Azure Scepter

Page 125

Trier destroyed any possibility of a peaceful resolution—her beloved fiancé was pursuing something far more significant than resolving the crisis.

Perhaps, the line from "The Succubus and the Bishop" that she inadvertently uttered when she first met Trier—"Her outward sincerity and pious behavior are merely the alluring sugar coating of your demonic nature"—accurately revealed Trier's true nature.

If he were to follow Trier's orders like a puppet, perhaps the blood plague crisis could be resolved, and he himself would be quite safe, but only Levitt would be reduced to ashes...

If she disobeyed Trier's orders and insisted on protecting Livitt, she would inevitably face countless enemies with unimaginable power.

Is it better to sacrifice Livitt to save yourself and the refugees, or to embark on a perilous path to protect Livitt?

“Anyone with basic rationality would choose to protect more people,” Trier said directly, as if he had seen through her thoughts. “Necessary sacrifices are the key to a better outcome.”

Edith took a deep breath and made her final decision.

She looked up at Trier, whose face was filled with anticipation.

"Should we manipulate and fool others for personal gain, using them as pawns in a game of chess?"

“No one is a pawn, no one is a fool, everyone is just taking what they need…” Trier argued.

“Your answer is yes,” Edith interrupted coldly. “In your view, Levitt is just a fuse to ignite a powder keg; she only needs to ignite herself in the right place and at the right time to detonate the conflict.”

“But my answer is no.” Edith paused, then emphasized heavily, “I will protect Livitt, even if it means my own destruction!”

Trier fell completely silent.

Edith is now too clever for her own good; the once naive and foolish princess has seen through everything.

He had hoped that Edith had permanently lowered his moral standards through his torture and manipulation, but it seems that this has not worked at all.

Any bottom line is broken little by little, but it seems that Edith is unwilling to even accept the initial moral decline.

Edith is no longer easily fooled or swayed by her own emotions. As a legendary paladin, it seems that no matter what she does, she can't get the other party to stay here—in short, Edith is now impervious to both soft and hard tactics.

This is a true paladin.

Trier let out a long sigh.

"Would you all like to have some honey cake together?" Fythia sensed the strange atmosphere and forced a smile. "Your Highness, our enemy is Oris. We should be pointing our weapons at the real enemy—isn't it foolish of you to argue with Trier?"

“The information about Levitt was leaked by Trier,” Edith said coldly.

Futia's pupils suddenly contracted, and she opened her mouth wide in disbelief.

"Really, Trier?" The kind elf's voice trembled as she looked at Trier. "Why would you do this?"

Trier looked into the other man's deep blue eyes, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "There's no need to betray him directly. Just spread the word, and the spies will naturally report back to them."

"Them?" Futia pressed.

“The devil, and Vercingetorie, and the other ambitious men,” Trier said helplessly.

“It’s not too late to fix it now,” Faudia said quite seriously. “I know you must have a brilliant plan, but this time, I’m afraid I won’t accept it. Sacrificing Livitt would be too much no matter what.”

“…” Trier fell silent.

Edith sighed, then left the room with Futia.

The room fell into a deathly silence.

After a long silence, Noi broke it.

"Master, why don't you take the initiative to protect Edith?"

“When the conflict erupts, there’s a high probability that Losevie will show up. Until then, I need to remain hidden.” Trier took a deep breath and then said, “Besides, I’ve already placed a magical eye on Edith.”

“Although Edith has become much smarter, she is still too naive. It’s quite normal to take advantage of others and profit from them,” Noy said softly. “There’s no need to blame yourself, Master, this is not your fault.”

Trier fell silent again.

At this moment, the transmigrator also felt the moral torment from Edith—as a paladin, should he really manipulate others and send them to their deaths for the sake of victory?

He pondered for a moment, then shook his head, and promptly dismissed the foolish and naive idea from his mind.

PS: A big chapter of 5000 words!

Chapter 247 Prelude: Conscience, Edict, Discovery

Oris first heard the dull thud of a blunt knife cutting through flesh, followed by the man's heart-wrenching screams, which immediately sent a shiver down his spine.

The dungeon was dimly lit, and the chill of the rain blew in through the narrow ventilation openings.

He glanced quickly at the man impaled on the torture device by rusty nails, his rotting, festering flesh dripping like a drizzle from the wedge-shaped wound, then falling onto the blood-stained floor.

Oris suppressed his discomfort and fear and looked at Judge Asmo, who was holding a blunt knife and a hammer.

"How much longer until he confesses?" He felt a clench in his stomach, but he forced himself to ask.

Asmo shook his head, then raised his hand and cast a "healing spell" on the prisoner.

