On May 30th, at 9:30 p.m., it was the rush hour and the bright city of Monferra was filled with traffic.
The red-hatted captain of Mengfeila, the orc warlock Sanjirt, was rubbing his face.
This is his bad habit. When he is nervous, he will rub his nose until it is no longer a nose, and his eyes are no longer eyes. Maybe he learned it from the calico cat at home when he was a child. The crumbs rubbed out by his palms and face seem to be able to take away the anxiety in his heart.
He glanced at the gospels. The third gospel list had not been updated yet. He didn't know whether it would be updated today or tomorrow - because there was a 31st in May, so it was possible that the list would be updated on either day in the future.
If the list is to be updated later in the future, it may even be delayed until 23:59 on the 31st.
"Captain." The red-hatted elf behind him reminded him. Sanjirt raised his head and saw a red-hatted elf who was as tall as him walking in front.
"If you follow my instructions, you will get a share of the credit later. If you act on your own, you will have a coffin later."
The local boss of Mengfeila, Red Hat, was actually threatened like this, but the orc just rubbed his nose and nodded repeatedly: "Captain Sennheiser is the commander-in-chief of this operation. If Captain Sennheiser is worried, he can send someone to supervise our troops."
"Okay." Qinna was unceremoniously sending a Van Mu Red Hat over to ask Meng Fei to hand over the control of the Royal Balance Boots. Finding that his subordinates were looking at him, Sangjier nodded, signaling everyone to back off.
The Yuheng Boots are the standard equipment for the Red Hats to fly and move. In order to use this equipment, the Red Hats must train for at least a year. In addition, this thing is much more useful than the virtual wings, so almost every Red Hat is a swift-level air combat expert. Once the Yuheng Boots are forcibly closed, the Red Hat will lose 70% of its combat power at the least, or be smashed into a pulp on the spot and wait for rescue.
By gaining control of their boots, Qinna could turn them back into primitive creatures that could only walk on two legs at any time. But no one was unhappy about this, not even Sanjirt. After all, he was just performing his official duties, while the group of people in front of him came for revenge.
Sennheiser, Vastino, Mercury, Roland, Kesri... Even if they cannot compare with Beldette's meticulous and absolute control in Monfera, they are absolutely the ones who have the final say in their own city. They are the Gospel Family that spans the three realms of politics, business and military, and shares the world with the Isu royal family!
However, such a powerful family will be turned into a group of zombies by the necromancers in the future, so they have too many reasons to wipe them out. Sanjirt is just a tax alchemist who eats tax money, so there is no need to offend them.
Although Sanjirt was a two-winged magician, he was born into a proletarian family, or in other words, there were only three classes in the entire Memphira: negative assets, propertyless, and propertyless. His orc father and goblin mother did not leave him a single inheritance, and he went traveling when he was in his forties and could no longer work. Sanjirt wandered around until he was twenty, and then he successfully struggled from having nothing to being heavily in debt, becoming a glorious negative asset, and had to work like a cow and horse for Beldette for the next forty years.
That’s right, the proletariat is considered the middle class in Monferrato, enough to defeat 99% of the citizens. Generally speaking, only retirees in their 50s and 60s who have paid off all their debts are qualified to join this class.
As for who owns the property, there is no need to say more. If you tell it, it will violate the labor contract and you will be deducted for mental damages. Although Sanjilt lives in the house built by Beldate, eats food produced by Beldate, uses machines produced by Beldate, and even buys the magic spirits of the Beldate platform, this does not prevent him from cursing Beldate in his heart. He has to curse Beldate every day before going to work to keep himself alert.
Thinking of this, Sanjirt looked at Fan Mula with a red hat with a little more pity in his eyes: I dare to curse Mayor Beldate in my heart, can you curse your own clan leader in your heart?
There were also those other magicians who rushed here in a hurry. For the so-called future of the family, they had to rush to Meng Feila overnight. They were simply puppets controlled by the family.
Looking at them, the Memphis people felt a sense of superiority.
free!
If the keyword for Fanmulla is happiness, then the keyword for Mengfeila is freedom. They are not unaware of the consequences of borrowing, nor are they unaware that their thinking abilities will be shared, but based on research and observation, they all feel that compared to a life of first suffering and then sweetness, a life of first sweetness and then bitterness is much more enjoyable.
More importantly, all of this is their own choice, no one forced them. If you don't want to, you can go to another city and start over. Even as long as you can resist the temptation of early consumption, you can live a normal life in Mengfeila without working overtime.
Compared to these outsiders whose lives have been dictated by the gospel, family, and environment since birth, the Monferra people feel that they have real freedom.
Sanjirt had to join this operation only because he received the news of the wanted criminal, and it was completely out of professionalism. He was not interested in the ranking points, and he didn't care about the future of the gospel - he would have been dead in fifty years, and even if the gospel was invaded by the fish-killing dragon, it would have nothing to do with him. He might as well think about which restaurant to go to for lunch tomorrow.
