Volume 3: Artifacts Chapter 69 Dinner
In the underground space of the Silver Manor, Saint Theresa was standing in the outer circle of a circular magic circle, with an angel sculpture standing in the middle.
Four angels in white armor stood around with swords in their hands. Four beams of white light shone on the angel statue, and they seemed to be waiting for someone to come.
The five angels waited motionlessly for more than half an hour. Suddenly, a beam of holy light shone on the angel sculpture from above, and then the angel sculpture moved as if it had been given life. It spread its wings carved from clay, stepped forward, and walked in front of Theresa.
Facing the animated angel sculpture, Theresa saluted with great respect: "Great Sword of Oath! Welcome to the Cathedral of Saint Lun City in the Golden Shield Empire."
The Sword of Oath, which brought down a portion of power, said to Theresa: "I just came back from Hell, and then I heard about what happened on the Golden Island. I have long heard that the Golden Man is very powerful, and is the same as me. I didn't expect that she would fight the Elf Qingkong to a draw.
Is it that Tan is not worthy of his reputation, or is the elf Qingkong really that powerful?"
Theresa replied: "The battle between Tan and Qingkong took place in the space-time mystic barrier, and I didn't see it directly. But Qingkong is indeed very strong, and he is strong without the help of the power of the artifact.
And her strength is increasing rapidly. The last time I fought her, the pressure she gave me... was the same as the pressure you gave me."
"I believe in your judgment!" said the Sword of Oath, "Qingkong's power is not a natural growth. She may have been endowed with 'divine power'."
"Divine power?" Hearing the Sword of Oath's judgment, Theresa couldn't help but frowned: "Did you find anything?"
The Sword of Oath replied: "Archangel Gold has made some achievements in his research on the World Tree. The World Tree has a strong connection with the starry sky, which makes the World Tree not only qualified to be promoted to a divine weapon, but also a source of divine power connecting to the starry sky.
Do you remember the last time the Calamity attacked the Moonlight Royal Court, the World Tree suddenly mutated and scattered many seeds all over the world? "
Theresa said, “I remember it and saw it with my own eyes.”
"Sky City has obtained some seeds. Those seeds contain weak divine power, which can be transformed into corresponding power according to the strong wishes of the holder. Therefore, it can be determined that the World Tree is the source of divine power connected to the starry sky. Qingkong, as the owner of the authority of the World Tree, should have received the blessing of divine power from the starry sky."
Theresa said excitedly: "Your judgment is... the World Tree is a divine power source and a divine artifact in one?"
"Yes!" The Sword of Oath was not as excited as Theresa, but worried. "The divine power source is the gathering point of the original power. It can give strange powers to creatures that come into contact with the divine power source, but this power is not too strong. However, the divine power sources around the world were very active for a period of time, creating many extraordinary creatures that were powerful enough to compete with ancient civilizations that possessed divine artifacts."
Theresa, who had experienced the ancient war, could not help but recall the strange and powerful creatures that suddenly appeared in that war.
"Sword of Oath... Why do you bring up the past?"
The Sword of Oath replied: "I went to Hell this time to track down the fallen angels and find out that they are all hiding in the Black Prison."
"Black Prison! It is a legendary source of divine power in hell. Even the devils are not sure whether Black Prison exists. Is the news you received false?"
"It shouldn't be fake." The Sword of Oath said, "In hell, I encountered a demon race that I had never seen before. It was all black, with wings with messy black feathers, like a cross between a fallen angel and a demon from hell.
It said it came from the Black Prison, and was called the Black Feather Demon, and was created by the Fallen Angels using the Black Prison's divine power source. And in recent times, the rate at which the Black Feather Demon is produced has been accelerating."
Theresa said worriedly, "You mean... the fallen angels have formed an army in the Black Prison?"
"Yes, so I didn't investigate further. I have sent a group of angels to search for other known sources of divine power to see if there are a large number of powerful supernatural creatures being produced there.
But seeing that the World Tree has released so many seeds with divine power, we can imagine the state of other sources of divine power."
Theresa murmured, “Is that war going to start again?”
"Many signs indicate that... we have to prepare for war. The Archangel Conference has approved the Heroic Spirit expansion plan, and Sky City will increase the production of Heroic Spirit Armaments. I think you said... the secular world's mechanical production capacity is very large, and their alchemy technology can produce some components of Heroic Spirit Armaments?"
