Dekan and Morion's Brand New Business Opportunity

In winter, the sky darkens very early.

But unlike outside, the bright lights inside the Lord's Mansion exuded warmth, as if dispelling the cold.

Dekan and Croix walked along the classically elegant corridors of the Lord's Mansion.

"Right now, the only unstable element in the entire Shadow World is Clay..."

Dekan wrote this in his own words.

He was still completely baffled and couldn't understand the man's thought process at all.

If this guy attracts the Holy Capital's elite forces to the Clan Territory for a manhunt, it could very well lead to an increase in the death rate and a sharp drop in Lunn's trust level.

This made Dekan's heart pound.

Even today, he cannot be sure whether Clay is truly a genius or simply relying on luck.

Dekan could only be certain that Clay was a sly one, manipulating the mentality of everyone in the arena.

"Strong teammates often come with risks, that's something you've said before."

Seeing Dekan's conflicted expression, Croix smiled helplessly and said...

Upon hearing this, Dekan smiled with relief.

Just as the two of them walked down the stairs to the first floor, something seemed to attract their attention, and they both looked out of the floor-to-ceiling window several meters high.

Outside the snow-covered courtyard, distant lights flickered, accompanied by the approaching sound of horses' hooves; the conspicuous light drew ever closer to the Lord's Mansion's manor.

It was a specially made carriage that looked a size larger than a regular carriage, but it wasn't a carriage belonging to the Lord's Mansion.

Even from a distance, Dekan and Croix recognized the reddish-brown coat of arms hanging on the carriage as the symbol of a giant merchant guild in the Holy Kingdom.

This chamber of commerce was the very entity that Lunn had gone to discuss matters with.

"Is it Lunn who's back?"

"Let's go take a look."

As they talked, the two changed direction and headed out of the courtyard.

Outside the mansion, a winding path leads directly to where the carriages are parked, the bluestone pavement carved with many patterns.

This pattern differs from the usual Holy Kingdom style, but it is similar to the relief style that Dekan saw in the Church of the Holy Rite Church, and is full of sacred artistic feeling.

There are similar examples in the modern world, such as the temple murals of the Sun God Church.

Outside the Lord's Mansion's manor courtyard, the carriage had been stationary for a while, but no one had disembarked yet.

The guards had originally intended to ask some polite questions, but seeing that the steward of the mansion had already come out, they obediently stayed at their respective posts.

Soon, Croix brought Dekan to the carriage.

Even after they arrived, the people in the carriage showed no intention of getting off.

At that moment, the carriage door opened.

It seemed to be an invitation for them to get on the bus.

Croix and Dekan exchanged a glance, nodded, and then stepped onto the carriage steps together.

As soon as they boarded the carriage, they saw only a middle-aged man with light brown hair dressed in aristocratic attire facing them inside the spacious carriage. His handsome features could not be concealed by the marks of time on his face.

However, his temples were already gray, and his eyes were filled with fatigue.

It is clear that he has been suffering from enormous mental stress for many years.

Dekan knew that the man before him was Lunn, who was hailed as the strongest war hawk in the northern part of the Holy Kingdom.

But it was different from what Dekan had imagined.

I originally thought that Lunn, the God of War among humans, would be more majestic and imposing.

But at this moment, Dekan couldn't sense any of the oppressive aura that a ninth-tier supreme expert should have from Lunn.

He seemed like a gentle, calm, and composed local nobleman.

"Lunn Lenn, this is our newly recruited expert in Demonic Script and Magic Engineering, Mr. Dekan."

Croix bowed to him and gave a perfunctory introduction of Dekan.

Although Dekan had already told Croix about the fact that "Lunn is considered Delois's employer," Croix, as the head of internal affairs, shouldn't know so much, so she had to pretend that she regarded Dekan as a Demonic Script translator that the manor had just hired.

Judging from Lunn's tone, it seemed he wanted to speak with them privately, which was why he invited them into the car.

Croix was also prepared to step off the carriage.

However, Lunn simply turned his gaze to Dekan.

