When Yechui and Debbie emerged from the prison, the warden was waiting respectfully outside.
Seeing them, the burly man whose scarred face could make children cry immediately put on a stiff, fawning smile and hurried over. Interrogating important prisoners was normally his duty, but when Yechui and Debbie arrived to question the Tide Empire envoy, he had not dared stop them.
Now he asked with a smile, “President Yechui, Vice-President Debbie, did you manage to learn anything from Milu?”
“Milu?” Yechui paused for a second before realising that was the envoy’s name. Bloody hell, they had talked for so long and he had completely forgotten to ask what the man was called…
His face only faltered for an instant before he nodded calmly. “Civil war has broken out in the Tide Empire. He was forced into it against his will. Keep him locked up here for now and leave him to you people. See if you can get any more information, but do not torture him too harshly.”
The warden hurriedly agreed. Yechui briefly summarised what he had learned, naturally omitting the parts about the five pirate fleets and the ghost ship, mentioning only that the Tide Empire had fallen into chaos and was now controlled by the Church.
He also instructed the warden to interrogate Milu again thoroughly in case anything had been missed. The warden promised to do so.
Yechui knew this was unnecessary; while questioning Milu he had constantly monitored him with the magic book and confirmed the envoy had not lied. Another round of questioning was simply to cover all bases.
Finally, regarding Savage Ox Iraq, Yechui said, “Do whatever you want with that fellow.”
He had originally planned to visit Iraq after seeing Milu, but since Milu had already provided enough information, there was no need.
“Rest assured, President Yechui. No prisoner who enters this prison has ever escaped,” the warden promised with a grin.
After leaving the prison, Yechui and Debbie did not return to the banquet hall. Instead they left the palace directly and headed back to the castle. On the way, Yechui told Debbie about the Tide Empire pirate fleets. Debbie’s face lit up with excitement. “I heard about pirates when I was little. The Star Empire has quite a long coastline too, but the pirates there are small fry, no challenge at all. Yechui, if we could go to the Tide Empire and take on those real pirates, it would be so thrilling! Ever since I was young I’ve wanted to become the Pirate King!”
“Yes, same here. The man who will become the Pirate King,” Yechui said with a laugh.
Debbie nodded enthusiastically, then suddenly froze. Something about the way Yechui phrased that sounded odd… Yechui quickly changed the subject. “Don’t worry, Debbie, our chance might come very soon.”
“Why?” As expected, Debbie dropped the previous thought.
“The Tide Empire is in serious trouble and has been taken over by the Church. The Star Empire has already declared war on the Church, so it probably cannot send troops to help directly. Dispatching an army to the Tide Empire could cause diplomatic issues. In that case, the Star Empire will have no choice but to let magic guilds and mercenary groups handle the problem,” Yechui reasoned.
Debbie’s eyes sparkled. “So Little Seven is going to give the job of saving the Tide Empire to us? We get to go there and sort out the civil war!?”
Yechui nodded. “Exactly. Very soon we’ll have the chance to meet those pirate fleets and the cursed death monks. We might even run into the ghost ship and the Sea Angel.”
At that moment Yechui was thinking he should probably unlock an awesome pirate ship of his own. Yes, the effeminate captain needed to make his comeback.
Debbie waved her little fists in excitement, imitating pirate poses, looking utterly thrilled.
Yechui followed behind her, then remembered something. He took out a tattered black scripture page from the magic book, the remnant of the Dark Bible left after summoning the Apostle. He had kept it.
The page no longer had any effect, but Yechui could still sense faint traces of space magic emanating from it.
The Dark Bible sealed evil magical creatures like Apostles. In truth, it functioned more like a key that could open a door to the Spirit Realm and release the creatures inside, somewhat similar to a summoner’s summoning.
There existed one-time spirit summoning in this world. Back in the Buried Sword Land, the Fourth Prince had used a jade plaque for such a summon, very similar to the Dark Bible. Yechui had been researching this method for some time.
He wanted to create a jade plaque capable of summoning the goddess Aqua just once.
The Axis Cult in the undead realm had already begun to take shape. After several experiments, Yechui was certain Eliza had fully converted to Aqua’s faith. He planned to release the Axis Cult soon to spread chaos among others.
