Chapter 189

Grand Duke did you glare at me again for no reason, Your Excellency?

"... Perhaps the Princess was trying to remind us? In any case, she's definitely not on Vainay's side, but she's forced by circumstances and has nowhere else to go."

"Is that so? Shall I, Your Grand Duke, write a reply on your behalf?"

"You can reply if you want. Anyway, the Princess didn't send it directly to me, but to the Western Territory. That means she doesn't mind the Grand Duke finding out, right? The Princess is quite open-minded."

"Are you implying that I, the Grand Duke, am petty?!"

"Oh no, Your Grand Duke, you've misunderstood."

"Hmph! Goodbye!"

With a snap, Magana disappeared from the mirror.

"That Ryan, really, can't he see through that unlucky bastard Caslathdi's intentions?" Magana thought carefully for a moment and came to a conclusion about Caslathdi's sudden 'goodwill'—that Princess hasn't given up yet! She wants to secretly win over Ryan, the High Lord, to make a comeback!

After all, Caslathdi himself is High Lord. If Ryan were to side with him, the two High Lords would still have the right to rebel.

Magana completely forgot that Caslathdi had already used this tactic once and fallen for it; would she use it a second time?

Yes! The Grand Duke thought to himself.

After all, Caslathdi is an idiot.

"... What's wrong with the Grand Duke? It's just that Caslathdi sent a magical letter, why are you so angry? He must be angered by that guy Everson."

Ryan shook his head inwardly, opened the game and checked. 'Avril' was already level 30. The condition for advancing was to find a certain relic of faith that the Divine Path. Elvian used her royal authority to investigate and finally determined that the item should be in the Moon God Relic Site.

Then Elvian granted 'Avril' permission to enter the ruins again.

Generally speaking, Moonlight Knight have already changed jobs are not allowed to enter.

Seeing this, Ryan suddenly wondered if he could use this to infiltrate the area? He felt the chances weren't very high.

Regarding how to obtain the Advancement Fragment, Ryan considered many strategies. The most reliable one at the moment was to first establish a relationship with the Starry Knight 'Avril', which is why he specifically asked 'Avril' to portray him as her lover.

What is a "traitor king"?

A true traitor is not one who shamelessly and risked everything to defect to the enemy, but one who makes the enemy shamelessly come to him!

Although.

His first meeting with Elvian might not be very friendly, right?

"Monica should have sent the information back here. Now let's see if Elvian will take the bait."

Even if it wasn't about 'Avril', Elvian might still approach him simply to sign a contract with the Kingdom of Lotte. Of course, another possibility is that Elvian might have a fit of temper and wave her hand, causing Monica to lead the Moonlight Knight Order in a charge—only to be thoroughly humiliated by Ryan.

The Holy Blood Legion has entered Lot. Although 'Shally' is not here, their combat strength is still not to be underestimated. After all, Monica only brought a portion of the people with her, and even at most, it would not exceed 30,000.

The only problem is Monica, whose strength has reached the Sixth Tier. She is a renowned genius knight of Wildea.

It's practically impossible to overwhelm a Sixth Tier Supernatural Being with sheer numbers. To inflict damage on her, you'd need to be at least Fourth Tier or higher, and even then, a direct confrontation would likely result in the deaths of many.

With the Kingdom of Lotte in its current state, there is no hope. Ryan finally understands why Amabena always says that her father is a spendthrift. He does nothing, not only does he not develop an army, but he has not even cultivated any extraordinary forces... However, according to Amabena, her father's father was similar. It seems that decline is the result of the combined efforts of several generations.

It's not that there aren't Supernatural Being in the royal city; quite a few have fallen from grace and obeyed the royal family. However, the highest level they reach is only Fourth Tier, and fifth-tier individuals are nowhere to be seen. High-level Supernatural Being simply don't care about the royal family, and no one believes that the Kingdom of Lotte still has any hope of rising again under the rule of the great King Amabena.

Perhaps this is why Elvian felt comfortable letting Monica come?

"Amabena, your family is really awesome."