I just watched him quietly.

It seemed as if they were waiting for Dekan to bow.

"..."

Do you want me to bow?

Dekan crossed his arms, seemingly finding it somewhat amusing, and stared at the other person as he asked.

The other person remained silent, still appearing calm, but probably knew their prank had been exposed.

"I was already a little suspicious of you, and you still insist on making me bow to you. Do you, you cunning merchant, even know my identity in this Shadow World?"

Dekan, annoyed, exposed Morion's trick.

In this Shadow World, Lunn couldn't possibly fail to recognize Delois, nor would he act as if he genuinely regarded Delois as a scholar and demanded that Delois bow to him.

Considering that the carriage belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, this can only mean that "Lunn" is Morion in disguise using [Contact Mimicry].

"Tsk, this kind of information gap is a bit unfair."

Upon hearing Dekan's words, "Lunn" leaned back on the leather sofa inside the carriage, his entire demeanor instantly undergoing a complete transformation, becoming utterly disdainful.

Even though he still maintained Lunn's appearance and attire, his tone had completely reverted to Morion's usual manner.

Morion made no attempt to hide his disappointment. If it weren't for the fact that everyone in the Shadow World had their own Holy Kingdom identity and that Dekan's identity was already connected to Lunn's, he might have been able to fool Dekan again.

"It's only been half a year, how did your acting get so bad? You think you can fool me by pretending to be Lunn like this?"

Dekan didn't hold back in Taunt his long-lost best friend.

Although Lunn portrayed Morion's weathered and profound gaze very well, Dekan always felt that Morion's Lunn looked too gentle, which was a bit different from what he had imagined.

In the scene that the Master remembered, where Delois, Talomati, and Lunn were together in a large hall, Lunn appeared very dignified, even somewhat confrontational with Delois.

Morion frowned unhappily upon hearing Dekan's words.

"My acting skills are fine. This is just the kind of aura that Lunn has. You don't feel any threat from him at all when you're around him."

Morion was convinced that his acting skills were not the problem, and seemed determined to argue with Dekan.

He spent a considerable amount of time talking with Lunn today and has observed Lunn very closely.

When it comes to acting skills, Morion doesn't think he's any worse Dekan.

He truly portrayed Lunn's normal state perfectly.

"Ha, Croix, why don't you give your opinion?"

Dekan chuckled and shook his head, then looked at Croix beside him and asked.

Having spent a month with Lunn in this Shadow World, Croix is clearly the most qualified of the three to evaluate Lunn.

"... Actually, Morion's acting was perfect."

Croix, unaware of the strange competitiveness between Dekan and Morion, could only reply helplessly.

However, he got used to it. Both of them were very friendly to him, but they were often aggressive when they spoke to each other.

It was precisely because Morion's imitation was so perfect that Croix was completely fooled when Morion first entered the carriage.

"Hiss..."

Upon hearing Croix's reply, Dekan rested his chin on his hand and began to think.

"What did Delois say that made Lunn so angry that Lunn became so imposing?"

He felt that, based on the current development, the timeline of this Shadow World should be reaching that scene very soon.

Even if the situation in the Shadow World deviates from real history, they are currently successfully completing their mission objectives, so the story's development should be consistent, and they will eventually reach a similar scenario.

In other words, a similar scene should occur on the correct path.

But what is Delois doing?

It couldn't have been that he offered some particularly wicked or unorthodox suggestion in front of Lunn, causing Lunn to fly into a rage.

Wouldn't mission objective 2 then explode?

The mission clearly states that Lunn's bottom line cannot be crossed, which means that if even one of them violates it, their trust rating will likely drop below the acceptable level.

"Dekan, the specific unfolding process of the Shadow World is determined by the challenger. The mission objective is merely to guide the story in the correct historical direction. You don't necessarily have to follow Delois's path; you just need to reach the same milestone."

"Master said to Dekan."

