Chapter 75
Dragon had always known that Veris was quite strong.
But that human from earlier was quite strong.
He actually managed to kill her with just one punch—
The dragon swallowed hard, watching Veris straighten up, shake the blood off his hands, but didn't use any cleansing magic, leaving the blood still on his skin, the strong smell of blood wafting through the air.
Kim always believed that his plan would succeed.
The Golden Merchant Guild is growing stronger, second only to the Papacy and the Royal Academy. The Queen and the Third Prince of the royal family support the Golden Merchant Guild, and other ministers have always been friendly towards it. Although the Church is lukewarm towards the Golden Merchant Guild, it has not confronted it directly.
As rumors of the Pope's death spread, King pieced together a truth from various pieces of information—that the Pope was either dead or too old to appear in public, and that all external affairs were handled by his son or confidants.
Over the years, relying on the influence of the Third Prince and some ministers, he has vigorously developed the Golden Merchant Guild, squeezing out other merchant guilds. He has made the Golden Merchant Guild the number one merchant guild throughout the entire continent of Icarus, with countless riches.
However, Kim wanted to go even further.
No matter how strong the Royal Capital Academy is, those students will eventually leave after three to five years. They'll need to find a stable job. The Golden Merchant Guild offers generous compensation. Three to five years of training at the academy versus twenty years working at the guild—compared to that, their feelings for the Royal Capital Academy won't be that strong.
The church, ah, the number of believers these days is not what it was a hundred years ago. There are basically no high-ranking members in his chamber of commerce who have joined the church.
With the Pope dead, the only archbishops left who are truly capable are the magicians.
Jin had already achieved a 60% success rate in his plan, but unexpectedly, fate was on his side, and one night he felt a divine summons.
Gods!
He could hardly recall the ecstasy he felt; he only remembered being overwhelmed by the prospect of the Golden Merchant Guild replacing the Church of Orlando.
The Divine Artifact Realm opened, and he sent many people in, all of whom died! He stared intently at the recording stone sent by the Royal Academy, filled with disbelief, but he couldn't help but believe it. Those he sent out died for various reasons: fighting with others, being captured and killed by the army, being killed by the locals, or dying in the ruins' mechanisms.
He could only accept his bad luck.
The only thing that comforted him was that the ruins of the gods in the secret realm were successively breached, but there was no trace of the gods.
It seems that the Heavenly God does not associate with those weak deities.
Even now, Kim remains full of confidence.
Until shocking news came from the capital: the queen had poisoned more than twenty members of the royal family. Of the king's five princes, the eldest and fourth princes died on the spot from the poison, the third prince died in a secret realm, and only the second prince and the youngest prince remained.
With the queen executed, the Golden Merchant Guild suddenly lost all its partners within the royal family.
If the injuries sustained by the powerful figures in the secret realm had slightly crippled the Golden Merchant Guild, then the Queen's insane actions had directly severed the Golden Merchant Guild's lifeline.
The ministers were willing to do him favors because the third prince might become the future crown prince.
Now, the Queen is a sinner, and the Third Prince is burdened with the crime of cursing the King. He escapes from prison into the secret realm and eventually dies there. The ministers may still treat the Golden Merchant Guild politely, but they will never turn a blind eye to certain actions of the Golden Merchant Guild as before.
Garcia didn't die from the poison!
Wouldn't the throne fall into Garcia's hands?! Garcia is a man of the Papacy, a lackey of the Pope. He has painstakingly planned for over a decade, and now he has lost everything—whether the throne is inherited by Garcia or someone else is up to the Church!
After being repeatedly attacked, Kim made a tough decision when faced with the second prince who came to investigate the taxes.
He imprisoned the second prince for more than half a month, but he did not expect that the second prince was also very stubborn and would never agree to return to the capital to compete for the throne, even though Jin made a promise that the Golden Merchant Guild would fully support the second prince's struggle for the throne.
