Unexpected Joy

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

Unfortunately, they were no match for him. Silver City had already been short on troops after the Ratmen attack, and with the lord dead, only widows and orphans remained. Captain Kado had been unwilling to obey, but circumstances were stronger than people. In the end, they were all thrown into prison.

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

The elf scout stared speechlessly at the corpse beneath Duanmu Huai's feet.

"Any Chaos mongrel has only one road ahead of them: 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."

Soon, the group left the hall and found a secluded place. Duanmu Huai then learned from the elf scout about the recent situation.

Simply put, the Empire was now a complete mess.

First, the Emperor of the Empire had died suddenly during the expedition. Before his body had even been returned to the Royal Capital, the First Prince eagerly stepped forward and declared himself the Empire's new emperor, demanding that his siblings submit to him. Although the Empire practiced primogeniture, everyone knew better. How could something like that possibly be taken at face value?

Of course, becoming emperor was not so simple for the First Prince. According to imperial tradition, only a royal descendant who gathered all four Holy Relics could become the Empire's next emperor.

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

Gift of the Water God could purify and obtain water. Fire God's Hammer could forge indestructible weapons and armor. Wind God's Scepter could control weather changes across a region, while Earth God's Wrath could alter the shape of the land.

According to royal tradition, only someone who obtained all four Holy Relics could become the next emperor. Afterward, once he had children, he would distribute the relics among them and begin the next round of contention.

And now, the First Prince demanded that his siblings hand over the other three Holy Relics.

The First Prince possessed Fire God's Hammer. The Second Prince held Wind God's Scepter, while the Third Prince possessed Earth God's Wrath. Only Gift of the Water God had no holder and had been secretly placed in Silver City. Well, Duanmu Huai had more or less guessed who its holder was.

Naturally, the other two rejected the First Prince's demands. There was no need to explain what came next: the Empire's civil war began. Fire God's Hammer gave the First Prince tremendous advantages. His soldiers wore incomparably sturdy armor and wielded powerful weapons, beating the other two armies into retreating steadily.

But that was not 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 Royal Capital and hang that unfilial bastard who had schemed to usurp the throne before his father's corpse had even grown cold. But another group argued that a country could not go a day without a ruler. As the eldest son, the First Prince's inheritance was perfectly justified. Besides, the expedition had failed, and foreign races were eyeing the Empire like tigers. At a time like this, everyone should unite and help the First Prince ascend the throne! It was all for the Empire!

However, the other side clearly did not agree with that argument. To them, they had sworn loyalty to the Emperor, not the Empire. The Emperor had died and then been usurped. They could not simply let this pass!

Thus... the expeditionary army also split into two factions, and then they started fighting.

But that still was not the end.

As the Three Emperors fought in chaos—each of the three princes claiming to be the true emperor—the Empire's already unstable situation became even more precarious. The foreign races targeted by the expedition were no saints. After being attacked, they would not just sit still without fighting back. Now that they had heard the Empire was fractured by internal strife, they naturally seized the chance to strike while it was weak.

On top of that, other powerful lords within the Empire who had never given up their ambitions crawled out from who knew what corners and openly declared that imperial territory was their own kingdom, no longer subject to the Empire...

In short, the Empire was now a den of monsters, battered by the storm. The First Prince's throne was far from secure, so he had no choice but to dispatch his loyal subordinates with armies to other territories and reclaim as much land as possible.

Silver City had the misfortune of catching his attention because of this. Not to mention that it had been attacked by Evil God Believers and its lord had died. To the First Prince, it was practically the perfect unclaimed territory.

In the end, the subordinate he sent to take over was smashed to death by Duanmu Huai's hammer.

"If you ask me, you should pack up your valuables and hide in some uninhabited deep mountain. Wait until those idiots finish beating each other's brains out, then come back."

After hearing the elf scout's analysis of the current situation, Duanmu Huai decisively offered his suggestion. In his opinion, Silver City was basically finished. Most of its inhabitants had fled, and its garrison had suffered terrible casualties in the joint assault by the Corrupted Cultists and Ratmen. Elisa was very likely—almost certainly—the Emperor's fourth child, but that was all.

With her personality, no one could expect her to become some kind of empress.

So... running away to stay alive was the priority.

