Chapter 249

However, this had nothing to do with him. More than that, Ryan was concerned about the Pope's purpose in seeking him out. Such an important figure would certainly not do such a thing for no reason.

But then again, if they were trying to win him over, why didn't they just call him 'Lin Qi'? Could it be that the other party knows about his close relationship with 'Lin Qi'? That shouldn't be the case.

Considering that anything is possible in the extraordinary world, Ryan chose to keep a low profile. Let whoever wants to be the Pope's loyal subject be, he's not going to do it.

"Since things have come to this... let's eat first."

On the other side.

Josh left the castle and returned to a secret room inside Janus Church.

After confirming that he was not being followed or monitored by magic, he carefully took out a bottle from his storage bag and poured the silvery-white liquid inside into a crystal dish.

These silvery-white liquids are interconnected, as if they were a whole fused together, spread out evenly, without a single drop spilling out.

Josh silently chanted a spell, and Magic Power emerged from his hands, merging into the liquid.

With a flash of intense light, Josh took a few steps back and knelt respectfully on the ground.

After a while, a phantom image appeared on the crystal plate.

"Josh, is everything done?" Pope Sylvia's ethereal voice rang out.

"I'm so sorry, Your Majesty." Josh prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to raise his head. "I conveyed your wishes to Ryan, but..."

"He refused?"

"Yes, although he didn't say it explicitly, I could tell he didn't seem interested."

"How exactly did they say it?"

Josh quickly recounted his conversation with Ryan.

Sylvia remained silent for a long time before saying, "Since he has refused, let's not contact him anymore for now. Just keep his contact information."

"Yes, Your Holiness..." Josh replied respectfully. After a pause, he couldn't help but ask, "Your Holiness, why are you so fixated on Ryan? Although he has some power in Augustus, he hasn't been of much help to the development of the Church, has he?"

"You'll understand some things sooner or later."

Josh: "???"

Josh looked up, his face blank.

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing."

Josh quickly lowered his head, thinking, "I'll understand sooner or later... Your Holiness, what exactly should I understand?" Ryan said the same thing.

"Alright, you may leave."

"Yes."

Josh kept his head down until the light on the silvery liquid completely disappeared and the secret room returned to normal. Only then did he stand up, collect the used silvery liquid, and pour it back into the bottle with some heartache.

This thing was given to him by the Pope for communication purposes, and it can only be used three times in total.

In other words, he only has two more opportunities to meet the Pope, and who knows when the next mission will be.

In a world of nothingness.

Sylvia walked across the boundless land. At the edge of her vision was a huge temple, with thousands of steps leading up to a magnificent palace.

The temple, a well-preserved temple.

Unlike those ancient and abandoned ruins, this one may very well contain secrets about gods, or even power.

Unfortunately, although the temple seemed to be right in front of her, no matter how long or how far she walked, she could never get close.

Not long ago, she used the Great Prophecy Technique to divine her own future.

The conclusion was... no conclusion; the omnipotent prophecy had lost its effectiveness.

She tried many times after that, with the same result.

"It seems the normal method won't get us there... Let's give up for now. Janus's oracle, three hundred years later... the voice of the gods seems too strained." Sylvia raised her hand, her silver eyes sparkling like shards of starlight, a soft, milky-white ball of light appearing in her palm. "It was given directly to Lin Qi. Why would the gods send Lin Qi to find Ryan? Something must have happened to the gods. Even though I've taken the liberty of interpreting the oracle, Janus still hasn't reacted. Is he asleep, or..."

The hazy mist obscured Sylvia's figure, but her silver eyes seemed to see through everything in the world.

"The age of gods has fallen silent, the Golden Dawn... is an age full of possibilities. Who says a man cannot become a god?" Sylvia murmured to herself, glancing at the temple before turning and leaving. Her figure faded into the distance as she walked, until she disappeared completely.

When Ryan heard Caslathdi talk about the dwarves, he almost couldn't resist picking her up.

Dwarfs! Dwarfs!

So there are dwarfs in this world?!

Oh Janus, Moon Goddess, Earth Goddess, and there were dragons and elves too? Damn it, why has the era passed? Why couldn't I see them?!

Ryan has a dream: to ride a giant dragon while singing, to exercise with an elf in his arms, and to experience the feeling of rushing down a mountain high in the sky. It has to be an elf, definitely not one of those mutated goblins!

Unfortunately, times have changed.

The dragons and elves have vanished, and the dwarves? I'm not interested.

However, when it comes to dwarf technology, their ability to inherit mechanical and forging civilization is the strongest among all races. This is not learning but inheritance, the result of extraordinary power. Therefore, there must be many highly skilled 'scientists' among the Dwarves.

If these dwarves can be found, then the Roman Empire technologies he obtained could potentially be implemented in a short period of time.

"Prince Caslathdi, you must trick Kavanagh ... no, please come here!" Ryan said earnestly.

"Ha..." Caslathdi smiled helplessly, "Ryan, why are you so agitated? I was just telling you, and if possible, I'll go talk to Her Your Majesty Vainay."

Oh right, I'm just an earl, not an emperor.

