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Eyes locked to the departing figure of Wyrm, Cleoz’s smile swiftly vanished as the pilot in question left earshot.

He pulled out a communication crystal from his dimensional ring, sending forth a missive without delay. A while later, a reply came to which he discreetly opened and replied to.

This exchange of messages continued for a good few minutes, finally ending when the other party sent her last message.

Stowing the crystal back into his ring, Cleoz gazed into the distance of Mo Ke’s departure and muttered to himself, “You’re playing with fire here… my dear royal brother-in-law…”

On the other end of the crystal, in a resplendently resplendent villa of respendlence, Andassis the Seventh was in a meeting with his personal maidservant, Missiger.

“Three overlords…” Andassis the Seventh stated slowly, back against his chair, eyes glinting in the light. “Overlord Ironshield, Azerek. Puppeteer Master, Bodion. Thunder Emperor, Razor… The three of them together can easily wipe out a duchy by themselves…”

It was then that Missiger’s communication crystal lit up. She immediately activated it, and after a quick check, her perpetually icy face actually broke into a faint smile. “Your Majesty, Sword Saint Kuranshid and Hierophant Bodo Kazan have sent a congratulatory message. Seems like they found out about the battle at the fort as well.”

“Hmph, those fence-sitters, I’m not surprised they have eyes in the Impregnable Wall as well.” As he said that, his lips curled into a dismissive snarl.”They really thought that they were the kings of this world just because they had some measure of might?”

“With Lady Mo Na guarding that region, I have no doubt those two will have to re-evaluate their own worth,” seeing her employer so happy, Missiger couldn’t help but join in as well. “But Your Majesty, what about Lady Mo Na’s reward?”

“A reward…” Andassis the Seventh fell into deep thought. While he might have said nothing, he seemed to have had something in mind already.

“Your Majesty, it would be wise not to treat Lady Mo Na as the same Lady Mo Na of old. With her accomplishments, a suitable reward is required to placate the masses.” Missiger carefully uttered, unaware of the King’s own machinations.

“I understand…” He exchanged a look with his favorite maidservant, eyes a mixture of emotions.

A long while later, the King declared in a slow voice, “Lady Mo Na will be awarded the position of a Duke. Her title will be the Crimson Dragon Lady. Her fiefdom will be the province of Kesek in the north.

“Kesek?!”

Kesek was the borderland between Andassis and Ertalon. Dispatching her there was basically using her as a deterrent against Ertalon.

In fact, Kesek was the first province to surrender at the start of the war, and might even still be under the control of the Ertalonese kingdom. Sending Mo Na there was the same as an invasion northward.

After all, if this was Mo Ke’s fiefdom, he would be obligated to repel the invaders on his own lands.

“Since her base has already been established, let’s have her grow it then… But since Lady Mo Na is already the commander of the Magitek Knight Corp, have her elect a representative instead to handle the daily matters of her fiefdom.” The King frowned at that point. “I sincerely hope she is the savior of our country… that’s all we can hope for now…”

This was a precarious situation for the King. On one hand, Mo Ke’s contributions were too huge to be ignored, not without ramifications. But with the power Mo Ke displayed and his newfound status, any betrayal could be catastrophic for the kingdom. Any reward had to be carefully calculated so as not to stir unrest while maintaining the power balance.

After all, even Mo Ke’s unmatched looks were a weapon that could rally the masses under his banner…

“Missiger, relay a message to Lady Redleaf, mention I wish to have some tea with her in the gardens.”

“Understood.”

The kingdom of Andassis had always had close ties to the Nature Elves. While Mo Ke was basically the guardian of the entire kingdom, and must not be offended, balance was still an issue. Should no one be able to counterbalance his power, disaster was only a matter of time… even if the person himself had no desire for power right now.

As king, there was no way he would allow such a glaring weakness to be left unchecked in his kingdom. He needed an ally that wouldn’t betray him, or at least side with Mo Ke, that could also keep Mo Ke in check.

—————- Change of Scene—————-

The invasion of the undead forces had engulfed the planet of Gaia in the flames of war. As time passed and information began to trickle in, the current tally of the undead forces was in the billions.

At the start, these mysterious invaders held the upper hand due to their unknown powers.

However, the act of invading itself had changed the planet’s laws. Not only was Southern Plains affected, soon, the entire planet was changing as well. As the two worlds collided and melded, there began to appear humans with supernatural abilities. Awakened, as they would soon be called.

The villains Mo Ke fought were examples of these Awakened humans. Yet the rate at which they appeared was abysmal -barely one out of a million.

All that changed with the appearance of a strange cult known as the Goddess Ke Ke Cult.

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