Fortunately, he had already planted many people in the executive building of the fourth district, and had almost taken control of most of the fourth district. Although the second prince's abnormality was not obvious, those close to him would definitely notice it.
So what if you know? Leaving District 4 isn't that easy!
Until today, someone suddenly appeared and followed the person who went to deliver water to the second prince, and actually discovered the secret room where Jin was imprisoning the second prince!
Jin had no time to care how these two people broke into the Golden Chamber of Commerce headquarters. He was filled with rage, and after days of setbacks, he finally had an outlet. He immediately summoned all the high-ranking members and powerful figures in the Chamber of Commerce and blocked the entrance to the basement.
Upon seeing the familiar attire, Jin sneered inwardly. He never expected that the church, which prided itself on justice and integrity, would actually do something like trespassing on his merchant guild.
Jin did one thing right: he gathered all the combat power within the Chamber of Commerce. These people were all capable of making a name for themselves on the continent of Icarus.
Among them are two ninth-tier warriors and one ninth-tier beast tamer—that is, one who commands eighth-tier contracted magical beasts.
By any measure, it's impossible for them to lose.
However, the reality was so tragic that Jin could hardly think straight. He was terrified at the extent of the white-robed youth's strength. Looking at the Second Elder lying on the ground, he had been on friendly terms with the Second Elder, relying on the Second Elder's status as a ninth-level warrior and being confident that the Second Elder was invincible.
With a single punch, faster than the warrior's giant axe, the fist struck the warrior's abdomen, sending his massive body flying backward instantly, leaving a deep, bloody hole in his abdomen.
The air was thick with the stench of blood. The warrior struggled to his feet, sweat beading on his face. All the defensive arrays and magical artifacts he carried were utterly ineffective against this man.
Those nearby realized what was happening and quickly used the scroll inscribed with healing magic.
The bleeding from the abdominal wound was slowly stopping, but that shouldn't be the effect of healing magic. The scroll was a seventh-tier scroll; how could its effect be so minimal?
The soldier stared intently at the young man who had pulled out a handkerchief and was slowly wiping the back of his hand. He said in a rough voice, "Who are you!" Even though he had just given himself away, when that punch landed on his stomach, his first reaction was actually relief.
That terrible punch didn't land on his heart.
"Guild Master! I'm here!" Another sharp shout rang out. It was a ninth-level Beast Tamer who had rushed over. Since Thorne's death, he had become the fourth elder of the Golden Merchant Guild.
Jin's eyes lit up when he saw the beast tamer rushing over, and he shouted, "Quick! Summon your contracted beast!"
The beast tamer was not one to underestimate his opponent. Upon hearing this, he immediately activated the contract and released his contracted magical beast—a magical beast with the legendary bloodline of the dragon race!
A giant python covered in black scales appeared. Its head was particularly unusual, with two small, pointed horns. Its scarlet vertical pupils opened. Before it could find the human its master wanted it to kill, it suddenly felt a terrifying pressure emanating from its bloodline.
Giant python: ?!
This, this overwhelming pressure!
The giant python hissed, and its enormous size shrank several times in an instant, becoming only the size of an ordinary snake. Then it stiffened and lay on the ground, not daring to move.
What happened?
The beast tamer was shocked and tried his best to activate the contract, even loudly instructing the contracted beast to kill the two uninvited guests, but the contracted beast did not move.
Jin's face turned ugly in an instant, and his heart sank. It must have been those two who did it. Could they have a magical beast of a higher level than an eighth-order magical beast?
Veris did not react to the commotion at the Chamber of Commerce. He finally managed to clean his hands a bit, but the smell of blood lingered. He thought he would have to wash them properly when he got back.
He sighed.
Then, looking up at the chaos over there, the dragon beside him suddenly spoke up: "Huh?"
Dragons have excellent hearing, so they naturally heard the excited whispers of those people at the beginning, saying that the magical beast had dragon blood.
The boy's face showed disgust: "With such diluted blood, you dare to call yourselves descendants of the dragon race?"