Ryan coughed lightly. "What I mean is, the Empress will definitely agree to something this good."

"But I have two concerns. First, the dwarves' stronghold is in the Eastern Continent. Even if I can find them, His Your Majesty will have to send people to the Eastern Continent to welcome them. The risks and complications involved are too great. Would His Your Majesty be willing to do that? Second, I am not confident that I can persuade Kavanagh, and I am not even sure if Kavanagh can persuade the dwarves to come."

"The Empress will definitely be fine. There are risks, but it's worth a try. Anyway, we're going to war with Arcadia sooner or later." Ryan waved his hand dismissively.

Caslathdi tilted her head. "Really? How do you know His Your Majesty will definitely agree? This spans an entire continent, with the Northern Federation in between. Although they want to ally with Augustus, if it's dwarven technology, Emperor Motis will definitely not stand idly by."

Haino suddenly said, "Perhaps we can go by sea. After last time, I contacted my friend, and she was happy to try building a new type of warship for Augustus. But even with a regular model, going by sea would be much smoother if we are careful."

"That's exactly what I mean," Ryan laughed. "There are a hundred reasons to persuade the Empress, so that's not the key issue. The key issue is how to persuade those dwarves."

Speaking of this, Ryan thought of the mark on his hand, wondering if he could impersonate the Chosen of the Earth God.

Although Arcadia is the official nation of the Earth faith, the dwarves don't seem to care much about them. This gives me, the 'legitimate' one, a chance. Whatever, it's free, I might as well give it a try.

"Don't tell the Empress yet. Try to contact Kavanagh first, and then I'll go with you to persuade Empress... Actually, this is a crucial opportunity for the Empire. As long as the Empress isn't incompetent, she'll definitely agree. After all, Arcadia is indeed a significant threat right now. If we don't seek breakthroughs and remain stagnant, we'll only suffer a slow death. Falling behind means being vulnerable to attack."

"If you fall behind, you will be bullied..." Caslathdi pondered this carefully, feeling that this simple and unpretentious sentence contained the most profound truth. This is what is meant by the great way being simple.

This is Ryan. The accusations of him being an imperial demon or a mastermind behind internal strife are just baseless slanders made by people who don't understand him.

Ryan was simply loyal to the wrong person, Caslathdi thought. If Ryan had been loyal to 'Vainay', he would have been a renowned and loyal subject of the empire long ago.

But once he chose to pledge allegiance, he followed it to the end. Doesn't that demonstrate his loyalty? I can only hope that Magana can come to her senses in time, serve the Empire faithfully from now on, and stop thinking about seizing the throne.

The three of them then enjoyed lunch and chatted for a while. Ryan learned about her friend from Haino. The friend was an Augustan, the daughter of a viscount, whose father's territory was in the southeastern border region of Augustus. However, she had no interest in being a noble and only wanted to do research.

That being said, the recent war in the Southern Territory has more or less affected the development of the territory, so much so that she complained to Haino some time ago; otherwise, Haino would not have thought of such a friend on the spur of the moment.

There's nothing she can do; she really has a lot of friends.

"You probably don't know Rayleigh Resty. She's not some kind of powerful Supernatural Being, but she always has unique and insightful perspectives on mechanical research. She once helped me solve a big problem in the creation of a puppet... or rather, her flash of inspiration helped me, and that's how we became good friends."

Haino explained.

As Ryan listened, he instructed Ina to investigate the Resty family. Soon, information about this Ms. Ruili was placed on Ina's desk.

The other party was Supernatural Being who passed through the land, but unfortunately, her profession was not that of a craftsman. She had studied at the St. Marian Academy, but only for a year. After leaving the academy, she stayed at home and focused on warship manufacturing. However, her father felt that all her efforts were in vain because the Augustus Empire was not near the sea and had almost no idea of developing its maritime territory.

Even so, Ruili's father unconditionally supported her in building her first warship. After its completion, the warship was moored in a port in the territory, which was the confluence of the Nilos River, a river that flows through the Augustus territory, and the Ruili family's territory.

Ryan's assessment after reviewing the data was that this was a crazy researcher.

After all, according to the customs of the Augustus Empire, girls of this age would have already become mothers or even be preparing to become grandmothers, unless they are like Haino who has a special status and great strength. Even if they are not chosen by the gods, the lifespan of a Seventh Tier Transcendent is far longer than that of an ordinary person.

However, as Haino just mentioned, the war in the Southern Territory has had a great impact on the territory of the Ruili family. The Kainter Kingdom has joined forces with some southern countries to resist Augustus's invasion, trying to force Augustus to stop his external expansion.

The war inevitably affected border cities, with the most direct problem being the loss of a large number of people and economic damage.

As a result, Ruili no longer had any extra 'pocket money' to realize her grand ambitions, and while she was complaining to Hainuo, another very important purpose was to borrow money from him.

"I believe that the Empire will one day value its maritime rights!" Ruili said to Hainuo with absolute certainty.

Unfortunately, even though Haino was the vice dean, she wasn't exactly wealthy; most of her money was spent on alchemy. Alchemy on the Rhea Continent was like playing with a DSLR camera in her previous life—it was a profession that would bankrupt three generations. It was only because Haino's circumstances allowed it that she was poorer than Ruili.