“His testimony is contradictory.” Asmo reached up and pushed up his glasses. “He even denied having a romantic relationship with the maid who brought food to Livitt. It’s ridiculous. Give me another day, and he’ll talk.”

"I don't know any Livitt!" the tortured man screamed. "Lord Oris, please have mercy, you are a noble paladin!"

Oris felt a chill run down his spine. He didn't dare look directly into the other person's eye sockets, where the eyeballs had been removed, nor did he dare answer the other person's request.

“Perhaps he really doesn’t know anything?” Oris suggested tentatively. “Why don’t we just give him a quick death?”

“Then my lord will be quite disappointed,” Judge Asmo coldly interrupted. “You know the price of offending my lord—besides, even if he is truly unaware, we can still sacrifice him.”

Oris fell silent.

Without Saint Seir's favor, he was just a pathetic mercenary. If he angered Saint Seir, the consequences would be unimaginable—his current power, authority, wealth, and family would all vanish like sand in the wind. What terrified him even more was the bloody divine punishment that Saint Seir was bound to bring.

Although he was terrified of facing his conscience, which was as sharp as a knife, he was even more afraid of the unfathomable Saint-Sel.

"Lord Oris, I am truly innocent!" the prisoner cried out again.

Judge Asmo frowned, grabbed the man's chin, and pulled him down forcefully.

With a sickening crack, the victim's jaw was completely dislocated.

"Much quieter now," Judge Asmo muttered to himself. "Pathetic mortals..."

Oris closed his eyes, and the piercing screams of the tortured man pierced his temples like nails, then swirled and boiled in his brain, making him feel as if his brain was about to explode.

Finally, driven by fear and guilt, he tremblingly took out the holy emblem and silently recited the prayer of Saint Sel.

He must end this horrific atrocity.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

His heartbeat quickened, and amidst the distant ringing in his ears, Oris felt as if his soul was about to fly out of his body.

Finally, a familiar, solemn, and majestic voice rang in his ears.

"Have you found the vessel for that Bloodthorn Lady?" Saint-Ser asked in a deep voice.

“Not yet…” Oris knelt on the ground, “but I think torturing this soldier is pointless…”

Silence, suffocating silence.

After a few breaths, Saint-Sel's cold and gloomy voice rang out again: "Livitt has been hiding right under your nose all along, and the foolish and naive Edith has been protecting her, yet you have been completely unaware for so long! How pathetic!"

The next moment, the excruciating pain arrived as expected. Oris coughed up a mouthful of blood and fell heavily to the ground.

“Although you were fooled by Edith—you were right about the interrogation. Let that lost soul down.” After a long pause, Saint-Sel said leisurely.

Oris felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He struggled to his feet and then struck a dignified pose before Judge Asmo.

"Put him down," he said viciously.

Judge Asmo shrugged, then roughly pulled out the three long nails stuck in the victim's collarbone. Then, this Asmo from the heavens very tactfully dragged the victim out of the interrogation room.

"My loyal servant, do you remember the information that Trier once revealed?" Saint-Sel's voice rang in Oris's ears once more.

Oris jolted awake like a dog struck on the spine by the end of a chain. He frantically pondered the situation, and after a few breaths, he tentatively asked, "Is a stable situation to our advantage?"

Saint-Sel gave a cold laugh.

Oris immediately changed his tune: "Does Lady Bloodthorn also possess some divine authority?"

“Our window of opportunity is extremely short. If we can’t eliminate Losevie when she’s at her weakest, then we’ll have to consider targeting Lady Bloodthorn,” Saint-Sel said in a deep voice. “And if we want her to enter the Prime Material Plane, we’ll need to capture Livitt again.”

If you knew she was so important, why did you let her go in the first place? This thought crossed Oris's subconscious mind.

A piercing pain tore through Oris's will. The next instant, pale, cold holy flames seemed to burst forth from every pore of his body, only to disappear back into his body.

Oris screamed in agony as he was completely transformed into a ball of fire.

“The situation has changed now, and I didn’t know that the wanton succubus had a divine position,” Saint-Sel said coldly. “In any case, you must capture Livitt.”

"But I don't know where to begin..."

“Start with Edith,” Saint-Sel said. “The container was under Edith’s protection, so its escape must be related to Edith—you need to find out the container’s whereabouts by forcing him to reveal it.”

"She's changed a lot. I don't know if she'll give in unless we use force to subdue her..."

Edith now resembles a truly respectable and exemplary paladin, impervious to both soft and hard approaches, acting solely out of pure conviction—while I am like a pathetic mangy dog.

Oris thought rather gloomily.

“That won’t do.” Saint-Sel’s tone became lighter. “Without Edith, we are powerless against Losevie and her water sprite lover. Edith is the key to our great victory.”