He carried the unconscious second prince in his arms. Veris, seeing this, was about to stop him, but it was too late.
This floor wasn't very tall. The dragon excitedly transformed back into its original form. The ceiling, already fragile from being scorched by its flames, was now as thin as a sheet of paper. The dragon's enormous body arched up the buildings on the ground. By the time the ground trembled, the people inside the buildings had already fled.
The tremors grew more pronounced, then the ground cracked, and the stone buildings collapsed one after another. No matter how magnificent they had been before, they were now in pieces, covered in dust, and shrouded in a huge black shadow.
The nearby residents looked up in astonishment, staring in the direction of the Golden Chamber of Commerce headquarters.
What is that?
"Roar—" The dragon's roar created a powerful sound wave, and the air itself seemed to distort because of it.
Veris silently teleported himself to a safe location, feeling somewhat desperate. Should he be thankful that even at this moment, the dragon still remembered to close its claws and protect the second prince?
The eighth-tier magical beast, the Thunder Dragon Python, has the word "dragon" in its name. It is recognized by the world as a descendant of the dragon race and is extremely rare. Beast tamers can become ninth-tier beast tamers because of this contracted magical beast with dragon blood, which is powerful and rare enough.
However, a descendant is ultimately just a descendant, and a magical beast at that. In the dragon's eyes, this snake is not even comparable to Allen, who is at least human! Moreover, he already has the characteristics of atavism.
What is this snake?
It deliberately showed these foolish humans what a true dragon is!
The roar lasted for a full ten minutes. Veris intervened and intercepted the sound waves, weakening the terrifying pressure within the roar. Otherwise, a single roar would have torn the eardrums of the residents of the Fourth City.
The waters in the fourth city were deeper than he had imagined, but there were still many innocent residents.
The dragon suddenly reverted to its original form, which Veris had anticipated, but the remaining members of the Golden Merchant Guild were not so lucky.
The buildings collapsed, and the enormous bodies of the beasts crushed them. No matter how many magical artifacts they had, they couldn't withstand such destruction!
Veris stood to one side, pondering whether there was anyone in the Grand Papacy suitable to handle the mess left by the Golden Merchant Guild.
It's his fault for not working with the dragon for so long, completely ignoring the dragon's style of doing things... But you can't blame the dragon. Back then, the place wasn't as prosperous as it is now. If you go back three hundred years, the dragon can transform and fly into the sky. It's nothing like now, where there are attics and houses everywhere, which is why it looks so destructive.
The dragon transformed back into human form, carrying the second prince, and stood smugly beneath a collapsed pavilion.
Seeing Veris appear silently not far away, the dragon's smug smile froze slightly as he suddenly remembered something. Right, this place should be... quite important, shouldn't it?
It shouldn't be destroyed casually.
The dragon's smile vanished, replaced by unease. He shrank back, gave Veris a fawning smile, and said, "They're all trapped underneath."
Veris: "..."
This really makes people think the Papacy is a murderer.
He silently put on a black cloak, then took out a mask—not the all-white one he wore on the day the secret realm opened, but a dark blue one.
Then they quickly put a black cloak on the dragon to cover its face.
Veris and Long said solemnly, "Remember, we are not from the High Holy See, but are avengers who harbor resentment against the Golden Merchant Guild."
Just now, amidst the billowing smoke and dust, Veris had cast a magic circle to blur the dragon's vision. When the others saw the dragon, they only knew it was a huge black shadow that let out a terrifying roar.
The dragon sensed that it had gotten into trouble and became very obedient.
As the tremors subsided, the Golden Chamber of Commerce staff who had run away cautiously approached again, only to see a figure in black robes appear above their collapsed headquarters.
"Jin, back then you killed my entire family to steal my father's magical artifact. For all these years, I've wanted to kill you day and night to avenge my family—"
The hoarse voice rang out, and the members of the Golden Merchant Guild were taken aback. Had they come to seek revenge on their guild leader?
