Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1578 Major DuPont
After encountering the rat, Major DuPont nearly collapsed. His expression and actions were completely out of control, like trying to install an Android system into a Famicom. Forget about whether it would even run; the first 256KB of the program was still waiting in line outside the cartridge, completely inaccessible.

Major DuPont managed to squeeze out a few words from the jumbled mess of "hat. hat. hat."

"A hat?" Shang Luo looked at the tall military cap in his hand—it was a standard French military cap. Like a chef's hat, this hat had a huge interior space, big enough to fit a mouse standing upright.

He completely lost control after he took the hat off Major DuPont's head.

"Let me put it on you first."

Shangluo reached out and knocked the hat back onto his head.

Major Dupont quickly recovered from his hysteria. He adjusted his hat, making sure it was on properly, and then saluted Shangluo.

"Major Dupont of the Fourth French Republic greets His Excellency the Wizard."

"There's a problem. Who am I talking to? The one inside the hat, or the one outside? Who exactly is Major DuPont?"

He pointed to his hat: "I'm here."

"And who are the people down there?"

"He was a death row inmate sentenced to death by the Republic. He was conscripted by us during the war."

"I see. Then, may I assume that you are an elf?"

"Yes, I am the elf you spoke of."

"Then I want you to answer one question—if you can answer it, I will not capture you: Where is the Elf King Oberon?"

The "little elf" in the hat paused for a moment: "You mean, the High King of the Elves, Oberon?"

"Yes, where is he? We've come for him."

"You...you really came for him?"

"?" Shang Luo looked at him. "What, you don't know where he is?"

"I know. But... I'm afraid you won't be able to see him."

In the Pantheon in Paris, underground, in a secluded corner, stand two coffins with tombstones inscribed in Elvish:
The head of Oberon, son of Caesar and High King of the Elven Kings (55 BC – 1 AD), is buried here.

The head of the High Queen Titania (dates unknown ~ 1 year of the Republic) is buried here.

Two lines of cold, stone-written words brought an end to the search in Shangluo.

"????"

【? ? ? ? 】

"????"

Shangluo, Phaethon, and Apollonia were all stunned.

[They really beheaded him?!]

Apollonia had a bad feeling when Major DuPont said, "I'm afraid we won't see each other again." When Major DuPont told the truth, she, Shangluo, and Fahrenheit couldn't believe it.

It wasn't until they saw the tombstone that the three of them finally believed it.

King Oberon, Queen Titania, and a whole host of elven nobles—were all beheaded.

During the First Republic, which preceded the Third Republic and the Second Republic, a great revolution broke out in the Elven court of Gaul. The enslaved lower elves united and overthrew the rule of the Elven court. All the Elven nobles, along with the Elven king and queen, were beheaded.

After that, through successive changes of power, republics killed each other, and the world of elves was ravaged by carnage. Men and women, old and young, spring, summer, autumn, winter, east, west, north—all the elves were slaughtered.

"So this is what happened to you?"

"Not exactly. It only became like this in the Fourth Republic. During the Third Republic, they didn't need to be attached to rats."

"I know you elves don't have physical bodies, but what about the Third Republic you mentioned? What was it back then?"

"Pigeons. The Fourth Republic declared possession of pigeons illegal in the Third Republic, possession of dogs illegal in the Second Republic, possession of Africans illegal in the First Republic, and possession of humans illegal in the Empire—so now we can only choose rats. There aren't any other creatures in Paris that we can possess in the same number. I reckon if the Fifth Republic is established and also declares possession of rats illegal, we'll only be able to possess cockroaches."

It's best to keep these little sprites away.

"So what's the deal with this guy?" Shang Luo asked, pointing at the man in military uniform.

"You mean this? This is Special Order No. 919 issued by the Republic's wartime president, Mr. Gabriel, which declares that the First Empire's mobilization mode can be temporarily unblocked during wartime, allowing the manipulation of humans to fight."

"Okay." Shangluo covered his forehead. "How many elves do you have left?"

"This is confidential, so..."

"Didn't you surrender?"

"Even if I surrender, I have principles. I will not reveal state secrets."

Shangluo condensed a palm-sized thunderbolt.

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! There are still 44,000 people!"

"That's all? That's all?"

Yes, that's all.

"What about the rest?"

“Kill them all, kill them all, because we have fundamental differences in ideology!”

"What disagreement? May I ask?"

"My lord wizard, I'd like to ask—do you enjoy Provençal stew?"

"I haven't tried it, but I've heard it's pretty good."

"Great! So, would you prefer it stewed in chunks or slices?"

"slice?"

"Great! So, do you prefer a one-pot meal, or do you like each vegetable cooked separately before serving?"

"Let's cook them separately, since each vegetable has a different texture." "Great! Would you prefer the accompanying tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes or unsweetened tomato sauce?"

"I think ketchup is better, right? We can just eat cherry tomatoes like fruit."

"Heretic! I'll shoot you!!!"

He made a move to draw his gun, but Shang Luo reached out and grabbed his wrist: "What do you want to do?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just forgot for a moment that you're not one of us. Anyway, that's how it is, now it's just us left."

"Oh my god, is this really that important?"

"It's very important. How can you eat tomato sauce? You must eat authentic Provençal stew made by slowly simmering tomatoes. Only we make the most authentic Provençal stew! Everyone should eat this kind of Provençal stew."

"Hold on. Let me confirm, you are the Fourth Republic, not the Fourth Guesthouse?"

“That’s right, we are the Fourth Republic, the nation that was founded after the overthrow of the tyrannical Elf King Oberon. He forced us all to eat diced Provençal stew, so he was beheaded.”

"I don't quite understand if this is some kind of code between you or something. Anyway, you don't have many left, right?"