Ryan rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.

He was trying to figure out a way to win over Monica.

"Really?" Amabena, who was lying on the bed reading comics, looked up. "It's alright, I just built a kingdom."

"They squandered an entire kingdom!"

Recruiting new people is definitely too late. Transferring them from the Augustus Empire? That's possible, but Ryan also thought of another person— Dilia, who was imprisoned.

Given the strength of the opponent Fifth Tier Transcendent, it is possible to catch Sixth Tier Supernatural Being if prepared properly.

As for how appropriate it is, you'd have to ask the invincible Pot of Greed.

With the power of the Pot of Greed combined with Dilia's abilities, taking down Monica shouldn't be difficult. Ryan doesn't intend to kill her directly, as it would be a waste to kill someone as talented as Monica. After Ryan takes down Wildea, the Moonlight Knight Order will still be a powerful force that dominates the continent.

What?

Elvian won't agree?

Whether she agrees or not is her business; whether I want to do it or not is my business.

"We need to add another layer of insurance."

Ryan opened the game and gave orders to his first wife.

After doing all this, he left the room and headed towards the dungeon.

Amabena quickly got out of bed and followed.

"You don't need to follow me."

"No, no, I won't feel at ease if you're not with me."

Ryan shrugged. "That guy's Magic Power has been sealed, what are you still worried about?"

Amabena said, "I'm worried about myself. What if I get attacked by someone again?"

Ryan: "If you say that... I'm very pleased."

You actually have some self-awareness.

Because of Amabena's reputation, she did attract many people with ulterior motives who would directly target her, mainly because 'Shally' had left and villains had emerged.

We arrived at the dungeon.

Dilia leaned against the wall, utterly dejected.

She was stripped of all her belongings and her Magic Power was sealed; there's nothing that can be done about it now.

"Good afternoon, Miss Dilia."

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Dilia trembled, her legs instinctively clamping together as if she were about to have a stress reaction.

That demon!

Dilia swore that yesterday was the most 'miserable' day she had ever experienced since becoming Desire Cultists, and she was still somewhat disoriented.

"You despicable demon!" Dilia's eyes blazed with fury.

This guy must be Great Demon of desire, disguising himself as a human to fool everyone!

Don't assume that Desire Cultists can get along with demons of desire. In fact, most high-ranking demons look down on humans. If the Demon Legion could really ignore the obstacles of the Inner World and the present world and descend upon them, then everyone would likely die.

"Don't wrong an innocent person. How am I a devil?" Ryan spread his hands. "It was you who infiltrated the royal city, impersonated the king, and even tried to harm me. I was just forced to fight back. If we're talking about being despicable, you are much better than me."

"That's right, that's right," Amabena chimed in. "You treacherous subject, how dare you harm me! Tomorrow I'll send you to the barbecue grill!"

Dilia remained silent for a moment.

"What exactly do you want? If you wanted to kill me, you wouldn't have waited until now, would you?"

Ryan smiled and said, "Miss Dilia, you are very lucky. You should have been burned at the stake for what you did, but you met the merciful King Amabena, who decided to pardon your crimes on the condition that you swear allegiance."

Dilia scoffed, "What mercy? You're just afraid. If something happens to me, this place will become the primary target of the City of Desire, and the City Lord will definitely send more people to the Kingdom of Lotte."

"You think you're very smart?"

Ryan took out the Pot of Greed and examined it for a while. "Shall we try again and see if you're tougher or it is?"

Dilia shuddered and cried out, "Take it away! You devil, give it to me now!"

"Tsk~ Why are you yelling so loudly? This thing was originally created by your City of Desire, wasn't it?"

"P-Please take it away right now, don't force me, or I'll kill myself right now!"

"Go ahead." Ryan curled his lip. "You really think you're that important? Try dying once and see if the City of Desire dares to launch a full-scale attack on the Kingdom of Lotte. The Augustus Empire has already dispatched 100,000 Holy Blood Army. No matter how many of you come, you'll die!"

Amabena blinked, thinking that there seemed to be less than two thousand Holy Blood Army outside.