Veris was incredibly adept at acting out the story. He slightly disguised his voice, and the very first line he uttered brought back the passion he had felt when he first performed a Griva novel last year, and he became even more engrossed in it.
Everyone around heard it; it was a story that made people angry just by hearing it.
Back then, President Jin was despicable and shameless. When he was traveling with a beast tamer, he cruelly murdered the beast tamer in order to steal the beast tamer's ninth-tier contract scroll. Fearing that the beast tamer's family would find out, he then turned around and killed the beast tamer's entire family.
Only the beast tamer's youngest son managed to escape.
As it turned out, the scroll that Chairman Kim received was incomplete; the scroll in his youngest son's hand was the real scroll.
Years later, the youngest son successfully contracted a legendary ninth-tier magical beast and came to seek revenge on Guild Master Jin.
The enormous black shadow they just saw was the legendary ninth-tier magical beast!
After the performance, Veris felt somewhat unsatisfied, but the lingering stench on his hands reminded him of something. He unleashed a curse, returned to his original spot, activated a teleportation array, and dragged the dumbfounded and dazed dragon away.
Turn around and tell Hilda to handle it. That guy has been dealing with the royal court for so long, he knows a lot about the ins and outs.
His Holiness the Pope has found someone to take over this mess.
Hilda, who was at the Papacy, suddenly shuddered as she was doing her accounts.
Ophelia, who was carrying a stack of official documents, asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you sick?"
Hilda shook her head, her brows furrowed slightly, and was about to say something when the outline of a light golden paper industry appeared before her.
Could this be another public announcement of punishment from the archbishop?
Hilda and Ophelia, who witnessed this scene, were both shocked.
But soon, the words appeared. Hilda read them quickly, but her expression didn't improve much; in fact, it got worse.
Ophelia approached, extremely nervous: "Has someone else been punished?"
“No.” Hilda took a deep breath and then said painfully, “His Holiness the Pope blew up the headquarters of the Golden Merchant Guild and probably killed a lot of those arrogant guys in the Golden Merchant Guild. Now he’s ordering me to deal with it, and I’m not allowed to use the name of the Church.”
Ophelia: "..."
Thank goodness it wasn't him.
After thinking for a moment, Ophelia comforted Hilda: "The royal family doesn't have as many affairs as before. Haven't you trained quite a few students who are good at this? While things are in chaos over there, have your students find an identity and sneak in."
With only a handful of people left in the royal family, what official duties could they possibly have? The elders who loved to argue with Hilda were all poisoned to death by the Queen.
His Holiness the Pope must have noticed that his workload had decreased, which is why he gave him such a big job.
The Golden Merchant Guild is a mess. No, if Dragon hadn't pulled that stunt, there would have been a better solution: the Second Prince would be imprisoned, the High Papacy would lend a hand, then the Church would gain some good publicity, and finally, it would be a matter of course for Golden to be arrested and executed.
Then, through Garcia, eliminate all the remaining unruly members of the Golden Merchant Guild.
Besides this, Veris had another purpose: he suspected that the Golden Merchant Guild was also in cahoots with Yannis. However, since the place had been partially destroyed, it was difficult to find the divine artifact for the time being, so he had to give up for the time being.
The Golden Merchant Guild is very wealthy. Their money won't turn to dust when the building collapses. The gold coins are piled up like mountains and are still safely stored in their warehouse.
Besides the Golden Chamber of Commerce, the fourth city's government system also needs a thorough investigation.
Veris went to the palace again.
Lortheran was unaware of the extent of the trouble this man and dragon had caused in the Fourth City. He was in the council chamber where the king usually received his ministers, formally meeting with important courtiers.
In the side hall, the Holy Son Sylvain sat in a chair, waiting for Veris to return.
Garcia wasn't there; he still had to arrange the king's burial, which would keep him busy for several more days.
When Veris's aura appeared, Sylvan raised his head and saw the magic circle light up, revealing three figures.
A man and a dragon, both dressed furtively in black cloaks, with a person carried on the dragon's shoulder.
