Regarding the Plan for Antir

In the Kingdom of Lorinvik, Darian, the Proxy of the Lord of Shadows, sat in a chair in his room, toying with the dagger in his hand.

He no longer has the wounds from his death in the Spirit Realm, which is one of the advantages of being Spirit Realm Profession: although injuries in the Spirit Realm will carry over to the Material Realm, the wounds can be treated by some special Spirit Realm substances, which accelerates their healing.

As a powerful prince of the kingdom, he had prepared medicine to treat his injuries, which is why he appeared to be unharmed.

"The Lord of Shadows hasn't contacted me yet, which seems to imply that my failure wasn't my fault."

Generally speaking, if Darian does something that displeases the Lord of Shadows, he will be punished by the Lord of Shadows.

For example, when developing followers, the Lord of Shadows was less inclined to do so because of concerns about other princes and princesses, which enraged him...

After years of acting as the Lord of Shadows's Proxy, he knew that he would find it extremely difficult to break free from the Lord of Shadows's control, but the Lord of Shadows also seemed unable to easily replace him.

Based on the information he could access, the Proxy of the Deity were not Deity the gods could arbitrarily decide to change. Once an agent became Proxy, the Deity could not replace the Proxy unless the Deity had a strong domain to support them in the Spirit Realm.

This is not a question of exchanging resources, nor is it a question of whether the Deity are willing to give it up; it is a question of whether it is possible.

That is why the Lord of Shadows forced Darian to sign the contract; otherwise, He would not trust Darian to be His Proxy.

Since Darian failed in the Trial, the Lord of Shadows has not pursued his mistake, because He believes it was not a matter of Darian's ability.

This relieved Darian; the situation within the kingdom was now quite stable, and he really didn't want anything to go wrong.

Just then, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice rang out from outside, accompanied by several knocks on the door.

"Your Highness, it's me."

This was the man Darian had promoted from the Shadow Cult after replacing his previous bodyguards. He had only appointed this man as his attendant yesterday and had never seen him before.

"Come in and report what I need you to do."

"Yes."

The door opened, and the servant walked in slowly with his head bowed. As he entered, he only slightly raised his head to look at Darian before quickly lowering it again.

"Your Highness, the order to purge the Sect has yielded initial results. In the Royal Capital, almost all the middle-level members have been apprehended, and several have disappeared without a trace, which is considered as defection."

Darian tapped the table but didn't speak.

"Among the higher-ups, everyone underwent divine interrogation, and nothing unusual was found. It can be basically confirmed that the traitor has not infiltrated the higher-ups."

Darian's brow relaxed slightly. This outcome was within his expectations. When selecting his top leaders, he had specifically investigated the background of each person and knew that these people would not easily betray him.

The reason for having someone conduct Magic Interrogation was simply as a precaution.

The attendant hesitated for a moment before continuing, but eventually he spoke.

"Regarding inquiries about lower-ranking believers, we conducted investigations in the upper district and a small part of the smaller district of the Royal Capital, and found that only three people had no issues..."

The servant quickly fell silent, fearing that Darian would be furious upon hearing the news.

Darian frowned again. He knew the situation was worse at the bottom of the Sect, but he never expected it to be like this.

This is an unavoidable situation; it's a problem with the Sect to which the Lord of Shadows belongs. This Sect claims to be the Lord of Shadows, yet it has absolutely nothing to do with truth, goodness, or beauty.

When the Lord of Shadows to develop his followers, his first requirement was secrecy.

"My Sect must exist in the shadows, in the eyes of a few, not in the eyes of the majority. Those who violate this rule are not my Sect."

For those in higher social classes, this doctrine is incredibly effective, as many of them are adept at forming cliques and engaging in shady dealings behind the scenes.

The Lord of Shadows's Sect has a good chance of surviving among these people, and among the abilities bestowed by the Lord of Shadows are many divine spells for checking loyalty.

The Lord of Shadows can easily discern who is more inclined to his side, and then vigorously win them over. Although he cannot guarantee 100% loyalty, he can at least maintain unity among his subordinates.

However, things are different at the lower levels of the Sect, which is why he was rebuked by the Lord of Shadows.

The Lord of Shadows needs a large number of followers, but the first condition of the Lord of Shadows is secrecy, which directly contradicts the idea of a large-scale expansion of followers.

They can't openly recruit people on the street because it's not secretive at all.

They need to rely on members to gradually develop believers downwards, in order to meet the requirements of secrecy.

But in this era, the loyalty of the lower classes is practically nonexistent, a fact determined by their living conditions.