But it was clear that the others didn't think so, and they even started arguing over the distribution of the spoils. Sanjirt rubbed his nose. As a two-winged magician, he had no say here at all. There were already five Sanctuary magicians present, including two red-capped captains, namely 'Crying Red Cap' Cleos and 'Soul-Splitting Red Cap' Qinna.
As for why a mere two-winged magician could become the Red Hat Captain of a first-tier city, it was naturally because Meng Feila had no high-level combat power at all, and...
Unlike all other cities, Monferra's real defense has nothing to do with red hats - either externally or internally.
Soon, the outsiders finally discussed the distribution strategy, which can be simply put as follows: everyone depends on their ability, but no killing is allowed.
It seemed that everyone else wanted to grab the living one except for Cleos's red hat.
When they looked over, Sangiart knew it was time for him to work. He rubbed his face and took a deep breath: "Please follow me to the No. 23 freight elevator."
The informant who sent the information not only provided the location information of Ash and others, but also mentioned the most important point: Beldette would protect the funeral agency according to the contract. Therefore, once the pursuers were exposed to Beldette's vision, whether Beldette was willing or not, he would definitely use various means to divert them, so if they wanted to capture Ash Harvey, they had to act secretly and vigorously.
If they wanted to sneak into Beldate Manor secretly, they could only take freight elevator No. 23 to reach the second-floor city, where only the surveillance equipment was temporarily damaged - the Gospel provided them with a top-secret operation map.
With their employee cards, dozens of elite magicians took the freight elevator to the warehouse on the overhead floor. According to the informant's information, both Ash and Harvey were working overtime to clean up the Hell Zone tonight, so their plan was simple: raid Beldette, take them away, and go home to **.
As for the authenticity of the information, they did not need to consider it at all: the Gospel would judge it for them, and they only needed to listen to the Gospel.
The journey was calm, as if the servants had all rested and the warehouse was empty. Sanjirt, who was walking in front, carefully avoided the boxes labeled "valuable items". The vague sense of disharmony in his heart became stronger and stronger.
When Sangilt received the tip-off yesterday, he wondered if the informer was Belldette's man. Although according to the tip-off, Belldette could not reveal the secrets of the funeral agency in any way, there must be some traps in this contract that can be avoided.
But there is a big question here: Why did Beldette do this?
Can't afford a funeral home?
Impossible. The food wasted in Mengfeila every day can feed 10,000 funeral homes.
The funeral home had offended Beldette, so they wanted to kill him with a borrowed knife?
Although it is possible, can't Beldette even crush a group of foreign magicians?
Did Belldette intend to sell out the funeral home from the very beginning?
Impossible. If betrayal was the first option, why would Belldette sign a shelter contract with the funeral home?
The most important thing is... Sanjirt glanced at the joint team behind him. Every magician was the elite among the elite, and there was even a sanctuary magician leading the team.
There are too many outsiders.
Belldette had so many ways to sell out the funeral agency, why did he choose the most dangerous one? Didn't they know that leaking the secret to the major families would attract everyone to gather in Monferra? Didn't they know that Harvey was the source of the disaster that everyone pointed at? Didn't they know that their family's angel heritage -
Ding Dong!
Everyone who had set up information alerts immediately opened the Gospel and received the latest news from the informant:
"Through inquiries from the Gospel, the members of the funeral office have learned that outsiders have invaded Beldette Manor and are preparing to flee."
After verifying that the information was correct, Qinna immediately said: "We are out of time, we must act immediately!"
Sanjirt nodded: "Then let's speed up--"
"Don't walk!" A magician from Kesri shook his head and flew up directly -
boom!
The ceiling was instantly pierced by various miracles. Dozens of magicians directly punched through the ceiling of the second floor of the warehouse, and then the first floor of the warehouse, until the night sky of Monfera could be seen! The ceiling here is a product of miracle reinforcement. When it is subjected to external forces, it will be dispersed to all areas. It is extremely difficult for ordinary miracles to punch a hole, but once it is broken, the entire floor will be shattered!
Countless goods fell to the second floor of the warehouse and shattered. Sanjirt and others stared blankly at the outsiders destroying Beldette's private property. Moreover, from the appearance, these goods were actually precious sealed magic spirits, which were extremely strong hard currency in the Gospel Kingdom and their value was immeasurable!
How dare they...
Don’t they know…
At this time, Sanjit rubbed his nose violently.
He finally understood that Beldette’s target was not the funeral agency at all, but——
…
…
"Two cities' red hats, three firms, eight major families, all present."
Igula closed the Gospel and said, "Congratulations, Efalim. From now on, you are the most powerful family head in the history of Beldate."
The blue-haired girl stood on the footstool, staring at the foreigners flying like flies in the air in the distance, and asked, "How do you know?"
"The money-dominated faction of your family has destroyed the potential of magicians too much." Igula said: "Although magicians vary greatly and come in all shapes and sizes, a strong magician must have strong beliefs. But in the extremely hedonistic Mengfera, beliefs do not have a foundation for development, because all beliefs require 'delayed gratification', and Mengfera emphasizes 'enjoy life in the moment'."
"Even Fanmula still has the belief of 'family' to support him, but what does Mengfeila have? People who don't need a future will have no future either."