Sylvain paused for a moment, then asked, "Where did you go?"
For a moment, he thought Veris had taken the dragon to steal something.
Veris pulled down his hood, and his mask disappeared. He pointed to the unconscious young man on the dragon's shoulder: "I went to the Fourth District. This man has been imprisoned for more than half a month, and not a single person has reported it to the capital."
Sylvain frowned upon hearing this, realizing the seriousness of the matter.
Seriously speaking, this fourth district is plotting a rebellion.
But...did Veris and the dragon go to steal this person back?
Given Veris's personality, and considering the dragon, there's no way he would act so furtively... Sylvain thought of something and his brow furrowed.
These two guys have probably gotten themselves into trouble.
The dragon obediently carried the human on its back and asked, "Where should we put this person?"
Veris also fell silent. Lortheran was busy, and Garcia was still pretending to comfort the royal survivors. Indeed, there was no one to take care of this unfortunate second prince.
"Have the servants bring the food over first."
The remaining palace servants in the side hall were clearly well-versed in the ways of survival in the royal palace. After being led into the side hall, they remained unmoved, not daring to raise their heads, and simply bowed to the adults in silence.
Sylvain pointed to the unconscious, emaciated second prince on the ground: "Take the second prince away and take good care of him, then go and inform Prince Garcia."
Second Prince? The palace servants were stunned, and then when they looked in that direction, their expressions changed.
That's definitely the Second Prince, but... but how come he's so thin? He's practically a skeleton; if he were lying on the ground, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to put him straight into a coffin!
The palace servants were pale, but they moved quickly and carefully helped the young man away.
Once only Veris and a few others remained in the side hall, he sat down, took a sip of tea, and recounted what had just happened.
As soon as he came out, he asked Sylvain for a cleansing spell. Although he was still a little uncomfortable, he felt much better.
Sylvain listened to his words and then looked at the guilty-looking dragon.
Although he said things like "regret" and "mess," Veris's expression didn't seem to reflect that at all; he was quite smug.
It's unclear whether his joy stemmed from staging that revenge scene, giving those guys from the Golden Merchant Guild a good beating, or both.
Veris seems to be dissatisfied with the Golden Merchant Guild.
I've never heard him mention it before; the most recent thing was probably the Golden Merchant Guild's involvement in hunting down Arnold's team.
Sylvain lowered his eyes slightly.
There was no point in lingering there any longer. Veris, with his beloved son, swaggered back to the Papacy in the papal retinue.
Countless people turned their heads along the way, trying to catch a glimpse of the Pope's entourage, but let alone a shadow, the curtains were so thick that nothing could be seen.
It makes you wonder if there's anyone inside at all.
Back at the Grand Papacy, Veris went to see Hilda again and mentioned the situation with the Golden Merchant Guild. Hilda rubbed her hands together and asked Veris for a favor: to have her men impersonate high-ranking members of the Golden Merchant Guild.
Veris readily agreed.
"Just an alchemical creation that temporarily alters one's appearance?" Veris raised an eyebrow.
Hilda nodded eagerly. "A product made by the Pope is bound to be of high quality and will certainly go unnoticed!"
Veris wanted to clear a space to look for something like this, but then he remembered that his things were in a terrible mess, so he gave up and smiled slightly at Hilda: "There will always be risks with this kind of thing. Bring me some paper, and I'll write down the spell. You take the spell to someone, and after you infuse it with magic, their face will naturally change."
“But…” Hilda was a little confused.
Veris raised his hand: "You can become anyone. The Grand Vatican has the photos of those people from the Golden Merchant Guild. Find them, face the faces in the photo stones, and cast the spell."
Hilda was taken aback for a moment, but quickly smiled. As expected of His Holiness the Pope, this is far more powerful than any alchemical product. He can change his appearance at will. Even the dean of the alchemy academy wouldn't dare to guarantee the research of such a thing.