Theresa replied: "Yes, the Sword of Oath! During my time in Saint Lun City, I visited the factory here. The alchemy technology here is fully capable of producing some components of low-level Heroic Spirit Arms.
I heard that Raging Waves City has more advanced alchemy technology."
The Sword of Oath hesitated for a long time before making up his mind and said, "You can customize a batch of Heroic Armor components without revealing your identity. After the Archangel Conference tests them, we can decide how to produce the Heroic Armor.
Another thing is that I found some weapons and armors in the demon territory in hell that are resistant to high temperatures and corrosion. These things seem to come from the City of Raging Tides. We have told the Golden Man about this discovery, and I believe that the Golden Man will soon intervene in hell to investigate this matter.
Find a chance to tell the people in Raging Waves City about the Shining Gold Man entering Hell... I think there's a human called Meteorite. They're stirring up trouble in Hell. See if you can get those rats out of the Black Prison."
Theresa replied: "As you command, Sword of Oath."
The Sword of Oath thought for a while and said, "I don't have anything else to do for now. I heard that the dragon has sent another group of dragons to Saint Lun City, and the Shining Gold people have also strengthened the strength of their branch in Saint Lun City. If you need support, please notify the Holy Inquisition immediately.
The artifact is more important than anything else."
"I will definitely try my best to find the artifact."
Without waiting for a response, Theresa looked up at the Sword of Oath. He had withdrawn its power and the angel sculpture had turned back into a dead object.
After the conversation, Theresa felt that the burden on her shoulders became heavier, and the pressure of the approaching war made her feel like something was blocking her chest.
The troubled times are about to begin. Can the angels survive without their magic weapons?
It was completely dark outside, the street lights illuminated the city, and the mirror-like lights of the imperial palace in the center of the imperial capital were bright, making the palace look even more majestic and solemn.
A royal carriage, escorted by a group of royal knights, drove up to the royal palace. The guarding palace servants confirmed the identities of the people in the carriage, then immediately saluted and quickly let them pass.
The royal carriage passed through a layer of light film and disappeared in the mirror image of the palace.
In a side hall of the palace, Queen Christina and Princess Agatha were discussing something while having dinner.
At this time, the palace eunuch walked in: "Your Highness the Queen, Your Highness the Princess, the Marquis of Meteorite is here."
"Let him in quickly. Prepare tableware for Marquis Meteorite and ask the chef to make a few dishes that the Marquis likes. Agatha..." Queen Christina asked Agatha, "Meteorite seems to like grilled shrimp balls and crispy mushrooms very much."
Agatha smiled and said, "Yes, if he is hungry, he can eat a whole plateful."
Queen Christina said to the attendants around her: "Let's make the grilled shrimp balls and crispy mushrooms first."
The servant took the order and went to the kitchen, where Luke had already come in with the eunuch.
"Your Highness the Queen, Your Highness the Princess, good evening!"
Queen Christina pointed to the seat next to her and said, "Sit down. You are the busiest person in the empire now. You have only come here now because of work, so you must not have eaten dinner yet.
Let’s eat something first, and then talk about things.”
Luke sat down and the servants laid out the tableware for him.
Luke was indeed hungry, so he didn't hesitate to ask the waiter to bring him a piece of steak, smeared it with sauce, and started to eat it in big bites.
Agatha was afraid that Luke would choke, so she asked the servant to pour him a glass of sweet wine.
When there is food in the stomach, people feel much more at ease.
After finishing a piece of steak quickly, Luke wiped his mouth with a napkin and drank another glass of sweet wine. Seeing that the Queen and Agatha were looking at him, he couldn't help but smile and said, "The steak made by the royal chef is still as delicious as ever. What were you talking about just now?"
Agatha said, "Her Royal Highness the Queen and I are discussing how to arrange for the Snowtroopers to be transferred from the North to participate in the parade. The road in front of the palace needs to be reinforced. In addition, during the parade, the protective barrier of the palace will be lifted, and on-site security is also a key focus of the Secret Service."
Luke said, “The cabinet is currently handling the placement of the snow army when they arrive in the imperial capital. There will definitely be a barracks for our heroic army to settle in.
