Unexpected Joy

According to the Elf Scout, not long after he left the Silver City, that man revealed his true colors, seized control of the city, and even produced an imperial decree. Naturally, everyone was utterly baffled. Everyone knew that the previous emperor had died suddenly during the expedition, so where had this new emperor come from?

Unfortunately, they had been outmatched, and the Silver City was already short on troops after the Ratmen attack. On top of that, the lord was dead, leaving only orphans and widows behind. Although Captain Kado was unwilling to obey, circumstances left him no choice. In the end, they were all locked up in prison.

"I was planning to find a way to notify you and then make plans. I didn't expect you to move even faster than I anticipated."

The Elf Scout looked at the corpse beneath Duanmu Huai's feet with a speechless expression.

"Any servant of Chaos has only one fate: death."

Duanmu Huai answered without the slightest concern, while the Elf Scout shook her head.

"Forget it. This isn't the place to talk. Let's find somewhere else."

The group soon left the hall and found a secluded place. There, Duanmu Huai learned about the recent developments from the Elf Scout.

Simply put, the empire was in complete chaos.

First, the emperor had died suddenly during the expedition. Before his body had even been transported back to the capital, the First Prince had eagerly stepped forward and declared himself the empire's new emperor, demanding that his other siblings submit to him. Although the empire followed primogeniture, everyone knew that... surely no one could take such a thing seriously, right?

Of course, it wasn't so simple for the First Prince to become emperor. According to imperial tradition, only a royal heir who gathered all four Holy Relics could become the empire's new emperor.

The four Holy Relics were the Fire God's Hammer, the Gift of the Water God, the Wind God's Scepter, and the Earth God's Wrath.

The Gift of the Water God could purify and acquire water sources. The Fire God's Hammer could be used to forge indestructible weapons and armor. The Wind God's Scepter could control the weather in a region, while the Earth God's Wrath could be used to alter the terrain.

According to royal tradition, only whoever obtained all four Holy Relics at once would become the next emperor. Afterward, when that emperor had children, he would give the Holy Relics to his heirs, beginning the next round of competition.

At present, the First Prince demanded that his siblings hand over the other three Holy Relics.

The First Prince possessed the Fire God's Hammer, the Second Prince held the Wind God's Scepter, and the Third Prince held the Earth God's Wrath. The Gift of the Water God was the only one without a known holder. It had been secretly placed in the Silver City. Well, Duanmu Huai had more or less guessed who its holder was.

The other two naturally refused the First Prince's demand. There was no need to say what happened next: the empire's civil war began. The Fire God's Hammer gave the First Prince an enormous advantage. His soldiers wore incredibly sturdy armor and wielded powerful weapons, driving the armies of the other two into constant defeat.

However, that wasn't all.

The expeditionary army, which had collapsed after the emperor's death, also received news that the First Prince had proclaimed himself king. They were instantly furious. One group declared that they would storm the capital and hang the unfilial son who was already plotting usurpation before his father's bones had even grown cold. Another group argued that a country could not go a day without a ruler, and that, as the eldest son, the First Prince's succession was entirely justified. Besides, the expedition had failed, and foreign races were eyeing the empire hungrily. At a time like this, everyone should work together to help the First Prince ascend the throne! It was all for the empire!

The other side obviously disagreed. As far as they were concerned, they had sworn loyalty to the emperor, not the empire. The emperor had died, only for someone to usurp his position. They couldn't let the matter pass so easily!

Thus... the expeditionary army split into two factions, and then began fighting among themselves.

But that still wasn't the end.

With the Three Princes' struggle—each of the three princes claiming to be the true emperor—the empire's already unstable situation grew even more turbulent. The foreign races that had been attacked during the expedition were no saints, and they certainly knew how to strike back. Upon hearing that the empire had fallen into internal division, they immediately charged in to take advantage of its weakness.

Besides that, the other powerful lords within the empire who had never given up also crawled out of whatever corner they had been hiding in. They publicly declared that the empire's territories were their own kingdoms and that they would no longer submit to imperial rule...

In short, the empire was now a madhouse, beset by chaos and instability. The First Prince's position on the throne was far from secure, so he had no choice but to send his loyal subordinates with armies to other territories and "recover" as much land as possible.

The Silver City had been targeted for exactly that reason. To make matters worse, it had also been attacked by the Evil God Believers, and its lord had died. To the First Prince, it was practically the perfect land without a master.

Who could have expected that the subordinate he sent to take over would be killed by a single blow from Duanmu Huai's hammer?

"If you ask me, you should pack up your valuables right now and hide in some uninhabited wilderness. Once they've beaten each other senseless, you can come back out."

After hearing the Elf Scout's analysis of the current situation, Duanmu Huai decisively gave them his advice. In his view, the Silver City was basically finished. Most of its residents had already fled, and its defenders had suffered heavy casualties in the earlier joint attack by the corrupted believers and the Ratmen. Elisa was very likely—extremely likely, in fact—to be the emperor's fourth heir, but that was all.