"But..."

“No buts,” Saint-Sel interrupted. “You must complete this task. Of course, you will receive support—the King is a shrewd man who knows how to assess situations. He intends to hedge his bets between me and Lorraine, so he has already offered me a small gift.”

As Saint Seir spoke, the holy flames burning on Oris's body were suddenly peeled away like wriggling maggots, and then wriggled and transformed into a vortex-shaped portal.

"Clap."

A piece of paper bearing the royal seal floated out of the portal.

Oris gripped the paper with difficulty.

He glanced at it cautiously, then froze in surprise.

"By royal decree: From the date of this decree, Duke Edith of Tolani must carry out the divine oracle of the Holy Sword Oris, or else he shall be immediately stripped of his title of Duke of Tolani, his status as Crown Prince, and all honors and fiefs, and shall be immediately dismissed from his post as member of the investigation team—By the grace of Radiance, the guardian of the Kingdom of Orco and the Free City Alliance of Prann, the King of Eternally Pure Humanity, the Lord of the most honorable Holy Flame Order of Knights, and the Lightbringer of the Holy Radiance Church, Calvin III."

Oris had always been afraid of King Calvin, because in his eyes, the king was not a normal person at all.

King Calvin was ruthless, ambitious, and cold-blooded. He was a textbook political animal—willing to sell the souls of his relatives to the devil for the right price. Edith was the sacrifice he offered to his ancestor, Rosevie.

"Will this really work?" Oris asked softly. "What if she doesn't care at all?"

Saint-Sel said in a deep voice, “You don’t need to worry about Edith getting out of our control at all—human nature is hard to change—an innocent lamb can never become a cunning schemer, just as a ruthless villain can never become a compassionate person, and a submissive coward can never become a courageous person who dares to persevere.”

Oris knew that Saint Seir was giving him a warning, but he dared not argue. He could only nod and agree, and then carefully put away the king's secret decree.

“Wait, there’s one more thing,” Saint Seir said again. “If we’re going to deal with the Bloodthorn Lady who has descended, I’ll have to send more available manpower to the Prime Material Plane—sacrifice that tortured soldier and that paladin named Alex who was captured a few weeks ago. They’re both good sacrifices.”

Oris nodded in agreement.

Several hours later, somewhere in the Abyss, on the Prime Material Plane.

"You've captured Livitt?" Lady Bloodthorn picked up the magic mirror, her eyes narrowing with a smile. "That's truly good news."

The magic mirror rippled, and Saint Ser's solemn voice came through: "Losevier's power is rapidly recovering. We must act quickly. I will hold the summoning ritual as soon as possible."

Lady Bloodthorn picked up her wine glass, took a small sip, and the crimson wine dripped from her full red lips. Her pink tongue gently licked her lips.

“Then I’ll wait for your good news.” Lady Bloodthorn’s lips curled up slightly as she raised her glass. “By the way, if we can’t find Livitt, a massive blood sacrifice of ten thousand people can temporarily break the Azure Laws and allow me to enter the Prime Material Plane.”

After leaving behind this seemingly casual remark, she immediately shut down the Magic Mirror's communication channel.

The moment the Magic Mirror was closed, the Demon Lord's face visibly darkened.

"What's wrong?" The massive and burly fire demon Rosat released his hands from rubbing the Bloodthorn Lady's chest and asked humbly and gently.

"That idiot Sael thinks I'm an idiot too," Lady Bloodthorn scoffed. "Rosat, why did you stop?"

"Of course, I'm here to help you out." The Flame Demon stood up from the huge curtained bed and casually swept away a large pile of desiccated corpses of different genders. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

Suddenly, Ms. Bloodthorn smiled broadly and chuckled.

“Rosat, you’re not good with your brain.” She said, as she lightly brushed the flames on the Balrog’s head with her sharp nails.

“Even a fool has moments of brilliance.” The Balrog wrapped his arms around the lord’s slender waist and buried his head in it. “Let’s satisfy the fool’s curiosity.”

“My foolish ally, Sel, wants to betray me; he actually wants to kill me.” Lady Bloodthorn coldly pushed the Balrog away. “This idiot really can’t tell the difference.”

"That human god wanted to kill you?" the Balrog repeated incredulously. "But I didn't hear anything like that in your conversation just now."

“He doesn’t have Livitt at all; He’s trying to fish.” Lady Bloodthorn glanced at the Balrog with disdain. “I can’t think of any other explanation for His doing this except that He wants to kill me.”

"So what do you plan to do?" The Flame Demon asked deliberately as he exerted his strength.

As expected, Ms. Bloodthorn squinted her eyes, clearly enjoying the sight.