Chapter 282

"Look, don't we still have Rider?"

"Huh?!" Kachina exclaimed warily. "Kachia, what are you trying to do? I'm warning you, don't even think about getting my Prince to seduce that Saintess. Rider is your Prince too!"

Ryan: "..."

Your Majesty, I can hook it, I can hook it!

"What are you thinking about every day?" Kachia's lips twitched slightly. "Rider is the Chosen of the Earth God. The Gate of Janus has been troubled by the expansion of the Outer Gods' power lately. The Chosen of the Gods, in a sense, of great significance in suppressing the Chaos Space. If the Saintess knew about this, she would definitely want to win over Rider to further solidify her position in the Gate of Janus."

"I see." Kachina breathed a sigh of relief. "Rider, what do you think?"

"Of course I have no problem with it, but what if the Saintess doesn't fall for it?"

"Then we'll see what you're capable of," Kachia said seriously. "Rider, this matter concerns the future of the empire. I'm counting on you."

"Your Majesty is too kind. I am a citizen of the Empire, and naturally I will do my utmost."

"Rider, don't put so much pressure on yourself," Kachina grumbled. "If they don't want to negotiate, that's fine too. We can just use that!"

"That?"

Ryan was suspicious.

Which one is that?

"Kachina." Kachia frowned. "That's our last trump card, and it's still in the testing phase. The risk is too high; we can't use it lightly."

Kachina stuck out her tongue. "I was just joking."

Ryan was a little confused. "Wait, don't play riddles! Tell me which one is which! Don't treat me like an outsider!"

Judging from the twins' expressions, this one must be Watcher Legion? Not necessarily, after all, everyone knows about the Watchers; they can't hide it even if they wanted to.

Forget it, next time when I'm attacking Kachina, I'll make her blurt out the secret while she's still half asleep.

"Saintess, are we leaving now?"

Upon arriving at the accommodations arranged by Kachia and after everyone else had left, Lia couldn't help but say, "This is a mission assigned by the Pope. If you can't complete it, I'm afraid the bishops in the church will take the opportunity to cause trouble."

The rise of the Saintess Faction has affected the interests of many people. The Gate of Janus only hopes that a Saintess will carry out the divine decree, but does not want 'Lin Qi' to interfere too much.

Having learned from Sylvia's experience, the cardinals were all extremely cautious.

"Don't worry, I have my own plans."

"Then... Rider, or Ryan, Saintess, who exactly is he...?"

Lia stopped speaking halfway through, noticing a change in Lin Qi's expression.

She realized that Rider was Ryan.

So this was also Saintess's plan? How exactly was this accomplished?

Could it be that the Saintess is colluding with Augustus, attempting to secretly infiltrate Arcadia? Good heavens, Janus, this is absolutely insane!

At that moment, a church knight entered.

"Saintess, someone has delivered a letter."

Lin Qi gestured for Lia to fetch it.

The latter examined the envelope closely, even using Magic Power to check it, and confirmed that it was just an ordinary letter.

Lin Qi opened it and took a look.

"Saintess, what's wrong?"

Lin Qi's red eyes flickered slightly. "Someone told me that Ryan is the Chosen of the Earth God."

Lia: "?"

Are you crazy?

Chosen of the Earth God?

Not chosen by the Sun God?

No, the Chosen of the Gods aren't that easy to find.

"Really? The Chosen of the Gods... As far as I know, there haven't been Chosen of the Gods on the Earth's Path for a very long time."

"You should ask who sent the message."

"Could it be... the Gemini? Did they deliberately leak this information to..."

Lia suddenly understood. The existence of the Chosen of the Gods was special. Over the years, the Gate of Janus had also attracted many Chosen of the Gods from Faith Path, and this policy was originally issued by the Pope himself.

If Lin Qi can win over Ryan, it will definitely have a significant impact on her within the Gate of Janus, since the Church's main focus recently has been on dealing with the Outer Gods.

The influence of the Chaos Space is something that ordinary Supernatural Being cannot resist. The main role of the Chosen of the Gods is to communicate with the gods. In a sense, every Chosen of the Gods that Faith Path is similar to the Saintess of Janus.

Therefore, winning them over is very important.

But.

The Saintess already knew Ryan, and they had a good relationship; there was no need for her to win him over.

Does that mean... Lia seems to understand?

I'm going out for a bit.

After saying that, Lin Qi left alone.

Not long after.

In the castle courtyard.

Ryan sat in a chair, sipping his black tea.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Qi walked in.

"You've come." He put down his teacup.

"Um."

"You still came."

Shouldn't I have come?

"Come, come, have some tea." Ryan smiled and gestured for Lin Qi to sit down. "It's an honor to have Her Your Excellency the Saintess grace us with her presence."

Lin Qi sat down opposite Ryan and observed her surroundings. She could only vaguely sense a fluctuation of Magic Power, but she did not find anyone else.

Although she was only at the fifth rank, as a mage assassin, she had a remarkably keen sense of Magic Power... But it didn't matter; even if she couldn't detect anyone, Ryan on the other side would alert her that someone was eavesdropping.

Yes, Gemini is eavesdropping.

"I wonder what business the Saintess has with me?" Ryan asked unhurriedly.

"Are you the Chosen of the Gods?"

