Having completed her mission, Willow returned to the "waiting area" like a card that had been activated, while Ed leaned back against his desk.
"Sigh, wouldn't it have been better to do this sooner? Why bother with all this?"
Ed made no attempt to hide his feigned insincerity, asking casually:
"Report everything about the Aduolin Province, its Territory Secret Pact."
"Yes."
Bennett nodded like a puppet and began to explain:
" The Territory Secret Pact of Aduolin's territory is a fist-sized turquoise stone, it is..."
"Etc."
Ed raised his hand to interrupt Bennett and turned to look at Willow:
"You stopped shocking him, did you?"
"No."
"That's strange, why does his voice have a tremor?"
[ Zhong Lele ] curled his lip, thinking to himself that being able to speak after being continuously shocked with high-intensity electricity for five minutes is already a medical miracle, so what if there's a slight tremor in his voice? Isn't this just naturally occurring electronic music?
Having roughly grasped the underlying principle, Ed gestured for the Earl to continue.
"That turquoise is extremely valuable; I had it shipped from the Empire to the Norse Port years ago through someone..."
Just say it was smuggled in, stop wasting so much breath... Ed interrupted him again:
Tell me where he is.
"After the fall of Fir City, I offered it to the progenitor Antos, and then our connection was severed."
Ed thought for a moment and asked again:
"So he acquired ownership of your territory? You're really generous... Does Antos carry the Territory Secret Pact with him at all times?"
"Yes, he really likes gems and land."
"Then this Territory Secret Pact must have been sealed together with him, right?"
"Probably."
Ed frowned. The Aduolin Province was the territory of the Tree Worship Church, and in this world, if one wanted to possess a territory for a long time, one had to Territory Secret Pact in hand.
But if that turquoise is with Antos, how did the Tree Worship Church openly expand in the Aduolin Province?
Thinking of this, Ed looked at Willow to confirm his guess:
" Territory Secret Pact can be... reissued, right?"
The lich thought for a moment and said:
"Theoretically, it's possible. As long as the connection between the previous Territory Secret Pact and the territory is completely severed, a new pact carrier can be selected."
Does being sabotaged count as severing ties?
"I guess so."
"Is it sealed away?"
"It depends on the skill level of the seal master."
"He must be very strong. I'm guessing that the two elven seal masters severed all such connections to him while sealing Antos."
Willow had also heard a little about the two elven seal masters, and she nodded, saying:
"If it were those two, perhaps they could do it."
Ed then formed a rough guess in his mind:
The outbreak of the Demonic Tide was the beginning of everything. Then the world order collapsed, kingdoms and empires fell apart, the demon race fell into internal strife, and Blood Corpse began to sweep across the continent. This should be considered the first stage of the outbreak of the Demonic Tide.
The second phase saw the gradual establishment of emerging forces such as the Tree Worship Church. At this time, Bennett was probably still besieged in his isolated city. The progenitor Antos personally led his army to besiege Fir City, and Bennett eventually surrendered, choosing to join forces when he couldn't win.
The third phase should see the two elves begin to show their skills. Regardless of whether three or four progenitors were sealed away, one of them must be an old man named Antos. His Territory Secret Pact were then severed, and the Tree Worship Church finally re-established its hold on the Aduolin region, transforming the marquisate into a new province...
If that's the case, then the information Bennett is giving is completely useless. Contracts are like that; once a new one appears, the old one automatically becomes invalid. Even if that precious turquoise were to appear in front of him right now, it would just be an ordinary gemstone.
Ed sighed, feeling as if his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, had finally died.
Previously, after learning Bennett's human identity while spying on [ Aluode ], he had considered whether there was a way to find the whereabouts of the secret contract through him, quickly seize the treasure, and then have Little Green activate the special ability. Now it seems that this plan is not feasible.
However, this idea was just a flash of inspiration, and even if it doesn't work out, there are still conventional plans that can be implemented.
Thinking about his usual plans, Ed felt that packaging the World of Disorder as a game was definitely the best decision he had ever made.
If he were to reveal his true identity to his hometown people, not to mention whether he could actually "borrow" troops, the compensation alone would be beyond his current means.
After all, he currently has no way to open up a material channel to complete the material exchange between the two worlds, and as everyone knows, soldiers rioting for their pay is a terrifying thing.
However, by making a few minor changes and packaging this world as a game, everything changes.
Not only do players collect resources to develop their territories every day, but they also take on all the battles themselves.
After this battle of traitors ends, all players will know one fact:
If their ideas are sound enough and their plans are feasible enough, they could even truly change the main storyline of this game!
Even though the joint operation between [ Gill's Cuisine ] and [ Zhongde ] is not yet over, the fact that Weeping Willow Town was easily captured speaks volumes.
This is much more appealing to players than achievements.
When people talk about expert players these days, many think of [ Howling Pothos ], but there are also several rising stars from various gaming clubs who are frantically climbing the leaderboards.
However, when it comes to "traitor," everyone will think of a player named [ Aluode ] who betrayed his boss in the final cutscene of the BOSS battle. [ Aluode ] has even started to evolve from a personal name into a slang term and adjective.
This feeling of being the center of attention is addictive, and Ed is happy to provide players with this wholesome joy.
With this experience, I believe that in every battle to come, as long as I set the general direction, I will soon have a series of plans on my desk to choose from, truly achieving cost-free tactical planning.
Just thinking about it made Ed feel incredibly satisfied; a sense of accomplishment is indeed the best way to boost productivity.
From a personal perspective, the whereabouts of the Territory Secret Pact is indeed Ed's biggest concern right now, but objectively speaking, it is not the most important issue.
Having confirmed the main storyline in his mind, Ed asked another crucial question:
Tell me everything you know about Antos, the progenitor.
After asking the question, Ed could clearly sense that Bennett didn't want to answer, and it wasn't just a matter of not wanting to answer; rather, it was as if an invisible hand was gripping his throat, making it difficult for him to say what he wanted to say.
He frowned, a thought flashing through his mind, and once again delved into the consciousness of this unfortunate count, who had established a connection with his Root Network due to excessive consumption of vegetable juice:
Let me see who's covering their mouth?