The Royal Capital of the Human Central Empire, Holy Tower.

Ah Xion sat cross-legged on the massive stone.

Unlike his previous exposed attire, the Sword Saint now wore the appropriate silver gown of a Sword Saint. This is a gown bestowed upon the inheritor of the name Ah.

In fact, the Sword Saint is considered a top-tier noble, equivalent to a Duke.

However, this title is not truly hereditary but is passed down through generations of Sword Saints selected under the title of master and apprentice. Therefore, each generation of the Sword Saint Family, or the Ah Family, consisted of only two or three people, all supported by the Human Central Empire—of course, before the campaign against the Demon King, this country was not yet called the Human Central Empire.

The Wise King had come here once again.

"Ah Xion, I heard that you have recently requisitioned a lot of materials, but their whereabouts are unknown, causing our nation's supply officers some difficulty. Can you give me an explanation?"

Ah Xion slowly opened his eyes: "When did such matters require the King himself to inquire? Since it is the supply officers' dilemma, naturally, it should be the supply officers who come to ask."

"Forgive those officials; facing the Sword Saint requires courage. Few dare to come before you."

"So, are you here to hold me accountable?"

The Wise King shook his head: "Of course not. It's merely some resources. For the vast Human Central Empire, it's just a trifling amount, not worth my personal audience with you."

Before the Wise King could continue, Ah Xion spoke: "I heard you and Saintess Charlette plan to marry soon?"

"Has this news spread so widely already? Although I didn't request secrecy, for it to reach the ears of the Sword Saint, who is oblivious to the outside world, it seems everyone is quite interested. We do intend to get married." The Wise King couldn't help but smile, "For the White Church and the Human Central Empire, a closer bond is necessary. This is the shared wish of the people and believers of the Central Empire."

Hearing this, Ah Xion was indifferent: "Your reason for marrying her doesn't concern me. In fact, whether or not you two marry isn't related to me, and I won't attend your wedding. I just have one question I want to ask you, a man deemed full of wisdom, known as the Wise King."

"What is it?"

"Are you marrying her because you love her?"

The Wise King was stunned, looking at Ah Xion with an incredulous expression: "In my impression, you should..."

"I like Gedora," Ah Xion said bluntly, "I think I've never hidden that fact. You all should be well aware of it, as the tradition of the Sword Saint goes. Initially, my teacher liked me, but I defeated him, so I rejected him. Gedora also defeated me, so he rejected me. I once thought that reclaiming the name of Ah would return us to how it was before. But I've increasingly realized recently that this was wrong."

Her eyes filled with doubt: "So, do you love Charlette?"

"Saintess Charlette's beauty is unparalleled, and she is kind and powerful. There isn't a man in the world who doesn't like her."

"And does Charlette like you?"

"..."

The Wise King fell silent.

Telling lies in front of this Sword Saint was meaningless because the Wise King knew well that the answer to this question wouldn't change anything; it was merely the Sword Saint's own curiosity.

Seeing his silence, Ah Xion seemed to realize something, and she said with a knowing expression: "In other words, marriage doesn't necessarily require mutual affection. Sometimes, interests or unavoidable reasons can also lead to becoming lovers. Establishing a deeper connection is like what people commonly refer to as political marriage—even the Wise King and the Saintess have to make such a choice. I understand now."

"Do you have any other matters, Wise King?"

"Since you mentioned your matter with A·Gedora, I also coincidentally have something to discuss on this matter. You fought him, didn't you?"

"I lost."

Ah Xion wasn't surprised by the Wise King's guess: "So, theoretically, the current Sword Saint is him."

"But he didn't accept you."

"What is your point in saying this?"

The Wise King smiled: "I didn't mean to rub salt in your wounds; what I mean is, I can help you—if your position aligns with his, given the Hero's nature, he wouldn't be able to ignore you, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you betray the Human Central Empire for him, and decisively steal the Demon King's symbolic left foot from the deepest part of the Holy Tower, what do you think of this story?"

Ah Xion frowned: "Does this mean anything to you?"

"I don't deny I have my own motives, but I won't tell you. Ah Xion," the Wise King said quite frankly, "I won't tell you, then you aren't a co-conspirator, do you understand? As for what I'm plotting... it won't harm your interests, nor will it hurt A·Gedora. Don't be fooled by my demeanor; I feel guilty about him too. What happened back then was indeed quite unfair to him."

