"Furious Speed (Moral Bottom Line Edition)"

Isaac set down the letter and thoughtfully stroked his chin. The contents were simple. On one hand, it explained Remington's fate. Just as he had expected, nothing happened.

They had decided to send Remington back. He had already died once and been resurrected as a construct, leaving not a trace of Solomon blood in his body.

At the same time, he now belonged to Noence Prince. No matter what, they had to consider that prince's attitude.

Of course, the most important thing was that Isaac, who had the greatest conflict with Remington, had said nothing. Naturally, they would not say anything either.

However, Isaac guessed Caesar had also put in considerable effort to achieve this outcome. Based on what he knew of his old man, Gaia would have simply killed Remington over his string of actions!

But although Solomon was still nominally under his command, Caesar had actually begun taking over matters large and small. Therefore, Caesar's voice carried far more weight.

This outcome also suited Caesar's usual style.

But Isaac did not care about this matter. To him, trash like Remington—stupid and weak—was no longer worth his attention.

What truly troubled Isaac in the letter was the second matter...

The matter concerning Noence Prince!

First, Isaac's earlier guess about Noence Prince had been correct. He truly did have a conflict with Solomon, and he truly wanted to annex their family's territory.

But the reason for it...

Was incredibly melodramatic...

It began with Isaac's father Gaia in his youth...

The Solomon Family had a tradition: when heirs were young, they had to travel across the continent as adventurers. On one hand, it allowed them to accumulate real combat experience and improve their strength. On the other, it broadened their horizons.

Naturally, Gaia was no exception. While traveling abroad, he happened to form an Adventure Team with Noence, who had still been a prince at the time. This grudge began with that Adventure Team...

At first, their relationship had been quite good. They were both born nobles, and although there was a considerable gap in their ranks, neither knew the other's true identity at the time. Moreover, both were geniuses, so they got along very well.

Until...

That woman appeared!

As an Adventure Team, even though both of them were geniuses and quite powerful, a team of two melee fighters was lacking in both overall strength and versatility. So they recruited a Witch as well.

And what followed developed just like every knightly novel: a melodramatic romance happened!

Noence fell for the Witch, and the Witch fell for him too.

And Gaia!

Yes, the Witch fell for both men at once. She was a standard adult. She did not want to choose.

But that was obviously impossible. Setting aside the fact that their noble statuses would not permit it, it would still have been impossible because Gaia did not like that Witch.

Gaia had already been betrothed to Isaac's mother at the time, and their relationship had always been very good.

And as everyone knew, what one could not have was always the best!

Influenced by that mindset, the already mentally unstable Witch became increasingly twisted in her feelings toward Gaia, while growing increasingly distant from Noence.

Of course, things were still manageable at that point. Although Noence had fallen for the Witch, he was still a prince and understood his own situation well enough, so he did not think much of her distancing herself from him.

Until...

The Witch's feelings for Gaia became even more twisted!

So twisted that she tried to kill Isaac's mother, then refine Gaia into a puppet so that he would remain by her side forever!

Naturally, she failed.

Afterward, although Gaia had seen through the Witch's plan beforehand and neither he nor Isaac's mother had been hurt, Gaia's personality had been much the same as it was now—extremely protective of his own!

Thus, already growing tired of the Witch, he discovered her plan and killed her without the slightest hesitation!

The decisiveness of his actions left even Noence stunned!

And because of this incident, a rift formed between them. The Adventure Team disbanded, and the two returned home to inherit their respective family businesses.

As time passed, they found each other increasingly unpleasant. Then came the political issues. Although Noence's talent had been quite good back then, the Emperor's talent was even more astonishing, so Gaia naturally did not stand on his side.

One matter after another deepened the conflict between them until it reached its current irreconcilable state!

However, what Isaac cared about more were two other points mentioned in the letter. The first was that the Emperor, who bore the title of demigod, actually belonged to the same generation as his father!

That was incredible. Either the Terra Royal Family had a stable method of passing down power, ensuring that every reigning Emperor was a demigod, or the Emperor's talent was truly astonishing, allowing him to grow to his current level in merely a few decades!

And Isaac believed it was both.