The money needed to reinforce the road in front of the palace has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the Imperial Bank. The construction team is in place, and the rest of the work will be completed soon.
As for the security during the parade... I have intelligence that some people are planning to do something big."
The chef brought out the prepared food and Queen Christina waved for everyone to leave.
"Just now Agatha also said that some officials who have lost power have been gathering frequently recently. Gabriel even brought a group of people to find Alex. However, they have kept it a secret very well, and the Secret Service has not obtained any useful ."
After Queen Christina finished speaking, Agatha added: "If I can't get accurate information, I can only arrest people for interrogation. I must not let them ruin the event."
Luke said as he ate, "We won't get anything out of arresting small players, but arresting big guys will have too much of an impact. If they start to make random accusations, they won't be able to control themselves and will implicate innocent people, which will actually help them.
After I got the news, I sent people to keep an eye on the World Bank's branch in Saint-Ren, where large sums of money were transported in and out every night. I also found some accounts at the Imperial Bank that had a large amount of abnormal income in a short period of time.
The Secret Service can use its insider among the World Bank employees to check what new business the World Bank has developed in Saint-Lun City. During the period when the Empire was sanctioned by the World Bank, those who were able to have frequent business dealings with them must have something to hide.
Finding people along the capital chain is guaranteed to be fast and accurate. "
Agatha asked in surprise: "The World Bank is also involved? How did you guess that?"
Luke smiled and said, "These are all the leftovers from my time in Raging Waves City. These officials who have lost their power have no soldiers at their disposal. If they want to stir up trouble and bring us down, they can only incite the lower-class people and create chaos from the bottom up.
However, although the imperial economic system was in some difficulties, the cabinet introduced various subsidies and compensation measures to prevent the damaged people and factories from going bankrupt and starving to death. Simply shouting slogans to create anxiety, they could not attract too many people and were easily suppressed by us.
If you want to attract people and build momentum, the fastest way is to... give them money!"
Hearing Luke say this, Agatha immediately thought of how he had used the destruction of the Thunder Tower in Wrathful City to instigate a march of 100,000 people.
At that time, Luke relied on giving money to attract a group of people from the Cape District to take to the streets, and then a snowball effect occurred, which directly confused the Government Hall and the Parliament of the City of Raging Tide.
I didn’t expect that this trick would be learned by the World Bank.
Since they are paying money to recruit people, the Secret Intelligence Service does not need to arrest, beat, or interrogate anyone to alert the suspects. As long as they keep an eye on the flow of money, they can catch all the participants one by one.
This will allow us to arrest all those who should be arrested without implicating innocent people and causing the incident to spread uncontrollably.
Agatha stood up happily and said, "I will arrange for someone to check the capital flow of the World Bank and the Imperial Bank now."
Luke stopped Agatha and said, "This is not a big deal. There is no need to be so anxious. Besides, there are probably not enough people with relevant expertise in the Secret Service. I will transfer a group of people to assist the Secret Service in the investigation tomorrow.
The most important thing is the ascension of the new emperor."
Agatha sat down and looked at Queen Christina again.
Queen Christina's expression was very solemn. She picked up the sweet wine in the golden cup beside her, took a sip, and then slowly exhaled a somewhat suppressed breath.
"I have been preparing, but the closer it gets, the more nervous I get. The situation is changing far beyond my ability. It's not the throne, it's a volcano.
Can I be a good emperor?"
Luke raised his glass and said, "From now on, every moment is unpredictable and unstoppable. We have made all preparations to ensure a smooth transition of power for the Empire. The combined ship of the palace, the court, and the Empire has eliminated most of the hidden dangers and is taking the best possible posture to meet the storm ahead.
I don't know whether we can steer this big ship through the storm and meet the new world, but I believe that as long as we work together and keep the rudder steady, the ship can sail further.
This crater is not just occupied by Her Majesty the Queen, we are all on it.”
Agatha picked up her glass and stood up: "Let us toast to the great Emperor Augustine, who laid the foundation for the empire to meet all future challenges, and his achievements will always be remembered by us.
Now his will is in our hands, his wife, his daughter, his ministers.
We will not let down the empire he devoted his life to!"
Queen Christina and Luke stood up and raised their glasses: "Cheers to the great Emperor Augustine! Cheers to the great empire!"