"I'm not killing you because I think you're young and talented. What is the City of Desire? As long as you swear allegiance to me, you'll be the City Lord in the future."

Dilia was taken aback. "You want to deal with the City of Desire?"

She seemed to understand.

Despite being chosen by the God of Desire, he refused to join the City of Desire, secretly controlled the Kingdom of Lotte, and seemed to have a significant influence in Augustus... Is this guy actually chosen by the God of Desire to build his own power?

Wait a minute, if that's the case, why not just take over the City of Desire directly? Or is it that this would lead to a power struggle and conflict?

Ultimately, humans and demons are fundamentally different. Even if they both believe in an Outer Gods, humans cannot be as pure as demons.

Like the City Lord of the City of Desire, he preaches faith in desire, but what if one day Great Demon claims to have been sent by God to take over the City of Desire? You'll see if the City Lord will step down or not.

"Are you... the chosen one of desire?" Dilia couldn't help but ask.

Desire is my chosen one... Ryan shrugged. "Just think of it as comforting yourself, anyway, you can't fight it, can you?"

"You rascal..."

Can't you say something nicer?

But Dilia was truly helpless. She couldn't resist, and she didn't want to die. What could she do?

Damn it, I shouldn't have taken this stupid mission. I thought he was an idiot king and would be easy to deal with, but I didn't expect this idiot king to have tied himself to a powerful figure.

Dilia looked at Amabena and, for some reason, felt a pang of jealousy.

What exactly did this woman do?

Then she could easily become king, with people protecting her. And what about herself? She had worked so hard to climb to the position of councilor, only to fail miserably on her first mission. The dignified councilor of the City of Desire was actually manipulated by someone else, leaving her speechless with rage!

"Hmm?" Amabena tilted her head. "Why are you looking at me like that? Don't try to find a way to get through to me. Even if I'm at my worst..."

"Greetings to King Amabena."

"?"

"Long live the King."

Dilia made up her mind; she wanted to be a hero.

As it turns out, there aren't that many people in this world who are truly loyal without hesitation.

Especially in the case of Outer Gods forces, their members are, frankly speaking, not loyal at all, since all they want to follow is the gods.

But God is nowhere to be seen.

So, the so-called City Lord and religious leaders are just leaders in name only.

Normally, it's fine to just listen to orders, but when it comes to my life, if I'm about to die, what do I care about mission objectives?

Loyalty? Loyal my ass!

Dilia had decided to be unfaithful; she swore allegiance to Ryan and signed an unequal treaty that deprived her of her human rights.

On the other side.

In Baron, on a main street, Jonathan walked into Janus Church with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Compared to Berman City, the Janus Church in the Imperial Capital is much larger, and it is managed by a High Priestess. Normally, this time of day is the quietest, but due to the arrival of the Saintess, the number of people coming to pray at the Church has nearly doubled each day.

"This place is really nice, considering how shabby it is."

Jonathan looked around, curled his lip, and thought, "What a magnificent Church! They've made such a mess of a shabby Church. They might as well just exchange the people's faith for gold coins."

However, he would be incredibly grateful if the Church of the Burning Covenant could ever reach that state. Although 'Vainay' worshipped the Sun God as the faith of the Augustus Empire, there has been almost no progress in promoting this cause so far. As for the Burning Covenant, it remains a hidden flame, and it is still unknown whether it can be ignited.

After walking past the bustling Church and around it, Jonathan hadn't gone far when he encountered a paladin who had come to meet him.

The latter did not speak, but made a gesture of invitation.

Finally, Jonathan was taken to a room inside the Church.

"Step back," 'Lin Qi' said to the paladin.

"So, what does Your Excellency the Saintess want with me?" Before entering the room, Jonathan took a deep drag of his cigarette, threw it on the ground, and stomped it out before stepping inside.

"It was Ryan me to do this," Lin Qi said while preparing the sacrificial materials. "He asked me to help send you to him."

"Ryan?" Jonathan frowned. "He asked you to? Why didn't he contact me directly?"