Chapter 624
-623 The Emperor's Anxiety and the Treatment of Number 3
Chapter 624, Section 623: The Emperor's Anxiety and the Treatment of the Thirteenth Prince
Twilight Fortress.
Emperor Mortis sat on his throne, tapping the bone armrest with the fingers of one hand as he listened to reports from those below.
The Empire's chief interrogator and intelligence officer, Morphle, knelt respectfully on one knee beneath the throne, reporting on the aftermath of the disaster:
"...In the end, only Marquis Ravenclaw and his two bodyguards successfully escaped the mist. All three suffered severe magical backlash due to excessive spellcasting in the mist environment, with irreversible mutations appearing in parts of their bodies, accompanied by preliminary symptoms of magical addiction. They are currently receiving treatment at the Silent Tower."
After the report was finished, the royal hall fell into a deathly silence, except for the rhythmic tapping of the emperor's fingers, which made Mo Fulei's heart tighten.
After a while, Emperor Mortis stopped striking the hammer.
“In other words,” his voice was low but clearly laced with anger, “those maggots of the Hand of the Dead have just created a massive graveyard in the Urbik Territory. And then, almost at the same time, someone else, through the Imperial intelligence network, local garrisons, and right under my nose, completed a large-scale, clandestine ritual capable of tearing through space and whose ultimate purpose is impossible to ascertain?”
He stared coldly at the Empire's chief intelligence officer in front of him, his gaze sharp as a knife, as if he were scrutinizing a derelict tool.
Mofley lowered her head even further.
She can find reasons, many reasons.
For example, the recent loss rate of spies infiltrating the United Kingdom is far higher than in the past, leading to a shortage of manpower.
For example, in order to eradicate the slimes within his territory, the emperor transferred almost all of the elite forces from the Shadowlands.
But she didn't say anything.
At this moment, making excuses will only invite more punishment.
"It is my dereliction of duty." She resolutely took all the responsibility upon herself. "I failed to detect and warn in advance, failed to effectively stop the ceremony, and failed to maintain proper internal control. I beg Your Majesty for punishment."
Mortis, rubbing his forehead, stopped his suffocating questioning and instead asked, "Since Ravenclaw escaped, did he bring any valuable information with him?"
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Mofrey replied immediately. “According to the Marquis’s account when he was lucid, Count Bonner’s behavior was extremely unusual at the time of the incident. His speech was incoherent, his logic was broken, and he lacked a reasonable understanding and motivation for his own behavior. The Marquis judged that he was under some kind of advanced mental control.”
She paused slightly before continuing her report: "Afterwards, based on this, we investigated the area surrounding the Beast Bone Field and have now confirmed that Viscount Cormac, who lives nearby, and several of his key advisors and guard captains have shown similar signs of mental abnormality. We have secretly detected residual mental field phenomena in his main castle and key areas of his territory."
“Mental field?!” Emperor Mortis leaned forward slightly, the word touching a nerve.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Based on the existing clues, this ritual that tore through space was most likely orchestrated under the guidance of the Holy Scripture. However… by the time we discovered this, the Holy Scripture itself was no longer within the Empire’s territory.”
Mortis was furious. The Holy Scripture was closely related to the Demon King, and his biggest worry was that the Demon King had obtained the Holy Scripture and orchestrated this ritual.
The key point is that the ritual was swallowed up by the mist after it was started. They only knew that the ritual tore open a hole from which the mist flowed out, but they did not know whether this was the purpose of the ritual or a side effect.
The unknown made the emperor of this empire extremely uneasy.
Despite his almost all-out effort to wipe out the slime hordes within the Empire, and despite the storm of the purge of the cult remnants, he consolidated much of the previously scattered power more firmly in his grasp.
But at this moment, these achievements have brought him no peace of mind whatsoever.
His current opponents are not those dukes with their own agendas, nor the declining human kingdoms or dwarves.
His opponent is the Demon King!
