"Watch your back, the poison fangs of spiders may fall upon us at any time."
The Grey Elf rangers who had defected from Lorci greeted each other like so during their farewells, to remind themselves and their comrades, that the incredibly vindictive Lorci would never let go of a single grudge, and at any time, she might send her dangerous fangs to obliterate her traitors.
Despite the formation of a strong alliance, the Underworld remained as it was, the war between each other is inevitable, but due to a certain reason, the recent power of the Dark Elves who served Lorci was getting weaker.
Due to trading under an underground contract, Aruhr, the Demon Messenger in the Underworld had disappeared abruptly, and thus, the Underworld cities of his human servants had gradually surrendered themselves to the Sulfur Mountain City. As more and more Underworld cities sought refuge or alliances, Annie’s autarchy status was gaining a firm foothold in the Underworld.
The three new autarchs, Ein Mezus the Dragon Queen, Annie the Fire Phoenix, and Centaur Anya the Underworld Beastman Sovereign had an intimate relationship, and their forces had always been banding together, and thus, the influence of Dark Elves had been significantly curbed.
This was just like in any market trade, if a few mega companies held above 70% of the market shares, they would possess the pricing power and would be capable of monopolizing the market, and the small businesses would easily go bankrupt. As the situation had progressed to this state, when all sorts of treaties for lowering tax on sales had been signed, many business entities would disregard the city of Dark Elves and play their own games, which would evidently lead to a fatal hit on the Dark Elves’ economics.
In this situation, the Dark Elves would have made their move.
"You are not selling me anything? I will rob the headquarters, you dare to hinder the market trading? Believe it or not, I will kill your whole family! We are the Dark Elves. Not just charcoal heads with long ears!"
Nobody ever mocked the Dark Elves’ threat. Being one of the few fanatic races that would embrace burglary and trickery as their virtues, the Dark Elves had always been easily offended. At times, they might not speak out, but one must still be aware of their deadly grudges and ambushes.
"The Underworld Oath of Alliance was established for the sake of the world peace, anyone who declares war will be the common enemy of all the ally members, with no exception even for the Underworld autarchs! In fact, the Underworld Autarch should abide by the peace accord even more strictly, or she would have to endure the hostility from the other autarchs."
If anyone would have shouted this sentence one year ago, everyone would take him as an imbecile. However, when it was spoken by Annie who had won the support from almost seventy percent of the forces, no one dared to take the peace accord as a joke anymore.
Besides, it was self-evident that which Underworld autarch that sentence was directed at. Meanwhile, some Grey Dwarfs who were serving the Dark Elves due to military pressure, and the Underworld Dwarf City, had realised that the Dark Elves stopped resorting to violence. Without squandering this golden opportunity, they changed their allegiance and escaped the tyranny of the Dark Elves.
With its economics, politics and military comprehensively suppressed by the other forces, the influence of the Dark Elves was diminishing. Moreover, there were Dark Elves who had embraced the other Gods and started following new leaders. The authority of Lorci was facing an extreme comprehensive challenge.
To be faced with such circumstances, would Lorci not feel miserable? After the peculiar death of her divine-descendant illegitimate daughter a while ago, before the new heir could be decided, the Dark Elves power was heavily suppressed out of a sudden, and now, even her influence and followers were diminishing. All of these were beyond what she could bear.
Following the lessening of her vast followers, her divine force was weakened, out of fury, Lorci briskly executed the Mother of several big families. In the end, the silent hostility between the multiple Dark Elf cities to compete for the Underworld autarch status grew more intense. Meanwhile, in a series of turbulences, Mother Victoria from the Morsblight City turned out to be amongst the three autarch candidates.
Aside from that, due to some historical connections, should Lorci eventually opt for coexistence with the other autarchies, Mother Victoria would become the best candidate as The High Priestess of Lorci. And now, this reason makes her a new superstar in the Dark Elf tribe.
In this situation, my letter has to be delivered to Annie through Elisa, then Annie will deliver it to Victoria by the special communication method. In this way, the letter would not be taken lightly, despite the absence of my signature and stamp.
Lorci the Spider Queen was notorious for her slyness and greed, persuading her to join other camps wouldn’t be a simple task.
"... In this sacred war, if the Gods of Order are victorious in the end, all existing Gods of Elves will fall. Hence, in preparation for the future, the Elf divine system desperately needs one skilful and experienced God of Elves to lead the crowd, you are undoubtedly the best candidate!"
"Please think twice, if you insist on remaining with Chaos, would you really want to fight alongside those people who once banished you? Do you think you can rise above them single-handed? If they become the leaders, would you be banished again? Not likely, learning from the past experience, they will definitely eradicate any root of misfortune, and seek an excuse to wipe you out."
I offered Lorci to be the Prime God of the Elves, as the outcome of remaining with the Chaos would never be pleasant, whether they win or lose, that was my speculation.
I never told lies, and it was these "truths", which were able to touch the heart of the sceptical Lorci.