In the lower levels of the Royal Capital, many of the followers who have been developed may not even have enough to eat, and they have to deal with attacks from others from time to time. Sometimes they even need to show weakness to avoid being attacked.

This leads to a situation where there is little loyalty among those at the bottom. You might tell them that betraying you will have dire consequences, but they might not even see the sun rise tomorrow.

This is different from the middle and upper levels within the Sect, who have respectable identities on the surface, making them think twice about whether they can afford the consequences if they want to betray them.

Even Darian couldn't solve this problem. Even if he gave money to the lower classes, it wouldn't work after one or two times. Only by establishing a long-term mechanism could he possibly gain the support of the lower classes.

But even he doesn't know whether his middle and upper management will actually distribute the money. After all, they are a secretive Sect, and it's quite normal for them to secretly move money away.

Darian's plan to expand his followers has therefore been somewhat unsuccessful, as he is currently in a crucial phase of the struggle for the throne, where he holds the upper hand and needs stability below.

Therefore, he never dared to blindly expand his followers, in order to maintain stability within the Sect before seizing the throne. After explaining this to the Lord of Shadows, He briefly agreed to his idea.

After the report was finished, the attendant stood in the room, waiting for Darian to consider it. Just as Darian was about to wave him away, the attendant suddenly spoke:

"Your Highness, there is something I need to inform you of."

Darian glanced at the servant and then said:

"Speak."

"It's about the Antir Region. Aren't the royal family there all besieged inside the Royal Capital?"

"Just this morning, a letter bearing the royal crest of that kingdom was delivered to the temporary Divine Temple leader of the Shadow Cult."

Darian was taken aback. The fact that the other party hadn't chosen to send it to the Royal Palace Lorinvik meant that they didn't actually want to cooperate with other countries.

Since the other party sent it directly to the Shadow Cult, it indicates that they want to cooperate with the entire Shadow Cult.

Darian unconsciously smiled; he felt there was a lot of room for maneuver in this matter.

"They are willing to give up an entire knightly order or a quarter of their territory as payment for the Shadow Cult's support, and they are also willing to support the Shadow Cult in developing followers in the Antir Region. A contract can be signed."

Darian tapped the table, then said softly:

"I remember that prince's enemy should be Duke Theodore. The Kahn Kingdom supports him, but Duke Theodore still hasn't been able to conquer the Royal Capital."

"Perfect timing. This is an opportunity. I need to expand the Shadow Cult, and I'm very interested in what this prince of Antir has promised."

In the more remote Antir Region, Darian didn't need to worry about the loyalty of those followers; he only needed them to believe in the Lord of Shadows.

This was an opportunity that Darian was unlikely to give up easily.

"Huh?! No, you just arrived in Snow Bear Territory and now you're going to Antir. I knew I shouldn't have come with you; we haven't had any time to rest."

Anna stood on the second floor of the church, very dissatisfied with Fran's decision.

If Fran asks her to go to some more developed areas, like Floating City... that's a bit too advanced, so don't even consider it. Cities within the Alliance would be fine too.

But Fran has been sending her to some less developed areas, not only last time, but also this time.

This greatly displeased her. From the Elven Archipelago to White Dragon Port, every place she passed through was a major city. How come, after following a successful fellow countryman mage, she was only going to places like this?

"This is the last time. Next time I'll take you to the Floating City..."

Fran picked up the letter that Lord Blake of the Snow Bear Territory had just sent with a knight. It contained only one sentence.

"I sense a new territory emerging in the direction of the Northern Lands Society. Although I can sense that this territory is somewhat small in scale, I can also sense that it is unbreakable."

Fran's experiment to activate the territory's blessing has ended, and she is now heading to the Antir Region to reclaim her territory.

Even though the knight sent by Blake kept hinting that Fran could offer a sum of money to buy Blake's territory, Fran's attitude was very firm.

For Fran and even the Alliance, the territories in the Northern Territory are mostly rotten lands. The Antir Region is a bit better, but not by much.

However, the Antir Region not only has a large population and a large area available for Fran's expansion, but also does not have the harsh environment of the Northern Territory.

If she were playing a territory-building game, Antir would seem far superior to the Northern Territory when choosing a starting point.

Furthermore, Antir's large population can well meet the requirements of the Radiant Sect for its believers, unlike now where some Priest preach throughout Antir for half a day without ever reaching Formal Rank, and...

"If I can conquer the entire Antir Region, then I can reach Tier 2 with the Territory Blessing..."