"As for winning over high-level magicians... just like you can't even win over Harvey, there is no way other Sanctuary magicians can be controlled by Belldette. All Sanctuary magicians have their own ideals and pursuits, and they cannot be constrained by the drunkard Belldette."
"If you want to quickly increase your own power, the only way is to... forcibly dominate the strong people of other families!"
The trickster couldn't help but laugh. "It's a very simple scam. Even a child wouldn't use it in a blood moon."
"But it works, doesn't it?" Elin shrugged.
"I want to have them destroy a lot of Beldette's property so that Gospel will judge that they owe Beldette, thus triggering the miracle of domination... But with the dual support of the virtual world and Gospel, this is indeed an absurdly effective strategy." Igula said, "But I'm curious, why didn't Beldette use this method before?"
"Why did you use this method before?" Yilin asked back, "If I could continue to live a peaceful life in the future, I wouldn't use such an annoying method. Speaking of which, it's all your fault."
"You are afraid of the disaster in the future of Gospel... No." Igula shook his head: "Is it because of your family's angel heritage?"
"Both, but no matter what, in the future, Beldette will be a bug that Harvey can easily kill." Yifalin said, "The other families have gone crazy. In order to continue the family and the future, they will not let go of any life-saving straw... Since Harvey can become the Lord of the Blood Moon Corpse King, why can't they?"
"Beldette lacks high-level combat power, but has a legacy like the angel inheritance... From the day the "Family List" came out, I knew that my enemies were other forces."
"To protect myself, I have to chop their hands off before they can reach out."
Igula couldn't help but nod repeatedly: "When we appeared in front of you that day, you had already painted a picture of tonight's scene... It is precisely because of the two baits, Ash and Harvey, that they invaded Beldette without hesitation and broke into your back garden!"
"You even prepared a way out. You 'protected' us without us knowing it the whole time. Instead, they invaded Beldate Manor and destroyed your private property. Even if you take a step back, you were just acting in self-defense. Gospel thinks you are right. As long as other families do not intend to rebel against Gospel immediately, they will not be able to punish you - even the magicians who punish you are controlled by you."
"As for the matter of sheltering wanted criminals... Gospel has never acknowledged that Ash is a wanted criminal. This is just an internal matter of the empire. You just need to pay some money and it's over. But invading other people's homes and destroying private property are crimes recognized by Gospel."
“But I have a question – what if they pay off their debt?”
"They can't pay it back." Yifilin said, "All they lost were magic spirits. Unless they return the same magic spirits, they still owe Beldate, even if they return higher-level magic spirits... This is the biggest trap of Gospel in debt relations."
Igula couldn't help but applaud.
For magicians, it is not enough to just have a higher level or rarer magic spirit. For example, giving a two-wing magician a three-wing magic spirit is useless, and giving a fire magician a water magic spirit is just looking for trouble. It is for this reason that Gospel sets the debt relationship as "must be returned in its original form", but it has become Belldette's most terrifying trump card.
The Gospel of the Lord, the Control of Miracles, the Void Contract... According to him, Yilin's plan was simply a child's play, but because he could make perfect use of his own resources, he actually succeeded in controlling dozens of elite magicians!
Even Igula had to admire Efalene's courage - she was plotting against the Red Hats and the big families! Even if she had Beldette's support, if she made a mistake, it would be like offending half of the people for nothing. She was not like Annan who could just run away and could only follow Beldette and bear the anger of countless people!
And now, five Sanctuary magicians and dozens of elite magicians don't know that half of their brains have been split off. Even if Afrine doesn't control them directly, just mental suggestion can build a solid moat for Beldette!
"But the plan went so smoothly, all thanks to you." Yifalin looked back at Igula and said, "Annan and the others are the foundation of the puzzle, and you are the last piece."
"Such a top-notch fraud trick is rare even in the heyday of the industry, Blood Moon." Igula said: "I am very curious - where did you learn such a skill?"
"...This is not my plan." Yifalin said, "But you, did An Nan really never look for you?"
"Really not."
Efalina summoned the Gospel Book and checked it, then nodded slightly: "This is strange, she is not such a quiet person..."
"It's time for you to clean up the mess, right?" Igula said, "This scene still has to be ended by Berdette. By the way, do you plan to pretend nothing happened and hide your control over them, or expose it to shock the major families?"
"There's no need to think so much," Yilin said, "I just need to go down and scold them, and they will take Ash and the others away on their own. Then tomorrow they will publicly apologize to Beldette, make amends, and form an alliance."
"However, I do have to 'protect' Annan according to the contract. At least I have to fight off most people, otherwise the virtual world will judge me for inaction." Yifalin jumped onto the balcony: "Thank you, Igula. If it weren't for you, an expert, I really wouldn't be able to trick other families here."
"I didn't lie to them. I lied to them about the gospel." Igula said, "Trust cannot be entrusted to a cold miracle."
Yilin said nothing and jumped off the balcony.
The Trickster returned to his seat in Ephrem's place and called forth his own Gospel.
“Trust can only be given to those who deserve it.”