“Yes,” Major DuPont nodded. “But our will to resist will not be extinguished. No one can stop us from eating sliced, separately stir-fried Provençal stew made with homemade red sauce from cherry tomatoes!”

"Stop! I want to ask, where is your president?"

“I would rather die than… Okay, sir, please come this way.”

In the Parisian underground, where the sewer pipes converged, a tangible darkness seemed to stand before Shangluo.

That was a section of the pipe—it looked like an ordinary pipe, just without any light, but it was exceptionally dark and seemed to have no end.

Shangluo could sense that it connected to somewhere in the spirit world. Stepping inside would lead to the territory of the Elf Kingdom. This was the entrance to the Elf Kingdom.

"Our president is inside."

"Let him come out," Shang Luo said. "Let him come out and see me."

"Sir, I don't think he'll just come out like that. Even if you force me, it won't work, because even if I go in and call him, he might not come out."

"Hmm, that makes sense." Shang Luo nodded. "Alright, let's stop here then."

Shangluo picked up the phone: "Ready, fire."

Before the words were even finished, a beam of light descended from the sky. A relativistic kinetic weapon struck the ground from the zenith, delivering a surgical strike. The shockwave swept through the sewers, the splashing water blocked by Shang Luo's close-range shield. Meanwhile, the darkness before him slowly dissipated.

"Your Excellency Wizard?! What brings you here?"

“Do not increase the number of entities unless absolutely necessary,” Shangluo replied. “We already have enough entities within us. Keeping you as helpers is fine, but destroying you is a more convenient approach. Now, it is truly over, and I believe you can pledge your allegiance to the new empire.”

"The war doesn't seem to be over yet. Even if you destroy the Republic's government, the army has already been deployed. Besides, what lies before us..."

He was still incredulous. This was no ordinary place; this was the Elven Royal Court, a wonder that bridged the spirit world and reality. It had once been the center of the entire elven world, and beyond that gate lay a vast expanse. However, with the relativistic kinetic weapon destroying the physical structure covering the Elven Royal Court, the gateway no longer existed.

“Listen, I’m not here to negotiate, and I have no interest in your rat holes. I know you may have other rat holes, so show your sincerity and come to Cybernia to negotiate with me. I can wait for your entire organization to surrender, but my patience is limited. I need you to make a decision as soon as possible.”

"I"

"If you can't make a decision, then gather those who can, including the troops you've already deployed. Today I can only bomb this place, but tomorrow I can bomb anywhere. If you at least want to negotiate unconditional surrender, then at least give me enough sincerity. Do you know how to get to Cybertronia?"

We know.

“Very well. Come to Cybernia. I’ll wait for you for 48 hours. Until then, all advances on the front lines outside the Ardennes Forest will cease. I’ll wait to see what your purpose is. And... hand over Oberon’s head. I’m taking it back.”

The reconnaissance of Paris ended with an orbital artillery barrage.

Shangluo decided to stop short of causing a major incident—that one shot couldn't destroy all the elves, but Shangluo couldn't possibly enter the other world on his own.

Nothing good happened after he accidentally entered another world before. To prevent the worst from happening, he chose the safest route.

The safest approach is to wait for them to come to our territory for negotiations.

However, I always felt things weren't that simple.

"You're still thinking about Provençal stew?"

I've always felt that Provençal stew might be a metaphor for some concept, or perhaps he couldn't express this concept in human language, so he borrowed the term "Provençal stew." Actually, I think this might be a form of regression.

"Oh? What do you mean?"

I think it might be because rats' bodies can't actually handle overly complex concepts, causing their language system to malfunction. However, since they chose this explanation, there must be a reason. We'll find out the specifics when they come to negotiate.

“Apollonia is right,” Fahrenheit said. “The Elven court shouldn’t be like this. We’ve only been out of contact for a few decades; they couldn’t have changed so much without us noticing. There must be some deeper reason—but Shangluo, you’re also right. We don’t need to delve into their problems according to the Elven way of thinking, because once we start, we might fall into the Elven frenzy. The problem is just Provençal stew, but we don’t really know what it refers to. So, our best option is to stop in front of that dark cave entrance and wait for them to come and communicate with us.”

On the other hand, what if they don't intend to communicate?

"Then let the war proceed as usual. By the way, we can also conduct a rat extermination operation in Paris, just like Shangluo did before he left."

Before leaving, Shangluo removed the rat from its shell and threw it on the ground, granting the controlled man his freedom—though he still sent him to Rome. The man knew too much to return to the ordinary world. Shangluo planned to hand him over to the Romans for now, and deal with the rest later.

In addition, all spirits must be properly expelled in this process; this is the fundamental purpose of the operation. Only by expelling the spirits from the material world can the secrets of the entire world be brought under the control of the Heavenly Court.

But I'm still wondering what the meaning of "Provençal stew" really is?

"Stop thinking about it. Let's figure out how to hold this meeting. And while we're at it, we also need to deliver the coffin to Victoria."

When he left, he brought back the two sarcophagi as well. After all, Oberon, the Elf King, was the son of Caesar, and theoretically had the right to claim the Roman throne. Shangluo had, for the time being, helped Victoria resolve some succession issues—after all, although the Isaurian dynasty had been emperors for a long time, they were not without challengers.

Furthermore, Oberon was ultimately half Roman. His final fate should be decided by the Romans.

[By the way, is Oberon really dead?]

According to him, the coffin should contain a head.

Should we open it and take a look?

“I am not familiar with your customs, so I did not open the coffin directly. It is better to let the Romans handle this matter themselves. I am afraid that if the opening is not done properly, Oberon might grow legs and run away like a ginseng doll.”

(End of this chapter)