203 Dekan Starts a Grand Plan
In the mansion located at the center of the capital city of the Randir Kingdom.
After Dekan finished sending the black card bank account information he bought from the black market that afternoon to the Illusory Bishop, he began to wait.
Based on all his previous conversations with the Illusory Bishop, Dekan had already sorted out the current situation.
At first, he also thought that the Rebirth Church this time had a greater possibility of gathering multiple bishops to launch a strong attack on Randir.
But in the end, according to the Rebirth Church’s plan, they hadn’t actually expected to gather so many cardinal bishops in Randir Kingdom, thus alarming the Kingdom Union.
Compared to playing their cards in the open, this group seems to rather play tricks under the table.
And playing tricks behind the scenes is more manageable.
Dekan always loved to make things uncomfortable for his enemies.
Additionally, Dekan heard a keyword during the conversation—Fahim.
Fahim is the name of the corrupt bishop.
This guy’s reputation is just as bad as Evans’. He’s obsessed with human experimentation, and most of his accomplishments are taboo spells related to Body Destruction.
He’s also frequently chased by the Sun God Church, and he’s killed no small number of the Sun God Church’s clerics and paladins in return.
It’s easy to see why Judith immediately assumed that Dekan was a follower of the corrupt bishop’s faction, and acted so irrationally.
“If Fahim shows up, it may not be easy to deal with.”
Dekan muttered to himself.
Fahim’s profession belongs to the mage category, his system is similar to Dekan’s “Purification of Blood,” but the limitations differ.
The scale of destruction between the two also varies.
But Dekan has never considered directly confronting any bishop.
There isn’t a single bishop that Dekan has a chance to defeat in a direct confrontation.
He must outwit them.
For Dekan, villains are always easy to deal with.
Their desires are particularly obvious, just as easy to read as demons.
As long as someone has desires, Dekan will always find a way to guide them to destruction.
After waiting a little longer, finally, the Illusory Bishop sent over a message:
[5000 gold coins have been transferred.]
“Nice!”
The most delightful thing tonight was undoubtedly successfully scamming 5000 gold coins from the Illusory Bishop using a black card bought from the black market!
Dekan felt that whenever he had the chance, he should definitely send the Illusory Bishop a banner of appreciation.
Dekan felt like he could take advantage of the situation a bit more, so he typed on the Bishop’s Certificate:
“Can you transfer 5000 more gold coins? If not, I won’t listen to you and won’t return the 5000 already given.”
After typing, Dekan thought for a moment and was somewhat worried that if he sent this message, the Illusory Bishop might directly change the action plan to kill Krey first.
That would prevent him from continuing to use Krey’s account to gather intelligence from the Illusory Bishop.
Thus, Dekan deleted the message he had already typed but not sent yet.
He then sent: [Alright!]
And waited for the Illusory Bishop’s reply.
Dekan couldn’t determine yet whether Krey’s personality would become more reckless or more polite after borrowing the money, so it was better to talk as little as possible.
The Illusory Bishop quickly sent the action instructions –
[Fahim is expected to reach the capital tomorrow. First, find a secure base where Fahim can prepare peacefully. I will have him contact you. You two will meet up first, and you must completely obey his command. Is that okay?]
Dekan felt that the words of the Illusory Bishop seemed eerily calm.
[No problem.]
Dekan replied to the Illusory Bishop, adhering to the principle that the more you talk, the more likely you are to make a mistake.
After this, there was no new message.
Dekan turned off the lights and put away the Bishop’s Certificate.
Under the moonlight, only the blue pupils in the shadowy figure’s dark silhouette and the white teeth when he smiled stood out clearly in the dim room.
“Ah, almost forgot the daily mission.”
Thus, Dekan took out the “Dekan’s Gospel” and harshly cursed Laxus VI, then lay down and fell asleep comfortably.
…
The next day.
The whole capital was filled with a sense of desolation.
Most shops had already closed their doors, and only a few large stores, under the protection of the security forces, continued to operate.
There were hardly any civilians on the street except for patrol teams.
