Plan

After that, following the merchant caravan, Duanmu Huai's group arrived at Carcassonne, the central city of Bartonia—a city said to have been blessed by the Lady of the Lake.

The city was the perfect embodiment of the Middle Ages: white walls, pointed conical towers, crimson banners fluttering in the wind, and Knights in full armor riding warhorses.

Well, no wonder people on the forums said Bartonia perfectly embodied every fantasy people had about medieval Knights. Looking at it now, this really did seem like an idyllic capital.

With the Lady of the Lake Merchant Guild's caravan beside them, Duanmu Huai's group entered the city without much trouble and arrived at the guild. The idiot Knight's father also apologized to Duanmu Huai for his son's reckless behavior and said he was willing to help them.

In the end, Christine and Elisa successfully took over a shop from the Lady of the Lake Merchant Guild, mainly selling small decorative items. As nobles, they had a good eye for that sort of thing.

Old Knight Kado planned to stay behind and continue serving the two as a servant, while the elf scout said she would remain as well. After all, as a Royal Spy, she had lost her master and had nowhere else to go.

The only ones leaving were Duanmu Huai and Okegis.

"Are you really leaving, Black Knight? Okegis, Sister?"

Elisa looked at them with tear-filled eyes, her face full of reluctance. Ever since she had narrowly escaped, Duanmu Huai and Okegis had remained by their side. It was no exaggeration to say that without the two of them, they could never have left the Empire so easily and come to Bartonia.

"Of course, Elisa. We still have our own mission to complete."

Duanmu Huai reached out and patted Elisa's little head. Escorting Elisa all the way to Bartonia had mainly been repayment for her kindness. After all, she had directly and decisively given him the Holy Relic, so naturally Duanmu Huai would not simply abandon them. But his journey would not end here. Besides this Holy Relic, he still had others to reclaim, including those from his memories and those held by the other Three Emperors within the Empire. Since the Water God's Gift Elisa possessed was one of the Holy Relics, there was a good chance the other three were as well.

It was just that taking the Holy Relics from their hands probably would not be as peaceful as it had been with Elisa.

Besides that, Duanmu Huai's most urgent task was to continue searching for ruins and increase the number of Soul Cards in his possession. Among the decks he currently held, the Puppet Card Deck no longer had enough offensive power, and only Okegis could hold the field. The Necromancer Card Deck could occasionally be used, but it was not suitable for being unleashed out in the open. Combined with his attire and appearance, it would only make people suspicious.

So Duanmu Huai's next goal was to first increase the number of usable Soul Cards, then search for Holy Relics outside the Empire. He could not be bothered to wade into the Empire's current mess. He planned to find another Holy Relic, unlock the Hall of Inquisition Library, analyze the Antimatter Energy Core, and build an entirely new energy Reactor. Then he could supply power to the space station.

And then... justice could descend from above.

By then, no matter how chaotic the Empire became, it would only take one shot to blow it away.

"Thank you so very much, Knight."

Christine also bowed respectfully to Duanmu Huai.

"If not for your and Okegis Miss's assistance, we likely could not have escaped the Empire and come here on our own. Such a great kindness truly cannot be repaid..."

"There is no need for repayment."

Duanmu Huai waved his hand.

"Elisa gave me the Gift of the Water God, and in return, I brought all of you out of the Empire. It was merely a transaction, so you need not take it too seriously. Now then..."

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai looked toward the elf scout.

"I'll leave this place to you. One must not harbor the intent to harm others, but one must also guard against others' intentions. Bartonia may be praised to the heavens outside, but who knows what things are really like within."

"I'll do my best. This isn't the Empire, after all, so there is only so much I can do."

The elf scout nodded. After all, she and the others were now tied to the same rope. She also agreed with Duanmu Huai. Bartonia might appear to be a wonderful land straight out of an idyllic poem, but as a scout—and a Royal Spy at that—she did not believe such a foolishly pure place truly existed in the world. So she planned to investigate in secret. Even if she did not stir up trouble, she could not let herself be inexplicably tricked by someone.

After everything had been arranged, everyone fell silent for a moment. They had not known one another for very long, but during their journey as refugees, they had grown accustomed to always being together. Now that they were suddenly parting ways, they were all somewhat reluctant.

"...Then, this is goodbye."

In the end, Duanmu Huai spoke first. Elisa gazed at him with tear-filled eyes.

"Black Knight, will you come back to see us someday?"

"Of course. If I have the time, I'll come see you."

Duanmu Huai was not merely humoring her. Now that the Teleport Beacon had been unlocked, he could simply place a beacon here and travel back and forth. This planet was merely a primitive civilization planet without a Void Shield. With the Strategic Command Room unlocked, Duanmu Huai could teleport wherever he wanted. If this had not been an escort mission, he could have arrived in Bartonia the moment he opened his eyes. Why waste so much time?

