my pokemon player.

"Ah? Is my acting bad?" Garcia touched his nose and said with a dry laugh.

"It's unbearable to watch," Sanjis commented succinctly.

"You, the Shadow Church, made such a big fuss in the Northwest Province, isn't it just to capture the Ice God?"

"Although I don't know what the outcome will be, but since you have attacked the God of Ice, you will definitely not let go of the God of Fire in the Whirlpool Sea."

"But there is one thing I don't understand. You guys made a big fuss about capturing the three sacred birds, but why didn't the Sea God Temple react so much?"

"The three sacred birds are subordinate gods of the sea god Lugia, and are also gods worshipped by the Sea God Temple. Logically, they should try their best to stop you."

"However, they only symbolically sent out a few teams of expeditionary knights and punitive knights, and your Shadow Church did not get involved too much. Compared to the previous fight to the death, the two sides of you are more like..."

Sanjis stared into Garcia's eyes and said word by word: "A play?"

Facing Sanjis's gaze, Garcia did not evade, but smiled and said:

"Mr. Sanjis seems to be very interested in drama. Not only is he good at acting, but he also always suspects that others are also acting."

"The environment in the Northwest Province is harsh, and the local residents have many different beliefs. It is difficult for both our Shadow Church and the Sea God Temple to spread their faith there."

"Moreover, the reputation of the Lord of Winter City is known throughout the kingdom. Even your father respects him highly. Naturally, we and the Seagod Temple do not want to anger each other."

"So it's normal that our Shadow Church and the Sea God Temple didn't fight to the death in the Northwest Province. After all, there is still a long way to go~"

After listening to Garcia's explanation, Sanjis nodded slightly on the surface, but in fact he didn't believe a word of it.

Garcia's words could only fool a fool like his elder brother. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Temple of Poseidon and the Shadow Church had reached some kind of tacit understanding.

It's just that the royal family has been sidelined now, the four major families are busy fighting for power, and the local marquises have their own problems to deal with, so they have no time to deal with these two forces.

In their view, the Temple of Poseidon had already been broken by the royal family, and the Shadow Church was even more disgraceful.

Not to mention that the two forces have different beliefs, it is likely that they are cooperating temporarily, and will become irreconcilable sooner or later.

Even if the Temple of Poseidon and the Church of Shadows really cooperate, the two Radas combined are no match for Inspector Mongoose.

What? Maybe they want to control the power of the gods?

Don't joke, gods are hard to find and are arrogant, how could they be subdued by humans?

Back then, the Temple of Poseidon claimed to be able to communicate with Poseidon, but it was almost destroyed by the royal family.

Therefore, most people believe that these two forces are bluffing, and even if someone suspects that they are planning something in secret, they are unable to stop it.

Sanjis is one of these people. He believes that only the temptation of God can make the Temple of Poseidon and the Church of Shadows put aside their past grudges and reach a short-term cooperation.

But what does this matter have to do with him? He is just one of the heirs of the Flame Lion family. The most important issue now is how to defeat his elder brother and younger brother and inherit the throne of the Lion King.

As for the plans of the Temple of the Sea God and the Shadow Church, let's wait until he inherits the Flame Lion Family and becomes the ruler of the Southeast Province.

Anyway, the gods are very powerful, and it will be difficult to subdue these two forces in a short time. They don’t even know where the God of Fire is, so it shouldn’t be a big problem.

So Sanjis did not expose Garcia's lie, but just smiled meaningfully.

"I see. It turns out I misunderstood you. I thought you were putting on a big show."

"How is that possible? We don't have your outstanding acting skills. You can't change your subordinates' impression of you with just a few words."

Garcia said with a smile, and then changed the subject: "But speaking of which, were those words you just said to yourself your true feelings?"

"And were all the words you said in the play lies? I can't tell, but can you still tell the difference yourself?"

Upon hearing this, Sanjis was stunned and his expression became extremely complicated.

Garcia was right. He had been calculating and acting all the time and had long lost the ability to tell whether he was telling the truth or a lie.

As he acted, it seemed as if he had even deceived his own conscience.