The city has already announced a state of war preparedness.
In the coming three days, the capital could face attacks from the Rebirth Church’s bishops at any moment.
Although most of the commoners had never seen members of the Rebirth Church, they well understood their terrifying nature.
These bishops of the Rebirth Church were more like nightmare figures.
This unprecedented gathering of four of them undoubtedly shocked all the kingdoms.
Inside a large mechanical building in the capital, the high-ranking officials of the Randir Kingdom were holding a meeting.
They were sharing the available information, the Kingdom Union’s battle preparedness plan, and predicting the movements of the Rebirth Church.
Besides the native forces of the capital, there were also messengers from the Kingdom Union and the teams that were originally here to participate in the seventh-rank team evaluations.
“Alright, if any of you have any intelligence, please let us know immediately and we will assist as much as we can.”
Gavin, the Knight Commander presiding over the meeting, glanced over all the attendees.
The languages of the central kingdoms were very similar, with only some differences in words and pronunciation, so even without spending extra time learning the Randir Kingdom language, Dekan and the others could communicate relatively easily in Randir.
Additionally, a Translation Magic Device was activated in the meeting room.
Even if there were teams from the southern and northern kingdoms, they could easily understand the language of the central kingdoms.
Even the team that reluctantly agreed yesterday attended the meeting.
Their intention was obvious – they wanted to gather as much intelligence as possible for their own safety.
On the contrary, Dekan and Chloix from the Beautiful Soul Squad were not present.
“Please help share today’s information with Dekan and the others.”
Gavin said, looking in the direction where the other members of the Beautiful Soul Squad sat.
“Of course, no problem.”
Mia nodded and replied.
The meeting just ended, and everyone began to stand up and leave.
“Hmph, those two fearful cowards have probably fled in fear by now?”
A contemptuous voice arose in the meeting room.
It was deliberately spoken loudly to make sure everyone could hear.
A blonde young man clad in silver-white armor sat on the table with his legs stretched out, his arms crossed, and shook his head with a sneer.
All those present knew that he was the leader of the team from the Northern Kingdoms that came to the trial.
Moreover, he was the famous seventh-rank strongman Arik of the Northern Kingdoms.
Arik was characterized by his arrogance, looking down upon anyone weaker than him and couldn’t tolerate anyone braving more than himself.
“…”
Mia and Cornelia were both silent, casting a sympathetic look at Arik.
This morning, Dekan had outlined the situation they encountered yesterday and also introduced the hotheaded Frenzied Bishop Krey.
Mia and Cornelia felt that Arik’s aura was somewhat similar to Krey’s.
But Krey was truly one of the top figures in the world, with the right to be boastful.
And he didn’t look down on the weak; he liked challenging stronger opponents.
However, Arik was just a king in the seventh rank and had not reached the threshold of the eighth rank.
Without even mentioning what Arik may cause by provoking Dekan, if he accidentally offended Krey and started bragging.
Mia and Cornelia could hardly imagine Arik’s outcome.
“Haha, why don’t you guys say anything? Is it your admission?”
Arik smiled with a disdainful expression.
“Please do not make subjective assumptions or defame other teams.”
Gavin frowned and interrupted Arik’s words.
From their short interaction yesterday, he felt that Dekan was not the kind of person Arik was depicting.
“Knight Commander, are you scared of Dekan? A mere fourth-rank individual making you cautious? No wonder the Rebirth Church dare to bully the Randir Kingdom.”
Arik shook his head with a smirk, becoming increasingly brazen.
This made Gavin the Knight Commander increasingly darkened his face.
“Arik, that’s enough. There’s no need to be sarcastic now. Regardless of the situations, Dekan and Chloix are probably the only two in the capital who have experience defeating Rebirth Church Bishops right now. And what achievements do you have anyway?”
A woman in a robe from the Southern Kingdoms’ team coldly said.
This sentence seemed to leave Arik speechless, and veins were throbbing on his forehead.
Just as he was about to get angry, he realized that all those in the meeting room were looking at him with unfriendly gazes.
