My dear witch, please turn evil according to the script!

Chapter 213 Demon King: Hey! I have a bold idea!
Roland ultimately chose the second option.
After all, it's just a system option.

Moreover, judging from the last decision, the system does not interfere with how it does things.

The choices I made... were more like being remotely controlled.

The actions of the "ten-year-younger self" as perceived by the remote control system.

Of course, this is just speculation.

Ever since the system started alerting people to anomalies, Roland has been probing for these anomalies.

This time is no exception.

If his guess is true...

If option two cannot truly solve the problem, then he will have no choice but to risk resurrecting the Demon King.

Of course, this is after thorough preparation.

As before, the system reacted after Roland made this decision.

You have made your decision... the world will take a different turn.

[(A powerful voice) Believe in your choice and go all the way to the end...]

[Ding! The special side quest series – The Demon King's Vision – has been completed.]

[Special rewards are now being offered...]

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have obtained a special item—the Gray Spear]

[The Dark Spear: In ancient legends, the messenger of death would pierce the eyes and heart of the sinner with a spear, then forever bind them to the bottom of the River Styx, where they would suffer eternal torment.]

[This is certainly a decent weapon; you can use this gray spear that seems useless except for its sturdiness.]

But perhaps it will come in handy at an unexpected time.

Roland glanced at the reward briefly. While surprised that the task had been completed so easily, he also resisted the urge to take out the spear and examine it.

He simply looked at Erebus before him again: "I can help remove the corrupting influence of those evil gods, if I can do it."

"But the condition is that the association provides all the information I should know, as well as compensation."

"Furthermore, our cooperation is limited to this."

Erebus laughed: "Of course, of course, it's a pleasure to cooperate with you, Your Excellency Roland."

"And coincidentally, there's a troublesome matter I'd like you to take a look at, you see..."

Roland sighed: "Who assigns work to someone right after agreeing to cooperate? Never mind, tell me about it."

Although he didn't want to work, Roland didn't mind listening to the information from the great sage Erebus.

After all, according to the terms of the cooperation, he would only help the association carry out tasks involving the corruption of evil god power.

Roland was also very curious. Could it be that, besides the Storm Ocean, the phenomenon of evil god power eroding the mainland had also begun to appear?
Erebus smiled somewhat awkwardly and said, "That's why I'm so eager to get in touch with you... Although I've known about this for a long time, this pollution phenomenon has always only existed in the Storm Ocean."

"This is the first time it has appeared on the mainland, and I don't know how to handle it."

“This incident occurred almost exactly on the date of your departure. A similar pollution event occurred in the territory of Helenst the day after you set sail.”

"The local branch reported the anomaly in a timely manner, but the pollution disappeared after the headquarters specialists arrived."

"However, the branch members recorded it with a photographic crystal, so we are certain that this was not a false alarm."

"Afterwards, we used some excuses to fool the local nobles, the governor, and the members of the branch."

"In their view, this is an anomaly caused by abnormal fluctuations in the magical tides."

Roland interrupted Erebus: "Is the reason for not announcing it to the public to prevent the spread of evil god's contamination through cognitive interference?"

“Uh…” Erebus, who was interrupted by Roland, was clearly stumped. After thinking for a while, he said, “To be precise, I learned a rule through some experiments.”

"The clearer humanity's understanding of those four, and the more people who know about them, the more powerful those four will become."

"Therefore, we generally only tell the information to those who should know it."

"The person who should know?" Roland asked again, almost instinctively.

This time, Erebus didn't hesitate: "To be precise, it refers to people who are willing and able to prevent the spread of pollution."

"Of course, before you joined, there were basically only the former."

"Unfortunately, apart from the Academy, other forces, including the Empire, don't really care about this matter."

"Especially the Vatican, they also know the inside story, but they have little interest in it."

"Therefore, please keep this confidential."

Roland nodded and continued, "So, what about the target location and mission details? The topic has strayed a bit, Your Excellency the Great Sage."

"Hahaha, didn't I tell you? I forget things as soon as I'm interrupted..."

Erebus chuckled, then cut to the chase: "In short, this pollution has been occurring frequently in the northern border of the Hearst Empire recently."

"And each time it only appears for a short period of time, then suddenly disappears and reappears in another city."

"The specialists dispatched from headquarters made a preliminary confirmation of one thing after conducting measurements with specialized instruments."

"The polluted smell in all cities comes from the same source."

"This pollution is fleeing."

"The reason is unknown, but each time it appears, the residual pollutant smell becomes stronger."

"Although these remnants won't have any impact on reality, if we let them continue..."

Roland interrupted Erebus again: "Alright, that's enough for now."

Roland stood up and looked at Erebus in the projection, saying, "I'm going to the North in a few days."

"I'll keep an eye on these situations for you."