Just like back in the Demon Realm Prison, Delois's methods of conquering each level differed from Dekan's to varying degrees, especially the Eighth Floor, the Devil King Tomb. Delois couldn't utilize the power of the "future Demon King" like Dekan did, so their methods of clearing the level were bound to be completely different.

"Okay, let's deal with the most urgent problem first."

Dekan replied to his Master, "Let's not think about it for now."

Dekan then looked at Morion again:

"Where is Lunn? How come you arrived before him?"

"Lunn will probably return tomorrow morning with a shipment of goods. Since this shipment is the most valuable, and there might be demon shadow raiders along the way, Lunn will personally escort it to ensure everything goes smoothly."

Morion had prepared his explanation in advance, and had the other members of the merchant guild accompany Lunn, while he himself left with a valid reason and arrived in the Clantes City ahead of everyone else.

"Were you planning to impersonate Lunn and try to take advantage of some loopholes or something?"

Dekan sneered.

He knew Morion too well; this guy was definitely not just trying to scare them.

"Not entirely. We've seen mission objective 2, so we can't easily undermine Lunn's trust level."

Morion shrugged and replied.

His original plan was indeed to impersonate Lunn and use Lunn's identity to investigate some key locations.

However, after seeing the refreshed mission objective 2, Morion became certain that he couldn't do that.

Therefore, the objective became to first reunite with the partners and increase mobility.

The three then stopped chatting and began exchanging the information they already had.

Now that Morion has created a time difference, they might be able to use that time difference to do something.

Morion is the head of this merchant guild, and his mission is to provide support to the northern border front as openly and covertly as possible without arousing Lunn's suspicion.

The discussions with Lunn mainly revolved around the survival of the people during the upcoming winter.

How much of the material and energy problem can you solve?

After hearing Morion's overview, Dekan asked.

The First Army is a problem that Dekan needs to solve, while the resources are something Morion needs to take care of.

"We can probably solve the food problem, but we can't solve the heating problem. Last time in the Shadow World, the magic crystals we finally got with the Demon Realm currency were extremely scarce strategic resources. Now, 12 years later, their price has increased several times over."

"Although the Clan Territory generally has magical engineering facilities and central energy stations for heating, even if I emptied the entire Chamber of Commerce, I still couldn't buy enough energy to heat the entire Clan Territory for three months. And this year may be the coldest winter in the Holy Kingdom in nearly a hundred years."

Morion explained the current situation with a serious expression; clearly, the situation was not so optimistic.

Based on the support Morion can currently provide, even if the Chamber of Commerce were to sell its entire fortune, it would be difficult to guarantee that the natural mortality rate of its people this winter would remain below 10%.

Moreover, there was also the threat of invasion from the demon race.

"But..."

As Morion spoke, his expression gradually became less serious.

But he didn't say anything more.

Because he noticed that Dekan's lips were starting to twitch as if he was trying to suppress a laugh.

They might have already thought of the same thing.

"But what?"

Croix sensed that her teammates were on a encrypted call again.

From the moment the two men's expressions relaxed, Croix had a strong feeling—

I feel like I'm starting to feel out of place with these two things.

Dekan noticed Croix's confusion and smiled as he said to him:

"Actually, even if Morion fails to obtain food, it won't be a problem. For example, if there's no food, we can rob the demons. And if there's no energy..."

"But the demons are also facing an energy shortage!"

Croix still didn't understand.

Besides, energy resources aren't easy to seize; if they were, the Holy Kingdom would have won long ago.

"Hmph."

Upon hearing Dekan's words, Morion smiled knowingly; they were indeed of the same mind.

Dekan sensed Morion's approval and nodded with a smile.

At this moment, they felt much like Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu opening their palms and finding that the other's palms were both inscribed with the character "fire".

Demon race,

Isn't it readily available energy?

In particular, there is a powerful ninth-tier demon— Irenos of Ruin!

The value extracted from it is simply immeasurable!

A strong sense of mission welled up in Dekan and Morion's hearts.

Whether the people of Clan Territory can have a warm winter depends entirely on whether Dekan and his people can teach the devil the spirit of selfless dedication!