Chapter 98

At this moment, Ryan deeply felt the fierce and valiant spirit of the people of the Western Territory. Elvin was, after all, representing the Emperor, and he was also the maternal grandfather of the Second Prince. Yet he was about to be killed just like that.

... Wait, if Elvin dies, won't the Second Prince lose his biggest advantage in the competition for the throne?

Is this good news for Caslathdi?

What puzzled Ryan was that even with the fighting going on like this, there was no reaction from the Imperial Capital. Elvin was quite capable, managing to hold out for two days with the more than 10,000 Royal Guards who had escaped from Cherd, despite being pursued by Magana. He was probably waiting for the Old Emperor to come to his rescue.

Although Magana might not necessarily agree, the Old Emperor's silence really puzzled Ryan.

Are we just going to stand by and watch Elvin die?

First of all, with the old general dead, the Second Prince's chances of seizing the throne are slim, even though he still has many loyal followers in the Imperial Capital.

Secondly, this was a slap in the face to the Old Emperor. Even for the sake of the royal family's reputation, he shouldn't have remained silent.

Ryan couldn't contact Caslathdi in real time, nor was he aware of the situation in the Imperial Capital. He was curious to see how the Old Emperor would handle the aftermath.

Given Magana's fiery temper, you have to pet her gently to avoid her exploding. Now Ryan is 100% certain that Magana was tricked by the Old Emperor. With such a big incident involving the Iron Blood Army, she definitely won't let it go.

What's next? Either the Western Territory declare independence, or, given Magana's personality, she might even establish a duchy.

Otherwise, the Western Territory and the Empire would completely break up and remain in this stalemate.

Regardless, this is a fatal blow to the Augustus Empire.

After all, the empire lost the Western Territory and gained a killing machine like Magana. If the Grand Duke ignored the Western Barbarian Army, those barbarians would bypass the northwest and attack Augustus directly, leaving the border nobles to try and stop them.

Although both are Imperial generals, Magana's importance to the Empire far surpasses that of Elvin at present.

Just as Ryan was eating sunflower seeds and watching the show, he opened the game and was suddenly stunned. 'Lin Qi' had successfully passed the Saintess Assessment, and then... she was going to come to the Western Territory?

"They even concern themselves with things like the Gate of Janus?"

Ryan was very puzzled, because the Gate of Janus had never interfered in the affairs of various countries before.

However, the influence of the Outer Gods's power has indeed intensified recently. In any case, as the newly appointed Saintess, 'Lin Qi' naturally has to handle her first task well.

Moreover, Ryan didn't really want Magana to break with the Empire. If the Western Territory were to secede from the Empire, their actions within the Empire would be severely restricted, and it would be virtually impossible to mobilize two thousand people to help as easily as before.

But getting Magana to make peace with the Empire... Ryan wasn't confident, because shortly after 'Lin Qi' confirmed her arrival in the Western Territory, news came from the front lines that Magana had personally led a large army to break through the defenses established by the Royal Guards and had personally killed Elvin!

An imperial duke, an old general, died just like that!

That afternoon, the Iron Blood Army returned home in triumph. Magana dismissed the men who had come to support them and returned to Childe City with only a little over ten thousand Iron Blood Legion.

As soon as Ryan met her, the Iron-Blooded Grand Duke said, "I may have been used by that old man."

Magana hadn't even taken off her blood-soaked armor yet; she exuded a strong, chilling aura. Despite being a little girl, she looked incredibly imposing.

At this moment, the Grand Duke's delicate brows were tightly furrowed.

"Why do you say that?" Ryan asked, puzzled.

"I originally thought that the Old Emperor would definitely step in to stop me from killing Elvin, but he didn't. The entire Western Territory is under my control, and my spies have not found any signs of imperial military activity." Magana crossed her arms. "That's not all. According to news from the Imperial Capital, some nobles who are on good terms with Elvin have requested to send troops, but the Old Emperor has remained unmoved."

"This is very abnormal, Ryan, you know? My gut feeling tells me that I've been used by that old man."

Magana has always trusted her intuition. Why? Intuition, isn't that enough?

Ryan was even more puzzled. "Grand Duke, if you had doubts, why did you kill Elvin?"

"Of course I have to kill him. That guy has already ridden all the way to the Western Territory to defecate. If I don't kill him, what will happen to the dignity of the dignified Iron-Blooded Grand Duke? Besides, I've already thrown my sword, and no one stopped me. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if I pulled it back myself?"