"Huh?" Ryan was taken aback. "How did you know?"

"Your Majesty told me."

"Well."

"This guy really has no sense of conversation. Even if he guessed it, didn't he know he should have kept it a secret?"

What's with all this talk about "seeing through something but not saying it"?

Kachia, who was eavesdropping on Ryan's conversation with 'Lin Qi', said with great frustration.

"I think it's fine. Let's say what we mean." Kachina blinked her plum-red eyes, a hint of doubt in her pupils. "Are you sure we won't be discovered?"

"Don't worry, I obtained this relic in the temple. Even Seventh Tier Transcendent wouldn't be able to find it."

"When? How come I didn't know?"

Kachia's lips twitched slightly. "While you were completely focused on Rider, I went to the temple to pray for a response from the Earth Goddess. Unfortunately, all I received was this; I didn't hear a single word of the oracle."

"Oh dear~ So the Earth Goddess still values us quite a bit."

"Kachina, are you serious?"

Forget it, speaking ill of the Goddess is disrespectful to the gods. Things always turn out badly but good things don't. When you praise the gods, they can't hear you, but if you curse them, you're sure to be punished by heaven.

Kachia continued to listen intently, and then heard Ryan openly admit his identity Chosen of the Gods, even using that power in front of 'Lin Qi'.

As expected, 'Lin Qi' then extended an invitation to Ryan.

"As expected, the Gate of Janus is trying to win over the Chosen of the Gods, and this Saintess won't let such a good opportunity pass her by."

"Kachia, I have a feeling something's fishy," Kachina suddenly said, frowning. "Haven't there been these recent disappearances of Chosen of the Gods? I've looked into it these past couple of days, and it turns out that all the missing Chosen of the Gods are connected to the Gate of Janus."

"Hmm?" Kachia paused slightly, then said, "It's a coincidence, isn't it? The Gate of Janus has recruited so many Chosen of the Gods, it's not surprising that we happen to be related to them... Speaking of which, why did you suddenly become interested in the Chosen of the Gods?"

"Since Rider is Chosen of the Gods, I want to learn more about him. In case something special happens when a Chosen of the Gods One advances in rank, I want to compile some information and give it to Rider later."

Kachia: "..."

Can I hit someone?

If it weren't for the fact that now wasn't the right time, Kakia would have loved to give her younger sister a good whack on the head. "Rade, rambling on, rambling on! All you ever talk about is rambling on! Why don't you care about our breakthrough to the eighth rank?"

"Hmm? They're negotiating terms."

Kachia's spirits lifted.

"... If you are willing to serve within the Gate of Janus, then regarding the peace talks between Arcadia and the Northern Continent, I will represent the Gate of Janus to secure the greatest possible benefit for you."

"Appointment? Can one simply take on any position at the Gate of Janus?"

"An honorary position? Given your circumstances, becoming an Honorary Bishop wouldn't be a problem. And Honorary Bishop enjoys the same privileges as a bishop, only they can't mobilize the Gate of Janus's forces."

"That sounds good, but I, Rider, have followed the Earth Goddess my whole life and am Goddess most devout follower. It's impossible for me to convert to Janus."

"Don't worry, your faith doesn't need to be converted. Rather, please make sure you maintain your unwavering faith in the Earth Goddess; this is your greatest value as Chosen of the Gods."

"Value... Your words are rather unpleasant, but never mind, I'm a gentleman and don't want to argue with you about that. Let's talk about the benefits you can secure for Arcadia."

"State your conditions first."

"As for the conditions, of course the better the better, what do you say, Saintess?"

What does "better" mean?

"It means the better, huh? Don't you understand? Don't worry, you'll understand sooner or later."

"..."

Kachia remained silent.

Damn it, a negotiator has met another negotiator.

Do I understand? I'll understand eventually. What do I even understand?

What followed was a nearly half-hour-long tug-of-war between Ryan and 'Lin Qi'. To the uninitiated, it looked like they were negotiating; to the uninitiated, it looked like they were dating.

Ryan rambled on about wind, snow, and all that nonsense, until finally, it seemed that Saintess Lin Qi couldn't take it anymore and promised that as long as Ryan became Honorary Bishop, the Arcadia Empire wouldn't have to pay anything, and she would handle the communication between the Augustus Empire and the Northern Federation.

"This kid actually made a deal?"

Kachia exclaimed in surprise.

She once thought this was also an art of negotiation, but then quickly shook her head. If it weren't for her Chosen of the Gods, given the personality of the Saintess 'Lin Qi', Kachia felt that the two of them probably wouldn't have exchanged more than three sentences.

Are you the Chosen of the Gods?

"No."

He turned and left.

"It seems that the Gate of Janus values Chosen of the Gods even more than we expected. Is it really to suppress the Chaos Space?" Kachia frowned and thought for a moment, but didn't delve into it further, since she had already achieved her goal.

After Lin Qi left, she and Kachina walked towards Ryan.

"Rider ~" Kachina sat down with a smile, "You have done a great service to the Empire this time."

"Thanks to you." Kachia's attitude softened, her tone changing. "I didn't expect that the Saintess would offer such good terms to win you over. Once your strength reaches the Sixth Tier, you'll probably have a chance to be promoted to the rank of Honorary Cardinal, at which point your position within the Gate of Janus will be extremely important."