The Terra Royal Family should have a stable method of passing down power, but its efficiency was probably not perfect. After all, not every Emperor of the Terra Empire had been a demigod, and if such a method truly existed, the Terra Royal Family would not be so anxious over the Emperor's death.

The current Emperor's talent should not be poor, but it could not possibly be outstanding enough to reach that level. Isaac had cheats, yet he still did not dare guarantee that he could become a demigod if given the same amount of time!

The extraordinary beings of this world were not like those in novels from his previous life, where sufficient talent and resources let one rise endlessly. Even if this world's extraordinary beings had enough talent and resources, there were still many rigid conditions that required immense amounts of time to prepare and overcome.

Take Legendary Wizards, for example. Advancing required a great many rituals, and these rituals usually had extremely specific requirements regarding time, place, even the number of people and their professions. Gathering everything needed was exceedingly difficult.

Unless one was like the Mad Witch and used evil god rituals as substitutes.

So the Emperor definitely possessed talent, but no matter how exceptional it was, he could not have reached the demigod realm in such a short time.

Aside from that information involving some secrets of the Terra Royal Family, the second piece of information was why Isaac fell silent—his mother's death was connected to Noence!

But the letter did not explain the specifics. It merely told him to make a trip to Solomon Fortress to discuss some matters.

"Lapis Lazuli, summon Smith and Rona. We're making a trip to Solomon Fortress." Isaac lowered his eyes.

Lapis Lazuli heard the change in Isaac's tone, and her gaze toward the letter turned cold. She nodded. Though she could have notified them with magic, she chose to turn and leave the laboratory, giving Isaac some space.

"Noence!" Isaac muttered the name. A flash of killing intent passed through his lowered eyes, but it quickly faded.

This matter required careful planning...

Noence Prince himself was merely a High Knight. That level of strength was nothing to Isaac now, but his identity as a prince was somewhat troublesome.

On one hand, his status as a prince allowed him to recruit many experts, including even fourth-rank Miracle Wizards!

On the other hand, he belonged to the Terra Royal Family. Isaac's relationship with the Terra Royal Family was somewhat delicate at the moment. Even if he did not target Noence himself and merely struck at his forces, he had to proceed with extreme caution.

But...

A dark glint flashed in Isaac's eyes. A rift of magic power silently opened, and a burly three-eyed man stepped out, respectfully dropping to one knee.

"Start gathering intelligence with Noence Prince. And while you're at it... if the opportunity arises..." A vicious light flashed through Isaac's eyes. "Kill him immediately if you can!"

"Yes, my lord." The three-eyed man lowered his head in acceptance, then disappeared back into the magic rift, relaying Isaac's orders to the other Dimension Apostles.

Given Isaac's ambiguous relationship with the Terra Royal Family, it truly was inconvenient for him to confront Noence Prince directly. But...

What did it have to do with Isaac if the apostles of the Dimension Demon God were the ones who acted?

As everyone knew, Mad Witches were equally hated by all existences, especially Outer Gods!

Aside from Mad Witches, no extraordinary beings were hated by everyone at once—not even Witches!

Although many Witches were mentally ill, there were still people and gods who liked the sickly, obsessive type. Moreover, Witches generally did not hate other Witches. They merely sympathized with one another.

But Mad Witches were different. Mad Witches hated other Mad Witches too!

After sorting out his emotions, Isaac's figure was swallowed by the savage spatial shadow behind him and vanished from the Mage Tower. When he reappeared, he was already at the castle's training ground.

Smith and Rona had already prepared their luggage there and were waiting with Lapis Lazuli for Isaac.

"Squeak! Squeak squeak!"

The instant Isaac appeared, Little Mouse swiftly climbed onto his shoulder and squeaked loudly, voicing his dissatisfaction.

Over this period of time, Isaac's neglect of him had reached its peak!

At first, Little Mouse understood why Isaac had not taken him to the Itera Kingdom. He had been researching necromantic divine arts then. But Isaac had been back for so long and still had not come to see him. Worse, he had not even prepared a laboratory for him in the newly built Mage Tower. Little Mouse was extremely dissatisfied!