"Remember to let me know as soon as you have any intelligence."

"I'll leave the communication spell frequency to President Götze." "Oh, and if you want me to resolve the issue promptly, remember to grant access to the inter-society teleportation arrays."

"I don't want to make a wasted trip."

"I hope that our cooperation will allow me to obtain some intelligence that interests me."

After saying this, Roland walked straight out of the room. After greeting Götze, he left the communication spell and departed from the academy.

This time, I've taken on a long-term commission, and the intelligence network I've learned is arguably the best in the entire continent.

If I really want to know something in the future, it won't be too much trouble.

I hope we can have a pleasant collaboration.

After leaving the academy, the Demon King, whose phone had been hanging silently at his waist, spoke up: "Heh... I didn't expect these humans to have some skills after all."

"Thanks to them, I've remembered some things I'd forgotten before."

"But it's not my place to tell you anymore, that kid made it very clear."

Roland then asked, "So, the crisis you need to guard against is the erosion by the power of those evil gods?"

"Yes."

"What is the solution?"

"do not know."

Roland was stunned: "You didn't know that back then they launched a large-scale war in an attempt to unify the continent?"

"I thought you knew a way, but that it would require the combined efforts of the entire continent, which is why you started the war!"

The remnant soul of the Demon King sighed softly: "Alas... my first plan was to exterminate the followers of those evil gods."

"As it turns out, the effect is remarkable. At least the followers of the other three evil gods, besides the Chaos Brotherhood, are no longer much of a threat, are they?"

"And then what?" Roland continued, "An evil god needs followers to spread influence, so it's understandable that you kill followers, but surely there must be a next step in the plan?"

"..."

"You don't really have it, do you?" Roland exclaimed softly, looking at the now silent Demon King.

The remnant soul of the Demon King manipulated the gauntlet to float up, then patted Roland's shoulder before quickly flying back to Roland's waist: "You brat, have you forgotten what state I'm in right now?"

"I am just a remnant soul, so it's not bad that I can remember so many things."

"But don't worry, with my personality, I would never do something so unplanned. At least back then, I definitely had a plan."

"I may have even left the plan to the royal court... but among those royal court rulers with their own agendas, it's uncertain how many will actually carry it out."

Upon hearing the Demon King mention the royal court, Roland suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, I heard from Cellina that the Lords of the Royal Court are hunting down all the holders of the runestones."

"Her family was destroyed because of this, and she herself was lucky enough to escape the pursuit and came to the empire to hide her identity."

"Could it be that the Primal Runestone is related to your plan?"

"what?!"

Upon hearing Roland's words, the remnant soul of the Demon King exclaimed in shock and anger, "What did you just say?! The royal court is hunting down the owner of the runestone?! Oh, right, I haven't asked yet, what family does that demon, Cellina, belong to?"

Hearing the increasingly urgent and uneasy tone of the Demon King's remnant soul in Roland's consciousness, Roland realized that something was wrong.

It seems this was not an order left by the Demon King before his death.

The rulers of the royal court may have other purposes for collecting the runestones.

Roland took out a tooth from his storage ring; it was a New Year's gift from Cellina on New Year's Eve.

"It seems his name is Cangya, what's wrong?"

"Cangya?!"

After another burst of angry shouts, the Demon King fell silent.

But this silence is unusual.

Roland could sense the Demon King's anger.

However, he didn't say anything, but simply walked around in a circle and then entered a quiet alley.

"...The Cangya family was the family responsible for my personal protection. This duty lasted for hundreds of years."

"For more than a decade before my death, I handed over another task to them."

"Preserve the primordial runes I have collected."

"Do you remember the artifact of creation that I told you about before? The Golden Horn of Garihus."

“I once thought of activating this artifact by collecting ten primordial runes, and then eliminating the crisis.”

"But even after a thousand years of deliberate searching, I have only managed to collect five of them."

"Three of them originally belonged to the two royal rulers and me, while the other two were obtained by me by killing their original owners."

"When I discovered that the two runestones that had lost their owners quickly lost their luster, and even the runes on them disappeared, turning into ordinary stones and containing their power, I realized... that this idea was still too naive."

"This plan might be feasible, but... it's still too far-fetched."

"So my order to the Cangya family was... to preserve these two runestones until I find a solution. To find a way to awaken the runestones."

"I have never issued such an order to the royal court. Hunting down the holders of the runestones will only render the runestones ineffective!"

"Damn it, what are those corrupt royal rulers thinking?"

"Wait a minute...!" The remnant soul of the Demon King suddenly realized something: "That descendant of the Azure Fang named Celinina, the rune in her hand..."

"You actually managed to reawaken the power of the runestone!?"

"Hey kid, I have a bold idea! Want to hear it?"

(End of this chapter)