Abstergo

"Unfortunately, I already knew all that. Do you have anything to tell me that I don't know?"

"How would I know what you don't know—" Seeing the serious look on Tony Stark's face, Henry suddenly felt that his excuse was rather weak.

Still maintaining his casual manner, Henry ran a finger along the rim of his wineglass in midair. "But I do have some rumors I've heard secondhand. No evidence, no idea where they came from. I don't know if they're true. Do you want to hear those too?"

"Go on. I'll judge for myself whether they're true."

Henry likewise braced a hand on the table and leaned forward, narrowing the distance between them before saying in a low voice, "In the fourteenth century, Philip IV of France, wanting to dodge his debts and fill the royal treasury, sent troops to attack the Paris headquarters of his greatest creditor, the Templars.

"Speaking of murdering creditors to dodge debts, Philip IV handled it far more cleverly than that little mustache later on. He even earned the title of a great ruler of France, unlike Hitler, who was hated by everyone."

Tony Stark's mouth twitched, his face full of disdain. "Cut down on those little observations of yours. I didn't come here to hear that."

"Okay. At the same time, the French king ordered every official in France to cooperate with the operation against the Templars. Besides arresting their members, they also restricted the transfer of assets.

"In that campaign, 138 Templars were arrested in Paris alone, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay. Across all of France, the number was beyond counting.

"Many died under interrogation, while those who survived were ultimately burned at the stake. From then on, outsiders believed the Templars had been completely wiped out. But in truth, a