The world was so vast. Where could they not go? Even if the Empire was a complete mess, it was not the only country on this planet. Setting aside places like the Elves and Dwarfs, were there not other nations?

Everyone felt helpless about Duanmu Huai's proposal, but they had to admit it was the only option for now. Silver City itself was barren, impoverished, and incredibly remote. Frankly, staying here and stubbornly holding out was not a good choice either.

If this were a webnovel, Duanmu Huai should have stayed behind, seized the city, declared himself king, then used his power to take in refugees from every side before sweeping across the land and unifying the Empire... Duanmu Huai decided to forget it. He was an Inquisitor. Eliminating Chaos and searching for Holy Relics came first. Playing some farming game here would be putting the cart before the horse.

Besides, if he was going to play, he should at least find a place with a higher level of civilization. Anything would be better than the Middle Ages.

Although they had made their decision, Duanmu Huai and the elf scout disagreed on another matter.

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

Duanmu Huai believed there was no real use in carrying the thing around, and it would only bring lethal danger upon others. It would be better to leave it here and let the other princes fight over it. But the elf scout argued 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 Gift of the Water God out of the Empire, then find some secret corner and seal it away completely...

Naturally, Duanmu Huai did not think that was a good idea. Had he not seen how so many Western fantasy RPG stories began with the protagonist living in a peaceful village, only for an army to descend one day and destroy it? Then the protagonist would discover that their village had been hiding some great secret all along... Wasn't that ridiculous?

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

Especially not something that symbolized the royal family. It was basically something everyone wanted. Expecting them not to track it down was far too optimistic.

After arguing for quite some time, the two sides finally compromised. Elisa could take the Holy Relic and leave, but before crossing the border, she had to hand off that hot potato to avoid bringing death upon herself.

After all, Gift of the Water God's primary function was purifying water, turning any liquid into pure water... For ordinary people, it truly was not particularly meaningful.

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

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

The temple still reeked with a nauseating stench. Although the corpses of the Ratmen and Corrupted Cultists had been burned to ashes, the dark red blood splattered across the walls, mixed with yellow, green, and substances of unknown colors, was still enough to make anyone want to vomit.

The elf scout approached the God Statue and once again recited the incantation, opening the seal. Immediately afterward, that enormous pearl appeared before them again.

Elisa hesitated as she looked at the pearl, but she still stepped forward and slowly reached 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, a flash of light passed over it. Then its formerly dull surface began to emit a faint glow.

And at the same time...

Beep beep-----!

Holy Relic signal detected. Holy Relic coordinates locked.

"...Huh?"

Duanmu Huai froze when he saw the System Prompt that appeared before him. He looked at the system message, then at the pearl Elisa was holding...

This worked too?

For Duanmu Huai, this was indeed an unexpected surprise. He had scanned the pearl before, and the system had shown no reaction at all. Yet the moment Elisa picked it up, his system reacted? Could it be that the seal had blocked the Holy Relic's Hadoken, which was why he had been unable to sense it before? And now that Elisa had lifted the seal, he could sense it?

That was possible?

"...Sir Knight? What's wrong?"

Elisa was puzzled to see Duanmu Huai staring at her without saying a word. Duanmu Huai fell silent for a moment, then looked toward Elisa.

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

"Huh?"

Elisa and her mother were both stunned by this, while the elf scout frowned.

"What do you mean by that?!"

"Exactly what I said."

Duanmu Huai turned to the elf scout.

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

"But you did not say that before."

The elf scout still remembered Duanmu Huai examining Gift of the Water God with her at the time, yet he had said nothing then.

"I didn't know it was what I was looking for at the time. I only sensed its presence after Elisa took it and lifted the seal..."

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai looked at Elisa again. Yet to his surprise, before he could say anything more, Elisa took the initiative to extend her hand and offer the pearl to him.

"Please take it, Sir Knight."

"Oh? Are you sure that's all right?"

"Of course."

Hearing Duanmu Huai's question, Elisa smiled shyly.

"Sir Knight has saved me so many times, and... this thing is of no use to me anyway. Since Sir Knight came here for it, please take it."

"Thank you."

Duanmu Huai nodded as he looked at Elisa, then reached out and took Gift of the Water God.

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