Inside Ryan's imperial palace, Ange Watson arrived alone once more at this deserted place.
Whether it was just his imagination or not, he always felt that each time he came here, the palace of Ryan grew colder than before.
A place that clearly ought to be enveloped by the Holy Light, yet he could feel none of the dawn's warmth.
"It's probably because too many royals have died."
Ange Watson consoled himself with the thought. Even though all the corpses had been dealt with, rumors about the palace being defiled were still rampant. Too many people had perished—so many that even the Holy Light couldn't cleanse all the lingering malice all at once.
Even so, Ange Watson considered this a good thing.
For years, Ryan's emperors had all been puppet-like breeding machines. Only the current sovereign truly counted as a real emperor, and the Ryan he ruled was slowly recovering from the brink of fracture.
Ange Watson was also full of confidence that if His Majesty were given just a little more time, Ryan would return to its most glorious days.
Stepping into the vast, empty hall, the young emperor sat alone upon his throne as usual, looking rather solitary. Seeing Ange Watson approach, the emperor set down the thick tome in his hands.
Ange Watson couldn't help glancing over, and caught sight of the title on the cover: *Introduction to Divination Wizards*.
Why had His Majesty started reading magic books of that sort?
The young emperor made no attempt to hide it. Casually putting the book aside, he said warmly, "Ange, you're back at last. How are things on the island?"
Ange Watson hurried to give his report.
"Your Majesty, construction has already begun on all manner of facilities across the island, and they will likely be finished in under a month. That lich specifically scheduled the conference for two months from now—I suspect he's plotting something.
"I detected traces of a massive magic formation on the island, but couldn't determine its exact type. When I questioned the lich, he replied that it was meant for defensive security over the venue to prevent conflicts from breaking out, but I'm certain it's nowhere near as simple as he claims."
The young emperor gave a low chuckle.
"How could that lich ever be simple? Such tricks don't surprise me in the slightest. What concerns me more is something else. Ange, I heard the lich recently held an auction on that island. What exactly went on there?"
Hearing the emperor ask about this, Ange Watson grew even more agitated.
"Your Majesty, that auction was truly outrageous. Hundreds of millions of gold coins flowed into his pockets! I never dreamed he had genuinely captured all the dragons overseas. Those high-tier magic items have become hot commodities. The lich did this on purpose—he wanted to pile pressure on us."
Ange Watson was an experienced man of the world. If those high-tier magic items fell into the hands of the orcs, it would significantly enhance the combat prowess of their legendary powerhouses. In particular, that greataxe crafted specially for orcs, "Bloody Wedding"—if it fell into the hands of the Orc King, Ange Watson truly worried whether he could hold the city.
Back then, the Silvermoon Knight had been able to decide the outcome of an entire war single-handedly. While the Orc King fell short of the Silvermoon Knight, with that axe he would be able to unleash destructive power approaching that of the Silvermoon Knight.
The young emperor didn't dwell on that, merely smiling as he asked, "Tell me honestly, how much did you spend? If I recall correctly, I approved a budget of fifty million gold coins for you before you departed."
Ange Watson lowered his head in embarrassment and said in a small voice, "Your Majesty... those fifty million gold coins..."
"Spent it all?"
Ange Watson nodded, but seemed to have something harder to confess.
The young emperor asked in surprise, "Even that wasn't enough?"
Ange Watson dropped straight to his knees and said with profound remorse, "Please rest assured, Your Majesty. In the name of the Watson family, I signed a loan of forty million gold coins with the lich without touching Ryan's treasury. It was all to prevent the orcs from snatching up those magic items—"
The young emperor's hands gave a slight tremble. To the entire Ryan Empire, this sum wasn't overwhelming. But over recent years, Ryan had fought wars on every front and suffered many needless losses, impacting the economy. It hadn't reached the point of starving the populace, but bleeding nearly a hundred million in just a few days was genuinely agonizing.
Borrowing money in the Watson family's name was pure nonsense; James Watson couldn't fetch that much even if he sold himself! In the end, the Ryan Empire would still have to foot the bill, or else that lich would dare to swallow the entire deposit and turn around to deliver the gear to the orcs anyway.
The young emperor rubbed between his brows. If it were a problem that could be resolved with mere money, that was manageable. What he feared most was that there were other surprises.
And the moment that thought surfaced, Ange Watson spoke up: "Your Majesty, there was one more minor episode concerning Ryan."
The young emperor's fingers were trembling. *Was that not enough already?*
"Ange, whatever it is, just spit it all out at once."
Ange Watson hesitated a moment before saying, "It's like this. There was a damned dwarf vampire on the island hosting a book signing for his latest work. The contents were... utterly unspeakable."
"A book signing?"
The young emperor was slightly baffled. A vampire selling books was bizarre enough, but what did that have to do with Ryan?
Wait, a *dwarf vampire*? Why did that sound so absurd?
"Your Majesty, what that damned vampire was selling... was a taboo novel indulging in lewd fantasies about the Ryan imperial family. And he was peddling it brazenly right in front of everyone! I had no choice but to spend money to buy up every single copy."