Given her personality, it was pointless to expect her to become empress.

So... escaping to save their lives was the most important thing.

The world was vast. Where couldn't they go? Even if the empire was in complete chaos, it wasn't the only country on the planet. Once they ruled out places inhabited by elves, dwarves, and the like, there were still plenty of other countries, weren't there?

Everyone felt helpless about Duanmu Huai's suggestion, but they had to admit that it was the only option available. The Silver City was already desolate and barren, as well as extremely remote. To be honest, staying here and stubbornly holding out wasn't a good choice either.

In a webnovel, Duanmu Huai should have stayed behind, occupied the city, declared himself king, used his strength to absorb refugees from every side, swept across the world, and unified the empire... Duanmu Huai, however, thought they should forget it. He was an Inquisitor. Destroying Chaos and searching for Holy Relics came first. Playing at farming here would be putting the cart before the horse.

Besides, if he was going to play that game, he should at least find somewhere with a higher level of civilization. It had to be better than the Middle Ages.

Although they had made a decision, Duanmu Huai and the Elf Scout disagreed over another matter.

That was whether they should take the "Gift of the Water God."

Duanmu Huai believed that the thing was useless to carry around and would only bring disaster upon others. They might as well leave it here and let the other princes fight over it. The Elf Scout, however, insisted that it was a royal Holy Relic and could not be allowed to fall into the hands of those blinded by greed. She believed they should take the Gift of the Water God out of the empire and seal it away completely in some hidden corner...

Duanmu Huai certainly didn't think that was a good idea. Hadn't the opening plots of countless Western fantasy RPGs featured the protagonist living in a peaceful village, only for a huge army to descend one day and destroy it? Only then would the protagonist discover that a great secret had been hidden in the village all along... Wasn't that ridiculous?

This showed that there was no such thing as a secret that could be preserved forever.

Especially when it was a symbol of the royal family that everyone wanted. Expecting them not to track it down would be far too difficult.

After arguing for a long time, the two sides finally took a step back. Elisa could take the Holy Relic with her, but before leaving the empire, she had to hand the hot potato over to someone else to avoid bringing disaster upon herself.

After all, the Gift of the Water God's primary function was purifying water, turning any liquid into clean water... For ordinary people, the thing really wasn't all that meaningful.

In the end, the escape plan was settled. The only thing left to do was break the seal and take the Gift of the Water God.

Thus, that evening, Duanmu Huai and the others returned to the temple.

The temple still reeked of a nauseating stench. Although the corpses of the Ratmen and corrupted believers had been burned to ashes, the dark-red blood splashed across the walls had mixed with yellow, green, and other unidentifiable substances, and the sight alone was enough to make people want to vomit.

The Elf Scout approached the God Statue and recited the incantation once more, opening the seal. Immediately afterward, the enormous pearl appeared before everyone again.

Looking at the pearl, Elisa hesitated before stepping forward and slowly reaching out her hand. As expected, when she touched the Holy Relic, she was not flung away like the Elf Scout. Instead, the instant Elisa grasped the pearl, it flashed brightly. Its previously dull surface began to emit a faint glow.

At the same time...

Beep beep-----!

Holy Relic signal detected. Holy Relic coordinates locked.

"...Huh?"

Duanmu Huai stared blankly at the System Prompt that had appeared before him. He looked at the system information, then at the pearl held in Elisa's hands...

This works too?

For Duanmu Huai, this was truly unexpected. He had scanned the pearl before, yet the system had shown no reaction at all. But now, the moment Elisa picked it up, his system had reacted? Could it be that the seal had blocked the Holy Relic's entire aura, making it impossible to detect before, and that Elisa had broken the seal, allowing him to sense it?

There's something like that?

"...Knight, what's wrong?"

Seeing Duanmu Huai staring at her without a word, Elisa looked puzzled. Duanmu Huai was silent for a moment before turning toward her.

"Elisa, how about we make a deal? Give this to me, and I'll protect you all as you leave the empire."

"Huh?"

Elisa and her mother were stunned, while the Elf Scout frowned.

"What do you mean?!"

"I mean exactly what I said."

Duanmu Huai turned and looked at the Elf Scout.

"I came here to search for certain things, and this is one of them."

"But you never mentioned that before."

The Elf Scout remembered that Duanmu Huai had examined the Gift of the Water God with her, yet he hadn't said anything at the time.

"Back then, I didn't know this was what I was looking for. I only sensed its aura after Elisa picked it up and broke the seal..."

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai looked at Elisa again. To his surprise, before he could say anything else, Elisa reached out and handed the pearl to him.

"Please take it, Knight."

"Oh? Are you sure this is all right?"

"Of course."

At Duanmu Huai's question, Elisa smiled shyly.

"Knight, you've saved me so many times, and besides... this thing is useless to me. Since you came here for it, please take it."

"Thank you."

Looking at Elisa, Duanmu Huai nodded, then reached out and took the "Gift of the Water God."

"I promise I'll get you all out safely."