“Then let’s wait and see what kind of waves this kind of coward can create when it’s crucial time.”
Arik let out a cold snort and quickly led his team out of the meeting room.
Afterward, Mia and the robed woman named Elee nodded amiably toward each other.
Cornelia looked at Elee who spoke up for them and felt her face was somewhat familiar.
Soon, Cornelia remembered that this robed woman bore some resemblance to her friend Lilith, whom she met in the snowy mountains of the Shadow World.
“Are you Cornelia?”
Elee approached Cornelia and asked with warmth.
“Yes, are you Lilith’s older sister?”
“She’s a relative. I’ve heard about the story of you and Dekan helping her, although you two were using aliases back then.”
The robed woman smiled and said.
“Oh oh, sorry…”
Cornelia remembered the impromptu performance Dekan gave back then. One of them claimed to be Bachelor, the other Olive.
But after they became famous, Lilith must have quickly figured out their real names.
“No problem. We hope to have both of you as guests after this calamity passes.”
“Sure.”
“By the way… What is Dekan doing?”
Elee had heard about Dekan’s mischievous style.
At critical moments, he either was causing trouble or was on his way to causing trouble.
“Ah! We have to hurry to get started. Talk later! Celebration banquet tonight!”
Mia and Cornelia checked the time and quickly ran out of the meeting room together, leaving Elee stunned in place.
“Tonight… celebration banquet?”
…
On the other side, on the outskirts of the city.
The faint footsteps echoed among the ancient stonework waterways built by old people.
The flowing sewage gave off a pungent odor, while in the pitch-dark underground passages, only an indistinct light flickered.
A middle-aged man dressed in a deep green suit with his silver hair and beard neatly arranged, walked steadily toward his destination, carrying a lantern.
His appearance seemed entirely harmless, even raising doubts if he had never fought before.
Like an elegant scholar.
However, sneaking into the underground bypassing the city gates’ defenses and casually killing the guards posted there indicate that he wasn’t a common person.
The guards’ bodies even seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Evidently, this unpleasant smell in the underground didn’t bother him at all.
Maybe he was accustomed to smells hundreds of times worse.
“Fahim, you’ve made me wait.”
An impatient voice suddenly appeared next to the middle-aged man.
He moved the lantern toward the sound, and spotted a lone silhouette leaning against the wall.
His black messy hair draped loosely and the slightly tilted chin gave him an extremely arrogant expression.
“Krey, you have nothing but troubles and don’t even have the courage to admit it, and still have the audacity to speak?”
Fahim shook his head mockingly the moment he saw “Krey,” his demeanor changed instantly.
His voice became somewhat shrill.
As if he was no longer masking his true identity.
“Ha, if it weren’t for the money I received from Carlos, I would’ve taken this good opportunity to kill you.”
“Krey” didn’t conceal the killing intent on his body, looking ready to attack Fahim any second.
“I don’t mind killing you this rude guy here first.”
Fahim said coldly.
However, both knew the situation now.
They cannot start an internal conflict, and even with their issues, they need to suppress them for the moment.
“In accordance with your agreement with Carlos, you should follow my command now, shouldn’t you?”
Fahim seemed to recall something and questioned.
“No. The agreement between me and Carlos was that if he didn’t give me 5000 gold coins, I wouldn’t follow his command. But our agreement didn’t say I have to follow your command.”
“Krey” replied rationally.
“Are you not afraid of death?”
Fahim was momentarily stunned by “Krey’s” flawless logic.
He even felt like Krey had nothing to lose anymore.
“Hmm, punishments are unavoidable anyway. If you want me to follow your command, never. But the temporary base Carlos asked me to find, I’ve found it. Follow me.”
“Krey” spoke, turned around and started walking ahead.
“I’ll report your every action to Carlos, enjoy it while it lasts.”
Fahim wasn’t powerless against Krey, simply reporting was enough.
Thus, Fahim followed “Krey,” the two walking one after the other in the underground passage.
Dekan disguised as Krey walked ahead, his left eye half-closed, a smirk played on his lips.
Fahim, you’ve boarded the wrong train.