If Lapis Lazuli had not accidentally let him overhear while notifying Smith and Rona this time, he might not have been able to "catch" Isaac at all!

Seeing the furious Little Mouse on his shoulder, Isaac froze for a moment before revealing a helpless smile. "All right, don't be angry. You can come with us too."

"Squeak~" Hearing Isaac's words, Little Mouse nodded in satisfaction, then squeaked again with a solemn expression. "Squeak squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"

"All right. I'll have Lapis Lazuli arrange a laboratory for you. I'll get it done once we're back."

"Squeak squeak!"

"Mm. I'll give you more and larger divine sparks too."

"Squeak!"

"Necromantic magic? Fine. This trip to the fortress is a good opportunity to make another deal with the God of Black Orcs. I'll get it for you then."

"Squeak~" Having received a series of promises from Isaac, Little Mouse finally nodded in satisfaction. He then lay quietly on Isaac's shoulder, looking at Lapis Lazuli with faint smugness in his eyes.

It was as if he were saying—See? The master still likes me best!

But Lapis Lazuli paid no attention to Little Mouse's provocation. She still wore that expressionless icy face, but as she watched Isaac's warm smile, an imperceptible smile appeared in her eyes.

"All right, let's go." Once Isaac's playful exchange with Little Mouse was over, he beckoned. Lapis Lazuli and the others quickly came to stand behind him, and the savage spatial shadow emerged again, swallowing them all in a single gulp!

When they reappeared, they had already arrived at Solomon Fortress!

However, just like the last time he returned home, they had still appeared outside. The fortress itself was covered by the Mage Tower's barrier, and this barrier was even more powerful than the one around the Lord's Mansion!

Of course, under normal circumstances, as long as one registered within the barrier, teleportation magic would not be intercepted. But that only applied to normal teleportation magic.

Isaac's teleportation magic was not normal. It came from an evil god, so it was not impossible that the god's followers possessed the same teleportation ability.

It was only a few steps away anyway, so there was no need to take such a risk. That was why Isaac had not registered in his home's barrier.

But it was no major issue. The soldiers guarding the fortress gates recognized Isaac and Smith, so the moment they appeared, the gates opened and word was sent into the fortress.

But sending word was clearly unnecessary, because in the next moment, arcane radiance flashed, and Sheryl, his eldest sister, appeared before Isaac and the others.

Long-distance movement through Phase Space was convenient, fast, and consumed little energy, but its one flaw was that it made rather a lot of noise. At least, to Sheryl, who was already a Grand Arcanist, the disturbance was immense.

"You're here?"

"Mm, we're here."

"Then let's go. I've already notified Father and Caesar. We'll head to my Mage Tower. They'll be there soon."

Hearing Sheryl's words, Isaac narrowed his eyes slightly. They were actually going to speak inside the Mage Tower. It seemed the matters to be discussed were indeed extremely important. After all, a Grand Arcanist's Mage Tower had an exceptionally high level of secrecy. Even a fourth-rank Miracle Wizard of the divination school would basically be unable to investigate what was happening inside!

"Smith, take them to rest first." As he spoke, Isaac casually tossed out a pumpkin and turned it into a Pumpkin Carriage. He then set Little Mouse down and followed Sheryl, turning into arcane radiance as they headed toward her Mage Tower.

The top floor of Sheryl's Mage Tower.

"You... have changed a lot..." Upon arriving at the Mage Tower, Sheryl casually conjured a chair for Isaac to sit on. As she poured him some juice, she looked at the demonic eye on his forehead, which was darting its gaze everywhere.

"Have I? I think I'm all right." Isaac touched the demonic eye on his forehead. Understanding the concern in his eldest sister's words, he smiled casually. "I still feel like myself."

Sheryl looked deeply at Isaac. The Isaac she had known before would not have conducted human experiments so recklessly—living human experiments, at that. But she said nothing, because she knew there was no point. Madmen always said they were not mad.

And actually...

It was not that serious a problem. Wizards were like that. As their knowledge increased, their moral bottom lines truly kept dropping. Arcanists were the same, though they fell a little more slowly. Mad Witches...

They just raced downward a little faster~