abilities. Trust, and just now he didn't feel any danger from Leo and Sylvia, which means that the two are not the kind of people with special abilities, and the other party will naturally not be able to silently influence his ability to think.

Therefore, Schobert attributed this to the ability of politicians. After all, as long as he is a successful politician, he must have the ability to bewitch that ordinary people do not have. This ability is not supernatural power, and it can also affect people's thinking.

After thinking about this, he gradually felt relieved, and began to consider collecting a list for Leo of those who colluded with the Church and the state.

On the other side of the manor, Leo withdrew his mental net, stopped monitoring Schobert, and then said to Sylvia, "Everything is going well, he has no doubts."

Sylvia sat lazily on the sofa, and said: "It's a pity that the ability to affect emotions can only reach this level. If it was in Velen, I could let him tell all his secrets." come out."

"The situation is very good now, there is no need to be so anxious to know the secrets of the lumberjack family," Leo said with a smile, "We just need to wait and push at the right time. It is because of the mutual distrust and even hostility between the Carita Devils. The reason why there was no major conflict before is because none of them is particularly powerful. Now the Crowley family can use the power of the federal government because of that Patch. , The overall strength has far surpassed other families, even without our guidance, it will only be a matter of time before they break out into a large-scale conflict, we will just quietly wait and see, and we can take action when the time is right."