Human Central Empire, Royal Capital Holy Tower.

Now it can be said to be the very center of the storm.

The assassination of the Wise King made the whole city fearful, everyone could sense the terrifying undercurrents surging through this city. One careless move, and you would be swept up, torn to pieces, ground into powder.

In such circumstances, there was a woman who stood out so much.

She wore extravagant clothes trimmed with gold, holding a scepter encrusted with jewels. She swaggered down the street, heading straight for the Royal Palace.

Hosting a banquet, inviting everyone in the world she could think of? Naturally, a venue was needed, and no place was more suitable than the Royal Palace.

Before she reached the Royal Palace, the scepter in her hand never lowered.

"I am Rastina! The daughter of the former president of the Gold-Seeking Commerce Association, now removed from it, acting on behalf of the great Demon King's will! Today, I come holding the Demon King's scepter! Symbolizing the great Demon King, where the scepter is, the Demon King is present!"

She continued forward, the soldiers before the Royal Palace dared not stop her.

The words "Demon King" were so overwhelmingly heavy, they made it hard to breathe.

She walked into the depths of the Royal Palace just like that.

And then, she sat on the empty throne: "In the name of the Demon King, I invite all who care about this world to come here for the meeting, no one will be refused, come share the banquet, and discuss the world!"

She surely did not have the right to sit on this throne, but holding the Demon King's scepter gave her this right, or rather, this throne wasn't quite worthy of her status. Even though this was the Royal Palace of the Human Central Empire, even though all the ministers here were human ministers, and she represented the Demon King who needed to be vanquished - she still directly issued such an order.

Because—no one dared not to comply.

Until the Hero showed his will, no one could resist the Demon King's order.

The old fear once commanded by the Demon King resurfaced in everyone's hearts. The peaceful times seemed like a mere dream.

Everyone knew clearly, the Demon King had returned.

It was humanity itself that did not cherish peace.

The brief, dream-like life was about to end.

Someone would relay the news here to those qualified to know.

With the meeting convened in the Demon King's name—that those who do not go naturally lose another kind of qualification.

The Demon King could decide whom to expel from the world's ruling order, to erase any individual from the world.

The only exception was the Hero.

But the Hero had not appeared.

So, even if the one sitting here was merely a girl named Rastina, who many in attendance even recognized... it was the same. She came bearing the Demon King's will; to disrespect her was to disrespect the Demon King—humanity was long unfaithful to the Demon King, but now, the Wise King's life or death was unknown.

"We abide by the Demon King's command!"

Many of the Royal Palace ministers bent their knees and accepted the Demon King's task to convey his will.

…

Doro did not go to the Royal Capital for the time being.

According to his agreement with Rastina, they would meet again in ten days—ten days later is the time when the banquet begins, a time sufficient for "powerful" people from all parts of the world to head to the Royal Capital.

Borrowing Rastina's use of Mohe's will to halt the war, Doro disguised himself and went to the area occupied by the resistance army.

Since Duke Regulus started the rebellion, the army had reached the edge of Duke Regulus's territory—in fact, warfare was already occurring within his lands, after all, some nobles said, "I am loyal to the Wise King, not you, Regulus, don't drag me into your doom!" launching attacks against Regulus.

However, usually, leaders of such wars do not die.

Doro wasn't too familiar with this situation, so he came to the battlefield.

War within humanity—

Previously, all major races united to wage war against the Demon Race, he was always on the battlefield, always scheming against the Demon Race, always thinking about how to defeat the Demon Race, defeat the Demon King—he now had to look with different eyes, observe with different eyes, see the wars between humans themselves, when humans waged wars amongst themselves, how they acted.

What this meant for the common people on the land.

"Young man, are you fleeing too?"

An old woman saw Doro, so she said, "The people of the resistance are cooking for everyone, if you go too late, you'll be hungry today!"

"Cooking?"

Doro was momentarily stunned: "Where?"

"Over there!"

Following the direction the old woman pointed, Doro headed over.

"One bowl per person, no cutting in line, no repeats!"

Cooking for the civilians?

Doro felt slightly relieved; this was the scene he hoped to see. There was nothing disappointing, which was a good thing.