Seeing Sanjis remained silent, Garcia smiled and said:

"Forget it, let's not talk about these nonsense, let's get back to cooperation."

"We just want you to collect some information about Moltres. We don't want you to face Moltres directly. It shouldn't be difficult for you."

Sanjis nodded slightly. If it was just for collecting intelligence, this condition was indeed acceptable.

But he was still a little worried and looked at Garcia suspiciously:

"Are these the only two conditions? When did your Shadow Church become so kind?"

"It's obvious that you have too deep a prejudice against the Shadow Church. We have always been fair, okay?" Garcia shrugged and said.

"We say we are cooperating, but in fact it's more like we are taking advantage of each other. We have a grudge against Ryan, and the price we paid is not much, so of course we won't ask for too much reward."

"And we also want to show you our sincerity. If you can really inherit the throne of the Lion King, maybe we will have the opportunity to cooperate. Just think of it as us investing in advance. Isn't that what businessmen often do?"

Sangjis thought to himself that you are not those profit-seeking businessmen. Everyone knows that the Shadow Church is full of lunatics.

If there is any other choice, Sangjis will not cooperate with the Shadow Church. When he inherits the throne of the Lion King, he will immediately cut ties with the Shadow Church and completely expel it from the Southeast Province.

Of course, it was impossible to say these words out loud. He said with a fake smile:

"Invest in advance? You can only fool my brother with this. This war must be beneficial to you, otherwise you wouldn't rush to cooperate with me."

"Let me guess. Your Shadow Church often holds sacrificial ceremonies. Could it be that you are attached to the soldiers and monsters that died in battle?"

When Garcia heard Sanjis's guess, the smile on his face became a little stiff.

He said sinisterly: "I don't understand what you are saying, but I have to remind you that sometimes being too smart is not a good thing."

"What? Deacon Garcia is threatening me?" Sanjis asked calmly.

Garcia did not answer immediately, but just stared at Sanjis silently. Suddenly, several purple candle flames appeared in the shadows beside him.

Sanjis glanced at the shadows, a disdainful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and then a lot of hair stretched out from the shadow behind his seat.

After a moment, Garcia suddenly burst into laughter:

"Master Sanjis is such a joke. How dare I threaten you? Your men will tear me to pieces."

As Garcia laughed, the candlelight disappeared back into the darkness.

Seeing this, Sanjis knocked on the table, and the hair on the seat shrank back. He said in a calm tone: "I don't have time to joke with you. If your target is the dead soldiers, I can't accept it."

"They are my loyal subordinates who have sacrificed their lives for me. How can I let you..."

"We can add money!" Garcia interrupted.

Sanjis frowned: "Are you insulting me? Their lives and honor cannot be measured by money!"

Garcia explained: "I mean we can add one more condition. We can give you a large amount of black crystal to improve the combat effectiveness of your troops."

"Although black crystal is the iconic item of our Shadow Church, it can also be bought on the black market. You have cooperated with the Merchants' Association before, so it is reasonable for you to have a batch of black crystals."

Sanjis's frown relaxed slightly, but he was still a little hesitant: "This is not a question of whether to add conditions or not, the main thing is..."

"Stop talking, this is our bottom line." Garcia interrupted again.

Facing Garcia's determined gaze, Sanjis sighed:

"Well, well, for the sake of the final victory, I have to make my subordinates suffer first."

"I swear, when I inherit the throne of the Lion King, I will definitely give them a grand funeral!"

Garcia resisted the urge to roll his eyes and complimented with a smile:
"Master Sanjis really cares about his subordinates. They are blessed to have you~"

Sanjis felt that this sentence sounded a bit awkward. Before he could think about it, he heard Garcia continue:

"Since we are all satisfied with the conditions, let's officially start the cooperation."

"It will take a few days for your large army to arrive. Before that, we will help you conquer the lord of Red Maple Town."

"What excuse can you give? Why not just say that he is secretly cooperating with the Shadow Church and wants to rebel against the royal family? Then you can use this as an excuse to control him at will."

Sanjis said unhappily, "Are you afraid that others won't notice the relationship between us?"

"I can subdue a mere baron by myself. There is no need for you to help me. You should find a safe passage through the Withered Swamp first!"