Hearing Magana's matter-of-fact tone, Ryan was speechless. "Grand Duke, what am I supposed to say? Give me a hint, and I'll give you whatever you want."

However, this is indeed not quite normal.

They were so proactive earlier, seemingly determined to reorganize the entire Western Territory, but then they gave up just because Magana returned alive?

Giving up is understandable, but is it really necessary to lose an old general? And it even damages the royal family's reputation.

For an emperor to have no backup plan, Ryan felt something was off... Or was this the result the Old Emperor wanted?

"Wait a minute, this isn't right. What good will this result do for the Old Emperor? If his goal wasn't to directly destroy the Western Territory..."

"Huh? Ryan, what did you just say?"

"No, it's nothing, I was just muttering to myself." Ryan couldn't figure it out either. "So, Your Grand Duke, what are you planning to do next?"

Magana snorted, "What else can we do? We've come this far anyway. First, rebuild the Iron Blood Army, then keep fighting, drive the Western Barbarian Army out of the Talma Defense Line, and we also have to guard against the Crimson Tiger Guard's attack. There's a lot to do."

"The Crimson Tiger Guard? They've arrived?"

"The Western Territory is next to Elvin's territory. That guy has quite a few loyal men under his command. According to scouts, the Crimson Tiger Guard is already assembling."

"I see."

The Crimson Tiger Guard were Elvin's direct subordinates; the Royal Guards were merely assigned to him by the Old Emperor.

"Wait, since Elvin's territory is right next door, and he has so many Crimson Tiger Guards, why did the Old Emperor specifically send the Royal Guards to bring them over for him?" Ryan asked.

"Well..." Magana tilted her head slightly, "Could it be that Elvin asked for permission himself?"

"I think you should investigate this matter thoroughly, Your Grand Duke."

"Is it really necessary? Anyway, those are all royal soldiers. If they die, they die. Right now, we should be wary of Elvin's men retaliating. And the Second Prince, I heard he got so angry yesterday that he argued with his mother. It's hilarious."

Ryan said earnestly, "Your Grand Duke, we must recognize who our true enemy is!"

Magana nodded. "Of course, so what?"

Ryan: "..."

So we need to investigate!

"What if those royal troops were problematic to begin with? They number 30,000; the Old Emperor can't just throw them away like that, can he?"

"What you said makes sense. I'll have someone investigate."

Listening to Ryan's words was more valuable than listening to any other words. After thinking about it, Magana realized that it was true. The training cost of the Royal Guards was no lower than that of her Iron Blood Army. Given the Old Emperor's stingy nature, he only sent two thousand men to his own daughter, but thirty thousand to a foreign general? Although it was supposed to be to suppress the Western Territory, it seems that it has not been suppressed at all.

Magana immediately summoned someone to relay the order: she Imperial Capital, and they should check this out first, though there was no guarantee they would know.

"By the way, where's Creed?" Ryan asked.

"She got away." Magana finished speaking, then frowned. "I killed her puppet. That thing was prepared in advance. Did she know this would happen?"

"It's hard to say... Anyway, let's prepare first. The situation in the Western Territory is quite delicate right now."

Well, although the traitor has been eliminated, the situation in the Western Territory is much worse than before, falling into a limbo.

You say you won, but the Iron Blood Army suffered heavy losses. It would be impossible to rebuild it in less than two or three years. But there's the Western Barbarian Army in the west and the Crimson Tiger Guard in the east. Before it could be rebuilt, it was already exhausted. The pressure is immense.

Moreover, Magana was only a duke after all. No matter what her reason was, she could not kill Elvin. She had killed so many Royal Guards, and now there was a lot of gossip outside the Western Territory, saying that she had rebelled.

Ryan guessed that a large number of people who were originally wavering as neutrals, or who were inclined to support Magana, were now busy distancing themselves from her.

There was no way around it; the rebellion happened too early. We weren't prepared at all; the Old Emperor wasn't even dead yet.

The trump card was also revealed: those tens of thousands of people seemed like a lot, but they were not enough to take the Imperial Capital. Moreover, they could not be used indefinitely; they had to be dispersed to various parts of the Western Territory to fulfill their duties.

Looking at it this way... it's not just mediocre, it's even worse than before!

Ryan was shocked. He hadn't realized it until he analyzed it. "My Grand Duke, I have a feeling you're about to die!"

For the Grand Duke now, the only options are to rebel to the end, but there's no way to achieve anything by rebelling. He can only establish a duchy, but what good is a duchy?

Alternatively, they could go back to being gatekeepers for the empire, the kind of people who might never have a chance to rebel.