Besides, Elisa was the first person he had met after crossing into this world. She was adorable and well-behaved, so Duanmu Huai had grown rather fond of her.

But Duanmu Huai did not intend to become too close to her.

Generally speaking, Inquisitors did not become too close to local natives, lest they run into troublesome problems later. If they became too close to certain people, those people might draw the attention of the Chaos Gods because of it. Although Duanmu Huai was not yet important enough to the Warp Space Evil Gods, considering what he intended to do in the future, it was almost inevitable that he would eventually end up on their radar.

And when that time came, given the Chaos Gods' nature, if they discovered that he had close dealings with Elisa and the others, causing them trouble would be practically guaranteed.

The reason he had reminded the elf scout was also because Duanmu Huai was wary of the Lady of the Lake.

In this world, those who seemed like good people were often not good people at all.

Something similar had happened in the game before. At the time, a planet had suffered a disaster, and its Radical Believers attempted to seize control of the entire planet to spread the glory of the god they worshipped. For a time, that planet had fallen into peril. But then, a Saintess stepped forward and led the resistance against the Radical Believer Faction's attacks. Quite a few player Inquisitors joined them afterward, and in the end, everyone worked together to defeat the Radical Believer Faction and protect the planet's peace. A joyous occasion indeed.

However, just as everyone was celebrating victory, a Grand Inquisitor player descended upon the planet and detained the Saintess on charges of spreading heretical doctrine.

His actions were incomprehensible not only to the planet's inhabitants, but even to some player Inquisitors. Yet in the end, that Grand Inquisitor player ignored them all, directly sentenced the Saintess to be burned at the stake, then sent her corpse to the local Church and considered the matter settled.

Naturally, that Grand Inquisitor player became part of the hostile faction in the hearts of the planet's people. Even many players could not understand him and believed he had gone insane from playing the game too much.

Later, several players who enjoyed getting to the bottom of things conducted an investigation. Only then did they discover in shock that everything which had happened on that planet was a farce. Whether the Radical Believers or the Saintess Faction, both had been pawns of the God of Deceit. No matter which side won that war, it would not affect the God of Deceit.

If the Radical Faction won, the planet would become followers of the God of Deceit.

If the Saintess won, everyone would follow her guidance and become followers of the God of Deceit.

Win or lose, the God of Deceit won. It could even win twice. What a complete jackpot.

So the Grand Inquisitor had chosen the simplest and most direct measure—Win my ass! I'll smash the whole damn board! Burn them all! Leave no one alive! If I lose, you don't get to win either! We're all going down together!

It was after that incident that players began to hold back somewhat when dealing with planetary natives and no longer gave them their complete trust.

Because you could never be certain whether someone truly thought that way or had been led to think that way by an Evil God. Some people did not even realize they were being guided by an Evil God. Under such circumstances, all sorts of problems could easily arise—and there was no shortage of unlucky players.

Thus, in the game, what every class trusted most was actually the beings around them.

For example, Super Soldiers trusted their own Gene-Seed Legion most.

Tech Priests trusted the Servitors they had created most.

Psykers trusted Soul Cards most.

Among them, Psykers had it best, because Soul Cards not only contained beautiful and adorable girls, but also fluffy little animals. They were incredibly healing. Some female players even remodeled their bases into something like zoos, with all sorts of cute little animals and Pixies flying everywhere. It was practically therapeutic.

By comparison, Tech Priests had fully mechanical Coordinators, while Super Soldiers had musclebound hulks. Unless someone had unusual tastes, would constantly trying to build bonds with things like that not be asking for trouble?

This showed that a mage was still a mage. No matter where they went, they lived well.

So in the end, every player in the entire game would take on Soul Walker as a side class and get themselves a few Soul Cards. Even if their level was too low for combat, they could at least keep them in their base for something pleasant to look at.

They could not seriously keep staring at muscular hulks and mechanical Coordinators forever, could they? If something went wrong, who would be responsible?

After that, Duanmu Huai and Okegis bid farewell to the reluctant Elisa, left Carcassonne, and casually settled the Escort II mission. Besides gaining enough experience to reach level 23, he also received a Purification Badge as an additional reward.

Evolution Badge (Holy Relic)

+10 Warp Space Resistance

+5 All Resistance

+5 Seconds of Fear Duration

...Well, his Fear Domain was becoming more and more powerful.

"Where are we going next, Master?"

"Hmm..."

Hearing Okegis's question, Duanmu Huai thought for a moment.

"First, let's see what cards the ruins around here can produce."