However—

The portion of the meal wasn't much, but being able to eat it for free was already quite nice.

After finishing his meal, someone spoke to Doro.

"Kid, you look pretty strong! Why not join us? We're heading to the Royal Capital! Once we've taken it down, we'll be promoted and rewarded! We might even become respectable gentlemen, just like the nobility!"

Respectable gentlemen like the nobility?

"Is that possible?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" the person quickly replied, "Don't think of us as just any resistance army; we pledge allegiance to the Demon King! Do we even need to emphasize the weight of those words?"

Allegiance to the Demon King... Mohe wouldn't do such a thing. It seemed that person wasn't interested in the legion. The gargoyle army under the mansion was something Lisidorwei had created in anticipation of a crusade from Charlette.

"But it's only been over a decade since the various races rebelled against the Demon King's rule..."

"What rebellion against the Demon King's rule? That was all fabricated by that old Wise King! Such a history never existed! It was just the shameless humans attempting to cover up the truth of history! The great Duke Regulus could not tolerate such things happening! That's why he indignantly assassinated the Wise King and then raised the flag of rebellion!"

Doro was stunned. He suddenly realized that the young man speaking to him was probably not yet twenty. When Doro overthrew the Demon King, this young man was likely just babbling—so he didn't believe in the history of the Demon Race ruling the world. From the time he understood the world clearly, it had always been humans ruling humans.

So, is everyone here like this?

No—

"I see."

He didn't argue with the young man but said, "I'm getting on in age, going to war again would be suicidal. Do you need a cook here? My culinary skills are quite good!"

"A cook? You can cook, sir? I'll go tell the boss right away!"

After undergoing some tests, Doro became a cook for this resistance army.

"You're called Doro, aren't you—come help out, it's time to prepare the materials for tomorrow!"

It was basically just slicing potatoes—it's just that the workload was large since there were lots of people to feed.

Doro was quite nimble.

"Doro! You're doing great!"

"You're too kind."

"Boss, I have a question."

As Doro worked, he gradually began chatting with others, "Do we have a lot of food supplies?"

Upon hearing Doro's words, the head chef asked somewhat warily, "Why are you asking about that?"

"I was just wondering, if we didn't have plenty of food, how could we keep giving it to others every day? Ah... I'm grateful for being fed, of course, but is our resistance army wealthy?"

"Do we look wealthy to you?"

Doro glanced at the cooks and kitchen helpers, who all seemed rather lean. Generally, cooks tend to gain weight easily, but they were different.

"We don't have sufficient food! It's just that Master Regulus demands that, representing the will of both the Hero and the Demon King, we must love the surrounding people—I don't quite understand his reasoning, but winning a war like this is not easy. War is a brutal thing."

Hearing this, Doro looked puzzled, "Are you...?"

"I participated in the war against the Demon King before. Back then, I was not the head chef, much like you, assisting here, listening to news from the battlefield... During that time, the Hero led various races to defeat the Demon King. Now, the Demon King and the Hero have intertwined—Sometimes, this world is truly incomprehensible, but it is what it is. Being a refugee leaves no choice, but to strive to survive."

Doro couldn't comment on this.

The head chef continued, "If I must say, the resistance army is still good. At least working for them doesn't force us to go against our conscience. If we lose, so be it—no matter Duke Regulus's thoughts, at least we can do this work with a clear conscience. Even if we eat less ourselves, as long as everyone doesn't starve, it seems okay."

Duke Regulus—

Is this an overt strategy?

No, using the word "strategy" seems excessive. Duke Regulus practically wears his intentions on his face; his meaning is clear.

"I'm making a gesture for you, Hero; do you want to acknowledge this army?"

Even if the gesture is just to show him, at least, the gesture has been made. Such an army, even if he does not acknowledge it, wouldn't be attacked by him, nor would its legitimacy be denied.

Regulus's rebellion is indeed full of "righteousness" at this moment.

But can such righteousness be sustained?

Duke Regulus's resistance—

According to Mohe, it's at the Wise King's behest. The Wise King's rationale was due to his move in the Elf Kingdom...

He still couldn't quite grasp the logic of it, but...

He still had several days to spend some time here, and then some time there, to truly experience the will of both sides of the conflict.

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