Garcia patted his chest and assured: "No problem, leave it to us."

After that, he acted coy again and said expectantly:

"Well, do you want to eat the remaining steak? If not, give it to me. Don't waste it~"

Seeing Garcia staring at the plate on the table, Sanjis's mouth twitched slightly.

"No, if you're hungry, I'll have someone make another one."

"No! It's such a waste. Food is life!" Garcia begged.

Sanjis couldn't persuade Garcia, so he had to agree to Garcia's request.

"Thank you, by the way, are you still drinking your wine?"

"."
-
While Albert and Sangis were planning for the war, their younger brother Damian was on his way to Windmill Town.

At this moment, he was sitting in the luxurious carriage, looking at the scenery outside bored.

This elephant car, which is nominally a chariot but is actually more like an ancient version of a motorhome, was a birthday gift from Damian's mother.

This elephant car looks ordinary on the outside, but it is spacious and luxurious on the inside.

The walls of the carriage are covered with exquisitely crafted brocade. From the patterns, it is not difficult to tell that these brocades are the works of masters and are very popular even among the aristocratic groups.

Most nobles would have made it into formal wear, but in this elephant carriage these precious brocades were just decorations used to wrap the carriage.

The floor of the carriage is made of a whole piece of rosewood and is covered with a velvet carpet. This carpet is made of the softest fluff from dancing swan feathers. It is very comfortable to touch and extremely expensive.

The dodecahedron crystal chandelier hanging on the top of the carriage sways gently with the elephant's steps. There is no need to worry about the chandelier falling down. The king bronze elephant pulling the carriage outside has received professional training and its steps are quite steady.

There are also wine cabinets and bookshelves in the carriage. The function of the former is self-evident. Several bottles of fine wine are chilled in it, and the frozen rocks in the cabinet can have a good cooling effect.

The latter was because he was afraid that Damian would be bored on the road, so he filled the bookshelf with all kinds of books and storybooks. There was also an incense burner on the bookshelf, with a pink incense stick inside, emitting a charming aroma.

It’s a pity that Damian had no interest in reading. He sat on the camel hair cushion, sighing constantly.

"Why should I join the war? I don't want to inherit my father's position. Isn't it enough to just let my brothers compete?"

"If my mother hadn't forced me to join the war, I would still be taking a nap in Jasmine's arms right now."

"Speaking of little Jasmine, does my mother no longer love me? She won't even let me take care of the maids. Without their warm embrace, I haven't been able to sleep well these past few days!"

"When I think about how long it will take for me to return to Lion City, I feel uncomfortable all over. Who on earth is Viscount Ryan? How could he make my father mobilize so many troops?"

"Damn it! You'd better not let me catch you, or I will..."

"What do you want?" A deep voice suddenly came, startling Damian.

He then turned his head to look at the door of the carriage, and saw a middle-aged man walking in, followed by a strong man in armor.

"Oh, Uncle Gerd, what are you doing? Could you have told me before you spoke? You almost scared me to death." Damian complained.

Jerde said helplessly: "Do you want to listen to what you are saying?"

"Also, didn't you see Baron Tucker? Why didn't you say hello to him? Did you forget even the most basic courtesy?"

Damian shrank his neck when he heard this and quickly greeted Baron Tucker.

Baron Tucker waved his hand nonchalantly: "We in the Bronze Elephant Family have never cared about these cumbersome rules."

"That won't work either. Rules are rules. As the heir of the Marquis, you must strictly abide by them!" Gerald said with a serious expression.

Damian pouted quietly, then said softly, "Oh, I know I was wrong, and I will definitely change in the future. Uncle, what do you want to talk to me about? Are we almost at Red Maple Town?"

Gerd shook his head: "We just set out not long ago, and we are still far away from Red Maple Town. It will take at least five or six days to arrive."

Damian suddenly became anxious: "What? We have to walk for another five or six days? Aren't we the first to set out?"

"Yes, but traveling on the ground is slow, and it's because you don't want to ride Vulturena." Gerd said expressionlessly.

Damian was speechless for a moment, and muttered hesitantly:

"I am afraid of death!" (End of this chapter)