Hesitant Minister of the Navy

Glass Island, White Queen District.

The residence of Minister of the Navy Dewis Ramos is located here.

Both being Founding Family, Ramos Manor and Moriarty Manor are not far apart.

Their ancestor was Lanmalok, a hero whose bravery rivaled that of Lancelot. He fought to the bitter end and died a glorious death in the fiercest battle against the giants, and after the Crown Lord's ascension, he became one of His knights.

If Avalon has nobility, then the Ramos family would be considered one of the top noble families.

It was precisely because of the bravery of the Ramos family's ancestors that their family had controlled the navy or army for generations for hundreds of years. Their patriarch always became a commander-in-chief of an army—even the previous Grand Guardian of Avalon was Dewis Ramos's uncle.

Old Dewis was walking in the garden, tending to it himself with gardening shears.

His hair was white, his back was straight, and his face was full of wrinkles. Although no one had provoked him, the corners of his mouth were still slightly turned down, making him as intimidating as an angry lion.

It wasn't that he couldn't find a good gardener; it's just that he always felt the gardens designed by those people didn't suit his taste—even though he couldn't articulate his specific needs, he just felt that the gardening was bad in this way and that way. In short, no matter how he changed it, he was still not satisfied.

In the end, I had to do it myself – it was far from good, but at least it wasn't awkward.

"I suddenly have a bad feeling, Sheldon."

The old man spoke slowly.

Following behind him was his chief secretary Sheldon was also a robust and tall man. He looked much younger than Old Dewis, but was at least in his forties or fifties, with noticeable wrinkles on his forehead and around his eyes.

Sheldon thought for a moment, "I think... you mean that thing that happened in the department recently?"

His words were subtle enough, but enough for Old Dewis to understand.

"Sometimes I wonder if doing this is the right thing to do."

The old man, with his back to his secretary, slowly said, "When Tommy was in power, I did not cooperate with him because I saw him as a mixed-race orphan with impure blood and no father or mother; when that fat pig Charles invited me to work for the Stibnite Person, I also disdained to associate with him... I can't really explain why, I just simply looked down on him."

Perhaps they look down on him because he once had a tall and strong physique, but has become so fat that he can barely walk; perhaps they look down on him because he once dreamed of changing Avalon, but gave up immediately when faced with difficulties...

Or perhaps they simply felt that Charles Drost was chosen by the Stibnite Person because he was the "cheapest" one. Working with him would lower their own standards.

He was neither a pedantic knight nor incapable of becoming a "nobleman".

But that would require the Stibnite Person to personally invite him and offer a sufficiently high price—the title of Earl would be quite good.

Instead of remaining completely anonymous and simply having Charles recruit him.

Who do you think he is? Just that fat pig Charles's lackey?

Conversely, it is precisely because Charles got himself into trouble that he is now forced to act aggressively.

When he was recruited by Charles, he didn't report the matter because he wanted to leave himself a way out.

After all, Star Antimony was aggressive at the time, directly targeting Avalon, and the Iris People didn't seem to be behaving properly. Meanwhile, the Avalon royal family was being cursed one after another, seemingly powerless to resist; alchemy had been open for so many years with huge investments but ultimately yielded no good results; the future monarchs all seemed to have no future, and old Meg looked like she was about to die.

Seeing that the ship was about to sink, he had no choice but to prepare to switch jobs.

—Who would have thought that Charles would be captured alive so quickly! He even pleaded, willing to reveal those secrets in exchange for his survival—

Can't you just die already, you fat pig?!

Old Dewis astutely judged that there must be a reason for the sudden and significant improvement in the Stibnite Person's diplomatic attitude and the Iris's sudden overtures that bordered on betraying national interests.

This is most likely because the Stibnite Person failed in their assassination attempt, allowing Drost to be safely and secretly imprisoned.

This means that the entire intelligence network of the Stibnite Person within Avalon could be uncovered, and the Stibnite Person must try to buy time by showing goodwill in order to expedite their evacuation.

Old Dewis could not have failed to confirm this information with his colleagues, but he was certain that Minister Drost could not have invited only him.

During this period, the Inspectorate has been making arrests, and those arrested have not put up fierce resistance, presumably because they have been given some kind of leverage.