Of course, this person's words couldn't be trusted. But—this proposal was indeed very tempting.

...

Demon King Mohe, was once again wearing a maid outfit at this moment, fiddling with the bow at her neckline as she looked at Doro: "Mr. Doro, how do you find this revised version? On top of the original maid outfit, I've shortened the skirt further. Correspondingly, on the maid outfits for Rose and Lisidorwei, I'll put a hole in the chest area—my figure might not matter, but with their figures, it should look pretty attractive."

Clearly, the bow she was messing with was meant to cover that hole.

"If you keep doing this, I'm going to suspect whether this maid is a proper maid at all."

"The way you say it~ maids are supposed to serve their masters' daily needs, right? It's a fact that noble lords tend to get handsy with maids who look attractive."

Mohe blinked, her words and actions full of teasing: "Wouldn't Master Doro do the same?"

The girl indeed seemed lively and spirited. The white stockings she wore were different from Rose's, which were somewhat sheer, while hers looked snowy white—giving off a very pure impression.

"Aren't you the noble lord, Master Mohe?" Doro retorted, "I'm just a working servant here."

"Now you're taking yourself as a servant, but I haven't seen a shred of reverence for me as the noble lord." Mohe cast an indignant glance at Doro.

Doro wasn't really interested in bantering with Mohe: "Lisidorwei's ceremony, there's really no problem with it?"

"Do you think I would do something I wasn't sure about?" Mohe was somewhat speechless, "In fact, as a third-generation vampire, her issue isn't that big. If it weren't for her insistence on touching my eternity, she would still have a long life. But thinking about it now, maybe it was for your effort."

Mohe smiled broadly: "How about it? Brave Hero, if you're willing to become part of the Demon Race, I can truly share a portion of eternity with you~"

"Thanks, but no thanks. Even the passage of just over thirty years is exhausting enough for me, I can't even fathom the feeling of living through endless ages."

"Exhausting... this world is so interesting, yet you say exhausting. You humans really aren't that great as a species." Mohe didn't seem intent on persuading further, "To revive her, we first have to let out her impurities—she's absorbed too many impurities, going after any quality of blood, which is really throwing the Vampire Queen's face, and mine, too."

Mohe looked somewhat displeased: "So the bloodletting during this stage is inevitable. Of course, it'll make her very weak, you might even think she's dead, but you should know that here, dying is difficult. I have no reason to kill her and offend you. At least for now, you aren't someone I can afford to offend. Worry is an unnecessary factor, but of course, if you think there might be unexpected factors, that's beyond my control. That's something you need to deal with."

That's precisely the reason Doro was waiting here.

"But you really dare to leave business to Rastina, don't you? You're not exactly familiar with her, right?"

"Leave professional matters to professionals—not that I want to leave it to her, it's just that there's something much more important to attend to, isn't there? Creating the fourth-generation vampire is a tiring task, and if I could, I'd rather be doing business, learning Rastina's skills in business along the way." Mohe said helplessly, "As for Rastina, though I don't know the deal you made with her... you now should be punishing the traitor, right?"

Doro's gaze fell on Mohe as he realized this was yet another test by Mohe, the girl always innocently asked some very sharp questions: "The way you say it, sounds like there's some deeper meaning—you mean those who betrayed me, are more than just one or two."

"That's exactly what I mean, you've punished Charlette, don't you plan to punish others too? Moreover, you didn't even kill Charlette."

"Don't make it sound like I deliberately didn't kill her, she's really hard to kill right now, and I'm not in my prime. It's a very difficult thing."

"So that's why I'm asking you to make a deal... I can help you restore to your prime state."

Doro chuckled: "Even if that's the case, do you think I'd dare easily let you do it? You'd leave a contingency plan? If even I were truly controlled by you, wouldn't you be completely free and unfettered?"

"Does Mr. Doro really not want to trust me? It hurts my maiden heart~"

"Only if you have such a thing first!"

Mohe pouted: "I really don't understand how someone like you would be liked by anyone, being betrayed by those girls is just what you deserve!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.