Leave a comment

In the Imperial Palace of the Holy Dragon Empire…

Third Divine Elder Grez sat at his desk, staring at a pile of recently summarized documents in front of him. He massaged his temples, feeling the onset of a headache and strained eyesight. He knew that tonight would be another sleepless night.

If he had known that his curiosity would lead him into this messy situation, he would have never ventured out to see what was happening. Now, he was regretting his action. The brief glance he had taken had turned into a long nightmare. The Law Enforcement Team, overwhelmed by the unimaginable terror they had witnessed, were brought to tears upon seeing Grez, as if they had been reunited with their long-lost loved ones from years past. It was impossible for Grez to remain indifferent and coldly walk away from the scene.

As the situation escalated, the old men of higher rank than him ran away faster than rabbits. It was utterly absurd when one of them even shamelessly used their son’s wedding as an excuse. Grez was so furious that he nearly slapped some sense into him and reminded the old man that his son was already two hundred years old. In the end, the Emperor intervened and assigned Grez to handle the incident.

While it was easy to roll up his sleeves and fight, Grez had no idea how to conduct an investigation.

Grez rubbed his temples, his eyes scanning the document in front of him. Suddenly, he froze.

“Bruce, the leader of the Law Enforcement Team, has also been poisoned? What happened?”
“I think he fell into the enemy’s trap during the investigation.”
“What?”

Grez was rather shocked by the news. Despite his limited knowledge of current affairs, he was aware that Bruce was highly regarded for his calmness, skills, intelligence and above all, his extensive experience. Throughout his career of over a decade, Bruce had never made a single error. If not for the lack of a suitable replacement, he would have been promoted long ago.

“Even someone like him fell for it too?” Grez stroked his beard with a serious look on his face as he realized the gravity of the situation.
“What about the culprit? Have they been caught?”
“Yes… but…”
“But what? Never mind, bring the culprit to me. I want to question them myself.”
“Right away.”

Within moments, the culprit responsible for the largest mass poisoning case in the history of Jeorgetown City was brought before Grez. The young girl had maliciously contaminated fruits, resulting in the poisoning of over ten thousand innocent victims.

“Let me go! You have no right to arrest me! I am from Luminous Theocracy! My uncle’s youngest uncle’s first cousin is His Holiness, the Pope! I also know the current Saintess! You are politically persecuting me! I demand to see the people from the Embassy of the Luminous Theocracy!”

Before Grez could even get a clear look of the culprit’s face, his head was already ringing from the young girl’s continuous outbursts.

“Is she truly from Luminous Theocracy and connected to the Pope, on top of that?”

The guards exchanged looks with each other, then nodded.

“W-What kind of situation is this?” Elder Grez let out a long sigh.

A relative of the Pope had come to the Holy Dragon Empire and caused big trouble. The worst part was that the issue was not significant enough to be escalated as a national concern.

He could not directly tell the Pope of Luminous Theocracy that his relative had compromised the security of the Holy Dragon Empire and hold him accountable for her action. The Pope would surely inquire about the specific details, and it was impossible for him to explain that his relative had caused a widespread outbreak of diarrhea in the city, resulting in an unpleasant odor that permeated the entire area.

If he did, the Pope would surely be offended and beat him up with the scepter that was bestowed upon him by his Goddess.

This matter needed to be handled discreetly behind closed doors. Most people in Jeorgetown City still believed that a brilliant participant in the tournament had successfully created a peculiar magic spell that could release a foul-smelling gas and was experimenting on his opponents in the Reception Building.

After all, a similar incident had happened in the past. A genius used synthetic magic to create chocolate-flavored feces, which he offered to his opponent before the match. This psychological tactic greatly affected his opponent, and despite being the only rank eight mage in the tournament, he managed to advance to the second round using this trick.

His opponent continued to suffer greatly after the tournament concluded. When people found him in a ditch outside the east city gate, they learned that everything tasted like feces to him. The only exception to this revolting taste was, unfortunately, eating actual feces.

No matter what, this matter needed to be resolved. The Great Celestial Rite was the most important festival of the Holy Dragon Empire, and there was absolutely no room for error!

Elder Grez raised his head, his wrinkled face filled with determination and solemnity.

“What’s your name?”
“Veyle Dorling.”
“And your age?”
“Twenty-one.”
“Are you from Luminous Theocracy?”
“Uh-huh, my uncle’s youngest uncle’s first cousin is His Holiness, the Pope! I also know…”

“I didn’t ask you that!” Elder Grez slammed his hand down on the long table angrily. Despite his advanced age, his eyes still possessed a fiery intensity that emitted an intimidating aura, making it impossible for anyone to lie to him.
“Tell me, who instructed you to do this?”
“It’s…” Veyle’s face showed fear, her eyes losing focus under the pressure of Elder Grez’s saint-level aura.
“It’s… the eighth prince, Prince Yeager.”

Elder Grez felt as if he had been struck by an uppercut to his chin, nearly spewing out a mouthful of blood.

“Nonsense! The eighth prince is still being held captive. How could he have instructed you?”

“Before he was being held captive.” Veyle shrugged. “Didn’t the eighth prince visit the cafeteria of the Reception Building once? That’s when he found me and gave me the instructions.”

Elder Grez laughed in anger. “And you actually went along with it? You, a royal relative of the Luminous Theocracy, listened to the words of a mere prince from the Holy Dragon Empire who holds no real power?”

Veyle pouted. “I didn’t want to help him at first. After all, it was a really wicked thing to do. I tried to reject him, but…”

“But what?”

“He offered me an unimaginable amount of money,” Veyle said, her eyes welling up with tears. “Despite my connection to His Holiness the Pope, he has always maintained a strict stance towards his relatives. Apart from being granted access to the Patriarchal Court for cultivation, we don’t have any other privileges. Even the allowance I received since I was young was strictly regulated. I have never seen so much money until now.”

Elder Grez felt his head spinning again. He slammed his hand on the table once again and glared at Veyle.

“Nonsense! His Holiness the Pope may be strict to you, the Emperor treats his own sons just as rigorously! The princes receive a fixed monthly allowance. The eighth prince spends his money on women, how could he possibly afford to give such large bribes as you claim? You need to come up with a better lie!”

“I’m telling the truth. If you refuse to believe me, then you can subject me to severe torture and see whether I confess or not. However, at that point, the truth will no longer hold any significance. Or you could simply peer into my soul. All the truth will be revealed!” Veyle boldly challenged.

Elder Grez was left speechless. This matter was both significant and trivial. It was significant enough to warrant a thorough investigation, yet trivial enough that he could not torture the suspect or peer into her soul directly.