Ryan immediately instructed 'Ina' to issue an order to recruit Ruili directly to Baron's position, in order to make full use of her professional abilities.

"What a visionary!"

Although Augustus is not located by the sea, the Nilos River flows through its territory, providing the conditions for developing maritime domains. Furthermore, once the war in the south ends and a series of kingdoms such as Kainter are conquered, the empire will have direct access to the sea.

At that time, not to mention actions against the Eastern Continent, even if we want to go to the Western Continent Southern Continent, we will have to travel by sea.

Ryan couldn't let this lump of gold get tarnished.

At 3 p. m., the Northern Continent Conference resumed.

After enjoying lunch with Caslathdi and Haino, Ryan specifically opened the game to check on 'Lin Qi'. The latter was investigating Archbishop Josh's purpose in coming to Baron as ordered by him, but strangely, there was no news from the Gate of Janus.

There is only one possibility for this situation—that the Pope issued the order directly, and it was most likely temporary, without notifying anyone else.

However, before the meeting started, Josh specifically came to find 'Lin Qi' to remind her not to get too close to Ryan.

This wasn't Sylvia's intention, but Josh could see the Pope's purpose in sending him. The Saintess 'Lin Qi' hadn't been in office for long, but she had interfered in far too many things.

Leaving aside the honorary lord of the Augustus Empire, he also accomplished a major feat in the Northern Federation some time ago, making significant contributions to the expansion of Gate of Janus's influence in the Northern Continent.

However, having too much merit is not necessarily a good thing, because Saintess does not actually have specific rights within the church. Saintess is a symbol of status, a 'messenger' who interprets divine pronouncements, and does not need too much fame and merit.

Sylvia's rise from Saintess to pope is an exception, and the Church would not want to see a second exception; the archbishops would not, and the pope himself certainly would not.

So Josh has arrived. He will directly participate in the alliance meeting between Augustus and the Northern Federation, and represent the Gate of Janus in expressing its stance.

As for 'Lin Qi', all she needs to do is raise her hand when it's time to vote.

The phrase "don't get too close to Ryan" actually means not getting too involved in the internal affairs of the Empire. Holding the title of Honorary Lord will bring long-term benefits to the Church.

Josh doesn't want another 'Saintess Faction' to emerge inside the Gate of Janus.

In fact, loyalty to the Pope and loyalty to the Saintess are different, a fact well understood by those within the Gate of Janus. However, they intentionally avoid this topic, at least outwardly using their positions within the church to divide power and differentiate their level of faith in Janus.

Although this guy didn't say it outright, Ryan still figured it out. To put it bluntly, the Pope is chosen by man, and the Saintess is chosen by God. It's just that Sylvia happens to be both chosen by man and chosen by God, and she went from Saintess to Pope.

The chosen Saintess are not given too much power within the church, because only the Saintess know what God has said. This lack of openness and transparency makes people uneasy, and they cannot even be sure of the accuracy of the interpretation of the oracle.

Therefore, the Saintess is very noble, but she cannot have too much real power; she can just leave the interpretation of divine oracles to others.

As for 'Lin Qi', she was originally just arranged by Sylvia for 'training' purposes. Who would have thought she would do such a big thing? You're a Saintess, all you need to do is make a name for yourself and gain a good reputation as Saintess. Why do all those unnecessary things?

Josh was trying to prevent a third voice from emerging within the church. Ryan wasn't sure if this was the Pope's intention, but he certainly wouldn't compromise so easily. He arranged for 'Lin Qi' to enter the Gate of Janus precisely to seize power. Otherwise, why would he want his wife to stay in the church and interpret oracles for you? What the hell are oracles? What business is it of mine!

Of course, on the surface, 'Lin Qi' is just as Josh said, because he is still relatively inexperienced. You are the fourth-ranked archbishop, a senior, so if you're so capable, you should take over.

The afternoon meeting officially began.

"I'm telling you, can't you just get this over with quickly? Grand Duke don't have that much time to play house with you guys."

At the start of the meeting, Magana expressed her strong dissatisfaction.

In the past two days, the Western Barbarian Army has been completely integrated. A force of 100,000 Western Barbarian Army led by a tribal hero is confronting the Iron Blood Legion. At this critical juncture, she doesn't have the energy to come to meetings every day.

'Vainay' glanced at her, then looked at the others: 'Does anyone have any good ideas?'

At the lower right of the long table, Amabena asked in a low voice, "Why aren't they saying anything? Aren't they supposed to be discussing countermeasures? The Arcadia Empire has invaded the Northern Continent; everyone here must be anxious, right?"

Elvian said calmly, "Everyone is anxious, but there's always someone who's the most anxious, so everyone is waiting for the most anxious person to speak."

Amabena was taken aback. "Who's the most anxious?"

"Of course it's the Northern Federation." Elvian frowned. "You don't even know what this meeting is about?"

"I don't know. If you hadn't told me before, I wouldn't have known there was going to be a meeting. I haven't even finished reading the comic yet."

Elvian: "..."