"Besides, I didn’t expect you to raise the flag of rebellion, you see, at present, the Elven Gods still side the Order faction, they expect you to attack them, not to mention the bitter grudge between you, letting go of any grudge is certainly not your style."
"The situation now is in such turmoil, without raising a flag or taking a stand, you can always make a second choice, this is free of risk and a better opportunity for vengeance. Should you miss this, even I will feel regretful for you, this is a golden chance that appears once per thousand years, should you miss this, and wait for another thousand years?"
In Dark Elf language, betrayal is a virtue, and one could easily picture the characters of Lorci. This proposal allowed her to bend with the wind, and also be the Prime God of the Elves if things succeeded, and so it definitely touched her heart.
To added more authority, at the back of the letter, I had added the mark of the Divine force of Ayer and Lord Wumianzhe.
These two marks served as the justification by two Gods of Order, not to mention one of them was Ayer the mogul, perhaps in Lorci’s eyes, the authority of this letter was significantly elevated, it had even become the official poaching of the Order camp.
Alright, this event was in fact, not known by the Gods of Order, and to ease things, Ayer had left me fully in charge of this matter.
Upon receiving the letter, Lorci gave no response, but this silence had notified me that she was touched. After some hesitation, she appointed Victoria as the highest priest, this had answered me in a different way.
As Lorci was willing to join the game, the subsequent events wouldn’t be within my control.
"Humph, everything you do will come back to you sooner or later, the Dark Elves would go even further than the sins committed by Elves in Sleuweir, I don’t believe the Elven army will continue to fight the Humans if they were hauled into a civil war. You should go back, and let the dogs bite the dogs."
Nevertheless, there were still a couple of problems in my hand.
"Being a black sheep to this extent, Fismer Caso was indeed an unparalleled genius!"
Not to mention the internal strife owing to the long-term of willful neglect of government affairs, the invasion of the Beastmen’s main force on the Maple city, had prevented Antoin from suffering irresistible tension.
Seeing the financial report of the royal financial advisor and the military report of the army, I realised that Fismer had led Sleuweir to the verge of bankruptcy.
"Stop all the new entertainment facilities temporarily, seal the project of the imperial garden, release all slaves as the civilians, as for the concubines in the imperial harem…
"They are all mine!" I would surely like to speak such dream words of every man, but to retain a semblance of my humanity in the eyes of the world, alright, not to mention the dazzling silver ring on my finger, I could not help but to shake my head.
"Dismiss all of them, send those of wealthy families back home, appoint those of poor family as the nurses in hospitals, community service workers, tailors, etc, let them all earn their own livings. As for those who can’t do anything, appoint them as the dishwashers of restaurants. Alright, give them all a sufficient dismissal fee, but tell them, the imperial can no longer take care of them."
In fact, these financial and government problems were of little trouble, they were but the awful mess left behind by Fismer, who cared nothing but drinking and heeling around, the real problem was the feudal lords of the country.
In this feudal era in which sorcery and swords intertwined, due to the harsh living environment and the presence of demonic beasts, most civilians would prefer to stay in the safer, big cities, and the inconvenient traffic system had led to communication and transportation problems between city-states, the best example was none other than Emperor Hill Height, as it was common for the imperial authority to extend only across several city-states.
Of course, the rights and obligations were always contradictory, it was never a cinch to protect the people from all sorts of threats, natural and unnatural.
In my own territory, the authority and voices of the aristocracies could be even higher than that of royalty, as this wasn’t something unusual in this era, the Royals had always been compromising, but to offend the aristocracies to the extent that a few aristocracies had utterly disregarded him, and didn’t have audience with him in court for ten years. There was no one but Fismer Caso. And all of these, was not a trivial matter,
"Just for a famed beauty, to think that he could send the guards to kidnap the wife of the aristocratic feudal lord, yet leaving behind evidence all the way. So fortunate of this bastard to not yet have been overthrown by any aristocrats."
Actually, if it wasn’t for the sudden north invasion of the Beastmen, perhaps not even more than two years, there would be a lot of feudal lords conspiring against him.
From the perspective of this decadent king, he was but devil who escaped from the hell and would be banished back there anytime, and since the wealth of this country would not belong to him forever, would he not seize the time for enjoyment, as for how terrible the consequence would be, he would care less as those would happen after his death, why was he even worried?
The situation of the current Sleuweir was not just so, the imperials were supposed to stand out and gather all the feudal lords to form an alliance army to engage in this full-scale war, but the Beastmen had taken away that authority from the Humans, as they gave no chance for Fismer to fulfil his kingship.
But even if Fismer could fulfil his kingship, how many feudal lords would respond to his call of the expedition?
The main force of the imperial was divided into two, the main force at the border was stuck in the border fortress, meaninglessly, while the royal guard army and reserve army had suffered a big casualty just to confront the siege on Antoin.