He was eager to try his luck. The archbishops were all doing their jobs, some focused on studying magic or their own professions, others serving as symbols of goodwill with the royal family, and still others of other races. As for him, who was good at handling official business, especially dealing with people, he was slightly less capable, but compared to playing power games, it wasn't impossible for him to compete for the position of prime minister.
It's impossible for Hilda not to covet the huge prize that is the Golden Merchant Guild.
That place must have accumulated so much wealth and treasure.
Once his people take control of the Golden Merchant Guild, won't it become the private treasury of their Grand Vatican?
For nearly a decade, Hilda had been dealing with the royal family, and she thought she had become numb to it all. But unexpectedly, when she received this job, which could be described as a mess, her mind was suddenly bursting with unprecedented energy.
Veris watched him leave, then suddenly remembered something.
A glimmer of golden light appeared briefly on the back of Hilda's neck. He was so engrossed in imagining himself completely devouring the Golden Merchant Guild's huge cake that he didn't notice the changes in his body.
Golden light traced a small magic circle on his skin beneath his robes.
However, the incantations on the array are different from those in the magic book.
It simply used the shape of a magic circle.
The spells used in the magic arrays for the gods are written in the exclusive script of the gods. Yannis's remaining divine power was intricate and fragmented, but once it approached Hilda, this cotton-like divine power was instantly annihilated as if it had fallen into a sea of fire.
Furthermore, Veris can plant the array on the soul of any believer who has come into contact with Hilda.
It was Yannis who provided him with the idea.
In the fourth city, in the worst-case scenario, most of the residents were infected by Yannis's divine power.
Veris pressed his temple.
A figure emerged from the inner room. Sylvain stood silently behind him, reaching out to gently massage his temples.
Then he said in a low voice, "Do you need me to go there?"
Veris's face fell: "No, you're staying right here, and you're not going anywhere."
If Sylvain himself were present, Yannis's divine power would have nowhere to hide, but Veris felt it wasn't that time yet and that Sylvain needed to make the trip.
“There might be something wrong with Allen,” Sylvain said softly, his eyes lowered.
This wasn't the first time he'd brought it up. He'd mentioned it to Veris once when he returned from the palace that day, but Veris hadn't said anything then.
Veris felt that it was normal for Allen to be the first person to team up with Arnold, to be imbued with Yannis's divine power, and even to be provoked.
He was thinking of finding an opportunity to visit the Royal Capital Academy.
But now, hearing Sylvain's reminder, he frowned deeply, thought of the Fourth City, tapped the armrest of his chair with his fingertips, and said, "I'm worried that the students of the Royal Capital Academy will also be corrupted, but there aren't that many believers among the students, so my magic circle can't spread."
Yannis must have known this too. If that's the case, then these students who don't believe in the church will definitely be Yannis's first choice.
Veris looked up and asked Sylvain, "When is your graduation ceremony?"
“Next month,” Sylvain paused before answering.
His memories of this body were not as vivid as his memories of the original body.
Have you finished writing your graduation summary?
Veris suddenly remembered something.
Sylvain was among the most outstanding graduates of the Royal Academy, and each of those students had to submit a graduation summary, which was often tens of thousands of words long. When Veris heard about it, he felt deep sympathy for him.
Shouldn't this be written as a minimum of one month?
Sylvain's expression went blank for a moment upon hearing his words.
"...You didn't write it?" Veris became interested. Sylvan never bothered him with these academic matters, not to mention that the body of Sylvan now housed a demon god feared by other deities.
The infamous evil god pursed his lips and then said, "I wrote it."
"But it's not finished yet."
Then he regained his memory, and the graduation summary was forgotten as he went off to do other things.
Veris stood up, his face serious: "That won't do. As your teacher, I need to check your graduation report before you can graduate."
Sylvain looked at him.
Just as Veris was about to intimidate Sylvain, he suddenly realized something.
...Why is he getting excited?
His Holiness the Pope composed himself and turned to walk outside—this was Sylvain's study.
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Author's note: He's a repressed pervert (I'm sure of it).
See you tomorrow! [kiss]
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