The young emperor closed his eyes in despair. What an infuriatingly wasteful expense! What did the messy debauchery of the old Ryan royal family have to do with him? Of course, he couldn't say that aloud, and Ange Watson truly couldn't just stand by and ignore it either.
"Never mind, pay no heed to such slander." The young emperor switched topics: "Did every kingdom bleed heavily at the auction, or were we the only ones who spent a fortune?"
Ange Watson breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the emperor wasn't going to fault him for spending money recklessly.
"Your Majesty, it wasn't just us. Even the druids of the Emerald Dream Forest suffered huge losses, and they were forced into it."
The young emperor was taken aback. Hadn't the lich invited the other kingdoms to back him up? Why was he fleecing his own guests?
"How did that happen? What did the lich do?"
Ange Watson explained, "The lich brought back a great number of exotic species from overseas—things like deep-sea piranhas, evil vultures, and venomous plants. He claimed he intended to introduce them to the continent, preparing to sell them to the Dwarf Kingdom's Alchemy Association for research. The people from the Alchemy Association declared right then and there that they would domesticate and breed these species, which sent the druids into a frenzy.
"The Emerald Dream Forest could never permit such ecological devastation, so they had no choice but to pay a staggering price to purchase all those invasive species and set them free."
The young emperor could already picture the expressions on the Archdruids' faces. The lich had merely captured some flora and fauna from overseas at random, and the Alchemy Association on the dwarf side was undoubtedly putting on an act in coordination with him. Just like that, items acquired at virtually zero cost extorted a massive sum from the druids...
The young emperor couldn't help exclaiming, "He's a money-making genius! I almost want to pry open his skull and study his soul!"
After receiving the tip from that mysterious person, the young emperor also believed that he had no fundamental conflict with the lich. Wasn't the fellow simply trying to make money? With Ryan's backing, he would only make even more.
It was time to have a proper talk with this lich. Perhaps inviting him to Ryan for a discussion beforehand would be an excellent choice; Ryan could easily offer a price that would tempt him.
While pondering how many days in advance he should meet with the lich, Ange Watson gave another report: "Your Majesty, please look at this. The magic mirror belonging to us has been successfully developed."
Ange Watson presented two palm-sized metal mirrors.
The young emperor quickly reached out to take one. He swiftly found the familiar control buttons, and upon activation, the two magic mirrors began transmitting images.
Both sound and picture were synchronized, without the slightest lag or blurriness.
The young emperor said excitedly, "It's virtually identical!"
Ange Watson was equally excited. "Indeed, there is no functional difference whatsoever."
Caressing the two mirrors, the young emperor asked, "Have the security and confidentiality been tested?"
"According to our tests, neither the lich's magic mirrors nor those made by the Alchemy Association can connect with these. Furthermore, they are immune to remote override. In theory, they cannot be detected, nor can they be remotely controlled."
This was the new type of magic mirror that Ryan's master craftsmen had spent immense time and energy developing. Not hesitating to pay heavy compensation, they had dismantled three magic mirrors to fathom the inner principles, and had even dispatched spies in secret to the Alchemy Association to steal the mirror-crafting techniques.
The war had driven Ryan to tap into tremendous reserves of strength. These alchemists, who had once been overlooked, finally achieved a breakthrough under the blessing of the Holy Light, mastering the method of manufacturing magic mirrors entirely.
It was something so ingenious, yet so simple.
From now on, Ryan would never have to worry about the lich cutting off access to all magic mirrors. This was a magic mirror that belonged entirely to Ryan.
"Your Majesty, I have left some delegation members on the island under the pretext of security supervision. We can contact them using this at any time."
"Well done. Let me try it out."
The young emperor opened the remote communication link. Soon, a Ryanite appeared on the surface of the mirror. Just as the man was about to kneel in salute, the young emperor said, "Don't move around carelessly, and make no noise. Take the mirror and walk a circuit around the island. I want to see the traces of the magic formation there."
Anyone entrusted with heavy responsibilities by Ange Watson was no ordinary person, and he grasped the emperor's intention immediately.
A translucent cloth was draped over the mirror's face, making the image slightly hazy, but with a close look, everything was still discernible.
As the perspective shifted, the young emperor saw everything along the way.
Construction sites bustling with noise and activity in every direction, magnificent exhibition platforms, and magical patterns etched throughout the island.
The young emperor watched for a while, his brow furrowing involuntarily.
Why were the lines of this magic formation so strange? They didn't resemble modern spell structures at all, looking more like some ancient spellcraft from a bygone era.
Generally speaking, spell structures underwent continual optimization. For the same magical effect, modern spells were inevitably more mana-efficient and potent. Only those "forbidden arts" banned from research for various reasons remained unchanged, frozen in time because no one worked to refine them.
What was this magic formation? The young emperor had a vague feeling he had seen it somewhere before.
Perhaps searching through the Ryan imperial archives would turn something up?
Chapter 503