There was one problem: Aqua was his contracted spirit and could not stray far from him, and Yechui had no desire to travel alongside that bunch of lunatic idiots. Therefore he wanted to develop one-time summoning so that loyal followers like Eliza could summon the goddess Aqua for guidance whenever they felt lost in their missionary work.
Progress had been slow, but now, with this remnant page from the Dark Bible and the runes he could sense within it, he might finally make a breakthrough.
…
In the evening, Lesa, Xiles, and Green returned to the castle escorting a very drunk Guni and Shalume.
They had attended the banquet, an event concerning imperial prestige and international diplomacy that, in their eyes, was simply an excuse to eat, drink, and be merry. Before leaving for the banquet, Yechui had told them to look after Princess Linda and prevent anyone from bullying her. Sure enough, at the banquet Princess Linda had been targeted. Led by Seventh Princess Mia and Prince Karl of Northridge, a group deliberately picked on her while Yechui was absent, constantly toasting her in an attempt to get her drunk and embarrass her.
Green and the others could not stand by. They joined the fray. Guni and Shalume drank in Linda’s place, and the two bottomless-stomach girls floored an entire crowd.
“Guni used to drink often, but her tolerance wasn’t actually that high. Once drunk she grabbed Prince Karl of Northridge and spun him round like a twist of dough. Everyone present cheered wildly…” Green recounted to Yechui, his own face flushed from alcohol.
“No major incident, I hope?” Debbie asked worriedly. This was, after all, a state banquet. Lack of decorum was one thing, but using a neighbouring prince as a circus act was a bit undignified…
“No problem. By that point everyone was already thoroughly drunk and barely conscious. Besides, they were clapping louder than anyone,” Lesa explained with a laugh.
“Right…” Yechui said, sweating a little. He hoped Prince Geller would not come knocking tomorrow to complain.
He asked Lesa and Xiles to carry the drunken Guni and Shalume inside, then briefed everyone on what he had learned in the prison.
At that moment Green remembered something. While drinking lemon tea to sober up in the castle lounge, he told Yechui, “On our way out of the palace we ran into Lance. He had some minor injuries and was on his way to report to Prince Geller.”
“How did the fight with the bishop go?” Yechui asked immediately, interested. If they could capture a bishop alive, he could throw him into the undead realm for conversion.
In the undead realm only Eliza currently held high rank among the believers; the rest were ordinary followers, at best apprentice level by Yechui’s classification. A converted bishop might become a guardian or elder, and another leader like Eliza was not impossible.
Unfortunately Green shook his head regretfully. “When Lance reached the address you gave him, the bishop had already fled. Lance tracked him down using clues left behind. The bishop was very strong and, despite being injured, not easy to deal with. In the end Lance couldn’t take him alive and had to kill him.”
“That’s a shame,” Yechui said, shaking his head.
Seeing that Green, Lesa, and Xiles were all tired from drinking, he sent them off to rest early.
…
The next morning, because of hangovers, the usual one-punch morning training was cancelled. Only Yechui and Debbie were at the breakfast table enjoying their meal when a black-armoured guard suddenly visited the castle. He informed them that the new emperor Jacob and Prince Geller wished to see them on urgent business.
Yechui’s heart sank. Could it be about yesterday’s banquet?
He and Debbie hurried to the palace. In the royal study they found Jacob, now wearing imperial robes and looking properly majestic for the first time, with Prince Geller standing to one side.
Just as Yechui and Debbie were about to offer some explanations, Prince Geller smiled first and pulled a scroll from his robes. Yechui and Debbie recognised it instantly: a commission scroll used exclusively by the Mercenary Guild for issuing missions.
“First, congratulations. The Magic Guild has officially confirmed that the Casual Magic Guild has completed the seven-star mission of protecting the new emperor’s coronation. You have now formally advanced and become a six-star guild.”
Prince Geller paused, his expression turning solemn. “Next… President Yechui of the Casual Magic Guild, I have a commission for your guild. The mission is to infiltrate the Tide Empire secretly, resolve the civil strife, expel Church influence, restore the Heavenly Sovereign to power, and ensure the alliance agreement with the Star Empire remains valid. The reward is fifty thousand gold coins. The mission rating is eight stars!”