"That... Grand Duke."

"Um?"

"Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve, old man? For example, you could summon 100,000 heavenly soldiers with a wave of your hand."

Magana looked at me like I was an idiot. "If I had something like that, I would have stormed the Imperial Capital long ago."

"That means that's all?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I was just asking randomly."

Ryan thought to himself, "Very good, from now on the Grand Duke will be sitting at the same table as the Princess."

Although Ryan tried to think positively, the situation was indeed not very optimistic.

Of the original 50,000 Iron Blood Army, only a little over 10,000 remained. This number was insufficient to support Magana's counterattack against the Western Barbarians, let alone withstand the Crimson Tiger Guard's attack.

Therefore, she could only withdraw some of the people who had previously provided support, in case the Crimson Tiger Guard actually broke through.

Fortunately, the recruitment of the Iron Blood Army went quite smoothly. This battle did indeed demonstrate Magana's prowess and gave the loyalists confidence. As for the people of the territory, they were also happy because Magana was indeed good to them, and her cruelty was only directed at her enemies.

Oh no, there's also a certain unlucky guy.

While Ryan was strolling around the camp, he saw Everson standing straight at the gate from afar. When asked why, Everson said that it was the Grand Duke's intensive training for him, which required him to stand in the sun for ten hours every day this month, and also have something weighing dozens of kilograms on his head.

Everson felt this was a test from the Grand Duke, but Ryan couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

Is that thing on his head trying to make him look shorter?

"Hello, I'm looking for Mr. Potter."

Ryan walked into a bookstore and spoke to the clerk inside.

"How can I help you?" the shop assistant asked with a smile.

Ryan glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then whispered, "I've gathered some dry firewood, let's start a fire."

The shop assistant paused, stared at Ryan for a moment, and nodded slightly. "Please wait a moment."

After saying that, he turned and walked upstairs.

"Let the fire burn" is a coded phrase of the Burning Covenant. The whole phrase means something similar to "passing on the fire," meaning to spread the fire and ensure it never goes out. It represents the spirit and will of the Burning Covenant.

Well... that's what Jonathan said.

After a while, a middle-aged man who looked to be around forty years old came downstairs. He stared at Ryan for a moment, then gestured to the clerk to close the door.

"You are... Mr. Ryan."

"You know me?"

The middle-aged man laughed and said, "Don't think of the Fire Chaser forces in the Western Territory as so insignificant. At least we ourselves know about them... Besides, Mr. Ryan, don't you know how famous you are now? The current situation in the Western Territory is partly due to your efforts."

"..."

Ryan's lips twitched slightly. How could this be my fault? I'm more wronged than Dou E!

"I need your help."

He revealed his purpose in seeking the Burning Covenant.

As the empire's official superhuman force, they have a comprehensive grasp of all kinds of information about the empire, so Ryan wanted them to help investigate Elvin's situation and whether there were any problems with the 30,000 royal troops.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ryan, we can't disclose this information casually." Potter shook his head and refused.

The implication is that you have no right to know.

Although Ryan is currently enjoying great success, he is still just Little Camilla in the Burning Covenant. The Berman City Investigation Team Leader and a Level 2 Investigator are all lower-ranking than him.

"Does that mean there is?"

"..."

Seeing Potter remain silent, Ryan took out the Chapter of the Covenant from his backpack and said, "I think I still have the right to know this kind of news, right?"

Potter was stunned. "The Chapter of the Covenant? You... how could you..."

"I don't care where it came from, I just want to know if I can find out."

"Of course." Potter took a deep breath. "The Chapter of the Covenant represents Level Six Investigator authority. You are fully qualified to access these, but... could you tell me what you intend to do?"

Ryan said solemnly, "Of course it's for His Your Majesty! We Fire Chasers serve only Your Majesty. Do you have other ideas?"

"Oh, of course not. I never doubted your intentions. I just wanted to know exactly what you wanted to do."

"Alas, you have no idea how much effort I put into gaining even a little trust from Magana. She used my identity to conceal herself, and this time I did her a huge favor; she seems to be trying to win me over," Ryan said in a deep voice. "But you know, my heart is only with His Your Majesty, so I must understand the situation before I can use this information to gradually gain more of Magana's trust. She's simply too audacious, daring to openly defy His Your Majesty's orders. Without eliminating the Iron Blood, the Empire will be in turmoil!"

Potter was taken aback.

He saw a great will in Ryan.

"Come with me!" Potter gestured for Ryan to come upstairs to talk.