As for the armies of feudal lords, they were mostly pinned down within their own territories due to Beastmen’s strategy of a sudden invasion from all sides. Not only did the nonfeasance of the imperial shatter the loyalty of some loyal retainers, but it also prompted some people to be more cautious, if any feudal lord was willing to assist the imperial, that was equivalent to him seeking demise.
Fismer had gone too far, and even if I was the temporary king, this throne was still unstable.
Even in the times when sovereignty was dispersed across the feudal lords, rebellion was still technocratic, the legitimate kingship was always the last reason the civilians could use for toleration, and if it wasn’t Fismer showing his devilish nature when his life was endangered, if it wasn’t because I was a legitimate Mist descendant by law, I couldn’t have taken over Antoin this easily.
However, this was still a taboo, which wouldn’t satisfy the feudal lords, and this situation was unpleasant for me.
"Today, taking over the kingship of Sleuweir with such an excuse, aren’t East Mist and Sharal both Mist descendants, they will probably take everything in the end. If the imperial kingship can be deprived of such, what about the rights of us feudal lords?"
Evidently, if this situation persisted, if I was accused of being an aspirant, I would definitely be categorized as taboo, if so, my blueprint would come to nothing.
Blueprint? Indeed, I had a series of proposals on the Northlands, but being a king was absolutely not part of it, as that would bring deadly harm to me and arouse caution of a lot of people against me, the losses surely outnumbered than benefits.
"A Sleuweir royal member was needed, even just as a puppet, would be more legitimate than me, to deputize the kingship."
But obviously, here came a new problem, Fismer had been very ruthless in order to climb up to the throne, amongst the three siblings, the crown prince of the old king was allegedly murdered by him, while the younger brother and his entire family had encountered "misfortune" too, they were caught in a carriage accident.
And now, I couldn’t even find a candidate for the puppet I needed.
A sudden news, however, had lifted the spirit of mine.
"The old king used to have a love child, a daughter named Glina, thirteen years ago before the enthronement of Fismer, she couldn’t be found during the extermination of his family, she might still be alive.
"The lamp of life?"
I suddenly recalled the dagger with two pearls, a Sleuweir royal should possess this arcane.
"Besides, the lamp of life which was always dim, has brightened up since three months ago, it seems that the princess has returned to the Northlands, if she’s back for revenge, most likely she has been concealed her name and identity."
The words of imperial household had lifted my spirits, hence, I immediately made an announcement, and the patrolling knights had been running across the whole city, shouting themselves hoarse, but still, no one stood up.
" If she is really in this city, she must be taking precautions against me. Forget about that, just look for her first, any other defining descriptions?"
The old man pondered with a frown for a long time, then started speaking again.
"She was still a kid that year, what traits could she have, she is just a quiet ordinary girl. Oh right, she has two moles on her chest and one more on her left butt, these could be the traits!"
I covered my face just as I heard these words, I could easily guess what would happen next.
[ Ding Ding, congratulations master for unlocking the special mission - a spectacular welfare plot, mission target: Look for Princess Glina, don’t hesitate, she is somewhere within your reach. Mission reward: Through her, you are able to take control of this country, serving as part of the restoration of Mist Kingdom, Roland’s sword can perform the first stage of evolution for a divine weapon. Mission fail: the evolution reward is permanently forfeited, the spectacular welfare plot will be replaced with another spectacular but blood-and-slaughter plot.
"Bang!" I abruptly punched on the table, indeed what I feared, was what it came. To think of this reward and punishment!
"Does that mean we need to take off the clothes and dresses of all girls of fifteen to sixteen years old, and check their chests and butts? This is too wicked, this is too vulgar, this is too erot… cough, too immoral."
The old man shook his head with a wry smile.
"Considering that she would be pursued by the puppet king, she would disguise herself, whether it’s her age or gender, she had probably made herself as an adorable boy."
I gaped at him, should I give the order to strip all the young girls and boys, I was afraid I would again step into history - with the name of a Lewd King which even surpassed that of Fismer.
Finally, after half a day of profound thinking, I activated the communication feature on my ring, making a clean breast of the ins and outs of my matter.
"...If you decide to give the order of stripping, I will pretend that I do not know you from now onwards. Lewd Lord, why did you even tell me all of these crap, is this your new way of sexual harassment, or did you actually plan to frisk me first?"
I shook my head.
"No, I’m just asking for your help."
"Help? How could I help you do these things… Oh, I understood, you mean her?"
I nodded my head heavily, if possible, I wouldn’t look for her too.
"Indeed, we need the help of expert, but this is beyond my capabilities, please help me inform that expert."
"...I understood, but suddenly think it’s better to ask everyone in the city to strip. If that guy makes his move, perhaps all of you will be hung on the pillar of humiliation in the history."
"You think likewise too? Sadly, we have no other choice, I made up my mind... help me, help me contact that man, contact Beifeng! We need the assistance of him, and his comrades! In this situation, only a true gentleman can help us!" (to be continued…)