That demon king who single-handedly founded the empire!
The Demon King will surely come to reclaim the empire.
And he, Mortis Dracoun, would never relinquish the supreme power and prestige he now wields, and revert to being a subordinate who needs to obey orders.
If he could have endured a life of subservience, he wouldn't have personally killed the vampire duke who regarded him as his right-hand man and seized his blood power.
Since there was no room for compromise from the beginning, it was a fight to the death.
However, even with the entire nation mobilized, an invisible pressure lingered, as if his adversary always walked in his shadow, beyond his reach. "Eleanor, and Sigismund," the Emperor's voice was filled with anger, "the two of them were entrusted with the task of finding the Holy Scripture. Now that it has seemingly reappeared and caused such a catastrophe, what are they doing?"
Mofrey was overjoyed and organized her thoughts: "Your Majesty, according to the intelligence I have, after Duke Sigismund initially handed over some of his personnel to Duke Eleanor, he did not follow up on matters related to the Holy Scripture in depth. Recently, he has devoted most of his energy and resources to the sale of Blood Jade Wine."
Her intention was to use this opportunity to sow discord among the young dukes who had embarrassed her, implying that he was neglecting his duties and indulging in pleasure and profit.
However, to her surprise, when Sigismund focused on describing the Blood Jade Wine, the emperor on the throne did not show the greater anger she had expected. Instead, his previously tense demeanor seemed to ease slightly, and a hint of hesitation flashed in his eyes.
As a succubus, Mofley clearly hasn't fully realized what Blood Jade Wine represents to vampires. She still sees it as just another highly profitable luxury item, similar to the high-quality Blood Brew that Eleanor used to strictly control.
Seeing that His Majesty seemed unwilling to pursue Sigismund's neglect of his duties, she had no choice but to continue her report: "As for Duke Eleanor, she seems to have recently focused all her attention on how to please the mushroom creature she acquired..."
"To curry favor?" Mortis thought for a moment that he had misheard or that his subordinate had used the wrong word.
……
Eleanor Territory, Night Lily Manor.
Several half-vampires living in symbiosis with the mycelium were carefully serving Number Thirteen, who was nestled in the mycelium pile.
They knelt on the ground, carefully kneading Puji's short legs and tentacles.
Compared to the mushroom villagers in the mushroom fortress, these are more deserving of the title "mushroom servants".
"How is it? Do you like it here?"
"Pfft~"
Unaware that she was about to be questioned by the emperor, Eleanor walked in with a big smile on her face.
She looked concerned and gentle, showing none of the harshness and sternness she usually displayed towards her other subordinates.
The reason is simple: because of this little poop, she's feeling better!
When his first batch of demonic Puji Masters arrived at the port, which was being increasingly harassed by the rampaging Qis, the sea monsters fled in panic.
After that, no port with a Puji stationed there was attacked by those sea monsters again.
Recently, she even tried to reopen maritime transport under Puji's protection, and the first batch of trial ships have successfully completed a round-trip trade!
The only pity is that Puji arrived a little too late. The ports on the west coast of the human world had already been abandoned, otherwise she could have resumed slave transportation by now.
Even so, she was happy enough.
All of this is thanks to the mushroom clan member who calls himself Thirteen.
Of course, she also generously rewarded the succubus who brought the mushroom tribe back, making her Thirteen's personal follower.
They're not here now because they've all been sent by Thirteen to oversee the construction of the Mushroom Tower.
That was one of the requests Thirteen made to her: to build a tall tower in the center of those blood farms, where Thirteen wanted to live.
Although I don't understand why this mushroom wants to live in such a shabby place, maybe that's just what mushrooms like?
For Eleanor, compared to the benefits that Thirteen would bring, this was only a small request, so she naturally agreed.
Unbeknownst to her, on a level beyond her perception, countless negative emotions were slowly gathering towards Thirteen.
[Negative Energy Collection]
What place could generate more negative emotions than a blood farm?
(End of this chapter)