Old Dewis didn't know Charles would betray him first, but it was only a matter of time before he revealed his intelligence.

So he actually only has two paths to choose from.

One option is to hurry up and die, passing the position of head of the Ramos family to his descendants before he is betrayed—once he's dead, this mistake, which is merely a matter of attitude and alignment, can be generously overlooked. After all, he hasn't really committed any major errors.

The other option is to fight to the bitter end.

Try to find some leverage over the other party; if you can't get it, create some, and eventually establish a balance of power—I won't mess with you, and you shouldn't mess with me either.

Actually, some people also chose the first option.

Some of his Old Knight died this winter, not because of the cold weather... but because they committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

—This was all a chain reaction triggered by the arrest of Minister Drost.

However, some people still harbor wishful thinking.

Old Dewis didn't do so simply because the Ramos family currently lacked a suitable successor. Few of his descendants were promising, and the most talented and likely to inherit his position was his grandson. However, the grandson was too young to be the head of the family, much less a minister.

The Minister of the Navy is not like Minister of Everything " who can be appointed simply by the Queen's authorization, nor is it a position like agriculture or trade where anyone can be appointed, or even where officials who don't understand the field are specifically chosen.

If you want your grandson to inherit your ministerial position, you should at least promote him to the rank of Rear Admiral. That's the bare minimum.

However, this period was peacetime, with no war at all—promotion in peacetime only came with seniority. Under these circumstances, Her Majesty the Queen was still encouraging "non- Path of Authority" to join the military. This meant she also had to relinquish some promotion slots to extraordinary individuals from non- Path of Authority to ensure they occupied a certain proportion of the Navy Department's high command.

If one fails to pass on the position of minister while still alive, one can only pass it on to one of the generals under one's command, according to the rules.

Although it may only be temporarily stored in name...

But once it's transmitted, and I die... I'll be left with these useless kids who struggle to even reach the Third Level. If the other side can keep them safe, then they might never be able to be transmitted back.

The position of Grand Guardian has already been lost. If the position of Minister in the military is also lost, then the Ramos family will be dead in name only. Even the Moriarty Family at least has the wealth accumulated through generations of business, while the Ramos family only has connections in the military.

If even that's gone, then all they'll have left is a fixed seat at the Round Table Hall.

Therefore, he had to take action.

"Based on our discussion, once we obtain this intelligence, we should immediately release a portion of it—the part about Aleister being a spy for Star Antimony. This will reduce Iver Moriarty's influence."

Old Dewis said slowly, "But I'm wondering... is there any other way?"

Her Majesty Sophia is nearing the end of her life. The Arbitration Hall has instructed the ministers to remain at home, indicating that her death is imminent.

Once they publish the story in the newspapers and it spreads throughout Avalon, a week-long period of mourning will begin immediately.

During this time, Iver couldn't very well argue with them about the details in the newspapers—that would only annoy people. After all, the evidence they had was solid and verified by the intelligence agencies of the three countries. He wanted to refute them point by point, but the evidence provided by the Inspectorate alone wouldn't be enough to convince everyone.

After a week, the matter was basically settled. People had already formed a fixed impression, and there was no room for him to say anything more.

Then they could negotiate with Iver... just let the Minister of Everything hang there and do nothing. That way, they wouldn't have to do anything either.

"But I feel a bit uneasy today. I feel like something bad is going to happen... I feel like this plan isn't safe enough."

Old Dewis frowned. "Because, in the end, this matter is nothing more than getting rid of Aleister and making people suspect that Minister Moriarty betrayed Avalon's interests for love, making them think that this young minister is unreliable. But if we can't get more dirt on him, it will be difficult to completely stop his actions; at most, it will only increase public opinion against them. If he really doesn't care about his reputation and the Moriarty Family's business, it might actually completely enrage him."

"So, I was thinking... is it possible that we could just hand this letter over to Minister Moriarty? We could keep only one copy... and then sell off those old accomplices who were plotting something along with it."

The old man squinted, his dangerous gaze flashing. "This way, we can protect the Ramos family and also make the others spit something out..."

"... Sheldon, what do you think?"